HIS visit to Australia and New Zealand has reinforced Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong's belief that the one-party system in
Singapore must continue and the same goes for the policy of
placing Opposition-held wards at the end of the lift-upgrading
queue.
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Over the last nine days, Mr Lee met various leaders from the two
countries, including Prime Ministers John Howard (Australia) and
Helen Clark (New Zealand), as well as their respective opposition
leaders, Mr Kim Beazley and Dr Don Brash.
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And after having a more intimate look at their political systems,
Mr Lee is convinced that while their no-holds barred arguments make
for "more exciting" politics and
"compulsively-viewable interviews", they do not necessarily result
in more sound policies.
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The end-product of rigorous parliamentary
debates might not necessarily be for the good of the country, as
such "endless debates are seldom about achieving a better grasp of
the issue but to score political points", he
commented.
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Speaking to reporters as he wrapped up his visit, Mr Lee said: "I
think when you look at Australia and New Zealand and other
countries with two-party systems or parliamentary democracies like
us and elections in our politics, you will understand how different
and unique the Singapore experience is.
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"You look at their politics in Australia
between Howard and Beazley. All the time, Howard says something,
Beazley says he got it wrong. Beazley says something, (Howard)
says: 'You said something different last week or three years
ago'.
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"So ceaselessly, back and forth, whatever you do, I'll say you've
done it wrong. If I can't find some (way) to be different from you,
I will look for something else so as to establish my own brand
name."
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Mr Lee also said that such party politics
might lead to policies that are detrimental to the nation.
He pointed to the Australian government's decision to deny
Singapore Airlines access to the trans-Pacific as an example.
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"The National Party (Mr Howard's party's rural-based junior
coalition partner) has certain interests - to look after the rural
populations, to look after the towns and far-flung outbacks - and
one of their interests is to have air services fly to all these
places. It's not economical for airlines which provide those air
services, (among which) includes Qantas.
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"So, when you say you want to open the trans-Pacific route and run
an open competition because it is good for Australia, Qantas then
says: 'Well, if you do that, we are going to have to cut back on
all these non-economic routes. We are doing you a favour, doing
national service.'"
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But while the system might work for Australia because it is a
diverse country with many different interest groups, Singapore's
society is more homogeneous, with the Government also having "made
sure that all the constituencies are mixed and integrated".
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"In Singapore, we have 84 constituencies,
but basically they are all more or less the same. You don't have a
rural area, a city area. You don't have a very working class area
versus a very upmarket area. We have made sure you don't have a
Malay area or Indian constituency or Chinese
constituency.".
Because the People's Action Party (PAP) sees the whole of Singapore
as a "natural constituency", it fights for all 84 seats during
every election.
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But the party's dominance in the political landscape has caused
Singaporeans to "lose the perspective that party politics is party
politics" - that people vote for a party not just because of
national reasons, but because "it benefits himself or his
community", said the Prime Minister.
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"If we only talk about national interest
and put it above party politics, in theory, that is ideal - but in
reality, that's impossible," he said. "And that's why you
end up having HDB priority (for lift upgrading) and a difference
between the PAP and Opposition wards. It's necessary. Without that,
the system cannot work.
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"Because if we treat everybody the same
... the first thing the Opposition will say and has been saying is:
'It doesn't matter. They'll have to take care of you anyway. Vote
for us, you will still have a PAP government' - which was what
(Workers' Party candidate) Sylvia Lim said during the
elections.
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"And that becomes a real problem because if everybody believes
that, where are you going to produce that PAP government?"
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But what about PAP supporters who stay in Opposition wards?
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Said Mr Lee: "We have no choice but to respect the wishes of the
majority of the voters. We know that there are PAP supporters in
Opposition wards. In PAP wards, there are also Opposition
supporters. If you voted for an Opposition MP, you have to depend
on him to work for you."
