Now that elections are coming, and for me personally, the first time I can finally vote since reaching adulthood. I live in an area where, in past elections, the default mode was “walkover”.

For the first time in years, we finally have candidates from ruling party as well as opposition contesting this sacred area. That piqued my interest a little. Now, friends of mine know I generally am apathetic to 2 things – religion and politics. Why I don’t normally touch these 2 topics is because there is no way to win. You have your opinions and you will not be swayed by “proof”, or lack thereof, in these 2 topics. As a quick example on religion – you can’t prove the existence of God, nor can you disprove it. No one knows for sure, with concrete, measurable evidence, whether God exists or he does not exist.

In the same way in politics, or at least as far as Singapore goes. The ones in power usually say things like they have a track record, the opposition are untried and untested etc etc. TRUE, I agree! But, if you don’t get the opposition in, how will they have a track record? How can they be battle-tested?

Then there is this phrase, which has been used in the past but I never thought much about till now. That is “alternative government”. The ruling party has always challenged the opposition to do this, ie form an alternative government, to prove they are sincere and have the capability.

Now, without going to consult dictionaries and other references, what does “alternative government” mean to you, the general layman?

I don’t know about you, but to me, that phrase seems to be mis-used. To have an “alternative government” implies that you already have the original, actual one running the country, while you form a second one. It also implies that should I (Joe Population) feel like it, I can easily not consult or use the primary government’s services, and turn to the alternative government, and their services will be as lawful and legal as the original. You don’t like the court result (verdict) of your case from the primary government? NO PROBLEM! Go to the courts of the alternative government, they can try your case again. You may get a favourable result this time!

For one thing, I don’t know of any country in the world that has a government in power, with a second, alternative one ready to serve, or also-in-service at the same time, as the primary government.

Also, thinking a bit more, what is the “government” of a country? To me, Joe Population, the government is the body formed to regulate and administer to the country, staffed by the ministers which we have elected into power to represent us. So, it should not matter which “party” these ministers come from, should it? They would be just as equally qualified to administer to the country as those from the ruling party, shouldn’t it? After all, we the people, have already voted our confidence in these people regardless of the party they come from. They are here to represent our interests.

To have an “alternative government” in a country is  akin to having a company with 2 managements in place to run it. If you don’t like the policies of the CEO of Primary Management, you can always consult with the CEO of the Alternative Management. Now, when dealing with customers and suppliers, which one will be the “official” management to represent the company? Or are both equally official? What if the policies of Management 1 and Management 2 are direct opposites of each other? One says “Can”, the other says “Cannot”? Which one takes precedence?

In any case, it should not matter which party gets the majority of the votes. The civil service of Singapore is already in place. The people who work in them (teachers, firemen, army etc) are still the same. The only difference is the top boss, the head honcho, may be a different person if the incumbent candidate did not get elected this time around. They will just have a new boss that they report to. If the policies introduced by the new boss is not popular or beneficial to the country, you can bet that this person will no longer be boss in the next election.

That is why I think challenging the opposition to form an “alternative government” is incorrect and should be stopped. They should instead challenge the opposition to do as well as they did, in the Government Of Singapore, not to “form an alternative government”.