Tng Ying Hui with contribution by Khairulanwar Zaini
Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam joined a distinguished list of speakers who have been invited to share their thoughts by the Foreign Correspondent Association (FCA). The list included Mr Jeyaretnam’s late father, Mr JB Jeyaretnam, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Jaswant Singh of India, Malaysia’s Mr Anwar Ibrahim, Nobel Prize winners, and many others.
An economist by training, he spoke at lengths about the economy of Singapore, which provided a refreshing angle to opposition politics. He gave tribute to his father and with unabated candour, shared his thoughts on the future of the opposition.
Carving a new direction beyond JBJ
Mr Jeyaretnam spoke of the impact JBJ had on Singapore when he spoke about The Reform Party, founded by his father. The late Mr J.B Jeyaretnam’s legacy persists through the party’s objective, which was “freeing the people of Singapore … through political Reform.”
While his father was a fervent advocate of exercising democratic rights, urging Singaporeans to “rise from their slumber” during his own speech at the FCA, Mr Kenneth Jeyaretam believed that the recession has awaken the people.
The Reform Party, according to Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam, has evolved to a “double Reform Party” as it adds another dimension to the integral part of the Party’s platform of “reform[ing] in the field of democracy and civil rights”.
“I believe that there are equally fundamental reforms that need to be made in the economic sphere”, he says.
Under his leadership, The Reform Party’s message is clear: exchanging liberty for economic progress is unnecessary.
Economic platform
Mr Kenneth Jayaretnam said, “I feel we’re victims of the approved version of history.”
He noted that this is a result of indoctrination by the government, which has repeatedly emphasized the authoritarian framework as beneficial to the economic progress of the country. But in fact, says Mr Jeyaretnam, “Singapore’s growth record is good but not spectacular.”
He raised examples of other countries like Taiwan and South Korea, which were once straggling behind but which are now on par with Singapore in terms of per-capita real incomes and those that were once under the clutches of authoritarianism have become freer comparatively.
“[The] authoritarian framework is clearly no longer beneficial,” he says.
He criticized the economic model for being “outmoded “as it “doesn’t really improve the welfare of the bulk of Singaporeans.”
Furthering that point, he explained that although the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) looked “impressive” , it was however “fuelled globally by an unsustainable growth in US imports” and the “productivity of the workforce first stagnated and then fell sharply.”
Mr Jeyaretnam disapproved of how growth has expanded at the expense of the middle and lower income strata of society as cheap labour was incessantly sought.
He says, “Domestic consumption has been driven down to a level that is on a par with China and countries at a much earlier stage of development.”
This, however, could be improved by reducing the “manifestly excessive” savings rate that “rose to 47% in 2008.”
Future of Opposition
Mr Jeyaretnam holds two diverse views about the road ahead for the opposition. Despite believing that these are “exciting times”, he soberly reminds us that the road is fraught with difficulty as Singaporeans have been conditioned to think “very differently to those who have been brought up in a liberal western democracy.”
To him, the fear that has been imbedded deeply in Singapore’s political culture has made talks on human rights meaningless, for example. Also, the new parliamentary changes were merely “smokes and mirrors” for more gerrymandering, calling the changes “a cheap parlour trick.”
He underscored the need for a democracy to engender the principle of “election not selection” – a popular tagline during the recent Iranian protests.
Fit to stand for Singapore
Mr Jeyaretnam wondered why he was always referred to by the local media as a “‘British-trained economist”. “I wonder why I have never read in the Singapore press, British-trained mathematician prime minister LHL or British trained-lawyer, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew,” he asks. He suspects that such references by the mainstream media here is “to light up a subliminal marker in the people’s minds that a) I’m a foreigner and b) that my economics is suspiciously left-wing because it’s from a country associated with economic failure and the welfare state.”
Giving a brief summary of his education abroad and how he has completed his National Service duties as a Singaporean, Mr Jeyaretnam said, “And I always say that if I’m fit to die for my country then I’m fit to stand for it. I’m not ashamed of being a patriot.”
Mr Jeyaretnam ended his speech by affirming his faith in the people of Singapore. “Throughout all, I maintain my belief in the people of Singapore. We are its greatest resource. We are a uniquely talented and situated nation and we deserve prosperity and emancipation,” he says. “In time we will come to the realisation that these are not mutually exclusive but actually are dependent one upon the other.”
Read Mr Jeyaretnam’s speech in full here.
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Related posts:
- Kenneth Jeyaretnam co-opted into Reform Party CEC
- Breaking News: Chairman of Reform Party resigns, Kenneth Jeyaretnam is new Sec Gen
- Kenneth Jeyaretnam to deliver party’s inaugural National Day message
- Exchange of letters between Kenneth Jeyaretnam and TOC
- Kenneth Jeyaretnam joins TOC’s writing team
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on who to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb.
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/3237/commissiontshirtdesigns.png
Clap Clap Clap! Im looking forward to a great showdown!
Great write up.
Wow ! Seems like we have found ourselves a new leader.
Yes, I have awaken in this recession.
I cannot find my cheese.
I want prosperity.
I want progress.
I want equality.
I want transparency.
I want justice.
Excellent stuff from KJ.
Hope he can attract more talented pros to join his cause…
Time for some political awakening…
Dear Reform Party,
Be careful with what you say. The Economic Strategy Committee (ECS) might steal your idea and claim it as PAP credit. This happened before to SDP years ago
Well said KJ, I also hope Spore deserves people like you.
Emancipation indeed ! No fear to speak the truth, no fear to face the truth.
No more walkovers, no citizen deprived from voting.
His speech truly put the main stream media to shame and prove he is much stronger and better than many pap newbies.
Dear Mr. Kenneth Jeyaretnam,
I salute to you, sir. Indeed what you have said it exactly how I feel now. This country is so foreign to me and I don’t feel at home as I used to be. I really hope that your party will bring changes to Singapore for the better. God bless you and Singapore.
Kenneth looks a bit worried in the photo. Jitters before giving the address? Hahaha, just ribbing the man. Well done sir!
Well done Kenneth, don’t let your father down and more don’t let the true blue singaporeans down. You just have to step out and speak the whole truth, the entire truth that has been well covered up by the govt controlled msm all these years. But take extreme cautions too as politicians around the world are very dirty business too.
PM Lee spoked about not involving politics in the schools of Singapore. So why is that a Singaporean politician from Cambridge desires to enter politics?
Very good question to ask PM Lee. Since he’s always trumpeting about how good our education system is, that it bears socially responisible students, that they are creative. Where leadership is groomed.
Then I think KJ must be one boring and unimaginative individual. See, he is taking up poilitics. This is something PM Lee does want to happen. People with politics in their head. So that they can concentrate on being good super econmical slaves.
Okay, enough sarcasm.
Great Job KJ. *Salute* :)
I’m glad that in KJ, there is new voice in the opposition. (And yes, I’m sure the Singaporean KJ is very different from the northern one… hopefully). Maybe as I want to wax lyrical about JBJ’s eloquence, at last, he was pretty much a loose-cannon, in the true proverbial form (god bless him). Now we have KJ and my hopes have been raised, and then yet befallen, based on the following statements:
“I feel we’re victims of the approved version of history” – When I was young, I wondered why we learnt about Roman and Chinese history in school instead of the Singaporean one. I have still not found out and I hear that Singaporeans are unfortunately both ignorant and disinterested in it. It’s same situation with politics, or political history. It’s hard to fall victim when you vaccinated by disinterest.
“Domestic consumption has been driven down to a level that is on a par with China and countries at a much earlier stage of development” – I’m not into economics, but I can’t understand what is wrong with encouraging a high savings level among Singaporeans. Perhaps KJ can enlighten us on his economic theory. Irrational exuberance, anyone?
“Singaporeans have been conditioned to think “very differently to those who have been brought up in a liberal western democracy.” – I hope he does not prescribe some liberal western democracy just because it’s the vogue thing to do. I don’t think it’s too much to perhaps expect some dose of political innovation from him…. some alternative -ISM.
“Mr Jeyaretnam wondered why he was always referred to by the local media as a “‘British-trained economist” – I also hope he does not wonder so hard about such things. Even if his conspiracy theory is true, I hope KJ “don’t sweat the same stuff”. But remember, we people expect some big stuff from you too.
“In time we will come to the realisation that these are not mutually exclusive but actually are dependent one upon the other” – I wonder if KJ is talking about us depending on him to represent us, or implicitly reminding us where to put the cross (on the voting paper). Patience, Mr KJ. Show us the beef first.
sorry, apologies for the abundance of grammar mistake and broken sentences above – cold fingers and brain due to cold aircon.
And if I may add something about the beef that KJ has to show us – it’s quite flat now, although sizzling just slightly. Zen!
BryanT
In a simplistic way-
Savings are important – however, like many good things, there is such a thing as having too much of it. This means we have to look at what’s good about it and what’s bad.
Bad-
Saving=less income
Every dollar that you spend is a dollar that someone providing a good or service earns. At an aggregate level, saving too much means that goods and services providers earn less. These providers then therefore employ less workers, pay less wages etc. Overall income is reduced.
Good-
Saving=more investment
Savings usually get channeled to investment, through banks and other institutions. Investment here means the ‘conversion’ of money into the provision of goods and services.
This is just to give a flavour of what is good and bad about saving. There are many many wrinkles to the issue, but going too deep into economics is very rarely entertaining.
why he look so sleepy :-)
well said Mr KJ Good luck and continue the struggle
has to trek carefully, since there would be checking his tax filing etc. you never know, singapore is very democractic.
tryathlete,
Thanks for the attempt to explain the downside to savings. I’ll refrain from adding on. Also, I agree with you that “going too deep into economics is very rarely entertaining.” But I still want to here Singapore’s KJ’s economic theory on this.
Coincidentally, Msia’s KJ is from Oxford, and ours is from Cambridge. But one is with the ruling government, the other has gone oppo.
Emancipate your self from mental slavery….non but ourselves can free our minds….’bobby”
Well spoken JBJ Jr….and identifying these markers is a great start….keep it up….will be joining you soon…
The question i have for people who are pro-establishment is this :
do you dare to criticise on the more important or most important issues?
have you?
show it.
else , you mean its perfect?
how about transparency?
no, dun use statistics.
Kudos, K s/o JBJ s/o Spore!
You have given me Hope for Spore! For a while there, all looked bleak in Spore and Australia started to look good… Till KJ came on the scene like Moses returning to free his people from slavery.
Yes, I do feel like a slave, paying $1 plus on public transport to stand all the way to office for 45 mins. In the ole days I paid much less and could count on getting a seat ! Scared of speaking out, afraid to lose my tiny nest-egg, force-fed on a mind-numbing diet of Straits Times reports …
When I asked my friend how he could bear to leave Spore for Canada for good, he stunned me by saying: Is there really that much to give up?
The fear prevading the Island of Spore (so much so that you are better off fishing in Johor as even Sporean fishes dare not open their mouth!) indicates that Sporeans dont even have freedom of thought ! How many Sporeans dare put their full name, address and NRIC No. to the statement : “I dont think that a one party system is good for Spore”? How many people dare to even consider what are their own views on that question? Most Sporeans would rather not think, bury their heads in the sands and watch American Idol!
KJ is a glimmer of hope for a better Spore. But the success of his efforts will be DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to the level of support for him and the Reform Party. So folks, its down to you and me. KJ cannot be a one man show. He can do without the silent applause from invisible, dumb supporters; he can also do without the help of those whose main concern is to ensure that what they do for KJ / Reform Party is below the level of detection.
Ultimately, Sporeans deserve the treatment they get – if we are not brave enough to stand up (with our head held high about the parapet wall) for our beliefs, then we cannot complain about being treated poorly.
A well written post above. Hope KJ does not get sued over & over again like his Dad. As long as the middle-class Sporeans heads are kept above water, they won’t take the risk of joining the ‘losing’ side. Unfortunately the education system has produced masses of followers and conformers. Even professors and post grads minds are set on obeying the ruling party.
KJ , to me at least, impressed me as a REAL Politician potential and not a adminstrator of policies. I mean, he gives me the impression as the REAL McCoy. The real deal. Born to be a politician type. and I mean international standard.
You have arrived at the right time.
Time is on your side, my leader.
I do not vote or support a politician base only on how well his speech is or just
because he is in opposition.Please Kenneth,let us know more about your Reform
party’s platforms and its social engineerings policies.Thank you.Preston.
26) preston loon on July 11th, 2009 11.32 pm
why you so anxious?
With a calibre like KJ, you know singapore can get more than just an administrator.
To me, he is a no-nonsense politician who can debate using his own script, even on the fly he can come up with strong rebuttal. He has his own brain to think.
Just worried what the old man might plan to destroy RP. He is one dirty and sneaky b@stard!
Having seen the “tsunami” next door,the ruling party is losing sleep over a possible”earthquake” here.
Hence, the NMP issue in the media.
This issue is an electioneering strategy of the PAP,meant to lock opposition out of parliament in the coming GE.It’s telling the electorate that Singapore does not need political opposition, and that the PAP can self-police with its political invention of NMPs.
It’s akin to an SGX-listed firm telling SGX that the company requires no external audit,and that the regulatory authority can be assured that its internal audit suffices to ensure that the firm will always keep to the straight and narrow.
Will SGX buy this?
Dare the NMPs question the salaries of ministers in parliement,for example?
Will Singaporeans buy this?
We not stupid.
Yes at least some fresh ideas from this man.
“Large demands on oneself and little demands on others keep resentment at bay” – Chinese Saying
Mariah Carey – Hero [
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVhrIfaPKxw
There’s a hero if you look inside your heart.
You don’t have to be afraid of what you are.
There’s an answer if you reach into your soul
and the sorrow that you know will melt away.
And then a hero comes along
with the strength to carry on
and you cast your fears aside
and you know you can survive.
So, when you feel like hope is gone
look inside you and be strong
and you’ll finally see the truth
that a hero lies in you.
It’s a long road when you face the world alone.
No one reaches out a hand for you to hold.
You can find love if you search within yourself
and the emptiness you felt will disappear.
And then a hero comes along
with the strength to carry on
and you cast your fears aside
and you know you can survive.
So, when you feel like hope is gone
look inside you and be strong
and you’ll finally see the truth
that a hero lies in you.
Lord knows dreams are hard to follow,
But don’t let anyone tear them away.
Hold on, there will be tommorow.
In time you’ll find the way.
And then a hero comes along
with the strength to carry on
and you cast your fears aside
and you know you can survive.
So, when you feel like hope is gone
look inside you and be strong
and you’ll finally see the truth
that a hero lies in you.
That a hero lies in you,
that a hero lies in you.
It would be good to get KJ and TKL into Parliament. I hope more stalwarts of such calibre will come forward in the next few months. There is not much we can expect from the new NMPs — especially those who have started singing the praises of LKY without too much encouragement. These NMPs should have had the political awareness and acumen to know that saka-ing the old man (with public utterances at that) will not earn them credibility with the general populace. Even LKY will have told them that! But of course, ST had to go down that same old tired route. Perhaps, some clever disgruntled ST editor is giving these NMPs the kiss of death.
Whatever, it’s good to have a serious mind like KJ joining the political fray. The development is good for Singapore’s future.
well said KJ! a vote for you if you run in the GE or by-election.
bring a GRC down please!
34) bootlip on July 14th, 2009 8.24 am
bring a GRC down please!
not good enough, just have to bring down 2 GRC, 1 at Tanjong Pagar and the other 1 at AMK, the rest will just die a natural death.
Hi (26) preston loon
“I do not vote or support a politician base only on how well his speech is or just
because he is in opposition.Please Kenneth,let us know more about your Reform party’s platforms and its social engineerings policies.”
Why don’t you direct your question to PAP instead?
I always respect the late JB Jeyaretnam for his fearless fighting spirit. The more PAP tried to suppress him, the more he fought, the more he gained my respect. Glad that his successor did not disappoint us.
We need more people like K Jeyaretnam.
i believe KJ is less confrontative and more articulate, but he is not battles seasoned yet, might be a uphill tasks against teh big machinery
Looks like a lot of posters in TOC knows KJ very well
(38) KopitiamApek,
….and also know PAP “very well”
Hey, is this the same KJ who critiqued Mabubhani’s speech on Singapore being a safe place?
I like this version much better. Well done KJ.
Do we deserve prosperity and a liberal soc?
Depends on ourselves. Whinging alone won’t do it.
41) A Tan
but you have to understand, some only can do that
“Domestic consumption has been driven down to a level that is on a par with China and countries at a much earlier stage of development”
KJ did not elaborate on how domestic consumption had been driven down, tho his mentioning that the savings rate was 47% in 2008 suggests he is referring to the CPF savings plus personal savings.
Leaving CPF aside for the moment, my feel is that personal savings may be slowing. The older generation used to save cos they had seen bad times and there were less developed credit card schemes in their time. The young on the other hand are being lured to spend by peer pressure and easy credit.
Which brings us back to tweaking CPF to improve consumption. For the older workers, they have saved enough in CPF and personal savings so any reductions will not affect them seriously. For the younger workers in the early stages of their careers, it is a dicier proposition. Lowered CPF contributions would mean they have less on retirement. With rising minimum sums, there’s little to withdraw. Which means that they have to save more earlier in their career. Thus we have a catch 22 here. If CPF rate is lowered and the young spends more, they would face a bleak situation when they reach retirement age. They may have to work longer. In fact this is the situation in the more developed countries hit by the recent financial crisis.
“He noted that this is a result of indoctrination by the government, which has repeatedly emphasized the authoritarian framework as beneficial to the economic progress of the country.” – Tng Ying Hui with contribution by Khairulanwar Zaini
In “Hard times for a talent hub” at http://knowledge.insead.edu/Hardtimesforatalenthub090319.cfm?vid=190 , Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, S Iswaran, spoke to INSEAD Knowledge following a closed-door meeting with MBA students at the school’s Asia campus. This may be an example of the “indoctrination by the government”. See excerpts below and tell me if S Iswaran knows what he is talking about.
Knowledge:
Singapore has got this long-term ambition to be a centre for talent but there is a certain amount of resentment here that you see every so often surface in the newspapers — resentment that people are coming in for jobs from overseas. How can you effectively overcome that?
S Iswaran:
Well I think this is an ongoing effort. The concerns of Singaporeans I think are legitimate in the sense that they don’t want to feel that they’re being excluded from opportunities that are being created here. By the same token, many of those opportunities may well not materialise in Singapore if we do not allow a certain flow of talent from abroad into Singapore. So that is the message that we communicate and continue to communicate to the broad mass of Singaporeans.
For them to understand and accept the fact that, by allowing greater porosity if you will for talent to flow into Singapore, we are able to create a larger whole from which Singaporeans and the resident population will also benefit significantly. And that is the key message we are getting across. And I think most Singaporeans accept the logic, although of course from time to time there may be particular experiences that may — at a personal level — that might cause them to rethink that.
Knowledge:
The Prime Minister (Lee Hsien Loong) said in a recent speech to the Foreign Correspondents Association that the government’s protecting Singaporeans first when it comes to jobs. So, in effect, isn’t it like a tap, in that you can basically switch on and off the flow of foreign talent as and when required? And when jobs dry up, the foreigners are sent (home)?
S Iswaran:
Well I think you have to look at the economics of it. In the first instance, why are there members of the workforce in Singapore who have come in from overseas? And usually there are one or two key reasons. One is because we are unable to find a sufficient number of Singaporeans and permanent residents in Singapore who have the particular skillset that is required.
Now if that continues to be the case, whether it’s an upturn or a downturn, then the reality is you need to continue to have that. However, if in a downturn they are able to find more people from the local community who have the talent, then clearly businesses will make their own decisions on how to rebalance, as it were, their workforce composition.
There is another group of foreign workers who are here in Singapore and they are here primarily because there are certain types of jobs which Singaporeans perhaps hitherto have been unwilling to get into them for a variety of reasons. Now in a cycle like this — in a down cycle like this — what might well occur is people recalibrate their expectations and they may be prepared to do things that were previously not prepared to and for different types of compensation packages.
So again it will be the businesses that will have to make the judgment call. Which is why, (as) our Prime Minister has said, we will go out to give as much help as we can to Singaporeans, whether that is in terms of financial assistance, training opportunities and obviously creating as many job opportunities as we can which they can then take advantage of.
But what we are not trying to do is be dirigistic and saying to businesses this is the way it goes in terms of compensation and so on. Clearly we have to maintain a balance and that balance is a dynamic balance. But the businesses will also do their own computations and we are quite confident that they will come to their own conclusions which are in the interests of Singaporeans and Singapore.
There is still a long and dangerous road to go. Once upon a time people felt that JBJ, Tang Liang Hong and the like would save and change singapore, and LKY ruined them all, easily and systematically.
Once upon a time, several years ago, the farmer dramatically killed a few chickens which really scared the other farm aminals. But till today, stories of poor chickens who were killed to set an example and to send a message to other aminals (like conducting public hangings), still circulate round and round. The stories are being kept very much alive and have served their purpose so well that the fear and paralysis remains imprinted and implanted in the psyche of subsequent generations.
Psychological fear is an interesting phenomenon.
It becames sad and tragic when it makes men into mice.