The Death of Democracy (in Asia) and Politics (in Singapore)

Speaking of politics in Singapore, I must say I have some stuff to talk about. It has been widely said that Singapore is a country of “yes-men”- what the government say, we accept without thinking. Why? For fear of reprisal- it seems many a Singaporean is afraid of saying anything against the government for fear of being arrested under the seditious act. To me, that’s bullshit. We live in a democratic country, to maintain peace; opposition has to be within a “reasonable” frame. Looking at Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, they are democratic too! But why are they in such political turmoil?

Simple, it has to do with the concept of “unbridled opposition”. Opposition parties are having a good time holding rallies accusing the current coalition of being corrupt, not doing enough for the welfare of the people, etc. They hold mass protests and strikes that cripple their country’s economy, due to a industrial output decline and the death of tourism. Unbridled opposition can prove to be the death of democracy. The concept about democracy is about working together for the good of the country. Instead of that, democracy has been reduced to an all out personal war between the various fractions, each determined to hold onto as much power as possible and to tarnish their opponent’s reputation. That is NOT a democracy, it’s called anarchy.

From this, we can see that balance is essential. Opposition has to be constructive and restrained. The ruling coalition should also be open to challenges if they are constructive. After hearing stories of people being arrested for political posts in their blogs, I still prefer to believe in a judicial system based on reason. This blog is solely for the purpose to contemplate issues in Asia, it is not meant to cause any form of political upheaval or anything of that sort. The writers will do their utmost to remain neutral in all matters and remain as abstract as possible. We have no interest in participating in politics and are happy to remain as commentators and evaluators.

Minister Mentor Lee is undoubtedly one of the best politicians in this way. You can say negative things about him for all I care. To Machiavellian old me, the means justify the end. Unlike the other Southeast Asian countries, we are the most politically stable. LKY did a great job ushering us out of the age of Colonialism. Unfortunately, nothing is perfect, he created a legacy of a top down approach to governance- its by-product was the creation of a culture of deference to authority. It isn’t his fault entirely, our historical circumstances did not permit a free political culture (there were too many radical elements).

This culture of deference to authority played an important role in promoting the fear of reprisal, the Singapore government embarked on a campaign to promote political involvement among the younger generation. In my opinion, people lost the interest in politics ever since PAP came into power. News reports of people being arrested for seditious comments,and the arrest of opposition leaders, such Chee Soon Juan and J. B. Jeyaratnam, on the grounds of defamation have created an atmosphere of repression. Given Singapore’s nature as a group of kiasu individuals, no one dares to toe this invisible line between tolerance and offending the government. Naturally, over time, people just don’t bother about political participation for fear of reprisal. I was really surprised when I over-heard some comments from a bunch of old ladies at the kopi-tiam “Must vote for PAP la, later the government find out we never vote for them, they make life difficult for us”. I was really sad when I heard this. Voting is a system where anonymity is assured, yet, Singaporeans seem to have a set mentality that PAP has hidden cameras everywhere, watching them, waiting for them to make a wrong move and send a police squad out to arrest them for daring to be different. That’s really sad, what happened to the trust between the government and the common people? In most politically stable countries such as Switzerland, the trust between the people and the government is very much iron-clad. It is quite sad to see that we lack this element of trust here.

I recall watching a seminar featuring LKY, a cynical student brought up the concept of free speech in Singapore. MM Lee said that there has always been free speech but it must be exercised with responsibility. I agree with him- words can make or break a man. In the world of politics, business and social interaction, reputation is very important.

Ever since Singapore achieved political stability, most Singaporeans are apathetic towards politics because of the concept of a paternalistic society. They expect the government to be there for them, this has been demonstrated in the latest AWARE issue. In fact, people expect the government to step in all the time. When there is a domestic conflict- apply for BPC (beyond parental control), apply for PO (protection order), etc. When people can’t get along with their neighbours, they run to the town council and demand their involvement. When they think the good they bought are not of their standard, they complain to case. Every government body has to throw out tons of rejected applications annually. It seems Singaporeans have lost the ability to resolve their personal problems WITHOUT depending of the government. With this mentality so prevalent on the masses, who would want to join the politics? Everyone wants to be taken care of and no one wants to be the next baby-sitter.