Sunday, May 1, 2011
Has the PAP succeeded? or over-succeeded? - part 1
It has taken the People's Action Party (PAP) over five decades to build up Singapore to where it is today...
Mistakes were made along the way, but like all humans who make them, they have ensured that every last drop of energy is directed towards learning from past mistakes to prevent repeats, to rectify them...
Do remember that under their guidance (and with the support of the non-aligned civil services, and more importantly the citizens who had the faith and belief), the nation has progressed further than all others in the region. Furthermore, in a short span of a few decades, we have achieved a lot of positive international recognition...
video: [part ONE]
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3 comments:
At last someone who see things in perspectives.
Agree with what you are trying to say but will your generation buy in. That is the issue for Singapore going forward.
To those who agree with you, its a great speech albeit a little vulgar at times.
However to those who disagree, will there be a backlash for PAP?
Anyway, hope there are more from your generation who can see as you do after seeing this video.
It may or may not make much of a difference but alas you did what you can and you tried.
Looking forward to Part 3.
Someone asked me to hear you out here, so here I am. Although you claimed you do not side any party, it is obvious that you are a PAP guy.
Well spoken and cool (no emotion). You are right that all of us are entitled to our own thoughts. What you have gone through - your upbringing, wealth, education, opportunities to study overseas, etc, have made you who you are and framed your thoughts. Don't forget that many other Singaporeans, perhaps 70% of them do not have the same experience or opportunities as yours, their experiences in Singapore are quite different.
Family Analogy:
Your analogy of family is inappropriate here. Don't understand why you even used it.
a. Parental "unconditional love"?
How is this compared to PAP? Maybe you were trying to say that LKY loved Singaporeans like our parents do in the early days? Even if so, it's still not appropriate to compare him to our parents. Yes, he fought for Singapore together with early Singaporeans, our forefathers, not just by himself. The most I could compare him with is our uncles or granduncles.
b. Raising children?
Parents raised children using their own money, not their children's money. They are not paid for raising their children; while PAP used tax-payers' money and also paid themselves big salaries.
c. Giving to children?
Children only receive, they don't contribute to their parents; while in PAP's case, the citizens (our forefathers) have contributed to the making of Singapore to what it is today, yet no credit has ever been accorded to them. Have PAP ever mentioned about our forefathers in all their speeches? Have we, the descendents of our forefathers be given any special privileges, or rather have we become the 'slaves' (no freedom of speech, and have to pay full allegiance) to our 'siblings/cousins' (analogy) while they (newer PAP members) received the 'inheritance' (legacy of LKY and fruits of labour of our forefathers) without sharing them with Singaporeans, the descendents? Instead, these fruits were given to massive foreigners who played little part in our nation building, if any. Isn't this like forsaking one's children and committing 'adultery' (another analogy, if I might use)?
d. Ungratefulness?
Parents don't change and they will not be replaced by our siblings or cousins. We are still grateful to our parents. That's why many Singaporeans still give credit to LKY's part in nation building in Singapore history.
e. Sibling rivalry
Are you the only child in your family? If not, you should know about sibling rivalry. Siblings compete and compare at home. Why should they have to be grateful to their sibling? At most, they love their siblings for sharing, for companionship, for listening to their woes. In the case of PAP, the 'siblings' are not sharing their 'inheritance'. They felt that that's their entitlement.
To be continued…
A Singaporean
Continuation….
The small boat analogy:
You said that we are a "small boat", yet this small boat is using the highest paid boatmen in the world. What's the rationale? PAP should compare themselves with world class country ministers' pay, not with pte companies' CEOs' pay. CEOs get fired immediately when they make mistakes.
Rocking the boat?
If nothing changes, nothing changes. Well, if the new PAP members are happy with their 1965 salaries, then Singaporeans will have nothing to complain about. Are Singaporeans happy with remaining in an old small boat with no upgrading? No. They want to see upgrading of leadership, bringing in Singaporeans from all walks of life with various skills (not just the highly educated elites) so that they could together come up with better ideas to develop this small boat into a 'spaceship'.
Singapore is attractive to foreigners?
Yes, Singapore is attractive to foreigners from undeveloped or developing countries. Are we attractive to fully developed countries? Not so. Why do we only attract foreigners from China, India, Philippians, Thailand, and Vietnam? Why aren't people from Australia, UK, Canada, US, got attracted to become Singapore citizens? The recent rejection by Australia on Singapore's proposal for "Singapore stock exchange's $8.3 billion takeover bid for the Australian stock market" speaks volume (http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/04/08/business-financials-as-singapore-australia-stock-markets_8397733.html ).
Conclusion:
You have never mentioned the hardship that our forefathers, the early days Singaporeans, faced together with LKY. And when Singapore became a developed nation, only LKY's own descendents and the younger PAP members reaped the rewards, while the mass of Singaporeans are left to fence for themselves. You have not mentioned the main concerns of Singaporeans today on rising cost of housing, healthcare, and lack of employment or low salaries which are not sufficient to raise families. You did not mention how Singaporeans today are being replaced with increasing influx of foreigners which bring along with them social problems and also take away jobs from less educated Singaporeans.
Does it matter whether we are having the best healthcare or the best economy in the world, when only the rich, the PAP members, and the highly educated ones can receive the benefits, while unreachable to the mass 70-80% of citizens?
Hope you rethink your thoughts.
- A Singaporean
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