Parliament, The Latest TV Drama

Watching parliament sitting on TV has become like watching a long-running drama series. Politicians are the actors. The twists and turns in the storyline are melodramatic. There are so many holes in the plots that, you tell yourself, to enjoy the show, just stand back a little and don’t try to dissect the story too much.

The problem is, this is not a TV drama. This is the Singapore parliament. I don’t foresee ours becoming like that of Taiwan’s, but it seems our political leaders are striving to earn themselves some distinction for best performing actor. The way the MPs and ministers speak, it’s like they are competing in a national debate tournament, you know, the kind for school kids to compete in.

I’m saddened that our politics has become a big wayang show.

In the ideal world, we should all be working together for the better of Singapore. We should all be working together so the future generations will inherit a better Singapore. Perhaps if the ruling party could focus all their efforts in that direction, instead of apportioning some toward fixing the opposition, we could have achieved more progress. The opposition could also focus on running their town councils better, instead of spending their time and effort in less productive work.

No, I’m not trying to take sides with AHPETEC, but I don’t doubt that they are trying to do a good job. I also don’t disagree that they haven’t done a good job in running their town council. I think that, despite their best intentions, they haven’t got all the experience and capabilities to do their job properly.

This leads me to wonder — if the opposition doesn’t get the opportunity to run a town council, how will they gain the requisite skills and capabilities to do the job well? Furthermore, we wonder about how, possibly, in the distant future, the opposition will one day run the government. How, I wonder, can we expect the opposition to do an A-job from the get-go?

In fact, I wonder if the government will still run as effectively if the ruling party were to change hands. If town councils are extensions of political parties, then I wonder too what other political extensions there are out there that we know not of.

Our politicians must understand that our people have largely grown up, educated, and will no longer play follow-the-leader blindly. Singaporeans want transparency, accountability, and involvement. In a true democracy, the government, and indeed the town councils, will just run efficiently and effectively regardless of which party is in power.

As we celebrate “SG50” this year, my wish for Singapore, is simply to build a better Singapore for Singaporeans.