Presidential Elections...

Singapore is a strange country... we can hardly find candidates for our presidential elections... there does not seem to be such a problem elsewhere in the world...

the first presidential elections had the late Ong Teng Cheong... and some accountant who stood for elections because he was sort of asked to do so... the next election was a no-contest... Nathan was elected "automatically"... and this time, just when we thought that Andrew Kuan is going to be a contest, doubts were casted on his eligibility...

some questions came to mind:
1. are our criteria for eligibility too stringent until we do not have candidates who can qualify?
2. are our citizens so caught up in their own daily lives that those who are qualified to stand for election do not wish to do something for their country?
3. when there is no contest, should not the citizens still have a choice to decide if the one and only candidate is who they want to be their president?

on a more personal note, 27 August, being election day, is a public holiday... being in a five-day work week company, when a public holiday falls on a Saturday, the company is supposed to "compensate" the employees with another off day... now HR is discussing about if there's no contest, would 27 August still be a public holiday? think they are unwilling to give us the one off day... hahahaha...

I WANT MY OFF DAY... used up most of my leave for my treatment over the last few weeks...