IT IRKS me that young people blog negatively about the Singapore Government. They live in an era where there is peace and harmony, they have a roof over their heads, plenty to eat and so much to enjoy. There is a need to realise that all these good things do not come naturally. Someone has to do the job and we are fortunate to have a sound and honest government to take care of this place we call our home.
Juliet Chua, Straits Times forum page
I don’t understand what the problem is with negativism or complaints against our government. In all walks of life we have feedback and criticisms about how we can better ourselves. Our boss tells us our performance is not up to par and our parents telling us to live up to potential. What the young people are doing is the same. They are telling the government on areas that can be improved.
Are we to assume that everything we have will collapse simply because of feedback? Our government is made up of big boys and girls (I assume haha) so they can take criticisms. Why can’t they improve? Why can’t they change if it is for the better?
If the government thinks there is no room for improvement just because there is currently, “peace and harmony, they have a roof over their heads, plenty to eat and so much to enjoy” (which itself is a specious assumption given the rising level of social problems) then I guess it is time to bring in other people who can do a better job.
Ms Chua,
Do u appreciate it if TC increases its service charges by an huge amount to keep your estate clean and then use cheap labour to do it? That in a nutshell is what the gahmen is doing to ensure peace and harmony, roof over your head, etc, etc
I agree with this section of the quote:
“They live in an era where there is peace and harmony, they have a roof over their heads, plenty to eat and so much to enjoy. There is a need to realise that all these good things do not come naturally.”
But the second part of the statement, “Someone has to do the job and we are fortunate to have a sound and honest government to take care of this place we call our home” imply that sound and honest government is a sufficient condition. It is neccessary to have a sound a honest government, but it is not sufficient only to have that. What about the sacrifices made by our parents and grandparents?
The current PAP government of today cannot take the credit for lifting Singapore from Third World to First (except MM Lee, and he does not deserve sole credit). The citizens of Singapore, especially the Mederka Generation, deserve more credit.
ofcos they can’t takes complains and negativism, cos you guys always complains their sky high pay roll and dirty tricks to hold on to their power. and which this author juliet chua maybe staying in a bungalow and earn million dollars which whatever policies the govt made dun affect her at all…
“……they have a roof over their heads, plenty to eat and so much to enjoy…..”
Every now and then, we can expect SPH to come out with such brainless, irritating stupid letters. They do it without fail.
Juliet Chua, don’t be so shallow. You may be satisfied with a filled stomach, but there are more to that in life.
It shows how myopic you are Juliet. Are you so blind that you can’t even see that there are a lot of older folks who share the same views as the young?
Good thing about your comment is that it shows how much more discerning our younger generation is; very unlike our older generations who have been taken in time and again.
Philistines like Juliet Chua will never understand. It reminds me of Xerxes when he wondered why Greek men participated in the Olympics when the prize was a mere olive wreath and not gold. How ignorant. :D
is this Chua related to the other 2?
it is obvious she loves the present system running by pap. i believe she is probably to the same elite group. so why change or fix it when it isnt broke?
*sniff sniff*…. I smell…..
Won’t be surprised if Juliet Chua is a member of the White Cult. Obviously, Lee Kuan Yew is her Romeo. LOL!
“This day’s black fate on more days doth depend:
This but begins the woe others must end.”
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 3.1
Juliet, a piece of advice before you suck up to old man:
“Tis torture, and not mercy. Heaven is here
Where Juliet lives, and every cat and dog
And little mouse, every unworthy thing,
Live here in heaven and may look on her,
But Romeo may not.”
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 3.3
another ST fake…I am convinced that these letters aren’t their own work. They want you to feel bad about what you are doing.
But, it is getting from bad to worse. First off, the bloggers that have substance and criticize the status quo are often not that young (unless you see the age from MM’s perspective). I do not think people like mr wang, alex au, mr brown can be considered young.
Secondly, the letter is a total flop belonging to the category ‘kid, you better be gracious of what I have done for you, shut up and sit down and don’t ask silly questions.’ Might have worked last time, but ‘young’ Singaporeans aren’t that naive anymore.
Juliet, you must be one who is totally satisfied with your own well being and are well protected in your comfortable shell. Have you gone round to see the number of citizens deprived ? Citizens who have done national service only to find that their jobs are taken by foreighners ?..or Citizens who have lost their jobs because a foreigner has asked for a lower salary? You seem to think that we are all living in a utopia and should not gripe…well that is if we do not have a conscience!
As a good citizens, when we see something wrong, we provide feed-back. We are the real grassroots who are in touch with the real people and our views are not tinted by the desire to please PAP.
If the PAP government decides to take such feed-back negatively, than I think this is the start of the fall of Singapore.
Juliet , why don’t you volunteer to do 2 years of National Service so that you can continue to enjoy peace and harmony, roof over head and plenty to eat?
Juliet, what are you doing about the Singaporeans who do not have roof over their head, collecting cardboards and cans so that they can one meal a day and have no enjoyment because they are struggling to survive?
Ms Chua needs to seperate the issue of “Blogging Negatively” and telling the truth as it is now.
Why should she be upset unless she is unable to face the painful truth?
She did not mention that the young bloggers are lying. That means that she accepts that there is, at least, some truth in what is being said.
Seems to me that she is upset because she cannot reconcile her preconcieved idea of what her ideal leaders had been vs what the current batch of new MPs are now.
There is no doubt that we are better off than other neighbouring countries but nothing is pernament. So don’t just look now but future.
Now what are we now is the balance and fairness in S’pore. With the influx of FT without control. You will see not only us will suffer, our next generation will.
A true leader at any field must have the heart for the people. Without the peoples support, there will be no leader.
What is wrong if we just inform the public about the happenings of sinaporean daily life. we all have the obligation to tell others what we think. That is the purpose of such online citizen platform. If what we say is wrong, others will dispute them.
But from what i see from reading those hundreds of comments, there is some things very wrong regarding the attitude of he PAP.
“A replay of Animal Farm in Singapore.”
Perhap we can have a Singapore Animal Farm show, Uniquely Singapore.
Hardships, struggle, prosperity, decadence and finally demise, all happen from first generation to third generation.
Hopefully, all the shits will end by third generation of PAP.
Juliet,
“IT IRKS me that young people blog negatively about the Singapore Government.”
ARE YOU insinuating that these people have done wrong? If so, did you mata mata?
” They live in an era where there is peace and harmony, they have a roof over their heads, plenty to eat and so much to enjoy. ”
Who is ‘they’? Can you individually quantify and qualify your statement?
By the by, the same generic statement can be used to tell citizens of Malaysia, Brunei, and many many countries. plenty of what kind of food?
What kind of roof? zinc onces or concrete? or wood?
Most of the Entire s.e Asia at least is enjoying peace and harmony.
“There is a need to realise that all these good things do not come naturally.”
yes, true. many things are artificial. Like the material goods you use mostly come from China. China made.
” Someone has to do the job and we are fortunate to have a sound and honest government to take care of this place we call our home. ”
Honest. The best word you have used so far. You are so credible.
ahem…. lest i forget, Juliet,
there are HOMELESS, POOR and people who could not afford to pay rentals and payments to the HDB and even gotten their water and electricity supplies CUT.
There are BEGGARS on the streets.
There are retirees working in fast food restaurants when they should be enjoying life and spending time more fruitfully like playing with grandchildren, participating in opposition party walkabouts to keep them mentally and physically sharp, use excess savings to do what they are passionate about, help the poor, feed the poor, and even help Indonesia cut forest fires that plague singaporeans each year.
Juilet, which of the above you have not mentioned?
In any organisation, government or private, there are areas that they have done well, and those they have not. What you hear from the mainstream media are nothing but praises, without providing a balanced view for improvements, or unreserved admissions of mistakes. The real pictures in any organisation are never rosy (not even when you get high paying staff to run them).
So it is not too unreasonable if (even if) we have younger generations, who provide criticisms (so that anyone with access to both views make balanced judgements). They key thing is to understand the underlying reasons/ facts for any claims make. If the writer thinks this irks her (when any criticism is seen negatively), then she is at best immature.
I wonder how much $$$ is she being paid to write this bs letter to ST
Whats wrong with Straits Times? As if the Canadian letter was not enough, now this. In fact whats wrong with all the obvious ‘Govt backed’ media? When I asked questions in P65 wishing to know more of what other Singaporeans think, I get title like “Taking the Bait”. I guess they don’t like people to ask, think or have individual views, period. Just be kwai-kwai lor, and they solve shortage of local talents (people who can ask, think & solve problems ingeniously) by importing.
Sorry to inject this, can’t help but have the idea that P65 is another arm of ST, similar praise-praise stuff, even similar colour scheme (corporate identity). They just want you to read and praise, read and praise,…. I see it as another propaganda dept. I don’t feel welcome with my questions and views over there unless I am like one Juliet Chua.
Juliet Chua is a happy Singaporean who is irked by not-so-happy Singaporeans.
How does Juliet Chua know the people who blog negatively are young? I am an oldie and I blog negatively too. She either thinks those who can blog (use the computer) must be young or those who are unhappy must be young or those who don’t know they are so damn lucky must be young??? This letter has no substance and ST publish it! Says a lot!
She should question why so many people are writing so negatively? There is really no place to air negativities except on blogs. Their MPs and ministers are all YES MEN and the papers dont publish anything negative. So how?
EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOG WHAT THEY LIKE.
ROMEO CAN SAY GOVERNMENT NOT GOOD.
JULIET CAN SAY GOVERNMENT VERY GOOD.
I CAN SAY GOVERNMENT GOOD AND BAD.
ACTUALLY NO NEED TO PUBLISH THIS TYPE OF THINGS.
ST irks me.
Juliet Chua is right, someone has to do the job to maintain peace and harmony.
Please report for NS duties immediately.
Another super bird brainer – at least , an ostrich knows how to bury its head in the ground – but this silly nitwit prefers to sink her head into big pool of shit and yet exclaims shiok , shiok liao………
“20) kf on August 22nd, 2009 3.51 pm In any organisation, government or private, there are areas that they have done well, and those they have not. What you hear from the mainstream media are nothing but praises, without providing a balanced view for improvements, or unreserved admissions of mistakes. ”
Well said !
There is always bad things and good things about all things.
Reporting is intellectually respectable IF it reports BOTH truths.
I hope all youths understand this simple logic.
Go forth and multiply!
Befire your talk about now and the future..remember how you got here!
Ms Chua,
SG is a house but definitely not a home. There is no sense of belonging.
Most times, I feel as if I am living in a foreign country with so many foreigners around.
It is fine if you are well-off, but if you are poor, you realize that the gov is totally detached from yours needs.
Average income of Singaporeans is $2,000 by GNP figures. Food yes, roof yes, but it is a constant struggle to make ends meet for most of us.
Furthermore, our government is neither transparent nor accountable. I am sad you can condone their indifference towards us.
Regards
To Juliet Chua:
Just for your record, I am a Made-in-Singapore, given a Singapore Birth Certificate in 1964 and stayed in Singapore for almost the entire 40 years of my life (except for some business trips).
I am not blogging but I read, write and submit comments to provide POSITIVE feedback and opinions of the things that are happening in Singapore at TOC, SDP, blogs and other websites like talkingcock.com
And that is what the government or PAP has been appealing to have us as citizens to do.
However, as the Chinese saying goes: 良药苦口. If you want all the praises to the Ministers and systems; even for the bad and lousy things like letting loose of the ‘terrorist’ and not taking full accountability of various systematic and operational failure, then it will lead to true complacency of those in charge. At a higher level, it will lead to strategic disorientation, regression and racial tension as in recent hooha over the National Pledge which I recited every morning during the 10 years of compulsory eduction. Then, I had full faith in the pledge that every government official and citizen is living it out. How naive I have been!
Appreciation of the past leadership and sacrifices of those leaders which led us to our 1980s – 2000s stage of economic and civil development is altogether a different matter from current chaotic and dis-satisfactory situations where many are layoffs, high cost of living and some without a roof over their heads.
Past leaders (except one or 2) had all passed away and it is now the 3 or even the 4th generations who are leading the country. What makes you so sure that the same prosperity are being preserved and continued given the honest mistakes that had happened in the short span of few years? 福不过三代.
aiyoyo
maybe the writer need to share more info as to the remark she made..
can cpf $ take out & spent? (it’s commoners $)
can hdb $ not sky high? (it’s public housing)
can public transport $ not so high?
aiyoyo
Let me put it another way,
IF you wanna sing praise all day long, do so with class by singing some of the criticisms as well. Ideally, 50:50 would be much appreciated.
The question is , can this be achieved ?
Many of you know it.
How many in totality works for G and GLC?
Add the dependents.
Can someone sum them up?
How have their decisions affected the rest, if any?
think, people, think.
of course juliet, your romeo is but the pap
Does Chua Lee Hoong have a christian name called Juliet ?
The content and style look so familar.
ms chua if u want peace and harmony u still have to fight for it
If one is defensive, it is very highly that one becomes negative to all things.
If one is accepting and opened to criticism, it is very likely that one becomes positive to all things.
The PAP and its stooges have become so defensive these days – and leading the way is none other than MM himself. This is the real PAP we are seeing in recent times.
Time for MM Lee to step down!
Time for Opposition to arise!
The time for change has come!