Quora Answer: Why Has Singapore Still Not Fully Democratised?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Why has Singapore still not fully democratised, where the ruling party loses an election, and agrees that it has lost, and enacts a peaceful transition of government; given that Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines have done so?”

Your question assumes that for Singapore to be a democracy, there must be a change of government.  That is not part of the definition of what a democracy is.  A democracy is a system where the electorate have the opportunity to vote.  In our case, we vote in our parliamentary representatives, making us a parliamentary democracy.  This right to vote is guaranteed under the Constitution, once every five years, at the longest.  This is why we are a democracy.

To date, we have always voted the incumbent, the PAP, back into power.  That, in itself, does not make Singapore less democratic.  Rather, that is because, while the incumbent has always had inherent advantages, just like anywhere else in the world, the PAP, by and large, have performed.  There are disagreements on several points of policy.  The government is responsive, and this is why they have been voted in again and again and again.  It does not help the opposition parties when several of their candidates are idiots, judging by their social media postings, and public comments.