Results count, so does political competition

I COULD not agree more with Mr Low Lee Siang ('One-party state? What counts is Govt's work'; ST, April 4). Say what you will of the successive PAP governments that have run Singapore since independence but they have played a major role in turning Singapore from a Third World backwater fishing village into a First World metropolis in a generation.

I agree with Mr Low that what we should vote for in every election is the party that is best able to ensure that we have things like clean drinking water when we turn on the tap, the ability to send our children to schools that teach them skills to prepare them for the future and the ability to walk down any street without fear of being mugged.

We enjoy all of these things and I have yet to meet anyone who would sacrifice any of the above because the same political party that has been in government for the past few decades provided them.

The party that provides us with the best possible government will win this election, like every election we have had. If the People's Action Party (PAP) continues to do what it has done for the past four decades, we as an electorate would keep it on as the party of government.

However, we should not dismiss the need for an opposition in spite of all the good things done by the PAP Government. Just as competition is necessary in ensuring businesses provide consumers with the best possible products and services, competition in politics is necessary to ensure that we have the best possible form of government.

Mr Low rightly points out that no system of government or political party is perfect. The PAP acknowledges this and has been developing internal mechanisms, such as leaders stepping down voluntarily, to keep it relevant. But that does not discount the importance of an opposition.

We should never tolerate the idea that the market is too small for anything more than one player. This is especially true in the market for political ideas. No doubt the PAP Government has delivered on the issues we care about but that does not mean that we should not listen to alternative political ideas, wherever they come from.

Mr Low is right. Ultimately it is the results of good government that count, not which party is in power.

It is up to 'We, the Citizens of Singapore' to make sure that good government is the order of the day and we can do that only by showing every politician running for election that we are scrutinising them and their policies and those of their opponents. It is the only way we will get the government that we deserve.

Tang Li

Copyright: (C) Singapore Press Holdings 2006