SDP at IPS Forum: We Need Political Change

<Pic Credit: YourSDP.Org>

Professor Paul Tambyah and Dr Chee Soon Juan spoke last week at a closed-door session at the Institute of Policy Studies' (IPS) Glass Tank Conversation series.

The two SDP leaders spoke about the urgent need for democratisation and the SDP's effort to raise the level of politics in Singapore by coming up with alternative policies. They are seen here with Dr Gillian Koh, Head of Politics and Governance Research Cluster at IPS. Below are excerpts of Dr Chee's presentation:

You may be aware that productivity levels have been disappointing in the last decade and, try as we might, we have not been able to resolve the problem. We have thrown money at it, suggested a plethora of schemes including making the public pay for gizmos that private companies acquire and tweaking foreign workers levies – none of which have worked.

We have tried everything except one which, to my mind, is the most crucial. Such a measure necessitates that we situate our economic and political intuitions within the view that productivity is about human behaviour. And this is where economics ends and psychology begins. I have not heard of a situation – whether in an experiment or the real world – where anyone has brought out the innovative and productive best in people, be they employees or entrepreneurs, by instilling fear and conformity in the populace, a process that seems to be de rigueur with the PAP since in took over the reins of power more that half-a-century ago.

There is a reason why North Korea does not produce the Steve Jobs and J K Rowlings of the world. There is much take away from Dan Acemoglu's and James Robinson's book, Why Nations Fail, where they talk about extractive and inclusive systems. Where extractive institutions concentrate power in the hands of a few and extract resources from the many for the few, inclusive institutions emphasise pluralism and innovation. Inclusive systems, the authors note, have the ability to engage in creative destruction and ultimately be able to regenerate their economies.

There is little argument that Singapore relies more on extractive institutions than inclusive ones.

In Singapore, low productivity means that wages are kept low. To augment low productivity levels, the Government turns to bringing in foreign talent including cheap foreign labour. Such a measure exerts downward pressure on wages especially those in the low-income groups. This exacerbates income inequality and leads to unhappy and unproductive workers.

On the other end, the Government attracts the super-rich which exerts enormous pressure on the cost of living. The high cost of living is cited by younger Singaporeans as the main reason that they put off having children (or have fewer children). The PAP then cites the falling birthrate as justification to further loosen the immigration policy – and the vicious cycle continues.

It seems to me that there are several entry points that policy interventions can be made to arrest the downward spiral created by the morass of socio-economic problems that our society faces. One of them is something that I've alluded to earlier on and something which I have been talking since I got into politics nearly 25 years ago, which is that the system needs a good dose of democracy.

Our intuitions, our observations – our studied observations – and our experiences all point to the fact that openness, transparency and political freedoms – values embodied in the concept of democracy – will allow us to resolve, or at least facilitate the resolution, of the socio-economic problems that I have cited.

It is more than a correlation that the happiest and most productive peoples in this world live in the democratic and free countries.