Asking the government to do everything...

A letter to today's ST (Mar 23) basically said what I posted earlier concerning the question put to PM Lee at the NUSS: Why not have a two-party system? To put it simply: it's not the ruling party's job to nurture an opposition party. Anyway, this is what Peter Teo Boon Haw said in his letter (subscription required):

I am amused that a member of the educated elite would find it appropriate to ask the Government to set up a two-party system, a system which may effectively put the ruling party which forms the Government out of power if it succeeds.

One would have thought that it is up to the people to set up a viable opposition party that may offer alternative leadership to the present Government.

It is people like the NUS alumnus, if he feels strongly that there should be alternative leadership, who should go and 'rope in ex-ministers and MPs' and other like- minded people to form a political party.

And this final bit basically takes the words right out of my mouth:

He is just like the typical Singaporean who depends on the Government to do everything, even to the extent of asking it to put itself out of power.

Amen! The irony, of course, is that MM Lee said essentially the same thing when he answered a certain Mr. Han a long time ago...

UPDATE: Wows of Singapore Ink has a similar thought:

I meant to wonder, why in the world did the NUS guy even ask such a question without thinking about the long-term impact this would have on politics in Singapore? Maybe some people are getting so fixated on a two-party system that they forget the fundamental reasons why it is a signifier of a desirable state of affairs for governance.

Personally, I'm not crazy about a two-party system. A more liberal political climate--which, believe it or not, is something that has been slowly emerging for the past decade--yes, a society with a stronger culture of civic association, a more mature and self-reliant democratic citizenry that doesn't cry "mommy" everytime something needs to be done, yes. A more Tocquevillean state of affairs. But it may or may not involve a strong opposition party at all.