Its not about how long is the waiting time nor how late the MP needs to stay back & listen – I believe everyone who approach the MP has a genuine case or else it wld hv been named “Drink Coffee with the MP” right? If they are sincere too then there wldn’t be so many complains.

If I am willing to speak, will my MP bother to listen? Be it financial assistance or waiver of traffic offense or botherline cases, truth is, we are there because we genuinely need help. If the MP had to stay till mid-night so do we! Its not fun to look forward to a MPS & after all that trouble go home in disappointment. Do they really care? Are they listening? I know their eyes & ears are open big big but that doesn’t mean listening. Or is it as good as going to the temple & pray to the “tuapekgong”? Because you can say what u want to the “tuapekgong” but you don’t know if he got listen or not!

My personal experience is, I tried my best explaining how bad the situation was but he just sat there like a “tuapekgong” with 2 bodyguard aka time-keeper, I guess. And the outcome? I ended up calling the SOS hotline instead. I know SOS can’t offer much help because their role is to offer a sincerely listening ears & they did. My session with SOS extended my life instead of banging against the wall during the MPS….if only he was empathetic, consoling and helpful!

besides, foreign workers who stage protests sit-ins have little to fear. i cant say the same for locals who may face the full brunt of the law.

it’s not we aren’t used to protesting and staging sit-ins. the risks are just too huge to ignore, while foreign workers have little to loose.

they can protest & sit-in with little consequences, i doubt locals will be treated likewise.

These are their tricks of their trade and they depend on varying the repertoire to see that they are effective.

However, for the really naive and innocent who said that they have great faith in the MP they are sweet to them as they are the Great supporters of pap and so they send them to graciously meet the MP. Another part of their bag of tricks.

If you say you are really poor and they are convinced about it they will give you some NTUC Fairprice vouchers and the MP will in all his graciousness hand it to you. yOU SHOULD SEE THE GREAT GRATITUDE look in the faces of the recipient and that is what the pap want. The recipient is sure to vote for PAPPY in the next election. Pappy no stupid.

I saw all these tricks during MPS.

So, the MPs survive and make their money.

They have a bag of tricks and this extend beyond MPS.

Look at the big picture.
Upgrading is still going on.

When you are interested in a particular model of car, you suddenly see it everywhere.
We see what we want to see. We also do not see what we do not wish to see.

No, it’s not running out of money. Are you hoping for that? Be careful what you wish for.

You must vote for whomever you voted for a bigger reason than just for upgrading.
Seperate the 2 things please.

Interesting facts about HDB upgrading

1. Why no more space adding items now? Because they found that it is actually cheaper to tear down the whole block and rebuilt than to add those things.

2. Why certain precincts (although not every case) go SERS en bloc and not upgraded? Because tests (done discreetly) showed that the quality of construction (built in the ’70s) is so bad that it is actually structurally unsafe.

3. What is upgrading really? A really ingenious repackaging of cyclical maintenance into a big lump (water tanks, water pumps, water pipes, power cable, light fixtures, all have a lifespan ranging from 10 to 20 years, they used to be changed ac hoc, now it is a big show.

4. What is Lift Upgrading really. See 3

Kenneth,

A uniquely Singaporean triat.
Buffet syndrome.
Free text books, all rush
Free sample, all rush
Free gift, all rush
Compliant is free. All rush.

1. Get their kids in a school nearby.
2. Own a shop in the same GRC
3. Is a civil servant.
4. Don’t have a life
5. All of the above
6. None of the above

Still sore wrote:”My late father went to see the MP (ex-Labour MP who passed away last year ), to ask him for assistance in securing a hawker licence (to sell watches) in Change Alley, North Bridge Road. My dad had to endure the many summons issued by the Enviornment Ministry for illegal hawkering(up to 3 a month) and pay the fines. He was a sole-breadwinner and has 4 kids school going kids to support at that time.”

Change Alley is in Colier Quay, not in North Bridge Road
Ask any “teh gu” or “car park attendance aunties” if their job is pleasant, I think they will tell you no. But they do perform a essential role, right?
The right for an illegal hawker to make a living vs the right for the legitimate shopowners to make a living. Who is right? Legally , emotionally or morally , one may conclude differently.
But a unrestrained freewheeling environment cannot be sustainable. So there has got to be some rule of the law.

Do you pity the guy peddling tissue paper everyday at your Kopitiam and buy from him everyday? Or sit and wonder why this able bodied man/woman doesn’t try to get a job?

Everybody is right from their point of view.

My late father went to see the MP (ex-Labour MP who passed away last year ), to ask him for assistance in securing a hawker licence (to sell watches) in Change Alley, North Bridge Road. My dad had to endure the many summons issued by the Enviornment Ministry for illegal hawkering(up to 3 a month) and pay the fines. He was a sole-breadwinner and has 4 kids school going kids to support at that time. He was trying his very best to make ends meet and more often had difficuilty supporting the family. This MP was very arrogrant, he was a Chinese educated MP and properly had just Secondary education. He was able to pen a decent letter and clearing he was struggling to write an appeal letter. He crushed uncompleted letter into the waste paper bin and told my parents(my mother was with my dad there) that he could even write 10 appeal letters if he wanted to. My parents went off very disappointed and lost faith in this MP and the whole political system. My dad had no other choices but to continue selling cheap watches at these places so that we could survive. Some months he had negative income, (after paying the fines) and coupled with his weaking health conditions, he struggled through life in his last years and finally he suffered a massive stroke at work one Sat morning in 1974 and was in a coma for 3 months before passing away without regaining from the deep coma.

My slibings are equally sore about this incident up to today and no doubt there are caring and sincere MPs out there, the duty to serve must come from the heart and don’t just behave like an elite and a snob.

Weed out those that cannot serve and all hypocrates.

Dear Zheng Xi
Have you been able to locate Mr Lawrence Loh? Really like to hear more from him.