Results are in and the PAP has a record low 60.14% of the popular vote, gaining only 81 of 87 seats. Two cabinet ministers have lost their seats. Although this means nothing in practical terms, it's a huge morale boost for the opposition.
In a small state like Singapore, their system works. When you have a giant city where most people live in apartment blocks or condominiums, the ideal "town-hall" style for a local government obviously doesn't work, but Singapore just isn't big enough to have the true democratic process of a representative body represented by different districts.
Not necessarily. Hong Kong is also a small, dense city-state (one without complete sovereignty), yet local elected government does exist. It's not quite practical to have a single government managing a large global city of millions of people.
This is a misconception. Plenty of cynicism towards government exists in the Confucian societies and scandals/controversies exist in all societies. The difference is that there is less incentive to "rise up" for the sake of "rising up", when there is less of a background reason to do so. But when a background reason emerges, the public can be very demanding and cruel towards their governments. Elections in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea are very lively and chaotic compared to those in the west.
