For people to donate, the climate of fear and doubt must first be extinguished, and confidence strengthened by:

1. A civil society consisting of activists and NGOs that are openly vocal and organise events (such as protests) either directly against the injustice that the establishment commits, or to grow the people’s awareness of these injustices (such as public forums).

2. An independent media that bravely tells the truth both online and offline. Note that Malaysiakini has had their office raided, journalists arrested and website sabotaged, YET they persevered with what they were doing for years. Also note that Malaysia has the same laws hindering free press / flow of information / film distribution, but the activists there still continue to break the unjust laws by distributing flyers of articles and vcds of political videos.

3. A community of lawyers that are ready and willing to act pro bono on legal cases that the above-mentioned activists and journalists face. Example: Once you’re arrested in Malaysia, you can expect at least one, if not more lawyers waiting for you at the police station ensuring your quick release.

Without these 3 components first in place, a campaign like what Anwar and the PKR coalition had will never be possible.

But like “Knowing is Armagedon with pinch of ufo & adam evening” mentioned if we keep comparing ourselves with our neighbours (whom are “sad to say”…. 3rd world standards)….we are gonna look like manchester united compared to a S-league team…. :)

When we are appraised on our performance yearly…..we are done so with stretch targets…… shouldn’t the same be done for a 1st world country ?

Apart from this comparison….. i can see the merits of the points you raised Andrew.

Hi-Interested (6),Jim (7) and Playboy_Rick (11)-Good to hear from you three. Singapore’s Civil Service is one of the best and at par or perhaps better than those Developed nations and we have the La Creme unlike other members of ASEAN all corrupted from A to Z, and I have my fair share dealing with these civil servants in these ASEAN nations and a good example is a Police ASP who wants to be a super millionaire (in Singapore we don’t have such things as they are highly paid in good times and in bad times, they take a pay cut and this is ok with me. This ASP only earns RM 3k and is involved in this and that projects (remember during the former DPM’s Anwar Ibrahim open trial, we saw a few Police ASPs wanted to own stockbroking houses……madness, again we don’t have this scenario.

Let us not forget that Malaysia and Singapore are abang adik (big brother and small brother) and what one does first, the other will sure follow ok. Singapore has Minister Mentor and two Senior Ministers and Malaysia under the new PM may be appointing such positions for the two PMs ie Dr Mahathir as Minister Mentor and just resigned PM Abdullah as Senior Minister. Hongkong and Singapore are not abang adik (Hongkong is a SAR-Special Administrative Region under China where as our Singapore is an independent and soverign nation). We can have full transparency once we have more Opposition MPs in Parliament now we have only 2.5 MPs in Parliament and this is dead duck, again look at Malaysia they have 82 Opposition MPs and denying the UMNO-BN two third majority (now they cannot simply amend the Malaysia Constitution at their whims and fancies especially now Dr Mahathir will be the next Minister Mentor and during his 22 years as PM, he did what he like and look at the big mess he has created and when the recent retired PM Abdullah came he, he knew these big messes and tried to clean up but failed.

I am a Singapore born and I am trying to balance the whole picture, and it is very important for us to learn more about our neighbours and hence we knwo what is good and what is bad, and we can avoid them in future (the problem with us Singaporean is we think we are high and mighty, a superior nation but we are not and have not reach that stage and we fumble and a very good example is both our Temasek and GIC (they emulated the developed nations and went on a spending spree and now they got badly bitten……not in coma yet)

Regards
Andrew Chuah

When comparing the political freedom and press freedom index between Singapore & Malaysia the international body awarded Malaysia much higher points than efficient and prosperous Singapore.

Will the PAP imposes more restrictions so that we will become more efficient and more prosperous?

Thanks for the information. The figure does say something. With the GRC, the government can ensure that the opposition will have difficulty fielding enough candidates to contest in the GRC. After the GRC system is implemented, the % of walkovers MPs increased and remain high until……..the 44% in the last election.

This is the election that is led by LHL. Wonder why it is lower? Will the next election be lower than 44% walkovers?

To be credible, Andrew must compare a banana with another banana , so 2 speak. Imagine if people compare Malaysia’s landspace and nature sceneries and quality of life with singapore using states like the nicer parts of JB.

Imagine comparing malaysia’s huge and cheaper bungalows with singapore’s bungalows. Is it fair?

A person if keep using unfair comparisons is not making himself credible in the long run. Without close scrutiny on their messages, naive people may fall into the trap of accepting something as fair based on unfair or unsuitable comparisons.

To compare singapore, should compare with 1st worlds. Hey, singapore is 1st world not determined by me. Its told to me it is one.

Case in point, to compare salaries, must compare only with 1st world leadership salaries. This is actually better in a way since comparing singapore salaries with a country say indonesia or nepal would not be fair to the people of these countries.

But if people insist on comparing a banana with an apple, so 2 speak, then a circus is formed.

why do you keep comparing singapore to malaysia ? Are you a malaysian ?

Information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituencies_of_Singapore

Actually since they have 66.6% of the votes, why don’t PAP increase the GRC to a 84 candidates mega super duper sukasuka mother-of-all GRC? That way even a 50.1% win means win.

To Andrew:

Hey, Malaysia is not as bad as you think and Singapore is not as good as you think.

The good thing about Malaysia is some reporters are daring enough to report or seek clarification on negative stuff about their political leaders.

I seriously do not think Singapore politics is totally 100% corruption-free, it’s just that no one is publicizing any dirty laundry yet.

As for civil service performance, no doubt we are improving but certain parts are still lagging far behind similar counterparts. For instance, we are not as transparent in our civil servant salary and bonus structure as compared to Hong Kong, where all salaries are disclosed on their civil service website.

Also your last statement is equally true for Singapore. The leaders of institutions of law are from the government and subjected to its payroll too, isn’t it? This I will believe you then.

In a democracy and in such a small country with so dense a population hence many people, do you think that there would not be good potential candidates wanting to offer competition or run political office other than on the incumbent ticket. In most countries, most seats if not 100% will be hotly contested.

A person who puts on a mask will always be someone hiding behind a false facade.

Regards
Andrew Chuah

No way lah. No guts, no money, no time and also kiasu ( sure lose), kiasi (sue to bankruptcy by PAP), kiabor (wife don’t support).

Just earn your money and live your own life lah. Why ask for it?

And just be alternative on the Online citizen will do lah. No fish prawn also good. Don’t have to kia (scared) anything also!

Figures and charts……no use. What Singapore needs ia a Singapore Anwar Ibrahim who can deprive the PAP government two third majority and hence ModernSingapore and her citizens can have a better say in the running of our nation. The present PM Lee Hsien Loong has already relaxed and opened up Singapore alot and there is no U Turn back to those Dark Ages as we are already in the Internet Age where one just log in and all the iformation are there.

Further, we in Singapore are far better than our neighbour Malaysia where her government and her ministers are tainted and the new PM carried alot of excess bagges, and the Rule of Law no longer exists and the rich and powerful in Malaysia get away and the instituitions of law are under their payroll….believe me.

Regards
Andrew Chuah