When one powerful force arises, another will emerge. We see that all over the world, whether it is US invading Iraq, or Pakistani authorities clamping down on ‘Islamic militants’. In light of these global events, our leaders have been, in various forms and guises, attempting to stave off the irrepressible forces that surround us, and provide us with a semblence of order that is nothing like the rest of the world can provide. Indeed it can be argued that their efforts have been relatively successful. Let’s give the Singapore ’system’ due credit: it has served us relatively well, so far. So whither this conflict on our local shores?
After defeating the Socialists in the 1960s, the founding leaders of 1965 had placed high priority on ensuring the survival of their ideology “in the name of survival of the nation”. This cause has been (unexpectedly) successful especially when taking into consideration the paths of other countries who were/are currently in the infancy of nationhood.
It would be fair imho to state that, in over 40 years of our recent history, we have not seen as severe a political challenge as that posed by the Socialists in the 1960s. In this context, strong economic growth has emerged as a (fortuitous?) effect of the resultant political vacuum in the legislature of this nation i.e. things could be accomplished more “efficiently” and (controversially perhaps?) more “effectively”.
In the absence of a strong overt political counter-force, and in the presence of the potent by-product that is economic growth (especially in the 1970s and 1980s), an equally formidable if somewhat invisible force of lethargy among the populace has set in. It appears that more entrenched the administrators, the more deep-rooted the lethargy (so far as the people’s involvement in getting good people into public office is concerned lol).
So what is activism like in Singapore? Perhaps I’m being a little pessimistic here, but no less valid imho… the current situation as it stands seems something like this: “You can have political activism so long as it is deemed permissible i.e. if you are overstepping some OB markers, or growing too strongly however it is so defined, the state reserves the right to pronouce you illegal and shut you down”. I must elaborate further that there is a perception, valid or otherwise, that there is a lack of transparency among the State, the legislature, the executive, the administration, the media, and commercial interests. It is perhaps this perceived strength of the establishment that has, thus far, produce an equally staunch reluctance on the part of Singaporeans to challenge the establishment and its institutional structures.
As a result, the existing relationship between the establishment and those it governs is akin to that of a father-son relationship (credit goes to the Kway Teow Man for inspiring this analogy). Supposing we have a father saying to his young child, “you say something that irritates me, and I will give you one tight slap”, we won’t really think much of it, right? After all it’s the parent’s right to discipline the child. However, I tend to take the view that the relationship between government and the people can and should be more egalitarian. I understand that one plays a leader role, and the other a follower role. Still that doesn’t mean that the roles are unequal.
Which is why I find the analogy a little troubling as well, because while one side has specified its terms of the relationship, can the other side ’slap’ back more often than once every 4-5 years without being branded/sidelined? More relevantly, can the establishment receive as much as it gives out in terms of ’slaps’?
I refer to history, 1994 if I’m not mistaken. Our much-celebrated author and maverick Catherine Lim made a comment on an ‘affective divide’ between the establishment and the people, and was challenged to form a political party by PM Goh. She was notable in her absence subsequently, before staging a revival in the past 12-18 months. I’ve not been reading Mr Brown ever since he went mainstream, but I’ve heard of a few incidents where the establishment is threatening to use the good ol’ legal machinery on him… so much for freeing up the civil space 
Pardon my cynicism, but I’ve asked myself, “Why are blatantly irrelevant people such as Dr Chee permitted to campaign, while others like Mr Tang and until recently JBJ sent to virtual exile?” Perhaps it’s the principle of ‘lesser of two evils’ at work. It is apparent to me that there is more than meets the eye, and I don’t mean that there are Transformers in the establishment, or are there? lol…
Also, why are CL and Mr Brown tolerated? Is it genuinely because the establishment believes they have a point to prove, or is it because they want those clamouring for a larger civil space to *believe* that it is liberalising? I’ll leave it to the discerning reader to decide.
Consequently, public expectation has evolved to demand of the establishment high standards of *consumer* satisfaction (thanks Wayne for sharing this concept), to which the latter is more than able (but increasingly less happy?) to provide. However, the nation continues to suffer because the public is not engaging (pressuring?) the establishment on *citizenship* issues.
While such a situation (less than ideal it may be) can plausibly be sustained for the next 5 to 20 years, what is to prevent a demagouge (that’s a new word in my dictionary, thanks Dansong lol) from overtly robbing the people of Singapore? Sure, if and when the time-bomb explodes, maybe we would be finally awakened from our slumber and take to the streets… unfortunately in all likelihood by then the damage would already have been done. Investors would have long fled, and we would need to start over, step by painful step, maybe even merge with our old neighbours (hmm that seems quite pragmatic coming from a self-confessed idealist!)
When times are good, as they have been for much of Singapore’s existence, we have no reason to rock the boat. The thing is, when the torpedo hits, as it will inevitably will, or when the captain eventually fails to defuse the time-bomb that the passengers know next to nothing about, will we have sufficient skills to survive?
My friends, let’s keep our life vests on, and for our own good, learn to swim!
