Written by Ng E-Jay, 09 Aug 2008
Dear Mr Lim Kit Siang,
I am a political blogger from Singapore, with a special interest in Singapore and Malaysian politics, particular the Anwar case. My official politics blog is http://www.sgpolitics.net/ and I also have a personal blog, http://www.ngejay.com/ where I archive media articles as well as most of my personal writings.
I refer to your blog entry entitled “At 84, the fire still burns!” posted on 31 July 2008, written by Ahmad Mustapha, http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2008/07/31/at-84-the-fire-still-burns/.
The article by Ahmad Mustapha correctly identifies what is going wrong with Malaysia’s ruling party and how they are dragging the nation into ruins. But in his haste at criticizing the Barisan National vociferously, he has mistakenly made Singapore’s Government out to be much better than it really is, and has put Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) on a pedestal that it simply does not deserve. As they say, the grass always appears greener on the other side. I’m afraid Ahmad Mustapha has had the wool pulled over his eyes, as far as the track record of Singapore’s PAP is concerned.
Ahmad Mustapha said that Mr Lee Kuan Yew “was the man who outsmarted the communists in Singapore (with the innocent help of Malaya then and the willing help of the British) and who later outwitted the British and outpaced Malaysia in all spheres.”
That statement is at odds with history. Early in Lee Kuan Yew’s political career, he worked in close collaboration with the communists who had widespread support of the Chinese working class, and made use of the communists to propel himself into power. After Lee Kuan Yew took power, he allied with the British to betray the very communists who had worked with him, and whom he had used as a stepping stone to power. After Singapore gained Independence from the Federation of Malaya, Lee Kuan Yew used the oppressive ISA to detain members of the Barisan Socialis and end once and for all the political careers of his opponents. At every step of the way, Lee Kuan Yew treated all his allies as pawns in his political game, to be used, abused and discarded as he deemed fit.
Ahmad Mustapha said, “Lee Kuan Yew believed in calling a spade a spade. I was there in Singapore when the People’s Action Party won the elections in 1959. He was forthright in his briefing to party members as to what was expected of them and what Singapore would face in the future. Ideologically, I did not agree with him. We in the University of Malaya Socialist Club had a different interpretation of socialist reconstruction. But he was a pragmatist and wanted to bring development and welfare to the Singaporeans. Well! He succeeded.”
I agree with Ahmad Mustapha that Lee Kuan Yew’s vision helped make Singapore an economic success and that his economic policies led Singapore to far outdo Malaysia in the decades following the Independence of both our nations from the British. However, Lee Kuan Yew’s political leadership is also tarred with injustices and repressive tactics that Singapore’s mainstream media is careful to keep out of public view. Under his leadership, the PAP Government has infringed on the rights of Singaporeans to freedom of speech and assembly, and has used the draconian ISA against its political opponents. The PAP Government has made use of the vast machinery of the state to suppress political opposition including the liberal use of defamation laws which its leaders including Lee Kuan Yew invariably win.
Before Independence, Lee Kuan Yew portrayed himself as a democrat who respected Western parliamentary democracy. But after Independence, Lee Kuan Yew became an autocrat and a dictator who ruled Singapore with an iron fist and treated citizens no better than economic digits to be leeched, cheated and exploited. Singapore’s mainstream media, which is completely controlled by the PAP machinery and is utterly compliant to the ruling party, never paints an accurate picture of what Lee Kuan Yew or the PAP is really like, but drowns its citizens as well as the international audience in a steady stream of propaganda that over the years has become a mighty ocean of hogwash.
The PAP’s social engineering policies have also wrecked destruction on our demographics. As a result of the PAP’s two-child policy in the 1970’s, our population growth has been artifically stunted, and this problem is compounded by the fact that Singapore is currently experiencing one of the lowest birth rates in the world. As a result of this conundrum, the PAP has resorted to importing large numbers of foreigners, many of them unskilled, in an attempt to shore up our population and maintain economic growth. The import of such a large number of foreigners has depressed wages for the lower income workers and kept many of them in the poverty zone. Today, working class Singaporeans are exposed to the full pressures of globalization and are forced to compete on equal terms with foreigners for jobs, but without an adequate social safety net to protect them from the ravages of inflation or a downward spiral in wages.
Ahmad Mustapha also wrote, “There was one other aspect that Malaysia practises and that is to politicise all aspects of life. All government organs and machinery were ‘UMNO-ised’. This was to ensure that the party will remain in power. Thus there was this misconception by the instruments of government as to what national interest is and what UMNO vested interest is.”
In Singapore, the electorate has been gradually depoliticized over the years. Political societies in universities have been hollowed out, our education system does not teach students to think politically, and our mainstream media has delivered only carefully crafted Government propaganda to fool its citizens. However, in other aspects, Singapore is no different from Malaysia. Over here, all organs of state and the entire machinery of the civil service is co-oped to serve the interests of the ruling party. The PAP Government, like UMNO, does everything to entrench itself and ensures it remains in power, including exerting its control over all public institutions. Elections in Singapore are neither free nor fair, and even today, the Election’s Department is not an independent body, but one that comes under the direct control of the Prime Minister’s Office. Like in Malaysia, the PAP’s entrenchment in all aspects of the economy and its system of patronage benefits the ruling elite at the expense of the nation, especially the working class. Like Malaysia again, transparency is put on hold, with GIC and Temasek refusing to disclose their accounts fully whilst they invest our nation’s reserves in failing US banks and other dubious assets. And like in Malaysia yet again, certain unjust laws are applied selectively to prevent political films from being screened, or to prevent peaceful demonstrators from assembling in public.
Contrary to what Ahmad Mustapha has asserted, Singapore has indeed politicized its instruments of Government, and such politicization is seldom guided by national interest, but party interest. Singapore is efficient, but is efficiency benefits the ruling elite unfairly. Singapore may not be corrupt like Malaysia is, but here, politicians peg their own wages to the highest private sector wages without consulting or receiving any approval whatsoever from the electorate.
To outsiders, Singapore may appear to be an economic paradise with good leaders at the helm. In reality, there are deep cracks in Singapore’s political and social system, cracks that if unaddressed will eventually be our nation’s undoing. The truth is that the PAP Government is not the demigod that foreigners are frequently led to believe it to be. The PAP Government, like your government, is one that will do everything to stay in power, including importing large numbers of foreigners to shore up the economy and replace Singaporean voters who are becoming more pro-Opposition, and applying repressive laws to silence dissent. Singapore may have performed far better than Malaysia economically, but in many other areas including the rule of law, we are no better than you.
To learn more about my own analysis of the political situation in Singapore, please feel free to read my blog postings, whose links are attached below.
Yours sincerely,
Ng E-Jay
Individual versus community rights in Singapore, particularly in relation to freedom of speech and assembly — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=66
There’s a reason it’s called “public service” — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=73
Response to Peh Shing Huei’s ST column on “The partitioning of the opposition” — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=86
Post-Modern Authoritarian Singapore — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=102
The ice-berg of Singapore politics — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=106
PM Lee on Internet lessons — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=108
5 years may be all it takes to save Singapore — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=145
Growing wage disparity is sign of economic mismanagement on part of govt — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=17
Giving back to society should begin at the top — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=29
“Development”, “Democracy”, and false arguments why one must come before the other — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=31
PAP’s monopoly on political space and political ideology — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=53
Dear Mr Lim Kit Siang,
I am a political blogger from Singapore, with a special interest in Singapore and Malaysian politics, particular the Anwar case. My official politics blog is http://www.sgpolitics.net/ and I also have a personal blog, http://www.ngejay.com/ where I archive media articles as well as most of my personal writings.
I refer to your blog entry entitled “At 84, the fire still burns!” posted on 31 July 2008, written by Ahmad Mustapha, http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2008/07/31/at-84-the-fire-still-burns/.
The article by Ahmad Mustapha correctly identifies what is going wrong with Malaysia’s ruling party and how they are dragging the nation into ruins. But in his haste at criticizing the Barisan National vociferously, he has mistakenly made Singapore’s Government out to be much better than it really is, and has put Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) on a pedestal that it simply does not deserve. As they say, the grass always appears greener on the other side. I’m afraid Ahmad Mustapha has had the wool pulled over his eyes, as far as the track record of Singapore’s PAP is concerned.
Ahmad Mustapha said that Mr Lee Kuan Yew “was the man who outsmarted the communists in Singapore (with the innocent help of Malaya then and the willing help of the British) and who later outwitted the British and outpaced Malaysia in all spheres.”
That statement is at odds with history. Early in Lee Kuan Yew’s political career, he worked in close collaboration with the communists who had widespread support of the Chinese working class, and made use of the communists to propel himself into power. After Lee Kuan Yew took power, he allied with the British to betray the very communists who had worked with him, and whom he had used as a stepping stone to power. After Singapore gained Independence from the Federation of Malaya, Lee Kuan Yew used the oppressive ISA to detain members of the Barisan Socialis and end once and for all the political careers of his opponents. At every step of the way, Lee Kuan Yew treated all his allies as pawns in his political game, to be used, abused and discarded as he deemed fit.
Ahmad Mustapha said, “Lee Kuan Yew believed in calling a spade a spade. I was there in Singapore when the People’s Action Party won the elections in 1959. He was forthright in his briefing to party members as to what was expected of them and what Singapore would face in the future. Ideologically, I did not agree with him. We in the University of Malaya Socialist Club had a different interpretation of socialist reconstruction. But he was a pragmatist and wanted to bring development and welfare to the Singaporeans. Well! He succeeded.”
I agree with Ahmad Mustapha that Lee Kuan Yew’s vision helped make Singapore an economic success and that his economic policies led Singapore to far outdo Malaysia in the decades following the Independence of both our nations from the British. However, Lee Kuan Yew’s political leadership is also tarred with injustices and repressive tactics that Singapore’s mainstream media is careful to keep out of public view. Under his leadership, the PAP Government has infringed on the rights of Singaporeans to freedom of speech and assembly, and has used the draconian ISA against its political opponents. The PAP Government has made use of the vast machinery of the state to suppress political opposition including the liberal use of defamation laws which its leaders including Lee Kuan Yew invariably win.
Before Independence, Lee Kuan Yew portrayed himself as a democrat who respected Western parliamentary democracy. But after Independence, Lee Kuan Yew became an autocrat and a dictator who ruled Singapore with an iron fist and treated citizens no better than economic digits to be leeched, cheated and exploited. Singapore’s mainstream media, which is completely controlled by the PAP machinery and is utterly compliant to the ruling party, never paints an accurate picture of what Lee Kuan Yew or the PAP is really like, but drowns its citizens as well as the international audience in a steady stream of propaganda that over the years has become a mighty ocean of hogwash.
The PAP’s social engineering policies have also wrecked destruction on our demographics. As a result of the PAP’s two-child policy in the 1970’s, our population growth has been artifically stunted, and this problem is compounded by the fact that Singapore is currently experiencing one of the lowest birth rates in the world. As a result of this conundrum, the PAP has resorted to importing large numbers of foreigners, many of them unskilled, in an attempt to shore up our population and maintain economic growth. The import of such a large number of foreigners has depressed wages for the lower income workers and kept many of them in the poverty zone. Today, working class Singaporeans are exposed to the full pressures of globalization and are forced to compete on equal terms with foreigners for jobs, but without an adequate social safety net to protect them from the ravages of inflation or a downward spiral in wages.
Ahmad Mustapha also wrote, “There was one other aspect that Malaysia practises and that is to politicise all aspects of life. All government organs and machinery were ‘UMNO-ised’. This was to ensure that the party will remain in power. Thus there was this misconception by the instruments of government as to what national interest is and what UMNO vested interest is.”
In Singapore, the electorate has been gradually depoliticized over the years. Political societies in universities have been hollowed out, our education system does not teach students to think politically, and our mainstream media has delivered only carefully crafted Government propaganda to fool its citizens. However, in other aspects, Singapore is no different from Malaysia. Over here, all organs of state and the entire machinery of the civil service is co-oped to serve the interests of the ruling party. The PAP Government, like UMNO, does everything to entrench itself and ensures it remains in power, including exerting its control over all public institutions. Elections in Singapore are neither free nor fair, and even today, the Election’s Department is not an independent body, but one that comes under the direct control of the Prime Minister’s Office. Like in Malaysia, the PAP’s entrenchment in all aspects of the economy and its system of patronage benefits the ruling elite at the expense of the nation, especially the working class. Like Malaysia again, transparency is put on hold, with GIC and Temasek refusing to disclose their accounts fully whilst they invest our nation’s reserves in failing US banks and other dubious assets. And like in Malaysia yet again, certain unjust laws are applied selectively to prevent political films from being screened, or to prevent peaceful demonstrators from assembling in public.
Contrary to what Ahmad Mustapha has asserted, Singapore has indeed politicized its instruments of Government, and such politicization is seldom guided by national interest, but party interest. Singapore is efficient, but is efficiency benefits the ruling elite unfairly. Singapore may not be corrupt like Malaysia is, but here, politicians peg their own wages to the highest private sector wages without consulting or receiving any approval whatsoever from the electorate.
To outsiders, Singapore may appear to be an economic paradise with good leaders at the helm. In reality, there are deep cracks in Singapore’s political and social system, cracks that if unaddressed will eventually be our nation’s undoing. The truth is that the PAP Government is not the demigod that foreigners are frequently led to believe it to be. The PAP Government, like your government, is one that will do everything to stay in power, including importing large numbers of foreigners to shore up the economy and replace Singaporean voters who are becoming more pro-Opposition, and applying repressive laws to silence dissent. Singapore may have performed far better than Malaysia economically, but in many other areas including the rule of law, we are no better than you.
To learn more about my own analysis of the political situation in Singapore, please feel free to read my blog postings, whose links are attached below.
Yours sincerely,
Ng E-Jay
Individual versus community rights in Singapore, particularly in relation to freedom of speech and assembly — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=66
There’s a reason it’s called “public service” — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=73
Response to Peh Shing Huei’s ST column on “The partitioning of the opposition” — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=86
Post-Modern Authoritarian Singapore — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=102
The ice-berg of Singapore politics — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=106
PM Lee on Internet lessons — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=108
5 years may be all it takes to save Singapore — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=145
Growing wage disparity is sign of economic mismanagement on part of govt — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=17
Giving back to society should begin at the top — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=29
“Development”, “Democracy”, and false arguments why one must come before the other — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=31
PAP’s monopoly on political space and political ideology — http://www.ngejay.com/?p=53