What Matters?

I have been asked numerous times, " Who is your choice for President? ". While I contemplate to answer the question, a number have given me their choice of candidate and why they are putting their votes behind the man.

In this posting, I will not be putting a name forward but rather try to put my own 2 cents's worth of justification for a man or a system that seems to work. This is not a political post.

When I was growing up, I witnessed first hand the chaos created during the Chinese/Malay riots in the 60s. It was a dark moment in my young life when I saw my parents' distressed faces and that of those in our village. Every one was awake at night just so that they will not be caught by a surprised attack from the other side. This was a period of instability where school was disrupted often because of strikes/riots. After the PAP government came into power, the focus has shifted somewhat to development and nation building. The government has been largely successful and people has benefited much from its transformation. That is also why all these years, it has always been a 1 party government. However, grumblings has quicken lately on host of issues, from foreign talents to ministerial salaries, the list goes on. With the latest GE 2011 results showing the opposition gaining ground, in both the no of votes and wards, it does shows a growing discontent for all things PAP. Did they go horribly wrong ?

Paul in his writings to Timothy admonish them to pray for the government that "they will have peace...." (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Our focus then is to pray and ask God to put in place one that will be able to give us the comfort of a peaceful existence, one that will be able to allow us to carry out the great commission without fear of reprisal. Our personal choice then should be governed by this principle, and not of likes or dislikes, or along partisan lines, or herd instinct.

Being a beneficiency of the system, I am proud of what we have achieved as a nation and I will vote with a clear conscience of who I think will be able to carry out the duties of a President best within his mandate which I think has somewhat been blurred along the way.