TWO PASSING SHIPS

TWO PASSING SHIPS

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence. 
The Theologian's Tale, Wadsworth Longfellow (1873)

“Ships passing in the night” is Longfellow’s allusion to two individuals that are rarely present at the same place and time. When they do meet, it is in passing and with almost no direct exchange or contact—just like two ships in the dead of the night.

Sad—that is the word that I would use to describe the sorry state of things right now, while taking stock of arguments on both sides of the fence regarding the various issues that plague our nation today.

We all know about the reports from the Auditor General’s Office (AGO) on questionable practices by AHPTEC along with a number of discrepancies involving a number of government agencies. Lawmakers raise the issue of the opposition’s credibility in parliament. The mainstream media continues to pick up on and report these issues in a pre-apocalyptic fashion. The opposition continues to deflect, counter and make statements that explain their positions on alternative media. The mainstream media does not pick up the bulk of these responses. Opposition supporters rally on alternative media to dig up more dirt about the People’s Action Party (PAP), its ministers and deficiencies. PAP supporters rally on their own platforms to pat each other on their backs.

You do not have to take anyone’s word for it. Look at any social media platform that speaks for the PAP (https://www.facebook.com/FabricationsAboutThePAP), the opposition (http://sonofadud.com ) or the average Singaporean (http://therealsingapore.com). While it is the nature of followers, supporters and sympathisers to gravitate and flock around their comfort zones—the social media platforms and alternative media of choice that best represent their views; there is this peculiar effect of pigeon holing opinions, views, discussions and debates to the point of turning these platforms into outlets for self praise, biased criticism and stovepipes for venting hot air.

It would be easy to say that we are all preaching to the choir, that we need a proper platform for debate. However we had that, at some level, in the parliament—which is supposedly the lawmaking arm of the government comprised of cabinet ministers that were elected to represent us in matters of policy and governance. It is even sadder to see that this very form of elected representation deteriorate into a platform for political fixing, dirt digging and serving of platitudes—whose primary duties include the upholding of the constitution of the republic, but proceeds to soil its principles by allowing for amendments without calling for referendums or votes (http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/govt-keep-ability-amend-constitutio...). For some reason, the same parliament continues to pass policies, laws and amend statutes on the assumption that as elected representatives our ministers are already guided in our bests interests. Perhaps this was the reason for Shanmugan’s arguing that ‘the Government needs to preserve its ability to make the “necessary adjustments” to the Constitution…’.

This behaviour is not dissimilar from the concept of primus inter pares or ‘first among equals’ which is best summed up in the satirical writings of George Orwell in ‘Animal Farm’, where Squealer the pig explains the pigs’ hoarding of the windfalls:

"Comrades!" he cried. "You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? (George Orwell, 1945; Animal Farm, chapter 3)

What we are doing, while engaged in passing ship debates within our own comfort zones, circles and platforms, while lamenting to each other or patting each others’ backs on the grievances we make or platitudes that we serve, while complaining to our peers and supporters about the lack of fairness, and transparency, or cheering one another on with regard to the political gaffes committed by those whom we resent—is miss out on an engaging discussion or debate that truly seeks to address the issues that plague our nation today. 

One one level, we have literally surrendered our ability for self determination to an assumption, an idea, an implanted notion that we require a strong government, and well educated leaders whom require the salaries that they have afforded themselves in order to make decisions for our benefit, or rather what they have perceived to be for our benefit.