Reforming the obsolete political system remains a key challenge for the next generation

http://temasekreview.com/?p=11626
In a recent speech, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong highlighted 10 challenges for the next generation of Singaporeans. (read article here)

They range from maintaining high economic growth to social issues such as minimising urban congestion.

As expected, SM Goh did not mention anything about the inherent flaws in Singapore’s political system. In fact, he quoted “strong political leadership” as one of the factors “favorable” to the future generation.

SM Goh did not elaborate further on his definition of a “strong political leadership”. Perhaps he is referring to the current political system which allows the PAP to enjoy a virtual monopoly in Parliament by winning repeated general elections.

Yet, the one-party state which was consolidated and perpetuated after the demise of the Barisan Socialis in the mid 1960s is the biggest weakness in Singapore’s political system in urgent need of serious reform.

As we can see clearly from the recent Temasek fiasco, a government dominated by one single party cannot be expected to check on itself without any political pressure from alternative parties.

A commission of inquiry should have been set up in the first place to investigate the disastrous losses suffered by Temasek and GIC, but it wasn’t.

Though Singapore conducts general elections held every 5 years, formidable hurdles are put in place to guarantee the victory of the ruling party and the exclusion of the opposition from Parliament.

The GRC system and its flagrant abuse leading to rampant gerry-mandering enables the ruling party to pre-empt any “opposition strongholds” from emerging.

The mainstream media is completely controlled by the ruling party thereby ensuring that citizens are kept ignorant about their political rights and activities of opposition parties.
The police is used to stifle political dissent. There were reports of opposition leaders and activists being harrassed by the secret police in the past. Draconian laws were put in place to keep the populace on its toes at all times.

The ruling party remains tightly controlled by an octagenarian and his inner cliche who shows no signs of retiring from the political scene for good. The 82 PAP MPs in Parliament are mostly yes-men who seldom dare to deviate from the official party line.

The recent “reforms” initiated by the Prime Minister to allow more alternative voices in Parliament is merely a farce to appease the growing disgruntlement on the ground with the ruling party’s continued hegemony.

No matter how many NCMPs and NMPs the ruling party allow in Parliament, they will still be in total control of the government with a comfortable two-thirds majority.

How can the next generation of Singaporeans vote out the ruling party legally through the ballot box and reform the entire system to foster the emergence and development of a true, competitive multi-party democracy in Singapore with the odds stacked against them? Are we going to live under the shadow of the ruling party forever?

For all the economic growth and development, Singaporeans will not be the real masters of their destiny so long they have not redeemed the ownership of the country which remains in the hands of a selected group of elites with no inkling whatsoever to the hardships faced by the masses.

Singapore is rich enough to lose billions of dollars in failed investments and still has “ample financial resources” left according to SM Goh. However, its citizens face a grim and uncertain future. With no social safety net to speak of, most Singaporeans have to depend on their CPF for retirement which are often depleted from financing housing loans for over-priced public housing.
Why do Singaporeans who have one of the highest saving rates in the world not able to save enough for their twilight years? Why must they work and work till the day they collapse and die? Do you want to live your entire life slogging day in and out just to make a living in order to contribute to our GDP growth?

The ruling party will never reform a system which has served it so well. Neither will they change their dictatorial style of management as long the same old fogeys are in charge.
The era of “government knows best” is gone. Even the Malaysian Prime Minister has acknowledged it himself. We do not need a nanny state costing taxpayers an exorbitant amount of money to maintain to keep telling us what to do.

Singaporeans deserve the government we have because we have been putting up with the nonsense the ruling party has thrown at us patiently for half a century. It is time for a change now or our future generations will face more intractable problems than we already have now.
To reform the obsolete political system which has made us a laughing stock of modern democracies in the free world, we must first boot out the ruling party through the general elections, but without a credible alternative waiting in place, we may have to put up with the status quo for many more years to come