This is the third election in Singapore I am following closely as I was there on the ground blogging and on social media in 2011 and 2015 while I was working at world class policy think tanks. This time I am overseas, but synced in with Singaporean Digital Public Sphere closely with friends contesting the polls as well.

2011 was a watershed election, with George Yeo helmed GRC falling to the Workers Party. Nicole Seah made a flash as well, who is back this time around with a different party. I saw election rallies in Clementi where I lived for years.

2015 was after Ah Kong passing away and was a hugely emotional tone, with Al Juneid GRC going down to the line, with the results declared post midnight.

2020 is an election which will be in the ‘new normal’ of the pandemic with four budgets. The parties have started releasing the candidate lists with interesting choices. The quality of the leadership talent amazes me across the board.

As a Singapore-Phile having studied on tax payer dollars which funded my NRF scholarship and my grants, the island is in many ways ‘This is Home’ in the spirit of the famous NDP anthem 🇸🇬

I watch the August 9th festivities on livestream every year too. I work with non profits there and help partner with specialists to take them to new markets in the Gulf. I few of them are on my digital feeds.

Looking forward to working in/with Singapore. I like that issues such as inequality and climate change are front and centre on the agenda.

It’s easy to be resilient
When rich
For the precarious
Resilience is normal
As there is no choice
The peans are cheap
When Dalgona is what is cared for
The retrenched worker thinks where his next Chai
Will be bought
Migrants can’t even imagine that