Do u think our oppostion party have made singapore DIRTY,such as riots??
ANS is no,
thailand have riots just happen on bangkok,not all parts of the country..
this will happen becos their opposition party is not muture..
DO THEIR OPPOSITION PARTY SAME AS SINGAPORE OPPOSITION PARTY??

ofcos not!!
,IF yes,u name me some of the BAD incident tat cause by opposition party happen in singapore..:) REMENBER,not all the opposition have same attitudes..

WITH only TWO SEAt in parliament,,how opposition help citizen to Question gov or solve problem tat citizen face??
2 vs 80?? how much effort do they can help people??

at least needed balance ma,then it is fair..

PLUS,DO U GUY GIVE OPPOSITION PARTY A CHANCE !!
U GUY,JUST BASE ON YOUR OWN MIND..
ONE SIDE VIEW!! BASIED people.

goV just increase all thing,THIS CALL TAKECARE OF THEIR CITIZEN?? GOOD FOR THEM…

PLEASE LAH,every single people also know the simple logic to increase $$ in order to solve problem..
we,singaporeans needed is just SOLVE THE PROBLEM WITHOUT INCREASE FEES $$..

if any party CAN do tat,then they can continue to be goV,if not,not worth for citizen to VOTE FOR THEIR PARTY…

am i correct??
ALL people need a single chance,u can give an party 43 year chance to rule singapore,can”T give other party just 4 year plus??
don be so basied,every opposition party need only one chance…
singaporeans..-_-

My main points were posed as 2 questions:
1. Why hasn’t democracy work in most parts of the East like it has worked in the West?
2. We all know that Singapore is not very democratic relative to the West. I then question if democracy would work here.

Regarding my first point, I gave 2 hypotheses: (1a) people cannot reconcile differences (like Thailand) and (1b) absence of capable government.

In response to my second question, I said that I’m not totally sure if democracy would work (which doesn’t mean that I’m sure it does not). One of the reasons is that I believe our level of communicate still lacks far behind established Western democracies. This therefore suggests that we might not yet be able to arrive at consensus (with reference to point 1a). This has nothing to do with elitism. Did I ever postulate that some group of people are “better” than the rest and so should dominate?

As for point 1b (which I didn’t comment previously), I feel that politicians cannot fully grasp the intricacies of managing a large organisation like a surgeon cannot understand the complexity of real human bodies without actual practice and accumulating experience. Therefore, I do not believe that most opposition today can replace the PAP immediately and completely. This is sadly a side-effect of the nanny nature of the PAP which prevents capable people, who hold views alternative to the PAP, from having the opportunity to serve and understand the civil administration system up to the highest level.

The second problem (with regards to point 1b) is a more complicated one. Maybe given time, absolute free-wheeling democracy will run the gears of Darwinian mechanics to weed out the weak government and also leave people happy in the long run, like it took hundred of years in the West. What do you think?

they solve BIG thing just to increase the burden of singaporeans,,DO WE need to support?? sing and western countries is different!! WAKE UP LAH…!!

GOV only know to increase everything..but alot of aunty and uncle fear tat if don VOTES PAP,,they will be kill..!! hahas..V funny right..can”T blame them,,so u can know tat in singaporeans heart,,what kind of faces is PAP R…

all media and NEWPAPER is control by gov..is so sian..
in taiwan,the media is to check the gov..but sing?? praise??
now only internet lo..still want to control?? DEMOCRACY country?? still want to compare western countries??

we must learn from taiwan and malaysia..,,we just need one night in 2011,,to change the sky colour in singapore!!,

we love singapore,SINGAPORE WE R…!!
LOVE OR LOYAL TO Singapore,,at least change some colour,,if not we die more fast…:(
gov salary too high..

GOV is work for the people,,DO u think so in sing??
they love SINGAPO,SINGAPO DOLLAR…:)….:)

you understimate Singaporeans! In any society there are people who resort to emotional arguments. However, your attitude is similar to the government, it is paternalistic and elitist. The people are not ready and we know better. You have to ask yourself the question: if only when everyone is making rational statements, Singapore is ready for democracy, will it ever be?

The comments and blogs on the internet show that Singapore is ready for democracy. Websites like The Online Citizen make it clear that there are a lot of educated people that could contribute their alternative viewpoints but are obstructed by the unnecessarily authoritarian politics of the ruling party.

Singapore needs to stand up and demand more. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. So Singapore needs a balance of power! Now!

What happened?

Who shall we say ‘liberate’d sgpore? The fudder of liberati of the sgpore?

I recall someone saying liberate ler.

What is the Trigger to liberate?

So, now can get back to IBA ask them if their report still correctional of nots izit ?

What if there did not exist an IBA ?

I no no lah. I am Clueless. Nice to meet you!

sgpore, young nation.

The main difference with western democracies is they do not try to suppress free speech. It is also in their culture to ask questions, even of their leaders.
Their laws and justice system are more transparent and independent where all political parties are treated equally. Ours have been exposed by IBA.

You are right to mention the emotional and rude comments, rebuttals in forums and blogs. I agree that we have some way to go on how we hold discussions.
But I hope people like you will cut the general public including myself some slack.
I find it extremely difficult to deal with this govt because they have their own agenda. They are guilty of taking the people for granted, low on integrity, lacking accountability, no sense of fairness and no clue on shame and honour.
Negative governance begets negative participation from citizens.

Is that good or there is no harm?

I have known so many grosroteladders that I begin to sigh.

“Why doesn’t or hasn’t democracy work in most parts of the East? I suspect:”

“Is Singapore ready yet? I don’t know. But I notice that many articles and comments here, online replies to the ST forum, and many political blogs here are too emotional and rude compared to those in established Western democracies such as http://blogs.iht.com/. ”

Michelle, Michelle, Michelle. I thought you have answered your own question. Or maybe I’m wrong, you have not really seen through it yet. You did detect some discrepancy between “most parts of the East” and “established Western democracies”.

The difference between Western world and “most parts of the East” (not all I guess) is that the former has the will to implement / enforce a system where the best are democratically selected and the willingness by the defeated parties to let go after a decision by the people is made. Well, it has plenty of civil societies and the necessary mechanisms for the citizenry to cry foul if any elected representative does not play balls in the intervening period between elections.

They have satires (both in words and pictures), jokes, unkind remarks, etc directed onto the elected representatives and unlikely they will get sued. This is the price (package deal) that elected representatives sometimes have to pay. I wonder whether you call this rude.

By far, this is the best selection system that they have given to the world. Of course, normal day-to-day politicking & gamesmanship is still part and parcel in well political life.

Now whether one really wins / gets defeated convincingly depends on the FAIRNESS of the whole process. No point just to have a surface label (purely for marketing purpose) of democratic process when it is not really one in actual practice.

Whereas, for some parts of the world as you can see, some people feel that they are always the best to run the show and not so willing to let go (for reasons best known to them) even though the people have sometimes signalled their contrary intention.

As for this so-called rudeness, this is sometimes a natural response that one will get for not playing by the very rules one has even set them himself (e.g glaring double standards). This is nothing as compared to some countries (and yes, in some western countries too) where elected representatives are being grilled (not barbecued lah) where solid uncomfortable questions are being asked in front of national TVs – plenty of such examples in YouTube. Do not forget, you are living in Singapore (I presume).

“We still have a long way to go on how we hold discussions.”

I hope not. However, you may be right. I thought we have thousands of years of history behind us and yet we are still behind the Western world in this respect. What to do ?

Yes, if the opposition only opposes in the name of “checking on the government”.

Why doesn’t or hasn’t democracy work in most parts of the East? I suspect:

a) Many people still don’t reconcile differences in a civilised way. (Look at Thailand). Democracy is about representation, not letting everyone has his or her own way.

b) In the absence of good government, political renewal doesn’t work.

Is Singapore ready yet? I don’t know. But I notice that many articles and comments here, online replies to the ST forum, and many political blogs here are too emotional and rude compared to those in established Western democracies such as http://blogs.iht.com/.

We still have a long way to go on how we hold discussions.

Then again, most of the PAP’s substantiation for policies are pretty wild arguments.

i think for ppasir to not lose, there is still just enough time to hire from abroad strategists who also wants to be citizen here. its really not difficult to become a citizen here compared to places like australia or usa.

since locals are either not talented enough to spare a few for our underdogs, why not learn from the pingpong ‘miracle’? miracles are only … a few….steps…away.

these foreign talents may not want to join the ruling party. so , find these who also want to come here to work or become citizens or make history. they can help and advise and provide strategies and need not be citizen . they also need not run for election. just provide strategies and work behind the scenes how to counter and craft a winning strategy to secure ppasir.

Taiwan , USA have great political advisors.

since FT policy so great and bombastic, why limit this joy to pingpong?

Do not worry lah. Let me tell you some fiction. Once upon a time, they were a group of people who enjoyed hawking their old approach of twisted reasoning and it sold very well among themselves. They began to shake hands and giving congratulatory pats on one another’s back and giving the loud claps of high-5s to one another – in their own make-believe world and floating dream state.

They key test is “Do they really believe what they are saying in their sober state after waking up from the dream”.

It really makes me wonder why they are doing this to themselves and to the people. I hope they are respecting themselves for saying such a thing and respecting the people’s intelligence of sizing up the validity for such a statement. Orselse, our many years of education should be thrown out of the window.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/01/civilliberties

I cant really think what will happen to our future generations

In any case, the Next GE is predictably a couple of years away, with the limited contestable SMCs and the tradition of Potong Pasir SMC to be associated with Mr Chiam See Tong, formerly from SDP now SPP, I wonder if the ageing Mr Chiam has a successor with calibre to feel, think and act as a representative of one third of voters? It would be sad should party dominance be used as a basis to allocate contestable boundaries as SPP or SDA don’t seem to be able to offer a credible face to succeed Mr Chiam.

This succession planning alongside the consideration of continued opposition representation in parliament would surely reflect the maturity of the present opposition cadre. I may be wrong, but the way I see Potong Pasir voters’ support to Mr Chiam is more leaning to his personality, familiarity and charisma. I seriously doubt anyone within SPP/SDA will be able to command such affiliation. Perhaps, for the continued survival of opposition with constituents in parliament, Mr Chiam could offer the ward be contested by the next better player. As of now, I can’t think of anyone else but Ms Sylvia Lim of WP.