Excitement arises online as “boomers” indicate support for the opposition

SINGAPORE: As Singapore’s next election looms, some Singaporeans have expressed excitement over older folks wanting to support the opposition, given the perception that these voters typically align with the ruling party.

In a recent video from the Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao, when people were asked about their preferences for the upcoming General Election, a number of them expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling People’s Action Party.

Interestingly, all the people interviewed are in their senior years and seemed to be leaning toward support for the opposition.

The video was published by Lianhe Zaobao on July 4, but a shorter snippet of it was posted on the @ahgongreacts account on Tiktok on July 8. This snippet was in turn shared on Reddit on July 9.

@ahgongreacts

dont anyhow say hor

♬ original sound – ahgongreact – ahgongreact

One woman in the video said she had only seen her PAP MP once during the campaign period for the last GE and then never again, adding that she hopes that the opposition Progress Singapore Party will win “so they can represent us” as there is “not enough opposition party.”

“Hope they get in so the government will wake up,” she added.

An older man, meanwhile, said that now the PAP is “not very good.” He was unhappy that Singapore is now more crowded and more expensive and added that during founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s time, prices only went up once. Now, he added, they’ve gone up “3 to 4” times.

Another senior said that competition is necessary to make MPs work harder. He added that where he lives is now “a bit run down” and that he wants to see what MPs can do to improve it.

The caption to the Lianhe Zaobao video says that it was taken at West Coast and East Coast GRCs, which are expected to be hotly contested in the next election.

On Reddit, commenters did not seem to be very surprised that some older citizens appear to be favoring the opposition.

“With elevated inflation, albeit steady, public housing prices running amok, wholesale immigration, hopefully, we get to see upsets in some constituencies. Would be beautiful to see popular votes dipping under 60%, oppos picking up east and west coast GRCs,” wrote one, adding that opposition parties should concentrate on getting the votes from senior citizens.

Another Reddit user wrote that even their mother, who had advocated for the PAP in the last election, said she would be voting for the opposition the next time around.

“These are the amazing aunties and uncles who have working children, grandchildren and can feel their pain of rising cost of living. They just want their families to be able to afford to live a happy life,” one chimed in.

Others, however, splashed some cold water on the situation, saying that a few people interviewed did not mean everybody was against the PAP.

“Say and do is different,” added a commenter. /TISG

Read also: Ex-ST journalist’s claims on censorship about opposition politicians recirculates online as election looms