A paean for intellectuals

Farquhar

The dearth of independent public thinkers in Singapore

The irascible Bertrand Russell once said that he would never claim to be an intellectual because this was a specimen that pretended to know more than it actually did. That’s a startlingly modest statement, considering that there are few as erudite as the late Lord Russell. On that measure, Singapore comes across as being remarkably self-effacing, since it is a rare breed in this society who could lay claim to the solemn distinction of being a public intellectual.

Then again perhaps Singapore’s shortage of independent and credible thinkers isn’t the result of humility alone. The lack of a suitable climate of liberty could be one reason - witness the machinations of a paternalistic government zealously guarding its hegemony over the public discourse. As Lord Russell might opine, it’s hard to say anything when so much intellectual rubbish is being forced down your throat¹. Read more

The scourge of inflation

Farquhar

An old foe rears its head

Singapore has largely enjoyed success in curbing inflation since the country’s inception in 1965.

There is usually thought to be a trade-off between inflation and employment (and by extension economic growth) - disclaimers have to be made for the stagflation of the 1970s and the low inflation and strong growth of the 1990s-2000s that the world experienced - but Singapore has actually managed to tame this beast quite well, enjoying both high economic growth and low inflation since independence with few exceptions.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) statistics show that from 1965-1998 real GDP growth averaged 8.7% a year with inflation running at 3.3%. This compares well with an average inflation of 8% in developing countries, and 6% in developed countries over the same period. Inflation dropped to around 2% per annum in the 1990s-2000s even while growth remained robust. Read more

Citizen Woon

Farquhar

The Attorney-General is right that we need a real debate on human rights, but he probably won’t like the answers

SINGAPORE‘S ATTORNEY-GENERAL Professor Walter Woon caused a little stir last week with his comments about human rights “fanatics”.

The good Professor subsequently clarified that he was merely referring to those who thought that their opinion of what constituted rights had primacy over all other views. Human rights are subjective in nature, he noted, and it is up to Singaporeans - not outsiders - to debate and decide on what these rights should be.

Professor Woon is surely right to point out that there is no fixed consensus on where to draw the line between individual rights and the communitarian good. For example, homosexuals are treated differently in the United States compared with Europe; abortion is legal in the US but not in Chile. Read more

The phoney war

But the attack on the judiciary isn’t coming from the so-called dissidents

JUDICIARIES EVERYWHERE are under constant siege - the only question is by whom. In the case of Singapore, Law Minister K Shanmugam claims that the perpetrators are dissidents trying to undermine public confidence in the judiciary.

Explaining that the integrity of the courts was under attack, he told reporters that Singapore had to be “very, very strict about anyone who attacks the judiciary in scurrilous ways, or calls onto question its independence.”¹

Mr Shanmugam was trying to justify the jail sentences handed out to Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan as well as his sister and fellow SDP member Chee Siok Chin, who were to be jailed for 12 and 10 days respectively for contempt of court during the trial proceedings of the defamation suit brought by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father Lee Kuan Yew against them. Read more

The charge of the Chee brigade

Chee Soon Juan gets his day in court

Surveying the horrific barrage of artillery raining down on Union soldiers struggling valiantly - but hopelessly - to close in on his lines, General Robert E. Lee was said to have uttered, “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”

One imagines that a certain other Lee - in this case Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew - might have fashioned a similar thought as he faces down yet another charge from his perennial adversary, Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan. Read more

The Anorexic State

Farquhar

A recipe for government spending

In the now-defunct TV series “The West Wing”, a turning point for the fictional Bartlett administration came during a debate about whether to include the line “The era of big government is over” in the President’s speech.

That debate dramatised the contest over the American government’s size and role during the Reagan era in the 1980s. Ronald Reagan charged into the White House on the back on a brand of mid-western conservatism and a hitherto unmatched enthusiasm for smaller government bred during his term as governor of California. There, where his Democratic predecessors had left behind a bloated administration blamed for stymieing the Sunshine State’s growth, Reagan turned things around by cutting taxes and spending.

Read more

Waiting for Godot

Farquhar

Farquhar comes earlier this week and takes a look at the state of the opposition parties on the second anniversary of Polling Day – May 6 2006.

The Opposition is in danger of missing the chance to build on its gains of 2006

Both Acts of Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot” end in the same lamentable fashion. The two protagonists, having wasted an entire day in a series of pointless diversions (one of which was a laughable attempt to commit suicide) while waiting for an acquaintance that never shows, finally agree to depart the scene. But then they put that off as well and remain where they are at the close of the Act, consigned to repeating the same routine in perpetuity.

Read more

Rice, rice everywhere

Farquhar

Poorer Singaporeans get left behind in affluent Singapore

It was the curse of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner to wander the high seas, tormented by the sight of water everywhere, yet finding himself unable to quench his aching thirst.

The analogy of want even amidst a situation of plenty would be familiar to not so well-off Singaporeans, given the recent squeeze on the price of basic commodities - of which the spiralling cost of rice is the most talked about - that has arisen in spite of the economic boom that the country is experiencing.

While the price and apparent scarcity of rice have now assumed an importance of national proportions, dominating local media headlines as well as the concerns of politicians, the government’s initial instinct was actually to deny the severity of the problem as it first started coming to light.

Read more

The government’s great getaway

Farquhar

The government’s mishandling of the Mas Selamat case reveals a worrying lack of political acumen

The release of the key findings of the Committee of Inquiry’s (COI) report into the escape of Jemaah Islamiyah member and alleged terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari on 21st April 2008 was awaited in Singapore with the kind of anticipation normally reserved only for major football matches.

Thus it comes as no surprise that many people - outside of the mainstream news media, of course - were disappointed by the report as well as the subsequent speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the matter.

The report showed up some real complacency and systemic failures in Singapore’s security agencies. Yet this was partly overlooked as the mainstream media elevated the question of whether Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng should stay in his job into a saga about the government’s stoic determination to stand firm against a mob which it imagined was baying for blood.

Read more

Kind hearts are more than coronets

Farquhar

The 1949 film “Kind Hearts and Coronets” is perhaps best remembered for the late Sir Alec Guinness’ portrayal of the dysfunctional D’Ascoyne family.

All eight different family members, with ages spanning six-decades and including both genders, were played by the remarkable Sir Alec, who employed delicate variations in mannerism, posture and makeup to create some distinctly memorable characters. Nevertheless, what underpinned each character was the same measured, studied and professional performance from a Sir Alec at the height of his powers.

The same impression comes to mind when one surveys Singapore’s Cabinet line-up, where the ruling cabal’s emphasis on the communalism finds its most distinct manifestation.

Almost four years after the ascension of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the Cabinet still comes across as a blend of amalgamated anonymity, its characters and policies driven by one source - the extraordinarily outsized personality of elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew.

Read more

Next Page »