Khairulanwar Zaini
How do you reassure a jittery nation to remain trusting, mollify an insecure populace that is increasingly vocal while sounding a note of sombre caution of unforeseen valleys ahead?
Bank on truisms and leave much unsaid, as Prime Minster Lee Hsien Loong did in his fourth National Day Message. His awkward hand gestures were probably the most novel element of the speech.
His speech began with an assessment of the local economy ravaged by a global recession, before claiming credit for alleviating the intensity of the downturn.
Not as bad as it could have been
The Job Credit Scheme was mentioned in tandem with other measures taken to mitigate the effects of the crisis. Purported as a novel measure when first introduced, it was designed to keep employees on the payroll by a de facto government wage subsidy.
What Mr Lee avoided to mention was whether the outlay commensurate with the number of jobs saved. It is a truism that spending money can reduce the magnitude of the problem; however, standing at $4.5 billion, the JCS is an expensive truism.
In May, CIMB-GK research head Kenneth Ng described the handout as helpful, ‘but only very marginally’. SATS provides an illustration of the scheme’s efficacy: without the $12.3 million grant, its ‘operating profit would have remained flat’. (>)
Hence, the government’s maiden raid of the sacred reserve was then to effectively ensure that one firm could post an operating profit which was higher than the year before.
And if the hallmark of economic salvation lies in reserve-dipping exercises to fund schemes such as the JCS and the Special Risk Saving Initiative, the government’s economic acumen leaves much to desired.
The JCS was borne as a temporary expedient – one that incurs too much costs to be viable. The lack of a new and sustainable policy is a mockery to the assembled wealth of technocratic talents in the Cabinet.
As far back as 1994, Paul Krugman warned that ‘all of Singapore’s growth can be explained by increases in measured inputs. There is no sign at all of increased efficiency’.
Krugman’s assertion is not only prescient, but worrying: it indicates that the government has nothing new to offer, but only more of the same.
Ministers expounding the critical importance of foreign talent are defending a high-input growth model that has become inadequate, instead of focusing on the falling productivity standards and encouraging innovation.
Even the recourse to an Economic Strategies Committee is all too familiar. It is to the government’s credit however that the private sector is involved – in a bid to ‘gather the best ideas’. It is a tacit admission that the government neither has a monopoly on knowledge, nor is always capable of providing the best answers.
All’s thunsaid
And nowhere is this more evident than in its management of the sovereign wealth funds. Temasek Holdings has been plagued with financial and recruitment imbroglios; these issues still fester in the public consciousness, yet Mr Lee made no mention to it.
Temasek is that impenetrable enigma of elitist hubris that underwhelms as it fails to deliver the lofty expectations, and is an encapsulation of a Singapore that most of its citizens can’t identify with.
That does not stop Mr Lee from lauding our progress into nationhood.
Employing the crises narrative, this economic predicament becomes just another challenge in a long-running series of obstacles.
Mr Lee reminded Singaporeans that ‘each time we were challenged, we responded as one, everyone pulling together and working for the common good. We are doing this again in this crisis. Everyone of us – government and people, employers and unions – is working together’. Implicit in this statement is the benevolence guidance that the PAP has provided before, and will continue to provide.
This elucidates the rhetoric of ‘so long as you make the effort and do your best, the rest of us will help you through’ and of the ‘opportunity to strengthen our social compact’; the speech is essentially an appeal to return to the classic social contract of government hegemony and passive citizenry to provide for economic security.
This is hardly a new vision for Singapore. In 1959, the PAP were a force that was, for better or worse, progressive and revolutionizing. A half century later, it sadly embodies a flaccid staleness.
Moral Lea/strong>
Perhaps Mr Lee could be credited for trying to shore up the flagging national spirit. Reminding the layman that ‘the community and the country are behind him’ and calling on people to ‘stand shoulder-to-shoulder, whether it rains or shine’ are inspiring sentiments, but moral encouragement sounds hollow without moral leadership.
When Public Assistance recipients are only entitled to an inadequate monthly payout of $290, and fare and utilities hikes have become a mind-numbing norm, ministers drawing millions and civil servants on lavish French cooking holidays present an anomalous politerati that is far removed and alienated from the general populace.
This disconnect is particularly more pressing when academic studies and statistics have shown that social mobility in Singapore may be hampered by distortions to the meritocratic ideal. Advancement is not only purely predicated upon talent, but increasingly involves socio-economic status, personal connections and patronage.
While ‘unity is key to our success’, it remains to be seen how far united Singapore can be with rising income inequality. So, while Mr Lee cheers the nation on, the nation would surely be cheered if he, at the very least, effects significant reductions to ministerial pay.
Leadership in Singapore seems to be preeminently concerned with the leaders themselves, instead of the people they serve. The concept of servant leadership does not fit well into the idea of a corporatist state, but if Mr Lee really wanted to empathize with the plight of the ordinary Singaporean, it wouldn’t be a bad principle to follow.
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How does 1 know if something has effect when there is no basis for comparison?
get the drift , intellectuals (or so u think u are)?
how can it be proven it really saved jobs?
it also incur huge costs.
When our economy suffers, it is because of US, China, economy is also suffering. Our performance is linked to the big countries due to our trade with them. etc. etc.. Now when things are brighter in US and in other countries, PAP is saying that Singapore’s economy has recovered because of their JCS…
Give us a break, PAP. Stop lauding yourself and come down your high horses. You all will fall surely as pride comes before a fall.
Hi, I’m afraid I’m not too well-versed in politics and economics, so please pardon my errors and correct me accordingly. Thanks! =)
I also felt that this speech was rather hollow and empty as it did not touch on the more pertinent issues which I believed many people would have preferred. Like what TS said, Temasek was sidestepped entirely. In light of its recent BILLIONS of losses and the shady Goodyear issue, I think the govt owes us some form of accounting or explanation!
Put it this way: leaders must always be in touch with their followers. How can they expect us to close ranks and follow them almost blindly when we are kept in the dark about so many things? People have a need and a right to know what is going on, especially when another person(s) claims to know the way and volunteers to lead us. Unanswered queries will only create a bigger rift between the govt and the general populace. Perhaps that is what we really want: accountability, and the knowledge of what goes on. Some may argue that knowledge is dangerous, but sometimes this is exactly what we need as a form of closure. Otherwise, how can we be expected to just forget things and “move on” as we are so often exhorted to do?
Another point about moral leadership and ministerial pay, as TS has mentioned. Yes, such altruistic notions as servant leadership are often impractical and unrealistic given our corporatist and capitalist state. Let’s also not forget that human nature comes into play too: who would refuse a chance to earn millions every year? I know I wouldn’t! =P but come on, it is a pathetic excuse to just chalk everything up to “human nature” and allow inequality to persist. We are all thinking beings with free will, and a generic set of moral values which (I’m sure) emphasises altruism at some point. Why can’t we rise above our egocentric human nature and do what is right? Truly serve the society and hence weild the power to lead it?
Here’s hoping the govt reflects on their actions and future plans. It is time for them to be more connected to us. Since not all of us can reach them due to socio-economic inequalities, they have to take the initiative to reach out to us as well. Govt, we are watching you!
Our PM and his team has lost touch with the people. Sad to see that.
So there’s nothing left to deliver huh? No solutions in sight, I’m afraid… so just talk about everything else except what the people are expecting to hear..Huh!
Zaini – excellent commentary.
Your observation that “In 1959, the PAP were a force that was, for better or worse, progressive and revolutionizing. A half century later, it sadly embodies a flaccid staleness.” is spot-on! The current lot of Ministers seem devoid of ideas and talent – quite out of their depths. Problem is, in drowning they will probably drag everyone else under.
PM Lee is not a natural speaker, but when he tries to be one with the newly coached body language & hand gesture, it looks very stiff & awful. He should just be himself. Like Woody, it is better that he speaks the way he does instead of trying to be somebody else after Lau Lee called him “Woody” in the way he presents many years ago. Lesson for PM Lee, advice from me, free one, hoho.
LHL, please talk less and ACTION more.
All talk, no substance. How to believe? And still pay this guy so much. Jia lat.
“A Credible Response” is here again! :) But as someone who does not believe in the PAP, it would be hard pressed for me to defend it without sounding nonsensical, so this will be brief and focus just on the questions.
1) The title itself should have been “PAP government” at best. I know that may sound like nitpicking on technicalities, but there is a slight difference between a party and the type of government provided by that party. If we believe the PAP and government should be separate yet not take it that way ourselves, it is going into a self-fulfilling prophecy. The PAP government would say: “See, even our critics take the PAP and government as one.”
2) After that, it should criticise that the party itself did not come up with a message unlike other parties, therefore the PAP either does not separate PAP and government or deem the party as a ruling party is not important enough to release a message on its own.
3) There is no evidence that the populace is “increasingly vocal”. In the past, people were already gathering at coffeeshops to complain about the government. It’s just that with the internet these days, these complaints are more publicly accessible.
4) Temasek is at the worst shape ever in nearly all aspects and everyone knows that. To raise this does not do justice to a message that attempts to motivate the people, be in under optimistic or sombre conditions, especially when the writer prefers something more positive. I am not saying that Temasek is not important but it should be left to another place and another time, for example, in Parliament recently or during elections, not in a ND message.
5) A large part of it became criticising the PAP government itself rather than just stick to this government’s/PM’s particular message and while this is to tie it with the actual contradictory conditions of its governance which I agree, but if overdone, the critique can become very long and never-ending.
(Can’t resist saying that I totally agree on the part on Jobs Credits, very well articulated.)
i am sorry die-hard singaporen but need to add a bit in…when all of us are drag down…those elite will have life-jackets [millions in their pockets] to start new lifes elsewhere : ( …for us drowned & not good enough for singaporeans even though we are citizens…tada tada da da daaaaa…we ask for it.
Pm Lee can never be a natural speaker. Natural speakers are sincere in what they are saying. Speech & body language will unfold naturally and charismatically when one is sincere. But when one comes with the notion that anything he/she is going to say will be ‘bought’ by the masses then….too bad lor!
What can I say? No amount of Oxford Education can help!
PAP is a joke and so is LKY. Laugh them off and let’s move on.
YOU KNOW YOU’RE A FRUSTRATED HUMAN IN SINGAPORE WHEN:
1 You are watching TTN (The Tourism Network) for ideas about what to do in Singapore and laugh about how the cultural section gets approximately 15 seconds airplay before they spend the next 30 minutes urging you to go shopping and eat.
2 You go out and realise that TTN goes on and on about shopping and eating because really that’s all anyone ever does. It’s a hell of a way to prop up an economy.
3 You are frustrated because the shopping is actually no cheaper than you can get back home, and all in all a little disappointing.
4 The food, while there is lots of it at hawker centres everywhere and Singaporeans pride themselves on it, is seriously overrated.
5 The eating, so famed by Singapore, is, for your average Australian, resident of San Francisco, New York, South of France etc I could go on, seriously average. Food courts and hawker centres continue to serve up meals that underwhelm. It’s like eating in the foodcourt of your most dirty shopping centre every day, full with people who chew with their mouths open and audibly suck in snot balls. Yuk really.
6 So you decide to do what you do back home a few times a week or more, go out for dinner. You quickly realise, to get a nice meal out with tablecloths will cost you a bomb.
7 To go out to a restaurant (to get a table cloth and wine glasses) you’ll be paying at least $30-95 Sing dollars for a main course and $60-$OMG for a bottle of cheap wine you buy at home for $7 and wouldn’t serve to your inlaws. Get real people.
8 And don’t forget the plus plus. It’s the final insult you always forget about. Take me back to Melbourne somebody!
9 For a country who considers itself so advanced, what the hell are you doing wrapping everything in plastic? Magazines in plastic, books in plastic, hey, I go to the bakery and unless I specify NO PLASTIC, I will get one bag for each item, then these little plastic bags will go inside more carry bags. On that note, try asking for no bag. It will take you two or three goes, because they just don’t get it.
10 Once you’ve been here for about, hmmmm, one day, you swear every Singaporean has had a full lobotomy and spend the rest of the time trying to be decent, patient human being, convincing yourself that no, they can’t all be like this. There must be someone with a brain out there… when no, it’s happened again. AAARGH!!! INCOMPETENCE. RIFE. EVERYWHERE. HELP.
11 You read in the local paper that the international school debating team blew the local Singaporean debating team out of the water, approximately 140-30. What was that? You expect me to express an opinion or respond to a question all on my own? Am I allowed to say something negative? Why don’t you just tell me what to say and think? It’d be a lot easier. Do local Singaporeans think this is a problem, or is this the way prime minister Lee likes his people?
12 Try asking a question of your friendly sales assistant, waiter, employee, I dare you. You will either be met with a blank stare, or they will find someone else, who will find someone else, who will ask the manager, who brings everyone over to see what the problem is. Repeat.
13 You encounter the other extreme often, where sales assistants walk up to you and stare. If you ask a question, you know they will not be able to help you. So do what I do and simply try staring back. I like this game.
14 You have just used sarcasm. You have been met with a blank stare or fake laughter. They just don’t get it.
15 After you have visited the manky theme park Sentosa for about 30 minutes in 30+ degree heat you are wondering what the hell you are doing there – and promptly get a taxi the hell out.
16 By now you understand how things work (or don’t) here, so there is no way in hell you are going to the Jurong Bird park. You understand the severity of Bird Flu, and no amount of positive PR about rigorous prevention measures undertaken by their fully trained, on-the-ball, competent and forward thinking, risk managing staff will get you there.
17 You are seriously over not being able to understand what the hell they are saying. No-one seems to speak any one language well. Their English, often as a first language, is broken and they all have the weirdest accents. Lots of them speak Malaysian, or something they call “Singlish” which is like pigeon English and every sentence ends with ‘lah’. You think about how it can get this way. You realise that learning is passed from generation to generation. You think about what it must be like trying to learn English as a first language from a Singaporean. You sigh.
18 Singaporeans are seriously patriotic and LOOOOVE Singapore because compared to the rest of Asia, yes, they are fairly advanced. But on a world standard, they are still a little (..read quite a bit) backward. They need to get out more. This annoys you.
19 In fact, the way Singaporeans go on about how great they are – all the time- gets you seriously uptight.
20 You are amazed that while George Bush earns approximately $400K and John Howard $300, Singapore’s Prime Minister earns a crazy $3.4 million (yes, million) dollars a year and he justifies this by aligning his position/rank and file to a CEO running a private company. No one complains or seems to care. Never mind it’s tax payers money they are using, Singaporeans do what they are told. This annoys you.
21 You think he probably needs the money so he can get paid enough to eat out in this place.
22 The Prime Minister keeps telling everyone how great Singapore is, how proud they should be, that what they have is envied by the rest of the world, that tourists flock here because it is “The Pearl of the Orient” and that he is the sole entity keeping Singapore afloat. He says, “You pay peanuts, and you’ll get monkeys. Would you risk this glorious city with a monkey?” You think, you all need to get out more.
23 You rest assured in knowing that the only reason people generally come here is because they have been forced to come here for work, are passing through Changi Airport or stopping over on the way to somewhere else more exciting.
Well, like what we have been saying….this people attributes success to themselves, yet blame failures on others…
Well written.
the true blue citizens of S’pore would really like to stand shoulder-to-shoulder on wages to our elites.
come on, our much harped about world class education cannot even get many a world class salary? lmao…
Sadly that he is not aware that the no “accountability and transparency” in the TSK and GIC losses will come back and haunt him when his father is no longer around.
To 19): Thats why he’s looking for a successor mah..
Let’s talk about the visual presentation:
The choice of scenery behind PM Lee is more suitable for a corporate CEO doing an advertisement on company profile than for a Prime Minister delivering a ND speech.
The misty bluish background is a no-no and it could do better without the distracting vertical lines on the glass panel.
LHL should stick with occasional firm and small hand gestures instead of bigger body language involving his arms, as he can be seen as rather awkward or even comical with them.
hear hear…fully concurred with Laila Allen : )
i definitely need to get out more overseas and llive more fully ; )
He talk so much but no got no power and guts to take control in the gov. Still hang on as a shadow his father, our MM. Our dear PM, when do I see you stand up as a useful guy without infuence from your father. Move on with the time, don’t walk sissy.
I only a lot of racial harmony thingy from his mouth. Else, it’s boring.
Sounds and rings hollow, the speech by LHL. The whole PAP machinery has turned into an exploitation of the people of S’pore.
I have told my sons, daughters, relatives and friends to vote out the PAP because it would be to their benefit.
Never before has interest rate for depositors 0.125% and bank ratestaying at 5.5%. The government, private corporations, developers, etc. have all schemed up to expliot the average worker of S’pore. Time to oust the old man.
Laila (#15),
I like your satire. here is my response:-
1) Nowadays the cultural segment is 45 seconds to 10 mins longer, because they give you a listing of the main religious heritage sites in Singapore. But I suppose that these are not really Singaporean Culture.
Anyway, tourists can see all of our cultures every year at NDP – can’t they?
2) Well, actually they also go to school, go to hospital, go to work … and whine about the government online, like we are all doing here=)
3) Well, it is if you are buying things in Great Britain Pounds.
4-5) Well, hawker centres are really not that bad – the National Environment Agency does give awards to some of them. Well, I mean if you can tolerate the occasional poisoned chicken scare and the rats crawling across the floor, really you could learn a thing or two about “surviving in the wild” without ever leaving the city.
6) How can you say that they cost a bomb? Don’t you know that Singapore is strongly anti-terrorist?
Nahh, take it from the Senior Minister’s wife: If CEOs earn only peanuts, than restaurant meals can at the most cost rice grains. Get the logic?
7) Well, alcoholism is a social ill. So we need to tax wine more than we tax cigarettes, because we can’t ban them. But don’t worry, beer gets much less tax in Singapore, maybe because only foreigners drink it?
8) Nahh, it is minus minus … on your pockets, that is.
9) Well, Singapore has a unique form of plastic, just like we have unique Newater. Perhaps ENV should call it Newplastic.
10) Well … ermm … that’s because you didn’t meet Singaporeans at all; A significant minority of staff are the government’s “foreign talent”, because apparently Singaporeans are too choosy to work in low-paid, strenuous and torturous jobs despite having Degrees and Diplomas which should give them better character.
11) I think the latter is better. In fact, I remember that there was some time before the 1990s where he actually said that Singaporeans shouldn’t think. Some kind soul on this thread please get me the exact quote?
Even for the 21st Century, the government is confident that Singaporeans can learn thinking skills by rote memory.
12) Nowadays, most of them are from PRC, so you need to speak to them in Chinese, or better still their particular dialect.
13) Tell me … who won?
14) They get it. They are just afraid to show it.
15) Lol … taxis are too expensive; you should have taken the shuttle bus instead.
16) I am sure that the Bird Flu scare was over-hyped. (Or ooops… sorry, I thought you meant the Swine Flu! Well, in that case, why worry; It is a Bird Park for goodness sake!)
17) What to do? It’s the only really “Singaporean” thing in Singapore, so live and let live, man. Why you so niao leh?
18) Well, it is a national obligation to be patriotic … especially when you don’t know how to hang your own flag properly. And besides, patriotism is one of the main things Singaporean guys learn in their Grand Adventure called National Service.
Oh, and well, even the cost to get to Changi Airport is so high, and gets higher every year, rain or shine, so how you expect Singaporeans to be able to afford to fly overseas, yo?
19) Most don’t – just the ones that the Straits Times dares to publish and MediaCorp dares to air.
20) Seriously, if you think 4 million is alot, you should see what his father earns! Not to mention, the extra income their family gets from preserving their own saintly reputations.
As for the CEO bit, haven’t you heard the term “Singapore Inc”?
21) No, he needs all that money so that he can lock it away in his own section of the National Reserves to prove how thrifty he is.
22) Yahh well, Singapore is envied … by Saudi Arabia, China, Russia and some of the Bible Belt states in the USA, I think.
And if not for the PM with his Sage Wisdom in attracting foreign talent and Increasing GST, all Singaporeans would have evacuated say 20 years ago.
23) You left out the “amazing numbers” of international students that study at Singapore’s Universities because they are soooo much smarter than the average Singaporean.
I hope we the people can do something productive about the situation and not have to rely on the fat lady to sing to get something going.
We must not have waiting for gu-lan to fall from the sky mentality.
Um sorry, seems to be some technical error that is striking out a large portion of the post and all the comments? Or is it just my browser. [Can't be, tried with Chrome and Firefox]
Well written!!
PM also bring up the issue of religion so that it will serve as distraction from the really important topic – the incompetence of his administration, as well as the various methods he employ to quell future dissent. Talking about racial disharmony (when there isn’t one) is just a scare tactic use to tell the people to toe the PAP line or else…