Political Ideology Essay

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3.3 Political ideology
Ideology is defined as an interlinked set of opinions, value, of belief of a community or an individual (“Ideology”, n.d.). For government, the ability to gain trust of people by practicing ideology that is accepted by its citizen, would become a powerful political tools for its political legitimacy (Mauzy & Milne, 2002). After independent, the massive cultural and ideological transformation was necessary. Due to small amount of resources, economic instability, and social tension, the PAP then conceptualized the ideology of “survival of the nation” (Chua, 1995). Hence, the idea of “pragmatism’ was implemented on the ideology of survival, meaning that the PAP would not push policies that are constructed by belief and idea …show more content…

By late 1970s, the ideology that stands up against moral crisis was implemented. Therefore, the idea that respect the Asian culture value were adopted, hence “Confucianism”. In the late 1980s, the ideology were once again transformed in order to adjust with a more modern nation, therefore, the PAP adopted “Communitarianism” or “Shared Values” (Shan-Loong, 1999). The use of ideological hegemony by PAP government and Lee Kuan Yew was clearly accepted by population, due to the ideology that well-suited with their condition. Thus, enable the PAP government to adopt several unpleasant policies without damaging their political legitimacy (Chua, 1995). The acceptance and commitment from the citizen towards the PAP’s policies, has enable the government to meet the needs of its people, therefore …show more content…

The PAP claimed that “Western style democracy” is not suitable for Asian countries, rather would bring chaos and conflict (Ortmann, 2011). Lee’s perception towards Western style of democracy is accepted by many Singapore citizens. The Western view democracy as the symbol of full liberty, whereby those view by Lee Kuan Yew is sources of instability (Sim, 2006). The penetration of fundamental understanding of democracy from West is not simply compatible with Asian political system that has different culture, traditions, and ideology (Welzel, 2011). The promotion of “Confucianism” was started by Lee Kuan Yew in late 1970s (Mauzy & Milne, 2002), which then become the core ideology of Singapore’s government. Confucianism set as the core values to stand up against moral crisis of Westernization. Contrast with the full democracy from Western democracy leaders, Confucian leaders express their hierarchical power level without obliterate their respect for the followers (Neher, 1999). Confucianism teaches to respect the superior (leader) in order to gain harmony; the superior should not act arbitrarily and rule with honesty (Neher, 1999). If the Western democracy explained the democracy to have individual liberty, in Asian individualism tightly related with selfishness. Confucianism encourages a person to think of others than their selfishness (Mauzy & Milne, 2002). Moreover, Lee argues

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