By Dr Wong Wee Nam
29 May 2009

When the President opened the new session of the 11th Parliament last week, he said, “Our political system is not set in stone. Singapore politics must evolve over time, as the world and our society change. It must respond to new circumstances and goals and continue to deliver good government to Singapore.”

For the optimists, this statement gave a glimmer of hope that our political system is evolving for the better.

A few days later, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong gave a glimpse of what is to come when he outlined three principles that will guide the changes to be made to the political system. One, they must be fair to all political parties. Secondly, they should result in a strong and effective Government after an election; and thirdly, they must ensure that diverse views are represented in Parliament. Without the details, all these sounded reasonable.

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SEE ALSO:

1. Ng E-Jay: histrionics based on sloppy data by The AcidFlask Chronicles: Chapter IV (external link)
2. Selected reader comments on my post “Prof Lee Wei Ling is practicing bad statistics and horrible science”
3. MOH lifts home quarantine order for recent travellers to Mexico

By Dr Wong Wee Nam
17 May 2009

When the news of the outbreak of H1N1 virus in Mexico broke last month, the health authorities and the governments of the world went into frenzy. Governments started to stockpile anti-flu tablets and protective gears.

People panicked. It did not help when the WHO asserted that a “global outbreak of the disease (was) imminent.”

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By Dr Wong Wee Nam
23 Feb 2009

Three recent issues cause me great discomfort. The first is the topic of euthanasia, the second is the sale of organs and the third is the suggestion of sending our elderly to a neighbouring country to save costs.

The issues give me discomfort because they would have a great impact on society should such ideas form the basis of healthcare policies.

To me the formulation of policies must not just be based on cold and hard financial mathematics. There must also be a generous dose of compassion, idealism and love. A policy must come out from a good head as well as a big heart. This is more so when the policy concerns health, the poor and the elderly. In this area, policy-makers must not only be competent and intellectually skilled, they must also be able to love and show compassion. They cannot have too big a head and too small a heart.

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Written by Dr Wong Wee Nam
18 Jan 2009

He who knows his own side of the case, knows little of that.
– John Stuart Mill

In April 2006, just before the Singapore General Election, the PAP government decreed a ban on political podcasts. The reason given by the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts was that “the Internet is ubiquitous, fast and anonymous”. He was concerned that rumours could be spread on the Internet and “once a false story or rumour is started on the Internet, it is almost impossible to put it right”.

In my response to the ban, I wrote a letter to the forum page of the Straits Times. In it I said:

“Firstly, how can something that is so chaotic and disorganised ever be an effective mill for a credulous rumour? Secondly, anyone who has read an Internet political discussion would know that any posting of half-truths and untruths will be met by responses from many other netizens to put the facts right. There is no need even for the Government to try and counter them with rational arguments.

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Written by Dr Wong Wee Nam
04 Jan 2009

Singapore is slowly opening up and liberalizing. So we are told. Censorship in the Arts has been relaxed, demonstrations are now allowed in Speakers’ Corner and making of some kinds of political films will not be banned.

Yes, nowadays there are some doses of political jokes in the local theatres but these are really more to amuse than to make a serious statement on issues. Most of them are just cynical.

Yes, demonstrations are now allowed in Speakers’ Corner. However, except for the investors whose pockets have been hurt, no other groups have used the Speakers’ Corner to air their grievances Why is this so? People are not expressing themselves because they have loss their voice after years of a stifling political climate. They have lost the spirit of citizenship.

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Written by Dr Wong Wee Nam
04 December 2008

It has been broached in the past. Now Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said it again. A multi-party system is not good for Singapore. For someone who had, during the 2006 General Elections, said that the government would have to waste time fixing the opposition if too many are elected into Parliament, such a view should not come as a surprise.

The reason he gave for not having more than one dominant party other than the PAP is that Singapore is too small and does not have enough talents to have a multi-party system. Israel is a small country, perpetually at war and yet they have a parliament of diverse views. Hongkong, New Zealand and Denmark do not have a population much bigger than ours. So was ancient Athens, the cradle of democracy. Even Singapore in the early years, when its population was less 2 million, had many dominant parties. Thus this reason cannot be valid.

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Written by Dr Wong Wee Nam
21 November 2008

“All professions are conspiracies against the laity.”
– George Bernard Shaw

When we were in school, one of the unforgettable proverbs we learnt was “All That Glitters is Not Gold”. Another was “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover”. For all intents and purposes these proverbs taught us to be more skeptical, more discerning and not to be easily taken in by propaganda.

The recent financial crises and economic events show that in this world of mass marketing, botox, silicone implants, controlled media, irresponsible press and proliferation of experts on whose opinions seem like absolute truths, it is not easy to inoculate ourselves against mass persuasion and herd–thinking. In the world where pursuit of money has become the primary goal, it is not hard to be blinded by any glitter.

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By Dr Wong Wee Nam
12th June 2008

“The incarceration of free-thinking healthy people in madhouses is spiritual murder.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Soviet dissident and Nobel Prize-winning author

Last week, a friend brought to my attention some newspaper articles profiling Chee Soon Juan after he was sent to jail for contempt of court. One piece suggested Dr Chee could be suffering from antisocial personality disorder. This conclusion was based on Dr Chee’s behaviour that had matched the symptoms of a condition that the writer had gleaned from a medical website.

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Written by Dr. Wong Wee Nam
29 May 2008

Exemplary Leadership: People First

“Those who are wise do not dispense political decrees (to the people)” Laozi

On 12th of May, a terrible earthquake, one of the worst in decades, hit the Sichuan Province of China. To date, almost 70,000 have been killed and many are still being buried in the rubble.

This earthquake was so great it devastated not just small towns and cities, but shook places as far as Beijing, Shanghai, Hanoi and Bangkok.

Even as the buildings were still collapsing and the news were trickling in, the Prime Minister of China, Wen Jiabao, was already in the disaster area, comforting the survivors and directing operations in the midst of after-shocks.

There was really no urgent need for Mr Wen to risk his life and limbs by visiting the disaster area so early after the event. There was no re-election to seek and no political mileage to attain. There was no way anyone could guarantee his safety. Yet he was there, at the centre of action.

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Written by Dr Wong Wee Nam
16 April 2008

The Malaysian General Elections has just ended and Abdullah Badawi has continued as the Prime Minister. But he is now having problems keeping the job. This is because there are many who want to take over. Even Anwar Ibrahim, who is not even an elected Member of Parliament, is eyeing the job. Just as there are many who had vied for the posts of Menteri Besar in the State governments, there is no lack of candidates for the post of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

In the United Kingdom, when a schoolboy visits 10 Downing Street, he invariably likes to pose in front of the official residence of the Prime Minister of Great Britain for a picture. In other words, it is a schoolboy’s dream to become the Prime Minister of Britain. It is not that the job of the Prime Minister in Great Britain pays very well. It does not.

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“Tyranny is worse than a Man-Eating Tiger”
“苛政猛於虎也”

By Dr Wong Wee Nam
Written March 18, 2008

On 5th of March 2008, just before the Malaysian General Election, Dr Mohd Mahathir, the former Prime Minister, declared in an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini, the online political website, saying “I believe in an opposition. I have always maintained that this country needs an opposition and they should be critical of the government without which we don’t have a mirror to look at our faces. We think that we are very beautiful but it is the opposition that keeps telling us (that may not be true).”

Of course, true to his style, he could not resist adding that it would be a “disaster” if the country “loses its opposition” as in Singapore.

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Written by Dr Wong Wee Nam
27 Feb 2008

The Over-Population Problem

On 21st February 2008, a friend sent me an ST online forum letter written by Mr. Yong Koi Kwong on why Singapore should not become a 6.5 million city state.

The writer said: “Singapore is situated in a hot humid equatorial region. The average relative humidity is 80 per cent with a daily average temperature of 24 to 32 degrees Celcius for virtually the whole year. The average number of hours of sunshine is 5.5 to 6 hours. It is very unpleasant to live in such an environment if there is no natural ventilation to take away one’s perspiration.

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Fear Factor Revisited: The S’pore Edition -
Politicophobia (The Fear of Politics)

By Dr Wong Wee Nam
31 Dec 2007

December 29th 2007. Someone had called for Singaporeans to go and have dinner at Centrepoint. The dress code: anything in black. It was of course not a dinner gathering to celebrate the end of a year. It was just a symbolic dinner for those who want to express quietly their dissatisfaction over a number of issues that had affected their lives over the past year.

From the number who turned up, one can either conclude that Singaporeans are a very apathetic lot, resigned to their fate, or a very pathetic people who grumble but are unwilling to make their feelings heard. Or more likely – Singaporeans are still a very cowed lot when it comes to anything that even hints of politics.

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