Government 101

While shopping around town yesterday, I walked past the Singapore Parliament building for the first time. I've seen it before but always while buzzing down the street in a taxi. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I ran by the grounds of the building for almost a month before I recognized it. Finally seeing the center of government coupled with my conversations with Stefan the hairstylist made we want to learn a little more about the system here.

Singapore has a parliamentary form of government. One political party, the People's Action Party, has been in power since the country's independence in 1965. From what I understand, the 84 members of Parliament (10 are women) are elected by the public and following a constitutional change in 1991, the president is elected to 6-year terms by the public. It's interesting to note that voting is REQUIRED in Singapore. Here's the bizarre part: since making the president an electable position, only one man has been directly elected president. In every other election year, some presidential committee has disqualified all but one candidate from the process and declared him president so there have been no actual presidential elections. Yet they still refer to him as the "elected president." The president then appoints the prime minister who serves as the head of government so neither leader is chosen by the people. It's considered by most to be a blend of democracy and authoritarianism.

Singapore's government is highly regarded for having very little corruption, a refreshing change from other countries in the region. The current leader, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, gets paid 3.1 million Singapore dollars, five times the salary earned by President Obama. Yes, that makes him the highest paid leader in the world. Perhaps he owns one of the Lamborghinis we see around town.

When talking to Stefan, he said that many Singaporeans have issues with how the government operates. They complain that they are essentially living in a one-party state with an over-bearing government. But he also acknowledged that the government played a key role in transforming Singapore from a Third World nation to the wealthy, industrialized country it is today. If the nation and its people are prosperous, they probably aren't motivated to change how they operate.

While I obviously prefer the US style of government (most days), as a resident of Singapore, I can see some benefits of government involvement. I like the emphasis it places on primary education for its children. I appreciate that the government closely inspects the food entering the country to ensure it is safe to consume. I'm also quite fond of the fact that no one has the right to own guns and that drug traffickers are executed. It makes for a much safer environment for my family while we're living here. I'm just a little disappointed that the next pretend presidential election will occur after we're back in the States. That sure would be fun to follow...