What the GE means for me and why I want to vote Ngiam Tong Dow as President

It's GE time!! I'm sure you're as excited as I am. I feel sorry for those in the Tanjong Pagar GRC because I think more than ever, I sense that people want to have a voice in how our country is being run. This is a good thing for the obvious reason that apathy never did anyone any favours. It means there is no motivation to get things right because nobody cares if things go wrong.

The widespread awakening across the ground also signified something else - that people have been feeling unheard. The frustration resonates with me, personally, I have gotten terribly indignant over certain policies but no matter how much (or how many ordinary citizens) might rant about them, we can do absolutely nothing about it. It's like seeing a bulldozer slowly heading towards your car, but no matter how long and how loudly you yell at the driver to stop, he doesn't. All he does is tell you why your car HAS to go and why it's good for you somehow.

Like many others, I've been following the coverage online since it appears to be the more credible source of news these days. While there is lots of fiery debate, some of it is almost akin to emotional blackmail (on both sides).

So it was extremely refreshing to read this interview with Mr Ngiam Tong Dow, the ex Head of Civil Service. Even though the interview was done way back in 2003, almost a decade ago, it's uncanny how relevant it is today... and how he predicted the way we're heading. It's sensible, without the usual dreary rhetoric and dare I say, visionary.

What really blew my mind was that he managed to crystallise my thoughts about our political system - thoughts that were previously an incoherent jumble. After I'd read the interview, it all instantly clicked, "yes! of course!" If more of our civil servants had even half this guy's intelligence, ethic and guts to speak his mind, I'd say Singapore's future is bright.

He also talked about education in his interview and then, I understood that the way our education system is run, is a mini model of the way our country is run. He briefly mentioned the problem he finds with our education system:

"Each year, the PSLE creams off all the top boys and girls and dispatches them to only two schools, Raffles Institution and Raffles Girls' School. However good these schools are, the problem is you are educating your elite in only two institutions, with only two sets of mentors, and casting them in more or less the same mould."

...and its parallel in our political administrative system:

"So far, the People's Action Party's tactic is to put all the scholars into the civil service because it believes the way to retain political power forever is to have a monopoly on talent. But in my view, that's a very short term view... You have to allow some of your best and brightest to remain outside your reach and let them grow spontaneously. How do you know their leadership will not be as good as yours? But if you monopolise all the talent, there will never be an alternative leadership. And alternatives are good for Singapore."

Herein lies the problem, our leaders have become so entrenched in their dominance and ingrained in their ideology that they are unable to consider an alternative universe. No wonder some leaders have resorted to threats. When they say "Singapore will suffer", what they really mean is "PAP will suffer". The sad part is I think some of the leaders truly believe this because they have, maybe without realising it, come to equate the two. It would explain why they feel it is perfectly justified to have the entire civil service, stat boards and PA serve party interests.

And that's why my favourite sentence in Mr Ngiam's interview is this: "I think our leaders have to accept that Singapore is larger than the PAP."

At the end of the interview, Mr Ngiam gave this analogy of the Greek systems:

"Singapore is like Sparta, where the top students are taken away from their parents as children and educated... When I first read Plato's Republic, I was totally dazzled by the great logic of this organisational model where the best selects the best. But when I reached the end of the book, it dawned on me that though the starting point was meritocracy, the end result was dictatorship and elitism. In the end, that was how Sparta crumbled. Yet, Athens, a city of philosophers known for its different schools of thought, survived."

I now realise that with my vote, I'm signalling more than just my like or dislike for a particular party/candidate/policy. I'm making my view heard on how I want the country to be run, not in an abstract way, but the manner in which our education, housing, healthcare, transport, etc is approached. All of which affects us directly (on an infinitely larger scale than the short-term upgrading of my estate, which incidentally may not have as big an impact as you might think, according to this writeup).

I no longer believe that Singapore will fall without the PAP, like I was brought up to believe. I believe that our citizens are savvier, more resilient and care more about Singapore than the leading party wants us to think. Ultimately, I believe that Singapore is larger than the PAP... and the sooner the ruling party recognises this, the more respect I will have for them.

I encourage you to read Mr Ngiam's interview in full before polling day. It might give you pause to re-think what Singapore really needs to thrive. For years, the PAP has told Singaporeans that change and competition are good for us. Perhaps it's time for them to lead by example.