On Saturday morning (April 30), cries of "Ah Mu! Ah Mu!" were drowned out by those of "Mr Lee! 'Mr Lee!" as crowds of Bukit Batok residents gathered, hoping to get a handshake or, better yet, a selfie with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The popularity of the People's Action Party (PAP) Secretary-General was unquestionable: wherever he went, he was greeted with smiles, cheers and even adoring squeals from star-stricken aunties.

His prodigious presence would have completely overshadowed PAP's candidate for the upcoming by-election, if not for his proactive introduction of and campaigning of votes for Murali Pillai to everyone they met.

The pair was met with so much passion and enthusiasm (by both the residents and media alike) that the Mothership.sg team soon found ourselves drowned in the sea of people and the miasma of their body odour.

Here are the 6 painstaking observations we made about Saturday's walkabout with Lee and Murali during the rare few moments we could see beyond someone's scalp.

1. No one can come close to stealing PM's thunder

Even Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's star power seems dim next to the PM's.

In what would otherwise be a 15-minute walk, Lee and Murali took three hours to cover because they, their entourage, and adoring fans were moving at a speed of 3 steps/minute due to the overwhelming number of people that wanted to get up close with Lee.

On the other hand, the walkabout of the anchor minister for Jurong GRC (who has been an MP there since 2001) was relatively unhindered, with only one or two residents going up to greet him once in awhile.

This is surprising because Tharman, who was PAP's star during their campaign trail in last year's General Elections, is usually met with much more fanfare - well I guess we know now that that is only when his boss is not around.

2. Lee’s belief that Chee remains unchanged remains unchanged

The barbs went flying again at Chee Soon Juan (yet again), SDP’s candidate for Bukit Batok, as PM questioned Chee’s character and commitment towards the opposition candidate.

In particular, PM Lee hit out at the attacks by SDP’s politicians towards disgraced MP David Ong - who resigned from his position in March 2016, triggering the current by-election - during yesterday's rally.

Lee was quoted saying:

“That is completely hypocritical. You get your guys to say all the bad things, you come along and you look magisterial, and benign and say, no you must not hit somebody, having called all your lieutenants to hit him as hard as they can. But unfortunately, it’s in character.”

Lee also questioned the character of SDP’s Secretary-General, making references to his coloured past and how he was quoted saying in an interview with Lianhe Wanbao that he is “not sorry” for what he has done.

In reply to Chee’s remarks that “even good people make mistakes”, Lee said:

“(Before) you can turn around and make good, you must first recognise that something has gone wrong, and that you have to put it right,”

“Character never changes, and of all people, Chee should know best,” Lee added, a narrative that PAP used repeatedly against Chee since last year's General Election.

It started last year with PAP’s Holland-Bukit Timah GRC’s team, where during one of their rallies, one of their MPs, Sim Ann, infamously called Chee out for being a master of chut pattern (scheming).

PM continued this criticism during the PAP’s lunchtime rally - held a day after SDP’s - who again brought Chee's willingness to change into question.

This was echoed by the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC anchor minister, Vivian Balakrishnan who said that he was "intrigued" by Chee's political "makeover" and quoted PM's speech in an interview with Mothership.sg, saying that “reputation is temporary, but character is permanent”.

These remarks could be PAP’s attempt to dampen Chee’s popularity among younger Singaporeans by repeatedly painting him as the black sheep of Singapore politics instead of the dark horse many see him as.

#SDPRally Damanhuri: "David Ong was caught with his pants down, below the knees" #BukitBatok #SGByElection pic.twitter.com/SD2uAStk21

— Mothership.sg (@MothershipSG) April 29, 2016

Sadasivam: Within six months of the GE, David Ong has disappeared from the political scene. #SDPRally #BBByElection pic.twitter.com/KVeJxsKWLA — Yahoo Singapore (@YahooSG) April 29, 2016

3. PM takes his own photos (sometimes)

When campaigning, PM Lee takes his own photographs with his iPhone.

This is an interesting distinction between him as the PAP Secretary-General and him as the PM.

Since PM Lee was campaigning in his capacity as PAP Secretary-General, he did not have his dedicated team of civil servants from the Prime Minister's Office alongside him to take photos.

4. And he really wants a grandchild

It is well known that our PM is a master at code-switching, alternating with ease between English, Mandarin and Malay when meeting with residents.

Today, we learned that he is also very fluent in baby talk.

Sorry, as none of us at Mothership.sg is fluent in it, we are unable to translate what was said in this video. But what we know is, from that patriarchal smile and twinkle in his eyes, Lee loves babies.

And he confirmed that in 0:40 of the video, where you can hear Lee complaining to a resident in Mandarin that he is not as lucky as him to have a grandchild - yet.

I guess at 64 years old, he no longer has time for subtlety: PM's four children, we hope you (finally) get the hint.

5. The race card, played again

The issue of race came up yet again during the press conference, when Lee said he was concerned about the negative racial sentiments faced by Murali.

An example he cited were the comments made by some netizens online, asking voters in Bukit Batok to vote along racial lines - something first brought up by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) Grace Fu on the podium of the first PAP rally.

Fu claims that some have played the racial card and hopes that @yourSDP isn't taking that position #BukitBatok #PAPRally

— Mothership.sg (@MothershipSG) April 29, 2016

Lee said:

“I see online some comments making this point about race in a quite open way… I see also on Chee Soon Juan’s webpage, his postings and then there are comments, and there are some comments which are along this vein too, and they have not been refuted or taken down.”

However, he remains confident of Murali’s chances in the by-election, adding that race is “no problem at all”.

“(In) Paya Lebar, he had three years, he got to know them, they got to know him, and in the end, in the General Election, if Paya Lebar had been a Single (Member) Constituency, Murali would be the MP now.”

Murali’s electoral showing was also discussed by Fu in two incidences, demonstrating the confidence that the party has in Murali.

Apr 29: “(Aljunied) is a place where many people would hesitate - and the result, in three years, he won over the people in Aljunied - particularly the people in Paya Lebar. Not only is he sincere, he has no fear.”

Apr 26: “I have full confidence that he’s able to win the trust and the support of the constituency in Bukit Batok… For him to have a very good result in a predominantly Chinese (ward) – by far above national average – I think it’s a very good testament of his ability to cross the language barrier to reach out to Chinese constituents.”

6. What happens when you provide feedback to the PM? 

Ever wondered what happens when you give a feedback directly to the PM?

Thanks to this lady in red, you have your answer. Unsurprisingly, as PM is a very busy man, he cannot dedicate all his time during his walkabout solely to listening and troubleshooting whatever problem you may have.

That is why after getting the crux of the issue, he will have some grassroots activists to inquire further, who will then advise the resident on what to do or investigate into the matter.

This, however, is not unique to the PM though; it is pretty much standard procedure for most MPs during their walkabouts and Meet-the-People sessions.

Top image by Kelly Wong

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