2009 nudges Singapore further on repression
December 31st, 2009 | 
Author: OPINION
2009 is a forgettable year for Singapore as the ruling party introduces more laws and tricks to curtail the political and civil rights of Singapore citizens and to further entrench itself in power for perpetuity.
In other countries like China, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar, repression takes the form of assassinations, imprisonment and forced labor. In Singapore, it is institutionalized in the system to give it a veneer of legitimacy and respectability such that most Singaporeans are ignorant of its implications.
The Public Order Act (POA) was rushed through in Parliament and implemented just in time before the APEC Summit in November this year ostensibly to prevent “social unrest” at the international meeting.
Under the law, a solo protest anywhere in Singapore (except Hong Lim Park) is illegal and the police has overriding powers to ask the protester(s) to “move on” from the scene.
Freedom of speech and assembly is guaranteed under Article 14 of the Singapore Constitution and it can only be suspended during times when National Security is being threatened.
It is the innate right of Singaporeans to partake in the political life of their nation which includes expressing their displeasure publicly against the ruling party.
The law was introduced not so much for the sake of “public order and security”, but to deter opposition members and activists from making use of such “mini-protests” to attract international attention to the PAP’s repressive rule.
All forms of public dissent are strongly frown upon by the PAP because it will shatter the myth that it is a popular government elected by the people.
Rocked by a series of mini-bond protests at Hong Lim Park last year, the police has now fitted CCTVs at Hong Lim Park to discourage Singaporeans from participating in the events held there though the Kreta Ayer Police Station is just a stone-throw away.
In May this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a series of “reforms” to further strengthen the PAP’s position ahead of the next general elections.
Pressurized by rising demands from the ground for more opposition representation in Parliament, PM Lee had increased the number of non-PAP seats to 18 with 9 NCMPs and 9 NMPs.
The state media is quick to heap praise on him for “liberalizing” the political landscape, but don’t be deceived – it is merely a gimmick to appease Singaporeans and to perpetuate the PAP’s political hegemony.
Other than to provide new PAP MPs with free training in debating, the token “opposition” representation will not challenge the PAP’s stranglehold on Parliament as it still retains its two-thirds majority.
The MPs can debate till the cows come home and the PAP will just pass the bills and laws are it sees fit. In short, it is no more than a “Wayang” – full of sound and fury, but nothing of substance.
Short of helping the opposition, it may work against them in the next general election as voters may be less inclined to vote for an opposition candidate knowing that he/she can still enter parliament as a “best loser” – a NCMP.
For all their worth, NCMPs and NMPs will never pose a serious threat to the PAP as they are deprived access to crucial grassroots resources privy only to an elected MP which will help them build up the opposition to mount a credible challenge to the PAP in the long run.
What Singapore truly needs is a genuinely competitive political system and level playing field for all political parties so that the best party to lead the nation can emerge and assume power in a legal and peaceful manner and not a one-party system where one single political party calls the shots and tweak the system to ensure that it wins election after election.
Without the prospect of ever losing power, no government of the day will bother to sit down and listen attentively to the concerns of the people. Singaporeans can have the best debaters screwing the asses of the PAP ministers in parliament to create some entertainment for them, but at the end of day, what will it achieve with the PAP still firmly in control of every institutions of the state?
For example, you can have the 18 non-PAP MPs protesting against another impending hike in the ministers’ pay, but when the time comes for the vote, who will be having the last laugh?
On the other hand, if the PAP is denied its two thirds majority in parliament like Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional, then it will have little choice but to obey the wishes of the people.
We have a glaring example right at our very doorsteps: When the Barisan Nasional dominated Malaysia before the 2008 elections, it did not care a hoot about the ethnic minorities. Now that it lost its two thirds majority in parliament, it is now singing a different tune altogether out of fear of being booted out of office in the next general election.
We can have 18, 28 and even 38 NCMPs and NMPs in Parliament, but so long our political system remains closed, uncompetitive and repressive as of now, the PAP can expect to win elections after elections for the next five decades.
If PM Lee is sincere in liberalizing Singapore’s political landscape, there is really no need for him to increase the number of non-PAP seats in Parliament. All he needs to do is to level the playing field to ensure that a credible alternative party can emerge from the populace to challenge it.
It is an irony that while Singaporeans are always urged by PAP leaders to stay competitive, they themselves are so afraid of competition.
Whether a two-party system is suitable for Singapore is for Singaporeans to decide and not the PAP. This country belongs to every Singaporean and not the PAP alone.
The PAP is nothing more than a political party which must be elected by the people to run the country. If it is not performing up to the expectations of the people, then it should be prepared to be voted out of office.
Right now, the PAP still thinks it is the only party with the divine right to govern the nation on behalf of the Singaporeans regardless of what they think. This is not a democracy but a tyranny in disguise.
Ultimately, the future of a nation must be determined by the people themselves and not by a single political party. Until Singaporeans reclaim their rights to toss out unwanted and unpopular governments as and when they wish, the degree of political repression in Singapore will be no different from rogue states elsewhere.
Posted in Opinion
So what if they created the best housing , best roads , best universities , best education systems , best envirnoment in Singapore .. They failed to create the single most important thing which is Quality JOBS .
best housing? best universities? how much have PAP times brainwashed u? LOL
Why don’t u also state ‘least corrupt’ along with ‘most millionaires’
AND besides failing to create jobs, there is a whole long lists of failures!
The s’pore mind is like a frog under a coconut shell. Or you are like a bird living in a gold cage. Whats the point of have developed nation status when you have to keep your mouth shut, not allowed to question whatever issues that arise. Like what happened to your taxpayer money in the recent financial meltdown.
NCMPs artificiality is a false bait to discourage voting for real opposition. After the last election when they nearly lost a GRC the NCMPs looks at risks of overrun of irrelevance. Had the opposition gained further grounds of nearly topping over AMK in 2006, any collapse of NCMPs (due to Opposition declining to bite the bait) after winning a number of GRC, the incumbent will look sorely stupid and incompetent of electoral baiting on the sly. Note that despite the huge carrot offered in Hougang and Potong Pasir, the incumbent Government got a tight slap on its face.
SEE THE DRIFT OF HOW BIG THE EMBARASSMENT WILL BE if the above scenario eventuates.
So the next best thing of electoral strategy would be to offer an EVEN BIGGER INDUCEMENT TO CITIZENRY NOT TO VOTE FOR surging and emerging opposition after having need to publicly back down from threatening to “fix” opposition.
The writing is on the wall – the BIG stick don’t work, the carrot don’t work, the first fortified bunker of NCMP under attack and risks of being run over by opposition parties. NOW LETS BUILD A HIGHER BERLIN WALL – a lot more NMPs. So the message to voters is – DON’T VOTE FOR OPPOSITION, WE WILL GIVE YOU OUR SELECTED MPs – WOW, 18 of them in total including NCMPs with little or no legislative power – without you the headache and anguished heartache of choosing.
Achieving of vocal cords or otherwise, Parliamentary records will fill the pages of history and seats had “bums-to-fill-in” at the very minimum.
Meantime outside Parliament, the real phoney democracy is at work. One man protest illegal, Hong Lim Park under illegal surveillance of free speech and Police got the right to order “move on” oppression of simple protestors – laws applicable in some other countries but Government silent of
civil rights of Bill of Rights citizenry of these countries.
It moved from oppression of groups to oppression of individual and it move from oppression island-wide to oppression within the confines of Hong Lim Park. ALL THESE WHILST PREACHING THE OPENING UP OF DEMOCRACY.
Time to change, PUT IN THE OPPOSITION PARTIES so that they will reject the hypocritical offer of NCMPs and do away of the Berlin Wall of NMP politics.
The only people who SHOULD AND will represent Singaporeans will be only the ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES. Any pretensions otherwise is a travesty of democracy and a shame to all proud Singaporeans.
Everthings they wants the best. They themself got the best paid salary. The common people got the worst pay in their job
Ha Ha. Kudos to the PAP. Keep those frogs & birds repressed & blinkered in their golden coconut shells & cages. But keep them well-trained & efficient. Makes S’pore the best place to run my business.
Whenever I need a shot of political adrenaline, I just need to drive across the causeway or take a flight to any number of nearby “unrepressed” countries to experience the flavour of political mayhem of my choice.
the pigs don’t care if they have the divine right. .. they just want the money.
I really hope our opposition parties are strong enough to man a candidate for every constituencies in the coming election. More so for GRC, so that every citizen has a chance to vote and voice out their unhappiness.
“Repression, Sir is a habit that grows. I am told it is like making love-it is always easier the second time! The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of guilt.
But once embarked on this course with constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack. All you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and banish and detain the key political workers in these societies.
Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface. Then an intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are referred to again they’re conveniently distorted and distorted with impunity, because there will be no opposition to contradict.”
-Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition PAP member speaking to David Marshall, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Debates, 4 October, 1956
Congratulations on your brave article, but I am afraid it is not brave enough — the government can safely let you be. You see, public complaint and expressions of resentment actually lull the populace deeper into a state of apathy, if no positive steps are recommended at the same time. If you don’t actively organise more opposition, you simply demonstrate that even you are completely powerless to act. Can you see how this cows the average citizen even more, since he feels far less powerful than you? “If they can do nothing”, he thinks, “how could I possibly dream of doing anything myself?”. I fear you are doing the PAP’s work for them: keeping all Singaporeans so frightened, that not one of them dare open his mouth in revolt.