Singapore GE 2015: Give me the drama of Malaysian politics any day!

The grass is always greener on the other side, or so they say.

For me, this may not be necessarily true for all things.

The other side I am referring to in this case is none other than our close neighbours across the causeway.

I was in Singapore last week covering the 2015 General Elections, and it was certainly an enriching experience.

It was my first time there, and not only did I get to finally see the vast modernisation of the island republic with my own eyes, but I also had the chance to interact with the people and see how things get done.

The first thing I observed, much to my delight, was how all the taxis strictly use the meter. No need for haggling!

Overall, I found the public transport system relatively more reliable and efficient. No need to wait longer than 5 minutes at any given time for the MRT.

But as usual, I digress.

This article is not about how great (or not) Singapore is compared to Malaysia.

Instead, I found myself more fascinated by the differences between general elections in these two closely-related nations.

Upon arrival, one day before the cooling-off period for campaigning began, my cameraman Rizal and I headed to the Workers' Party rally at Bedok Stadium.

It was supposed to start at 7pm, but we decided to get there a bit early as we were not familiar with the place.

Being a veteran of attending numerous campaign rallies back home, I expected that we would have plenty of time.

Surely it would not start at 7pm, right?

How wrong I was. It kicked off right on the dot, even though only a few thousand were in attendance.

I was so impressed with the organisers' respect for punctuality that the light blue-shirted candidates immediately got my seal of approval (not that it matters).

During the rally, candidates were given approximately 10 to 15 minutes each to sum up their campaign pledges. No mud-slinging took place and they never ridiculed their opponents. Speeches were centered squarely on policies, and everyone was focused on how things could be done better.

No insults were heard throughout the entire rally. Which was quite refreshing to me, as I've always believed that politicians should be chosen based on what they have to contribute, and not how savvy they are at cutting down their opponents.

Now that I've pointed this out, let me just say that I found the speeches relatively dry, at least by Malaysian standards, devoid of the 'fire' and rapturous applause that we're so used to over here.

Fast forward to polling day two days later, and true to form, everything was done in an orderly fashion.

And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING.

From the retrieval of posters and flags (not that there many put up compared to elections back home) to the actual polling process itself, everything was methodical and efficient. There was nothing remotely close to the carnival atmosphere seen outside polling centers when we Malaysians head to the polls.

So is this a good thing? Perhaps, since everything was peaceful and nothing untoward occurred.

But if you ask me, personally, what is an election without a little bit of drama?