Impropriety by Singapore PM, but India too needs to look at itself
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s critical comments about Indian MPs have stirred the diplomatic and political circles. It is not usual for a PM of a country speaking from the floor of the House to attack parliamentarians of another, especially of a nation considered to be a close strategic ally. Singapore is a small city-state, but it has huge diplomatic heft. It is one of the smartest nations that has played the geopolitical game to perfection by cleverly managing superpowers like the US, China and Russia. For it to suddenly lunge at India could not be a thoughtless act. India did well to register its protest by summoning the Singaporean high commissioner and conveying its disapproval of Lee’s impropriety.
Indian foreign office mandarins, however, need to closely examine the circumstances in which Lee made those remarks. There are a large number of Indians working there. Covid has caused huge job losses in Singapore and the local population is angry with immigrant workers. In the last few years, Singapore has cut down on work visas for Indians and permanent residencies have been reduced to nearly nothing. The deepening China-Singapore ties too need to be watched closely. India would do well to engage more closely with the city-state and not push Lee’s critical comments under the carpet.
New Delhi also needs to examine Lee’s remarks to see if what he said was how our country was viewed abroad. Speaking on alleged untruths spoken by a Singaporean lawmaker, and on the need for probity and integrity in public life, Lee said, “Nehru’s India has become one where, according to media reports, almost half the MPs in the Lok Sabha have criminal charges pending against them, including charges of rape and murder…” According to the latest
report of the Association for Democratic Reforms, out of the 539 MPs whose affidavits were examined, 233 (43%) have declared criminal cases against themselves. There is an increase of 44% in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009. While Singapore needs to take a long look at its own dismal democratic record of constraining the opposition and allowing one family and one party to dominate the system, India too needs to turn the mirror towards itself.