SINGAPORE: Politics had a bad run in 2024. In many countries, it dominated the news headlines for the wrong reasons.

In South Korea, impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to impose martial law to neutralise his political opponents backfired spectacularly and he is now facing arrest.

In the United States, the unseemly spectacle of a presidential candidate being convicted of an offence related to a sexual abuse case and facing imprisonment seemed too surreal to be true.

But American politics proved it can outdo Hollywood scriptwriters when Donald Trump not only prevailed in the election but did so decisively after narrowly surviving an assassin’s bullet.

Elsewhere in Europe, Japan, Canada and Southeast Asia, there were other developments that shook the political ground.

WHAT IS POLITICS MEANT TO ACHIEVE?

There appears much that has gone wrong with how politics is being practised and especially what it is meant to achieve.

Ultimately, it is about improving the well-being of society, raising living standards and promoting peace and harmony in the community so that all may achieve happiness, prosperity and progress.

In a democracy, you do this by exercising your right to elect leaders you believe can best succeed in doing so.  

Looking at what has happened, especially in the recent past, the opposite has happened.

Political leaders have become more focused on destroying their political opponents by demonising them instead of enhancing goodwill to achieve the common good.

As a result, the community is divided and the hatred and contempt for the other side consumes the body politic so much that the intended purpose is completely lost.

Beating up the competition becomes more impo...