A fruitful election season?

The much awaited Day is now known... 7 May 2011 (a Saturday) is Polling Day aka Election Day.

Meanwhile, Mr Goh Chok Tong said something which piqued me.Speakng in Beijing, where he has just ended a visit, he said: "The ground may not be sweet but can you sweeten the ground by having more Opposition in Parliament?"

I am sure there will be pundits commenting on this remark of his. But, for now, my interest is in the idiomatic use of ground being "sweet". I wondered if this is a peculiarly Singaporean expression; it has often been used in the past here, particularly by the PAP. And we know what it means.

When "the ground is sweet" for a political party, it means much of the effort it has made to date in cultivating the "ground" -- voters -- has borne fruit (as in "working the ground"). Presumably tangible incentives like, say, estate or lift upgrading and hardship softening measures -- ie sweeteners -- have struck a chord, or to continue with the fruit tree/fruit vine analogy, percolated into and enriched the ground. In short, people are happy.

So, when "the ground may not be sweet," the sweeteners did not seem to have had the desired effect, and there is a certain "bitterness" still within the ground, ie among voters. This could be because all those "hot button" issues from the high cost of living to overcrowding continue to a source of dissatisfaction.

If the ground is sweet, presumably the fruit trees or vines planted on it will bear fruit, and they will be barren if the ground is not sweet.

But my check on the Internet was not fruitful... my search proved barren and I remain clueless as to the origin of this expression, inspite of my being a "farmer" and not a "scholar" (fellow baby boomers who have served as regulars or NSmen will know what I mean).

Mr Eric Low, the PAP's man who has decided he will no longer take on the Workers Party's Low Thai Khiang in Hougang in this election (having lost twice) had also used a fruit analogy. He had, in the run-up to the previous election, felt that the chiku fruit in the ward was ripe for his picking. It was not to be.

Recently, Mr Eric Low explained why he will not stand in this coming election: ‎"The chiku tree is now very big. At 62, I don't think I can climb up and pluck the fruit. It is good for a young man like Desmond Choo to go for it. We have looked after it, and one day, we will taste the sweetness of the fruit."

[Note: Chiku in Chinese is "'ren xin guo", which means "humane heart fruit".]

Finally, in Singapore-Malaysia relations, efforts were made to pluck the "low-hanging fruits" ie to reach agreement on the less contentious bilateral issues first. Hopefully, the "feel good" from such progress will lead to a better chance of resolving the harder issues -- the tough nuts to crack, or more appropriately here, the "higher-hanging fruits".

Well, in this coming election season, we are seeing more quality candidates coming forward -- and no fruitcakes. I hope.