Nominated Member of Parliament, Mr Viswa Sadasivan, made his maiden Parliamentary speech in yesterday’s sitting of the House. He moved a Parliamentary motion in which he urged: “
“That this House reaffirms its commitment to the nation building tenets as enshrined in the National Pledge when debating national policies, especially economic policies.”
You can read the full text of his speech here. Here are some excerpts:
Read our earlier write-up on Mr Viswa’s talk on politics in Singapore: Crisis of leadership in S’pore.
Politics
Accountability requires the government to go beyond lip-service in addressing the call for greater democracy, civil liberties and choices. In the Political arena – a more level playing field especially in the management of elections and media coverage. What is increasingly demanded is fairness and justice, not just in form but substance. Yes, it is ridiculous to expect the incumbent party in government to facilitate the opposition parties to win more seats in Parliament.
But what is asked for is that the government desist from making it difficult in an unfair and undemocratic manner for the opposition to gain success – through last minute changes in electoral boundaries, or a lack of media coverage or what can sometimes be seen as biased coverage. In my view, it is the duty of a responsible government to help evolve a political climate that encourages greater interest and participation from the people. If not, people are likely to feel increasingly alienated and disenfranchised resulting in apathy and, worse, cynicism. I fear this is already happening.
New Media
But thanks to the advent of the internet and new media, there appears to be a resurgence of interest in the people to engage in debate in issues. I sense there is a growing sense of restlessness and even helplessness with what is viewed as a media that is aligned with the government.
Many in this group are now vacillating towards cyberspace, seeking out and contributing contrary viewpoints, often explicitly anti-establishment. This is gaining momentum, given the ubiquitous nature of the internet, and the growing number of net savvy Singaporeans and PRs. While some illuminating and thought provoking ideas are raised in the cyber sites, it is not uncommon to find misinformation and at times, I suspect, even disinformation circulating. The tone can be angry and sometimes downright caustic seasoned with a good doze of vulgarities!
What is giving this new ‘movement’ life and momentum is essentially the perception that the mainstream media tows the government’s line because it is required to. We can sit here and debate whether or not this is true. But for me that is not what is critical. What is important is for us to acknowledge that there is a challenge here – the mainstream media needs to gain greater credibility in the eyes of the people, and must not be seen as functioning to serve the interest of the establishment. The current situation is certainly not healthy for the government or the country as it nurtures a “them versus us” climate that could become unnecessarily adversarial.
Happiness and GDP
[L]et us now evaluate whether our economic policies have resulted in or at least contributed to happiness. GDP has always been a key indicator of economic performance. Our per capita GDP has risen exponentionally over the past 44 years. According to figures from the department of statistics, in Sing dollar and nominal terms, Singapore’s per capita GDP grew from $1, 567 in 1965 to $53, 192 in 2008, certainly one of the highest in the world. Without doubt, this is something we should be proud of and thank the PAP government for.
But when we look closer at what constitutes the GDP, there is cause for concern. According to data, profits take about 46% of Singapore’s GDP, which according to economists I spoke to, is extremely high compared to other developed economies. And from what I understand, half of this high profit share goes to the coffers of foreign-owned companies with operations here. What is left in the GDP pie to directly benefit Singaporeans is therefore a relatively small amount. According to a recent article in the Edge by economist Manu Bhaskaran, and I quote: “…This could be why even though Singapore’s per capita GDP is roughly 11% higher than Hong Kong’s, our per capita consumption is about 21% lower that Hong Kong’s. If we take per capita consumption as a better indicator of welfare, then simply going for high growth per se does not guarantee that we will achieve the best possible welfare outcome for Singaporeans….” Unquote.
Government’s responsibility to the less well-off
Yes, we don’t want to become a welfare state. But what has that got to do with an elected government’s responsibility to provide the basic needs of a small group of citizens who, it has been established, cannot fend for themselves because of illness or disability. The government’s response to calls for increasing Public Assistance grants has been that we should avoid creating a dependency on handouts which in turn could become a disincentive for working for a living. As such, the government’s view has been to provide a very basic level of assistance which will be supplemented by what the community and grassroots organisations can provide. Yes, this is possible, but why should it be an expectation imposed on them, when government does appear to be in a strong enough financial position to provide the necessary assistance directly.
Even if we talk about doubling the Public Assistance for a 4 member family from $950 per month by $1,000 – it would amount to $36 million to benefit 3,000 families or 12,000 needy Singaporeans for a whole year! Our GDP for 2008 was $257 billion and Foreign Reserves officially estimated to be in excess of $250 billion. It is not just about providing for their welfare per se, it is about allowing them a measure of dignity as they struggle with poverty. It is about ensuring their children get good, nutritious meals and a decent level of comfort and security at home to have a decent chance at doing well in school and making it in life. It is a small investment in happiness and dignity for our citizens. I do hope the government will relent on this issue. I am confident that this is something most Singaporeans desire.
Political participation
From the late 1960s there were stringent rules that discouraged active political activism, even participation. Detention of political activists under the ISA and media controls, whether real or perceived, rightful or not, created a climate of fear that inhibited political participation. Over years, in my view, this crystalised into a political culture of apathy and disinterest. This in turn exacerbated an already fragile sense of rootedness and a lack of patriotism. Our senior political leaders have been highlighting the challenges they have been facing in persuading the best and brightest to serve in political leadership, and why salaries had to be significantly high to help them make the decision to come on board. This situation does not augur well for Singapore on many fronts – it poses problems in succession planning, retards socio-political resilience and could result in a brain drain the moment we face a serious enough crisis.
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Picture from Channel NewsAsia.
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Vis was clever to say, I sense.
MM position was.. I insist
If Vis had been more affirmative, he would not have lasted his term
Hi Take2,
I actually wonder if LKY will literally survive his term as MP/MM. His speech is slurred and he looks tired. DIE! DIE! DIE!
hi Oxford Dude,
the countdown clock at City Hall is ticking away….
In the end, Straits Times succumbed to the party line:
Just read the HEADLINE!!!
PAP UPHOLDS PLEDGE IDEALS
19 August 2009. Straits Times.
At least, this exercise has revealed that our parliamentarians ARE DIVIDED on the definition of justice, equality, democracy and accountability. So much for LHL’s reform which he first mooted at the last PAP Annual Conference.
West Coast GRC MP Ho Geok Choo was the ultimate blame-shifter.
In response to NMP Viswa, she said that the unpatriotic sentiments of youths do not reflect the failure of the government in keeping to the tenets of the pledge.
According to her, this situation is a product of passage of time rather than the government’s lack of commitment.
Well said Mr Viswa Sadasivan! It seems that our NMPs are willing to speak out against the PAP government afterall.
Well, I suppose this new article nullifies the previous criticism that our NMPs are nothing but running dogs for the PAP.
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/07/non-partisan-nmps-did-we-miss-something/
Looks like this is one step in the right direction. :)
XiiAoGeNgEnX,
why so happy so fast ? Isn’t Siew speak for the people too ? You means all it takes is just one NMP’s remark and you conclude they speak up for the people ?
Isn’t some MP speak for the people too ?
It is not one or two MP/NMPs that speak up that really matter , it is the majority of them that speak up that really matter.
If you have 2 MPs out of 82 Pappy MP speak up for the people but still majority of MPs vote for whatever their master dish out, will you conclude that on the whole they speak up for people ?
It is the general populace of the MP/NMPs that count not just one or two.
“Looks like this is one step in the right direction.”
It will always be one step in the right direction, today, tomorrow and in the future. Seriously, without the power to vote these NMP can talk all the cow they want because to the Pappy, it is just “noise”.
Anyway, LHL will even agree with you that it is one step in the right direction, always will be. No one will dispute them. Who to say that they are wrong anyway ?
looks like you still need good’o MM Lee to sort’em out. We need more of these debates…
57) Daniel on August 20th, 2009 7.52 am
If you have 2 MPs out of 82 Pappy MP speak up for the people but still majority of MPs vote for whatever their master dish out, will you conclude that on the whole they speak up for people ?
Dear Daniel,
I bring your attention to “http://www.wp.sg/wordpress/2009/03/hota-amendment-bill/”.
In particular, the 3rd last paragraph, where i quote “As such, we do not believe it is wise for Parliament to approve the current provision and leave the compensation framework details to be worked out later administratively. ”
I also bring your attention to http://www.parliament.gov.sg/Publications/votes_11thParl.htm
If you check the votes on the HOTA ammendment, (click on the 24th March 09 article) it says “Mr Christopher De Souza (Member for Holland-Bukit Timah) dissenting; Mdm Halimah Yacob (Member for Jurong), Ms Sylvia Lim (Non-Constituency Member), Mr Low Thia Khiang (Member for Hougang) and Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Member for Jalan Besar) abstaining.”
If the Opposition MPs did not believe that “it is wise for Parliament to approve the current provision”, why then did they abstain from the vote? It’s as good as accepting “whatever their master dish out”.
One of my Oppo friends once told me, “if we wanted silent MPs, we might as well vote PAP. At least we get our lift upgrading!”
@57) Daniel on August 20th, 2009 7.52 am
Agree with Daniel here. A sudden ripple in a sea of apathy and everyone expects a tsuinami.
Lets see how long this Viswa can tahan, I mean hats off to him if this performance is not pre-staged. The previous lot of NMPs and even some newer MPs showed initial sparks of idealism but after a while just fizzle off. Even the current President had a good initial burst of energy if I recall, i.e. lots of camera times here & there when first started.
Anyway, there are stock, non-accounting tactics to deal with such “hyper” members of parliament — just move the OB markers lah (aka OTC case), or prospect of unemployment (aka ex-NMP Siew KH case). A president can get shot down, what is a NMP? Yes, pls don’t expect a tsuinami soon. We are not a nation yet, remember?
This is a poignant reminder of what it means to be Singaporean – I myself have marvelled at how often Singaporeans believe they are better off when in truth, all it takes is a trip overseas to know that our system is far from perfect. I was also suprised to learn that preferential treatment is given to Malays and whatsmore, was declared so overtly – I always knew this to be the case, but honestly, if you were a Malay, dont you feel the least bit insulted that you need “help” and that you cant make it on your own? This also raises the other question of, why only them? What about less privilaged Indians and Chinese?
The issue is not the fact that someone is given special tratment – its that the rich get richer and the poor just vanish before our eyes…we ignore them, we dont think about them, we refuse to acknowldege that Singapore has an elitist class that is riding on the backs of the middle class and lower class
I was recently observing the news regarding president scholars – aside from the fact that there was no minority representation, I noted that most of these kids come form fairly privilaged backgrounds already – they went to the best schools, and had parents who could afford to indulge their every educational needs – I was just wondering what the purpose was of awarding scholarship to individuals who can clearly afford it – why not just give them an award and get them to work for the public service if that is what they feel their calling is? No, they prob will not do it because it is not monetarily worth it – in truth, with the scholarship, they are set for life – they join the elites….
I was also suprised to note that a reputed CEO, who was in charge of one of the largest mining companies in the world, and who has a proven track record, decidedto leave after 5 months. I note his depature with great suspicion, and one can only wonder what he must have seen and/or tried to implement in order to get Temasek in line – and it was also suprising that power is still in the hands of one elite family…
I believe our system is far better than the alternative as we see happening in Myanmar, or even Malaysia, where racial and religious disharmomy was ignored till the event lead to cascade of resentment and violence. However, we are not far off from such resentment destroying the future of Singapore i.e. we will see more and more naturally born SIngaporeans, with talent, leaving because they feel unhappy with the lack of political freedom, given the controlling nature of the PAP as well as the lack of opportunity and transparency. Singapore is bigger than the personal opinions/ideals of MM (who still has a very 60′s mentality) and LHL who want to force her to conform to their opinion
Thus, my dear ministers, if such issues are not discussed and raised, the elites never know what people on the ground are feeling – Thus, thank you NMP Viswa for raising this issue – but know that nothing you say will have any effect as long as the PAP continues with its “old-school” thinking that Singaporeans are incapable of living without their constant intervention – I also agree with some of the members of this forum, in that you are in for 1 term at most, after which it is likely your name will not come up for re-nomination…
I went to Parliament to listen to Viswa’s speech. I hope that his concerns will not be proven right decades down the road. But from the responses of the PAP MPs in Parliament, I fear that we are walking down that road already.
XiiAoGeNgEnX,
“If the Opposition MPs did not believe that “it is wise for Parliament to approve the current provision”, why then did they abstain from the vote? It’s as good as accepting “whatever their master dish out”.”
My answer to you is very simple.
What does one person vote out of 84 votes make any difference ? And what can it show anyway, and will it change anything or mean anything to most sensible people ? The opp party can make all the vote they want, and it is still one vote, okay give 2 votes because CST, and perhaps maybe 2 Pappies MP (etc Lily Neo)
4/84 = 4.76% vote against PAPPY policies (which I see is the best case. Remember all votes of MPs are confidential and with confidentiality give them the discretion for self-interest). Will it worth the hassle and effort to vote then ? Will it achieve any significant objective for opp party anyway ?
So at the end of the day, does it really matter if they vote against the Pappy if it is sure lose ?
The document that you point out do doesn’t imply anything or show anything worthy of significance, it is just show same “business as usual” routine for a vote.
Smart People will only challenge for a vote if it bring concrete result with 50/50 winning chance just like having by-election when MP dies with respect to sentiment on the ground. It will be best to direct resource if only the battle has a chance to win. Fighting a SURE LOSE BATTLE is still “as good as accepting “whatever their master dish out”.
So if you ever ask isn’t Dr Chee stupid enough to challenge the pappy when he is sure to lose. My answer is that Dr chee’s objective to create awareness and publicity of Pappy’s oppression, and he did achieve his objectives well in the internet, and for that he did not lose. He did win very big because when the old fart pass away, you can be sure that future book written on Singapore politics will mention Dr Chee than rest of current opp party due to his unprecedented sacrifice.
No doubt each opp party has its own strategy but the one that differentiate itself by not playing with a “sure-kena-eaten” rule will be remembered in history more.
XiiAoGeNgEnX,
if you agree that our parliament is a joke in term of pappy generally giving nonsense, insult people’s intelligence and “MOVING ON”, I do not see why we should take the parliament and their document seriously anyway.
Well-said Viswa.
folks, u all think so simplistically huh?
M_M side stepped all other issues and push towards portraying Sadasivan trying to take away Malay previleges. The paper supported this today!
The MPs should be the raising all these issues instead – and they aren’t
If NMP adds value, it means the MPs are “sleeping”. Please try to dis-prove my theory.
If MPs are “voicing” out singaporeans’ concern, then you don’t need NMP to do it. If NMP is voicing out singaporeans’ concerns, then the MPs are practically a “useless” lot.
True blue Singaporean should be asking why the MPs they voted into the parliment are not doing their job? – BTW, these MPs are not free or cheap.
[i]58) koyomin on August 20th, 2009 8.13 am
looks like you still need good’o MM Lee to sort’em out. We need more of these debates…
[/i]
is this true
rumoured that everytime the prime minister take a leak the ole man had to hold his pants.is this the way the ole man debate to the prime minister on a 4 eyes meetin?
Referring to #2, Mr Cynical James,
Quote
Yes – most of us, the educated bunch who is getting older and wiser, can now see through the mist and know the truth. We get disillusioned, unfair, cynical and angry with the local politics. The level playing field for politics is honestly worst than Malaysis and Indonesia, which we keep calling them third world. The third world democracy is more democractic than Singapore, and that is an insult. We, Singaporeans are now matured and wiser, we are not hooligans or rioters, so there is no need for an authoritarian gov to guide us.
Un-quote
This is well said.
The pap knows this well and they are particularly fearful of losing in a fully contested GE.
So they use plots.such as GRC as early as 1984. ( That is our MM’s brain child, he has foresights but use it for self benefits
GRC brings the Malay votes to pap
GRC brings in un-winnable candidates to Parliament from back-door, some are appointed as Minister later, such as Mah Bow Tan, these ministers are unable to convince voters as candidates, how would they bother to convince citizen once they have the POWER in hands ?
Tharma is no exception, he is PM Lee’s close confidant, a defender for the secrecy of Temasek’s operation, but he has not forgotten or simply ignore, the sources of fund that Temasek used to invest and lost big time , is from the people of Singapore.
pap won’t let loose the control, for they don’t only got 28% of all eligible votes in 2006 GE, a minority govt acting to resist majority’s will.
The SPH is a mouth piece of govt, they monopolized the local press, will they open to competition and independent views ? They WILL NEVER.
thats it, lee kuan yew’s gonna lock this person up..
everybody around the world knows he’s good at that-
he so afraid of democracy.
To my point of view, why are the chinese dominating singapore in the first place, for it belongs to the malays?? and why are the malays letting this happen??
sent this immigrants back!
yes i strongly agree! why china nationality have to be here?
@ 73 and 74
It is sad to see people still associating a race to any particular country. you see, that’s the problem, no land belong to any one single race, aren’t we all Singaporeans?
Imagine if every one country has only ONE single race each. by now we really have to learn to tolerate with each other even if we’re not treated that way.
I myself am a malay, yes there are times I’ve been discriminated or seen my race being discriminated by others. but that is not going to deter me from anything within my reach. eg. I can’t get a job because I don’t speak mandarin or even because of the fact I am malay? so what, I rather not work with people like that.
And to answer your question, what to you expect the malays to do? start hating the chinese and ask them to “go back to china?” who am I to do and say that, like me, they are Singaporean too.
Generally I would like to believe that we are tolerant towards one another, yes there are exception, but think about it, there’s only so much hate ne could have in his/her heart.
What are the rest of newly elected NMP and NCMP doing ? Aren’t they going do the right thing after Viswa Sadasivan ? What are they waiting for ? They should stay together and speak up to give MM Lee another potential heart attack. This is the finest hour.
NMP, and NCMP, please go and prove your worth. Oh, I forget, some NMP did voice their admire for MM Lee ! That explains it all.
we speaking up as not to put a question not for malays or any races to answer to it as the one should answer it is the goverment itself. well speaking of tolerate, how about we just sit and tolerate with terrorist and maybe work along with them or just go our own way if we don’t like them and let them do what they want?could we singaporean and other nation tolerate this? definately we or the goverment have to do our part and thier part to protect our country and to safe guard our interest and the land that we are living in. so would you just say as to just tolerate and just give in to china nationality or any foreigner by letting them in as much as the goverment could and not knowing what effect would be falling on we singaporean?let say and it is already happen, lots of company offers lower wages to china and foreign national then to singaporean.making it jobs available more to foreigner then to singaporean as a reason singapore too choosy, stop this reason! we are not choosy or lazy, with the high living standard for us singaporean what would we do with the pay equalvalent to china national?working for long hours with lower wages but it benefit them in thier country well for us where would it benefit us?we are not against the china national for working and earning a living here but there is a limit to how many of them could be employed and for god sake in this world not only singapore is the only land that they have to jump in the whole bunch of them here and worst still bringing the family here even with lower wages their family was approved to get dependant pass to reside here. as we stand in ica and we did our survey to our shock how many of china national,vietnamese national and so on was help by the writers to write in permanent resident applications. how big is singapore to stuff all of them in?? well..we had notice our own singaporean gave up their citizens and goes abroad to live else where. no doubt its not a big numbers of singaporean but soon it will be. as we singaporean feel that there is no more space for us here as in opportunity and future that we can see upon and goverment we can rely on. we strongly suggest the goverment to look upon this and this is nothing new that we singaporean need to voice up we are sure the goverment knew more then what we had imagine and what we are facing and still it is in their hand as long we singaporean vote for them and if we had close our heart to them then we shall not put anymore hopes and not to continue our support for them. thanks again for hearing us as we are not against any races here of our singaporean and we would are happy that everyone speaks for they rights. god bless singapore
I really didn’t understand what our Minister Mentor was upset about. I think Viswa called it like it was and spoke like a true Singaporean. I was more disappointed that the traditional media did not balance the coverage and allow people to understand the issue. Again, things have been taken out of context. We need to grow up and be more progressive and accepting.
Frankly, whenever I read about critical comments by irrational, uninformed, grammatically-challenged Singaporeans I feel a great sense of anger, embarrassment and curiosity.
Have these disgruntled folks followed the U.S. election for the last couple of years? I did. One of the lessons I drew from that long drawn out display of political pandering is that Singapore is, interestingly, as close as it can get to heaven here on earth. I arrive at this conclusion because I realise that an individual, or a peoples for that matter, cannot expect a perfect solution to every issue. Whenever one thinks that they were hard done by in this country, I would urge them to cast their eyes further around the globe.
You may not accept what I say here but I believe the near one million foreigners in Singapore will agree with me. They have experienced other realities around the world. They like what we have here.
By the way, I am of the opinion that not every Singaporean deserves a vote.
Rod, Singapore is heaven on earth? LOL! I disagree because for one thing, it’s bloody hot! LOL! Heaven shouldn’t be this not, no?
Maybe you should read this: http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/08/patriotism-and-gratitude-require-reciprocity/
And this: http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/08/be-thankful-to-canada-mr-brooks/
And I know many S’poreans who’ve left and who’ve found bliss in other countries. I think you’re one of those who infest MM Lee’s Facebook fan group with post all those gut-wrenching, boot-licking, wallowing-at-MM Lee’s feet groupies.
LOL!
hi Rod,
how close to perfection is it here in S’pore?
how does one decide who deserves to vote? what is the list of criteria based on?
Mr. Viswa, you don’t have enough data & analysis (end-result is excuse). You prepared your speech in a rhetorical manner. You can hear better for the citizens’ voice, because no voice coming out from investors for the timebeing. You have a lot of excellent prologues to back-up the one of your main idea rather than strategic and analytical planning for growth. You set an example of current changes in Singapore that were forbidden before (i.e. F1 GrandPrix, IRs, public protest, etc), leading the people that the old ways were not always right (you might be right, but what if you were wrong). But have you thought about why MM and MPs let these knew ideas came and implemented here, because they knew that this country needs changes too. Majority of MPs can think and propose changes too. Hmmmmm Have you spent enough time to mingle and converse with the local and foreign investor before? you will hear one of their major needs is additional foreign talents to fill the jobs. The problem is, year of economic CRISIS, citizens naturally start to whine about foreigners (the job that must be ought for citizens in time of crisis). This whining citizens are no longer minority, they are now majority because they have big voice and economic crisis. But you hardly hear from satisfied people to complain. Most of this satisfied people were local and foreign employers, that keep citizen employed too. Complaint is naturally expected, thus, MPs approved the revision of the distinction between PR and citizen. But citizens feel this action seems not enough. I am worry and hope this will not contribute negative impact in years to come, then more foreign talents reluctant to live and work here in the future. Right now, you can feel it, not much foreign talents nowadays, I’am seeing more AVERAGE/MEDIOCRE foreign people here in Singapore. Majority of foreign talented people preferred to live and work in Canada, Australia, UK, US and Europe instead. The worst fact is, even some Singaporeans preferred to live, work and spend the rest of their lives in much bigger space like Australia, China, Malaysia and India. Basically, the point here is, gather more data & facts before putting it into rhetorical, flowery and bombastic speech.
Hmmmm, Mr. Viswa, don’t worry, you can be right in the future, Experimenting the government policy for major change is very risky, but change for improvement and protection must be done, that’s why majority of MPs are carefully examining the need for change, in a very careful, consequential and analytical approach. Perhaps there is a need to gather informations thru an informal interchange of thoughts with MM and Majority of MPs.
N.B. If you play statistics, your data is very informative.
@77) Rod on August 21st, 2009 12.24 am
“…By the way, I am of the opinion that not every Singaporean deserves a vote….”
Clearly, this person is one of the 66% mandated PAP voter. In fact 44% of total voters got walkovered, so I guess those are the “minority” that don’t deserve a vote. I bet all those that skived out of NS, or those that didn’t lose money in the Minibonds, or are too choosy to take the “abundant” low-paying jobs, are all in that 44%. Rod must have been a REMF during NS to think everything here is heaven. Ever been on 50% C-rations for 2+ years? U really freaked out seeing sardines!
Does this person knows why there is even “near one million” foreigners in Singapore? Never heard of grow-at-all-cost policy? Missing 20′s, 30′s & 40′s due to the Stop-at-2 policy between 1960s-1980s? Brain deficient or what?
MM Lee previously mentioned that we are lucky if 3 out of 10 FTs stayed in Spore. So, about 700,000 foreigners actually don’t agree with our “…irrational, uninformed, grammatically-challenged…” Rod.
80) Manager on August 21st, 2009 1.58 am
44% walkovers, 17% opposition, 5% invalid and ONLY 34% PAP, but translated to 98% parliament seats. Is this statistics? Informative?
Hey guys, go read his speech and think. He is talking crap lah. Just read his speech. It is like watching 3 movies at the sametime. No focus. I think he gotten many of the points from the internet. Yet never said anything in concrete. He will spoil the name for us. If he carries on like that, he is going to be another empty vessel and a very big one.
guys if you say that viswa’s message were’nt concrete and aint focus enuff,…
then why the hell did it scare the hell out of ol’daddy till he had to confront the parliment(which is rare), looking beaten while giving his excuses??
coz he himself knew the flaw, worst, people have started voicing it now
Hi Rod #77,
Are you Xu Kaxian from the Pasir Ris West Branch of PAP?
do not forget that Singapore is what it is today because of the superlative efforts of ordinary folks who toiled and worked hard to lift themselves out of nothing collectively over a few decades. The samsui women, the Nanyang diehards, factory operators, 1 SIR, SIA, NOL, bus drivers – these are the REAL pioneers. I am afraid this happens once in a lifetime, our present lot does not have the x-factor attributes of the pioneers. To the establishment, Sadasivan may be a non-PAP dissident, but at least he is a Singaporean who is courageous.
May the force be with him!
Rod,
Have you lived your life abroad to adequately comment on the damn difference in quality of life between those places and Singapore?
Don’t assume too much man
Good point.
I like what lisk says. Our forefathers worked hard!
Rod,
“Frankly, whenever I read about critical comments by irrational, uninformed, grammatically-challenged Singaporeans I feel a great sense of anger, embarrassment and curiosity.”
I thought we are the one that appropiately should make the above statement to you instead of from you.
What you have written is just garbage. Just because you are not happy with USA’s election and you feel that Singapore’s level of political pandering is less worse than USA then it is okay for Singaporean to be content with the injustice. Political pandering is still political pandering no matter what it is and we should not tolerate it.
“. Whenever one thinks that they were hard done by in this country, I would urge them to cast their eyes further around the globe.”
Yes, we have already look further. We look at good side of those countries we can learn from not those negative side. (like poverty and starvation of Burmaese etc). By the way, why are comparing negative country with Singapore that strive for swiss standard of living ? Are you in the right frequency ?
“They have experienced other realities around the world.”
What make you think that none of us here have experienced other realities around the world ? Yes, some of us experienced better realities because we choose to live and work in foreign country that offer much better condition than those negative country than you refer to.
“By the way, I am of the opinion that not every Singaporean deserves a vote.”
In the same way, I (and I’m sure many here do) am of the opinion that not every commenter deserves a comment in TOC especially comment of your calibre.
Heh Rod @ 77),
I agree with you that not every singaporean deserves a vote.
Especially those who keep voting again and again for PAP members who never admit to mistakes nor learn from such mistakes, ain’t this the truth ?
those who keep voting for pap over and over again and not knowing how deep they are digging their grave,well yes singapore has change for better and for who?? for us singaporean?for the pioneers who work their sweat and blood for singapore?? what are singapore now?? another las vegas or part of china land?? or mainly for tourist attraction?? so we work hard to give those sweat and blood for goverment pleasure and for entertainment??for goverment to build and give foreign nation a good life and better place to live?? and speaking of foreigner country we believe every country has it’s up and down but for singapore we always face the down part mostly rather then the up ones. take a look at some country where their own nation goes on riot due to extreme pressure and hard life they had to go through and not being treated fairly and working hard and doesn’t get a piece of it rather was told to work hard more and improve skills to work even harder just like singapore. work harder and harder and harder and what does really the goverment is giving us? tax increment?gst increment? sp increment?transportation increment?then all the money goes for their building of entertainments for foreign and roll back the big cash to them?they are giving us progress package and work fair bonus of just a few hundreds and not even a year they increase all the living cost taking more then what they give. this is enough! as every election they will bait us with package and hook up as many as possible to win overall vote and thereafter we will be thrown back to the ground to work even harder. is winning that’s the goverment thinking of? is that what they want? if that what they want then winning is all they care for! not we singaporean! and we had to work double the time and even for most of singaporean carries two job just to live a life just enough for the family ends meet. do we call ourselve singapore or let say this way,do we call ourselve human first of all. no!! we are just plain robots that a slave to the goverment as it doesn’t make any differrents the time of japanese controlling here.the only differents is we are not torture physically but internally and mentally. how long must this be going on?another few decades for the goverment to rest down and say.. ”well singaporean here is the time you people enjoy the fruits of your hard work and for being devoted and keep voting for us (goverment) and here we share and will give each of every singaporean a helping hands and a better life for you singaporean had gave all the hard work for singapore to grow.will they say this? we would say fat hope!! they will instead say they more you work the more we goverment will grow the more singapore will be a palace for foreigners and you singapore just keep working and please work more.thanks and please vote for us again.
what we can say. singapore goverment is just full of crabs and the goverment had to stop this monopoly games and start to think of his own nation and take a closer look at what is going on and maybe they already know it deep inside and just keep going just because most singaporean had just keep their mouth shut.
yes singapore do have law and those who feel being treated unfairly will happen to riots will be put behind bars.why need to put force behind us?? that means they know how dirty the ground is and had to prepare the force not against foreign country but for us singaporeans. but as singaporean please do not under estimate us,we do not want riots in our own country within we singaporean and foreigners and against races or so on but instead we will just ignore the goverment and stop voting for the next ones and so on. year by year.we will stop thinking of the goverment if the goverment is not thinking of us!
Hello (55) Oxford Dude on August 20th, 2009 3.38 am.
Are you sure West Coast GRC MP Ho Geok Choo really said … “that the unpatriotic sentiments of youths is a product of passage of time …” If this statement is correct then,
** the most unpatriotic people will be Mainland Chinese with 5,000 years of history
** I think USA or Australia are not patriotic too bec they are old 200+ years of history
** 44 years are enough to wane of patriotism
Dear NMP Viswa Sadasivan.
Wow, you sound like Obama! My heart is warmed.
Make no mistake about this … I am a Chinese, but this speech by a fellow Indian friend really warms my heart. I feet heart beat in this speech. Singaporean is matured, it does not mean whether you are Malay or Indian, if you make sense and have a heart, we are for you.
Rod,
Wow, your english is so good and elegant for a foreigner. So ? Big deal ? Go and write for PAP Shitty Times then and stop giving your comment here since no one here is going to appreciate your wonderful substanceless English here.
What’s good about having a good command of English when the brain grow on the ass ? When you can’t even understand what happen in Singapore, no amount of good English can make up for that.
The more you articulate, the more we think you are a dork. Who are the “we” ? Go figure out.
I think I may need to help the gravely aggrieved a little bit. They were not able to understand what I was saying in 77).
The key point in my earlier comment in 77) is this sentence “I arrive at this conclusion because I realise that an individual, or a peoples for that matter, CANNOT EXPECT A PERFECT SOLUTION TO EVERY ISSUE.”
In other words, life is not perfect but with all things considered Singapore is one of the best places on Earth is SO MANY WAYS and IN ITS OWN WAYS.
Smile people. Be happy. Relax.
You were lucky to be born on to this tiny island on Earth with opportunities you clearly do not deserve but have now taken them to be a right and demanding more without fully understanding what is it you are really demanding.
By the way, we need to bring back the Speak Good English campaign. When Formula 1 comes next month, please close your mouths. Do not embarrass Singapore. In my eyes, that will almost be patriotic.
I really didnt want to have to post on this thread again, but I suppose the last few comments have been rather disturbing.
98) Rod on August 22nd, 2009 5.01 pm
Politically, I’m a centre-right, and I think your extreme-right views are rather disturbing. It scares me to know that there are Singaporeans who are against the notion of universal suffrage. (The right for everyone to vote) We are a democractic society, and the right to vote is fundamental and inviolable.
And before the extreme-left starts to scream that some Singaporeans have not voted during the previous elections, I would qualify my statement by saying that we have the right to vote, but sometimes we do not have the OPPORTUNITY to vote. ie walkovers. The onus of giving Singaporeans the OPPORTUNITY to vote falls on the Opposition. Contrary to popular belief, the number of walkovers has got nothing to do with the PAP, but rather, depends on the number of Opposition figures contesting (or in most cases, not contesting)
While I might agree that not everyone has the capacity to make the most informed decision when it comes to voting, it does NOT mean that we can take that right away from them.
Rod
“Having a poor command of the language suggests that he/she did not or was not able to attain a high level of education which would likely prevent him/her from getting the types of jobs with salaries that are of a higher pay scale. Being on the ‘lower end’ of society may foster that sense of grievance.”
You have a rather narrow world view, I must say. Grandiloquence only impresses the impressionable. It’s the cogency of one’s argument that counts. When you understand autodidactism, you would then realize how seemingly uneducated individuals were able to contribute greatly to the advancement of our civilization. Einstein wasn’t the most eloquent of speakers. A dissection of his brain after his death would later corroborate with this fact. But you’re not going to deny his place in the pantheon of academics, are you? And what’s this talk about being on the lower end of society? Are you saying that anyone who has a strong grasp of the English language in Singapore will be ostensibly richer than those at the bottom strata? I would dearly love to see the statistics on that. In the meantime, I suggest you ditch the superficial slant in your thinking and scrutinize the matters at hand before passing unsubstantiated judgement on them.
so this is it? a good english and up they go? maybe they got to take that to their own country and see what kind of job given to them rather then trying to out smart singaporean here. talk about speaking good english,well..how can it be explain that a china worker with a crack up english who only understand and can speak.”yes” ”no” being hired as a site safety supervisor! earning $1800 a mth just by going around and take a look but hardly can communicate with most of the worker. but that is ok with the company and that’s ok with the goverment coz china! does it put the rest of the workers in more danger and lack of safe advice by having this kind of china safety supervisor around and not knowing the danger the company face and still he is being paid $1800 just like that!! we had seen this guy and his pay and we hardly can ask him as he doesn’t understand english at all!! then singaporean having a safety certificate and qualified for that job whose application was rejected!! what does this says!!?? not one but already lots of this happening in singapore and here we singaporeans lack of job opportunity. look around singapore,coffee shop,factory,hotels,shipyard and more.all are 90% taken up by foreigners mainly china workers.what we singaporean left is a job as cleaner,security and that’s it. or maybe trashing tin can along the road side just to earn.what are we actually? foreigners or we call ourself singaporean?