The last time Heng Swee Keat conducted such an exercise the only person we knew who was involved was a classmate of my younger daughter, someone who was winning and going places in the system. When it was over no more than 50,000 people had provided feedback. If Heng became PM, he will always have such feedback exercise. It is just human, no different from choosing a sit over a squat toilet.
I haven't found the time to read to the end NMP Kuik Shiao Yin's speech in parliament. Perhaps I will do so after posting this and only because I blogged about it and so feel responsible to do so.
Like Heng Swee Keat's previous exercise of soliciting feedback, I am as uninterested this time. Since then I have learned there were many like me. Talking to this government is a waste of time. Making a living in an environment when cost keeps going up is hard enough there is no time to talk to the government when you already know nothing is going to change i.e., prices are going up.
The government always look after itself first beginning with paying itself first and ensuring a wide margin of safety. That is why the GST is going up eventually to 9%. That is also why the government is not able to convince most of us why the impending hike is necessary. You can't justify the priority of government looking after itself first when publicly they espouse putting the people first. This government cannot be transparent because its embarrassing priorities would be made public but they can't do anything about coffee shop talk or the Taxi uncles complaining to riders. Some have even stopped talking and would let their vote do that. Of course unlike elsewhere the vote is meaningless when there is not alternative to the PAP.
When the Americans voted for Trump, they didn't like his ignoble values and behavior but that crazy decision made sense when you consider that voters thought those in Washington were worse than Trump. The fear in this tiny island state is that eventually people here might do the same. That would be the ultimate cutting your nose to spite your face. Before we get to that point the flashing red light is when people are no longer even interested to talk to you. The only talking is when they kick your ass over why the lift aren't working or the place is dirty. I think the media especially social media is already reflecting that.
Update: 9:35 am
As expected I felt the need to read Kuik Shiao Yin's speech. Here is the bit from her I identify best with.
My own sense of the ground - I could be wrong and you may disagree with me - is that there are more people who have dissenting views about what’s going on in our country than government- commissioned opinion polls reveal. This is partly because many people in this segment are unlikely to answer such polls in the first place. They don’t like registering their dissent openly - be it on survey, on social media or any form of record. The reasons why people keep their dissent to themselves vary: some honestly assume that their opinion is unimportant or unqualified; some like getting along and fear that their honesty will invite an open rebuke or a cold shoulder from establishment; others say it is self-preservation based on their past experiences. Whatever it is, their quiet dissent is real and such withholding of views may give leadership the wrong impression that all is quiet on the western front.
She missed my reason why: Waste of time.
She was as usual very eloquent and persuasive. I think she can carry many inexperienced young people with her but to me translating a great speech into practice often face daunting odds not surmountable except with even stronger convictions. I don't believe we possess them yet but we will. Just be patient.
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