In the shadow of Singapore’s gleaming skyline, a subtler game unfolds, one that echoes the treachery of ancient Rome as depicted in the movie Gladiator.
The Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) dropped its latest report yesterday (11 Mar), reshaping the electoral map for the 2025 General Election.
On the surface, it’s a technocratic tweak attributed to population growth.
But peel back the curtain, and it’s a masterstroke of political alchemy—a move worthy of Emperor Lucius Aurelius Commodus spiking the gladiators’ blades to ensure his triumph.
This is a boundary drawing dressed in bureaucratic finery, tilting the arena to keep the People’s Action Party (PAP) in power. It’s time for Singaporeans to rise—not as spectators, but as champions of reform.
The Emperor’s Gambit
In Gladiator, Commodus doesn’t fight fair. He stabs Maximus before their duel, ensuring the odds favour his victory.
The EBRC’s latest map is Singapore’s own poisoned blade, designed to guarantee that Emperor Wong and his praetorians prevail.
The EBRC claims neutrality, citing 2,753,226 voters and a need to balance constituencies. Yet, of the 31 constituencies from 2020, 22 have been redrawn—over 70%. Only five GRCs and four SMCs escape the knife, most of them PAP strongholds.
The opposition’s footholds? Sliced, diced, and redistributed. The addition of four MPs (from 93 to 97) could have been a chance for fairness, but instead, it’s a calculated expansion of the PAP’s playing field.
Double-barrelled names like Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC mask the absorption of PAP-dominated MacPherson SMC into its fold. Is this about population shifts, as the EBRC purports, or power preservation?
Echoes of the Silver Screen
This isn’t just politics; it’s a script Hollywood could envy.
In The Hunger Games, the Capitol rigs the arena to keep the districts in line. In V for Vendetta, the regime manipulates elections to cling to control.
Singapore’s EBRC plays a similar game, redrawing lines to confuse, divide, and conquer. The PAP, like Commodus, fears an even contest.
They’ve held the throne for 60 years, but cracks are showing—Sengkang GRC fell to the WP in 2020, and close calls in East Coast and West Coast GRCs rattled their armor. So, they rewrite the rules, ensuring the gladiators—opposition parties and voters—face an uphill battle.
A Moment to Act
Maximus inspired the crowd, turning the Colosseum’s cheers into a weapon. Singaporeans, too, hold that power. The EBRC’s map isn’t destiny—it’s a challenge.
The election must come by November 2025, and every vote is a sword in the battle for a freer, fairer nation. The constant boundary shifts thrive on apathy; they wither under scrutiny and resolve.
Find inspiration, Singaporeans, in the opposition’s resilience—WP holding Hougang and Aljunied against the odds, SDP’s Chee Soon Juan rallying Bukit Batok before its absorption.
Look to the voters of Sengkang, who defied the odds in 2020.
Consider 84-year-old Tan Cheng Bock, who presses on with unwavering determination.
This is your arena, Singapore. The deck may be stacked, but it can’t silence the roar of an awakened people.
Demand transparency from the EBRC. Question why “population growth” always seems to favour one side. Organize, debate, vote—not just for a party, but for a principle: that power belongs to the people, not politicians.
A New Legacy
Maximus Decimus Meridius dreamt of a Rome restored to its people. Singapore deserves no less—a democracy where boundaries don’t bend to one party’s will, where every citizen’s voice carries equal weight.
The EBRC’s map is a gauntlet thrown down. Pick it up. Step out for a country where the arena isn’t rigged, where the future isn’t dictated by the past.
The election of 2025 isn’t just a vote—it’s a chance to write a new chapter.
Will you watch from the stands and cheer, or will you step into the ring?
This analysis is based on a WhatsApp message widely shared among Singaporeans discussing the latest EBRC report and its implications.
The post The Arena of Power: Singapore’s Electoral Games and the Call for a New Dawn appeared first on The Online Citizen.
