Lim SS: You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.

Very simple answer by a multi-millionaire minister. But i still like his hairstyle…looks trendy, though he’s talking simple things.

On country:
The comparison between LKY and DXP blows me away. Is LKY going to sue him for insinuating that he is communist?

On life:
Now we know his philosophy in life is to ‘hear only the good stuff’. One wonders how he managed to pass the screening process of the party that prides itself on ‘people’s action’.

On policies / marriage of labour movement & govt:
Whether pap looks at a policy 5yrs, 10yrs, 20yrs down the road does not matter. The motive is still the same, which is, ‘to build a goldmine like no other’.

“You ask me I ask who? Find your own answers”.
Nitizens and citizens of Singapore – have you found the answer yet?

PAP people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you DARE!.

You’d think after paying a million dollars, and being in a direct dialogue session with him, you’ll get more answers?

Hmmm maybe answers but definitely not better answers, or answer you have hoped for.

It’s a very prominent tactic that LKY uses – give vague one-liner answers to questions he doesn’t like or bring in a whole barrage of ‘look at the bigger picture’ answer. If it fails, bring in the ‘look what has been achieved’ answer and what history had done to Singapore.

If that fails, then defamation and ISA may deter you from finding out more.

That’s why i no longer bother to watch Parliamentary debates, if it was a debate to ever begin with. Look at Obama and McCain’s debate. Look at John Howard and Kevin Rudd’s debate. See how they answer. Fist for fist, no holds barred, debate and putting forth your policies and whatever political category, eg environment, budget, steering the nation into the next 5 years. Allow the whole nation to see who you are and vote you in.

Let the people decide. Not ‘I tell you, you swallow’. If not, you better don’t interview me coz I don’t have time for the likes of your questionings.

I believe someone here in TOC did mention about wasting his time to going to see his MP and being invited for dialogue sessions. So structured and predictable.

Then when opposition party raise questions about oil hikes, a particular minister shot back with: What can the opposition do to bring the oil price down?

Win liao lor. As if he already got answer to bring price down…

Chuckling,
Kaffein

I find it hard to admire a “labour” leader whose only solution is: Working Longer Hours for Less Pay!!!

Lim SS was more sincere and caring when he just joined the cabinet few years ago. But now he has been brianwashed by PAP culture: always speak through nose.

jim (#1):
tomorrow, we go that ah neh barber for $9 haircut, $1 cheaper than the other saloon.. haha..

gemami (#2):
“You ask me I ask who? Find your own answers”.
that is one of the way the politicians avoid questions they do not want to answer. other pap politicians have similar ways of response. i suspect these politicians have been advised on various ways to avoid questions.

ronin( #3):
would your provide reference for the above comment. it would strengthen your stand..

sadman (#4):
would you elaborate more? probably with some background info on Lim SS?

Sadman, it’s not brainwashed – it’s the taste of power!

LKY was sincere in wanting to help the poor. He wanted Singapore to be successful and the people were uppermost in his mind in the early days. Once power was tasted and later enshrined things changed, focus changed, priorities change. People’s action became ‘action people’ and it works as a double-edge sword.

Action people – the elite – full of action, no quality.
Action people – the poor – people called into action to work for the elite till you die,
the samsui women were the first guinea pigs.

gemami (#6):
problems arise when the parliament is occupied by a main party for too long.

Indeed, blade.

Remember what LKY said about Burma some years ago?
“No government should be in power for more than 20 years” and he went on to give reasons like such a govenment would begin to entertain thoughts of clinging on to power and to make laws that would keep them entrenched etc. He went further to say that such a government would lose the mandate to govern because of these restrictive laws.

“Life is a total package – you cannot have the best of both worlds.”

What a lie ! It depends on who it applies to. Our elite gahmen can have million dollars salary and perk pegged to the private world (isn’t they peg compar to top ten earners ?) but yet have none of the risk, accountability and responsbility of the private earners ! No investigation for wrong-doing, only cover-up and move-on, and so much better than private !. Serious offence like Mas Selamat endup in guard dismissal, totally nothing to do with top management, trying doing that in private sector !
So u see, these gahmen have the best of both worlds .

How about Temasek Holding ? The best of both world. Use tax-money yet government says they have no control over decision and investment of Temasek Holding, and yet profit goes into WHOSE pocket ? State owned and government business companies,aka Singapore INc yet behaving like private entity in term of profit. When things goes wrong, just says it is government company , security confidential information that when reveal breach country security, and when earn surplus profit says that they deserves .
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. Trying beating that.

So who says you can’t have best of both world ? It depends on who you are.

WOW..cool…

let see tat party can maintain how long..
i love this part,
No government should be in power for more than 20 years..
a govenment would begin to entertain thoughts of clinging on to power and to make laws that would keep them entrenched ..
such a government would lose the mandate to govern because of these restrictive laws….

i could see tat this minister will fail his oral..
asking Q does not answer de…

genius pp,,i really can see…
pap V workhard lo….NOW I REALLY REALLY CAN SEE..
WORKHARD IN,,SALARY INCREASE…

hai…poor singaporeans..

who will rule singapore in future..??
WP pap SDP still got one,but i forgot..
hahas…

i want to open a party..call what name..
hmmmm….

*SP* stand for singaporeans party.. or singapore citizen party,,SCP
hahas…joke only…but do this name better than rulling GOV??
i wonder…:)

“You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.”
What a new answer. Better than Mee Siam Mai Hum.

Can be applied in so many situation.

Where’s Mas Selamat ?
“You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.”

What happen to our reserve and CPF, and lost investment ?
“You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.”

Are you a S-hole ?
“You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.”

Are you really LSS ?
“You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.”

Wow I know how to answer.

hahas,,,
cool…

I can imagine what my interview with LSS will be liked.

How is the situation of Singapore be like in 2011 ?
L: “You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.”

Do you think you deserve million dollar salary ?
L: This I can definitely give you my answer. You just have to trust the government.

ME: How’s the Fart you deserve such obscene salary ?

L: Huh ? What did you say ?

ME: “You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.”

All these years, the govt has been telling us the country’s most valuable asset are its people. But what does it do to this ‘most valuable asset”? Answer: tax it to death, make it pay for its own healthcare and retirement needs, ask its ethnic components to turn to their own community for support, supress wages with FT imports, muzzle its voice, force tompang non-elected MPs on it m ,make every public service self-funding ….

Rachel, please ask him the same question at the next ge.

Let’s try out the approach.

PAP rally, 1st class stage, 1st class lighting, 1st class sound system, group of elite speakers, LSS included.

Midway through his speach, Rachel stands up!

Loudhailer in her hands, she shouts! “Swee Suay! Swee Suay! Swee Suay!”.
The crowd follows: “Swee Suay! Swee Suay!”

He waves his hands like a royalty, smiles and takes a bow.

Rachel continues: “Remember me or not, Swee Suay?”.

Swee Suay is taken aback! The crowd goes into complete silence. Before the police could react, Rachel continues . . .

I ask you what your govt stand is on bloggers, how did you answer me?

Swee Suay couldn’t remember, still dumbfounded, Rachel continues . . .

You said: “You ask me I ask who? Find your own answers!”.

Rachel turns and run away. Rachel supporters block off chasing running dogs. Supporters escort her to safety.

PAP loses election.

Rachel becomes national hero of Singapore.

Congratulations Rachel,

You have written an excellent debut article. Keep up the good work!

You said you are neither pro- nor anti-PAP. That’s good. You can be more objective that way.

Just a few points:

(1) I think he is justified to draw a parallel between Deng and MM because their political philosophies determine the ideological and social foundations of their respective countries using strong-arm tactics.

(2) His philosophy of life is a version of perspectivism, so we can safely say that he does not believe in absolutes.

(3) His positive appraisal of Govt policies is somewhat inaccurate but understandable given his position.

(4) His continued belief in the tripartite relationship between the Govt, the unions and businesses betrays his lack of realisation that such an arrangement undermines the very reason for the existence of unions.

(5) The method he chose to evade your questions leaves much to be desired.

So, to answer the question in the title of your article: How much does the Govt care? I can surmise that the Govt does care about our country in their own way, but care rather less about what alternative voices have to say about it.

“China has Deng Xiao Ping, Singapore has Lee Kuan Yew and that’s why we have been growing as a nation.”

On this point, he is quite forthright on his thought and this really came out from the horse’s mouth. Some freudian slip ? Well, a lot of people are thinking the same also.

As to how the ‘growing’ part is being spread around, I think they know the mathematics better.

Since they so lovingly embrace the need for foreigners here, they should also talk more to foreigners on how they feel about Singapore, à la undercover. Orelse, they will tell them what they want to hear with that kind of difficult-to-hide fake smile.

“You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.”

Is this some new riddle. Do not tell me that they are now indulging into this kind of hocus-pocus stuff.

“Wage inflation is different from wage increment. Wage inflation means you are pushing up wages to fully offset the inflation.”

So let us not be so heartless and let us not make it too difficult for them. Let us not ask for WAGE INFLATION, let us change it and make it more easier for them to accept, let us ask for WAGE INCREMENT instead.

“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

Are they trying to tell us that they have changed their criteria for admitting civil servants either at junior or senior level.

People who really care will work hard for less or no pay at all, just like volunteers. Maybe he is hinting to us that their compensation package is relatively on par at the level of those volunteers.

singapore has no triptatite to begin with. A workers union that basically does what the govt want. how can a worker union be run a member from the ruling party.
worker union should be and shall be independant from all political party activities.

if we cant have a good year today, why worry about 5-10yrs later? 10yrs later the ruling regime might not be here afterall to be accountable for.

to me they are running singapore like a pte ltd. minister are like managers, they hve no shareholders to be accountable for, just accountable to their own salary package,inventives, please their boss and members of it own party.

Tripartite? More like Bi-partite.

1. The gahmen represent the people who are also the workers because it’s democratically elected. LSS is part of this gahmen.

2. The so-called union represents the workers who are also the people who voted in this gahmen. LSS is part of the union.

So when the gahmen is in the union and the union is ‘over-see’ by gahmen ministers, you want me to consider that 2 separate entities? That’s the greatest joke I’ve ever heard. Here’s an analogy:

When I quarrel with Mr and Mrs Lim SS, it’s always to me a 2-way quarrel because I take the Lim family as ONE, and not deal with its separate parts.

But I guess to them that’s a Tripartite argument. Riiiiiiight!

On top of that… the NTUC owns a building down at Shenton Way next to ORQ (One Raffles Quay). The NTUC also runs a cooperative supermart. The NTUC is a landlord, an employer AND the collective of trade unions. Somewhere, somehow, I am under the impression that some of those functions constitutes a conflict of interest.

teat

Sorry, I had to post under ttt@ttt.com
as when I submit my post as isa@isa.com,
it was noted as UNDER MODERATION.

Don’t know why..
Maybe my perspective is not what they liked.
So it’s like mass media here… they also liked to censore comments that are not to their views.

Do remember this is the writer’s opinion of how she perceives the answers from the Minister. It is quite a bias view to discount whatever is being said or to put words into the horse mouth.

On Country
When he mentioned the 2 nation leaders. He might be saying if I may construed from his mentality. – “China is fast becoming an economic powerhouse today because Deng Xiao Peng started the road to capitalism which was further promoted by Jiang Zhe Ming. The same thing happened in Singapore with Lee Kuan Yew paving the path for SINGAPORE to transform from 3rd world to Developed nation”.

His intention might not have any references or meaning of the method of governance or ironhand control. But Rachael perceived it that way. Putting words into the horse mouth.

The connection between the Labour movement and the government
“The companies and businesses have to trust the government. There can be no trust without consistency. Imagine if the government says one thing today and another the next? How can investors trust in such a government?There has to be a Tripartite relationship between the government, the union and the businesses.”

Again, the question was rather specific on connection between LABOUR MOVEMENT and GOVT.
So, it was appropriate for him to mention the tripartite. For Rachael query on what about the people, it would be more appropriate if the question was about GOVT and responsibility towards its citizen.

Big deal lah. Keep on changing your name and email lah. No one is going to hang you in cyberspace. Unlike in the real world where they will ’shooooot’ you for false identity or impersonation. Make such a big fuss here.

You are so suspicious lah. Maybe it takes one to know one.

Posts go missing. Normal lah. You think you only one experiencing it. Keep on writing lah.

Policies
“The Government, in drafting policies, have to consider if it will have good or bad results in the future. Will it be sustainable? Any government can do right today. How about 5 – 10 years down the road? We have to look at the long term perspective.”

He is correct in saying that. But Racheal took the effort again to discredit him by pointing out policies that failed. Have racheal considered all the policies that have succeeded? Have rachael considered that would singapore reached a developed nation status without having more RIGHT policies than WRONG policies.

NOte.. apologies to editor.. I believed your moderation is set because my comments are too lengthy.

“China has Deng Xiao Ping, Singapore has Lee Kuan Yew and that’s why we have been growing as a nation, NTUC has Lim Suay Suay.”

Nicely written Rachel

isa, your views, or how you would like us to believe is the actual view of LSS – is exactly what the msm usually does for the pap. When caught out, it’s machinery would jump in to their defence and to explain it in confusing jargons and strange languages.

as a minister, by choosing to answer half the question he cannot but allowi his answer for oen interpretations. the normal thing for one in his position is to give the answer as a whole complete with full explanation to what he means.

“China has Deng Xiao Ping, Singapore has Lee Kuan Yew and that’s why we have been growing as a nation”.

how else could one explain such a statement?

on policies: his tripartite arrangement is totally wrong. how can it be right when it does not include the people? how would you make plans for 5yrs, 10yrs when the people are left out.

‘adolf hitler’ made a good point: this place is no longer being run like a home for its citizens. it is more like business, where wheelings and dealings are the order of the day. . . without due consideration for its people.

Dear isa,

You are not under moderation. However, if you have url links in your comments, the comment may automatically be put under the moderation queue. This is to prevent spam.

Length of comments is also not moderated. There have been very lengthy comments posted on TOC.

Regards,
Andrew Loh

Minister Lim Swee Say and I read John Maxwell leadership books. Amazing.

Quote That Impacted Minister Lim Swee Say Life:

“People don’t care how much you know–until they know how much you care.”
–John C. Maxwell

More of John Maxwell quotations.

“A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position”
- John Maxwell

“Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
- – John Maxwell

“Leadership is influence.”
– John Maxwell

“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten” — John Maxwell

“He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk”
– John Maxwell

Not happy about this garmen?? vote them out loh. wish more drop dead loh. more get cancer loh. so simple. talk so much for fark.

Oh, our garhman do “care”. They care for their salaries!

Wow, I din know Ah Lim joined labur movement last time wor. Sound so bombastic wor. labur movement wor. What is that?

Thanks Rachel, Singapore needs you!
Rare voice for some people like me :)
kudos and keep on writing!
We support you!

GOD… I hope this forum don’t just attract anti-PAPs who can see the light at the end of the tunnel even if it’s infront of them.

Blade, No point go back to the past. You just observe Lim SS’s speeches and actions yourself.
Another minister to watch is Health Minister Koh BW, his buddahood nature is diminishing and his greed is growing.

Gemami : well said! Thanks.

maybe it serves to identify them and then …

“GOD… I hope this forum don’t just attract anti-PAPs who can see the light at the end of the tunnel even if it’s infront of them.”

The same can be said
“GOD … I hope this forum don’t just attract PAP-moles who are paid to turn black into white, and white into black”

what to say…
have a bit of good new..
PAP took V V V fast action.
by slow down oil $ A A BIT BIT..

hai…but still UNFAIR PRICE…

singpore need all singaporeans to vote,and choose a more good good gov..for the GOOD future in sing.

I AM BACK!!!

The answer: I DOUBT VERY MUCH!

Many charities are helping poor students, NOT the government. HDB did nothing for Single Unwedded mothers (either by choice or circumstances) And i can quote from my own personal experience that a child who we physically and emotionally took under our wings was in fact considered under the legal custody of a parent who attempted to strangle him.

I quote: The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 – SI No 2006/1031 – came into force on 1 October 2006 to protect employees from being dismissed unfairly by reason of their age. The Age Regulations make it unlawful to discriminate against employees, job seekers and trainees because of their age – both old and young. The protection covers direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimization. Employers and employees alike must familiarise themselves with these far reaching changes.

I can name at least a few companies that have flouted this very law. But is anything being done for employers who discriminate?

It’s one thing to say that you need someone who speaks Mandarin and wuite another to say I don’t want to employ a non-Chinese.

An experience with an prospective employer when she was 31. 4 pages filled although she sent in my resume, the interviewer asked questions that were already provided in the resume. okie…that’s fine.

The interviewer was on page 3 when she asked for her age, and she flipped the form back to page 1 where my friend’s age was. Oh so sorry we don’t hire anyone above 29. WTF

If you think that you’re gonna be promoted or you’ll get a better job because you took up some customer service cert from WDA, think again.

Beat the ‘bad times’ by:
1. being prepared for recession (it has started in the USA already)
2. not depending on government!

My autoblog sent some info to my blog while I was away. Read it if you want to know the real reason for “poverty”.

Defending our rights? How to unless we come as a group to protest in ways we know we’ll be heard and that actions will be taken?

P.S. And new labour laws didn’t kick in to protect managers of shops and art galleries (hurt while working) till April 2008. There was NO PROTECTION FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME. They told me only maids and construction workers are covered.

Pissed? Yeah….time to get even and the only way to do so if you don’t want to be involved too politically is to GET RICH!

Getting off the microphone now. Thanks for listening to my rants!

Lim Swee Say appearing more sincere than Wong Kan Seng and Mah Bow Tan cannot be a flattering comparison. Both are at the bottom of the barrel.
Can a person who wears 2 or 3 hats actually represent ordinary workers’ interest ? How do one reconcile such serious conflict of interests ?
Only a hypocrite of such magnitude can undertake such a task. The tripartite arrangement is just a govt con job ! and so are many arrangements that involves this govt.
The PAP will go down in history as the most successful political party that pulled off the most number of con jobs. The evidence is in the people, more than 66 % falling for it, line, hook and sinker.

to the congregation of the PAP religion who worships and defends the righteousness of the PAP priests and their teachings i have this to say:

you may think the world of pap and its ways.
you may think the pap high priests are honest and holy.
you may even think the pap clergy is infallable!

alas, these are just thoughts and perceptions.

we will only KNOW when its power is weakened.
we will only KNOW when the pap gets audited.
we will only KNOW when we are able to scrutinise them from the inside.

surely, we will be able to find the same faults it has accused its opponents of.

like LSS said: ” things can be viewed as “good” or “bad” depending on “the angle you look at things”.

I think Lim Swee Say cares..

In fact, I bet right now he is getting his scholar assistants to draft proposals to the cabinet on how much percentage point of CPF cuts we should make to ride through this coming recession amidst a golden era promised by LKY.

“You cannot have the best of both worlds” – this is a LIE. In Singapore you can, depending on who you are, and Lim Swee Say and the other “elites” do have the best of every world. Consider this – top pay without responsibility and accountability, undemanding job scope (just look at the no. of cabinet ministers, MPs, mayors, senior civil servants, stat boards, etc needed to govern this tiny red dot of cowed and compliant citizens), indestructible rice bowl, first class medical benefits for life, and to top it all, on reaching 55 years receive a humongous monthly pension for life. If this is not the best of every world, I don’t know what is!

“There has to be a Tripartite relationship between the government, the union and the businesses.” – this is another LIE. It is nothing more than a self-serving tool to control and take power away from the workers.

“The worse thing that any country does at a time of high inflation would be for the unions and workers to push for wage inflation.” I would like to ask Mr Lim these questions: Why did the Ministers and senior civil servants increase their already huge salaries by another huge amount just before this time of high inflation? And now that Singapore is in recession and salary cuts and job losses are imminent, will the Ministers and senior civil servants lead by example and cut their own pay by a meaningful amount?

“You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.” – This is surely world-class and uniquely Singapore!!! On par with “What to do? It’s happened”. And to think that we’ve been and are still paying him/them MILLIONS of $ every year! What a HUGE amount of money down the drain! Money that could have been put to better use helping the retrenched workers and the 70+ year olds who still have to slog 10-hour days so that they have food.

So does Mr Lim and the government care? I don’t think anyone need to think very hard to know the answer.

You ask me
I ask who
Best you ask
Lee Kuan Yew

you ask me?
I ask who?
I handed over to you-know-who,
you-know-who handed over to my Loo . .(ng).

[...] Discourse – groundnotes: The Confused Family? – A Poor Scholar: It’s all about Populism – TOC: “How much does the Government care?” – Where Bears Roam Free: Same offence, different gender, different treatment – The Legal Janitor: [...]

I must say the gahmen do ’show’ care, they have regular meet the resident sessions. But doe that show their care when recession comes? We have entered technical recession and inflation had kicked in. Yet more statutory board or GLC are raising charges to add salt to inflation and recession.

Come oil price fell, yet pump price does not fall fast enough, not to mention electricity tariff. Electricity and land-line phone charges were raised due to oil price, now crude oil price fell, will the price hike gets denied by the gahmen?

If the gahmen wants to show care, bring down the electricity charges, public transport fare and other public service charges.

Not every citizen is a share holder of these GLCs listed on SGX. We don’t get as much dividend and bonuses as those share holders. So don’t just show your care to the “share holders”, show more to us who are the end of line consumers.

All these years, the govt has been telling us the country’s most valuable asset are its people. – TuLan (#15)

As demonstrated by the recent rejection of Jurong GRC By-election, the country´s most valuable assets are indeed its people, with ¨it¨ referring to PAP. A poll was carried out to see if the Jurong residents wanted a by-election and the answer is yes, but PAP rejected By-election, so that 4 ministers will remain in power.

(4) His continued belief in the tripartite relationship between the Govt, the unions and businesses betrays his lack of realisation that such an arrangement undermines the very reason for the existence of unions. – smallvoice585

Finally, I see there are points that we agree with each other.

Power Corrupts! Absolute power absolutely corrupts!

Previously, i was naive to believe that PAP govt were incorruptible and had ppl best interests at heart. But, after observing their actions and listening to their speeches from asian financial crisis onwards, it seems that they are more interested in protecting their interests and acting hypocritically. These days, i hear of ministers using analogy of F1 and golf makes me wonder whether they have lost touch with the average singaporean.

is it golf and f1 nowadays?

used to be groundnuts and marbles.
after that, football and tennis.
wah! now golf and f1 . . . shit . . . where have i been to all these while?

“All these years, the govt has been telling us the country’s most valuable asset are its people.”

That is true just like a farmer consider its chicken its most valuable asset. He will sell the chicken as profit as business.
Taking it to the real world, how can people not be its country’s asset when the gov can milk and squeeze the citizen’s lifeblood (money) as they please and as they like. Is citizen as digit suppose to generate profit for the elite’s greater good ?

ASSET GENERATES VALUES, that’s why it is called ASSET otherwise it is called liability. Now is our MP, ministers and gov a liability or does they deserve their salary.

What ? Meet the Fart session ? Why Meet the Fart session ? If these MPs and ministers can connect to the real world and raise questions boldly in parliament, and implement good policy for citizen nationwide instead of caring for their own bottleneck, face and $$$$$$$$$, and not afraid of entering into some old fart’s black book, why do they even need to have MeetTheFart Session on citizen’s case-to-case basis in the first place ? What a wayang.

“Previously, i was naive to believe that PAP govt were incorruptible and had ppl best interests at heart.”

I’m curious. What make you believe in the party so much previously ? ShittyTimes ? Carrots ? Potatoes ? Until you start to get burn in Lehman ? Or for your own good ?

“If the gahmen wants to show care, bring down the electricity charges, public transport fare and other public service charges.”

How can ? Last time they says GST is increased to help the poor, ERP is increased in fees and number to help business, Gahmen’s salary increase to make country prosper and prevent corruption, now they have to continue the tradition to hike price to help the public, if not how can they validate their previous decisions.

This time ought to be increasing Electricity Charge, transport fare and other public service charges to help the poor.

wahahaha…

hlp poor…don lame lah…

hlp poor does not benefit them…

if really really need to hlp…
when the election come..tat time then hlp,,,got benefit ma…now hlp the poor,,,STUPID ar…
hahas…

real sad…
believe them is equal as lie yrself…

think about it..singaporeans.

54)
Daniel, give charlie a chance lah. he did admit he was naive.

there has to be an event that strikes at the heart (or pockets for this case) before one sees the real picture.

we are already a nation of zombies following the hypnotic command of the pap. we need a hard knock before we realise we have been hypnotised.

very sad but any new converts are welcomed.
we are gaining ground – bit by bit.

“when the election come..”
Same thing will happen with ministers citing
“Vote PAP to help the poor”

all along we know the poor refer to POOR MINISTERS.

What is one person’s loss is another person’s gain.

We are know now the Town Council has so much sinking fund, HDB upgrade plot cannot be used over again and again. Come next GE I really wonder what topics will be used to lure the common HDB dwellers to believe in them that they “CARE” about common Singaporeans.

All the shareholders of the 2 public transport company and related workshop companies and listed stat boards must be laughing all the way to the bank since most of them are high yield counters. The dividends pay-out is usually more than 5% compare to other private listed companies yield. Who are the main shareholders? You know who and I know who……..

Thank you everyone for your comments and insights. I am glad that you had a lively discourse and discussion on the basis of my article.

Thanks to smallvoice585 , Yi Long and “kenna rapped over and over by Pray and Paid” for your kind words. I will continue to work hard in my writing efforts.

Gemami and Vicker made me chuckle quite a bit with their humour.

isa: thanks for continuing to write, even when you thought you were being moderated for the alternative view. As I had mentioned, I am not pro or anti PAP – and had no reason or prejudice to deliberately discredit Mr Lim.

I have presented his words as they are. The debate and dialogue that followed is only to be expected – after all it is a dialogue session after all.

“Have rachael [Actually, my name is spelt as Rachel :) ]considered that would singapore reached a developed nation status without having more RIGHT policies than WRONG policies.”

Yes, believe me I have. However I have come to the conclusion that it is the right policy for the nation run as a profit centric corporation, but the wrong policies for its people.

Do Lim Swee Say and his PAP colleagues care for the country ?
I surmise they do but after caring for themselves first !
It is no different from what many of us do in real life, caring for self and family first before we care for the poor and needy. So does that mean such a mindset is good for the country when we are talking about political leaders who have absolute power ?
I am not optimistic the likes of Lim Swee Say, Wong KS, Mah Bow Tan and the rest of his colleagues will ever understand that truly caring for the country means putting the country before party politics. Anything else is shere hypocrisy !

I agree with you Donaldson about finally seeing something agreeable , But I won’t hold my breath. The real change can only come from the apex,
however not even a sniff when you have a “post turtle” at the helm.
Rachel and those who read her blog will know what I am talking about. LOL

“How much does the Government care?”
You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.

“How much did our GIC and Temasek Holdings lost in their most recent investments?”
You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.

“Why was Ho Ching the best man for the job running Temasek Holdings?”
You ask me, I ask who? Find your own answers.

Couldn’t resist it. Another classic for our records…

Of course Mr. Lim SS cares……it’s just that he cares much more about his multi-million-dollar salary than the people he is supposed to serve.

Do you know why our govt makes various social benefits schemes so complex and difficult to claim? So that the poor can go begging to PAP MPs…..and the MPs can gain political points by dishing out benefits, funded by taxpayers!!! Brilliant, right?

You know something? I learned it’s better for people not to be “freeloaders”. (I am a restrained freebie queen myself!)

Do we really need covered shelter from block to block (HDB)? All that isn’t free!! Now, who’s payin the price? Sometimes we have to see the big picture. An umbrella is not expensive to most.

Ronin mentioned about complex social benefits. The government need to go back to one of the principles of…surpise surprise…..MARKETING!

KISS
Keep
It
Simple
Silly

If the government starts giving a mundate that ‘forces’ employers to upgrade employees’ salaries, that may be the day I say YES GOVERNMENT GENUINELY CARES. For now, I just DON’T see it. (May be employers should start giving commissions atop of salaries. It is chaotic when everything from utility transport costs…fees…goes up but not our salaries. Otherwise this is a good reason to be your own boss.)

thanks rachel for the article….. be good though if we can know the context of the comments that was being articulated….

The Govt cares about how much money they can squeeze out of the common people in the name of helping the poor.

The Govt cares about how much CPF they can keep for themselves so that they have an ample and constant source of cheap funds.

The Govt cares so much about housing the people by ensuring the prices of public housing takes at least 20 years or more to pay for it so that it leaves you with nothing for retirement.

The Govt cares so much about ensuring the people have jobs that they make the males do national service and also have to compete for job opportunities with PRs and foreign workers.

The Govt cares about making sure they have a budget surplus every year so that they can have fun with it thinking they will make money on their investments.

The Govt cares about paying themselves as high a salary as shamelessly possible because they know the people they govern can’t do a thing about it.

The Govt cares about the elderly so much that they hope they will work themselves to death without flinching an eye about it.

Let us all be so grateful on how fortunate we are to have such a caring world class Govt.

The whole thing about reserve seems like a scam to me. Why gov talk about saving for future reserves when the investment of reserves end up depleting so much within 5 years due to poor investment ? What takes decades to save up for reserves endup losing so much value within such short years ? Damn it…. Which country lost so much like Singapore and yet gahmen so happy as though nothing has happened and even more so with forthcoming salary increment ? Reward for incompetence and status quo.

The Government is always trying to care – this is evidenced. However they need help – to be really in touch with its citizens. Past episodes and the Mas Selamat incident have confirmed that this Government is continuing to learn and the steeper the curve the better – learning to care for its citizens is just as important.
Look @ the turnaround over the minibonds statements when other countries extended more
Look at the way the Government try to protect the status quo at all cost – no by elections, and the last Elected President election – ask a third independent party watching the proceedings. Perception that the Government care needs improvement too.
Forgiveness is divine – but where is the heart needed to really care without forgiveness ; need there be so many legal suits? So much so that even ex-NKF CEO picked up the cue.
The Government must be helped to feel confident too otherwise it will be one pre-emptions after another.
Today’s paper has a statement by one younger minister that he entered politics vis a vis 9/11. Well said.
But Is not salary jump and increment also a big motivator in all honesty ?
Leaders must be exemplary – how about donating to charity ?
How about taking a paycut in this time of economic crisis to empathise ? Sharing is not seen enough – real sharing can close the divide.
There is always the credibilty gap – words are cheap ; action is needed to really care and the Government can really do more at such difficult times. Thank you.

I wonder how much months of bonus the ministers are taking home this year?

I mean, the economy is not good, the people are suffering and the ministers congratulate themselves for a good job done (with the Mas Selemat, the Serangoon Gardens, the MAS’s initial refusal to deal with the Lehmann Brothers case until 1000 people turn up to protest, the electricity hike despite rapidly falling oil prices).

This is a government that only cares for itself, not for the people.

So is this gonna be the new goverment slogan towards problem solving in the country: “You ask me, I ask who!” Then if the government feels it has no answer then surely the time has come for real change in Singapore. Change is happening everywhere in the world. In Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia, Japan etc. The biggest change will come in America when Barack Obama is elected President and that will signal to the world that the time has come for a change in the whole world.

I look forward to a total change in the world. For so long has the PAP government ruled thru fear and by telling the people that they and only they can run the country. Stand up people of Singapore and prove to the government that one does not need to be a pap member to run the country.

Serangoon dorm issue . . . too much reasoning.
- based on the report by Lee Siew Hua, Senior Political Correspondent, Insight, Straits Times on October 17, 2008.

Lee described MP Lim Hwee Hua as “an island of calm authority in the swirl surrounding salubrious Serangoon Gardens,
which will house foreign workers in the coming year”.

It started with “a recent leak of the news (that) alarmed some residents, who equated foreign labour with construction males
who would disrupt the serene life there”. She went on to opine that there are two spectrums of opinions among the residents.
She said: “On one end are people who feel foreign workers build the economy and therefore should be accorded respect and
hospitality. In other words, we should try and have them intergrated into our way of life. At the other end are those wo do not
want too many foreigners . . . We like Singapore as it is, which is really our own familiar people”

She then offered a variation of this thinking: “Singapore should review the kind of growth we want, since growth aspirations have
consequences such as the arrival of foreigners.

Poser 1:
Why is there a sudden need to respect and provide hospitality to the foreign worker? What about those who have worked here
and ‘contributed to the economy’? What happened to the samsui women? What happened to the Thai workers who were
repartriated during the construction slump during the eighties. Up to 50,000 of them were rounded up and sent home.

Poser 2:
What use is it for Singaporeans to “review the kind of growth we want” when we do not have a share of this growth? Look at our
pay increases relative to the rate of inflation. Does the new focus on growth excludes Singaporeans now that the focus is on
building infrastructures that attract businesses and the tourist dollar?

Let’s see her reply to the above.
She said: “I believe growth is not so easily calibrated where you say I just want a bit less growth so that I don’t have to deal
with so many foreigners.We work very hard to get investments in. We can’t tell investors that we can deal with only half of your
investments or say, can you come next year?” She further added: “Singapore finds itself in an ironically happy situation where
investments are flooding in and require a whole lot of support. The dorms are one element”.

Poser 3:
The dorms, an investment? What about the ‘calibration’ to make sure these foreigners have places to stay before they are recruited
and not after they have arrived and lodging becomes an issue.

About the dorms as an element of investment, this is what was reported in the same article.
“Also vital was Mr Mah’s commitment that the dorm, set in an old school, will operate for no more than five years”.

Poser 4:
Investment indeed! More like making money out of the poor foreign worker. Under the guise of ‘respect and hospitality’, the government
has devised a plan that sounds so good so sincere as well as very easy on the ears when read out loud. But as with all PAP policies, the
goodness of it is just in the binding.

Let us be respectful and hospitable to our foreign brothers and sisters. Let us house them in an old school. Let us charge them rent that
is equivalent to twenty-thirty percent of their monthly salary. Five years later, we will find another old building to re-house them and charge
more.

She then uses the ERP as an analogy to explain the level of awareness for those living around and those living further away from the dorm.
She said: “A person who treasures his time may not mind the principle of more gantries if he gets to work fast with smoother traffic.
But if he has a gantry outside his home, the same person might feel a little differently”.

Nothing mentioned about the extra monies that goes into the national kitty.

The best part of the Insight interview comes next.

She said: “in the recent uproar, the dearth of information was a painful factor”.

Did she really said this? : . . . “the DEARTH OF INFORMATION was a painful factor”.

Now comes the blaming, Wong Kan Seng style.

She said: “Part of the trouble was that a police officer – who ironically worked well with the neighbourhood committee – spoke prematurely
about the dorm before the Ministry of National Development had made a full technical assessment. The officer also conveyed the sense that
it was a done deal”.

She again attributed the lack of information as one of the underlying reasons why the residents imagine the worst-case-scenario.

Now for the bombshell:

“As she tells it, when her neighbourhood committee alerted her to the stories, she e-mailed Mr Mah straightaway to ask if there were plans
to put in a dorm and, if so, why she, the MP, was not told. She then asked him to quicken the assessment so nobody would be left in suspense.

Poser 5:
a. police officer knows about it.
b. 1400 residents signed petition over it
c. Serangoon’s 7000+ residents knows about it
d. Mah Bow Tan knows about it
e. Lim Hwee Hua, MP, does not know about it.

Are we dumb?

On the assessment to build the dorm.

As reported, her main points to MND boiled down to traffic and disamenities.
She said: “I basically gave my views as the local MP that you can’t run it through the estate, period”.

Poser 6:
As an elected MP, this is how she argues for you? Just her views, period?

She said this about the intergration of locals and foreigners.
“Each Singaporean can conciously make an effort to engage (the foreigners) more. Even among Singaporeans, we should all try to interact
with our neighbours because we are all such busy people. This may make it more natural to engage with outsiders”.

Poser 7:
Is this the new National Service? Since when is it Singaporeans problem to help foreigners intergrate – and “because we are so busy”?

She ended her interview and this was the concluding comment from the ST correspondent.

ST: “Last Saturday, she had a garden party for residents who lived a little farther from the dorm. She and her team, which she credits often,
had fun.

Poser 8:
Why weren’t the foreigners invited to the party? So much for intergration.

Poser 9:
Why was the party held for only those who “lived farther from the dorm?”.
Is it because those living nearer the dorm are still cursing her? – all 1400 of them?

Moral of the story:
Band together if you want results and want it fast.

“Why is there a sudden hospitality towards foreign workers?”

That’s a good question you know! Not that it isn’t an entirely good thing – many employers have FAILED to give basic housing with WORKING toilet facilities. But the government is also saying NEVER MIND WE WILL TAKE OVER THE DUTY OF MAKING SURE YOUR FOREIGN WORKERS HAVE A NICE DORM.

Can you see the longterm outcome?
SPOILT BRATS —-> employers in construction businesses!

Not saying that the workers do not deserve an appropriate place to live in. But why is the government CLEANING SHIT which should be the responsibilities of the employers’???? Beats me!

GEMAMI: “Band together if you want results and want it fast.”
I wouldn’t dare to say if we will have results – at least WE GET HEARD!! So yeah…band together!

IF I TELL govt “HEY LOOK! Some old folks’ home charity may be receiving subsidies from MCYS illegally – want to know which charities may be fleecing taxpayers’ money?” may be they will care! OPEN YOUR EYES BIG BIG GOVERNORS – YOU’RE NOT TIGHT IN REGULATING CHARITIES!!!! That quarterly submission from charities is crap. Youth Challenge won’t be the last.

Gemami,

Well said. Well done! It gives me a view of MP Lim H H as incompetent as most of the other MIW. What she basically done is nothing! She did not strongly oppose, and as an MP failure to have first hand information. What has she be doing? She need a lowly paid poor policeman to do her job of informing the residents. I am amazed at how much PAP MPs have fallen in their duties. I am utterly disgusted.

Li Jia Wei is quitting, so is the China coach and all this points to a failure to managed the STTC properly. So much so for the integration that should have help players like LI Jia Wei to feel as singaporeans. Another MP Lee Bee Wah should be chopped. What experience she has to run STTC? Do PAP think that all PAP MPs are highly talented creatures? You throw them in any organisation they can run it well? Remember the Dragon Boat incidents where our singaporeans rowers drown? Who is the chair? And so many more blunders this year for PAP and i hope they keep their mouth shut, especially woody GOH!

FG

Singaporeans are helping those who are in need. But always there is a minister who will be there taking credit! Why is this so? They dont do anything at all . Just come around with thier smiling deceving faces and trying to take credit. We should ban all these people from coming around to claim credit for what true honest hard working singaporeans are doing for their fellow countryman.

Only in sin PAP ministers hold multiple posts. They called this multi tasking. They work for both government and attched to boards of directors of major corporations payed by both and say they are fightning for the welfare and benefit of the poor. Only in singapore.

76) DARTH VADER

on the flip side; there is cause for conern for our lowly police officers.
seems like there is a new trend to blame them for everything when things go wrong.

“the police officer did it!” .

. . well, probably because there are not very many butlers in Singapore and most of them could only be found in the homes of millionaires..

Not to worry. All the increases that all singaporeans are facing now will be lowered come the next election or not they will have nothing to offer.

So stand by for more increases. The old issue of upgrading will no more be relevant. Stand up for Singapore. Stand by for more increases should be our new national song for the future.

I read today the government has allowed us to draw on our medisave for medical overseas. And guess who benefits . Guess who is in charge of that establishment. Your guess is as good as mine. So coincidential. You ask me. I ask who,. But i know you know who la.

there are underlying reasons why they are allowing us to draw on our medisave for medical oveseas.

Singaporeans seeking treatment locally are placed under subsidised category and with the bed cruch issue facing the major hospitals here, this is bad news in terms of generating money.

Walk into any of our restructured hospitals and you will see subsidised clinics being converted to privatised ones. the wards are also being converted to accommodate privatised patients.

we are attracting patients from all over and now it seems that it is so successful that our hospitals have no time to treat subsidised Singaporeans.

Drawing on medisave overseas isn’t such a bad idea. At least the money in there not sitting there doing nuts, not earning interests, etc!

Darth Vader: “Only in sin PAP ministers hold multiple posts. They called this multi tasking. They work for both government and attched to boards of directors of major corporations payed by both and say they are fightning for the welfare and benefit of the poor. Only in singapore.”

I agree with DARTH VADER! Only in Singapore!

Rachel,

While I am, like you, neither pro nor anti-PAP, I must say that your perspective of Lim Swee Say’s comparison of Deng to Lee is lacking in scope:

I share your view of both leaders’ heavy-handedness and oft-irrational fear of dissent. However, it is only fair to credit both with policies that encouraged the incredible growth that might otherwise have remained elusive for both China and Singapore. When the minister made the comparison, I would be inclined to think that he was speaking in terms of their contributions to their respective countries’ economic growth.

Also, in Deng’s case, please remember that he needed to legitimize his power because of the larger-than-life status of his deceased predecessor. He did this by 1) creating wealth/spurring growth and 2) keeping a tight rein on opposition. Fortunately, Lee did not need to be as ruthless, because he did not face similar crises during his time as PM.

Last, Lee has stated publicly Deng is his most admired politician, hence he might be perfectly happy with the comparison.

-Isabelle

In other words, LSS trying to polish the master’s shoes …. does not have any significance in reality lah.

Hi Isabelle

Upon hindsight of publishing the article here on TOC, I had published the piece on my blog on the 17th Oct – and have added the edifier of economic success and modernization.

While I agree with you that MM Lee might be perfectly happy with the comparison, I am not so much for the sake of the country.

Thanks for your sharing!

Good point about MM and Deng from Isabelle, however I believe the MM’s style of governance will not take Singapore forward.
MM may feel flattered to be compared to Deng but I don’t think the feeling will be mutual if Deng was still around.
The present Chinese govt have their hands full trying to deal with cronyism and greed. I am sure it has not escaped China’s attention regarding our unique Lee family arrangement of father, son and daughter-in-law. There is no way China’s leadership can condone such a serious conflict of interest whilst combating corruption. Simply no legs to stand on when facing 1.3 billion people.
The Chinese leadership must be dumbfounded that such an arrangement still exists which strictly belongs to the era of emperors.
So can a person who behaves like an emperor or a eunuch in the case of Lim, care for the people ? LOL