INSIGHT DOWN SOUTH
BY SEAH CHIANG NEE
Singapore's Parliament sessions are tame, polite affairs with
prepared questions and answers and MPs sounding more like
government cheerleaders. MPs recently even spoke in favour of the
increase in the unpopular Goods and Services Tax. All this
self-praise is turning off young Singaporeans.
NEEDED in 21st Century Singapore: A new breed of articulate Members
of Parliament who can match the likes of Lee Kuan Yew, S.
Rajaratnam and David Marshall.
With few exceptions, todays lot whether in government or
opposition lacks that sharp tongue and fire in the belly that
marked the previous generation of politicians.
As the Old Guards left one after another, they were replaced by
young, co-opted technocrat-MPs, who were good problem solvers, but
who lacked the passion and ability to motivate Singaporeans.
Neither are they good at debates or explaining policies in the
pull-no-punches way that Minister Mentor Lee and his peers could do
with ease.
The lack is fine as long as the PAP continues to enjoy the complete
trust of voters the way that Lee had.
But his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, is dealing with and
has to win over better educated, more cynical citizens with very
high expectations.
That requires the party to govern with more than top scholars and
good policies; it also needs people with the power of
persuasion.
After demolishing all strong opposition one way or another,
Minister Mentor Lee has admitted that many young MPs lack the
opportunities to learn the thrusts of political debate.
For its own survival, the PAP has to allow its MPs to speak frankly
and openly on issues of the day, even if it is galling to the
party.
It has another reason to do this. It has rejected the opposition
playing a checks-and-balance role in the government, saying it can
do it by itself. For this to be credible, observers say, it has to
be seen doing it.
Most Parliament sessions here unlike in Kuala Lumpur have been
tame, polite affairs involving prepared questions and answers,
after which the MP would sit down to make way for another.
This was evident during the recent Parliament budget session that
was to give important tax changes (GST up 2%) and rising poverty a
proper airing.
Most government MPs spoke in favour of a rise in the unpopular
Goods and Services Tax no GST can be popular anywhere in the
world from 5% to 7%. Yet they made it sound like its the
long-awaited salvation.
(The budget also provided offsetting payments, with the poor and
older people getting a larger share, which will help to mitigate
for five years the impact on the lower class).
Singaporeans are generally opposed to the GST increase, which is
the centrepiece of the budget, and several government MPs pitched
for more aid to the poor.
But the majority of backbenchers praised the budget, some in
exuberant terms that are opposed to public sentiment.
Despite the leaders exhortations to MPs to speak their minds, not
many had done so.
A sample of backbenchers exuberant praises included generous
and forward looking, good intentioned and made in heaven, a
landmark budget, wonderful, innovative and pragmatic.
The generosity of the budget is possible under the stewardship of
the ruling Peoples Action Party, said one MP, sounding like a
Pyongyang news headline.
Another remarked: Nowhere else in the world can you get a budget
which includes love and compassion in abundance as this one.
Some young Singaporeans say they were turned off by these flowery
but useless descriptions.
Even a commentator of the pro-government Straits Times, Chua Mui
Hoong, was moved to call on the PAP MPs to go beyond
cheerleading.
Too much self-praise by the PAP is off-putting, she wrote.
An MP's role should include critiquing policies, voicing
independent points of view and scrutinising the executive's
decisions, she said, adding that some did so, but they were a
minority.
Former PAP MP Hwang Soo Jin, 71, related how a doctor had surprised
him by asking why Parliament had bothered to debate the budget when
the government had already decided to implement it.
Hwang wrote in the Chinese Lianhe Zaobao that there was a 'chasm'
between Parliament and the people.
After Lee Kuan Yew stepped down as Prime Minister in 1990, his
successor, Goh Chok Tong had steadily eased up on control of
peoples lives.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who took over from Goh, has pledged
to continue the process.
Some feel Parliament could do with the return of several
strong-minded ex-PAP backbenchers, who had the moral courage and
skills to take on ministers.
They included former Speaker Tan Soo Khoon, Dr Tan Cheng Bock and
Dr Wang Kai Yuen, who have left behind an outspokenly biting
legacy.
Soo Khoon once hit out at government wastage, targeting seven
gr-and ministerial building projects, labelling them sarcastically
as the Seven Wonders of Singapore.
He likened some of these gleaming new buildings to five-star
hotels, which led him to wonder if the ministries were competing to
see which of them could be better than the Four Seasons
Hotel.
(People) complain because they realise that if you spend so much
money, then we will be taxed more. That's why people are unhappy,
he added.
Parliament is a stepping-stone for tomorrows leaders, which
explains why MPs should be encouraged to use their flair.
Some analysts, however, believe that sustained periods of affluence
and stability are not ideal to producing brilliant leaders; only
chaos or wars can.
It was chaotic Singapore in the 50s and 60s that threw up leaders
like Lee and his contemporaries and that just cant be
re-created.
