Increasing criticism of the political system that laid the foundations for Singapore’s impressive development is raising serious questions about whether the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) parliamentary dominance could one day come to an end.

The discontent comes against the backdrop of an extraordinary rate of development, Singapore increasing its gross domestic product (GDP) by roughly 300 times in the last 51 years, making it the third richest country in the world today.

It’s the safest city in Asia, and has the highest quality of living in the region yet for all its achievements on the global stage, the country faces criticism for its style of governance, some going as far as calling it “one-party rule”.

… “It can be argued that the majority of people in Singapore may consider the opposition primarily for its utilitarian purposes; one such utilitarian purpose could be to signal discontent against the government and to provoke policy change,” writes Saleena Saleem, Associate Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore.