Democracy

Hi everyone,

I guess what Zi Yang is referring to is Representative Democracy. In other words, the people vote for representatives in the government who they believe will represent their ideas and beliefs so that their voice can be heard in the government. I guess earlier on, in my previous post, I was slightly confused about something which I must clarify now.

In democracy, although I said that the people make decisions, that is not entirely true. It is the government that makes policies and decisions. The exception would be in the case of a referendum, where the government consults the people to see what they want. But usually, in Singapore, the government makes a decision and if the people really don't like it or want it to be modified, there are many platforms to voice their different opinions. Thus, when I said that the people make decisions by voting for it, that was not entirely true, at least in the context of Singapore. I mean, did the government actually ask us to vote if we wanted a 2% hike in GST? No, the government decided on that, and if there was any "consultation of the people" to get their votes, it probably only included the people who were in the government, or people who contributed to the financial sector of Singapore. 

So we can see something from here. The government is not going to ask 4 million people what they think unless it is a huge decision, such as the Merger with Malaysia in 1963. On the other hand, a democratic government will not make decisions entirely by itself, because that would be authoritarianism. No, I believe that the government asks certain people or groups of people for what they think, then they make the decision, and then the people who were not involved in making the decision, like us, can then voice their opinion. For example, passing a law requires Bills, reviewing by the Legislative Assembly, etc. but the government will not ask 4 million people what they think about passing a new law before passing it.

There are some implications of this system. If the government chooses a select group of people to vote or voice their opinion about a new policy, we can look at this action of the government in two ways. We can say that they are doing something for the good of the nation because they are asking educated professionals on what they think. And if they are experts in their field (finance, for example), then they should make the best decision for all of us. However, we can also say that the government is not doing the right thing because, like what Zi Yang pointed out, there is always the fear that the majority might not make the right decision.

What happens when the majority makes a wrong decision? To tell you the truth, I'm really not sure. I mean, back in 1963, when 71% of the people wanted to merge with Malaysia, they didn't have the foresight to see that the Merger would not work. This has probably been a problem with democracy since it was first used. All we can do is hope that the people know what they want. When it comes to voting for political parties, the people must really imagine life with that party in power before voting.

Thanks

Kirk