I’ve just caught a beautiful soundbite on Youtube from an
interview on Fox News with Carley Fiorina, the former Chief Executive Officer
of Hewlett Packard (“HP”). Since forced to resign from the top job at HP, Ms.
Fiorina has taken on a variety of roles, the most noticeable of which was to be
a Presidential Candidate for the Republican Party in 2016 (which she lost to Donald
Trump).
Four years after her unsuccessful attempt to run for
president, Ms. Fiorina has somehow gained attention in the current election by
going on record to state that she is endorsing the Democratic challenger, Mr.
Joe Biden as president. Fox News questioned her on why she chose to support Mr.
Biden and among her reasons for supporting Mr. Biden in the current election
was because it was her right as a private citizen to do so. She told the interviewer
“In this Country, we Pledge Allegiance to the Flag, not to a Leader or to a
Political Party.” The Fox News interview with Ms. Fiorina can be seen at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE8V39DRbzY
Leaving aside the complexities of the Presidential Election,
Ms. Fiorina has made a point which often gets drowned out an increasingly
partisan world – namely the fact that citizens of a country, particularly in
those that claim to have a democratic system of government, are citizens of
their nation first and members of political parties, ethnic and religious groups
etc second and political leaders who win office are leaders of nations rather
than political parties, ethnic and religious groups second.
While this should be a basic fact for nations that claim to
be democratic, this has not been the case. America has been a famously divisive
place in the last four years. Instead of being the “United States of America,”
it has become a collection of squabbling groups that can roughly be described
as “Trump-Loyalist,” and “Never-Trumpers.”
In fairness to Mr. Trump, the seeds of partisan extremism
were sown into the system long before his arrival on the scene and he’s merely
the most significant exploiter of divisions. Closer to home, there is Thailand,
which was divided into the urbanites of Bangkok that loathed former Prime
Minister, Thakshin Shinawatra (Yellow Shirts) and the rural folk who adored him
(red shirts). Thailand’s only real unity that transcended Mr. Shinawatra was
the reverence for King Bhumibol and a loathing for King Vajiralongkorn.
Further South, in Singapore, we have an interesting twist on
things. Here’s its not a wealthy “outsider” like Trump and Shinawatra who are upsetting
norms. Rather than rely on “outsiders” to disturb democratic norms, we have our
own ruling party, which has quietly supported a culture of “You are either with
us or against us.”
The divisions are not as obvious as in the American or Thai
scenarios but extreme partisanship does exist, thanks to the ruling party’s
inability to tolerate criticism of any kind, including from the people who are
by no means opponents or dare I say critics of the powers that be.
Furthermore, unlike the polar opposition in Singapore is more
diverse. Unlike America, Thailand or even Malaysia, there has yet to be a single
charismatic force to unite and harness dissenting elements. Think of the
opposition movements as a collection of tiny fragments.
In a way, the ruling party has it easy. It merely has to listen
to the “opposition element” get to their source of grievances and find a way of
keeping them happy. If you observe the online criticisms of the government long
enough, you’ll notice that they are primarily with issues on policies that have
affected lives and as Singapore’s election results have consistently shown, the
electorate is pushing for the government to listen rather than to be swept
away. There has yet to be a call for what Michael Moore calls “Political Molotov
Cocktail.”
This hasn’t happened. We have a POFOMA bill which is officially
meant to stop online falsehoods but is based on little more than what the minister
considers a falsehood. Then we have the old-fashioned use of defamation suites
and as various instances in Covid-19 showed – too many instances of the elite
covering for the elite (think of the bailing out of dormitory owners and the
rush to defend Liew Mun Leong after the verdict from the High Court exposed the
extent to which he had attempted to crush his former maid).
The current political party has become synonymous with government
and any challenge to it appears to be a challenge on the nation. Look at the
way in which the national anthem is coopted into being a party slogan.
Singaporeans sing “Majulah Singapaura” (Malay for Onwards Singapore). The
ruling party is quite happy for call of “Majulah PAP.” Our Minister of Manpower,
Ms. Josephine Teo used to the two in the recently concluded General Election as
if PAP and Singapore the nation were one and the same:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuUfUU00Y78
The ruling party needs to stop coopting national symbols for
its own and its leaders need to understand that they are national leaders first
and foremost. Party affiliations should be a secondary concern.
The electorate have made it clear in the last election that
it is willing to give more seats to the opposition if the ruling party does not
appear to be listening. It’s best if the ruling party listened rather than
engaged in acts that tie itself to the national core if it intends to stop the
gradual loss of seats.
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