The Singapore General Election didn’t really come to an end as drama continues on the Internet, specifically on Facebook. For better or worse, Facebook got it all covered. Mr. Yam Ah Mee , the results announcer for the Singapore General Election has become an Internet sensation overnight. His rising popularity was largely due to his monotonous and repetitive speech coupled with a misspelled Facebook page and viral YouTube video. Yam brought joy to Singapore .
On the other hand, Ms. Tin Pei Ling suffered an online backlash with several Facebook pages mushroomed over the past couple of days wanting her out of the parliament. We managed to contact the Facebook page administrator of ‘We want George Yeo in parliament and not Tin Pei Ling’ to understand more about his plan and goals.
The Facebook page has more than 30,000 likes within 24 hours and continues to grow rapidly. The Facebook page administrator requested to remain anonymous.
1. What motivated you to set up the page?
I’m not an expert in politics, but all along I do feel that the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system is an unfair system. It does not really allow Singaporean to choose the best candidates who can best represent them in the parliament. Right after I found out that George Yeo lost and someone like Tin Pei Ling was elected into parliament, I decided to create this page to express my opinions and also gather like-minded citizens.
2. How did you promote your page?
I have not promoted the page at all. It’s all about timing. At the point of time when the page was created it also happened to attract many like-minded people. The viral effect of Facebook also helps to spread the page to more people.
Like-minded people come in three groups: First, the group of people who loves and respects George Yeo, second the group of people who hates Tin Pei Ling and feels she does not deserve a place in the parliament and third the group who feels that this GRC system needed a change. I’m surprised that the Facebook page managed to gather over 30,000 ‘likes’ within such a short period of time.
3. What are the plans for your Facebook page?
The plan is to get as much attention as possible and hopefully gain the attention of the mainstream media. I believe we are stronger when banded together and I hope the government knows how Singaporeans feel. I wouldn’t expect them to fully adhere to our request, but at the least I hope they will evaluate the GRC system, improve it and maybe find a way to get George Yeo back into the parliament.
4. How do you think social media has a played a part in this Singapore General Election?
Social media inspired many young Singaporeans like myself to be interested in politics for the first time. It has also given commoners a “voice.” Social media also provided the oppositions a channel to reach out and engage the young population. PAP’s failure to use social media effectively was one of the main reasons explaining the dip in votes for this year’s Singapore General Elections.
If the Singapore General Elections were to be based on social media alone, the PAP would probably be on the losing side.
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