The new knuckleduster: constructing a fear of losing the good life
I went for a forum discussion yesterday. Topic: "Economic Growth: At What Cost?" Reform Party, Workers' Party and, of course, the PAP were represented. Today, by way of a school lecture, I saw a video of the "5th Singapore Forum on Politics: 'Singapore 2030: Views from the Ground' " held in 2008. The phrase "Views from the Ground", by the way, is important - this particular event could be seen as a response to a more elite conference held in the same year, on the same topic of Singapore in 2030, in which Lee Kuan Yew was a keynote speaker.
Having witnessed these two events I am now more convinced than ever Singapore is not bereft of interesting thinkers, though we may very well wonder how many we have already lost. I want to mention here Catherine Lim. She gave - I thought - a mesmerizing speech in the 2nd event, made all the more impressive because she had no notes at all. She was spontaneous, fluent, and though she lacked concrete facts and figures her language did a very good job in persuading me to her standpoint. I later found out that some, if not most, of the content were already fleshed out before: they can be found here. I don't think that degrades her speech significantly nonetheless.
I will give a quote from her later, a quote I found had a very nice rhythm. First, in less beautiful words, here is Chee Soon Juan:
The opposition is prevented from freely and effectively communicating with the voters (through restrictions imposed by the Singapore Broadcasting Act and Newspaper and Printing Presses Act); deprived of adequate funding (through the Political Donations Act); and kept from knowing the constituency boundaries in advance (through the Group Representation Constituency system)... And when there are allegations of irregularitiesin the electoral process, to whom do the complainants turn? There isn't even an independent body to conduct the elections. The Elections Department works out of the Prime Minister's Office and takes directions from the Government.
Elsewhere,
The most striking example of this occured during the 1997 elections when several PAP ministers had entered into polling stations to greet voters. Under the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA), only the candidate and his/her officially appointed election agent are allowed into the polling stations. Unauthorised persons, including ministers, are prohibited from entering the premises and even barred from loitering within 200 metres of any voting centre. Yet election officials did not attempt to enforce the rules in the above instances.
When some opposition candidates complained to the police about this infraction, the Attorney-General defended the PAP actions by saying that the ministers were inside the polling centre - as opposed to loitering on the outside - and, hence, not in breach of any regulation.
Another incident happened in August 1996. The SDP had hung some bunting with salutary messages and celebrating the National Day at Bukit Gombak, a constituency which it had won. The Government quickly sent workers to pull down and confiscate the flags. In the meantime in a neighbouring constituency, PAP flags, without any reference to National Day, fluttered freely in the wind.
- The Power of Courage: Effecting political change in Singapore through Nonviolence
Catherine Lim:
If man does not live by bread alone, a nation does not survive in the long term by material prosperity alone. I’m going to risk being churlish and say that as long as Singapore’s leaders do not pay heed to the fundamental needs of the human spirit, they can never be called wise, only clever; and as long as the nation they lead is admired only for its material achievements, it can never be called great, only successful.
Such passages are the kind that make me unable to absorb anything else for the next ten minutes, maybe more, as the words echo in my mind over and over again, unable to extricate itself from the exquisite rhythm of the language. To make no mention of the fact that the content expressed is pertinent too.
I should also note I caught Volcanic Disco earlier, a play by students from a Theatre Studies module in NUS. I'm all for abstract, non-conventional theatre, so I was quite pleased when there were some music and dance elements. But the content of the vignettes I found not so pleasant: it didn't offer any fresh take on sexuality. A nice evening nonetheless. I always enjoy watching people being passionate at the things they do, be it debating about Singapore's future or acting in a play.
These two days aside, I've been getting a general sense that exciting things are going to happen in Singapore, and sometimes it makes me wonder what my role in them would be.
Having witnessed these two events I am now more convinced than ever Singapore is not bereft of interesting thinkers, though we may very well wonder how many we have already lost. I want to mention here Catherine Lim. She gave - I thought - a mesmerizing speech in the 2nd event, made all the more impressive because she had no notes at all. She was spontaneous, fluent, and though she lacked concrete facts and figures her language did a very good job in persuading me to her standpoint. I later found out that some, if not most, of the content were already fleshed out before: they can be found here. I don't think that degrades her speech significantly nonetheless.
I will give a quote from her later, a quote I found had a very nice rhythm. First, in less beautiful words, here is Chee Soon Juan:
The opposition is prevented from freely and effectively communicating with the voters (through restrictions imposed by the Singapore Broadcasting Act and Newspaper and Printing Presses Act); deprived of adequate funding (through the Political Donations Act); and kept from knowing the constituency boundaries in advance (through the Group Representation Constituency system)... And when there are allegations of irregularitiesin the electoral process, to whom do the complainants turn? There isn't even an independent body to conduct the elections. The Elections Department works out of the Prime Minister's Office and takes directions from the Government.
Elsewhere,
The most striking example of this occured during the 1997 elections when several PAP ministers had entered into polling stations to greet voters. Under the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA), only the candidate and his/her officially appointed election agent are allowed into the polling stations. Unauthorised persons, including ministers, are prohibited from entering the premises and even barred from loitering within 200 metres of any voting centre. Yet election officials did not attempt to enforce the rules in the above instances.
When some opposition candidates complained to the police about this infraction, the Attorney-General defended the PAP actions by saying that the ministers were inside the polling centre - as opposed to loitering on the outside - and, hence, not in breach of any regulation.
Another incident happened in August 1996. The SDP had hung some bunting with salutary messages and celebrating the National Day at Bukit Gombak, a constituency which it had won. The Government quickly sent workers to pull down and confiscate the flags. In the meantime in a neighbouring constituency, PAP flags, without any reference to National Day, fluttered freely in the wind.
- The Power of Courage: Effecting political change in Singapore through Nonviolence
Catherine Lim:
If man does not live by bread alone, a nation does not survive in the long term by material prosperity alone. I’m going to risk being churlish and say that as long as Singapore’s leaders do not pay heed to the fundamental needs of the human spirit, they can never be called wise, only clever; and as long as the nation they lead is admired only for its material achievements, it can never be called great, only successful.
Such passages are the kind that make me unable to absorb anything else for the next ten minutes, maybe more, as the words echo in my mind over and over again, unable to extricate itself from the exquisite rhythm of the language. To make no mention of the fact that the content expressed is pertinent too.
I should also note I caught Volcanic Disco earlier, a play by students from a Theatre Studies module in NUS. I'm all for abstract, non-conventional theatre, so I was quite pleased when there were some music and dance elements. But the content of the vignettes I found not so pleasant: it didn't offer any fresh take on sexuality. A nice evening nonetheless. I always enjoy watching people being passionate at the things they do, be it debating about Singapore's future or acting in a play.
These two days aside, I've been getting a general sense that exciting things are going to happen in Singapore, and sometimes it makes me wonder what my role in them would be.
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