Gee…
There are also confrontative people in other parties you know…
(Insert comments about duster knuckles and cul-de-sac here)

Great that you willing to take up the idea. One of my interest has been to trace issues, arguments and ideas put forth by our opposition as well as NMPS over the years. To be fair to our opposition they have raised many relevant points which were criticised, condemned and at times mocked without any discussion just becuase it did not originate from the ruling elite. This was not limited to JBJ alone. Over the years some of these ideas and issues have been repackaged, rehatched and implemented as the brilliant ideas of our division one leaders. Many do not know that plagiarism is not confined to acdemia alone. For example, I was very surprised when someone mentioned that the Marina Barrage idea was tossed around by someone else even before it was attributed as the great idea of LKY. Don’t know if that is true but its something worth exploring.

DP – that is a great idea. If I find time, I might start such a project on my blog. Should make a nice archive too, collating and documenting the parliamentary issues discussed by Mr Jeyaratnam.

Anyone knows if this has already been done?

Right now, the only sources of information I can think of are 1) Newspapers 2) Parliament archives 3) Workers’ Party archives and maybe 4) Reform Party archives. That way, we can have a reasoned discussion of the man’s life’s work. I feel bad having to describe how I feel towards his political approach from hunches and personal impressions rather than from direct fact.

May JBJ’s demise give us cause to pause and ponder … when is the day that we Singaporeans will THINK and STAND UP for ourselves?

That will be the day when our votes will really COUNT! That too will be the day that the Government will start to serve the people – and not us “kow-towing” (Chinese dialect for “subserviently bowing”) to them!

The Pariah, http://www.singaporeenbloc.blogspot.com

Besides, the dead cant file a defamation suit.

I certainly hope it is appopriate for rme to share the following in hope that we can sustain our passion to support and want to see change long enough and make the right decision come next election. It is indeed a very tall task but nevertheless impossible.

“The Fear Factor – Mastery of this psychological weaponry”
Much have been said and debated about the mindset of the Singapore citizenry not in the top 20 percentile that were feeling depressed, anguished, sympathetic and of course the sufferings particularly the lower-income group and yet time and again had not been able to cast that important vote for change in past elections. Much have been alluded to either being stigmatized as pro PAP or those who were neutral being apathetic, ignorant, overly concerned on material well being and heaps of other insinuation.

For the older generation (like me), one needs to flash back and reflect on history and how Singapore evolved. During the Japanese occupation, there is no lack of examples and testaments that most captives or common citizenry of Singapore shivers at the sight of a Uniformed Japanese albeit he is just one of those pitiful lower ranking soldier. Indeed the fear factor that the Japanese warring military had imbibe it to the lower ranking officers and soldiers and this warfare teachings had been deeply rooted in them and down flow to the captives.

Evidently, this psychological weaponry had been carefully crafted (twisted) and cleverly deployed time and again in the Singapore context to ensure the continuing abundance of voters to keep the current government in power. One need not ask who has master minded behind this formidable strategy and had indoctrinate like a bible, enshrined to be worshiped, and refined over time by those selected elite disciples who are the ultimate beneficiaries or had benefited from upholding and deciphering the doctrines

Yes, FEAR indeed is a terrifying singular syllabus word that consciously or sub-consciously had enveloped us in many aspects of our life; in our growing up process and in some varying degree may indeed haunt some of us for the rest of a human’s life time. On an individual level, we may fear of darkness, fear of failing, fear of loosing, fear of poverty, fear of being persecuted, fear of infringing the strict rules and laws governing us, fear of being attack, fear of expressing due to the lack of confidence in the expressed language use, fear of public speaking and loads more. The lists are endless.

“Confronting your inner self to renew your confidence of choice”
How does one confront and counter such powerful psychological weaponry that has silently penetrated our sub-conscious mindsets?

First, we have to understand the teachings of Confucius. The essence of Confucianism is family values. This is a unique culture that has been upheld and cherished by most Chinese or people of Asian ethnics. It is not presumptuous to say that our Chinese forefathers migrated or flee to escape the hardship and strangle hold of the cruelty of China rulers in search of a safer haven for us. We, a majority of us are generally descendants of the peasant class of China. The rest is history in the making. As time passes by us, we have almost being rid of the independent thinking process and in most cases were brought up to not questioning our parents, teachers, seniors, the right from wrong. It is a virtue that many of us are still very in tuned with.

Apparently, this virtue could possibly become an eventual burden that had affected our ability to shrug off the dependency behavior ingeniously concerted and deliberately reinforced in our educational system that most of our citizenry is acquainted with and that if this had been continually exploited as a political tool.

So on this basis, are the suffering Singaporeans (young and old); apathetic, ignorant, timid, material minded that we are so weak as to say no to policies where it now hurt most? Are they too selfish? A closer examination may help unlock the myth behind the fear factor alibi that resulted for some to insinuate that the current sufferings deserved the state they are in today as they had help in retaining by voting the government time and again to rule over them.

Let’s examine this closer by citing two distinct groups as examples. One of the groups who have immediate family members to consider (has grand parents, parents, spouse, siblings, relatives, closed friends). and if they the immediate family members are fearful or do not share the same view or do not accord you with the support to engage, and you being a considerate member of the family, it is likely you will suppress yourself consciously or sub-consciously to remain silence. The fear of expressing openly or privately on current issues that had hurt them then or now could be attributed to the concern of their immediate family. Think about it, if from a young age you are being thought with refined Confucianism, fed with doctrines that these quality values are to be upheld as it is a traditional culture of every Chinese. When you grow up, a lot of your decisions are by and large influenced by this train of thoughts. It is not an evil doctrine by itself, but when it is being twisted with a political flare, the resulting effect can be of wide impact. That may have explained why a majority of us are unable to (break) this bond.

On the contrary (the second group), if you are living without any KINS (grand parents, parents, spouse, kids, siblings, relatives, closed friends and so on), or you have already the full support of your family members, the fear factor indicator is much reduced when so much pain and sufferings had been inflicted or caused to a point where you can no longer accept. Then you will probably be more inclined to be vociferous. As you would have nothing to concern with but for the principle you believe is the right thing to do.

“Fear Factor – Myth that can be busted?”
Do remember, before the advent of internet, you hear lesser or no discontent from citizenry in the past (thanks to the much controlled MSM); that does not mean we are all feeling happy but because we have no other alternative medium to express our displeasure if we are so fearful to voice our opinion publicly under the current ruling government. Is this due to miss-conception or Ignorance or apathetic or the lack of understanding of our basic rights or because of the fear for our immediate family members?

The need to engage and participate online if you have access to the internet and transform this online participation to casting that sacred vote come election time is quite imminent. The need to share your inner feelings with your immediate family members to root for support for a worthy cause is indeed a decision that has far reaching impact but only you can drive. Whatever and whichever decision you may want to take, that I think is an individual’s choice that we should all respect.

Isn’t it obvious that some of us
have not an ounce of the courage and sense of self respect the honourable
man possessed?

My dear friend, not everyone are born with such courage ok ??????? each have their own role in life.

the road is long, but together we will get there. Let us take the time to remember our forefathers who fought hard to attain their freedom from our British. Let us remember their struggles and some day, we’ll attain our freedoms once again.

When we do, like what Dr Chee said in his eulogy of Mr JBJ. We will get there because we stand on his [JBJ] shoulders.

The truth will set us free.

Thank u for your responses. All of us have come across such situation.

If someone has ruled this red dot for half a century and control all media, this is the inevitable outcome. Fortunately, we still have a small number, albeit small number, of people who could rise above such control..

It is an uphill task .. So what… Lets walk up the hill….. Lets swim against the tide…

Mr Wang is right in saying that problems should be nipped in the bud when they are still small. Now thanks to a generation of blind faith, Sinkaporeans have to cope with that hell hound of a GRC.

I’m sick of having this kind of conversation. I just don’t understand why people can take a stand condemning another person’s right to expression without exactly knowing why they are condemning them.

Unfortunately, having these kind of conversation is almost like a norm.