We are the only ones who can change this country

I'm not sure what motivated this article on Temasek Review, especially the bolded bit:

The incoming United States Ambassador to Singapore Mr David Adelman appeared to have distanced himself away from his earlier remarks made at a Senate nomination hearing two months ago that he “would use public diplomaccy [sic] to promote political freedom in Singapore.”

The Straits Times tried to add a spin to it by portraying that his remarks had “stirred some controversy among Singaporeans” who felt that Mr David Adelman has no right to interfere in Singapore’s politics when they were welcomed by the majority of Singapore netizens who have long given up hope of voting out the despotic PAP regime through the ballot box.

I'm curious: does the author expect the US to come to our rescue via an ambassador? What was he expecting Mr Adelman to do for us? And why did he assume that regime change through the ballot box is hopeless? That assumption is a slap on the face for every blogger who wants Singapore to progress and become a full-fledged democracy.

In any case, Mr Adelman is right when he said "I want to make it very clear that those issues are for Singaporeans to decide for themselves", because no one else but Singaporeans should decide for themselves what they want for their country.

If we want to be a democracy, then the change must be effected through the ballot box, and it must be effected by Singaporeans. If there is any advice we want to take from an American, take this one:

We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

And this comes from none other than Barack Obama. Know hope, be that hope, and never rely on others to drag us out of our own political swamp.

(h/t: Kenneth Jeyaretnam)

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