The Lion Wakes.

May 5, 2011 7:20 PM

There's something in the air this election season. For the first time in almost 40 years, almost every electoral ward in Singapore is up for grabs, as the opposition parties stage their biggest contest against the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP).

Top among the list of grouses against the current government are rising cost of living and property prices, sudden influx of foreign workers, overcrowding of public transport, and governmental accountability. Discontentment rising from these issues has made the ground "not so sweet" for the PAP, giving the opposition a prime chance to attempt to gain some foothold in Parliament.

The biggest battleground is considered to be Aljunied GRC, where the opposition Workers' Party is pitting their dream team of some of the best opposition candidates out there against a strong PAP team which includes the widely respected Foreign Minister George Yeo.

Perhaps the biggest contributor to the change this year has been the rise of social media, with Facebook and Twitter becoming the de facto source of news and opinion amongst the young and connected. Indeed social media seems to have brought a new political awakening amongst the new generation; a few months ago people would have considered most Singaporean youths to be politically apathetic, but the outpouring of notes and posts on Facebook (both pro-PAP and pro-opposition) suggest otherwise. Even the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had a Facebook "chat" to answer voters' questions.

On the non-virtual front, political rallies have seen huge turnouts, particularly for opposition candidates.

On May 7th, Singaporeans will head to the polls and decide their future, and perhaps make history for this young nation.

Contesting Parties:

People's Action Party (PAP)
The Workers' Party (WP)
National Solidarity Party (NSP)
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP)
Singapore People's Party (SPP)
The Reform Party (RP)
Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA)

News Sources:

Straits Times
Channel NewsAsia
The Online Citizen
The Temasek Review

Additional Links:

WP calls for a First World Parliament

MM Lee Kuan Yew says opposition voters will have to repent

PM Lee Hsien Loong says sorry

PAP needs to review the way it governs: George Yeo

The Lee Hsien Loong Compact: Does the rising dissent mark a new chapter in Singapore's political history where a new compact will be forged between the PAP and the people?

Towards a First World Electorate (PDF): Ho Kwon Ping discusses the changes that have arisen this election season and what it bodes for the future.

posted by destrius (31 comments total)

Singapore's political system can be a little complex, so here's a quick primer. The Wikipedia entry on the Politics of Singapore is a good place for more detailed info.

Structure:

Singapore is a parliamentary republic, with the Prime Minister as the head of government. Legislative power is held by the Parliament, which unicameral and is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs). The executive branch of the government is the cabinet, which is formed by the Prime Minister from the MPs in Parliament. The general election is the process by which the people elect their MPs.

The Parliament elected this year will consist of 84 elected MPs. In addition, Singapore also has a Nominated MP (NMP) scheme allowing up to 9 non-elected MPs who do not have any political affiliation, and a Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) scheme where up to 9 candidates from opposition parties can enter Parliament even though they lost the election. These schemes are aimed at bringing more opposition and independent voices to the government; however NMPs and NCMPs do not have full voting rights that the elected MPs enjoy.

Currently, the PAP holds 82 out of the 84 elected seats in Parliament. The remaining two seats are held by Low Thia Khiang of the Workers' Party and Chiam See Tong of the Singapore People's Party. Parliament has always been PAP-dominated. For a bill to pass into law, a simple majority (or two-thirds when it is a constitutional amendment) is required.

Election Process:

Members of Parliament are elected into office by citizens in their constituencies, which can either by Group Representative Constituencies (GRCs) or Single Member Constituenies (SMCs). SMCs are areas represented by a single MP, similar to electoral systems around the world; GRCs are a uniquely Singaporean concept where a team of 3-6 candidates (number fixed per GRC) form a team and contest together. There must be at least one minority candidate per GRC, which is meant to enshrine minority representation in Parliament. The GRC system is very controversial, as the opposition claims it makes it harder for small parties to contest. Nevertheless, this year all but one GRC is being contested by the opposition. The PAP is contesting all seats.

Every election, the electoral boundaries are redrawn by the Elections Department, which is under the Prime Minister's Office. This department decides on the size, scope and number of SMCs and GRCs. This year there are 15 GRCs and 12 SMCs.

Elections are first-past-the-post; the party with the most votes wins the seat(s).
posted by destrius at 7:20 PM on May 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

“For the first time in almost 40 years, almost every electoral ward in Singapore is up for grabs, as the opposition parties stage their biggest contest against the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP). Top among the list of grouses against the current government are rising cost of living and property prices, sudden influx of foreign workers, overcrowding of public transport, and governmental accountability.”

So what you're saying, then, is that the media in Singapore is suddenly full of PAP smears.
posted by koeselitz at 7:24 PM on May 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

So what you're saying, then, is that the media in Singapore is suddenly full of PAP smears.

I personally find the traditional media (Straits Times and MediaCorp, both with close government links) are still quite biased towards the PAP. Its been a pretty different story online though.
posted by destrius at 7:37 PM on May 5, 2011

My understanding is that Singapore is essentially a one-party state, a democracy only on paper, and that opposition canidates are routinely abused, sued, fined and imprisoned.

Am I right or is the situation more complex? Any Singapore watchers want to weigh in?
posted by Avenger at 8:19 PM on May 5, 2011

What's not expressly permitted is prohibited.
(previously)
posted by ryanrs at 8:33 PM on May 5, 2011

My understanding is that Singapore is essentially a one-party state, a democracy only on paper, and that opposition canidates are routinely abused, sued, fined and imprisoned.

Am I right or is the situation more complex? Any Singapore watchers want to weigh in?

Its fairly more complex than that. I believe the basic democratic institutions are here and in place, i.e. elections are fair as far as vote counting goes. Historically, there have been cases where the PAP could be seen to be silencing opposition voices. In general they tended to rely on defamation suits though, so if you are careful with your words you will be safe.

Nowadays things are a lot more open. In particular as can be seen from this election, such tactics have not been used on the opposition.

Also of note are Low Thia Khiang and Chiam See Tong, opposition MPs who have been reelected into Parliament numerous times. They both came out to say that the government did not do anything against them nor did they suffer for being in the opposition; the point they were making is that its safe to vote for opposition, nothing bad will come to you. (Of course, the fact that people need to make such assertions in the first place is a bit troubling.)

One of the candidates this year, Teo Soh Lung, was an ex-political detainee under the Internal Security Act, so that can also be seen as a sign of the government opening up.
posted by destrius at 8:37 PM on May 5, 2011

Am I right or is the situation more complex? Any Singapore watchers want to weigh in?

Amnesty International has some things to say about Singaporean freedom of expression and assembly.
posted by Paragon at 8:41 PM on May 5, 2011

Other than the threat of not receiving renovation projects and upgrades to your area if you vote off-white, many people I have talked to here are wary of the fact that polling is not truly anonymous and vulnerable to tracking. Each ballot has an identification number on it matched to your ID. Although the claim is that this is only to avoid potential fraud, the fear that you can be singled out as an opposition party voter deters many from voting anything other than PAP.

Another hurdle for the opposition parties is that each seat you wish to contest requires a fee of over 10 thousand dollars, which can be prohibitive for smaller groups. In the past opposition leaders have found themselves ruined financially after an election due to lawsuits from the PAP.

All that said, as a benevolent dictatorship, Singapore has been managed very well, especially compared to neighboring areas of Southeast Asia. Even those who want more voice in their government are worried that the opposition parties do not have the vision or the expertise to continue the great growth we have experienced.
posted by ueyfeuor at 9:58 PM on May 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh hai it's a topic which has been consuming most of my attention for the last few months. Thanks, Elections Department, for scheduling the General Election during my finals week. Thelection Department.

I think things are changing, but that the change may not necessarily be reflected in who gets into Parliament, not least because of the way the GRC system is set up. My opinion (everyone's got one) is that the online chatter looks really noisy, but that the reach of that chatter is limited. The biggest change is an increased level of engagement within the electorate, something that wasn't really happening prior to this election.

We saw inklings of it in the last election in 2006, with some bloggers posting their observations, but Twitter and Facebook - and the coming-of-age of a generation of voters comfortable with expressing themselves on the Internet on a large scale - means things will change, unless the PAP decides to reverse its light-touch regulation of the Internet. Which it might.

Up to now the PAP hasn't engaged in overtly blatant cheating at elections (e.g. vote-buying or vote-rigging), preferring instead to rely on legalistic means (suing threatening opponents into oblivion) or making undemocratic amendments to the constitution to make conditions for a viable opposition more difficult to overcome. The NCMP, NMP and GRC schemes are all examples of this - ensuring a toothless opposition and easy passage into Parliament for underqualified PAP candidates. As far as we know, the secret police doesn't shoot dissidents, either, which is a plus point.

One of the issues the opposition has been raising consistently is the lack of accountability. The Minister for Home Affairs, Wong Kan Seng, had a known Jemaah Islamiyah operative escape from detention and into Malaysia on his watch, and failed to recapture him despite a massive, months-long manhunt - in the end, the Malaysian law enforcement agencies recaptured him in Johore, just across a bridge from the northernmost point of Singapore. Wong suffered no consequences from this failure despite his US$1 million-per-annum salary. Unsurprisingly, people are unhappy about this. The hope is not that the opposition will replace the PAP in government - that is, even for the most optimistic opposition supporter, a near-impossibility - but rather that a substantial opposition presence in Parliament will force the PAP to be more responsive and more accountable.
posted by WalterMitty at 10:11 PM on May 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

I must say that I and many, many other 'netizens' have been saying a lot of things online, so far without fear of reprisal - a net plus for freedom of expression - although that might yet prove to be overoptimistic, since traditionally the PAP waits for the elections to end before deploying the lawyers.
posted by WalterMitty at 10:13 PM on May 5, 2011

Indeed as some of the essays I linked mention, whatever the outcome of this election, the biggest plus point is the increased political awareness of the younger generation. People are starting to understand what democracy is and why it matters, what their vote means. Many of my generation are researching to find out more about how our government works, how laws are passed in Parliament, etc., something most would have found boring and unimportant a year ago.

There are actually many insightful articles on Facebook which would contribute to this post, but I decided not to include them as I believe you'd need a Facebook login to access them.
posted by destrius at 10:22 PM on May 5, 2011

But yeah definitely I think the chatter online isn't really representative of the peoples' opinions as a whole; currently I think the PAP still has a pretty high chance of capturing back all their wards.
posted by destrius at 10:28 PM on May 5, 2011

First of all, great post!

So what you're saying, then, is that the media in Singapore is suddenly full of PAP smears.

So there's the usual shit about OB (Out of Bound) Markers that delineate "permissible" topics and those that can't be discussed. The actual worth of Singapore's reserves, to take a benign example, is still a state secret.

'Structural' legal stuff aside, here's a comment on the media: now the media is nominally privately owned with a separate owning entity and all that. Now this is rather unique in the region, where either political parties or the government own channels outright; technically, this would make it a case of media bias or _under_coverage, rather than censorship. The opposition candidate, James Gomez's preferred phrase for this is 'self-censorship'.

Realistically though, the fact remains that most of the management is either ex-spook, ex-government or are active card-carrying PAP members. They've all lived lives believing in Singapore's One True Way; it's quite hard for them to imagine lives otherwise.

Now, what's rather unique this time around is that the PAP has specifically _not_ pulled its dirty-cards out (as opposed to playing dirty politics, which it has as I'll elaborate in a bit); again to take a very benign example, in the last elections, they publicly insisted that the media cater 80% of their space/ talk-time to PAP because they got 80% of the votes. They haven't done any of that stuff this time around.

Now why they've not done so is an interesting question, and I'd guess it'll be something we won't know for sure for a few years. There have been all sorts of suggestions among civil society groups and media-watchers; everything from increased international awareness to apparently not wanting to become like Malaysia, where the media is supposedly so in the bag for the incumbent, that it's lost its relevance entirely in favour of online sites. That is, people have stopped reading The Star or New Straits Times, and follow online sites such as malaysiakini.com solely instead.

I'm not entirely convinced by this argument, mostly for one salient reason: you'll have to squint your eye to observe this, but the reality is that it's happening here as well. Now, it's not as obvious as it is in Malaysia, but that's because SPH/ Mediacorp do a fantastic job in generating media "products". They not just toe the government line, but also are in the game to make money. What that means is, they have a steady stream of content in all four official languages and in all forms of media, from deadtree newspapers to ipad apps, all of which are still quite popular. SPH's sexy new iPhone app for the elections is in the top ten downloads for Singapore's AppStore.

But here's the twist: I've actually been quite amazed as to how _ineffective_ the local media has been in setting the agenda. Let me take one example: a government minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, raised some muck about an Opposition candidate, Vincent Vikramasinghe, asking if he supported the 'gay agenda' because he apparently took part in a debate on gay-rights. Classic turdball move, mostly aimed at Other-ing the Opposition and raising muck on them. What was new, however, was not just how quickly that story got buried, but more on how the Opposition actually deflected it away; in most of the rallies, the accused, Vikramasinghe, talked about letting go of fear and all that but not this. That, to me, is both a sign of confidence in themselves, and to a lesser extent, tacit acknowledgement that perhaps the eventual result, that they'll lose that heavily gerrymandered GRC, doesn't matter as much as pushing the public discourse forward, and yes, setting the agenda. Something that Singapore just hasn't had in the 11 years I've been here.

And oh, for all the past sordid history involving ISA's and all that, the elections here have been super festive, and quite surprisingly inclusive; one of the most pleasant surprises this season was on realizing that quite a few of my friends and acquaintances have involved themselves in the process, as volunteers, organizers and even a few candidates (on both sides) The energy-levels have been off-the-scale so far; been fantastic to have witnessed it all.

My only complaint so far, and this is a big one that will outweigh just about everything else, is how rampant the gerrymandering has become; it's not just the GRC system that I'm talking about, but GRC _boundaries_ - Singapore residents will recognize this, but the incongruity of, say, Moulmein-Kallang GRC's boundary falling at the junction of Adam Road and Bukit-fucking-Timah Road is, to me, the clearest sign possible that The Man will still win eventually in the hustings, regardless of how big the crowds have been in the Opposition rallies. Someone somewhere thought real hard about not just racial demographics (which, anyway, are more or less meaningless in Singapore), but also class; to mix lower-class Jalan Besar with super-rich Adam Road in the same massive constituency is to all but ensure status quo.

If I'm proven wrong, then the anger on the streets is greater than I thought!

_{Consulted media firms before. Wife is a journo, but not in Mediacorp or Straits Times. Singapore resident, but not a voter. "Foreign talent".}
posted by the cydonian at 12:48 AM on May 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

Great post. I thought things might have been a bit different this time around given the scathing and frequent posts about the PAP I've been seeing on facebook by some Singaporean acquaintances, but had been too busy/lazy to look into it myself, so thanks!
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 2:01 AM on May 6, 2011

Great post, destrius!

Throwing in a few other links:
- Singapore Elections (different from the official Elections Department site) is an excellent source of information on elections in Singapore dating back to 1948.
- MARUAH, a Singapore NGO for the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, has been monitoring the mainstream print media's coverage of the elections on a daily basis since Nomination Day. It has also embarked on a campaign to inform and persuade voters that their votes are secret, and will also be carrying out a public survey on the conduct of the polling process.
- Data visualisation on the social media chatter surrounding the elections.
- A quick (unofficial) look at the electoral map and boundaries.
- To follow discussions on Twitter, use the hashtag #sgelections. koeselitz, #papsmear has actually been widely used to tag instances of the ruling party's personal attacks against candidates from the opposition.

Happy Cooling Off Day! [pdf]
posted by hellopanda at 2:07 AM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

My parents live in Aljunied GRC fwiw. But I won't be out there till after all this is over. Lets see what happens...
posted by infini at 2:13 AM on May 6, 2011

Wife is a journo, but not in Mediacorp or Straits Times.

Ah, but is she from the New Paper? *sharpens knives* God I hate that pissant excuse for journalism.

I am well aware of the online anger, and have in my own small way contributed to it (mostly retweets and sardonic remarks, and commenting on friends' election-related Facebook wallposts). I do see a backlash as well, however, with people (e.g. Xiaxue, a local, popular, but mindblowingly stupid blogger) posting 'rebuttals' against opposition stands and supporters and justifications for voting for the PAP.

The most galling argument they use is the 'gratitude' one - the PAP brought us some pretty good economic growth over the last 40 years, so we should be 'grateful' and vote them back in. Sorry, that's just bullshit. If someone raises you from birth but now decides to start stealing your money and kicking your dog, gratitude doesn't come into play.

Me, I'm an opposition supporter - gonna be a polling agent for the Workers' Party tomorrow afternoon. I doubt that they'll win any GRCs, and the end result is likely to be 87:0, 86:1 or - at best - 85:2 (i.e. Potong Pasir and Hougang). I do hope they win, but I'm not an optimist.

I think having more proper opposition MPs (none of that weaksauce NCMP bullcrap) won't change the supermajority and the ease with which the PAP passes any sort of legislation it wants, but it'll raise political awareness in Singapore and possibly give the voiceless a voice. The PAP believes, by and large, that economic growth cures all ills, combined with a good dose of racial politics. It's not always true, and as an ostensible First World country, there should be a corresponding regard for human dignity, and equality.

If you know our Pledge - our oath of allegiance to Singapore - it reads:

We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation.

The FIRST THING it mentions that we want to do is to build a democratic society. It's just an oath, and it's just words, but I get the feeling - after living here for 25 or so years - that the only thing the PAP really wants is the prosperity and progress bit. Me, I think there are other, equally important bits; and that is why I'm voting for the opposition.
posted by WalterMitty at 2:23 AM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

The most galling argument they use is the 'gratitude' one - the PAP brought us some pretty good economic growth over the last 40 years, so we should be 'grateful' and vote them back in. Sorry, that's just bullshit. If someone raises you from birth but now decides to start stealing your money and kicking your dog, gratitude doesn't come into play.

Our Asian Values™ dictate otherwise. We're told that as a society we uphold filial piety as an ultimate virtue and to always display respect, obedience and gratitude to our elders. Scale it up, and that explains our national psyche and our willingness for the government to interfere in our lives, trusting that it's all in our best interests. I think our Shared Values (drilled into us as schoolchildren) say it all:
- Nation before community and society before self
- Family as the basic unit of society
- Consensus not conflict
- Racial and religious harmony
- Community support and respect for the individual

Tiny sidetrack: One thing I've always found strange is that the five stars on our flag are supposed to represent the ideals of Singapore - democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality - all of which are contained in the national pledge save for 'peace' which was mysteriously been replaced by 'prosperity'.
posted by hellopanda at 3:00 AM on May 6, 2011

Well, it looks like the PAP.... is going to get smeared.

*sunglasses*

YEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!
posted by backseatpilot at 5:00 AM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

So, what are the odds 377A gets repealed in the foreseeable future?
posted by kafziel at 2:13 PM on May 6, 2011

Some of the opposition parties are against it, but even if they get voted into Parliament, they will not have the Parliamentary supermajority (3/4, I think) needed to change the law. The PAP will need to see the need to repeal it, but there's no sign of that happening; and it's not been a major issue during this election, either.
posted by WalterMitty at 6:48 PM on May 6, 2011

Man, how did I miss the pap smear joke earlier on. Anyway yeah, the major issue this election is the importance of an opposition voice and a "backup plan", as framed by the Workers' Party. PAP has shown itself to be less than perfect and has admitted that it made mistakes, so there must be people who will be ready to take over if a big mistake happens.

At least, that's the major valid issue this election to me, the other cost of living etc. issues are also important and are probably the cause of most of the dissent, but I don't think the government is fully to blame for many of them. There's also the social welfare issue but I dunno how many people are really for increased welfare in our society, given how the average Singaporean tends to veer right on social issues.
posted by destrius at 12:28 AM on May 7, 2011

NYT: In Singapore, Political Campaigning Goes Viral
posted by destrius at 12:51 AM on May 7, 2011

_{No, the missus doesn't work with New Paper; in fact, she hates it as much as I do! :)}

they will not have the Parliamentary supermajority (3/4, I think) needed to change the law.
So you need a simple majority to introduce a law, but a two-thirds majority to amend the constitution. I'm thinking (and this is where I'd defer to people like hellopanda) because Section 377A is part of the Singapore Penal Code (and not the constitution?), a simple majority would be enough.

So, what are the odds 377A gets repealed in the foreseeable future?

It was quite fascinating reading about Section 377A; the short summary is that this is a law specifically targetting gay sex, possibly to rein in Bugis Street transvestites (possibly NSFW; some nudity in one of the pictures). There has been quite a strong movement / discussion on this in the last few years, although disappointingly, they've re-started prosecutions under the Section, despite promises to the contrary.

To answer the question though, my assessment would be slim to none. Lots of religious types would be against repealing it, and I doubt the government (or the Opposition) would want to rock the boat further.
--
Some further thoughts on gerrymandering: seems like the basis is support for PAP, and not just class.
--
Rumblings overnight: Mountbatten and Radin Mas SMC's could get interesting, Holland - Bukit Timah GRC will be close, in a further display of more vacuous arrogance and stupidity, (Team) Tin Pei Ling further shoots her (it)-self in the foot.
posted by the cydonian at 1:02 AM on May 7, 2011

Oh boy. WP made it through in Aljunied by a wide margin. PAP, though, is scraping through in Marine Parade, Holland - Bukit Timah AND Tampines GRC's; they'll probably make it through (if the Elections Dept doesn't make a noise about TPL's shenanigans, which I don't think it will). Chiam See Tong has lost Potong Pasir finally.
posted by the cydonian at 8:53 AM on May 7, 2011

Well, technically Chiam didn't contest in Potong Pasir, his wife did; and she lost by 114 votes, or something.

LE SIGH VOTE-SPOILING VOTERS Y U NVR VOTE PROPERLY.

You know what I'd like to see? TPL gets booted out of Parliament for being stupid during Cooling-Off Day, and George Yeo - a pretty decent Foreign Minister - wins a by-election to replace her. There would be a significant net gain.

Got a lot more to say, but I've had a 20-hour-long day of voting, being a polling agent, and hollering wildly at the WP partay at the Hougang Stadium, so I'll save it for when I'm less dead on my feet. On balance I'm probably pleased, but the outcomes of Joo Chiat and Potong Pasir are rather galling.
posted by WalterMitty at 1:25 PM on May 7, 2011

Well, technically Chiam didn't contest in Potong Pasir, his wife did; and she lost by 114 votes, or something.

Ahhh, my bad; it was a long night!

LE SIGH VOTE-SPOILING VOTERS Y U NVR VOTE PROPERLY.

I know! Although, to put a positive spin on it all, now you know what to say if someone in the future says their vote doesn't count. Of course it will!

(By way of explanation for others who are wondering about this, the victory-margin for the incumbent in two "single-member" constituencies, one of them a traditional Opposition strong-hold, was less than the number of spoiled votes. It was that close.)

You know what I'd like to see? TPL gets booted out of Parliament for being stupid during Cooling-Off Day, and George Yeo - a pretty decent Foreign Minister - wins a by-election to replace her. There would be a significant net gain.

You know, I was on the fence about TPL until this Facebook hoohaa flared up; the Internet makes it quick judgments too easy, and I always try to not be quick to judge. However, no way she can come out of that looking even decently good; the contempt for people, the inability to resist making a Facebook comment (let's not pretend it was her "manager"; she was legally responsible), and furious back-pedalling post-event are a sight to behold. What's this, elections to NUS Student Union or something? Gaaaah.
posted by the cydonian at 7:54 PM on May 7, 2011

Final Results: PAP holds 81/87 seats, WP captures Aljunied and retains Hougang, Potong Pasir finally falls to PAP, George Yeo is out of a job. Despite its overwhelming majority in Parliament, PAP's popular vote now stands at 60.1%, the lowest ever since Independence.

That's about it for this election I guess. To wrap it all up: Yam Ah Mee Club Mix
posted by destrius at 7:21 AM on May 8, 2011

So, the PAP still holds 93% of the government.

So much for that.
posted by kafziel at 8:08 AM on May 8, 2011

Well, baby steps... we'll get there someday. 45 years is still young for a country.
posted by destrius at 8:46 AM on May 8, 2011

Lee Kwan Yew resigns

that is significant, innit? After all these decades
posted by infini at 5:46 AM on May 15, 2011