In elections, a duty of care

Editorial
May 6, 2006
The Straits Times

WE are Singapore - one nation, one people...: One destiny, too. As Singaporeans go to vote today after a campaign that had its unsettling moments, it is good to remember some home truths. The bedrock one is that the people get the future they deserve. So yes, the ruling party is entirely justified in drumming into voters the mantra that an election is not to be trifled with. Choose with care. Opposition parties which give voice to citizen concerns spoken and unspoken - costs outpacing earning ability, job fluctuations, an over-concentration of power in the incumbent's hands - also have earned a right to be heard. But whatever the bad vibes wrought by sometimes over-spirited electioneering, voters must evaluate clinically the record and platform of contesting parties. When all's said and done, Singaporeans are in it together to make something even more visible of their little red dot. They cannot if they are divided or flippant.

Every four or five years, as the sitting government submits itself to the people's verdict, citizens' expectations are that the campaigning will be conducted more cleanly than the last one as the nation moves up in the world. Never mind the First World-Third World jibes, just Singapore-clean and forthright so that voters can get an unambiguous fix on the issues, the nuances and their choices. While setting forth its accomplishments, the ruling party will readily acknowledge shortcomings and intractable problems, with an undertaking to do better. It would set new goals, define new difficulties and imponderables. This way, it would be best placed to win over those of the flock it has lost (not necessarily in elections only). Opposition parties will seek to broaden their constituency by offering sober ideas and a convincing slate of candidates to do the persuading. This is positive campaigning all round, with incumbents and challengers showing one another due respect and courtesy.

What Singaporeans have no need for is negative campaigning aimed at muddying the waters and making adversaries look foolish. Mischief-making, name-calling, rumour-mongering and the making of empty promises do little to help the people understand the stakes they are to vote on. These tactics erode support, alienate voters and can be hazardous to elective politics. They divide the people. Singapore will be the weaker for it. Politicians of any good are supposed to galvanise a nation.