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发表于 28-1-2016 10:11 AM
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李总理昨天的讲辞：
Madam Speaker,
I rise in support of the Motion.
The President and many members of this House have spoken about the bracing challenges that we face in the future — terrorism, the economy, maintaining our social cohesion, amongst other things. Indeed, it is a daunting list. But as members have emphasised, we have every reason to be confident that we can overcome them, one by one, together.
The question is: How do we do that? How can we build a stronger Singapore? How can we progress together? For Singapore to succeed, what must we do? One fundamental requirement, beyond individual policies, was what the President said at the end of his speech — that we need good policies, but we also need good politics.
Members would have read the addenda to the President’s Address. These comprehensive documents lay out the agenda for this term of Government.
The business of Government is to govern. Voters elect us to develop policies, to implement them, to make things happen. They want policies which respond to people’s needs, like enhancing social safety nets, making housing more affordable and accessible, improving public transport, managing the growth of foreign workers. They want to see policies that will enable our people to achieve their aspirations, for themselves and for their children: Investing in education at all levels, for example with SkillsFuture; Implementing major projects which transform Singapore, like Changi Airport – building T4, putting up Project Jewel, planning for T5 – or Jurong Lake District, or the Southern Waterfront City. One by one, brick by brick, building a better Singapore.
That is what this Government has done for many years. And this is what my Government will do in this term. We will fulfil our promises. But in order to have these good policies done, we also must have good politics, because the two go hand-in-hand. Good politics make sure that we will elect governments who will develop good policies, who will expand our common space and strengthen our society for the future. If we have good politics, then we have the best chance of having our system continuing to work for us, instead of against us, over the long haul.
If we are only concerned over the next five or 10 years, we do not have to make any changes in terms of politics, because the system is working now, and will continue to do so for the next 10 years, maybe a bit longer. The actors are in place. We are familiar with one another. We know where the levers are. We know the response function — you press this button, this will happen; you pull that lever, something else happens. We know how to make it work today.
But if we are thinking beyond this term and this team, about a new PM and a new Cabinet, and a new population, different electorate, then we will need to keep Singapore able to work well with them in charge and with them being the team that leads Singapore. Then, it is prudent to consider what possible adjustments may become necessary now, in good time.
It is not an urgent task that you must do today instead of tomorrow. But it is this generation’s responsibility to make sure that our political institutions and system continue to work well, well beyond the term of this team, and work well for future generations.
No perfect political system in the world
In theory, to get your politics right should not be such a very difficult problem for most countries, because there is some sense of identity and unity, and leaders and your followers of different political persuasions should be able to come together and work for the common good. It makes sense to work together; it is a lot of trouble if you are in odds with one another. But if you look around the world, in fact, it is not such a simple matter.
There are some countries which face division and gridlock, and the government is paralysed, like the United States. The executive and legislative branches are controlled by different parties. The government is stalemated on issues ranging from gun control to trade policy. Democrats run the administration; the President is a Democrat. Congress is led by Republicans. The two do not see eye to eye and are unable to compromise. Three years ago, in 2013, the Federal Government had to shut down for 16 days, because Republicans and Democrats in Congress could not agree to pass a budget. Last year, they nearly had to shut down again. In President Obama’s recent State of the Union address, this was the theme he took up right at the end of his speech, the most important thing which he felt he had not been able to achieve — to get American politics to work. He described how the Founding Fathers of the US – Washington, Jefferson, Madison – had distributed power between states and the branches of government (that means between the Federal Government and the different states) between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary; checks and balances. And they expected people to argue over matters, as they themselves did, but eventually to find common ground and be able to work something out. But now the basic bonds of trust between the major parties, between the Democrats and the Republicans, have totally broken down. There is rancour and suspicion and no willingness to compromise. The system desperately needs to be fixed, but no Congressman, no Senator, not even the President, is able on their own, to put it right. That is the US, the most powerful country in the world.
Other countries too have seen their national consensus fray. Many European countries were governed by stable, centrist coalitions. Sometimes you have a centre-right coalition that will govern for a time; the mood changes, the country’s priorities shift, a different balance emerges, you have a centre-left coalition, perhaps even some of the same parties continue in the new coalition. You shift from one to the other, within limits, never out of control. But now, the economy has broken, the immigration and refugee crisis is presenting them with an insoluble problem, and deep disenchantment has set in. Extreme left and right groups are gaining ground. In every country, the regular political parties are losing support, never mind whether you are left-wing or right-wing. It is the extreme parties, the ones who just say, “To hell with it. I am unhappy with the world. Vote for me and I will show two fingers to the world”, they are the ones who are getting support. In Greece, it is called Syriza. They are now in government and having to make decisions which their supporters do not like at all. In Spain, they have Podemos. They have just had elections, and Podemos won a significant number of seats. Now they are having a lot of difficulty forming a new government. In Germany, AfD – Alternative fuer Deutschland, an anti-immigration party. In France, the National Front. In Britain, UK Independence Party (UKIP). Pushing anti-immigrant, anti-EU, anti-globalisation platforms. Just expressing angst and anger, not propounding compromises and solutions. They are reflecting public unhappiness, but they are also riling up the public, offering no coherent policies or viable alternatives.
In many Asian countries, whom you vote for depends on your race, depends on your religion. In some countries, it depends on what caste you belong to. It is not policies, it is not integrity, but is he my guy, does he have the same caste name as me, then I know whether I can trust whether he will look after me. These are fundamental divides, which countries have tried to close but which remain deep and have sometimes even deepened decades after independence.
You may say, well, that is the problem of democracy. But even countries which do not have elections also have not such an easy time. You take China. It is a major challenge for the Chinese government, for President Xi Jinping, to keep his system clean, to keep his officials accountable, to keep his government with authority and legitimacy. Chinese officials visit Singapore. Invariably, they ask to see our Meet the People Sessions. They come, they sit in, they watch our MPs and Ministers take cases, and they are deeply impressed at how the system works. They go back, they try to do the same. It is not the same. What is the fundamental difference? In Singapore, MPs and Ministers are taking cases for their voters; the person sitting in front of you votes for or against you come election time. In China, the officials may have a good heart and want to do good for their population, but they do not owe their positions to the votes of the people they are in charge of.
The moral of the story is: there is no perfect model anywhere in the world, much less one which we can import wholesale and apply in Singapore. If we look at other people’s political problems, we do not feel any schadenfreude, any sense of superiority or rejoicing. In fact we say, “If not for the grace of God go I”; because what happens elsewhere can easily happen in Singapore too, if either we blindly copy other people’s practices which do not work here, or we find our own way but take a wrong turn. We can end up in such a situation also. It does not mean we do nothing, it does not mean we learn nothing. It means we have to keep evolving our system carefully, step by step, making sure that our Government works and the politics in Singapore serves our people’s interests. We have to find our own way forward.
Principles of Singapore’s political system
What kind of political system do we want in Singapore? I would list five desiderata, desirable things.
First, it must enable us to have a high quality government — accountable, honest, competent, effective. You have to be responsive to the people, able to look ahead beyond the short term, and keep us safe and successful. Because as a small country with no luxury of resources, no domestic hinterland, excellence and integrity have been, and always must be, a crucial competitive advantage for Singapore . An excellent, honest government. It’s something which we have, which we can do, which others can see — not so easy for others to duplicate. I will put this quite bluntly: If we had not had a first-class government in Singapore, led by exceptional leaders who were able to foresee problems, head them off, seize opportunities, reap dividends for Singapore and mobilise people to work with them and to support policies, sometimes tough ones, we would not have Singapore today. So we cannot ever afford to be paralysed, gridlocked, or become dysfunctional, like some other countries. For America, you can live with it. You go down, you go up; it is an aircraft carrier. For Singapore, you go down, you are finished. You do not come back up again.
Secondly, the political system has to be open and contestable. What do I mean? There has to be free and fair elections, and it must not be forbiddingly expensive for people to stand and contest elections. In fact, that is one of the greatest things we have done to keep our system open, to make sure that we keep money out of politics and it does not cost a lot of money to contest elections. So you take last year’s General Elections. All of the parties together, added up, during the national General Elections, they spent all of S$7 million, less than S$3 per voter. The Straits Times calculated it at S$2.89. You compare that with the cost of the US elections. In 2012, when they last had the Presidential election together with the Congressional elections, it cost them US$7 billion — not cost the government to run it; cost the candidates to raise it and to spend it. US$7 billion, divided by about 350 million Americans — that’s US$20 per American. That, you may say, is American-class, one of its own. But look at the money politics that you see in many countries, including in our region. The sums which are spoken about, which are necessary for elections, openly, not a secret, not even illegal or embarrassing. But it is a reality. It is an insoluble problem, and ours must never become like that.
Thirdly, our political system must foster accountability, so that the government is always kept on its toes, and will always be motivated to look after the interests of Singaporeans. Parliament here must be a serious forum where big issues are discussed and decided — defence, economy, choices to tax and spend, plans for the future. Government’s actions have to be scrutinised and debated in Parliament. If an MP, whether it is an opposition MP or a government MP, argues a case against the Government’s proposal, then either the Government has to be able to rebut it and explain convincingly what it is doing and why, or if the MP makes a good case, then you have to acknowledge that and policies have to be changed. That is what MPs have seen happen in this House, not just with opposition MPs but with government MPs or NMPs as well. On the other side, if an MP makes a good proposal, and advocates convincingly for it and persuades the Government, then I think the Government should support it, back it with resources and help to make it happen — as also has happened with PAP MPs and Nominated MPs, who have from time to time, moved private member bills and other times, have persuaded the Government that the bee in the bonnet is a justified bee in the bonnet and we should do what they are buzzing us loudly to carry out. Every Government must take Parliament seriously, and I think we take Parliament seriously in Singapore, on both sides of the House. It is a place where you have debates, where big issues have to come to be decided. You can agree or disagree, and vigorously, and you ought to disagree if you have strong views. But you must take it seriously. It is not a place where you throw chairs or swing handbags or pour water on one another; or a place where you exchange clever put-downs, but really avoid the serious issues concerning the government and the future of the country. So our Parliament may not be as entertaining on television as many other parliaments which you watch on the news at night, but I think in terms of quality and seriousness of purpose, we have it and we should keep it.
Ultimately, of course, the Government is accountable not just to the Parliament, but also to the electorate. If it performs well, then it gets the support of voters again, and it can continue in office. If it performs poorly, there is an electoral price to pay. Then, either the Government mends its ways and regains its support, or the electorate can vote it out and another party, another team, will have to take its place and try to do better. So we must have a system where the Government does not over time become complacent, go soft or, even worse, become corrupt.
Fourthly, our political system must uphold a multi-racial society. Multi-racialism is fundamental to our identity as a nation, because we have three major races in Singapore, we have all the world’s major religions in Singapore. Race and religion will always be fundamental tectonic fault lines for us. If we ever split along one of these fault lines that would be the end of us. Therefore, our political system must encourage multi-racial and secular politics, not racial or religious politics. It has got to encourage political parties to seek broad-based, multi-racial consensus, and pursue moderate policies in the interests of all Singaporeans, regardless of race, language, or religion. It has to discourage parties from forming along racial and religious lines, or championing the interests of one race or religion over others, whether it be a majority or a minority group in our society. Minority Singaporeans must have the confidence that they will not be marginalised, or shut out, or discriminated against. Every Singaporean must have the confidence that he has a place in Singapore.
Fifth, our system needs to incorporate stabilisers. The Government has to be responsive to the will of the people, but at the same time there must also be safeguards in case the country is swept off course by a transient public mood, or an erratic government, which can happen. By the time you change your mind and realise it is unwise, it is too late to come back. So you need stabilisers to make sure that you respond to the mood, but you do not get too far and capsize the boat. Most political systems have such stabilisers built in. They have an upper house, like the Senate in the US or the House of Lords in UK, or especially in big countries you have a division of powers between the City and Regional Governments and the National Federal Government on the other. So no single point can cause the whole system to fail. You clear the lower house, you must still pass the upper house. Elections may be at different times, and may have different rules. You persuade one region to do something, but it is a big country and other regions have to go along. You have to get consensus, take some time, sleep it over, think carefully and perhaps think the better of it.
We are too small to have either an upper house, or to have a regional set of governments. The most we can do are Town Councils. Useful, but not really a regional government. We have overlaid on top of them mayors, but actually if you compare them with the Mayor of London, or Mayor of New York, it is what you call 小巫见大巫. It is a small personality, same title, but is quite a different entity indeed. We may be small but we still need stabilisers, especially in two areas: protecting our reserves and safeguarding the integrity of the public service. Why do I say this? Because these are two critical elements that give us safety, security, assurance and resources for the future. It has taken us decades to build up our foreign reserves. They are our oil in the ground. If you do not have a second key, and you happen to have a generous or profligate government, then one government can spend it all and bring you back to zero. Elections will become auctions, where the parties compete to be more generous than the other, offering what it can do to voters by raiding the bank. This happens in countries much richer than us. Look at Australia. 10 years ago, under basically a conservative government, they built up significant amounts of reserves of surpluses. They set up a pension fund for the future and said this is our sovereign wealth fund and said this is to make sure that in the future you will be provided for with state pensions and so on. But then came elections and both parties, whether in government or out of government, because of the dynamics of the situation, they had no choice. One side offers something and the other side offers more. As they move back and forth, it is (like) an auction. Today, the funds for the future have disappeared. The country is in deficit, the commodities boom is over, the budget cannot be settled and they have to cut back spending. It is extremely contentious, and they are back where they were, all within 10 years. It can happen to Australia with all that wealth and resources. Think what can happen if it is Singapore.
That is money, what about people? The whole of our excellence in government, the competence and performance of the country, depends on the integrity and ability of the individuals in key posts in the public service – judges, central bankers, the Accountant General, the Commissioner of Police, the people who head and sit on our key statutory boards and the people who manage our reserves. Once corrupt persons get into key positions, it will be the end. It is not only the end because they take money to help themselves, as you can stop that, and put them in jail; it is the end because they subvert and corrupt the system and make it impossible to root out the cancer which then becomes entrenched throughout the system. The system is permanently broken.
（...to be continue)
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发表于 10-1-2016 12:30 AM
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