The Problem with our Opposition

MM Lee Kuan Yew said

"If the opposition acts like a First World opposition playing by the rules, the Government will return the courtesy... If they behave like hooligans, they must expect to be treated like hooligans."

I dont know why but just when the opposition is given a slightly more advantageos playing field on the local political scene they always tend to shoot themselves in the foot. PAP has announced election day well in advance and announced their candidates in timely fashion. But somehow our opposition thinks they can outsmart PAP by delaying announcemnets and hurling defamtory statements. No doubt there might be some over-up, political pressure and heated exchanges, facing multi-million dollar law suites is not the way to survive politically. Declaring Bankruptcy is not going to boost the party's image either. So yes, our opposition seriously needs to improve and field credible and less antagonistic candidates.

Just as much as some might want to vote for the opposition, I think PAP still has the upper hand. Whenever we talk about opposition, we speak about it in fear, we sledom or dont even read their newspapers, their websites to find out the other side of the story. And in this the PAP has been successful. The local media is strictly regulated, requiring licenses by the government to continue to be media providers, free speech requires a permit etc. Its seriously tough out there, the playing field is never level for the opposition but that doesnt mean they should resort to wild allegations. And its been shown that the courts might be sympathetic to PAP's lawsuites looking back at the previous incidents.

MM Lee also said "'Only a PAP MP can get you priority attention of the Government. A PAP Government must give more attention to the constituencies that support the PAP. This is so everywhere. Any government must first look after its supporters, whether it is America, Britain, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand or Singapore"

To me, thats only partially true. In this case its true only in Singapore where opposition has been virtually zero. In parliaments where opposition sits strongly, the government simply cannot ignore constituencies that are opposition held if not accusations of lack of accountability and favouritism might surface. The elected government is still the government and they hold a responsbility to the nation, whether the areas are opposition or non-opposition held. Imagine if all chinese voted PAP and maybe all the other minorities voted opposition is it even reasonable to say that because chinese voted PAP, the chinese are going to get more attention, more support? So it just might be another media tool used to convince us that if we vote PAP MP's we have lots to look forward to, but if we vote for opposition, nothing comes our way. One can take a look at Thailand now. Opposition has boycotted elections challenging that the politcal scene has been totally doimnated by the ruling party. And yes they have made themselves heard. While boycott might not be such a good idea in Singapore but at least strong opposition has made the government account for its actions, and bring into scope the demands and concerns brought by opposition.

At the end of the day, we have to decide whos the best man. and so far in many areas PAP still rules supreme. But that doesnt mean there are no areas where there are good opposition members. And to hold the goverment accountable and responsible to the people, to be given a mandate that is said to reflect the people's will, indeed a credible and strong opposition is required and not just walkovers or driving people off the political scene.