In an aircraft carrier, you can be playing soccer in one corner and have jets taking off in another, and the carrier remains stable… In a rowboat, it makes sense for everyone to row in the same direction.
Singapore’s ambassador to the United States, Chan Heng Chee (Washington Post)
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A totally spurious analogy. Ships and boats are designed and built for specific purposes known ahead of time. You cannot compare that to nations whose nature evolves over time.
Chan seems to say that just because we were gifted by luck to be on a geographical equivalent of a rowboat, we *must* behave in a certain way. If I’m forced to follow her ridiculous analogy, then I ask: “Why can we not improve this rowboat, address the stability or even enlarge it? Why can’t we row our way to calmer seas? Why can we not calm people down instead of pushing “trouble makers” down the plank so they would fall off this rowboat?”
Frankly, I’d get off this rowboat and swim towards that aircraft carrier if that’s what life really is.
Dear Heng Chee,
Having spent much of your time in USA, you’re badly mistaken and out of touch. PAP and its populace are heading in opposite direction. “The gulf is widening, aided by the rapid melting of the glacier.”
PAP will have to row its sinking boat while the populace will cruise on the carrier towards a new horizon.
what doesn’t make sense is if we are rowing together in the wrong direction.
Harrison,
You’re right.
If the rowboat is heading into the wrong direction (like, heading towards a tsunami), it is the duty of those on board to turn the rowboat around.
What a stupid analogy by Chan Heng Chee.
Really.
It is interesting he admits Singapore is akin to nothing more than a rowboat. How is it our “rowboat cheftains” routinely behave like fleet carrier admirals and are paid so?
There is no Island (a control tower on a carrier) on a rowboat, yet the bottom rowers routinely receive helicopter vision-like directives from on top which only the rowboat newsletter (struggles to) make sense of.
We are told, no – whipped, to row as one team. But rowing forward is useless if the problem is that the boat is sinking from excessively overweight egos.
ya ya! so to say after we all singaporeans are being cheated all these years during the good times, now comes the bad times, we all must row in the same direction as our cheaters, iggit? you wait long long ho, even if we see your boat is sinking with lobangs, don’t worry we will dig more and bigger lobangs so you can go down faster. NEXT PLS!
what the hell is she mumbling about?
row in same directon?
can.
but how come my salary is not even peanuts?
then why row in same direction.
no way.
In spore everything we do, need a permit. Visiting prostitutes also need a permit?
What the hell… lousy country
Authoritarian
SG and her people = rowboat; SG ministers’ pay = Ocean-holiday Cruiser
Something is very very wrong. Well, Mr Chan, you can continue to row your sampan. I believe many will jump ship, er boat, and head towards the battle carrier.
Continue to row, ok?
LOL,
Kaffein
“In a rowboat, it makes sense for everyone to row in the same direction.”
Ya loh, and whose rowboat are you talking about. You are in US and most of us are in Singapore. We sure have a big big rowboat extending all the way to US.
Kishore Mubhubani also said something of the same effiect liking the US to an aircraft carrier and Singapore to a sampan:…one jumps on the aircraft carrier and barely has any effect…but on a sampan it risks capsize… – from a Nat. Geo or Discovery Channel programme on Singapore history some time back.
“also said something of the same effiect liking the US to an aircraft carrier and Singapore to a sampan:…”
Ya loh, and how come we feel that our littele sampan is costing so much more than the big big aircraft carrier.
All this big shots everytime talk nonsense, can’t stand them !!! Because of one Dr Chee, the whole team shakes, change this law , change that law, if 10 Dr Chee in Spore, the whole pap can’t sleep liao. I think one Dr Chee is equal to 3 ministers.
Eh if I can make better analogies than CHC, can I replace her?
Wait, I don’t want to. Nevermind.
ah, but it takes TWO teams to play a soccer match.
Also, it takes TWO oars to row a boat, otherwise, it keeps going round in circles.
“All this big shots everytime talk nonsense,”
Feel glad, at least we have a chance of learning how to talk like them and slowly this will be built into our wonderful national culture. We need to talk like a bird to a bird.
we are the tugboat towing the huge pap cruiser for a joy ride.
If one idiot in the rowboat wants to sink the boat, will you row with him or throw him overboard?
Common sense lah…
These idiots think that TITANIC will rise up from the deep one day and they asked us all to pray with them!
chan is really ‘professional’ in his job as an ambassador for Sg…
shld applause his effort in coming out with an analogy to ‘convince’ (U.S) citizens which are nutured to demostrate and strike against policies (unruly according to ’some’ SGporeans), ‘question’ their politicians (disrespect acc to ’some’ SGporeans), freedom of speech (defamative acc to ’some’ Sgporeans) .
she used to be a lot more brighter.
why would I be in a row boat going in the wrong direction, when I am heading for destruction ?
I guess it is only common sense for people to make towards safer instances.
and I guess it is only common sense that tells you right from wrong.
No point following the crowd when it leads you to dooms day.
Pipe Piper in the making? or the emperors new clothes syndrome ?
Cheers
Hey guys and gals…
Chan Heng Chee is a SHE.
Not a ‘he’.
See here.
Aiyo!
There are many stupid people in this world, even those who get $7 million cheques from fat diabetics, it seems doesnt offer them any immunity from stupidity.
They will go, give them time, they will have too.
Hehehe, our sampan “captain” (like “Bus captain”) is paid 6 times more than that carrier’s commander.
I guess you need to pay top dollar so he can make sure the sampan doesn’t capsize :P. Pretty sure he’s one of the few people on this sampan with the life-vest too.
If Singapore is a rowboat, why is our captain paid more than a aircraft carrier captain. Must be some rowboat, I guess.
All crews onboard, abundant ship….. LOL
Real damn stupid ambassador.
An aircraft carrier can contain between 3000 to beyond 5000 crew. To think 22 people playing soccer in one corner can cause the carrier to become unstable. Pui!
Agree that in a rowboat all should row together but when you keep feeding the ones with a more muscular and better physique with good food and telling the rest of the skinny ones that since they are so skinny, they do not need more than what is adequate to keep them alive; then tell me, how are these going to be motivated to row together, dummy?
You jolly well, get the well-fed ones to row us out of the stormy waters, if not, give the good food to us if you want us to help out.
PEOPLE elect the government to work for them and manage country wealth well, deem them as public servant!
While row in the same direction is logical, question is who’s direction?! PEOPLE or the leader?! What is leadership anyway? Where is the leadership anyway? Who is the servant anyway?! The people?
My humble view is nobody had ever question the PAPin details before until Dr. Chee who is brave enough to risk his personal liberty do so. After JJB passed on, Dr.Chee is the only known personality that dare to take on LKY. His bravery came with heavy cost both financially and his personal liberty. Sinkaporean had been brain washed all these years as we have only gahment controlled media for all our news. It is a rear occasion to hear an alternative views. We all know what happen.The gahment used all the instruments of state power to silent him.If PAP has nothing to hide they would welcome an alternative views to prove how good they are but instead they use the judicial system to bankcrupt them and disqualified them from running as an opposition members, keeping paliament 100% PAP with a few NMP. What sort of democracy is this ?Row in the same PAP direction for another 50 years?