During Mr Tan’s speech, my heart skipped a beat when he held up a placard bearing the name of a bank. I thought that it looked strangely familiar to another incident and that he would be sued to bankruptcy for doing that. You know?

Why can’t even one Member Of Parliament be just half of Mr. Tan Kin Lian?

They are suppose to be the brightest sons and daughters of Singapore.

Just amaze me!

red_dot,

Tell me how (not how much) they are paid and I will tell you how they will behave.

Tell me how (not how much) they are paid and I will tell you how they will behave. – Parka (#3)

A good heart can´t be paid for with money. If one needs an annual salary to the tune of a couple of S$M in order to not to be tempted by corruption, it begs to question if the person´s heart is good in the first place.

sgcynic, Tan Kim Lian is providing signs of banks that sold the products so that investors (or victims more appropriate) can get together to discuss. And I want to say I agree with donalson Tan, a good heart can’t be bought. We all have seen orgnaizations where people are paid too much, they all become bootlickers and so scared of losing their rice bowl, especially if they are rewarded for being yesman.

The photograph ¨Champion of the Underdog¨ really warms my heart.

Hi red_dot, my Fellow Countryman/Countrywoman,

But why are you amazed? People are paid millions a year so that they become beholden. And so they will speak what they are told to speak and clam up when they are told to do so.

Forgive me, but I have no intention to offend you or anyone. I just feel that a loyal and civic-minded citizen has the duty to speak what he or she thinks is in the interest of the nation. And the Nation is made up of mainly the people at large.

What bugs me is that we make our young piously recite about helping to build “a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress” for all our citizens as ” one united people regardless of race, language or religion”.

Now what are we making our young recite on a regular basis? Don’t what they say have to do with values? Yes? So you agree! But how do we inculcate values in our young when the Nation is run like a large business organization founded on principles of commerce rather than ethics or moral values?

Take the schools for example: How are they run and what do they teach? You may say we want our young to be creative. But creative what? Oh,yes, creative entrepreneurs. Do you know they would have thrown Literature out of the Secondary School Curriculum, some years ago, if not for the strong resistance of Teachers and Principals alike?

Now let me to jolt your mind back to an occasion many, many years ago when Singapore was hitting near double digit economic growth annually:

A successful and prosperous corporate individual was invited by a certain Junior College to speak to the students at one of its weekly Assembly Talks. And the invited speaker chose to speak on the merits of GREED! Hey, no leg-pulling here. According to the said guest-speaker, GREED is what motivates people to take risks, work very hard and in the process help bring about prosperity and progress for the Nation. Now how much more perverted can one be than this successful corporate individual? Extolling the virtues of GREED in nation-building. Good God!

To continue in this vein: What is the rationale for paying Ministers the salaries that they are receiving? Just so that they would be on par with the high flyers in the private sectors. Now can you understand why S$600K is just so much peanuts? If what motivates our leaders and all levels of our society equates with Mammon’s offering, can we really build a great Nation?

Really, our misfortune is our inability to learn from the lessons that History has to offer. And History has shown that a nation is as great or as small as its leaders. Were the great leaders of the past like Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., the Mahatma and Mao Ze-dung motivated to serve by the lure of dirty lucre? Of course not!

These were men each with a mission fuelled by the passion to make right THAT which was wrong, to ensure that justice made no exception, to liberate their countries from foreign domination and exploitation, and be ready to pay with their lives for their conviction as well as for the best interest of those who look up to them as their national leaders.

At the risk of being accused of pontificating, let me reiterate that unless we have amongst us people with vision backed by ideals rather than pragmatism, we will continue to be nothing more than a busy maritime mini-nation.

Ho Cheow Seng

May God raise up young men and women who have a passion to put things right for the nation in moral values! May God spare our nation from its vain glory! May God have mercy on our nation!

Words of wisdom are coming out from our peasants! Very touched and moved to know that many are like-minded!

Dear Ho Cheow Seng (#7)

Thank you for writing an excellent piece. And thank you for using your real name.

I was invited to talk to to a few classes in SMU, NUS and to an alumni dinner. I chose the subject of “Business Ethics”. I wanted people to know the difference between integrity, honesty and fairness as opposed to greed.

It is shameful for a society to honour greed and dishonesty. This is why I am speaking so directly against what is now happening in Singapore. People can be taken for a ride, and the Authority stand by and say, “that’s is your business”.

Please send an e-mail to me at kinlian@gmail.com. I wish to talk to you.

I have received 840 signatures in 3 days. I should be able to reach the target of 1,000 petitions today. I plan to lodge the Petition to Mr. Goh Chok Tong early next week. I shall make an appoitnment to see him.

you might have seen me, I assist Kong Kwok Ying in running Exxonmobil Co-operative. As I learned economics during schooldays & with my involvement with co-operatives I was led to believe that BONDS is one of the safest money instruments such that I sold my shares fearing a meltdown which did happen to park some money in BONDS for safekeeping. To date I’ve not spend to time to pursue my case as its around 30K. I remember somewhere you did provide a link to Glenn Knight… I’ve look him up though.
Thanks.