Will it be GE15 or GE16? (Part 1).

The first salvos have been fired by two opposing "generals"... one an ex-general (in the peculiar way that serving armed forces generals in their prime get plucked to become ex-generals in Singapore) and the other the secretary-general of a certain political party. The latter found no comrades in arms.

In the melee, hype-seeking missiles were fired, with plenty of maim-calling exchanges traded. The duel even crossed frontiers, as the opponents Huffed and Posted and even ran into a Wall. When the smoke clears, pundits will be assessing if there have been casualties from possible friendly fire.

So stay tuned, unless the protagonists -- perhaps wounded? -- have been ordered back to headquarters to R&R.

Meanwhile, when you see this headline (below) in the most mainstream of Singapore's mainstream media, you know the gears of war (aka as in election campaigning) have started to roll...

But are those gears rolling in slo-mo or is there a momentum that cannot be stopped?

For one, is the ground sweet? So far, only one side has been reaping the "feel good" effects from the SG50 rah-rah. But it is early days. There have been rumbles from the ground about Third World missteps in a First World city-state. Even the below-ground rats in Bukit Batok have become emboldened and surfaced.

It is still only January 2015. All good Supreme Generals keep their war plans close to their chests, their powder dry and their rapid deployment forces on 24/7 standby. They will want to score total victory, and pesky enemy strongholds have to be wrested back. All good generals also watch out for sudden game-changing moments (black swans! a certain former top civil servant would gush excitedly).

So, those first salvos may just have been a feign. The bets are still on a GE16. But surely you have heard of Carpe Diem?