Quora Answer: Why has Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Criticised India & Israel?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Why has Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong criticised genuine democracies like India and Israel?” 

This is what Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore, said, “The leaders, who fought for and won independence, are often exceptional individuals of great courage, immense culture, and outstanding ability.  They came through the crucible of fire and emerged as leaders of men and nations.  They are the David ben Gurions, the Jawaharlal Nehrus, and we have our own too. 

Many political systems today would be quite unrecognisable to their founding leaders.  Ben-Gurion’s Israel has morphed into one which can barely form a government, despite four general elections in two years.  Meanwhile, a stream of senior politicians and officials in Israel face a litany of criminal charges, some have gone to jail. 

While Nehru’s India has become one where, according to media reports, almost half the MPs in the Lok Sabha have criminal charges pending against them, including charges of rape and murder.  Though it is also said that many of these allegations are politically motivated. 

What is to prevent Singapore from going down the same road?  Nothing.  We are not intrinsically smarter or more virtuous than other countries.  Modern Singapore does not come born with a fail-safe mechanism.” 

This was his speech on Tuesday, 22^nd February, in Parliament.  The context was a debate about the behaviour of the Workers Party leadership, and particularly the Leader of the Opposition, Pritam Singh.  The contention was that misleading Parliament for political gain, and casting aspersions over the civil service that are patently untrue, is not a road we want to go down it impinges on the integrity of our lawmakers, and sullies the reputation of the country as a whole. 

He cited Israel, which has devolved into a corrupt kleptocracy of sorts, where the electorate themselves do not trust any party enough to vote in a decisive majority.  The main parties have been marred by substantiated incidences of corruption, criminal conspiracy, and a politics of divisiveness.  Israel has moved away from a secular democracy to accommodate the Jewish Right and a conservative Orthodox supremacy.  This is not a united nation, and this is especially concerning when the country itself is in a dangerous neighbourhood, surrounded by failed and failing states. 

He cited India, and it is a fact that India is one of the most corrupt nations in the world.  It is a fact that just over 60% of Indian lawmakers have pending court cases, or have been convicted.  But they are still serving in their parliament, and crafting legislation that benefits them.  The current Modi administration is demonising the Muslim and Christian minorities for votes, and inflaming Hindu extremists. 

Both nations are a far cry from the vision of the generation that fought for their independence, and it would be conceivable that the leaders of their independence movement, were they still alive, would be ashamed of the state of these countries.  Prime Minister Lee is drawing a parallel that the road to corruption and disunity is littered by small compromises in our integrity as leaders for immediate gain at the ballot.  Singaporeans are not so special that we are inherently above this.  As such, we must draw lessons from the success and failures of other states, and learn not to make the same mistakes. 

This speech was in Singapore’s Parliament, addressed to a Singapore audience, on a Singapore issue.  There is nothing inherently wrong about those remarks.  No nation is above criticism, including our own.  All that was mentioned are facts, and no aspersion was intended.  These are lessons to be earned.  The claim that these countries are genuine democracies is also subjective.  Singapore is also a genuine democracy.