SINGAPORE: A co-driver with one hand on the steering wheel and one foot on the pedal makes for a dangerous ride, but if the car crashes, it is the main driver who will be made to bear the responsibility, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Wednesday (Apr 30).
Speaking at a rally for Sembawang SMC, Mr Ong brought up an analogy from the 2011 General Election, when the opposition was seeking to make inroads into parliament.
Back then, the presence of the opposition was labelled as a co-driver sitting next to the main driver – the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) – whose job was to “slap his head” when the main driver falls asleep, explained Mr Ong.
“I must say, by and large, I do not disagree with that analogy and that there is a role for the opposition. That GE, the opposition won Aljunied GRC. But then when the opposition presence grows and expands to another GRC, that co-driver becomes more than a co-driver. He becomes also a backseat driver,” he said.
That person would start instructing the main driver on what to do and what route to take, but ultimately the driver can still make the call. “You are still in charge, but you just take in the ideas and process it,” said Mr Ong.
“But if after this GE, the PAP loses another three, four GRCs, then I think likely the co-driver will have one hand on the steering wheel and say ‘I also want to drive’. If he’s bold enough, he says, ‘My one leg also go over. You step the accelerator, I step the brake. We drive together’,” he said.
“It will then become very dangerous. We may be at risk of crashing.”
And if the car crashes, “the PAP driver” will have to bear the responsibility as the co-driver will claim to be just that – a co-driver.
“I fear and I worry this is the direction that we are heading towards,” said Mr Ong, who is anchoring the ruling party’s Sembawang GRC slate.
OPPOSITION FOR CHECK AND BALANCE
Mr Ong said that the desired outcome of the General Election is not to “produce a certain number of opposition MPs”, but instead to create “an effective system of government for the people”, in which the PAP government has a strong mandate.
“We can get work done, we can be decisive in a difficult situation. The opposition is there as a check and balance. They raise questions, they offer alternatives, they play a role that’s loyal to Singapore. It is an equilibrium that works for Singapore,” he said.
Singapore makes up for its small size by being fast and decisive, but if it becomes slow and uncoordinated, it will be in trouble, said Mr Ong.
Mr Ong noted that Workers’ Party vice-chairman Faisal Manap, who is leading its Tampines GRC slate this year, had thanked him and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam during a rally for “supposedly agreeing that Singapore needs a strong opposition”.
“I’m afraid he’s badly mistaken. In fact, my belief is the opposite, which is that we don’t need a strong opposition. We need a strong ruling party, which is the PAP,” he said.
With a strong ruling party and a “constructive opposition presence to provide check and balance”, there will be an effective governance system, said Mr Ong.
Mr Ong said that he was one of the first Cabinet ministers to say, even before the hustings began, that “there was no chance of an opposition wipe-out in this GE”.
“But what I said is not the same as wanting a strong opposition. In fact, I express my great fear, my great worry, that the opposition can be so strong in parliament in Singapore, we get caught up in paralysis,” he said.
“Everything gets jammed. We cannot move forward. It has happened in many democracies around the world. It can happen here.”
