This is not about support ANY parties but tonight i experienced one of the most moving things in hougang that will last for a long time! what is amazing is that when it started to rain, those with umbrella started running around , sheltering strangers without umbrella, aunties tearing plastic bags into 2 to give to others, family of 5 gathers under one tiny umbrella, uncle taking off their shirt and shelter older folks and kids. Singaporean placing others before themselves, ! Respect! Tonight Hougang residents, i salute you for your giving spirit!
This makes my day. I have been so disappointed with DPM Teo. I wished he was a better campaigner and communicator helping Desmond Choo in this by-election. His suggestion that WP have not chosen their best man for the by-election is simply inane. If I were WP and LTK, I would want to hold Hougang at all cost. Losing Hougang is like losing the Big Flag of your army. They will be completely deflated. I remember when Burger King took over the Liat Tower premises which used to house McDonalds first outlet here. Some of us thought Burger King was winning the burger war against the Golden Arches.
The DPM is not stupid, he is just blindsided by his prejudice and low esteem of the opposition. I feel sorry for Desmond Choo. He should like Sitoh Yi Pin asked his party bigwigs to stay away.
I worry about the willful blindness of the number two man in our government. I worry that he will fail to use his astute judgement so admired by LKY when we need it. It would be very costly to us. Raymond Lim, Mah Bow Tan and Wong Kan Seng have caused enough damage already. Stop at three please.
Whatever, Desmond Choo is not the PAP's best man for this election. I fear he will be just another sacrificial lamb. You are newly married, better you spend more time with your wife. Hougang can have any MP but she only have you as husband. Didn't you say at the PAP rally that your wife complained about seeing so little of you? Be wise and also careful when you open your mouth.
Mr Yeoh Lam Keong was the chief economist of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation until June 2011. What he said was reported in The Straits Times on Friday 18 May 2012. I have selected the following from the report.
ReplyDelete“the Government's spending, as a share of GDP, of around 17 per cent is among the lowest in the developed world, compared to 35-40 per cent in most OECD countries and 25-30 per cent in other advanced Asian economies.”
"Our current levels of spending are low even by our own historical standards of up to 25 per cent of GDP seen in the mid-1980s and early 1990s."
"The original brand of the PAP, as I remember it, was pragmatically meeting the needs of the ordinary citizen and often exceeding expectations in doing so on a universal basis. And it did so from the 1950s to 1980s.”
The PAP in 2012 is different from the PAP in 1980s and 1990s and earlier. Their policy is making the poor, poorer. For the last ten years or so, their policy was exclusive making the rich richer. Only after the last GE and losing a GRC, they started to have the inclusive policy. We must be grateful to the opposition parties, especially the Workers Party for hammering and awakening the slumbering PAP.
How to measure inclusiveness? Government's spending, as a share of GDP should increase from 17 percent to 25 percent (the original level in the 1980s).
I really feel sorry for the residents of Hougang living in the old flats. They remind me of the litle housing estate in Hillview. It was one of the opposition ward back then. The PAP like Desmond Choo now made lots of promises of upgrading during election and won the ward back. What happened after that is a stack reminder for the residents of Hougang. The little housing estate where community spirit was great and fantastic (like the people in the images above)no longer exist. It was demolished in the name of en-bloc and the strong spirited community was dispersed. I fear the same faith for Hougang. So I hope the vote right
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