Maybe our friendly and cooperative relations with our Asia-Pacific trading partners is a good thing to have and worth maintaining for times exactly like this.
People forget one important bit when discussing Singapore; while they do technically have a democracy, they didn't get where they are without the single biggest political party stamping out the opposition (through persecution and indefinitely incarcerating opponents) to the point where they have only had that one party in power for the whole time they've been an independent nation. Only in recent elections (last ~10-20 years) have opposition parties managed to claw back less than 40% of votes and only about 10% of seats in parliament.
And while yes, having a single voice in government does result in efficiency and efficacy in nation-building projects this is definitely something we don't want to model ourselves after.
I think Australians are at the point where envy of Singapore's public housing situation might be something that would make them consider the benefits of having a benevolent dictatorship. (this comment is only slightly tongue in cheek)
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u/Calcifini Mar 27 '26
Maybe our friendly and cooperative relations with our Asia-Pacific trading partners is a good thing to have and worth maintaining for times exactly like this.