2011 is a very significant year for Singapore. At the age of 35, I have voted for the government for the first time in my life. The People Action Party has been the ruling party for the last 46 years with not much of competition from the Opposition. This year, we saw some highly qualified and outstanding people from the Opposition giving the PAP a good fight. While PAP still won the majority of votes, something has changed in the make of this country, forever. Like a volcano, that has stayed dormant for the last 40 years, showing the first signs of smoke.
Tomorrow I will be voting again for the first time, in our Presidential election. Singaporeans are apathetic towards politics because what we think, say and feel never change anything. The PAP has governed the country very well for the past 46 years. They have their deep dark secrets, just like any government in the world. Singapore economy is prosperous and we are one of the top 10 most liveable cities in the world. With our obsession on food, money and material goods, one can hardly blame us for not having time to think about something which we have no control over, anyway.
This all changed quite amazingly by something quite out of the iron fists of the PAP - the internet and social media. People could voice their opinions openly on the internet and suddenly, the PAP looked like a 46 year-old company stuck in old, traditional ways of operation and losing touch with their target audience.
I am not a patriotic person. I am the type of person who wouldn't watch a local play (because they tend to be REALLY bad) or a local movie (because they also tend to be REALLY bad). But after the General Election, I really felt like buying the I Love SG t-shirt sold by touts in Orchard Road.
Shortly after the General Election, while the blood of patriotism was still hot in my veins, I had a discussion of politics (the little that I know) with some friends from India. They could not understand why Singaporeans feel so strongly against the PAP since Singapore is so well-ruled, orderly, safe and still doing fine when most of the world is not. This opinion is shared by an English colleague. So I asked, what about the freedom of speech? I was surprised that they would rather have less freedom in exchange for stability and prosperity. Singapore was as good as it gets, to these foreigners.
Is it human nature to always want what you do not have, only to regret it when you have it? And even as this is said-to-death, we cannot help ourselves but go down the same well-worn path?
“Social problems that have been festering for decades have exploded in our face, Irresponsibility. Selfishness. Behaving as if your choices have no consequences. Children without fathers. Schools without discipline. Reward without effort. Crime without punishment. Rights without responsibilities. Communities without control. Some of the worst aspects of human nature tolerated, indulged, sometimes even incentivized, by a state and its agencies that in parts have become literally de-moralized.” (Quote by David Cameron, after the worst London riot in decades). Is this how the story of democracy and freedom ends? But what about the richness of history, art, music, theatre that was born as a result of?
I still don't quite know for myself, how I want my government to be. A strict disciplinary or a liberal-minded government. I think my heart is leaning towards the former. Because I do feel I have lived a good life for the past 35 years. I don't want this to end, even though things are probably going to change after GE 2011. So have we unwittingly opened pandora's box?
No comments:
Post a Comment