jbj and how singapore is generally screwed.

I saw the Economist had an article on JBJ in their latest issue (the obits section), so immediately dashed to buy a copy. 12 freaking bucks. Well worth it, but still painful, painful. (More painful in the context of buying a whole new comp but that's another post for another day!)

I also couldn't resist posting a comment. I must say, not having to grovel for a govt scholarship is a highly liberating feeling, I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone. (If I have to grovel for a govt job later in life these words will come back to haunt me muhaha!) And here it is:

Unfortunately, as many people (both Singaporeans and foreigners) fail to appreciate fully, Singaporeans live in an incestuous compact between the state, the media, and the people. Here, democratic sensibilities are subordinated to considerations of material well-being, and economic advancement is regarded (not unfairly) as the best route to success. Singaporean voters merely elect whoever delivers the economic goods, and so far, the PAP hasn't slipped up.

The media establishment is staffed by former civil servants and government figures (including a former deputy prime minister) who naturally have an interest in the larger status quo. What observers may see as complicity is simply their self-interest coinciding with that of those in power. The liberty of the Singaporean press is not compromised; rather, the natural tendency to liberty has been extinguished.

Singapore's unique problem is that everything has been done by the book, but in such a fortuitous way as to favour the governing elite. They've developed a vested interest in the status quo, in satisfying the population with economic and material well-being. At the same time they've quietly reduced the space for social, political and intellectual debate, in the name of stability and prosperity. And Singaporeans have been understandably acquiescent. This is going to continue as long as the incestuous compact works; once Singapore sinks this will probably break down. Unfortunately it will take nothing less than total systemic failure for Singaporeans to wake up.

Singapore needs more brave souls like JBJ, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I guess he'll be remembered as the heretic who preached democracy and rights while the rest of us were eating out of the PAP's hand. As for Lee Kuan Yew, he's a brilliant man, but nonetheless only human, and the demise of one of his fiercest political opponents should remind him that his time is drawing to an end, too.

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I must say I'm not in support of the opposition. Au contraire, I'm deeply apolitical, and that does not mean apathetic. The opposition is largely incoherent, and JBJ was about as good as it ever got. They don't seem to realise the fundamental realities of Singapore, the PAP-created fundamental realities.

Standing for your democratic principles is all very well and good, but when principles cost dearly then (for most Singaporeans, at least) it pays to abrogate them. Not that that's a good thing; far from it. I really must thank my lucky stars that I haven't needed to do that yet.

I'm afraid it'll take nothing less than catastrophic collapse for Singaporeans to realise that relying on the PAP is wholly inadequate, and for the PAP to realise that its self-interest is not the same as Singapore's self-interest. Like every other entity, the PAP's self-interest is self-preservation, first and foremost; political survival. And by co-opting the best and brightest of Singapore into the party or its patronage, through its extensive and (as I characterise it) incestuous links with the private sector, civil service, military, academia and media, the PAP has inadvertently reduced the space for independent views to be heard. This is its self-preservation at the expense of Singapore's. In the long run, the lack of a marketplace of ideas will only be to Singapore's detriment. Voters don't realise this because the cost of working this out for themselves (in terms of time and effort) would likely outweight the satisfaction thus derived (in other words, they don't give a flip), and also because the discount rate on potential future failure is high (in other words, they don't know what they're potentially in for).

Why do I care? I care because I was perilously close to being bonded to the civil service, where the reality of intellectually sleeping with the enemy would be all too apparent. I care because many of my friends are perilously close to having a vested interest in the system, and I want them to know that it isn't all a bed of roses. And I perversely care because after 19 years of living in this place one can't help but feel some kind of empathy, of one-ness with Singapore, even though one wishes things were better.

I really, really like that phrase "incestuous compact". xP