Since 1959 Singaporean politics has been dominated by the People’s Action Party (PAP) and it has been in government ever since. Singapore was expelled from the Federation in 1965 after Lee Kuan Yew disagreed with the federal government in Kuala Lumpur.
The Workers Party of Singapore and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) have agreed that Singapore is a de facto one party state. The Economist Intelligence Unit classifies Singapore as “hybrid” country with authoritarian and democratic elements whereas the Freedom House does not consider Singapore an “electoral democracy” and ranks the country as “partly free”.
The World Bank’s governance indicators on the other hand have rated Singapore highly on the rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness. However, it is widely perceived that “some aspects of the political process, civil liberties and political and human rights are lacking” (Governance Indicators: 1996-2004 World Bank).
It has been constantly alleged that the PAP employs censorship, gerrymandering and the filing of civil suits against the opposition for libel or slander. Francis Seow, JB Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan perceived the Singapore courts as favourable towards the government and the PAP.
For instance in 2005 filmmaker Martyn See shot a documentary on Chee Soon Juan called ‘Singapore Rebel’ and was immediately threatened with a lawsuit for making a “politically partisan film” which is illegal in Singapore.
While the criticisms deserve merit and are constructive some have labelled Singapore a social democracy although the PAP has successfully rejected this notion of being socialist. However, many of the PAP policies contain aspects of socialism which includes government owned public housing and the dominance of government controlled companies in the local economy.
The Housing Development Board (HDB) is entrusted with the responsibility to oversee large scale public housing. While the government plays a dominant role in almost all activities including establishing a transparent market economy, the government is clean and corrupt free and has been rated as the least corrupt country in Asia by Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2005.
Liberal democratic values have been consistently rejected by the PAP administration. The PAP believes that there should not be a one size fits all solution to a democracy in Singapore. Speeches and/or literature that may breed ill will or cause disharmony within Singapore’s multi racial and multi religious society is strictly prohibited. In September 2005 three bloggers were convicted of sedition for posting racist remarks.
Lee Kuan Yew as the founding father of Singapore remained influential to this date in the administration and politics of Singapore. On April 24 Lee Kuan Yew said “that the results of past general elections from 1959 have got the country to where it is today”. He added that “every general election is a serious choice of the people determining whether the country would move forward or backward”.
In 1997 the PAP’s popular vote share declined to 65 percent and in 2001 it climbed to 75 percent winning 82 of the 84 seats and in 2006 the PAP vote share reduced to 66.6 percent. On May 7 candidates will be contesting for 87 parliamentary seats and about 2.35 million Singaporeans are eligible to vote in the general election.
In the 2006 general election although the opposition parties gained 34 percent of the popular votes it failed to gain significant number of seats in Parliament and the opposition parties attribute the disproportionate results to the nature of the Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) electoral system.
Despite the Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) electoral system Chen Show-Mao the head of Wall Street Law Firm Davis Polk and Wardwell LLP’s Beijing said he will seek election to Singapore Parliament as a candidate for the opposition Workers Party. He added “the best way to ensure good governance for Singapore is through the growth of a competitive opposition that offers a credible alternative to the party in government”.
The opposition parties know no matter how they try, they will come no nearer to breaking the grip of the ruling PAP over the government.
Today the opposition candidates are talking about the rising costs of food, petrol and other basic amenities, about the working poor and absence of state welfare provisions in place for the old and elderly. In addition to the above, the opposition parties say:
- the introduction of the GRCs has effectively tilted the ground in favour of the ruling party;
Despite all those setbacks Singapore symbolises optimism but it cannot afford to resemble its old self. It is imperative that it must embrace a direct and participatory form of democracy. It has the most diverse population and economy in South East Asia and a magnet for talent and possess the imagination and frontier spirit. However, resetting the stage is now ever more necessary to change the political culture in Singapore.
The writer is a former ISA detainee.
