To Be or Not to Be Populist

That is the conundrum facing the government after the results of the recent Presidential election showed that the government's choice of candidate was 'decisively' elected by a margin of less than 0.5 percent. Coming from the former Chairman of the GIC, it does give pause for thought when one recalls in the past that the GIC had re-assured Singaporeans that the funds it manages are safe and indeed have managed 'respectable' returns when compared with other privately managed investment/hedge funds in the market. One would suggest a very large helping of salt and a healthy dose of skepticism the next time the President offers to give an opinion :)

But I digress. The government, I'm guessing is now debating whether to go all in to sweeten the ground and bolster its chances of maintaining its electoral wins come the next general election or to stay the course, ie: business as usual. Neither of these is palatable. The correct course of action is to do the right thing. But when I see headlines like this (see picture ↑), I wonder. The first thing that came to my mind was: 'Wow! Four years .... just in time for the next election. How convenient!'

I'm sorry Mr Khaw, but the housing problem won't be solved in 4 years (short of a world war, famine or outbreak of exotic strains of flu). I wish that were the case, but both you and I know it's just a stop gap measure to a growing problem. You know, like by encouraging people to have more babies and opening the floodgates to immigration. But then it's 2012 next year and the Mayans may well be proven correct and all of these problems will just go away because most of us won't be around anymore.

Populist measures are unsustainable and limited in its effect. You can no more cure a disease by treating the symptoms than you can get rid of lalang by cutting it. You have to get to the root of the issue. Hopefully, this isn't how the government is going to address all the challenges it faces. It gives the impression of a fair
weather government over-reacting at its first experience of turbulence. Not good at all for our collective future.