The following article is by Seah Chiang Nee, first published on The Star Online.
The Government appears to be telling young Singaporeans that if they want debate, the government will give it to them and if the youngsters want parliamentary democracy, they can have it too – but not necessarily through elections or a two-party system.
POLITICS is one of the things that have changed least in Singapore. Over a quarter of a century, the economy has been restructured, the demography has changed; new people have come and old trends have gone – pretty much of everything else, except perhaps politics.
It seems to have remained relatively as it had been. For many elderly conservatives, that may not be a bad thing, since it also means stability and continuity.
But faced with an uncertain world and a demanding new generation, the People’s Action Party (PAP) could be heading for a tougher time winning elections in future.
As its founding leader, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew once painted it: The next two elections should be no problem, but after that, anything goes.
Now with the economic crisis affecting more families, the PAP has obviously been pondering how best to fight in order to stay in power.
It’s a tough act as it strives to achieve a balance between rising – and contrasting – demands from various segments of society, from educated youths and disgruntled workers to poorer Singaporeans.
For 50 years, the PAP has been winning elections to stand as one of the world’s few undefeated political parties, but with the help that power and incumbency has bestowed upon it.
So what is its strategy to stay relevant? Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong apparently wants to change the Constitution to have a Parliament with two components.
The first is the normal 84 elected legislators who debate and pass laws and the second, a less significant, non-elected segment with watered-down rights to improve debate. This second force of 18 will comprise nine nominated MPs, chosen from a cross-section of non-partisan Singaporeans and up to nine non-constituency MPs (NCMPs) from the opposition camp. As an example, if the next election were to throw up only two opposition winners, then the best seven losers will qualify as NCMPs.
In recent weeks, the pro-government press has been playing up the role of nominated MPs as well as the desirability of appointed Cabinet ministers.
All these have one thing in common. They downplay the importance of opposition parties in Parliament or in Singapore’s political system.
PAP party member Xu Kaixian wrote in Petir, the PAP organ, that democracy does not necessarily need the presence of opposition.
“Currently, any deviation from Western-style democracy is denounced as authoritarian. But should that be the case?” the writer asked.
“Wouldn’t it be better if each country practised a democracy which best suits its situation? Is there really a need for democracy in Singapore to mirror the West’s?”
Adding to this is a suggestion by PAP backbencher Hri Kumar Nair that Singapore consider appointing Cabinet ministers who are not MPs or may not even be members of the ruling party.
The Government appears to be telling young Singaporeans: You want debate, we’ll give it to you; you want Parliamentary democracy, you can have it too – but not necessarily through elections or a two-party system.
It apparently thinks it can satisfy their aspirations for greater debate and opposition in Parliament – without the PAP losing any seats.
Lee Kuan Yew has always been wary about the potential dangers of one-man-one-vote system. Last year he warned that “a freak election” could wipe out Singapore’s success. This could happen if voters became bored and decided to give the vociferous opposition a chance out of ‘light-heartedness, fickleness or sheer madness’.
“In five years, you can ruin this place and it’s very difficult to pick up the pieces,” he said.
Last November, his PM son said that a “two-party model cannot work” in Singapore, and it is “much better off with one dominant party”.
Since then he has stepped back a little by saying that “Singaporeans want national issues to be fully debated.. (so we should) improve our political system to encourage a wider range of views in Parliament, including opposition and non-government views”.
Lee’s measures have generally been well received as a positive development.
Critics, however, call it a sham reform that tries to manufacture a fake opposition, instead of freeing the environment to allow it to grow.
“It is an attempt to tell Singaporeans that they could safely vote for the government without being deprived of an opposition voice,” an opposition member said.
“The nature of Parliament should not be changed. It is after all a legislative body of representatives that should be freely elected by the people, not appointed, nor nominated,” he added.
PM Lee is facing an increasing call from young Singaporeans for freer politics and lesser government controls. This was reflected in a speech by newly nominated MP Viswa Sadasivan, appealing for the government to “let us take a chance on our people, on ourselves.”
He said: “In my view, it is the duty of a responsible government to help evolve a political climate that encourages greater interest and participation from the people.
“If not, people are likely to feel increasingly alienated and disenfranchised resulting in apathy and, worse, cynicism. I fear this is already happening.”
Balanced against this is the other point of view expressed by Lee Kuan Yew in 2006: “Please don’t assume that you can change governments. Young people don’t understand this.”
On another occasion, Lee said: “Without the elected President and if there is a freak (election) result, within two or three years, the army would have to come in and stop it.” So far none of the younger political leaders has repeated this warning.
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have some town hall meeting to answer questions, face the crowd, go into bus stops to chat with them, avoid Starits Times cameramen, they scare away the voters if seen with opposition candidate.
what if pap right hand man come to bus stop and pretend to be opposition and talk to you?lol you are in great trouble. he will take a photo of you and they will squeeze you for the rest of your life.
to ekompute,
” The one who put on airs and look like a crook must be a Malaysian minister”.
And I recall Mahathir the ex leader of such crooks saying he cannot trust those in Spore. A crook obviously cannot trust a bigger crook especially one that is damn good in pretending to be above board, call it art of hoodwinking if you like. LOL
How about this one. It takes a smart crook to earn the friendship of crooks like the Burmese junta, Mugabe, Kim, etc , etc. LOL
#201, modern malay pahlawan
When candidates shake hands with people, they are supposed to wear their party batch, unless pap go so low to disguist as opposition
even then, if they take your potos, u can refuse, even if they do, what can they harm u
In last election, opposition votes score is 36% of all votes casted, what can they do to victimize u ?
PAP don’t give 100% clarification of why they keep the vote index number, is to scare u, if u are scared, they will be happy.
Hi our crooks are smarter, you mentioned at #204: “And I recall Mahathir the ex leader of such crooks saying he cannot trust those in Spore. A crook obviously cannot trust a bigger crook especially one that is damn good in pretending to be above board, call it art of hoodwinking if you like. LOL”
Well, Mahathir says in his blog at http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/ : “Of course I don’t like to be criticised. Anyone who says he likes criticism must be a hypocrite.”
Remember Mahathir’s slogan, “Prosper thy neighbour”? So I asked him at his blog whether he felt like a hypocrite when he tried to hike the price of raw water to Singapore 100 times from from 3 sen to RM3.00 per thousand litres. but that old fox, of all things, deemed it fit not to have my post published, LOL.
Mahathir says Malaysia is losing a lot of money on raw water sales to Singapore. I asked him whether he should also be collecting money from China since Malaysia’s largest river, the Pahang River, was discharging even more water into the South China Sea. My logic to him was that since the sea was named after China, then China ought to pay, LOL. I reminded him that Malaysia has hundreds of other rivers discharging into the sea. Does it therefore mean that Malaysia is losing a lot of money?
Hi UselessReasoning, this is a very imperfect world and I used the word “perfect” in that context. Yes, we are indeed living in two different worlds. I am a Malaysian Chinese (not Chinese Malaysian!), living in Johor Bahru and when I looked across the causeway, it does look like heaven, compared to what we are experiencing right now in Malaysia.
Well-to-do family? You must be kidding, I am poorer than a church mouse. A slip disc knocked me out of action in 2002 and the doctors here wanted me to operate as quickly as possible. I have no confidence in Malaysian doctors so I went to Singapore NUH and was fortunate enough to meet a Professor Dr Dusday (retired after my first appointment, hence very, very fortunate) who explained to me why I should not go for surgery unless I cannot withstand the pain, even with the most powerful painkiller. He told me that once the ligaments are cut, my back will perpetually become weak and further surgeries would still be expected after a few years; hence his recommendation not to operate.
I don’t have a pain now after that initial one month or so, just a perpetual numbness on my left foot, and when I go to visit our doctors here in JB for follow-ups, they still insist on surgery, guaranteeing me that I would be as good as new if I operate. Guarantee? Use what to guarantee? The doctor’s two balls? Can I refuse to sign any document to indemnify them against any mishap during the surgery? Guarantee my foot, guarantee!
Basically, I am apolitical. I didn’t even bother to vote even though I am now 53 but given the present political situation, I can no longer stand it and only just recently, registered myself as a voter. I have also activated two websites to write about ASEAN and Malaysian politics (which deserve special treatment because of too much nonsense going around).
Singapore did not declare independence from Malaysia , it was kicked out of the Federation. As you can see from the Youtube video that I put into my website at http://aseanpedia.jbdirectory.com/Singapore , LKY choked and wept at that time as he had no confidence that Singapore could survive independently as a nation, hence the lyrics in We Are Singapore:
There was a time when people said
That Singapore won’t make it, but we did
Tunku did say in one of his books that he rather not have Singapore if Singapore wants a Malaysian Malaysia and if Singapore could not survive on its own and come back on its knees, Malaysia would then accept them back under UMNO’s terms.
As you know, Singapore has no natural resources, not even enough raw water. I guess that overwhelming sense of insecurity is what made LKY what he is today, a very insecure man despite Singapore’s economic miracle and his outward appearance of full confidence. Singapore actually beat the United States of America in terms of per capita GDP (PPP) in 2008, ranking No. 4 as against USA’s No. 6, with Malaysia at No. 60, despite its very rich natural resources, according to IMF. However, because of its size and lack of natural resources, Singapore will always be a very vulnerable country and LKY, a very insecure man.
But that does not mean that you are wrong. I was looking at the overall picture while you are looking at it from a personal perspective, based on actual experience. Yet, you are perfectly right. It is just unfortunate that you are experiencing the most unpalatable part of the elephant. I wish you well. Nothing is permanent. Who knows, you will get out of that situation in stronger shape as much as Singapore has managed to beat Malaysia flat. Malaysia will become another Myanmar soon and the ringgit will soon become rupiahs, what with daily news of corruption running into the billions.
I think, as our govt leaders want and claim to be a World Class government, let’s not to be a frog in the small pond, look far and think far, Malaysia and SE Asian nations are good freflection of what Sg has achieved ( not only by the leaders but by the capable bearucrats in the 60s and 70s, also by the sheer deternmination of our less educated older generation in this land )
:Let’s compare with Switzerland, Britain, Australia, Hongkong ( by the way HKG have a GDP larger than Sg with lots of space for creativitiy and freedpm of speech )
Eugene Yup at #208: “:Let’s compare with Switzerland, Britain, Australia, Hongkong ( by the way HKG have a GDP larger than Sg with lots of space for creativitiy and freedpm of speech )”
HKG has a GDP larger than Sg merely because it has China has its hinterland. Even if all the goods in Malaysia pass through Singapore, it is still incomparable.
But I absolutely agree that Singapore should give more breathing space for freedom of speech and independent thought. Let a hundred flowers bloom and a thousand schools of thought contend. Why is LKY so worried about that? Times have changed and communism is now no more a threat nor a fad.
[#205 ekompute]
I see some fine reasoning and wisdom in your post. Kudos to you.
“However, because of its size and lack of natural resources, Singapore will always be a very vulnerable country and LKY, a very insecure man.”
There is some truth in that Singapore’s vulnerability is not in doubt; Singapore must always stay at least one step, if not several steps, ahead of its neighbors.
However, where individual Papy elites are concenred, most if not all have already acquired much wealth and these people can easily migrate to another country to live a life of luxury. The FAMILEE for instance is probably rich enough to be able to easily afford a posh villa in each of the ten most advanced countries in the world.
So the answer to the question: Is LKY a very insecure man? – is a resounding NO!
Is LKY a very insecure man?
Dare to be different….– is a resounding YES !
He feels insecured of his “legacy”, of his mysterious past ( what roles in the WW2 Sg occupation by Japs ) … and he woories for his sons, the PM and CAAS chairman, the free lance writer daughter, the grand children, their future safety should Singaporean revise the history… maybe, just my 2 cents
Hi rwkc and Ong Eng Ghuan, the points raised by both of you are valid. Given the insecurity, what you say is a highly probable and logical outcome, an emergent behavior, so to speak, i.e. a behavior that emerges directly out of this very circumstances of fear. LKY has nothing to fear, personally, as he is at an advanced age and Singapore will still be strong within the next decade or two. But what he probably worries is his descendants. Blood, after all, is thicker than water.
However, the fact still remains that rich people have different thinking. To LKY personally, it is not so much the money but his personal achievements. He will not want to let his personal achievements go down the drain. In a way, he made Singapore what it is today and if anything happens to the country, he will, as he once said, wake up from the grave (if this is at all possible). Singapore in his mind is his baby and oftentimes, he acts as if Singapore belongs to him.
Hello Ekompute
Pls don’t sweep the collective effort, hard work, sweat, blood of all older generation singaporean and some visionary first and second generation govt leaders, and the efficient civil servants that made singapore today, iSg is not LKY’s enterprize.
If money is not important to him , he can donate 80% to the charity, afterall, his clothes, his residence, his property, his transports, his travels are all taken care of by tax payers, so why does he need S$3,800,000 a year ?
After Malaysia opposition alliance seized 40% of the seats in last Malaysian general election, MM Lee lead a fact finding delegation to visit Malaysia, the real purpos eis to find out how this happened and how to prevent such revolt in Singapore.
yesterday, Japan DPJ toppled LDP govt after the latter rules 55 years, we shall see PAP send another fact finding team to Japan soon…
Men In white will have a busy schedules leading to snap election in Sg in Dec 2009. Let’ watch.
After Malaysia opposition alliance seized 40% of the seats in last Malaysian general election, MM Lee lead a fact finding delegation to visit Malaysia, the real purpos eis to find out how this happened and how to prevent such revolt in Singapore.
yesterday, Japan DPJ toppled LDP govt after the latter rules 55 years, we shall see PAP send another fact finding team to Japan soon…
Men In white will have a busy schedules leading to snap election in Sg in Dec 2009. Let’ s watch.
Lim Kim Shan,
“Men In white will have a busy schedules leading to snap election in Sg in Dec 2009. Let’ watch.”
the Election committee has already sent out notices people to man the big day. no surprise if they say its some time away, only to pull a “fast one” & announce a snap election. ;)
opposition parties ought to gear up with manpower is “drafted” for that day!! there is no time to loose, more so our MIWs have the benefit of studying the elections of other countries. a very smart move really.
If the Japanese can, Singaporeans can ! But it will take a supreme collective effort from all citizens to vote the bloody PAP out.
The task at hand for Singaporeans is immense when compared to the Japanese
1) the Japanese are more honourable in the way they contest elections,
2) their elections dept is not under the purview of the incumbent PM,
3) the incumbents do not sue the pants off their political opponents,
4) their judiciary is not compliant to any political party,
5) their media is reasonably fair in its reporting and coverage,
6) their laws cannot be manipulated by political parties to gain advantage,
7) their internal security cannot be used by any political party to intimidate,
Most of all, it is the Japanese culture to embrace sense of honour and shame.
Old fart and his PAP stooges would be a National Disgrace in Japan many times over !
Due to elections in Japan lingering fresh in people’s minds and the recession not completely abated, realistically PAP would not dare risk elections in the next 6 months. That is your timeline, Singapore current opposition.
181) UselessReasoning on August 28th, 2009 10.40 am ,
i was told that it is countless.
err.. this ekomputek.. you are malaysian no? not sure what’s your agenda here, why are you comparing between m;asian and s;pore issue? 1stly, we singaporeans honestly dont give a damn about what’s happening in malaysia much less even bother to compare, we have enough issues of our own.
you want so much to be singaporean issit? just apply for pr lah, make so much noise for what? i doubt you are worthy to be so. and for the last time, we singaporeans dont give two hoots about your country dirty laundry..