๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐'๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ
The British Prime Minister has resigned.
Again.
Depending on when you are reading this, there is a reasonable chance Britain has already replaced him with someone else.
Across much of the world, politics feels increasingly unpredictable. Governments rise and fall. Coalition partners collapse. Elections produce dramatic swings in policy. One administration spends years implementing a programme, only for the next administration to reverse it.
Sometimes entire national conversations seem to restart every few years.
Singapore, by comparison, is astonishingly boring.
Yet many Singaporeans complain about this.
๐๐ฌ๐ง'๐ญ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ? ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐๐ข๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฌ. Instead, Singapore often feels like watching a corporate meeting.
Blessedly, boring politics is one of Singapore's greatest competitive advantages.
Imagine you are a multinational corporation deciding where to build a factory.
The factory will cost billions of dollars, employ thousands of workers and it may take twenty years before the investment fully pays off.
Do you want to build it in a country where regulations might change after every election?
Or would you rather build it somewhere where you have a reasonable expectation that today's policies will still broadly exist ten years from now?
Investors, businesses and institutions generally prefer predictability.
The same applies to infrastructure.
When Singapore decides to build an MRT line, it is usually planned decades ahead. Land is reserved. Budgets are allocated. Engineers design around assumptions that future governments are unlikely to suddenly abandon the project halfway through construction.
This continuity is often invisible because it becomes normal.
Singaporeans rarely wake up wondering whether a newly elected government will suddenly cancel Changi Airport expansion, reverse housing policy, abandon the MRT network or fundamentally rewrite the country's economic strategy.
Britain offers an interesting contrast.
Since 2007, the United Kingdom has gone through Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer.
Each leader arrived with a different set of priorities. Some inherited crises. Others created them. Policies shifted. Ministries reorganised. National conversations changed direction.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ข๐๐, ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐จ ยฃ๐๐๐,๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ข๐ซ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ-๐จ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ. ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ซ๐๐.
This led to an awkward observation after Liz Truss's famously brief tenure. Having served just 49 days as Prime Minister, she became eligible for the same allowance as leaders who spent years in office.
Whether one agrees with the scheme or not, it is a reminder of how often the political carousel has been spinning.
Singapore operates very differently.
Our ministers do not receive a permanent taxpayer-funded office simply because they once held ministerial office. The expectation is that public office is a responsibility undertaken for a period of time, not a title that carries lifelong institutional support.
We live in a world where governments increasingly resemble software stuck in a cycle of constant updates, patches and rollbacks, Singapore's approach can feel almost old-fashioned.
I pity the Straits Times Editor sometimes, we're so boring he might struggle to find something about Singapore for the cover page.
Nothing dramatic happened today.
And that's exactly how we like it.