I refer to the CNA’s Commentary: Podcasts didn’t decide GE2025, but they changed how Singaporeans engage with politics (May 9).

The 2025 General Election has several features/characteristics that deserve our attention, discussion and
reflection:

In today era, technological revolution, innovation and advancement has undoubtedly enhanced the smoothness, efficiency of life, connectivity and communication as well as the way forward among human beings. For examples, the use of Podcast, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Zoom, etc. are the products of the times.

But, at the same time, false, fabricated and ill-informed information and data are also all-pervasive if caught unguarded or unwary.

Academics, social activists, journalists, political analysts and politicians who wish to make any political podcasts with their invited guests or panelists for brainstorming, discussing, debating and analysing political issues, firstly, they must have well prepared themselves to get all the facts, data and information right.

In short, all discussions, perspectives and commentaries put across by the participating stakeholders should centre around the structured core topics, and ensure that they have achieved a certain standard or reasonable degree of substance.

However, whether spectators/audiences buy or resonate with their contents and perspectives in the presented podcasts or other platforms are quite difficult for accurate prediction and judgement. It is because voters will form their own opinions and conclusions, and eventually derive at their own decisions based upon all the formal and informal information that they received.

Politics and elections are inseparable from policies, talents, resources and campaign strategies, just as the earth needs the coexistence of humans, sunshine, wind, rain, mountains and rivers. In these aspects, PAP has it all.

On the contrary, any opposition parties especially the reliable and responsible (branded) ones require the well-structured manifesto, advocacies and proposals. Besides, they also need to entice visionary, ambitious, honest, capable, committed and rational individuals (preferably more young, passionate and promising ones) to be their political candidates.

In addition to visiting every corner of their contested constituencies diligently, the opposition parties must also actively listen to and collect the voices, suggestions and feedback of constituents in their contested constituencies.

While in conducting the election campaigning, each party’s candidate should condense his/her speech to core points and be persuasive instead of rambling. Hence, deliberate and thorough preparation for speech presentation in advance is definitely essential and necessary.

However, we can see quite a number of opposition candidates fall short of this standard in their campaigning rallies

Last but not least, psychological fear which lingers in the minds of voters needs to be cleared or enlightened.

At one of the Workers’ Party’s rallies 2025, despite the repeated appeal and assurance from Gerald Giam, (the Workers’ Party’s candidate for Aljunied GRC) that voting is strictly private and confidential, yet, through my observation, still have quite a number of Singaporeans, especially the elderly ones and those who work in the public sector that they still have the fear which links to the serial number appears on their ballot papers can trace back which political party that they voted for.

In fact, the function of the serial number is to ensure that not a double or same serial number appears twice upon the ballot paper, and it can be traced and verified by the respective political party’s polling agents who are present at the respective polling stations.

Furthermore, upon the closing of polling (at 8pm of the polling day) and, after the completion of voting on the day, each ballot box was duly sealed by the election department’s assigned official and witnessed by the respective party’s polling agents.

Despite this, the respective political party’s counting agents at the respective counting centres can only roughly know and assess the percentage of each respective ballot box’s voting result (how many votes are in favour of their party). Other than that, the entire electoral system and voting processes are well structured, conducted and strictly confidential.

Teo Kueh Liang (Mr)