Member-only story
Although Singapore has several political parties, most people will try to simplify this as “PAP” and “Other Parties” — which the PAP successfully branded as “Opposition” — even though there is nothing much the other parties are opposed to besides PAP’s dominance.
Instead of talking about analyzing trends and numbers, I want to look at what happened in terms of narratives. In the two parties dominated system like the United States, the parties have clear identities and told distinct stories. Similarly, in Singapore, because of controlled media, there is often a narrative craft by the PAP party which is portrayed in most of the state owned media, and of course, there is other forms of digital media that offers differing opinions.
US politics has transformed over the years. The changes in early seventies marked a long-term Democratic shift in power from the white working class to the college-educated and minorities. It took decades but the two parties traded places. By the year 2000, the Democrats were becoming the home of affluent professionals, while the Republicans were starting to sound like populist insurgents.
Singapore too has transformed much as the population is getting more educated and there is a lot of influx of foreigners. In the seventies where the city was rapidly developing while the population was…
