Is there Politics in Singapore? One of the labels which have been applied to Singaporeans generally (rightly or wrongly) is that we're an “apolitical” people, or that we are unconcerned with politics. However what really this eans is that we're unconcerned with beingpersonally involved in political activity or that political activity does not coand our interest. !orally by political activity, it is assued that one of course refers to active democraticparticipation. "ut to say Singaporeans are indifferent to political activity, or to claithat there is liited active deocratic participation by the populace (a debatable clai) does not therefore entail that there is a lac# of politicsper se in Singapore. $his paper will argue for the thesis that regardless of the truth of both clais, there is indeed politics in Singapore, in the sense that the political has become the necessary all encompassing culture throu gh which we perceive and mediate of all aspect of life. $herefore far frothere being no politics in Singapore, it can even be said that there is too much. An Example of the Prevalence of the Political: Free Speech $here is a faous tercoined by Si%o ng Hoo, the chairan and &O of &reative $echnologies called the “!o turn syndroe” * ."y this he refers to the social phenoenon that in Singapore, one can only a#e a turn if and only if there e+ist a sign saying that one ay, whereas in other countries, one can a#e turns freely and cannot do so only if there e+ists a sign e+plicit prohibiting it. $his e+aple can be u sed to illustrate a point about the e+tent to which the political has pereated our culture. $here is a faous latin tag by $acitus that goes 'Corruptissima republica plurimae leges' which roughly translates into 'the greater the degeneration of the republic, the ore laws it has'. $o invert this saying, if it is true that the ultiplication of laws is the beginning of the * Si , %ong Hoo. Chaotic Thoughts from the Old Millennium . Singapore&reative O -te, *. -rint.
