“If Israel devours all of Palestine, it will be a matter of time before Israel becomes Palestine,” - Marwan Bishara – Al Jazeera

Beating Up Weaklings Only Turns You into A Weakling.

I’ve just read an article by Al Jazeera’s senior correspondent, Marwan Bishara, that seems to sum up one of the big issues of the current General Election, the seeming inability of a very powerful entity to get the basics right.

Mr. Bishara’s article was about the proposed annexation of Palestinian lands in the Middle East by Israel, as prescribed in the Peace Plan concocted by Jared Kushner. Mr. Bishara, who is an Israeli citizen, argues that Israel, which is a dominant military force, backed blindly by the world’s most powerful military force, will only harm itself if it carries out an illegal annexation of Palestinian lands by becoming like the Palestinians. Mr. Bishara’s article can be found at:

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/hubris-israel-endgame-palestine-200630085817780.html

Although I’m sitting nearly 8,000 kilometres away from the conflict that Mr. Bishara was describing, I was able to see some interesting parallels between the war zone described by Mr. Bishara and my safe, comfortable city state.

There are no obvious similarities. A General Election in Singapore is a seemingly tame affair when compared to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, if you look closely enough, there is an underlying similarity.

Like the Israeli military, Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) is by far and away the most dominant force in Singapore’s politics. This is the party that has every tool at its disposal during an election. Singapore’s opposition parties are pretty much like the Palestinian youth hanging out in Ramallah, a pretty disgruntled lot.

Elections in Singapore are pretty much like an armed conflict between the Israeli military and the Palestinian Youth. One side throws stone and the other replies with drone and air strikes, artillery fire and tanks. Then, when the battle reaches its obvious conclusion, the side with the heavy fire power gets commended in the world press for its heroic defense of the homeland, while the kids throwing stones as the tanks mow down their homes, are chastised for holding an irrational hatred to the benevolent overlords.

If you take this comparison further, you’ll like notice that there are further similarities. Like Israel, the PAP has been a success story. Just as the Israeli nation was the nation of no resources that managed to make the desert bloom, the PAP ran tiny Singapore with no natural hinterland and turned it into one of the wealthiest, safest, cleanest places on earth. 

Just as Israel shines in so many ways when compared to its neighbours, the PAP has somehow managed to nab the best and brightest and left the opposition with, well……(The Young Pork Munching Muslim Politician from Pasir Ris GRC for example has been calling me because he’s shocked that in this election, the opposition party has been fielding highly qualified candidates).

Unfortunately, the PAP has somehow picked up another similarity with the State of Israel.  It has become the living example of what Donald Trump calls “So much winning, that you’ll get bored of winning.”  

Israel is a military and economic powerhouse that has spent years beating up a beaten people led by corrupt incompetents. I remember an Algerian describing the late Yasser Arafat as “That Bastard who stole everything.” The Middle East only democracy produced Bibi Netanyahu, who was the world’s first slick pioneer of populist demagoguery. Bibi built his entire career by taking the easy way out of doing things like making peace and by blaming it on everyone and everything else. Despite its economic success, Israel has been able to shake off a Prime Minister who spends a worrying amount of time in court defending himself from corruption charges. While Israel for the most part remains a vibrant and democratic, one has to ask if it is growing too tolerant of the type of leader that one often associated with Israel’s Palestinian neighbours.

Is something happening to the PAP, a party that has run a highly regarded government for more than five decades. The PAP has been a highly disciplined, well run ship. Its machinery was superb. The opposition traditionally consisted of a few disgruntled people who spent their time trying to brandish this or that to get a bit of attention.

However, things are starting to change. Our opposition parties seem to be getting their act together, while the PAP has been running around like a clueless chicken. The Workers Party (the only opposition party with seats in parliament) has been a model of party discipline and unity. The political party managed to run a Group Representative Constituency (GRC or for non-Singaporeans, a system where voters get four for the price of one) despite every effort made to ensure they failed.

The Progress Singapore Party (PSP), which has becoming the “exciting” party to watch, also proved remarkably disciplined. When one of its members was involved in questionable behavior, he was expelled.

By contrast, at least two potential Members of Parliament have been involved in some rather weird stuff. There was Ivan Lim, and there’s also Ng Ling Ling, who can’t explain what she means how she managed to set up an institute where she was hired to be the assistant director after it was set up. The story can be found at:

https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/singapore-ge2020-pap-new-face-ng-ling-ling-responds-to-claim-of-falsely-taking-credit-for

Just as Mr. Bishara said that Israel would become Palestine if it conquered Palestinian lands, might it also be a case of the PAP becoming the Opposition if it wins all the seats in parliament in this election?