Quadrilingual Poll Card from Singapore
« previous post | next post »
From Mok Ling:
As I'm writing this (evening of 3 May), my friends across the Strait of Malacca in Singapore are eagerly awaiting the results of their most recent general elections. As I've found out, in Singapore, voting in elections is not only a civic duty but mandatory by law!
I happened to come across this image showing the reverse of a poll card issued to all voters:
The reverse of a poll card issued for the Singaporean presidential election, 2011.
The polling station in question was at the void deck of Block 115 Clementi Street 13
in the Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency. (source)
The image is of a poll card issued during the 2011 general elections, but the ones issued today are identical.
What caught my eye is the Chinese version of the text: tóupiào shì qiángzhìxìng de 投票是強制性的 — to me reads like "voting is compulsionaristic!"
The Malay text is just about 1:1 with the English. I have no idea about the Tamil text, but considering even state-run media has compiled a listicle of the many, many times the government has completely butchered Tamil translations specifically, I'm not confident.
it's almost refreshing to see Chinese being butchered this time.
Selected readings
- "Chinese signs in Australian election" (5/23/19)
- "Australian election slang" (5/6/25)
- "Multilingual voting signs" (11/9/12)
Gokul Madhavan said,
May 8, 2025 @ 6:49 am
The Tamil is comprehensible, though I am not well-versed enough in Tamil bureaucratese to comment on whether there are any features that set it apart from Indian Tamil. One thing I did note was their use of the phrase anbu kūrndu as an equivalent for English “please”. The most common phrase you’d normally hear in Tamil Nadu in similar exhortations would be dayavu seydu.
I’ll poll my relatives who know a lot more Tamil than I do and share their reactions.
Leslie Katz said,
May 8, 2025 @ 11:08 am
Voting is compulsory in Australia too. At least in Australia, that's part of the conspiracy of the political parties against the public. As was said by a French political scientist, "There is more in common between two deputies, one of whom is a Communist, than there is between two Communists, one of whom is a deputy."
katarina said,
May 8, 2025 @ 11:53 am
Professor Mair,
I too thought 強制性的 (compulsionary) didn't sound Chinese here. Instead, I'd say
每个公民 都必须投票 (Every citizen must vote).
What would you say?
Chas Belov said,
May 8, 2025 @ 8:25 pm
Actually, I'm more interested in the term "void deck." I had heard it years ago and just thought it simply an open-air area at the foot of apartment buildings. I just looked at the Wikipedia page for void deck and apparently there is so much more to it than that.
Arthur Baker said,
May 8, 2025 @ 8:45 pm
LK, see my comment on the thread "Australian election slang". Voting is not compulsory in Australia. What is compulsory is participation in the election process, even if you do not submit a formal (valid) vote. If you don't submit a valid vote (i.e. you spoil your voting-papers, leave them blank, scrawl obscenities on them, whatever, you have effectively not voted.
I don't see how compulsory participation amounts to "conspiracy of the political parties against the public". Nobody forces you to vote for either of the two major parties, or indeed any party at all. If you wish, it is your democratic right to write "Politicians get lost!" on your paper, and no-one is authorised to inspect it before you put it in the locked box.
How does your alleged "conspiracy" compare with countries where you're not allowed to vote at all, or where your vote is meaningless for lack of candidates opposing the government?
I'm proud to be a citizen of a country where people don't get shanghaied on the street by nameless goons and deported to some hellhole in another country.
Victor Mair said,
May 9, 2025 @ 3:05 am
@katarina
There are many different ways you could say it:
=====
Gōngmín bìxū yīfǎ tóupiào
公民必须依法投票。
"Citizens must vote in accordance with the law."
Tóupiào shì fǎdìng yìwù.
投票是法定义务！
"Voting is a legal obligation!"
=====
etc.