February 6, 2010 - Temasek Review
Reform Party urges PAP to embrace need for political reform in Singapore
Written by Our Correspondent
In a press release posted on its website yesterday, the Reform Party urges the ruling party PAP “not to be half-hearted or timid about embracing the need for reform in Singapore.”
It claims that the PAP appear to have incorporated many of their economic proposals in its new economic strategy unveiled by the Economic Strategy Committee (ESC) lately and calls upon it to follow by by adopting political reforms they have been advocating.
These reforms were previously mooted by the late opposition leader and founder of the Reform Party J.B. Jeyaretnam and includes abolishing the GRC system, repealing the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act and removing the draconian restrictions on freedom of assembly and peaceful non-obstructive protest.
The ESC report bears uncanny similarities to some proposals put forth by the Reform Party earlier such as reducing Singapore’s over-reliance on foreign workers and boosting labor productivity.
The Reform Party is currently led by Cambridge-educated economist Kenneth Jeyaretnam.
The press release also highlight the progress made by the Reform Party since its founding in 2008 by attracting credible candidates into its fold:
“The Reform Party has effectively changed the mindset of Singaporeans and demonstrated that the opposition can attract high-calibre individuals, that the opposition can put forward credible policies (so credible that the government has now adopted many of them), and that the opposition can one day be entrusted with the government of Singapore without adverse economic repercussions.”
The Reform Party has been trying to reach out to Singaporeans via a series of closed-door seminars with the latest one on education being held two weeks ago.
It advocates a more pluralistic political landscape in the form of a two-party ssystem for Singapore and is optimistic that it will become a reality soon:
“……Singaporeans can perceive the current one-party dominance giving way in the not too distant future to a genuine two-party system with both parties alternating in power. This has happened in much of the rest of Asia, in particular in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia.”
Unfortunately, its call to the PAP to reform Singapore’s political system is likely to fall on deaf ears.
Last year, Law Minister Shanmugam defended Singapore’s system as one which “works” for the nation.
He also floated the idea of introducing “political education” in Singapore schools to educate students on the different political systems present in the world today so as to enable them to reach an “informed” decision on the system which best “suits” Singapore.
Since coming to power in 1959, the PAP has brought all institutions of the state under its control including the civil service, media, police, grassroots organizations and trade unions.
The incoming U.S. Ambassador to Singapore Mr Daniel Adelman told the U.S. Senate earlier this week that he is aware of the fact that Singapore is not a democracy and he will make use of “public diplomacy to work towards greater press freedoms, greater freedom of assembly and ultimately, more political space for opposition parties in Singapore to strengthen Singapore into a multi-party democracy.”
Read the Reform Party’s press release here
They will never let go and share.
Originally posted by Chew Bakar:They will never let go and share.
Of course not. It is possible they believe they are breaking their own rice bowls if they do so. Kiasu kiasi mentality rule in Sg.
Originally posted by Fantagf:
Of course not. It is possible they believe they are breaking their own rice bowls if they do so. Kiasu kiasi mentality rule in Sg.
It's natural not to share, so it's an uphill task if the oppositions are going to break their stride.