There is an interesting debate in Singapore’s blogosphere lately
on civil disobedience in Singapore.
Prominent socio-political blogger Alex Au argued that
Singaporeans are not ready for it and blamed the Singapore
Democratic Party, a strong advocate of civil disobedience in
Singapore for “letting itself down” for its frequent brushes with
the law.
The conventional thinking is that Singaporeans are too obedient,
orderly and timid to express their displeasure against the ruling
party publicly in the form of rallies, protests and marches.
Indeed, the SDP’s supposedly decline over the years is often
attributed to its association with civil disobedience against the
ruling party which lacks mass popular appeal.
SDP’s Secretary-General Dr Chee Soon Juan stood firm and
defended all it takes is a “few good man” to spark off a mass civil
movement to topple the ruling party, quoting the examples of
India’s Mahatma Gandhi and U.S.A’s Martin Luther King.
The reality on the ground lies somewhat in between.
While Singaporeans are still not ready for the organized
movement envisioned by Dr Chee, the concept of “civil disobedience”
is becoming more palatable to them with each passing day as evident
by the public display of online “protest” against the ruling
party.
10 years ago, it would be unimaginable to read any critical
comments/posts by netizens about the ruling party and its
leaders.
Today, they are ubiquitous everywhere even in forums owned by
the government. The majority of Singapore’s socio-political
bloggers adopt a clear stance against the establishment and the few
pro-PAP blogs suffer from a dearth of readership.
There is far greater political awareness and openness now
compared to the past and with more and more young Singaporeans
being hooked up to the internet, it will serve as a catalyst to
political awakening in Singapore.
In the past, young Singaporeans are mostly concerned about their
studies, careers and futures.
Nowadays, an increasing numbers are expressing concerns about
the governance of the nation, the absence of political competition
in Singapore and the lack of accountability and transparency in the
system.
Online activism is becoming more prevalent in Singapore
cyberspace with netizens having no qualms making use of social
media tools to organize themselves and get their message
across.
Petitions are a popular tool to garner public opinion and to
feedback to the authorities though their actual impact is
suspected.
In last year alone, there are a dozen petitions set up on a
variety of issues from calling HDB to reduce the prices of public
housing to the Romanian embassy to make ex-gratia payments to the
families of the victims of a hit-and-run accident involving their
vehicle.
Facebooks are set up to campaign various causes from helping the
homeless in Singapore to advocating for a repeal of the death
penalty.
The most notable Facebook was set up by a 22 year old Mr Alex
Tan to vote the PAP out of power.
Within a week, it attracted more than members than the YPAP
Facebook itself and now has nearly 3,000 members.
Such an overwhelming response from Singaporeans will be
unthinkable a few years ago.
One can infer from its success as an indication that
Singaporeans have slowly shed their perennial inhibitions and fears
of speaking out against the ruling party.
They have become more aware of their civil and political rights
as citizens of Singapore and they are not afraid to assert
them.
The key question to ask is: when will Singaporeans be ready to
make the gigantic leap from online disobedience to civil
disobedience in real life?
Having 2,000 netizens signing on a petition to call for the
resignation of a minister is quite different from having 2,000
Singaporeans doing so at Hong Lim Park.
In Singapore, all forms of public dissent are quickly covered up
to prevent “loss of face” for the ruling party which prides itself
as having the popular “mandate” of Singaporeans to govern the
nation.
It will be a major PR disaster for the PAP if 2,000 young
Singaporeans turn up at Hong Lim Park one day demanding free and
fair elections for it will shatter the myth that they enjoy wide
support from Singaporeans once and for all.
Right now, the ruling party can only depend on draconian and
repressive laws like the Public Order Act to keep prospective
“protesters” at bay, but even then, its oft-cited propaganda to
maintain social security and order is fast wearing thin.
Singaporeans have witnessed for themselves what civil
disobedience can achieve in other countries such as Malaysia, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan and they know this may be the
last resort to toss out the dictatorial regime.
Unfortunately, there is a huge gulf between “thinking” and
“doing”. Most Singaporeans still prefer to agitate for change
anonymously behind the screen than to do the dirty work on the
ground like what Dr Chee and his colleagues have done.
Despite the odds stacked against them, there is a silver lining
over the horizon for Singapore civil activists who have been
struggling to attract fellow Singaporeans to join them.
With frustration, resentment and anger rising on the ground
against the ruling party, an increasing number of Singaporeans are
gradually accepting the idea of civil disobedience.
Though it may not resemble the mass civil movements we see in
other parts of Asia, the fundamental principles and goals will
remain essentially the same.
What we need now is more brave souls to step forward to lead the
way to spark an avalanche of support for the movement.
The police may be able to arrest and charge a few civil
activists easily, but if we have more than a thousand, two thousand
and three thousand of them in the streets, they will surely be
overwhelmed.
Singaporeans are fast running out of options and time to rid
themselves of this despotic regime which was lampooned as a
“textbook example of a repressive state” by Human Rights Watch
lately.
With the ruling party mass importing foreigners into Singapore
to become citizens, our voting rights are being diluted as each day
passes.
Perhaps only when Singaporeans finally wake up from their
slumber and realize one day that civil disobedience is the only way
out for them that they will throw caution against the wind and lend
their full support to it.