Bertha nails it: MP Liang intemperate response to Donald Low

I had actually wanted to record my view on this issue here yesterday but was so upset with MP Liang Eng Hwa I decided to wait. What a bully. If MPs  can bring a silencing mallet to the discussion what about ministers? Well more people respond to ministers and our numbers must often have caused them to think twice.

I agree mostly with Bertha Henson's blog post.

If I may quote her,

Methinks Mr Liang also needs an education in the role of editors. Yes, they turn “rants’’ into something publishable – that’s their job. And that’s because they see something in the “rant’’ worth sharing, a germ of an idea, an argument. They try to draw it out. In fact, it was very nice of Mr Low to thank the journalist because most editors don’t get thanks for working on someone’s article.

This sort of responses from politicians will only drive views underground. There are people (like me and probably plenty of others) who really want to LEARN something and appreciate different perspectives.

How is this kind of response (so 1980s...) good for Singapore?

* Now I am worried that someone will look at my primary school essays, my diary and my FB wall, of course, to make the case that I am not sincere.

So often our MPs show themselves to be poorly informed, prejudiced....actually only one word needed: clueless. Even Teo Chee Hean thought nurses are low skilled jobs but NUS offers a degree in Nursing. Of course I can't forget how Shanmugam failed to catch the anomaly that MA charges for residential and commercial units cannot be the same.

Where I disagree with Ms Henson is that the responses from politicians will not drive views underground but make people angrier. You keep doing this, there will be no more discussion online or in public forums. At some point you would be shouted down. If the "offender" is escorted out by security officers, others will take his/her place to shout you down. Then a few will stand and shout you down simultaneously. You tell me how to run the country like that? What would foreign diplomats and investors think? 

Look at what just happened to Lui Tuck Yew. What did he say wrong? Nothing except that he was insensitive and seen to be out of touch.

LTY advised us to shop on Sundays instead. He completely missed the plot.

More than 400, 150 and 130 likes....

I don't remember people showed so much unhappiness toward Mah Bow Tan, Wong Kan Seng and especially Raymond Lim.

Raymond Lim and his predecessor was more responsible for the state of land transport than Lui Tuck Yew ever was.

Minister Lui hasn't even started talking like MP Liang yet.

You MPs and ministers should just be more transparent, accountable and decent. Don't be bullies. That is the ultimate proof that you are cowards. I had been gentler to say you all lack political courage. You have gotten too used to staying safe and bullying everyone else. No need to exercise much courage especially when heads you win and tails we lose. Didn't realize that most of the courage had evaporated. Now when you need it, you realized you don't have it.

Why don't you MPs simply admit you have not done your homework and understand the budget? I think Tin Pei Ling having gone through the baptism of fire is better than most of you.

If MPs and ministers are so unhappy with their pay and work conditions they should just go do something else. Politics is a calling not a career never mind it has been paying you like one for more than twenty years. Don't compare yourselves with the hidden perks politicians elsewhere get unless you want to be corrupt hypocrites like them. Poorly paid Chinese top leaders are multibillionaires. You can be a billionaire too by selling paint. Sounds so easy, why be a politician? So challenging and thankless.

Those who did not pass the patriotism test should never be allowed to serve as MPs. Who is that MP who didn't serve NS before? That's OK as there are other tests of patriotism. Did he pass any?