IT SEEMS odd for Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore’s prime minister, to tamper with the political system. His country’s style of government has many admirers. Europeans and Americans envy how efficient and clean it is. Authoritarians, not least in China, gaze in awe at the ruling People’s Action Party, in power since 1959 despite facing regular, unrigged elections. The most recent, last September, returned the PAP with some 70% of the votes. One of the world’s best-paid political leaders, Mr Lee is also one of its most successful. Why fix a machine that ain’t broke?
Three simple reasons explain why Mr Lee, in a speech to Parliament last month, outlined a set of political reforms. First, this is a tinkering at the edges of the Singapore system, not an overhaul. He borrowed a metaphor from his father, Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. Constitutions, he said, are like a fine old pair of shoes: “Stretch them, soften them, resole them, repair them.” They will always be better than a brand-new pair.
Second, the PAP’s landslide last September means Mr Lee is proposing change from a position of strength. He cannot be accused...Continue reading
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