BG George Yeo and voting in Englightened Self Interest

[I wrote this on 30 Apr 2011, before the 2011 General Elections. It was first published in fearfullyopinionated.wordpress.com]

At BG George Yeo’s first year as Minister for Information and the Arts in 1991 (his first ministerial portfolio), he mismanaged the loosening of film censorship in Singapore and the introduction of the R rating into cinemas. What resulted was the release of soft porn films (such as Amy Yip’s “An Erotic Ghost Story”) in public cinemas and a public outcry from the conservative majority. (I wonder if this episode in our past is the reason why the Cabinet has since been unwilling to liberalize legislation on issues such as 377A, but I digress.) This controversy happened just months before the 1991 General Elections, and no doubt contributed to the unprecedented loss of 3 seats to the opposition, including Mr Low Thia Khiang’s first election win, and starting his 20 year tenure as Member of Parliament of Hougang. I wonder if BG Yeo now feels a sense of destiny, that Mr Low (the result of his first mistake as a Minister in Cabinet), would come to challenge him in his home turf, in a battle which may not just force one of them to end their political careers, but change the political landscape of Singapore forever, just like in 1991.

I like BG George Yeo. I really do. He seems to be one of the only few PAP ministers who are personable yet intelligent at the same time, is well loved by the residents of his constituency, and he presents himself to be a really nice gentlemanly uncle. Watch this and don’t tell me you don’t think he’s a nice man. I have no insights into his ministerial ability, but I’m sure he must be quite competent over the past 20 years or so, or else he wouldn’t be given such an important portfolio as Foreign Affairs. As a result, just as Cherian George has put it, the Aljunied voters are but into a difficult bind this GE2011, and I don’t envy them one bit.

The stakes are incredibly high for the PAP in Aljunied GRC, and they cannot afford BG Yeo to make any silly political moves like what Dr Balakrishnan did with his “gay agenda” comment. Therefore I suspect that BG Yeo probably consults BG Lee, SM Goh and MM Lee and arrive at an agreed strategy before BG Yeo makes any public statement. This may account for why there is a slight time lag between each challenge by the WP on BG Yeo and his reply for e.g. when Mr Low asked BG Yeo if the government would back out of plans for Aljunied GRC if the PAP loses (on Friday morning), and Mr Yeo replying only late Friday evening. It appears that the agreed strategy is to play up BG Yeo’s “nice man” image (I read from facebook that he appears as a nicer man this year compared to 2006GE when some accused him of being arrogant for saying WP’s “suicide squad” would lose their deposit by having less than 20% of votes in Ang Mo Kio GRC), and to paint Mr Low Thia Khiang and the WP as ambitious bullies who are manipulating the residents of Aljunied GRC into choosing what is not in their best interests, and hence as people with an ulterior motive. I must agree that this is probably PAP’s best strategy to employ, and this will be a real fight for voters’ hearts and minds.

However BG Yeo says two things which are very interesting to put forth this argument. Firstly, he says that by making Alujnied voters go through an emotional dilemma to choose between him and the WP, Mr Low is not acting in “the spirit of democracy” . This I believe, is a poor choice of words. The current PAP-dominated system is certainly far less democratic than whatever the WP is proposing; the WP knows that, the PAP knows that and the people know that. [Note: I am not asserting that a “more democratic” system is necessary better than the currently PAP dominated system…this would be material for another post.] Sure enough, Mr Low throws this back at them at his rally last night. Similarly, I am expecting plenty of netizens to be outraged by the “spirit of democracy” comment, and there is little need for me to elaborate further.

A more interesting comment that BG Yeo made is his urging of Aljunied voters to vote in their “own enlightened self-interest”, and that they don’t “have to carry the whole burden of Singapore”. By saying this, BG Yeo appears to be implying that:

(a) voting for the PAP is in the self-interest of Aljunied voters, and that

(b) Aljunied voters may feel burdened to vote for the WP because it is in the best interest of Singapore on the whole to do so.

Firstly, it is political suicide for BG Yeo to assert (b) to be true, so making this implicit argument is already very risky for him. Secondly, if he is not careful, this argument may sound a lot of the “pork barrel” kind of arguments (e.g. “vote for PAP and get lift upgrading”) which, as Hougang showed in GE2006, turns the voters off.

Lastly, and most interestingly, is the choice of the phrase “englightened self-interest”. If you take a look at this wikipedia entry, you’ll see that this term is a principle in ethics which refers to choosing to do what is initially NOT in your own short term interest, but realizing that doing so is ultimately in your own long term interest. If you consider propositions (a) and (b) above as implicit in BG Yeo’s argument, then the WP can make the case that “enlightened self-interest” would dictate the voter to vote for WP, since “what is best interest of Singapore on the whole” will ultimately benefit voters of Aljunied compared to the short term interests of voting for the PAP.

BG George Yeo is in a tough position, and I am highly sympathetic of his predicament. I think he’s doing a pretty good job as it is winning the hearts of voters, but I think he has to choose better words to support his cause. Politics is difficult business, and one wrong move could cost the PAP not just a GRC, but change Singapore forever.

[From a comment on facebook: BG George Yeo can and should run for President should he lose in Aljunied GRC. I agree.]