3 lessons BN should learn from PAP

Earlier this week, the Singapore government announced a new Cabinet line-up made up of mostly young and new ministers to take over from the old guard of leaders shortly after the next elections.

Not many Singaporeans were surprised at the announcement. In fact, it was expected, as the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) had made leadership renewal and succession one of the key objectives of their election campaign.

And the PAP, for all its shortcomings and straight-laced pragmatism, almost always delivers on its promises.

‘Performance legitimacy’

It is this high level of confidence that the majority of the electorate have in PAP which had contributed to the stronger mandate that the party enjoyed in last month’s general election, said Singaporean political analyst and former nominated MP Eugene Tan.

“One key takeaway is the need to build trust and confidence between the ruling party and the electorate,” said Tan, who is also Associate Professor of Law at Singapore Management University.

Despite the incumbency factor, which was working against the PAP, the leadership’s perceived integrity and efficiency won over not only a generation of older loyalists, but also the younger and more critical Singaporeans.

When Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he would step down after the next elections, he took steps to put his retirement into place less than a month after celebrating a strong election victory.

Singaporeans know exactly what to expect when it comes to voting in PAP, and it’s simply a matter of whether or not they agree with their policies.

With Barisan Nasional, though, voters hardly raise an eyebrow when promises are broken, and policies flip-flop.

For example, in a move that was largely hailed as progressive and liberal, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced in 2011 the abolishment of the Internal Security Act, which allowed for indefinite detention without trial on the orders of the home minister.

Najib had said then that the move was made to accommodate a mature and functioning democracy.

Less than four years later, the government passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) which also allows indefinite detention without trial, only this time on the decision of a five-man board.

From education policies to pledges to clamp down on corruption, Malaysians are usually left with the bitter taste of unfulfilled promises and deception, when it comes to our ruling government.

Zero-tolerance for corruption and money politics

At a forum last week in Kuala Lumpur, former Singapore high commissioner to Malaysia K. Kesavapany told delegates that one strong factor leading to PAP’s strong performance in the last elections was the party’s culture of zero-tolerance for corruption.

“We’re not saying there is absolutely no corruption, but it happens at the lower levels, the officers,” Kesavapany said.

“At the leadership level, I think it’s safe to say almost every Singaporean – even the opposition – believes that the PAP is corrupt-free.

“We have also abhorred money politics right from the start… it’s simply not in our culture.”

In Malaysia, money politics has been called the “biggest scourge” of the nation by none other than the minister appointed to oversee good governance and integrity, Datuk Paul Low.

The fact that our prime minister can get away with receiving RM2.6 billion into his personal bank account as a “donation” from an unnamed foreign source further reinforces the fact that our system is flawed, and in dire need of greater transparency and standards of ethics.

Keeping politics free from race, religion and language

The final, and most outstanding, legacy and practice of the PAP leadership is the exclusion of race, religion and language from politics.

This culture has been in place since the birth of the nation and has resulted in a genuine sense of shared responsibility and national pride by the vast majority of its population, including the minority ethnic groups.

“There is a need to ensure every citizen feels that he or she is fairly treated and that there is no inherent advantage or disadvantage on account of one’s race, religion or language,” said Tan.

Even with a 70% ethnic Chinese-dominated society, voter discontent in Singapore rarely stems from racial issues and policies, but rather from problems affecting quality of life and economic position – simply put, issues that transcend race and religion.

Whenever there are performance and political assessments made between Singapore and Malaysia, the inevitable argument is that both nations are so different that there is little common ground on which to make valid comparisons.

While it is true that PAP and BN exist in two different political and physical landscapes, the principles that have led to PAP’s continued and strengthening mandate are universal and can be adopted in Malaysia with the right leadership and will.

The results of the last Malaysian general election showed that more than 50% of the electorate want change from racially divisive politics, from corruption and from bad governance.

Unless BN changes from the archaic politics that defined Malaysia’s past, they will risk almost-sure exclusion from Malaysia’s future. And to achieve that change, they will do well to take a leaf out of the PAP’s book. – October 4, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.