By Nyi Nyi Thet

At 9:20am on Sunday, I arrived at Chong Pang after an hour and half's journey from Queensway, feeling grumpy and unrested, silently cursing whoever decided to schedule the walkabout at that time.

The food court felt like lunchtime on a Monday instead of the dawn of Sunday, bustling with intention and movement. The first thing that caught my eye was the scattering of middle-aged men in light blue shirts adorned with a hammer logo.

They held stacks of “Hammer”, WP’s official newspaper and potential name for any aspiring wrestlers out there, sporadically calling out “Get the Hammer for one dollar!” to passing throngs of residents.

Interestingly, not a single member of WP, volunteer or otherwise, offered a copy to me. Which is an extremely accurate judgement call over who is or isn’t a resident of Nee Soon GRC (they probably smelled the West side on me), well done guys.

Png Eng Huat

The first person I followed was Png Eng Huat, current MP of Hougang, who was tailed by 2 youth WP members, Ron Tan and Shaneet Rai, doing their best impersonations of eager flag-day secondary school students.

It was strange seeing MPs walk among residents in real life. Television edits usually show a concise version of walkabouts, with them happily shaking hands with starstruck constituents, perhaps heartily sharing a joke that probably wasn't that funny.

The reality, like most things without the aid of snazzy edits, was much more of a mixed bag. Sure, some went out of their way to shake hands with Png, gleefully handing over a dollar for a copy of the hammer.

But there were also instances while weaving through the wet market where residents waved away Png's advances in a bid to continue with some grocery shopping. A particularly irate fishmonger shouted at him and his fellowship to peddle their papers somewhere else, lest it get in the way of her business.

After a few more minutes of following him, I noticed a growing band of people with cameras scurrying toward another part of the market. The Singaporean in me bubbled up and out of kaypohness curiosity I trailed a few of them to find a fast-forming herd of journalists.

Low Thia Khiang

It was WP chief Low Thia Khiang and a group of 3 other party members — most notable amongst them Kenneth Foo, one of the potential candidates slated to compete in Nee Soon.

I snuck into the growing pack of smartphone-wielding reporters following Low on his rounds. For the next few minutes, we moved like a pack of voyeuristic rats engaged in a horrible game of Red Light-Green Light, stopping whenever Low slowed down to hand out papers or shake hands, before snapping another dozen rounds of pictures.

Perhaps more people recognised Low, or maybe it was just a friendlier part of the Chong Pang area, but I observed a noticeable increase in residents who took the time to shake Low’s hand, purchase papers and dole out donations for the WP.

Low, for his part, seemed more like a really popular resident than the unofficial leader of Singapore's opposition movement. He shot the breeze and engaged with anyone who crossed his path with an almost unfathomable heartland ease.

It kind of felt like he was just walking around his own neighbourhood, but the intricate planning of this entire morning was made clear when Low circled back to the hawker centre just as Sylvia Lim began to address the media mob gathered around her. Coincidence? I think not.

Sylvia Lim

I tried to find a way inside the dense wall of media surrounding Sylvia but it was no use — reporters and photographers surrounded her as if afraid any information might leak into the empty space behind them. Cameras were thrust high up into the sky in a desperate bid to record the party’s big announcement.

On a side note, it was easy to figure out which of the reporters worked for the traditional media and which ones operated in the new media field. The giant cameras with intimidating tripods belonged to the usual CNA or Channel 8 while new media folk jammed their smartphones up into the air as if they were desperately seeking better reception.

I noticed a lady beside me dressed in a casual blouse-and-shorts combo tiptoeing in a bid to catch a glimpse of what was going on within the human wall. She gave up after a few more tries, muttering how she couldn’t see or hear anything with all these people blocking her way.

She was not alone in her frustrations, a number of curious bystanders attempted to satiate their curiosity for crowds only to be repelled by the immovable block of reporters in their way.

In the end I didn’t hear a single word of the announcement from Sylvia, having to rely on videos posted on social media by more aggressive members of the media, like any other Singaporean not in Chong Pang that morning.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, my first walkabout with the opposition was spent

- playing catch-up with people way more experienced than me,

- struggling to find the means to navigate unfamiliar grounds,

- being out-muscled by far more established opponents and

- not being able to hear voices drowned out by the media scrum.

So in other words, I have never felt more of a kinship with the opposition (and what they experience when campaigning against a bigger party) than I did following them on that walkabout.

(Editor's note to Thet: You need to go to a PAP walkabout next and pop that cherry write about it.)

Related articles:

5 things we learned from tailing the Workers' Party in Nee Soon GRC

Orh Luak politics in 60 seconds: How WP and PAP are frying their oyster omelette

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.