Singapore goes to the polls this Saturday, and while the result is unlikely to be an upset, the vote could still prove consequential for Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his People’s Action Party, which has won every election since the city-state became a fully independent country in 1965.
Mr Wong and his colleagues will be judged not just by the majority they secure – they won 89 per cent of seats in Parliament in 2020 – but by the percentage of the vote they garner. In that last election, the PAP was rewarded with 61.2 per cent of all votes, which in most democracies would be considered an overwhelming mandate. In Singapore, however, that was a cause for soul-searching among the victors. The context is this: between 1965 and 1981, the PAP won every single seat in Parliament, and it received 84 per cent of the vote in the 1968 election.
The long-term trend for the PAP, then, is incremental decline. If it dips below 60 per cent on Saturday, there will be serious questions asked. PAP rule has been seen as key to Singapore’s stability. What if it looks as though it could, one day, lose power? The experience of neighbouring Malaysia, which went through four years of extreme political instability after the Barisan Nasional coalition lost power in 2018 for the first time since independence in 1957, is a cautionary tale.
As one of the city-state’s leading public intellectuals Kishore Mahbubani put it in his 2015 book, Can Singapore Survive?, “Any political scientist will tell you that it is ‘normal’ for most states in the world to have a political crisis every few decades. By not having a political crisis for several decades, Singapore has demonstrated that it is not keeping within statistical norms. If over time we conform to statistical norms, the laws of statistical probability will kick in and we will inevitably have a political crisis.”
And that, in the eyes of Mr Mahbubani and others, could lead to irresponsible governance and the loss of all that this little island has so far achieved over the past 60 years. So if the PAP wins bigger than in 2020, which was a near-historic low, there will be great relief in the corridors of power.
The result will also be considered a verdict on Mr Wong, who has only been Prime Minister for just under a year, and has some pretty big boots to fill. There is not just the ineluctable shadow cast by Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, a giant of 20th-century Asia. Mr Lee’s son, Lee Hsien Loong, also a long-time former prime minister, sits in Mr Wong’s cabinet as Senior Minister. A resounding victory would allow Mr Wong to claim the personal authority to take whatever steps he deems necessary to deal with an increasingly unsettled economic and geopolitical landscape in the Asia-Pacific.
And warning of the dangers of instability has been one of the notes Mr Wong has sounded in the election campaign. “A vote for the opposition is not a free vote for more alternative voices in Parliament. It’s a vote to weaken the PAP team, and it will do so at a time when I have just taken over,” the Prime Minister told a crowd on Monday. “It will weaken us at a time when our country is facing real and serious challenges.”
Given the uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump’s startling announcements – especially on tariffs – Mr Wong’s argument may cut through. But although by any measure Singapore is still a huge success, the PAP cannot rely indefinitely on its record of having moved the city “From Third World to First”, as the elder Mr Lee titled the second volume of his memoirs. Consumer prices are up by 17 per cent since 2020, with public housing costs also rising fast. Does the PAP contain the only members of Singapore’s highly educated population who can deal with the challenges of today?
The debate, however, is not really about who is going to win – almost no one doubts that will be the PAP – but about the merits of having a “more balanced Parliament”, as Pritam Singh, the official Leader of the Opposition and Secretary General of the Workers’ Party, puts it. “You can have us on committees. We can make our contribution,” he said of his MPs. “I believe, when you have a diversity of views in Parliament, as long as we are rowing in the same direction, this red dot will continue to be a bright, shining red dot.”
Critics of Singapore often claim that it isn’t a real democracy: that the PAP has effective control of all the supposed checks and balances, and that the electoral maps are drawn to make it hard for the opposition parties to break through. This time around, PAP leaders have warned that if key figures were to lose their seats it would weaken the government.
Mr Singh addressed both points in mentioning the most famous instance of a PAP leader being ejected by the voters, when the then foreign minister George Yeo and his colleagues failed to win the Aljunied multi-member constituency in 2011. Yes, the opposition did win the seat. But “Mr Yeo – I have full respect for him – has continued to serve Singapore in so many different ways,” said Mr Singh, presumably in reference to the numerous roles in the public and private sectors Mr Yeo has undertaken since.
It’s hard to disagree with Mr Singh that, after all this time, a little more diversity in Singapore’s Parliament might not be a bad thing. With all parties committed to maintaining harmony in the multiracial, multifaith country, would it really be a disaster if the PAP didn’t win the two thirds majority in Parliament necessary to pass constitutional amendments? I, for one, don’t think it would. For Mr Wong and his colleagues, however, it would be hard not to consider it exactly that.
And that’s the Singapore dilemma in a nutshell. Can the country exhale, loosen up, and still maintain its success? Or is it vital that the PAP remain firmly in charge, because, as Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong likes to say, “Only the paranoid survive”? We’ll find out what Singaporeans think this weekend.
FIGHT CARD
1. Featherweight 66kg
Ben Lucas (AUS) v Ibrahim Kendil (EGY)
2. Lightweight 70kg
Mohammed Kareem Aljnan (SYR) v Alphonse Besala (CMR)
3. Welterweight 77kg
Marcos Costa (BRA) v Abdelhakim Wahid (MAR)
4. Lightweight 70kg
Omar Ramadan (EGY) v Abdimitalipov Atabek (KGZ)
5. Featherweight 66kg
Ahmed Al Darmaki (UAE) v Kagimu Kigga (UGA)
6. Catchweight 85kg
Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) v Iuri Fraga (BRA)
7. Featherweight 66kg
Yousef Al Husani (UAE) v Mohamed Allam (EGY)
8. Catchweight 73kg
Mostafa Radi (PAL) v Abdipatta Abdizhali (KGZ)
9. Featherweight 66kg
Jaures Dea (CMR) v Andre Pinheiro (BRA)
10. Catchweight 90kg
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Juscelino Ferreira (BRA)
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
How to become a Boglehead
Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.
• Spend less than you earn and save the rest. You can do this by earning more, or being frugal. Better still, do both.
• Invest early, invest often. It takes time to grow your wealth on the stock market. The sooner you begin, the better.
• Choose the right level of risk. Don't gamble by investing in get-rich-quick schemes or high-risk plays. Don't play it too safe, either, by leaving long-term savings in cash.
• Diversify. Do not keep all your eggs in one basket. Spread your money between different companies, sectors, markets and asset classes such as bonds and property.
• Keep charges low. The biggest drag on investment performance is all the charges you pay to advisers and active fund managers.
• Keep it simple. Complexity is your enemy. You can build a balanced, diversified portfolio with just a handful of ETFs.
• Forget timing the market. Nobody knows where share prices will go next, so don't try to second-guess them.
• Stick with it. Do not sell up in a market crash. Use the opportunity to invest more at the lower price.
Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Youth YouTuber Programme
The programme will be presented over two weeks and will cover the following topics:
- Learning, scripting, storytelling and basic shots
- Master on-camera presence and advanced script writing
- Beating the algorithm and reaching your core audience
Everybody%20Loves%20Touda
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.