The ruling People’s Action Party is commemorating 200 years of the arrival of the British statesman, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, in Singapore with a bicentennial pageantry. It was the PAP’s idea to let the people celebrate all things that are ‘uniquely’ Singaporean months before the previous election. It was a national project in which the party wanted to build history, memories and a national identity. Gun-toting men are seen guarding the MRT stations in the central business district, giving an impression of a potential threat. They call these critics ‘communists’ or ‘traitors’, terms used by the PAP to describe its opponents.

Source: The Telegraph May 02, 2019 10:07 UTC