In Singapore, I frankly doubt if the military will step in to
remove a duly elected government. The issues I see are this:-
1) it is not in our nature/ culture to intervene in a violent or
potentially violent way in affairs of the state
2) as the military commander in Singapore, you are faced with
several dilemmas all happening at the same time. THe top 2 dilemmas
you face are the loyalty of your troops , bearing in mind they are
conscripts and in fact they may have elected the same government
you are trying to oust. The other dilemma is what if you do not get
the support of the police and other army units and in turn you are
branded as the "traitor". We Singaporeans are too conservative to
put our necks out.
3) the fact that the military considers stepping in , is in itself
a "nuclear option". Just imagine the economic chaos that Singapore
will be in. Foreign investment will stop immediately and foreign
labour will move out, stock market will crash. Singapore has no
natural resources to sustain herself , unlike our neighbours. I
think our commanders are sensible and pragmatic enough to consider
this as important.
The likely scenario ( and I believe what the government is trying
to imply) is where another political party, probably very radical
in ideology, has replaced the PAP as the dominant party in
Parliament. Then the military may act if they are convinced that
such radicalism will also cause a downfall of Singapore. In which
case, the nuclear option is no longer a non-viable option, since to
do nothing in the face of radicalism will also be damaging to
Singapore.