I am sad, obviously. Sad that Singapore lost an amazing Minister who has done so much for us. Disappointed that the outcome wasn't what I hoped it would be.
But I find that what's even more tragic was the fact that after the results were announced, dozens of people all wrote me very nasty @replies on twitter. Right, I write nasty shit all the time to people too. But I'd NEVER, NEVER attack someone when they are already feeling utterly depressed. That's just low. You got your favourable outcome. I didn't. There is no need to gloat.
Just like even though I support PAP, I'd never smirk and say HEY! CHIAM LOST POTONG PASIR WOOHOO SUCK ON THAT BYATCHES! No way! Coz I can see that Mr Chiam has dedicated his whole life to Singapore and I admire that. He is a great MP. I geddit that some people don't like me, but do you really hate me enough to feel happy that GY is gone? Really???? Look at the bigger picture please?
And of course, some of the haters started to say that I, humble Wendy Cheng, inadvertibly caused PAP to lose Aljunied just coz I endorsed it.
This really pissed me off. I mean of course these people MEANT to piss me off. But it was successful.
THEN... Amazingly enough, when I was feeling so down, I actually started thinking... IS IT TRUE? Did I really cause Singapore to lose our Foreign Minister?
But that was like 2 days ago. I can't believe it! They got to me!
After years and years of blogging and dealing with haters, something finally got to me! The last time I felt so upset with comments was probably when I gave Pumpkin away. I now have a morbid fear of dog-lovers.
So anyway, after I snapped out of it, I realised that these people are fucking full of shit.
On May 3rd when I wrote my first GE related blog entry, I had 75,922 unique visitors. Readers agreed with my entry and made MM Lee's fb fan page gain from 57,087 fb likes to over 72,000 fb likes overnight, exceeding Nicole Seah's by over 4000.
Did my "endorsement" fail? No it didn't.
(Yes I'm aware Ms Seah's likes have once again exceeded that of MM Lee's but I don't care anymore coz she can't be the most popular politician if she is no longer a politician. I will resist the urge to gloat.)
On May 4th, I had 110,723 unique visitors for the "Vote Wisely" entry. By May 5th, the same people who said I caused PAP's loss were screaming and yelling online, saying how they CANNOT believe that people are taken in by my blog entries and how naive these people are. They felt threatened.
On May 6th, Cooling Off Day, the hashtag #RidingWithTheLightning trended on twitter for almost 24 hours thanks to me, with Singaporeans pledging to give their vote to PAP.
How can it be that my blog entries could cause someone who is neutral to vote for WP? I merely wrote about what a good minister GY is. If someone hates me enough to forsake all other reasons to vote for the opposite of what I urge people to, then he is extremely stupid. I can't believe that anyone would even dare to admit that.
To suggest that I caused PAP's downfall in Aljunied is just ABSURD. Singaporeans don't care about me that much. (*fake blush*)
PAP lost because Workers' Party sent their strongest team ever to fight in Aljunied. PAP lost because last year, even without an "A" team, Aljunied was a very close fight anyway.
PAP lost because citizens didn't like MM Lee's comments about repentance.
PAP lost because of the voices of thousands of Singaporeans all screaming, "HEY! The country is progressing too fast and leaving me behind. Slow down! If you don't I'd have to stop you by voting you out."
But I don't blame these people for trying to hurt me by saying I caused the the minister I loved and supported to exit politics. That's because I rarely lose, and it's a great time to trample all over my huge ego. LOL. Do it!! Your next chance might take a long time to come!!
But may I state formally... that I didn't lose? In writing these blog entries, I had 3 objectives.
1) For PAP to win Aljunied GRC. I clearly lost this.
2) For a PAP ruling party.
I concede that my articles were VERY biased. I wrote nothing good about the opposition and chose to delete any comments Pro-Opposition/Anti-PAP, even if they were well-reasoned.
Why? Because Pro-Opposition sentiment is already very strong everywhere. I mean look at the opposition rallies' crowd! Everywhere I looked, people were coming up with more and more anti-PAP articles, and yet nobody was speaking up for them. That's not because nobody believes in them - it's because it is such a given that they will dominate the parliament that there was NO NEED to defend them. People only liked to give support to the underdog.
Besides, the anti-PAPs are so fierce that nobody dares to say anything Pro-PAP! You'd be immediately called a dog, brainwashed, ignorant, stupid etc.
I feared for Singapore's future. I think that with the strong anti-PAP sentiment going on online, PAP might not get majority seats and we might have a complete change in government. No matter what PAP's mistakes are, I didn't want that. Especially not some inexperienced ah bengs with left wing commies giving away citizens' money and undoing all we have achieved over the years.
Why didn't I trust Singaporeans to make their own judgement by providing a neutral, objective article? There wasn't a need to. Anti-PAP articles are everywhere. I was trying to provide a balance.
I agree we needed more opposition voices in parliament. But I didn't want to lost George Yeo. And I didn't want it to go overboard and topple PAP.
And true enough in many areas the PAP win was only a very close one. What's going to happen in 5 years' time when many of the old folks loyal to PAP are dead and the impressionable youths have only read about what an evil dictator PAP is? I didn't want that. I didn't think it was fair.
So yes. Objective achieved. Still the ruling party.
3) Nicole Seah to NOT be in parliament.
You may say I'm jealous of her or whatever, but she just REALLY rubs me off the wrong way. Seriously? All those crocodile tears? Save it.
Objective achieved!
I lost? No... 2 out of 3 isn't bad.
I'd end this off with an awesome letter I received from a blog reader:
And to those who have sent me comforting words, thank you. At times like this I feel that blogging is always worth it. :')
All the best to BG George Yeo and his endeavours from here on. Many Singaporeans, me included, will never forget you for the 23 years you have dedicated to our country, making it a much better place to stay in.
Lunch with the minister a few months ago with his team and the BonitoChico team.
Here's a piece of trivia nobody probably would have ever bothered to ask him during interviews: His favourite food is vongole pasta in white wine sauce.
