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:
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:
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?
No comments
Post a Comment