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Obama fever hits Singapore
Many young Singaporeans have caught “Obama fever” and are extolling on websites his messages of hope, tolerance and change, a published report said.
They are rooting for 46-year-old Barack Obama in the race against Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic Party’s nominee competing against 71-year-old Republican John McCain for the U.S. presidency, The Sunday Times said.
Obama is “attractive because he flies in the face of norms like experience and age that Singaporeans are used to,” says the blog from Aaron Ng, a 28-year-old with a master’s degree at the National University of Singapore.
The city-state has been ruled by the People’s Action Party since its founding more than four decades ago. There have been only three prime ministers.
“Politics here is not as thrilling as in the U.S.,” said Ashraf Mohamed, the 32-year-old owner of three candy stores. “Obama preaches hope, tolerance, change and dialogue, which is appealing to me.”
Others were quoted as saying they are turned off by Clinton and McCain. Obama is “inspirational” said Shanthan Selvakumar, 28, an energy analyst.
Singaporeans pay great attention to U.S. politics because of its supposed contrast to the more predictable politics here, said associate professor Bilveer Singh from the National University of Singapore’s political science department.
Some Singaporeans have even expressed an interest in donating money to the Obama campaign, but U.S. law allows only Americans to do so.
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