Ordinary Singapore: The Decline of Singapore Exceptionalism

Abstract

For decades Singapore’s ruling elite has sought to legitimate its rule by claiming to be a talented and competent elite that has made Singapore an exception among its neighbours – an exemplar of success and progress in a sea of mediocrity. In this article it is contended that this basis of legitimation has been irreversibly damaged. In essence, it is suggested that the governing People’s Action Party has lost control of the national narrative, and its achievements are increasingly regarded as being “ordinary” by the electorate. The mystique of exceptionalism, which was the basis on which the government was widely presumed to be above the need for close scrutiny and accountability, has collapsed. This collapse has substantially levelled the political playing field, at least in terms of expectations and assumptions. The government can and probably will continue to win elections and rule through its control of the instruments of institutional power, but the genie of scepticism and accountability has been released from its bottle, and it is hard to see how it can be put back in. This fundamentally changes the condition of Singapore politics: the narrative of exceptionalism is dead and the Singapore elite finds itself struggling to cope in a new and critical political environment.

Key Words:

• Singapore politics
• elitism
• Lee Hsien Loong
• democratisation
• authoritarianism
• regime legitimation

Notes

¹ Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong ran inept election campaigns. Lee made himself an issue by his disparaging references to the Malay community and by his overt threats to constituencies who voted for the opposition (for instance, Today, May 5, 2011; The Straits Times, May 1, 2011). Goh kept saying and tweeting embarrassing and self-defeating messages (for instance, Razor TV, April 30, 2011).

² Exceptionalism is not the prime rationalisation for the presumption of virtue in members of the ruling elite. State-sponsored discourses on Confucianism and “Asian Values” provide more direct foundations, but such matters are not the concern of this article.

³ A presumption of competence was the public basis of Wong’s resilience, but the protection afforded by personal connections offers a more likely explanation.

⁴ For a critical account of the selection, formation and composition of the elite, see Barr (2014a, Chapter 5).

⁵ The application of this descriptor prompted Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the leader of a local opposition party, to cheekily choose “www.sonofadud.com” as the URL for his blog (Jeyaretnam 2013). There was a further dimension to Jeyaretnam’s choice of web address: his father, J.B. Jeyaretnam, was one of the supposed Opposition “duds” in parliament to whom Lee was referring.

⁶ Ngerng’s case has been complicated because he said CPF earnings were “misappropriated” by the prime minister, whereas it would have been more accurate to say they were “unjustly retained” by the government. This miswording was the initial basis of Lee Hsien Loong’s civil action.