Biggest misconception is about the PAP, not the reserves

by Augustine Low

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that it is the “biggest misconception” to think that Singapore will always have enough reserves.

He is mistaken.

The biggest misconception concerns the People’s Action Party (PAP).

There is a widespread unfounded belief that the country would be in trouble without the PAP at the helm, the party that says we are with you, we are for you, no one will walk alone, no one will be left behind.

People with such a misconception had better think again.

If the PAP cannot keep their own house in order, can they keep the well-being of the people in check?

To distract and detract, what we keep hearing of are troubled times ahead for Singapore. This has been the consistent message from the PAP for a very long time.

Presidential hopeful Tharman Shanmugaratnam echoed this three days ago when he spoke of his worries for the country: “I’m deeply concerned about Singapore’s future. I think we’re in for very different times, we’re going to go through a transition, but no one knows exactly what comes at the end of the transition, especially globally.”

It just goes to show that the PAP is in his DNA.

Tharman can’t help but toe the PAP line, despite him going out of his way to assert that he is his own man, truly independent and not inextricably tied to the party that he served for more than two decades.

Tharman was merely echoing what we have heard time and time again from the PAP – and this year has been no exception.

Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, at the May Day rally, highlighted “the increasingly dangerous and troubled world we live in.”

Painting just as gloomy a picture, PM Lee said in Parliament that the world “has turned much more troubling, even dangerous.” He even sketched a scenario of three major geopolitical storms that could disrupt the country.

Can’t we do better as a country?

Can’t the leaders do better than spell trouble and project pessimism? Which country doesn’t face threats and uncertainty?

What are the chances that PM Lee will once again speak of troubles and dangers and storms at his National Day rally this Sunday?

Yes, the country has been seeing its fair share of storms lately.

But aren’t the storms of the PAP’s own making, and not storms caused by external factors?

Ironically, the party that always warns the people about impending storms and troubles and danger has found themselves entangled in one storm after another.

Still, the PAP keeps harping on honesty, integrity, incorruptibility, trust, respect, protecting families, staying clean and cardinal values.

Still, PM Lee in his National Day message, spoke about “what makes us exceptional” as a country.

He was speaking as if the recent spate of scandals and controversies did not rock the country.

The words “exceptional” and “exceptionalism” used to apply to Singapore. But the country has been slipping and sliding for years now.

Today, almost 20 years after PM Lee assumed the post of prime minister, we are looking more and more ordinary, and less and less exceptional, as a country.

Is it exceptional for a country to be mired in slip-ups, transgressions, scandals, and yet more scandals?

Is there exceptionalism in three ministers coming under investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB)? While two have been exonerated, one is on leave of absence pending investigation.

Is it exceptional for politicians to sue (or threaten to sue) their own citizens, a practice dating back decades?

Is there exceptionalism in being known as the POFMA country, where politicians get to decide what is truth and what are falsehoods?

In an exceptional country, do citizens who support or vote for the opposition get branded as “free riders”?

A country that treats its citizens according to the red, blue and white of their politics surely cannot be considered exceptional.

Last month, Singapore executed a woman for the first time in 20 years.

Last year, Singapore saw the highest number of suicides since the year 2000.

Unlike many countries, Singapore does not have an official poverty line and a minimum wage.

Can’t we do better as a country?

We go through the whole exercise again of the people being told that the elected president holds the all-important “second key” to the reserves, and the best person for that job is a PAP-backed person, with longstanding ties to the PAP.

Can’t we do better than yet another PAP person as elected president?

Not too different from being told that ownself check ownself is a virtue that is good for the people.

Except that ownself check ownself only leads to ownself praise ownself, ownself investigate ownself, and ownself exonerate ownself.

The people could end up the biggest losers if they keep burying their heads in the sand, and keep thinking that the storms will blow over, and keep having the misconception that they would be in trouble without the PAP.