Obama fever hits Singapore

Mar 23, 2008, 10:50 GMT

Singapore - Many young Singaporeans have caught 'Obama fever' and are extolling his messages of hope, tolerance and change on websites, a published report said Sunday.

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 US presidency.

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 master's degree student at the National University of Singapore, said The Sunday Times.

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 US,' said Ashraf Mohamed, the 32-year-old owner of three candy stores.

'Obama preaches hope, tolerance, change and dialogue, which is appealing to me,' he said.

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 US politics because of its supposed contrast to the more predictable politics in the city-state said associate professor Bilveer Singh from the National University of Singapore's political science department.

One US expatriate based in Singapore who sports an Obama label button and has a pro-Obama websites said people have stopped him on the streets to offer their support.

Some Singaporeans have even expressed an interest in donating money to the Obama campaign, but US law allows only Americans to do so.