Singapore General Political Discussion and News

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The PAP has seen its monopoly gradually erode in the past decade. As you mentioned, the Worker's Party is emerging as a credible opposition party. When do you think the PAP will face its first genuinely competitive election? How do you think the PAP will respond when it realizes as such? Also, when that happens, will the PAP stay united? The family feud around LKY's house has created bad press abroad, and damaged the PAP's reputation for competent government that it had built up for decades.

Within Asia, Singapore has gained an aura of being the "perfect country" similar to how Norway has become the "perfect country" within the western world. It will be fascinating to see real competition for the first time in living memory.

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To what extent do you think the PAP's success was a product of Singapore's small size and other unique circumstances?

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Wearing a jacket at 22C??? Wtf???

I remember when I was in Hong Kong, that 16C is a cold snap, and the rich would use it as an excuse to flaunt their fur coats.

Here, people will be in their shorts and sunglasses and lazing around the park.

Luckily, the idiocy expressed by Mr. Bowyer will gain zero traction in this part of the world. People in East Asia are much more aware of contagious diseases than in Western Europe or North America.

This thing is really stupid, though:

Last November, Singapore's fake news law was used for the first time with Mr Bowyer being asked to correct false statements he made about investments by GIC, Temasek and other government-linked companies.

He was issued a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) for implying that the Government controls Temasek and GIC's commercial decisions.

The problem with such "correction directions" is that they will only work if the public trust the government more than the poster, otherwise it's the Streisand Effect.

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So what will happen now that the PAP's planned leadership succession has been thrown into disarray?

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Long-time SDP leader, Perennial Candidate and Former Professor of Psychology Chee Soon Juan has started a cafe. A controversial politician known for his confrontational style of politics and being subject to numerous Libel Lawsuits, a pivot to the F&B busniess espeiclay in a time like this seems a rather weird move.

https://www.asiaone.com/lifestyle/inside-chee-soon-juans-new-cafe-orange-teal-cosy-reading-nook-affordable-western-food

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chee_Soon_Juan

I decided to pay a visit to his cafe out of a sense of curioisrtiy. It's location is rather weird located in Rochester Mall which is a new but obscure mall with little foot traffic filled with the kind of business like Tution Centers and Chiropcrationers that don't normally rely on foot traffics. It seems like his name was sufficient to attract a large crowd and the cafe was quite crowded with a que outside.

The Cafe does suffer from tettering problems with it failing to print our order and our coffe taking far too long to arrive. Dr Chee seemed rather busy and personaly attended to our table so I was able to get a photo. The Cafe also has a nice library of politica books including Nate Silvers famous book the signal allowing with the Dr's own books avaliable for purchase.

Singapore is now much more democratic than its rival and cousin that's four hours flight away. At least political dissidents are allowed to run their private business without harassment.