Quora Answer: Should Foreign Influence be Kept Out of Singapore's Domestic Politics?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Should foreign influence be kept out of Singapore’s domestic politics?” 

When we think about it, this does not make any sense.  That is the role of diplomacy, the media, and advertising.  The only way to keep foreign influence out is to withdraw from the world, and not allow people to come, or Singaporeans to leave.  That would be untenable, and still not work.  This is what we call a weasel statement.  It is meant to elicit a base response from the idiot masses because it is vague enough to mean whatever people imagine it to be.  How do we define foreign influence in domestic politics?  To what extent?  How do we keep this bogeyman out? 

The real question is how do we limit foreign government influence into Singapore’s domestic policy by either lobbying policymakers, or seeking to unduly influence the electorate, such that it negatively impacts our sovereignty, and stability.  To that, we have a plethora of legal and diplomatic assets in our arsenal, all the way to heavy legal penalties.  Singapore, as a major finance and trade hub, sits at the crossroads of two competing civilisational values: that of the individualistic occident, and the collectivist orient.  We accept that. 

In Western Europe and North America, what we paint as liberal democracies, there is a heavy emphasis on “liberty”, which is individual freedoms being the building blocks of societies, even though some “freedoms” may be inclement to society as a whole.  This is short term thinking.  Born out of economies that developed by plundering the rest of the world, partaking in the extinction of entire ecosystems, and polluting swathes of the world during their industrial revolutions and wars, they now want to dictate to the rest of the world how to live, and why their values are supreme.  It is born of equal part hubris, and historical guilt. 

In China, Japan, India, and much of Asia, we have nations that were once the seat of great civilisations, that bore the indignity of foreign colonialisation, and are now seeking their place at the forefront of great nations.  In their hurry, they made the mistakes of Europe in a few decades, and are being increasingly assertive.  These nations emphasise the nation, society, the clan, and the family; over individual aspirations.  They tend towards command economies as an extension of this societal value. 

It is the nature of nation states to try to influence the policies of neighbours, trade partners, and regional rivals.  Singapore does this as well.  It is the nature of nation states, in times of economic uncertainty, and societal turbulence, to seek a scapegoat, and point the people towards a bogeyman.  It detracts and distracts the electorate from difficult questions, and allows the government to buy time while it figures way out of this.  People, by their nature, always seek to demonise the “other”.  That aside, it is true that China is being more assertive in its near abroad, and seeking to galvanise support among the Chinese diaspora.  This makes nations such as Singapore nervous.  The Belt & Road is an opportunity, but also a threat.  Singapore risks being outmaneuvered and encircled by Chinese infrastructure developments in the region.  The Chinese debt trap is a real concern. 

On the other hand, we have a belligerent US, with its anti-China policy, trying to enforce a unipolar world that no longer exists.  This makes the US an unreliable ally which cannot be depended upon to keep its commitments.  The Trump administration is an enraged, emasculated, and drunk bull in a Chinese china shop, threatening to knock down the walls and destroying neighbouring stalls. 

And finally, we have to be cognisant of various ideological movements that are sweeping the region that threaten our status quo, and continued viability as a coherent city state.  There is the obvious threat of Wahhabi terrorism, fed by existing inequalities in the region.  There are also movements built around issues such as climate change, LGBT rights, and nationalism that we have to navigate, with many of the ideologues not from Singapore.  We live in a connected world, and influences have no respect for borders. 

In summary, our concern is not about keeping out foreign influence.  Foreign influence is the primary reason why Singapore is successful, and competitive.  Our concern is identifying destabilising ideologies, and managing foreign influence.  Singapore should have no place for any form of xenophobia, especially disguised forms.