MThis opposition better than none
Singapore's elder statesman, Lee Kuan Yew, has an unfortunate habit of touring the world to lecture governments on how to run themselves, a practice the Singapore Government does not much like when the shoe is on the other foot.
But he had some interesting observations to make on our political system during a speech here on Monday.
'In the long run, a Legco which is oppositionist and shoulders no responsibility cannot contribute to good governance,' he said.
'The way to bring a sense of reality to populist politics is to saddle the political leaders with the responsibility of fulfilling their promises.
'If they know that after winning and assuming authority they have to deliver on their promises, then they either change policies and slogans or they will be out on their heels.' Of course it is not quite clear from all this whether Mr Lee is aware that the 'oppositionist' Legco he refers to is oppositionist because it does not form a government.
We have a very peculiar state of affairs in Hong Kong. The political party that consistently wins the highest tally of votes in what passes for general elections, whose leader would elsewhere now be prime minister or president, does not even form the official opposition, leave alone the government.
This is the way we must accept things are, given the unique nature of our relationship with our parent government in Beijing. But if Mr Lee believes that this state of affairs should be reversed and the Democrats allowed to form a government then he should have said so outright.
He does not have much ground for criticising them as oppositionist when the political system allows them to be nothing else. He would do well in fact to ask himself what he would himself have been in Singapore if he had been refused power despite his landslide victories in the polls during the 1960s.
He still has a point, however. Make your own assessment of the Democrats but, although your correspondent has voted for them, he will accept there is truth in the widespread perception that they are a professionally narrow band of single-issue activists riding a lingering wave of resentment to things we don't like in the mainland.
There is so much to do and they seem to be doing so little of it. Our whole approach to property development needs a rethink. What is their view? Where is their comprehensive position paper on transport policy, on the environment, on social services, on industrial policy, on fiscal reform, on almost anything except June 4? This is not to say that they don't have something worthwhile to contribute on legal matters and human rights. They understand these issues inside out and they have wide support from the general population on them. But what else do they have? Meanwhile, legislator Christine Loh of the Citizens Party got something like half of the chief executive's recent policy speech devoted to the issues that she espouses.
Why? Because she took the time to show up when Mr Tung invited her round to present her views; she then explained them to him calmly and rationally. The Democrats, however, turned down a similar invitation.
Whether you agree or disagree with her, Ms Loh and her advisers have devoted thought to the big issues we face and then put it all into the context of politics, the art of the possible, without being strident about their views. That is politics as politics should be. The Democrats would do well to take a lesson on board here.
But Mr Lee is hardly in a position to pontificate on these things. If Singapore has no oppositionist politics it is because its government has stifled opposition.
Perhaps it is an inevitable step on the road to a smoothly functioning democratic government that in the formative stages opposition tends to act as if democratic institutions have not yet arrived and democracy itself is still the only issue. If so, we are still ahead of Singapore on this score. We have at least come to this step.
