Tony Tan: The irrelevant President

This President is irrelevant to us as SR Nathan presence wasn't noticed and his absence will not be missed. The EP is a device by the PAP government to check a rogue non-PAP government. If the PAP is the ruling party, this President is effectively a ceremonial President, i.e., like those before Ong Teng Cheong, which were not chosen by us.

Of course he didn't mean to unify us, but it is the necessary public pronouncement. His smile is good to look at but not to be experienced. The further I stay away from him, and that is easy, the better.

Unlike those I read on the social media and even some neighbors, I don't consider that we have lost because our preferred candidate failed to win the office. If that is how I feel, I should have been more active out there fighting with the one I had chosen to win more votes. No, to be rational, most of us who were not activist must have a plan to win regardless who is President. This President is irrelevant. It is jut a very expensive PAP product on the chair.

The President that mattered much more but we do not have the right to choose is the American President. As Singaporeans, as the ultimate price-takers we must be farseeing and adaptable. Foresight suggest that moral corruption which entered the PAP government sometime back has grown to the point that it has become obvious. In the next few years, even more people will notice it.

Any government we can ever form will be a price-taking government. This one is a lousy price-taker because as candidate Tan Cheng Bock patently pointed out, they often put party ahead of national interest. Perhaps if this President could hold on to office for two terms, his grandsons will like his sons serve their full NS liabilities. That is not the issue which the MSM tried to mislead us. The issue is they might enjoy preferential treatment for NS like their fathers had. As it is, a large segment of us will never respect him as President. The standards of national leadership here is normalizing to the rest of the world. What's wrong with that?

The Straits Times

President-elect Tony Tan says his first task is to unify Singaporeans

www.straitstimes.com

President-elect Tony Tan has identified his first task of business, hours after he won the presidential election, which is to unify Singaporeans including the two-thirds who did not vote for him.

3 hours ago · 4244 ·  ·  · Share

Tan Kah Kee in the papers today

Sunday Times today.

The writer, Leong Weng Kam lamented that we no longer remember Mr. Tan Kah Kee.

I don't see it as a problem. Anyone who wants to emulate him will discover him. Those who extol his example because it is politically correct to do so, would just be hypocritical. A little exposure in the papers today for this great man is good enough to pique the interest of anyone who wants to find out more.

If we have more rich guys like Tan Kah Kee, we would have a much less serious problem with the current widening income gap. We can wish all we want for such guys, but they are born and not made. Granted if I am wrong, we do not know how to make them. As it is, the rich are more worried about losing their relative position than the poor in meeting daily necessities isn't it? The current global financial turmoil has exacerbated their fears further. Meanwhile the middle class as long as they have cashflow, they often do not even have too much savings to worry about inflation eating away their mediocre wealth.

Tan Kah Kee's solution to preserving his wealth was to give it away.

Not enough Tan Kah Kee types, government is increasingly under pressure to redistribute wealth. But the solution lies outside Singapore. It comes when our competitors and markets begin to tax their rich more. They are trying to resist that but I believe they can only hold out for so long. Can we hold out long enough so that we will copy them? Forget about wealth trickling down. Forget about having a few new Tan Kah Kees here. Perversely if they appear, their good works might frighten the government as those social workers had in 1987 and were detained under the ISA. The government only wants your money to fund their plans. You are not suppose to plan. In our modern society, we have made it even harder for a Tan Kah Kee to emerge.

When I was a kid, my late father told me the tycoons here were racing each other to build the tallest office tower in Singapore. The government put a cap to that and in the end they built three towers, all as tall as each other. This brings me to the article Dr. Lee Wei Ling wrote today in the same paper.

Most people will not share this good doctor priorities, the daughter of Lee Kuan Yew. I don't think even her brothers are like minded with her here.

At this moment the Me Generation holds the reins of power. As the millennials discover the futility of this generation, hopefully they will make better choices. An early sign of that happening is when they turn their backs to the path of success of their parents.

I can't imagine my kids would like to have the sort of occupations their parents were engaged in.

The results of the Presidential Elections

I woke up later than usual this morning, at about half past six. I read the WSJ in my email reporting that Tony Tan had won the Presidency. Earlier I briefly woke in bed and sleepily read the same off my phone on facebook and had a good shut eye until now.

I have voted for the right guy even if he didn't win. We have to respect the outcome of the system. It isn't a fair system but it is also not unusual. Most voting systems in the world aren't fair. In the long run, we can try to improve it but in the short term we have to get on with living successfully.

The elites are far smaller than the 35.19% that voted for Tony. The balance of the non-elites that voted for Tony are to me those who are at the moment only able to pass off rearranging prejudices for the ability to think. You have to give them time to learn how to think. Between now and the next elections, they will have plenty of unpleasant opportunities to do just that.

The election of their preferred candidate to the Presidency only makes it harder for the ruling party to fight the next GE, which is what really counts. As usual they have the bad habit of wanting to have it all. It is up to them if they want to win every battle but lose the war.


Update:

So Yahoo had announced this two hours ago when we were still "kooning" Not important enough to stay up for the results. Many times more rejected votes than the winning margin. The results are not very credible.

• 
  
• 
  

  Yahoo! Singapore Newsroom

  Tony Tan has been declared seventh President of Singapore.
  TT- 744, 397 votes
  TCB- 737,128 votes
  TJS -- 529, 732 vottes
  TKL 103, 931 votes
  Rejected: 37,826
  Total votes: 2,153,014

An example of the many I suggested who cannot think. Not difficult to find.

• 
  

  Nancy Tham I think choosing a president is not about what he favors for his political grounds but whether he has the making of a president. Having said that, it would have been painful to see a president who does not stand in line with the ruling party. That I think would have been a bigger joke.
  

  21 minutes ago ·  ·  1 person

Updating my Garmin Nuv 205W

When I bought this for our stay in Dubai, I thought I would never need it again when we returned to Singapore. I am even surprised that this model is still available.

I just updated the software. I got to test that everything is OK and then I would buy the road maps for our USA trip later this year. Doesn't make sense to pay the car rental company for their pricier and inferior GPS system.




Brings back the memories as I get ready to clean up this device.

All is Tan, Tan Ku Ku for our decision please.

"Aiyoh", there has been lots of "Tans" funny characters and nouns around but this one must be among the best to date.

We haven't gone to the polling station yet and this is some pre-decision fun before deciding courtesy of Mr. Brown. Who else?

Must make the Tans, Tan Ku Ku for our decision right?

Before voting, here was President Abraham Lincoln

It is raining heavily outside. No morning walk today and no early trip to the polling stations to cast our votes for the next President. I had spent the last couple of hours researching air fares for our trip to San Francisco, the kids most popular destination, that I didn't check facebook as per my habit.

John Piper had something to share as I flip to my facebook wall. How appropriate a message on Abraham Lincoln when we choose a President today.

Perhaps a picture perfect first family although desirable, the lack thereof may conceal a special President. So just stick with the man and accept the family that goes with it. None of the prospective First Wives as far as we can tell is remotely like Mary Todd anyway.

No President moves me like Lincoln. Look at his long face. So much for the joy of the Lord is my strength. Of course that's true that joy was present which fill the letters he had written to the common people. Shallow types among us have no blinking idea faking it and confusing new seekers of the Faith. In joy, Lincoln and Mother Teresa were connected. As their roles were different, the display were also not the same.

America was a nation far more divided that we are? Now who among the four is the most unifying?

• 

  John Piper

  Abraham Lincoln's marriage was a mess, and accepting the pain brought deep strength in the long run. http://dsr.gd/oF2W26

  

  "The Slow Fires of Misery"

  dsr.gd

  Abraham Lincoln’s marriage was a mess, but accepting the pain brought deep strength in the long run.

  

  31 minutes ago via HootSuite · 418 ·  ·  · Share

Hoarding Pocky

July 17 we had an excess of thirty boxes. I restocked it today with 12 more boxes bringing the total to 33. If my memory serves me well, in between I had added ten boxes but were not recorded.

Good, we aren't eating too quickly and too much.