ge round 21: one party rule is good

raymond lim told his grassroot leaders that simply having opposition in the govt has no absolute merit in itself.. this is a fair statement.. having an opposition in parliament is not the cure for any govt.. the opposition has to be of substance.. then again, to dismiss the need for an opposition in any govt, democracy or totalitarian state or a dictatorship, is a simple recipe for horror, for the abuse of power.. not that we are having these problems now.. but it will make it so easy to go down the abyss.. for any political system to endure the ravages of time, it has to have in built systems of checks and balances.. the checks and balances must be institutionalised.. and that is what the american system is all about.. the flaws and dangers of absolute power were the preoccupation of the founding fathers of america and they have enshrined in their constitutions that no one, or no one organisation, is to have absolute power. this is wisdom of the ages.. to ignore this and tell people that a one party system is good, is being very shortsighted and dangerous. singapore needs to have oppositions in the parliament.. the judiciary, legislature and the executive arms, and the civil servants must be able to work independently when it needs to.. these must be institutionalised and be a sacred feature of our nation.. if we are to accept that just because at the moment we have a fairly decent govt and leadership, then this model of a one party govt is good forever.. and that is a good reason to strive towards a one party govt... if we ever do that or reach that stage, we will ruin our own future.. the future generation will suffer from our folly. much as there is no absolute merit in having opposition mps, there is no absolute merit in having a one party rule..