The Need for a Multi-Party System

Written by Dr Wong Wee Nam
04 December 2008

It has been broached in the past. Now Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said it again. A multi-party system is not good for Singapore. For someone who had, during the 2006 General Elections, said that the government would have to waste time fixing the opposition if too many are elected into Parliament, such a view should not come as a surprise.

The reason he gave for not having more than one dominant party other than the PAP is that Singapore is too small and does not have enough talents to have a multi-party system. Israel is a small country, perpetually at war and yet they have a parliament of diverse views. Hongkong, New Zealand and Denmark do not have a population much bigger than ours. So was ancient Athens, the cradle of democracy. Even Singapore in the early years, when its population was less 2 million, had many dominant parties. Thus this reason cannot be valid.

It is not that we do not have enough good people. After all, with only 84 seats to contest, surely our country, with such a well-educated population would be able to find 168 candidates or more to make our elections a meaningful exercise and give our voters a decent choice.

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