A reminiscence of democracy in Singapore.

 The dramatic advent of the first democratic government in Singapore was by a landslide victory in the general election in 1959 by the People's Action Party (PAP) led by the dynamic leader Lee Kuan Yew. This brought a flush of lofty euphoria to the people of Singapore as it ended a long reign of British colonial rule. The PAP government under Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who prided themselves on probity demonstrated their intrinsic character of serving the people and uplifted the standard of living of especially the lower strata of the population. It was the momentous start of a revolutionary history of Singapore  which promised an idyllic future. 

Democracy gives a sense of sanity and stability to a turbulent world. What would the world have become if it is ruled by communist regimes and dictatorships. Singapore almost became communist but for the divine intervention in the form of Special Branch and the then Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock who made it possible for Lee Kuan Yew to come into power. So it was no wonder that Lee Kuan Yew became perpetually obsessed with communist threat and it was Special Branch under a charismatic director George Bogaars who put paid to his mental torture. Very interestingly George Bogaars was the only known bureaucrat who could curb the inhumain tendencies of Lee Kuan Yew.  He held Bogaars in very high esteem. Other bureaucrats who may have had such inflluence could be Hon Sui Sen and Howe Yoon Chong before they became ministers. Subsequent SB directors simply lacked the charisma of George Bogaars plus the imperviousness of Lee Kuan Yew to any such hortatory approach to be able to emulate George Bogaars.

The "woody" seat-warmer Goh Chok Tong took over but did well enough to last more than a decade as prime minister. It was during his watch as the avaricous prime minister who paid themselves millions of dollars from taxpayers' money as salaries to enrich themselves making them the highest paid political office holders in the world. Egregious to the extreme to portray themselves as serving the public.

When the prodigal son Lee Hsien Loong took over he continued the practice of tipping deeply into the public coffers to enrich themselves and would rather be found dead than to relent by reducing the government largesse. Enough has been said about his travesty of public service and the majority of Singaporeans are just biding their time to see when there will be a divine intervention to mitigate the oppressive sufferings of the people. It depends very much on the wisdom of the electorate and this generation may not see this happening. Our long-awaited forlorn  but not forsaken hope may be on the next generation of discerning electors to provide an altenative government.