The PM is likely going to call a general elections soon and my response is I am tired because I really want to do something else and hope that he had opted to serve the full five years.
Who really knows why the PM is calling the elections now except that he must have judged this to be the best time to achieve the best possible electoral outcome for his party. It must be amusing as well as bemusing to read the various speculations. A waste of time but pundits feel clever indulging themselves and holding forth over such. As always there is a wasteful demand for these things. People so free huh?
So is there a LKY dividend? Perhaps not much and for that kudos to Singaporeans as represented by their feedback to Ms. Chang's article.
I would also like to tick my "like" to all of them but I was too lazy to do that and I think there are lots of people like me.
Regarding the PAP if I assess them independently of the alternative parties is just this: How are the PAP values, thinking and policies the evolved smarts of LKY's team adapted for changed circumstances? To me our founding fathers only happen to come from the PAP but in essence transcend party affiliation. That was why I had written Low Thia Kiang off given his stingy tribute to LKY. Come on, Americans do not diminish any founding father over belonging to a particular political party. They are smarter than that and so every President aspirant claims Abraham Lincoln for inspiration. As for LTK and I consider him a Goujian, a Chinese chauvinist in disguise biding his time (remember his passion for Nanyang University and Chinese language education). Trivializing a founding father's contribution is as good as repudiating the story of how we got here which must inform how we navigate the future. Now if I support the PAP, I offer it grudgingly, and I believe LKY as a practical man had done the same. Not the team he wished for but the best team he could help foster. He was a supreme realist.
When you go shopping you can only buy what is offered. You cannot buy what is imagined. Too many people making a lot of noise online do that. It is a waste of time. I have learned to quickly recognize them and save time. Many of them are infected by western liberalism and yet cannot recognize their infection. I think they all love the Economist. I am unimpressed that Chan Chun Sing sometimes point people to articles from that magazine. CCS isn't stupid but he was patronizing us, doing what is convenient and expedient. We mustn't appreciate such condescension. It tells me that if he catches us unaware or ignorant he has no qualms about taking advantage. Before him Ng En Heng had been less than honest with statistics! Don't start me on Khaw Boon Wan, he can go hara kiri. I rolled my eyes at what Tan Chuan Jin who went to meet the cardboard uncles and aunties said about their enthusiasm collecting paper. I can't believe his naivety. He isn't stupid as well but he was just desperate to hear something he liked especially against the noisy assertion of an alternate reality of poor and suffering old folks.
The PAP must be checked and they must continuously earn the trust from us. This uses up time and energy but it can't be helped. They are simply not honest enough to be entrusted to always act in our interests. Their party interests will out rank our interests. May we elect the best opposition MPs into parliament but the PAP must still form the government. As for WP first world parliament and they had a few years to prove that, it was nonsense because to achieve that you had to be humongously shrewd to get the PAP to play ball. So better stop selling this Koyok because they don't know how to make it happen. It was in the end only good for buying votes. You can only fool us once and it was not a bad idea to let you swim with it a lap. There was no risk, not even opportunity cost when I saw how worried the government became over AHPETC finances.
Update: 8:55 pm
Lee Boon Lee commenting on Teo Chee Hean claim that the electoral boundaries are fair. Stupid political communication from the DPM.
At the end of the day, Singapore is safest when we have intelligent voters who know which side their bread is buttered.
Update: 9:15pm
Sharing the same sentiment with lots of people. I hope they raise the IQ level of their communication or we cannot but see it as patronising and insulting. In other words, they are out of touch.
More than a few PAP MPs cannot think or just verbally constipated.
as in the beginning, the success of Singapore was built on a few good men. So too should the now and the future. Too many cooks spoil the broth especially those who jump on the bandwagon and can do nothing more than parrot. Really expensive parrots indeed!
ReplyDeleteThe best you can do for honouring LKY is to vote his son out. If that happens we have hope. Someone more capable, perhaps Tharman , can lead the country better and wisely. Than we can have proper talent to lead Temasek and GIC and perhaps see better returns on our CPF. At the moment they cannot even match the returns the Malaysian EPF, even though billions are being siphoned off. I wonder which sink hole ours is going into.
ReplyDeleteCouple of misc comments :
ReplyDelete1) Your comments on LTK as Guo Jian and being unable to get over his stingy tribute to LKY :
I think you keep making a mountain out of a mole hill. No matter, lets see 5 years from now, with the distance of time, you still think this way. All I can say are these : (a) LTK may or may not be a "hidden" chinese chauvinist, but that is irrelevant. His senior team in WP are not. Look at the background of Sylvia, Gerald Giam, Jen, etc. Even he wants to push his "hidden" chinese chauvinist agenda, its no longer just for him to decide to do so. (b) I don't know him personally but one impt lesson I've learnt in life is to "seek to understand, even if you cannot accept". Read this : https://dotseng.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/house-rules. For people of our generation, we probably cannot fathom what it means to be a Nantah graduate and then suddenly, overnight, your degree is useless and all doors to making a living for yourself are shut.
2) LKY has chosen the best team possible for us and it is in LHL. "Now if I support the PAP, I offer it grudgingly, and I believe LKY as a practical man had done the same. Not the team he wished for but the best team he could help foster. He was a supreme realist."
Again, I've no wish or capability to change your mind but am sure that years from now, you'll look back and think twice about this. Its the same observation I've noticed about you again and again in your blog - you're quick to blame ministers, mps or WP who did or said stupid things but your reflex is to "explain away" similar incidents when it comes to the PM. Here's a thought experiment - what if, when it comes to his own son, LKY is incapable of being 100% objective? Which father can be 100% objective when it comes to his own children? Isn't it a natural instinct to want to protect, exterminate all possible challengers? You do a detailed study of LKY pre LHL appointment vs post LHL appointment and sometimes, you feel that this person has changed.
When Rafidah Aziz (former Trade Minister in Msia) was accused of giving contracts by her ministry to her own children, she was alleged to have responded as such : "I did not tell anyone to give those contracts. I told my people to discuss and decide. I only sat in the room quietly as they decided". You're a smart man, I think you'll get the drift.
Crystal
Delete3) "When you go shopping you can only buy what is offered. You cannot buy what is imagined."
ReplyDeleteYou've made this point several times. In all cases, always with respect to the PAP. ie. excuse the not-so-competent people being offered, they're the best available.
How about applying this logic to the opposition too? Think of the 3 most competent persons you've ever met in your professional or personal life. And then ask yourself - can you imagine that they will be brave enough to want to join Sgp politics as an opposition member? If you cannot imagine it, ask yourself why. In fact, as you mentioned previously in one of your comments about CSM -- you wondered why the hell he even left his cushy corporate world to join the WP and serve.
You said that you're confident that if Sgp is in trouble, competent people will offer to serve. I'm not so sure about that. Read what I wrote earlier including the thought experiment cited.
I wish we have opposition candidates who are CFOs or CEOs of large organisations and they can manage a town council without a hitch, even though the AIM software is pulled under their feet from day one as a result of which past data/numbers can no longer be authenticated for audit purposes. I wish we have opposition candidates who are super high calibre and long term thinking and can stand on their own feet and articulately debate PAP MPs for hours and give great soundbites. I wish concurrently, that they have a heart to serve the people too. Do you think your top 3 most admired persons whom you've met professionally or personally meet all these criteria and at the same time, is willing to risk "kena sued until bankruptcy" and stick his/her neck out for Singapore this way?
The best analogy I can think of is the recent MRT train incident where an angmoh was berating a young man wearing a particular T-shirt and no one dared do anything until a Malay guy intervened. Did you even mention about "AIM software" in your article above when you complained about AHPETC accounts? Did you even mention anything about PA's accounts not meeting audit standards for 10 years? No. Instead, one of your previous comment was : You already knew going into this that PAP will play dirty, so why weren't you prepared? In that sense, you're like one of those in the train carriage who looked the other way. Too many Singaporeans do that. Like the New Paper reporter who commented, when you put on a T-shirt with those words, you should be prepared to be mocked in public. Commenting on this incident, this blogger said : what's wrong with you Singaporeans??
http://limpehft.blogspot.sg/2015/07/the-singaporean-blind-spot-that-gets-so.html
I sometimes share that same sentiment too. And if I were Phupinder Gill, I'd probably look at my family in USA, my wonderful life there and ask : what for?
There's a happy ending to the train scolding incident. Just when the ang mo left the MRT carriage, some voices were heard saying : "go back to your country". ie. after the heat is over, Singaporeans start speaking up. Typical Singaporeans. The parallel here is that Singaporeans may keep quiet about AIM, gerry mandering, etc etc. But they are no fools.