Strange silence
Singapore has now been confirmed as part of a 'coalition of the willing', giving political support to US actions in Iraq. For weeks, the Singaporean government trod a fine line between supporting its traditional ally and the sensitivities of its social minorities, as well as its predominantly Muslim neighbours, Malaysia and Indonesia.
As a result, its official position was never really stated, more implied. While the government called for dramatic action by Iraq to show it was sincere about its pledges to disarm, it also urged the members of the United Nations Security Council to remain united on the issue. For a long time, Singapore never overtly said whether it would support the United States if it decided to go to war on its own.
The government finally stated its position on March 14, days before the US ultimatum to President Saddam Hussein and the start of the war, when it said that Mr Hussein the Iraqi leader needed to disarm or face war. Even then, there was little public reaction. Singapore does not have a restless Muslim majority to manage, like some of its neighbours. For that matter, it does not have any real public opinion to manage, either. The coming of the war has been a fairly low-key affair in the island nation, state, with no anti-war demonstrations or debate in parliament about the position of the government.
On the day the war started, parliamentarians spent hours discussing education matters, oblivious to what mattered to the rest of the world.
Even when the subject was finally broached, this was not to be a debate on the right and wrong of the attack or the government's position, just an expression of anxiety about the impact the war might have on the country's social fabric.
One explanation for the silence of the chamber may have been procedural. Any motion needs to be filed seven days in advance. The focus of last week's debates was the budget. But, perhaps, just for once, such extraordinary events called for extraordinary measures and a bending of the rules?
