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The ‘compact’ is being questioned

To be sure, this ‘compact’, a hybrid of conveniently reinterpreted Confucian values (respect for hierarchy, obedience, fairness) and adapted Western ones, is being questioned. One need look no further than the 2020 legislative elections: in spite of gerrymandering, opposition parties’ restricted access to media and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it campaign (nine days), the governing party got its worst ever results – even if it still holds a majority that any French president would drool over (83 MPs to the opposition’s ten).

Will the future prime minister heed the results? It’s far from certain (15). Public debate, viewed as a potential threat to stability, remains throttled, including on environmental topics. The route of the eighth Cross Island subway line, which requires digging under the island’s largest nature reserve and clearing three hectares of land, has been heavily contested. The transport ministry advertised that six minutes would be shaved off commutes and promised a 15% fare decrease; the line is now being built.

Intense protests against the construction of the Marina Bay casino met with similar success, recalls Caroline Wong, vice-dean for teaching and learning at James Cook University, who knows the island like the back of her hand: ‘Singapore [often] seeks to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number … using economic justifications (attracting more tourists, creating more jobs, providing more entertainment options), thereby ignoring divergent viewpoints and opinions. Growth alone is not enough to measure people’s quality of life,’ and she questions the ‘sustainability’ of this approach.

For now, the government is keeping a tight lid on controversy. Singapore, where the authorities can directly appoint members to the executive committees and editorial boards of mainstream media, ranks 129th out of 180 countries and territories on the annual World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. Last year, for instance, Terry Xu and Daniel De Costa — publication editor and writer, respectively, for news website The Online Citizen, which had been shut down a few months before — received three-week jail sentences (later reduced to fines).

The state’s arsenal also contains the 2019 Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act. Since it took effect, any displeasing interpretation of a fact can be deemed a ‘falsehood’ by the government. Sanctions have begun to hit home, particularly on activists opposed to the death penalty, which continues as usual. On 26 April 2023 a Singaporean accused of helping import 1kg of cannabis (which was never found) was hanged; another met the same fate three weeks later for drug trafficking (1.5kg). Two more were hanged in July, including a woman sentenced for possessing 30g of heroin. Since March 2022, 15 people have been executed, typically after unfair trials. The most courageous human rights defenders face all sorts of harassment: surveillance, police summons, censorship of websites… Singapore is far from Beijing of course, but even the popular PJ Thum had to leave in the end. ‘It was becoming too hard,’ he told me. He still contributes to New Naratif, a dissident media site – from abroad.