Look at this screen shot from 9:36 pm, Thursday, 19 February 2009. When I saw it, I called Choo Zheng Xi of The Online Citizen immediately and he got exactly the same page, so that I have a witness. He took a screen shot too.

What about it? Look at the page title -– it says "General Election 2009". The contents though are from 2006. Ask yourself: Why would a page from 2006 carry a title that references 2009?

The only explanation I can think of is that Mediacorp is preparing all their websites to support an election. The easiest thing to do, as any webmaster knows, is to recycle previously designed pages.

So that's what's happening -– they are in the process of updating and recycling, but forgot that the pages are still "live". As a result, we can see the work in progress.

But if there is work in progress, does it mean the election is a sure thing?

* * * * *

The Straits Times today (19 Feb 2009) carried a front page story headlined "Changes made to polling districts". The gist of it was that the Elections Department has issued as statement saying that changes have been made to boundaries of polling districts. A polling district is a neighbourhood that shares one polling station. The boundary changes are necessary for logistical reasons, so that the numbers of voters are not too many for any particular polling station to handle.

Usually, as the newspaper reported, changes to polling districts are followed by another announcement, concerning changes to boundaries of electoral constituencies, a few weeks or a few months later. The longest lag time in recent memory was six months in 1997. And that is usually the signal for a general election.

On Tuesday, 17 February, the Elections Department had also announced that the electoral register was being updated, an exercise that should be completed by 30 April. While updating electoral rolls is said to be routine, boundary changes are widely believed to be indicative of an upcoming general election.

However, there is no need to finish updating the electoral rolls before calling an election. If the government calls for a snap election, they'll just use the old register.

Despite this, the Straits Times found many politicians and political watchers unsure how soon an election would be. The next one isn't due until 2012. Member of Parliament Ong Ah Heng tried to dismiss speculation:

Nee Soon Central MP Ong Ah Heng saw yesterday's announcement as a 'normal procedure' and thought a snap election highly unlikely.

'The earliest will be next year. But it depends very much on the economy and when we can overcome the recession,' he said.

'The Government is now concentrating its energy on helping workers and companies. Where is there energy for a general election?'

Mr Ong, who has not set up his election committee, added that the Government was mindful of the widespread impact of the recession, including on many middle- and upper-middle-income Singaporeans.

So he felt the Government would 'consider very carefully' and wait for signs of a recovery before calling an election. 

-- Straits Times, 19 February 2009,
Changes made to polling districts 

Other political watchers were also guarded:

Agreeing, political analyst Eugene Tan said holding the polls now would be a distraction. Besides, people had yet to see the impact of measures passed in the Budget.

Sociologist Terence Chong, like Joo Chiat MP Chan Soo Sen, argued that the Government is getting processes ready in order to call an election at any time.

'The best you can say is that they are putting the pieces in place so that there is an option, and if the (economic) forecast is very gloomy, they may call one before things get worse,' Mr Chong said.

Preparations began last November when public servants selected to be election officers were sent letters informing them of training they will receive. Schools have also been designated as polling centres.

-- ibid.

Yawning Bread had revealed in a January article that there is insider talk about a snap election. The article Why there mustn't be an election this year offered my view that holding an election now can only mean two things: Either the People's Action Party wants to ride a "flight to safety" effect to sweep all opposition away, regaining a monopoly of parliamentary seats -- a most undemocratic motive, if you ask me -- or the government has no confidence at all that the economy will improve by 2011. The latter will mean a very long and painful recession.

Mediacorp, in preparing its website, may also believe that an election is imminent. The unknown is: Are they doing it based on their own gut feel and mere preparedness, or have they been told to get their website ready by a certain date? Either way, it looks like an election this year and not later.

© Yawning Bread