Hey Singapore! Why so quiet?

The IMF/World Bank meetings are going on now in Singapore as I write this. Yet, I am perplexed that apart from a few Singaporean citizens commenting about it in the blogosphere, as well as the 400 Frowns project going on now online, why the rest of Singapore is so silent about this event.

It is clear from the various Singaporean voices protesting online against the IMF and its presence here in Singapore, that such dissent exists amongst Singaporeans. Yet I find it very strange that all I can find in the mainstream media of Singapore is bland propaganda about "4 million Singaporean smiles" welcoming the IMF delegates, and thinly-veiled threats by our authorities that they would not hesitate to use "proportionate force" against any foreign or local "troublemakers" who choose to hold out-door demonstrations in Singapore.

Why aren't the mainstream media reporting on the fact that not all Singaporeans welcome the IMF/World Bank with open arms? The evidence is there on the Internet for them to see, yet they either choose not to acknowledge it or have been cajoled by the local powers that be to ignore these dissenting Singaporean voices.

Regardless of whether the local media are practising self-censorship or have been pressured by our government to remain silent on the issue of Singaporeans who do not welcome the IMF, the purpose of such a deliberate silence is clear: They want to give our "honourable foreign guests" the very rosy impression that all of Singapore welcomes them, regardless of how false this impression is. Not for one moment, do they want to risk pissing off our highly-esteemed IMF delegates with the fact that there is a portion of the supposedly 4 million (even this number is questionable) Singaporeans who are not in favour of IMF policies, let alone having their delegates step foot on Singapore soil. For in the feeble reasoning of our government, to admit that such dissension exists amongst the population is to reveal that our country is not united, and so all those who dissent against the prevailing voice in the land are unpatriotic or subversive.

What a load of bollocks. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just because I don't agree with this current government and its practices, that doesn't mean that I am being unpatriotic. If anything, in my view, a true patriot is one who is not afraid to criticise his/her own government for its own good and for the greater good of the people it is supposed to serve. A government with true integrity and respect for the truth, is not afraid to accept criticism that aims to make sure that such a government acts with true accountability to the people whom it is supposed to serve and acts responsibly in all matters that are relevant to the welfare of its people. But then, I digress.

The main point I am trying to make is this: What has our government got to be afraid of, even if the IMF or the rest of the world finds out that not all Singaporeans agree with our current government? What has our government got to lose by allowing such a revelation? The obvious answer to this is that such a revelation is tantamount to an admission of failure on our government's part to have total control over the minds and hearts of its citizens. And so, in its fearful rationale, to admit such a failure to the world, never mind the IMF, is to show that its rule is not perfect, that there are chinks in its armour, that it is, dare I say it, a weak government.

But I say that there really is nothing to be afraid of or to be ashamed of for any government to admit that it is not perfect, and that not all of the people that it is supposed to serve, agrees with it or supports whatever it does completely. If anything, if this government makes such an admission, I would admire it even more for it, simply for the fact that it has the guts to face up to the truth and is not afraid to reveal it, regardless of whatever costs it thinks it may incur; be it loss of foreign investments or loss of face as a so-called political power amongst its peers in the international community.

As far as I am concerned, once this government starts facing up to and starts admitting some embarrassing truths about itself and this country (that it finds hard to stomach or accept), then only will it begin to walk on the path of true and full accountability, transparency and good governance, not just for its own sake, but most of all for the sake of the good of its citizens.