SEPTEMBER 27 — Singapore lost a large part of its heritage following the recent elections. We are now a lesser people — incomplete almost.
We gave up a part of our national identity when we re-elected the PAP with an overwhelming majority along with 83 of 89 contested seats; we lost the right to complain.
“Girl, I tell you the gahmen ah…” begins most conversations with hawkers, repairmen and the apex of the complaining Singaporean: the disgruntled taxi driver.
For years, complaints have been a staple of Singaporean life — an instant point of bonding; MRT running late — the minister must lose his job! Heavy rain preventing you from putting out your gala — clearly a flaw of the HDB’s poor planning. Your favourite bowl of laksa now $4 (RM12.33) instead of $3.50 — NEA is out to starve us all!
There was very little we couldn’t complain about but now it would seem we can complain no more. Not when we’ve given our administration such a ringing endorsement in what was basically a referendum on the last 50 years; where do we go from here? How can we keep complaining?
The hundreds of thousands of internet posts condemning the government, talking about the dilution of our national identity, the opacity of the CPF mechanism, the fragility of our ethnic balance — every criticism from the academic to the mouth-frothing rants — all of these appear to have been overblown.
We, Singaporeans, have shown our hand and it’s clear that we were bluffing.
Most of us are actually deeply contented with the status quo. In fact we returned a government that has already been in power for 50 years with a hefty majority, possibly a unique occurrence in the democratic world and remarkable given this was the first time in history that every single seat in the country was contested.
So, now we are left to ask: how does a nation defined by its collective love of moaning confront the truth? Most of us think we don’t actually have anything to whine about.
The powers that be, it would seem, were right all along; decades of economic growth and stability, a well-trained bureaucracy, great public safety: most of us have looked around and concluded they have it pretty good.
Where does this leave the 30 per cent? The stubbornly disenfranchised (can’t you see how good you have it? asks the 70 per cent bewildered by your demands for change) need to see that endlessly bashing the government won’t work because it would seem the government really does reflect the will of the vast majority of its people.
Whether the issue in question is linguistic rights, social security, the right to smoke a shisha, or drink in alcohol in public — these agendas can no longer be taken forward simply by opposing the government.
Basically, within Singapore at least, one political size does comfortably fit all; or the majority of all and everyone now needs to work within that size.
As this is a deeply happy country with few actually wanting change, I suggest we no longer greet each other with, “Aiyoh, did you read the papers today?” and instead limit ourselves to big smiles and an 80s sitcom inspired: “How you doing?” (The answer is 70 per cent satisfied.)
But if you are still itching to complain: there is always the haze.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
