9/04/2009

The reassurance Singaporeans needed

Catherine Lim's question to LKY during the dialogue at the LKY School of Policy inadvertently led to the revelation and reassurance of the resilience and ruggedness of our political system and govt infrastructure. This will be PAP's legacy and achievement for the people and country. In his reply to Catherine, LKY assured her that in the event of a freak election result that threw out the PAP, the army will not move in. The second assurance is that we have an excellent checks and control system underpinned by our elected President system and this will protect the country's reserve from a scoundrel govt. Feeling better already. The other assurance that was implicit is that our political system will withstood any changes of govt, and even if an opposition comes into power, the political system and govt will continue to run. It will be tragic if after operating a govt and political system for 45 years the country will turn into turmoil just because a new political party is elected into office. A democratic electoral system and govt must be designed for govt change, peacefully by the electoral proceses. And PAP has ensured that the system holds. This is just like succession planning. An organisation must be able to continue to run when the leadership is changed and not collapsed. Any responsible CEO must always prepare the next man to step into his shoe should he need to vacate the position for any reason. Sadly, many big organisations are failing in this area. And when the top guy falls, there will start running around looking for a successor. What a joke. Back to the resilience of our govt and political system. With the assurance given, does it mean that the electorate can now be confident to go ahead and elect a new party to power? Does it mean that the system will still work and will not collapse? The assumption of course is that the electorate is also smart enough not to elect a bunch of idiots or scoundrels to form the govt. Assuming that the opposition parties are able to put up a slate of professionals, I mean professionals and respectable individuals, no need scholar calibre, and they be elected to govt, will the change be just a normal process without big upheavals? Japan has done that and its system is holding, it is not collapsing when a new and inexperience team of politicians are taking over. We will have to see whether the strength of our system is real or a myth when that day comes.

5 comments:

Wally Buffet said...

Actually we are all hypothesizing something that may never come to pass, at least in the near to medium term. I look around me and I don't see any good alternatives to the present govt. If the performance of the three opposition members of parliament is any yardstick of an alternative, it sure ain't spectacular. There is only one JBJ and I don't see any clones. Sure, the incumbents are not perfect but things get done and the economy is now humming along just fine. If the govt. can fine tune job issues and the import of foreign talents plus paying more attention and commiseration to the plight of less well off Singaporeans, things would be just perfect.

Anonymous said...

Some veteran politicians are getting wise. They contemplate retiring from politics and hoping and praying to enjoy their fortunes in peace and free from political consequences.

From the looks of unfolding political/social events, dangers of failures are lurking conspicuously. Mentions of demonstration, protest, uprising and revolution were taboo and unheard of, now they are common in Cyberspace and bandy publicly.

The dangerous signs are too potent and latently disastrous to ignore.

patriot

Anonymous said...

hi wally,

even JBJ was quite a washout...and super longwinded to nowhere!

anyway, there is this new crusader rising in the form of tan kin lian. wonder if he's really sincere or there's baggage.

Wally Buffet said...

Hi Anon,

Politicians elsewhere are motivated by social convictions to elevate the plight of the masses for a better life.

Sadly, our opposition politicians and those waiting in the wings are mostly energized into action because they have an axe to grind and or bears a heavy chip on their shoulders. Therein lies the conundrum.

Anonymous said...

Redbean,
the party become irrelevant when it already become a government. Did you not notice that some MPs even blatantly say PAP government during parliament and they are not arrested as government and party must be separated ? This shows that even if PAP party is voted out, they are still a government as they have entrenched it.

Get what I mean ?