Pragmatism and the choice to stay out of politics

Life could be predictable, if only you'd believe it to be.

There's a "straightforward" path to success. Study hard in primary and secondary school (get into all the brandname ones without the "negative influences"), get into a top JC (y'all already know which), then achieve the perfect 4As, 2Ds, A1 for GP and an excellent CCA record to boot. (But that's IF you can do it, and a very big IF.) Then of course, hone the interview skills to ace that scholarship interview, and you have it MADE FOR LIFE. Yes, literally speaking.

From then on, as those responsibilities come one by one, so does greatness. Promotions come thick and fast, and before you know it, you're in the top echelons of power, a position which commonfolk like us all can only hope to reach - and that we pin our hopes on our next generation. One of my friends actually said she LIKED that kind of predictability - she felt safe in the knowledge that there was a surefire formula for success. But that's only if you do make it there, or at least somewhere NEAR there.

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Pragmatism in Singapore means to lead a peaceful existence, earn your own money and mind your own business. This necessarily(?) means you do not dabble in politics or engage in alternative views, or does it? Pragmatism tells me I shouldn't be confronting (if at all) the establishment. Yes, looking at what I can potentially lose, it is scary.

While it is not my business who is in charge of Singapore, it is my concern, as long as I am Singaporean and feel such, to want the best to be right at the top, and more than that, to ensure that they do not go unchecked and totally unopposed as they chart the path for our country. I think a government, however bright and capable, will crumble if there is insufficient checks and balances in place. Corruption will set in, regardless of the level of salaries being paid out (of course a higher salary will manage to stave off chances of that happening for a longer time, but still...) That is why, although I favour a limited democracy for its efficiency in policymaking, I also believe that the citizens have a role to play by being watchful over their own leaders.

I am glad to have found an active online community which watches the government's actions closely. While we might be tempted to feel discouraged from time to time (words are only words without action being taken), let us take heart in the fact that maybe one day, the government will take our opinions with more than a pinch of salt.