Let me get 2 major thoughts out in this post. first, politics. while i don't consider myself particularly "woke" politically, i'd say that i have a vested interest in singapore politics simply by virtue of being a citizen of the country. because of that, and also because i experience daily life in the country as a regular singaporean, my opinion towards politics is valid and has been shaped by things going on in my daily life. i'm incredibly happy and proud that my constituency will now be managed by the opposition. we were one of the major upsets, i think, and i hope this sends a message to the ruling party. looking forward, i'm quite excited to see how things will change in my estate. of course, i'm not so delusional as to believe that things will change overnight for singapore as a whole, but this is a good start. personally, i'm (again) happy and proud that i did my civic duty, and that the results were what i consider favourable. i'm also eager to engage with my new MPs, especially the one who's widely considered to have been the MVP of this election.
while most of the results were as predicted, i'm particularly saddened by 3 opposition losses. i feel that these opposition candidates were more qualified and/or more likeable than their opponents from the ruling party in those districts. but that's democracy, i guess. people vote for what they feel is right/better, but there's a whole lot of subjectivity in that definition. i kind of want to reach out to one of the candidates, even though i don't know him personally, just to send him well-wishes. is that weird? well, i made initial contact with his facebook page, so let's see how that plays out.
understandably, there's been a lot of anger at opposition losses, especially in areas where they lost to members of the ruling party who have been responsible for tone-deaf/aggravating statements and/or actions, aka. just being out of touch with the common singaporean. i can understand people being angry when the outcome wasn't to their desire. but to be objective, some of this anger is wildly blown out of proportion. i wonder if i'd react similarly, if the opposition hadn't won here? perhaps, but i wouldn't go about broadcasting it on social media, like some people have been doing (apart from bligging about it, i guess). actually, there's been a fair bit of irrationality as far as this election is concerned, including holding it in the middle of a pandemic. there was a voice recording of someone saying "if it was a contest between [ruling party] and a monkey, i'd vote for the monkey". i guess that that's also an expression of dissent from the ground, but it's not to be taken literally, of course...mainly because an actual monkey will never be an eligible candidate in singapore.
one other good thing that came out of this election is that i got to meet up with the chemistry guys yesterday. we had lunch at one of their houses, and caught up on the one year or so that went by without us meeting up. i remember that the last time we were gathered together was in june last year at the airport, just after flying back from the china wedding. apparently there might have been a guild house dinner sometime between then and now, but i don't remember it. it was nice to catch up with them, and see how they're progressing with life. one of them's had a baby, which makes me feel...odd. i guess it's just me being reminded of my age. while i'm happy that they're all doing well (as well can can be done given the circumstances, at any rate), it sucks that COVID has messed up some of their plans and made some of them adopt slightly unusual working hours. but i'm confident that they'll pull through.
as for myself, i'm less confident. that segues nicely in to my second main thought, which is about JET. it seems that the previously-unofficial news is slowly becoming official in different countries, and i've no reason to believe that singapore will be an exception. so, i think it's prudent for me to work on the assumption that if travel restrictions between singapore and japan don't ease by the end of september, my application will be automatically deferred to next year, with the option of going over early if (1)travel restrictions ease, and (2)there's a vacancy available. i have conflicting thoughts over my next step, because assuming september departure doesn't work out, i can either go over sooner but not have a fixed departure date, or go over at a known but much later date. why does this remind me of the heisenberg uncertainty principle? if i had things my way, i'd go over at a known early date, but i don't think that that's a viable option now. actually no. if i REALLY had my way, i'd be in japan now.
i hope you can see how this uncertainty affects my planning. logically, the most sensible option i can see right now is to bite the bullet and opt for the known later departure date, while securing temporary/contract jobs in this interim period. this seems to be the option that the chemistry guys favour as well; one of them was telling me that a one-year research fellow contract would work for me. but upon further thought and reflection, i don't feel quite ready to go back into academic research. ideally, i'd opt to go over anytime, and look for a job with a short notice period (1 to 2 weeks). but do those jobs exist? i suppose there's the option to break contract, but that's just not nice all around.
there is one other option within the realm of possibility that i should acknowledge as well, and that is to simply give up on JET, and resign myself to spend the foreseeable future in singapore. while this would be the safest option (health-wise and financially), it's not one that i'm willing to consider just yet. the annoying thing is, there's no "right" answer on how long to wait for before giving up. it's a balance between how much JET means to me vs. how long i can afford to put life on semi-hold for it. while i'm fairly certain that my answer will change in future, my current thought is that i'll give it up to next year. after all, this pandemic is a really exceptional circumstance, and things would have progressed smoothly otherwise. i think i'll wait for a bit, until the singapore side officially releases news, and see if that changes anything for me.
while most of the results were as predicted, i'm particularly saddened by 3 opposition losses. i feel that these opposition candidates were more qualified and/or more likeable than their opponents from the ruling party in those districts. but that's democracy, i guess. people vote for what they feel is right/better, but there's a whole lot of subjectivity in that definition. i kind of want to reach out to one of the candidates, even though i don't know him personally, just to send him well-wishes. is that weird? well, i made initial contact with his facebook page, so let's see how that plays out.
understandably, there's been a lot of anger at opposition losses, especially in areas where they lost to members of the ruling party who have been responsible for tone-deaf/aggravating statements and/or actions, aka. just being out of touch with the common singaporean. i can understand people being angry when the outcome wasn't to their desire. but to be objective, some of this anger is wildly blown out of proportion. i wonder if i'd react similarly, if the opposition hadn't won here? perhaps, but i wouldn't go about broadcasting it on social media, like some people have been doing (apart from bligging about it, i guess). actually, there's been a fair bit of irrationality as far as this election is concerned, including holding it in the middle of a pandemic. there was a voice recording of someone saying "if it was a contest between [ruling party] and a monkey, i'd vote for the monkey". i guess that that's also an expression of dissent from the ground, but it's not to be taken literally, of course...mainly because an actual monkey will never be an eligible candidate in singapore.
one other good thing that came out of this election is that i got to meet up with the chemistry guys yesterday. we had lunch at one of their houses, and caught up on the one year or so that went by without us meeting up. i remember that the last time we were gathered together was in june last year at the airport, just after flying back from the china wedding. apparently there might have been a guild house dinner sometime between then and now, but i don't remember it. it was nice to catch up with them, and see how they're progressing with life. one of them's had a baby, which makes me feel...odd. i guess it's just me being reminded of my age. while i'm happy that they're all doing well (as well can can be done given the circumstances, at any rate), it sucks that COVID has messed up some of their plans and made some of them adopt slightly unusual working hours. but i'm confident that they'll pull through.
as for myself, i'm less confident. that segues nicely in to my second main thought, which is about JET. it seems that the previously-unofficial news is slowly becoming official in different countries, and i've no reason to believe that singapore will be an exception. so, i think it's prudent for me to work on the assumption that if travel restrictions between singapore and japan don't ease by the end of september, my application will be automatically deferred to next year, with the option of going over early if (1)travel restrictions ease, and (2)there's a vacancy available. i have conflicting thoughts over my next step, because assuming september departure doesn't work out, i can either go over sooner but not have a fixed departure date, or go over at a known but much later date. why does this remind me of the heisenberg uncertainty principle? if i had things my way, i'd go over at a known early date, but i don't think that that's a viable option now. actually no. if i REALLY had my way, i'd be in japan now.
i hope you can see how this uncertainty affects my planning. logically, the most sensible option i can see right now is to bite the bullet and opt for the known later departure date, while securing temporary/contract jobs in this interim period. this seems to be the option that the chemistry guys favour as well; one of them was telling me that a one-year research fellow contract would work for me. but upon further thought and reflection, i don't feel quite ready to go back into academic research. ideally, i'd opt to go over anytime, and look for a job with a short notice period (1 to 2 weeks). but do those jobs exist? i suppose there's the option to break contract, but that's just not nice all around.
there is one other option within the realm of possibility that i should acknowledge as well, and that is to simply give up on JET, and resign myself to spend the foreseeable future in singapore. while this would be the safest option (health-wise and financially), it's not one that i'm willing to consider just yet. the annoying thing is, there's no "right" answer on how long to wait for before giving up. it's a balance between how much JET means to me vs. how long i can afford to put life on semi-hold for it. while i'm fairly certain that my answer will change in future, my current thought is that i'll give it up to next year. after all, this pandemic is a really exceptional circumstance, and things would have progressed smoothly otherwise. i think i'll wait for a bit, until the singapore side officially releases news, and see if that changes anything for me.
-random thought of the day: My friend's applying to the IP firm!-
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