Why must we allow our ruling party politicians to talk like they are the best and refuse to let people decide who are indeed the best?
What's wrong with allowing our media to report on news and criticisms of government policies as they are? Will free press lead to disorders and chaos?
Why must we allow ruling party politicians to exploit any loopholes or grey areas in the constitution by interpreting them according to their own wishes or tweak the election process into GRC with superficial excuses like providing for racial representation when there are so many other ways such as allocation of minority seats for contest among the minority candidates as posted by many to provide for racial balance.
The reason often cited for gerrymandering of election process or tweaking of laws and regulations is rule of law or prevention of lawlessness or chaos but let us take a look at how they pass their own laws to reward themselves or suit their own convenience calling all that rule of law.
Switzerland, Sweden, Finland are small countries too adopting democracy making real progress but their ordinary citizens do not have to be made to suffer all the suppressions or oppressions and years of dropping wages and even forfeiture of their own retirement savings.
What is wrong with allowing democracy to evolve from true voting based on open debates among contending PMs and contending MPs.
Public debates between contending MPs and PMs should be allowed without all the civil libel being used after election to eliminate or "fix" political foes to serve the hidden agendas of whover is has the power to do so or the ruling party.
Let us look at the current debates between Hilary Clinton (Democrat) and her contenders like Giuliani or Obama. The nation can be spared of any hidden agendas of libel lawsuits after elections for remarks made deemed defamatory by sheer political power. Such openness which PM Lee said he will introduce many times to build an inclusive society is not yet taking place and the reverse seems to be true. So words do not match deeds in the first place with our current leaders.
Such open debates and openness will offer many other advantages beside choosing the really passionate and capable leaders as they will definitely offer the truly fair and above-board rule for all to obey in conducting election which will purge all the bad bloods and hidden agendas haboured by self-centred or vindictive politicians purely based on power and hypocrisy.
Have we reached such a maturity in our efforts to open up and liberalize our own political process?
It is time again to ponder on what is the best political system for our own good and our future.
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(Report on election debates currently taking place in US upcoming presidential election)
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- With Sin City as a backdrop, seven Democratic presidential hopefuls went head-to-head on the issues Thursday night, with the biggest pressure likely on front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Seven Democratic presidential hopefuls gather for a debate in Las Vegas, Nevada.
She faced the first question about stumbling in the last debate and responded first by joking that her pant suit was "made out of asbestos."
Clinton then sparred right away with Sen. Barack Obama -- her closest rival -- on the issue of health care.
The candidates are debating at the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The debate, hosted by CNN and the Nevada Democratic Party, is the first showdown between Democrats since Clinton's stumble at a debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
That's where the senator from New York was accused of inconsistency on her answer to a question about driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Criticism of Clinton's response was discussed in the media for days afterward.
Clinton has to do better this time, CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider said Thursday.
"She has to reassure Democrats that she speaks from conviction, that she's being honest with the people, that she doesn't talk like a typical politician -- which is what she sounded like at the last Democratic debate and took a lot of heat for that," Schneider said.
Gloria Borger, CNN's other senior political analyst, agreed: "Clinton's on the hot seat. She has to get rid of the notion that she can't answer a question directly or that as a front-runner she is just playing out the clock and wants to be cautious above all else."
Democrats do Vegas
The Democrats lay their cards on the table in Las Vegas, Nevada, with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
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Clinton admitted to CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley in an exclusive interview that the Philadelphia debate was not her best performance. "I wasn't at my best," she said.
Schneider described Clinton's performance as "evasive, waffling, trying to have it both ways."
Since then, Clinton's campaign has admitted to planting a question with a student attending a Clinton campaign event in Iowa. Rival campaigns from both political parties criticized Clinton for that incident as well.
On Saturday, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, while campaigning in Iowa, blasted the Clinton camp for the incident, saying the practice is "what George Bush does."
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Clinton's campaign shot back Monday, accusing Edwards of acting like President Bush and dividing Democrats.
"Anyone paying attention in the days since the last debate would hear the sounds of a calendar closing in. The rhetoric in both the Edwards and [Barack] Obama campaigns has hit new decibels, aimed at driving down Hillary Clinton's poll numbers," Crowley said.
Tonight's Nevada debate may be crucial for many reasons. Watch how CNN's Wolf Blitzer prepared for the debate »
The Silver State has been a swing state in past U.S. presidential elections, and it looks as if history could repeat itself in 2008.
Bush won Nevada in 2000 and 2004, but the Democrats came close and hope to close the deal next November. Moving up Nevada's Democratic caucus and holding a party-sanctioned debate here could pay off come Election Day 2008.
"They have guaranteed that our Democratic nominee will be versed with key issues facing Nevada and very familiar with voters of the state," said Democratic consultant Jennifer Backus.
Among the issues of concern to Nevada voters: energy independence, nuclear waste storage, water resources, economic growth, homeland defense and illegal immigration. Expect some of those to come up in the debate.
Clinton has a large lead over her rivals among Nevada Democratic caucus-goers, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Wednesday.
Another poll has Clinton and Rudy Giuliani -- the Republican presidential front-runner -- neck-and-neck in Nevada.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed Giuliani receiving 47 percent of votes in the hypothetical general-election matchup with Clinton, who scored 46 points -- a statistical dead heat given the poll's 2.5 percent margin of error.