GE2025: The System Wasn’t Built for You to Win

I know I don’t usually talk about current affairs, but right now my country is having an election, and some of my young friends are very involved in it. It’s been over a decade since I attended political rallies, but now that I’m more in tune with emotional energies, I could see it clearly in the crowd, in the speakers, and in the atmosphere around the rallies. It really brings home something I’ve come to understand over the years.

Yesterday, I spent some time reflecting deeply after listening to Goh Meng Seng and his team speak at the rally. I appreciate the courage to speak up, and I acknowledge their effort. But as I listened more closely, I realised it was, once again, all about emotions.

I’ve supported opposition movements in my early 20s to my early 30s. I have seen how much effort people put in, how sincere some of them are, and also the frustration that keeps repeating at every election. After a while, the pattern becomes quite obvious.

Along the way, I also started to realise something else. Not everyone who speaks up is really thinking about others. Most of the time, people only get involved when their own life gets affected. They stand up because they are worried, or angry, or upset about something happening to them. It’s not always about wanting to help the wider community.

I’m not saying this is wrong. It’s human nature, I get it. When people feel their own security is at risk, of course they will react. That’s normal. But the thing is, if we only act based on emotion, we end up going in circles. Emotions can help us wake up to an issue, but if we never take the time to really understand what’s happening underneath, things will stay the same. You will see no real progress.

They enter the battlefield hoping to be heard, but they are fighting on a field that was never built or designed for them in the first place. The enemy still controls the weapons, the map, and the rules. And they keep thinking they can win just by raising their voices.

Have you not seen it? Every few years, people come forward, full of emotion, speaking out against what they feel is not right. They bring up the big issues: Covid rules, pressure about vaccines, tragedies that happened, cost of living, worries about jobs, more people coming in, trouble with getting a flat, discrimination. These are genuine concerns.

But the way they choose to fight is still the same. It’s always the same method, the same style of fighting. No long-term strategy.

Most just want to get into Parliament, have their voices heard, maybe get their face on stage or in the news. But after that, what’s next? It’s like going to war fighting with the enemy’s rules, using the enemy’s tools, and thinking victory means being allowed to step into the enemy’s house and speak.

That’s like walking into a trap, again and again, only with different issues.

You don’t win by repeating the same method that has failed you the last 30 years.

History has a lot to teach us about this. If you look back, you can see similar patterns playing out. Just take Spartacus, for example.

Back in the late Roman Republic, Spartacus led a massive uprising among the slaves. He was strong, clever, and many people respected him. His movement grew quickly, attracting more than 100,000 people. Most of them were slaves, poor farmers, or others who had already been sidelined by the system. They had plenty of reasons to stand up and fight back. They were angry and motivated by all the injustice they faced together.

But their strategy failed.

Spartacus did not step outside the way Rome operated. He went head-on, using the same tactics and mindset as the Romans: forming an army, organising battles, attacking directly. By following this path, he and his followers stayed trapped in the system they wanted to escape. Because of that, Rome had the advantage. The Romans were already experts in this kind of warfare. They relied on their strong structure, discipline, long-term plans, and pure force. In the end, they crushed the uprising. Spartacus and thousands of his men were killed, and their bodies were hung up in public as a warning to everyone else.

The lesson is not just about emotions. It’s about what happens when you try to win by following the same system that made you suffer in the first place. Spartacus didn’t create something new. He tried to sit on Caesar’s throne. But you cannot overthrow an empire by becoming a copy of it.

They actually had other options. With so many people on their side, they could have set up their own settlements. They could have formed alliances with others, created their own trade, and built independent communities away from the main Roman cities. They didn’t have to keep asking to be accepted by the system. Instead of always trying to break into the old structure, they could have focused on building something of their own. They could build around it, beyond it, or even within it in their own way.

And let us be clear: this is not about giving up or running away. It’s also not about packing up and leaving our own country.

I know some people say, “We’re born here, this land is ours.” Yes, I empathise. But when I talk about strategy, I’m not talking about physically moving somewhere else. What I mean is, it’s about the way we think. What we really need is not another rebellion. We need a new approach, something that goes beyond simply reacting every time those at the top do something.

We have to build something better, but that “better” cannot come from using the same system that has let us down so many times before. If we want a real change, it must start from within. It begins with how we think, how we handle our emotions, and how we rebuild our own sense of self-worth and identity, separate from what the old system told us to be. The starting point is going inward and fixing what is broken inside.

No structure can last if the people inside are still full of anger or always reacting without thinking. The kind of strength that really endures, that can make a difference, comes from having clarity, not just from riding on emotions.

It’s like what the early Christians did when they lived under the Roman Empire. They didn’t go out and start riots or try to take over government buildings. Instead, they focused on building up their own communities. They lived by their values quietly and steadily. They shared what they had with each other, looked after those in need, and faced hardship without letting it make them bitter. And over time, people noticed.

In the end, even the Roman Empire itself started to change and it was never because the early Christians fought the system directly, but because they slowly shifted the culture from within.

Or look at Japan during the Meiji Restoration. When Western countries started taking control all over the world, Japan did not spend their time just shouting at the foreign powers. Instead, they put effort into learning. They sent their own people overseas to study and pick up new knowledge. They modernised their country from the inside. While they updated themselves, they also held on to their own identity. They adapted in a smart way, rising in strength without needing approval from anyone else.

This is what it really means to build outside the system. It’s not about leaving the system in a physical sense, but about not relying on it emotionally, mentally, or even financially. The aim is to create something so strong and stable that the old way of doing things just does not matter anymore. Instead of trying to force your way in, focus on building around it. Focus on building something better that doesn’t need you to rely on the government.

True heroes in history didn’t fight just to be remembered. They fought only when there was no other choice. If they had another option, most of them would have chosen a wiser way forward. We now have the chance to make that wiser choice. So let’s not let this opportunity slip by. Let’s not waste it.

This is the exact point we need to understand today:

We cannot keep thinking that real change means getting a spot in the old system. If our goal is always to get a voice in Parliament or to appear in the mainstream news, we are no different from Spartacus trying to fight Rome with Roman weapons.

Stop entering a game that was never designed for us to win.

I couldn’t say it better than this author who pointed out in his brilliant piece:

“Politics is downstream from culture. Right now, we have a culture that supports maximum government. So long as this culture remains, the sword of the State will always hang over everyone’s heads.

If you wish to step out from under the sword, then you must change the culture.”

It’s not just about political parties or who gets elected. The bigger issue is this mindset: the belief that the government always knows best, that we cannot question authority, and that everyone must rely on the State to decide what is right or wrong. This is the kind of thinking that has shaped the whole system for so long. As long as this mindset does not change, nothing about the system will really change.

So the solution is not to try harder to enter the same system. Asking for a space to speak in Parliament doesn’t bring real change. It only brings emotional inspiration.

If we really want things to change, we cannot keep following the old ways. What’s needed now is a new culture where people take responsibility and learn to stand on their own, instead of waiting for the government to solve every problem. It’s 2025, not the 1960s. Back then, strong speeches from leaders like Lee Kuan Yew made sense for that time. But today, things are different. Change starts with how we think, how we bring up our children, and how we go about our daily lives. If we want politics to move forward, it has to start with each of us.

Where we choose to focus, our energy will go. So it’s time to put more attention into building something new. Raise our children to think for themselves and ask questions. Set up small economic circles that can succeed without needing to depend on the bigger system. Teach our children that building wealth is a basic skill, not an option. This way, we don’t have to keep printing party flags and flyers, running donation drives, or doing endless fundraising just to get a seat in Parliament, only to speak to people who might listen but do nothing about it.

Today, it’s not about making the most noise anymore. What matters now is having clear thinking and making smart moves.

A friend reminded me of a quote today that sums it up nicely:

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.

Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” — Rumi