Step into the visitors’ gallery in Singapore’s pint-sized parliament and you immediately sense how the tiny island nation modelled its chamber on Britain’s parliamentary system.
The benches face each other as in the House of Commons. There is a speaker’s chair, even a mace. One difference is that debates lack the rambunctiousness of the Westminster circus. The other is that the country’s ruling party has never lost a general election and dominates the benches with 80 seats to the opposition’s paltry seven. Debate is a bit one-sided.
Look around Singapore, however, and other similarities emerge between the Lion City and London. The legal system is English, and English is the lingua franca of business.