Since 1991, Hougang was in WP's hands. Many people have speculated if their rubbish will pile up 4 stories high or if they will enjoy facilities such as upgrading or bus services convenience.
I don't have many friends who stay in that area but when I met one colleague in 1996, she said with pride, "Yes! We are the true shining beacon of democracy in Singapore." It seems that they pride themselves as one gutsy united community against all Singaporeans who live elsewhere. I think they may even want autonomy or independence status if they voted for it.
Previously in 2007, I was tasked to publicise a Water Saving Efficiency Labelling Scheme logo and promote this sticker label to all residents in Singapore.
At that time, this new scheme was to encourage buyers of faucet taps, showerheads to look for this sticker. The more ticks means the tap or showerhead can save more water for the household.
I used (www.sgdi.gov.sg) Singapore Government Directory and emailed to all Town Councils (including the 2 opposition wards, Potong Pasir and Hougang in 2007) at that time.
Potong Pasir didn't reply to me. About 3 or 4 PAP Town Councils also didn't respond.
Shockingly, a few PAP held Town Councils replied to me and said that there are advertising fees to be charged if I want to put up posters on their notice boards.
I was floored that they should even charge PUB for a national water saving campaign to be put on all lift lobbies of their town councils. Obviously, my boss was reluctant and urged me to talk to them to waive these fees. Apparently, their notice boards are meant for community related activities such as Meet-the-MP session or PA related activities.
Hougang did reply me and said that I can send them 20 copies via postage mail and deliver to their office so that they can put it up for FREE.
I was surprised. At that time, I was under the impression that since they are opposition party, they will oppose anything from the govt and work against any campaigns. This is not true.
To raise the stakes higher, I even had the audacity to ask them to take some photos of the new poster with the notice board to show to my boss. (Coz I stayed in the West, and obviously, I didn't want to travel all the way to Hougang just to take some photos).
And surprise again, they took some photos with their camera (in 2007, Smartphones and iPhones weren't even invented yet) and emailed to me. It's not that easy to carry a camera and shoot a picture in those days. I was so surprised that they could even endorse our programmes without hesitation.
(At that time, social media wasn't very strong and I was under the impression that WP will oppose any govt campaign)
At that time, I was getting desperate. My boss didn't like the idea that Hougang responded and not other PAP held wards and urged me to do more. People will think badly of other town councils.
I then proceeded to make a trip to Jurong Town Council, NUS, and NTU and persuaded them to distribute the posters for free.
Luckily, as I was a Jurong resident, the property manager relented and let us paste the posters up for free and I gladly took a photo of it to show to my boss. Close shave.
CJ