Let Ghosts contest GE

Let Ghosts Contest GE

Soon, it will be the Chinese Hungry Ghosts Festival, where ghosts roam the earth for a month-long holiday while we humans burn offerings to them. And for a month at least, as well as at other times, the living and the ghosts will intermingle in a world that does not segregate them.

Since ghosts exist amongst us and are part of our world, why not let ghosts also contest the coming General Election?

Now, I am not being facetious, being normally a very serious man. By ghosts, I mean the likes of 'departed' (from Singapore) candidates like Mr Francis Seow, Mr Tang Liang Hong, Mr Tan Wah Piow, etc. There are certainly enough of them to contest a GRC, thanks to a most unorthodox Singapore (un)democratic practice to jail and sue political opponents until they flee to exile.

Ghost campaigning isn't difficult at all. We now live in a wired world that is partly virtual and partly 'real', whatever 'real' now means, since virtual and real are sometimes one and the same.

Thus, these ghost candidates can campaign over the Internet in websites such as this one, or the websites of the Workers Party, Singapore Democratic Party and even the Singapore Democratic Alliance (when they start one). They can already start doing this, by sending in articles and thoughts which I am sure, most websites will be only too glad to publish. If they need a reminder, perhaps the respective websites can take the trouble to contact them for their thoughts. However, writing in general is one thing, writing specifically to a GRC audience and targetting it is also important.

The good news is, the people of Singapore have not forgotten their ghosts. They still remember them fondly and still wonder what might have been if just a few thousand more voters had given them their votes. (Or, as a most scurrilous rumour has it, some high-up secretive agents had not miscounted the final tallies).

However, the Internet is one thing. Physical electioneering is another. Of course, election rallies are the high points of the campaigning and here, our ghosts can also be present, by taking over, seance-like, the bodies of some physical candidates standing in the GRC.

By this I mean that, under present election laws, which are becoming even more drastically draconian and restrictive on the Opposition, there is no ban on playing back the speeches of Mr Francis Seow, Mr Tang Liang Hong and Mr Tan Wah Piow, etc, over the public address system at the rallies. So, our ghosts can tape their speeches (as long as they don't break into song as singing at rallies is not allowed) and have them played back to a very appreciative audience.

This also serves to remind the people of what the PAP has done to them, of the injustices that must never be forgotten. Also, our ghosts can have their speeches read out to the crowds, through the actual physical candidates who are standing in the GRC against the PAP. This will merge the presences of the ghosts with their physical hosts, who are the actual physical entities the people would vote for.

The taped speeches from these overseas ghosts will take some days to tape and courier to Singapore but they will be very effective because they already have prior compact with the people of Singapore. Shorter, less set-piece speeches and rebuttals of the PAP can be almost instantly emailed to physical candidates in Singapore, printed out and read to a rally crowd, thereby allowing rebuttals and the cut and thrust of public debate. Of course, the physical candidates must compile the PAP's speeches or debating points and email these to the ghosts. This is not difficult as the media can be expected to highlight their best points (and edit out poor points or gaffes), as usual.

If this idea works, the ghosts may even be interviewed by mainstream media for their views and platforms, exactly like real candidates. Of course, the real candidates actually standing for Parliament must also be people of substance, who would do a good job and acquit themselves well in Parliament and who would not feel that they are playing second fiddle to a ghost. They need to be smart enough to marshal all forces, even ghosts, in the common fight against the PAP. It could turn in the extra few thousand votes that may mean the capture of a GRC, which I feel is time and ripe for the Opposition, this New Singapore Shares gimmick notwithstanding.

For those readers who want a extremely short summary of the possible ghost candidates who may campaign, read http://www.singaporedemocrats.org/main/du.html

And for those who are willing to sacrifice so much to take on the PAP, start inviting these ghosts to play their part in bringing democracy, justice and the real rule of law back into our society.

It is my hope that these ghosts that the PAP thought it had exorcised, will come back to haunt them.

Ghostwriter