I was approached by a student volunteer while I was taking photos of these posters plastered around campus to be registered to vote and also to vote early. I smiled and pointed out that I was not an American citizen, and that I could not vote. But the question got me thinking, if I were an American citizen, who would I support? It depends I guess. If I were in a "safe state", I will vote for Ralph Nader because I think he is the public figure in USA that I admire most. However, if I were in a swing state, I will vote Barack Obama, because I absolutely cannot stand the Republican platform (being the democratic socialist I am), and especially all that is embodied by their vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin.
Of course, I am not a US citizen (and have never thought of becoming one), but a Singapore citizen. From the perspective of a Singaporean, who would I liked to see win? I have heard from a few of my friends who work in the public sectors (i.e., zheng hu kang) that Singapore has always been pro-Republican, mainly because the Republicans are pro-business (which is good for Singapore economically) and also pro-Asia, meaning they keep their military forces in Asian, which helps as a stabilizing force in the region. Just the other day, I have a friend who told me that her aunts (one of them holding a high level position in a corporate institution in Singapore) was saying that they hope Mccain will win, because that will mean "better business for Singapore".
Furthermore, another more cynical reason why Singaporeans should be hoping for a Mccain win is because for the past few years, Singapore has become a player in the regional stage for genetic engineering. This is in part due to the restrictions on stem cell research championed by the Bush administration, something that will surely be overturned in an Obama administration. Well, as one of my friend commented, we are all selfish in some kind of way, and the fact that we benefit from another country's misfortune is not our fault at all.
On the surface, it would seem that as a Singaporean, I should be in favor of a Mccain presidency. However, this is not the case. Other than the fact that I personally disagree with most of the Republican party's philosophy (and also that of Mccain's and Palin's), I also think that voting for Obama will be beneficial to Singapore. Let me explain why. I have expressed the opinion in the past that with the dwindling of petroleum resources, cities with high density population that consumes a high energy per capita (e.g. Singapore) will be in big trouble. Unless an alternative source of cheap and renewable energy is found, it will be impossible to sustain such a city like Singapore. Now, if this were in other countries, one will then predict a large population shift towards the rural areas. However, the problem with Singapore is that we as a small country do not have that kind of rural land to buffer our population. Hence, if there comes a day when there is energy shortage, it will be unimaginable. Just think of the water that most of us receives in our HDB flats. Without the electricity to power the pumps, there will essentially be no water for most of the people.
And this lies the reason why I would be hoping that Obama wins the election. If you look at both the candidates' position on energy policies, Obama expresses funding research for alternative renewable energy, while Mccain's posititon is, well, drill baby drill (for more oil). I could be wrong, but with an Obama presidency, it would seem that research in alternative (and renewable) energy will be accelerated and conversely it will be impeded in a Mccain presidency. Hence, if there are any breakthrough in renewable energy research, it will be beneficial to Singapore in the long term. Hence, for a somewhat selfish reason as well, I am hoping for an Obama win, with the exception that the gains I see for Singapore are not 'short-term economic gains', but rather long-term solutions that might be crucial to the existence of our country.
No comments:
Post a Comment