The main reason why the PAP find it so difficult to defend their policies is because of their absolute dominance in politics. SG is a de facto one-party state. As such, it is near impossible to have genuine debate or at least, debate of a sufficient depth due to fear of offending your superiors. It is also near impossible to establish independent bodies to oversee governmental or regulatory functions, although to PAP's credit, they have done a relatively good job in this area. But I foresee that it will keep getting a lot harder. As an example, if you are the PM of SG, where are you going to find a group of people who will be able to independently and objectively set ministerial salaries? This group does not exist when your party has been holding absolute power for half a century. If you inadvertently offended someone very important, you can kiss your future goodbye with no hope of redemption because even if you did the right thing, they will still get voted into government, unlike other countries where scandals can bring down governments.
Because of their dominance, they are attributing every success to themselves. On the flip side, it also means that the people are going to attribute every flaw in their policies to them. Since there is no perfect policy that will please everyone, they are in for a hard grilling unless they can stifle the dissenting voices, which is getting more difficult in this day and age.
Because of their dominance, they are attributing every success to themselves. On the flip side, it also means that the people are going to attribute every flaw in their policies to them. Since there is no perfect policy that will please everyone, they are in for a hard grilling unless they can stifle the dissenting voices, which is getting more difficult in this day and age.
