Double Take said:

He [Shimon Peres] wrote: “In my opinion, there was an accumulation of events and processes that together brought about Labour’s downfall. In general, movements of social reform reach peaks – and then slowly sink into sloth and fatigue.

Power provides comfort and security, but it also steadily erodes and corrupts. People in power begin to enjoy the trappings and benefits of power, often falling into self-pity and self-justification.

They harp on how hard they work and on how heavy a responsibility they must shoulder.

They become insensitive to one of the infallible principles of politics in a democracy: the more one enjoys wielding power, the likelier one is to lose it….

Party machines and party hierarchies, created originally to serve the noblest goals, become bloated and parasitical in the eyes of the people….

The fire that burned in the bones of the founding fathers abated with time.

Even these great social experiments (the collective kibbutz and co-operative moshav) began to pall, radiating elitism, selfishness and apathy, rather than concern for and involvement in the problems of society.”

Recommended by at82: "Historically, Singapore has been in much less danger of annihilation than Israel. Yet Israel has a functioning democracy, which allows opposing political parties to replace each other in government. What has stopped Singapore from enjoying this “luxury”?"

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Zuco said:

It's very hard to write about this and be neutral. I mean that's what I am trying to do, but bias will invariably creep in. I'm trying to look at it from a more contemporary political perspective and drop the religious aspect, but how can one do that when the land, its history and its many competing claims are so tied up with the religion of the two people and their belief in their god-given right to be there?

It's quite rare to read Singaporeans' take on international affairs, much less the issue on the recent Gaza Strip pullout by Israel. Zuco blogs about his thoughts on this issue.

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