Cooling-off day

Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong has come up with a cooling-off day-an extra day before polling day itself during which campaigning will be disallowed for voters to calmly make an informed decision

Will cooling-off day really make voters cool down? No.

Will it be fair to the opposition? No.

Will it benefit the PAP. Yes, and of course.

The only thing opposition parties can do during the cooling-off period is to cross their fingers, and even then they have to pray that the PAP does not use the mainstream media to "campaign" by announcing government news as an excuse

PAP has always target a high standard for itself at every election. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew once described it as a freak result if the ruling party was unable to win at the 82 of out 84 seats it currently has in parliament

Using the state media to crush their opponents is a routine that never fails to happen in every election. This latest introduction by the government cannot be thought of as merely just a day for voters to reflect and ponder

Mass rallies and displaying party logos in public are not allowed but news reporting on the election in the mainstream media will not be banned

The People's Action Party might be afraid that the charisma of enthusiastic speakers at rallies will move the neutral group to vote for the opposition. An extra day of cooling-off may work in PAP's favour as they can attempt to "re-influence" these neutral voters

Even the Prime Minister's son admitted that the opposition rallies were more exciting during the 2006 elections

Another area which may be pivotal to the addition of the cooling-day is the internet. New media did not play a major part three years ago but with the emergence of Twitter, the growing popularity of Facebook and the high viewership of Youtube, we should not underestimate what change it can make during the next election

PAP's presence in cyberspace is still not yet really felt. However, articles on the internet from bloggers could help the opposition in some way. Whether the internet will also cool down of cooling-off is still a big question mark

The one part which I find it most puzzling is that why only one day? One day or rather twenty-four hours won't make a difference for those who have already made up their minds long ago. Obviously, cooling-off day is proposed to cater to those who stand in the middle of nowhere

You do not use one day only to decide where you want to buy a flat at or determine which course you want to study at an institution. The group of people who have not decided their votes are usually those with less knowledge about the happenings. In the end, they may still choose the PAP after using one day to think and have a mindset that the ruling party is more reliable

The pressure will be on PAP. Anything less than status quo (82 seats) will be disastrous for them. The media will haunt them, people will lose faith in them, the opposition will have more confidence and I will be laughing out loud like a wild fire

Only when it is not cooling-off day, of course