Just in case anyone missed this article in the Straits Times on 4 Feb 2009:
Mouse who barked
A MOUSE met a cat. The mouse barked like a dog. That scared the cat away.
To great levity in the House on Wednesday, labour chief Lim Swee Say recounted the tale to get across a solemn message: it is important to upgrade one’s skills.
In an impromptu speech to rebut criticisms of the Jobs Credit scheme, Mr Lim said: ‘We must never hope for a no-pain solution because there’s no painless way out of global recession.’
He then told the tale of a kingdom of mice that ‘lived very peacefully’ until a cat appeared. The mice Parliament convened to discuss how to overcome their new fear.
One mice MP proposed a very simple solution: hang a big bell on the cat’s neck so that it can be heard wherever it goes. Another suggested that it be big and heavy ‘so that by the time the cat sees us, it will be so heavy, it cannot keep up with us’.
But there was a snag in implementing it. Who will bell the cat?
‘There was no volunteer,’ said Mr Lim.
The idea failed and the cat continued to move around freely while the mice lived in fear. One day, a mother mouse and her baby were hunting for food when the cat cornered them.
Trapped, the mother did the unexpected: she stared at the cat and barked, sending the feline fleeing.
To laughter from the MPs, Mr Lim said: ‘The mother mouse turned and told the baby mouse: ‘See, now you understand the importance of upskilling and re-skilling’.’
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This pathetic government, in fact, all of the Ministers and MPs are bootlickers and balls carriers just to please ONE FAMILEE and nothing else. We, Singaporeans can already see the faux pas of such clowns drawing millions in salary and they can’t even match one-tenth of Obama’s underlings in terms of wisdom and political professionalism. Sigh……………Singapore is doomed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This guy is barking mad.
Reading too much into his CPF statements.
Let the mouse do what mice do best. Why should the mouse pretend to be a dog and do the things that a dog does?
The mouse (rat) is the first in the Chinese Zodiac, the dog is at eleventh place. Why should the mouse sacrifice 1st place for 11th place?
Now you guys can go picture why this Suay Suay chap wants you to take up jobs like taxi drivers and chambermaids after re-skilling.
What you are good at does not matter. It is what you must be good at that matters.
Can the IR really give us the jobs we need?
When Sands retrenched their staff from their Macau operations, they said they were hoping to redeploy some of them at the Singapore site.
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/23122008/323/macau-s-venetian-sacks-further-500-staff-credit-crunch-bites.html
“The company has adopted a series of measures to control operating cost in all business areas, including letting go approximately 500 employees across all elvels who are not Macau residents,” a Venetian spokesman said. “(These include) about 100 management-grade expatriate employees in gaming operations,” the statement released late Monday said.
It said many of the workers would be offered alternative employment at the firm’s new casino project in Singapore.
Must be blind cat or cat with bad eyesight.
What if cat has gd eyesight? And remember cats can see in the dark. So a blind or bad eyesight cat is the exception.
please allow me to try to explain the wisdom of the story.
training can make a worker talk like a CEO. and when a worker talks like a CEO, people will think he is a CEO, never mind if he is still a worker. he got respect. betul?
This guy worse than the former who also speak nonsense and wayang but not this worst.
He should be a storyteller….no freaking practicalibility at all man this story.
How can you ordinary souls be able to appreciate the wisdom of an extraordinarily paid extraordinary talent?
Let me, put it another way:
A cat is a cat no matter whether it is a white or black cat,
as long as it can catch a mouse.
A dog is a dog no matter whether it is a good watch dog or not,
as long as it knows who its master is.
A mouse is a mouse no matter whether it is big or small,
as long as it can bark.
Have you guys got it?
The moral of his story is:
No matter what you are, as long as the situation forces you to be what you are, you have to be what you are, even if you are not.
first we have a French cook, now we have a Storyteller…what else do we have in the cabinets of clowns?
Aiyoh, Ah Lim, are you talking about yourself lah.
Currently, we have 80+ mice and so far no mouse is daring enough to put the bell on our big cat.
62) SC
we have a third 1…Mr Send your parents to nursing home in JB. KBW.
If I am his master, I would have him send immediately to the firing squard and finish him off, wasting taxpayers money.
#62
Got one more…our “he can be here, or he can be there” ninja master from Home Affairs.
Temasek already so pathetic, I wouldn’t even want to think about GIC now. Yes, GIC should be worse off than Temasek.
Well, Lim Swee Say certainly barked
and I do not see the mice here
are any scare and scared.
Why? Only one answer; the mice know
YOU ARE A GREAT PRETENDER and You said so yourself.
So, please blame yourself for all these.
patriot
I was in-between jobs being a contract professional.
I applied to many positions that seem to be vancant (else they no advertise?).
No Replies.
What is the Reality?
Could it be :
1. Sensing more are on the bench, even professionals, companies have opportunity to pick and choose. If down the road, they need resoures, they can pick the best one for the money. So, I suspect many advertise for a low fee to collect many updated Resumes for later use, if applicable. Like taking advantage of the situation. Wise move. Guarantee these are real vacancies? vacancies for 6 months later ? 1 year ?
Maybe LSS is trying to convey his own position (the mouse) infront of the PAP (the cat). In order to prove his worth he has to grandstand (i.e. bark).
Someone should print 10,000 T-shirts with barking mouse and distribute these at the MRT stationd.
Good gracious me! Is this a minster or Vinny Jones?
He is a fine example of …want the same job and same pay ..but no portfolio and no talent. So when he opens his mouth and sprout wisdom, I can definately tell which institute he graduated from. IMH.
This LSS must be trying to get himself into history book or get his quote use by later generation, but sadly, all are without substance
Disgusting jokes and those who laughed with him are also disgusting.
Rather to bark like a dog then to be a Gentleman ! That’s is Singaporean !
while his master and their team have already loss more than $100billions of our taxpayers monies, this chap can still talk cock and disgust the people further.
I guess his stories beat Moses Lim as Tan Ah Teck in Under One Roof. Maybe it high time we have reshoot of Under One Roof and have LSS to reprise the role of Tan Ah Teck.
This guy is a real jester. He can still tell tasteless jokes during such times.
Why are people like him drawing $ millions from the country’s coffers?
Real clown, Parliament is not a circus!
Missed something here from the article :
“To laughter from the MPs”
Which means the whole of Parliament actually laughed along this lame joke with him!
What does that mean?
Our so-called Parliamentarians have not an iota of intelligence among them!
Do you people how many of our so-called Paliamentarians are just parasites drawing $millions salaries out of the taxpayers pocket and doing nothing except to trumpet whatever their master calls for.
I love the comment from nad…
>>>>
million dollar moron is what he is….
<<<<
This is hillarious!
hey, some1 got to advise this nut to stick this at the end of his speech:
“No animal was hurt in the making of this speech”
Singaporean Workers got no Hope in this guy!
Has he not learn “Silence is Golden!”
Wonder what next from him? Heard the story about two dogs and a cat? It goes like this……
Aiyah, LSS is just telling it as it is…
One mice MP proposed a very simple solution: hang a big bell on the cat’s neck so that it can be heard wherever it goes. Another suggested that it be big and heavy ’so that by the time the cat sees us, it will be so heavy, it cannot keep up with us’.
But there was a snag in implementing it. Who will bell the cat?
‘There was no volunteer,’ said Mr Lim
One MP proposed that $300 / month is enough to live on. Another suggest Comcare, etc. But there was a snag conning people to buy into the idea. Who will lead-by-example by donating their $million pay to the poor and live on $300 / month Public Assistance and Comcare instead? There was (and still is) NO volunteer!
Trapped, the mother did the unexpected: she stared at the cat and barked, sending the feline fleeing.
Trapped, a poor elderly Singapore citizen did the unexpected. He threw fire at an MP, sending a strong primal message to the elites.
Not sure if LSS message is worth laugh about though. Lifes are involved, lifes are hurt, how many will snap & bite back?
Lim Swee Suay, you are simply insulting the intelligence of the people with your comedian behaviour and spouting nonsense!
Even three years old knows that a mouse can never bark!
Shame on you!
In this instance I’m inclined to agree with the great majority of the responses above. What I’m unable to understand is what the Minister’s suggestion on ‘upskilling or ‘re-skilling’ has to do with the world-wide financial crisis.
The problem is international, not ‘intra-national’, although the cause can be traced to its origin in the US free-market system. And the problem became a world-wide one because of the over-hyped merits of globalization which led many countries to get themselves plugged into a system without their governments giving sufficient thought to the extent to which they should commit their respective countries to this new fangled scheme.
Really, this is one hellava tight knot that will take quite some time and a considerable measure of collective brain-storming at the ‘globalized’ level to unravel.
Also, a lesson to be learnt from this world-wide financial maelstrom is the need on the part of governments to understand a system or scheme thorougly so that the loopholes are given heed in equal meaure to the appreciation of its merits.
No system in whatever field of human activities is perfect or ‘fail proof’. Knowing the vulnerabilities of a system would enable the relevant authorities to plug the loopholes at the same time as they monitor very closely any attempts by the ‘rogues’ to manipulate the system to the detriment of the Society at large.
Perhaps the ongoing turmoil in the financial world is a wake-up call for the world’s leaders to do a rethink on what a meaningful Life is all about. There is no doubt that earthlings neither live to eat nor eat to live. Man is a composite of both matter and spirit.
Gosh, so they are being paid outrageously to tell stories..
From lesser mortals to bacteria. From bacteria to barking mouse. What’s next? Flying kangaroo?
Flying kangaroo not possible lah .. the kangaroo courts here won’t allow being talked about in Parliament !
Next, they want us to be whores. Sell whatever it takes to live.
“See, now you understand the importance of upskilling and re-skilling”
See, I know there are excess or plentiful talented professional people who got retrenched from this recent financial mess to easily to meet the current demand for such people.
one of them suggesting getting our old folks to go across to JB and rot there to die while they wash their hands off from taking care of these once our nation builders while this one keeps barking and barking trying to get attention from the master. Funny thing both of them are defectors bought over from malaysia.
He meant well, as he worried the commoners may not understand ‘upskill’ & ‘reskill’. We commoners are stupid you see.
Pls give him a chance to bark so we understand better.
92) notalone on February 12th, 2009 1.28 pm
“He meant well, as he worried the commoners may not understand ‘upskill’ & ‘reskill’.
This financial crisis has opened the eyes of many that some skills are bullshit.
I think whatever this chap is doing is nothing but just to keep himself busy to show his master that he is trying to help, but ended up more screwed ups. Well, if I were him, I think I also abit like that lor, what to do how many chances can one gets to have $million continuing to flow into his pocket just to make some noise these days.
Of course the gahmen are giving more bullshits, otherwise how else to distract the issues of astronomical loss of Singaporean’s assets ?
A tiger and his wife gave birth to three chidren.
The eldest one is a dragon.
When he grew up,the dragon kicked away the wooden stool he was resting his feet on and took over tiger’s old job.
He then decided he must have many dogs to keep him company.
So he looked around but didn’t find enough in his neighbourhood.
He then went up north, found a few, and brought them home.
Soon the dragon found almost all the dogs to be useless.
One of the northern ones was the worst.
Barked at anything and nothing whole day long and shit all over.
Lucky for him, he’s very obedient and wags his tail whenever he sees the dragon.
This mouse of a Labour Chief is asking you to be like him and bark like a running dog. Wow, wow..
Many ex-army officers and PMETs have become security guards, property officers, cleaning supervisors and taxi-drivers. Is that upskilling or re-skilling? Many are forced to take jobs which pay a fraction of previous pay. The situation is aggravated because of the govt’s policy of welcoming foreigners to compete with locvals in the job market. Perhaps it should be called “downskilling.”
We are in depressing and demoralizing times and we can do without a clown like Lim Swee Say to represent workers’ interest…..no credibilty and
a public relations disaster.
So much bragging by the PAP on their selection process for talent……
It is shere madness to have picked Lim Swee Say, very low on IQ and EQ.
In other words….. the village idiot.
Low EQ leaders please take note that
the parliament is not the place for a village idiot to tell retarded jokes,
especially in present circumstances.
The only reason i think that re-training has relevance to the global mother-of-all economic crisis is that the companies or industries that moved out of Singapore will never come back.
I guess this MP is saying that with this lousy story.
LIM SWEE SAY, can be a Car Sales Man,,,!!!