Life after Lee Kwan Yew?

Organisations have a structure – a system by which they function and execute their day-to-day activities. Often the success or failure of an enterprise is influenced by that organisational structure. It’s a simple fact, a well-organised system comprised of efficacious, productive components lends to an effective system.

However, systems have a lifespan, after which, efficacy can birth a stifling model of inefficiency. Change to suit the political, economic and social environments is paramount in the maintenance of a healthy organisation.

A Death in the Family

Have we paused to contemplate life after Lee Kwan Yew? It’s a sobering thought. For many, Mr Lee is the elder statesman whose vision has turned Singapore into today’s metropolis it is today. At the same time, others chafe under some of his policies. What worked in 1965 no longer works today, and the new generation of politicians seem to do nought except perpetuate the status quo.

When one man reigns for too long, or grasps the reins too firmly, the system becomes dependent on that one man. We have seen this pattern repeated in many of the great leaders of antiquity, and that fall out invariably involves a disruption of the established order.

Julius Caesar, Alexander of Macedon, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler and so on (and Mr Lee has been compared to some of these names), all leaders who left a power vacuum upon their demise, spawning war and civil unrest. To be sure, Mr Lee appears to have successfully passed the reins to his son, and Lee Hsien Long does appear competent, although the system has not experienced any significant change.

But, when Mr Lee finally passes on, things will change. They must change. At the very least, stock values will briefly fall, and investor confidences momentarily waver, our neighbours will heave a sigh of relief, and our trading partners would wonder ‘what now’?

Opportunity knocking

Into that exact space lies the single greatest opportunity for real and lasting change to happen, because either way, change will happen. It must happen in order for Singapore to survive in a world without Lee Kwan Yew. In a nation and a system so used to having Mr Lee, his removal will create lasting political and social repercussions. Who guides that change will be a matter of grave importance.

History tells us that with the absence of a strong leader, rule invariably falls to the strongest, or the most willing to wrest control. After Caesar came Mark Anthony and Ocatvius. After Alexander came his generals. In this modern day and age, civil unrest is beyond the conception of many a Singaporean, but I speak instead of a civil unrest of the mind. A conceptual civil unrest which we see stirring in so many social commentaries, satires, blogs and alternative media portals maintained and run by Singaporeans. The very people Mr Lee’s system has marginalised or forced out.

It is imperative therefore, that we (meaning those who will fight for social freedoms, not necessarily the political opposition) win the hearts of our fellow countrymen before Mr Lee passes on. Because these ideals of a democratic society based on justice and equality have been trodden over and spat on by the very people who promise those ideals. When school children recite this pledge by rote and not by heart, people who believe in them must stand up and be counted.

When that window of opportunity opens, stand firm. At what price, security and stability? Will you stand by and merely complain when the financial gulf between you and your elected politician widens? Will you stand by and shrug helplessly when another alleged dissident is hauled off to prison?

Change belongs to those who dare, and we Singaporeans simply do not dare.

Power and the people

Our constitution gives us rights. Yet the government that promises us those rights have withheld them on the flimsiest of charges. What is national security when the populace lives in fear, not of the terrorist in the night, but of angering the government which we are bound to uphold? It’s not merely wrong, it is unconstitutional.

The power does not belong to the government, the power is in the people. In our votes. In our collective voices. If every man votes for freedom, we will be free.

And to those who would say ‘why change something that works’, let me say, ‘does it really?’ Does it work when a politician can have a million dollar pay rise? Does it work when the government accidentally loses 6.8 million dollars by oversight? Does it work when a person can be held indefinitely if suspected (but never confirmed) of being a national threat? Does it work when so many Singaporeans leave for overseas and do not wish to return? Does it work when the national attitude is apathetic disinterest?

It does not work, hence we must fight.