SINGAPORE – Singapore’s elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew said Wednesday that he expects his People’s Action Party to win the next two elections to extend its grip on power by as much as 10 more years.
“I don’t see any problem in the next election or probably in the next one after that,” Lee, 85, said at a dinner to mark the fifth anniversary of a college named after him.
“But if we don’t find a good team in the election after that, and the opposition gets a good team together, we are at risk.”
Lee, who founded the PAP and was Singapore’s first prime minister from 1959 to 1990, remains a powerful figure in the Cabinet and in the party. The PAP is the only party to have ruled Singapore.
The current government was elected in 2006. The next elections are set for 2011.
Lee, who now has the title of mentor minister, said even if the opposition took power by a “freak result,” it won’t be allowed to fire top police, army and other officials without the approval of the president, who is appointed by a committee of government officials.
Lee, who is the father of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said an opposition government would by law also need the president’s approval to tap international reserves, indicating it would not be given.
Otherwise “all our hard-earned savings could go in five years,” he said. “I spent 15 years thinking up these safeguards.”
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you know what, i think you guys are just voting the opposition for the heck of it. or else, you are fighting for the ideal of democracy, voting the opposition in so as to ensure a truer sense of the democracy that singapore supposedly is. but you are doing this at the expense of our political stability. it’s not the system we are in that matters, who’s to say that democracies are the best? monarchies, military governments, democracies, communist governments, have all proven themselves workable. from 1958 to 1960, Ne Win of Burma ushered in 2 years of extremely popular militant rule because he was able to restore law and order as well as some semblance of economic growth. stalin of russia developed a nation that was centuries behind other european countries to the point that it became the second most industrialized nation in the world, next to america, in a mere decade. the tang dynasty in china was considered a golden age. it doesn’t matter what system we are in. what matters is who is ruling us. is the people in power efficient, clean, capable? the answer to all these questions at the moment is yes. you guys are just tired of the fact that we have a maximum government. we have, for your information, one of the most effective governments in the world. our economic progress, political and social stability says it all. a very large part of that progress is due to the fact that we have one of the most astute governments. you know, we were the only nation in all of SEA who didn’t have to go into debt in order to pull out of the most recent financial crisis. all we had to do was dip into our foreign reserves. this is because our government actually planned our budgeting really well. they didn’t splurge it frivolously like some other governments did. if you are going to insult our government, at least back your insults with substance. back them up with historical evidence that they actually failed or were corrupt. don’t just dish dirt on them. i’m really proud of our government. ever since independence, time after time, they have managed to pull through various obstacles despite the odds. the separation from malaysia, the asian financial crisis, the various epidemics, the most recent financial crisis… you name it. back your insults up with facts. or else you’ll just be proving yourself to be an uneducated, ignorant little twit who doesn’t know what he is saying.
To Kia,
When everything is under control and everything is under tight supervision, the country will definitely be stable. When you decide what the citizens should know and what they should not than the citizens will be in a disillutioned state and they will be conditioned mentally to agree with the authority no matter how foolish it seemed.
In a Communist or Military ruled country, the country authority will make decision for you. All decisions and choice will be made for the benefit of everyone and eveyone will benefit from the collective efforts of evryone. A militrary state will usually have a strong arm of discipline presurising the public making them fearful of opposing it. In a military state, you literally throw the law out of the window, because the ranks usually decide which law to use in their convenience.
Your arguement that this systems is workable is fraudalous. These systems centers around the people making the decisions for the general public thus taking away their right to choose. Although for a relatively short period of time, it may seemed workable but it will eventually fail because it is based on the assumption that the authoritative figure above is selfless, unbais, totally just, never wrong, compassionate, understanding, …… the list goes on. This utimate powers are usually unchecked, thus gives rise to corruption and power hungry authority. Because all these systems are based on the suppression of people’s will, it eventually became an oppression of the rights even basic rights of a human being.
Democracy throw the ball back to the people. It ma be messy at first, but it will strike a balance eventually as people start to respect each other choices. In a true democratic society, people will be allow to voice out what they think and the public decide how a country should be run and who should be running it. The law is above all and it serve as a regulating body to take away any misuse or abuse of that right that was given to the public.
Sorry, Kia, you are wrong, those systems did not work. Look at China, USSR, Cezh, Germany ….. so many communist countries has walked out of their system.
If it really work then why? Because oppressed people will fight back.
Singapore has been declaring that it is a democractic society (even in our national pledge). We understand that stability is important, but not at the price of basic human rights and free speech. PAP has been in power for many years and they are now trying to maintain that power and they are trying too hard. They began to think that they know best what everyone need and they deviced control system to dampen any opposes if they arises. They have resort to using fear and to prevent free speech. They even regulate media to suit them. We have become more communist than democracy. Maybe we should change our national pledge (to build a OBEDIENT society).
Time for a change.
LKY is just talking cock, as his “system” apparently did not work.
The President was sleeping and did not do anything when the PAP gahmen thru Temasek and GIC lost more than $30B of our money (and also the country’s reserves), in its failed investment gambles within the last 5 years.
Of course we will never know the true details of these losses, as the facts are craftily hidden from most of us. We can only surmise based from the financial info that is available to the public.
Dear Singaporeans, its time we have to grow up and know the truth. We cannot afford to go on living our days in this tiny island full of blantant lies by the MIW. Our forefathers and their hardworing brethens were all being screwed by one cunning old fox whom should be dying soon, our parents had continued to work even harder after believing their lies and promised of having a good retired life at 55, and what happened now? not only did they (MIW) hijacked all our cpf life savings, they even want to swallow up all the profit from our hdb flats should we sell them away. Out of greed for money and power, they let in hundreds of thousands of foreigners-turned-new citizens just to create their own artificial votes. Out of the selfishness and greed of one old fool, singaporeans are being made victims to pay a very heavy price. Schools and institutions are built using our very own taxpayers money when our childrens are being deprived from enrolments but free benefits and purks are given to foreigners instead. Hundreds of billions of $$$ mainly from our cpf contributions were now gone from our nation reserve, and yet no one is being held responsible till today while the old fool keeps showering his team of useless cronies with millions and millions of salaries through our taxpayers money just to bribe them to keep his party in power instead of looking after the citizens’ welfare and needs. The old fool and his gang has already turned singapore into a modern prison state with a president whom does not even dare to know how much our nation reserve is today. Whoever is reading this now, just ask yourself this very simple question, are you really a happy singaporean today?
#ccchia
Of course we will never know the true details of these losses
the big question here is there seem to have 1 similarity in all the lost foreign investments, they all lost big time big money, non of them makes money at all???? somehow, somewhere, someONE makes the money, and all these 100 billions$ belongs to the citizens of singapore!!!! this is robbing the nation reserve.
That we are mired with a leadership that purports to be a democracy is our undoing because we acquiesced unawares to a one-party system and today the reality it is far from it. It is a pseudo-democracy and it is in actuality a dictatorship. Singaporeans have been for much too long deluding themselves that they have an accountable, responsible, just and transparent govt. It is a myth – the reality is that it stinks from all quarters! Even if one tries to obtain info or .., one is more likely to run into a bureaucratic cul-de-sac. If they really “listened” n not hear they would have made a big difference to many lives and Singaporeans would be proud of them as a government or what-have-u.
.
Also, the incumbent ruling party/govt keeps harping on this: that other models or so-called political models (eg multi-party/proportional representation) are unsuited for Singapore and it must be discouraged or eschewed at any cost;of course, it is utter rubbish and crap and one has to be an imbecile to subcribe to such rantings! Beware, it is a ploy to perpetuate power and the rationale and arguments put forth seems at best hollow and dubious. Citizens ought to be able to decide and it is thro wise voting. To be dictated to as to what is ‘good’ for the citizens is not being democratic but telling people that u are not wise, u are immature – ‘let me decide’. They have decided enough and ENOUGH IS ENOUGH lar.
Is not this being enslaved to a system (one-party state) that is choking and stultifying us in many ways?
Eg, this bullshit about ‘Swiss standards’ or ‘good’ years simply vaporized! what an insult! Why is there no longer this mention of attaining Swiss standards. ‘It was talking cock’ during elections. It was futurizing and the reality today is, to cite a jarring eg. PMETs are driving taxis, wating on tables and … add on
Frankly, today Singaporeans are in a relatively unfavorable and a sorry state in many ways – eg, high cost of living has been oversold as higher standard of livng, so-called subsidized HDB flats though claimed to be offered at reasonable prices is in fact most likely untrue and no independent source(s) have yet to or has it ever been verified. HDB has never till today released the actual costing or how they came about with this pricing. Why the secrecy?
One can add on, from medical to transport to CPF … – all one way traffic. Who are these people who sit in committees or bodies that make recommendations or implement … people who are ostensibly yes-man/woman!
Why? Simply, cos the one-party system is in the favour of the ruling party or govt. It is NEVER AND WILL NEVER be transparent or accountable to the people (citizens).
Does Singapore ministries or govt depts have an OMBUDSMEN? Do we have checks n balances? Who is checking whom? Imagine an independent organisation or an oppostion party – it would make a BIG difference. The so-called ‘’self-check” mechanisms are at its best lip service gestures, cursory and perfuntory and at its worse, sadly spurious!
These are questions that Singaporeans need to seriously consider when they vote and not be simply be swayed by short-term money handouts or rebates or for that matter, eg, the upgrading programs that had been recently announced. All of us know , ti will eventaully be recouped (hidden) through price escalation/increases in medical,tranport, …. add on
Also, the FT (foreign ‘talent’ in quotes cos the incument govt defined and decided which, on close scrutiny seems so shallow) policy is not in the favour of SIngaporeans but to the advantage of the govt. Do other countries allow foreigners to take up PR/citizenship so VERY easily and facilitate them and what is worse is that Singaporeans who were born here and in some ways directy/indirectly contributed to the country have to COMPETE for jobs, schools and who knows what else is to come. Why accord preferences (preferential treatment) to foreigners when NS is concerned? It is criminally unfair! Utter shame that it has come to this.
The benefit(s) of FT policy to the citizens is a mere trickle effect! It seems more of a political tool to leverage (and benefit) during elections. For the sake of political n personal gains and expediency, Singaporeans have been (and are being) sacrificed and pawned.
By ignoring the realities we are unwittingly perpetuating ‘ tyranny’. The crime of ‘tyranny’ would persist as long as we are complicit and stay non-chalant to this charade.
Singaporeans, need to wake up and disallow these state of affairs to persist and seriously consider a two/multi party system. It may not be perfect but is all hunky dory now? The past does not equal the future. There is no nation, no country, individuals make up that nation or country. It is the quality of individuals that makes or breaks a nation/country. Hopefully Singaporeans understand and judiciously vote and vote for BIG changes
@kia
back your insults up with facts. or else you’ll just be proving yourself to be an uneducated, ignorant little twit who doesn’t know what he is saying.
I laughed at that.
What is fact for someone who lauds Stalinist Russia? Ask that of the man who died in the Gulag.
You are right to say what matters is who are the people ruling us. In fact, this is what justifies democracy – it allows you to pick the people who rule you.
Of course, there are people who can accept other humans saying, “You don’t know what’s best for you. I do!”
Now, we can’t expect everyone to have an innate sense of dignity, can we?
Dear Sir,
No doubt that PAP will ‘WIN’ in the next 2 elections, but by HOW MUCH OF A MARGIN ???
Your current team had created much ‘flawed’ policies that drove the true lccal voters onto the wall, I doubt even in the expense of PAP’s capacity to control the whole electorate system, OUR VOICEs will still be reflected on the VOTEs we casted in the coming GE….
I appreciate your old generation team BUT not the ‘current’ with so much ‘conflicting justifications’ about their ‘flawed policies’ which are created by them thus far.
Kindly please Sit back & Relax Sir…
Yours Disgusted.
@ccchia,
our late President Mr OTC wasn’t sleeping then. In fact he was more sober than anyone else at that time. He was even being ‘deprived’ of counter-checking our country’s wealth then BUT IN VAIN..
IF he was still around today, I’am sure he would ‘check’ for us again inspite of the Temasek & GIC losses incurred.
That’s the TRUE SPIRIT of a REAL CARING politician…in Singapore’s history. A TRUE IRON QUALITY Politician unlike our current politicians…..Sigh!
Boh Pien!, if I were that magician, I too could say the same having 51-years of opportunity for PAP to step by step built this red dot, where others were trashed, imprisoned and forbidden. My LAW HIS LAW & ALL LAW!
If PAP don’t reverse its Foreign Talent Policy. and opposition are able to recruit more credible candidates to form a good team than PAP are in deep shits
Of cos, PAP will win the next two elections. He rigged the whole thing. He spend 15 years thinking how to cheat. If not, why do he needs 15 years? Unless he is incompetence.
Will SINGAPORE (economically and socially stable) last another 50 years?
“Stupid! It’s Singapore!”
Grasping big picture more important than PARTY or PARTIES.
Why do we want to vote the opposition?
Paradoxical as it may seem, it is to MAINTAIN POLITICAL STABILITY.
To ensure that Singapore will not go down even if the PAP does.
To push them to do what is best for the country, and continue to improve.
To tell them “do your job or we will kick you out”.
To show that no one has an iron rice bowl – they are right to say we do not have that, and they shall not have that either.
That said, he is probably right. The PAP is likely to win the next two elections, and maybe even the one after that. But it would be victory enough for the opposition to gain and hold 1/3 of the parliament within 3 elections from now. The PAP does not have to be completely toppled for there to be a more democratic society.
No one can tell whether u win or not.
Only god knows :)
Hahas,i believe in the next election,there will have 20% to 30% of opposition pp in it, then they will fear of us and treat us good.
What LKY taking is just base on his mind,When someone in power,everything is changing.:)
hmmmm…. anybody here reading between the lines? Not being able to fire top officials in the police, army and other sectors could constitute some form of veiled threat by LKY. Is he trying to say that the army and police could very well move in and re-take control of the country? Or rebel and refuse to take orders from a new government?
hmmmmm…. The fact that he specifically highlighted that point sounds pretty sinister to me. That and “all our hard-earned savings could go in five years,” he said. “I spent 15 years thinking up these safeguards.”
Our hard earned savings or his and his family’s?
//b.
Well, let me do my forecast:
A) For the next GE, opposition will take at least one GRC plus Chiam See Tong and SDP taking one single seat ward each.
B) If our labour policy and laws are still not amended to protect jobs and establish various levels of minimum wage for Singaporeans after the next GE, then PAP will lose two or more GRCs and 5 more single seats contituencies in the next GE further down the road.
I like forecasting !!
Ho! Ho! Ho!
Probably 10 years down the road, we may be seeing a ” White Shirt vs Red Shirt” style confrontation and street protest ,not forgetting where and how, most of our ” New Citizens” came from.
Goodluck ! (But he would hve probably kick the bucket ardy )
“But if we don’t find a good team in the election after that, and the opposition gets a good team together, we are at risk.”
PAP is at risk of losing seats, bu it might be better for the parliament to have more opposing and diverse views. It’s like a string, we need to keep it pull at both end to keep it taut.
Elections is not only about balance and checks in the parliament, its also about running a constituency. To select an opposition for the sake of opposing and “checks and balances” is
1. Detrimental to your constituency
2. Detrimental to the parliament
3. Against democracy
If we really want democracy, then simple, just vote the best candidate without looking at other factors. Similarly, voting for the ruling party for the sake of it, is foolish.
MM Lee has did whatever he can to ensure the balance of power will not shift. I believed his vision and ideals are theoretically good. However, there remains a factor of ambiguity of implementation.
As Murphy Law would operate, deviations from ideals arises from implementation of plans. These may lead to inevitably failures and downfall sooner than expected.
One good example is the current influx of foreigners. It is for correct that Singapore aging population needed new blood, but the alarming rate at which influx is occurring is too uncomfortable for citizens to accept.
The plans that are made for the progress of Singapore may ultimately cause the downfall of PAP.Once people becomes more practical as you taught them to, i am afraid they will supersede and search for countries with better retirement plans. How contradicting!
i doubt so. In fact most Singaporeans, though they appear to oppose against PAP’s ideological views, they continue to vote for this political party despite faults they find within the government policies. This is because PAP has done a considerably good job in the development of Singapore over the past 40 so years and they have gained trust from the people, who believe in their ability and their leadership. It may take some time for us Singaporeans, maybe the younger generation to start pondering over a possible political shift in power or alternative style of political leadership.
Let me offer a different view than most. As an outsider living the life of a true Singaporean.
I came to Singapore 2 years ago by choice. Not because of work or promise of money. Purely by choice to be with someone I love. I left everything I knew behind to start a new life in Singapore.
I found a modest job after a few months to sponsor my employment pass. I am paid 2.5k per month and live in a rented HDB (which takes half my pay every month)
When I first came here I had envisioned renting a place with a nice view, getting a car, and frequent trips visiting other countries in SE asia. Singapore is clean, safe, and vibrant. For the first year I lived and worked each day full of curiosity and desire to learn more about this place.
Spend time listening and living like an average Singaporean and you will see this country is a “guilded cage” as they call it. Its pretty on the outside, but you find yourself caught in a cage that isn’t so clean on the inside.
I like to call Singapore a “playground for millionaires” The gahmen likes people with money and will fast track them into the country and make sure they are comfortable. These people can live without consequence and don’t have much worry in this garden of eden as they call it.
The AVERAGE Singaporean works the hardest to provide for their families. They make enough pay to keep up, but not enough to really enjoy or retire safely on as most of their money is still held by the gahmen (HDB, CPF, GST, ERP)
But the average Singaporean is scared to talk about these things. The gahmen uses scare tactics to prevent people from speaking out. Why else do we have to use “gahmen” in the first place? They make it so it is comfortable enough to tolerate living here and working your fingers to the bone.
I am happy and encouraged by this site and by its readers. Singaporeans need to wake up and speak their voice! Stop being intimidated by the gahmen. Don’t believe the garbage that voting opposition party will cause instability or loss of resources. That is BS spouted by the scarecrows to keep you in line.
Singapore does need reform. Why? Why can’t Singaporeans get affordable housing? Isn’t that what HDB is for? Why is there an Auntie older than my grandmother WORKING at a cafeteria cleaning our mess? Isn’t there a retirement for her? How come there is only a small corner of this great island that I can speak my voice? Isn’t this a democratic republic? Why must we all speak MANDARIN to secure a job in Singapore? Isn’t Singapore a multicultural society? Why does 1 million dollars buy you a PR, but hard work and love for a country cannot?
This is the first time I chance upon this website. Many people likes democracy, the real one where you have freedom to do everything. But look at Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines – all these our close neighbours, has democracy help them eonomically? Thais make a big mess of their country. Fortunately, as a large country, they still survive. Only the poor surfer. But who is to fight for them. All these people who opposed because they have democratic freedom, are generally well-to-do and knowledgeable. Even if the country is in trouble, they will still live comfortably and enoy life. And when they managed to grap power, they will made more money – millions. Is that what Singaporeans want? Does Singaporeans understand how frigile we are? We have no natural resources whereas country like Indonesia, Malaysia, etc have huge oil and other income. They can afford to lose money but quickly their coffers will be re-plenished with free oil and minerals from the ground. Will Singapore have a second chance? So LKY has to use draconian measures to get what he wants for the future of country. In the process, he hurts and angers alot of Singaporeans who were pushed aside due to his measures. In the 1960s, he uses very unpopular measures to re-settle farmers from Jurong so that today you have the Jurong Industrial Park giving thousands of jobs to Singaporeans. If you are in your 20s in the 1960s, you would understand how difficult it is to get a job. But the good years have created a lazy generation of Singaporeans who thinks that everything comes naturally through no efforts of anyone. If there is any fault on PAP, I think they did not do well on educating the next generation of people, who must have heart and able to understand well what we went through. Civil servants, especially the high fliers scholarship holders, have them too easy. Straight out of Universiy, they were put in comfortable jobs earning 6 figure salaries. In fact, what should have been done is that they should be put on attachments to those on the ground at least for a year or two so that they can feel how it works and when they are sitting on top, they will be able to implement policies which is more down-to-earth and workable. Opposition, there will be but I hope we have good opposition who do it because they love Singapore and have no where to go should it go down one day.
Raymond
Many of us, live through those years of nation building. We never deny that PAP had built up S’pore to this day. And we do give credit for what they did. Mind you, WHAT THEY DID.
Gradually, due to lack of opposition voices, PAP becomes arrogant, insensitive, implementing many policies to their own advantage, not looking into the broader picture of many average citizens’ sufferingsd.
History has shown that, any government who rule with absolute power, is subjected to abusing the power the voters
gave them. LKY and his FAT PIGS are no different.
Can we not see the ‘legal corruption’ that is happening under our eyes, but as citizens we cannot do anything because all are under the mercy of their despotic, authoritarian rule. WHY? Lack of true oppositions in parliament.
The recent NMP and NCMP increased in parliament, is just a false facade to make the PAP look good. LHL thinks we are fools. You can see how vehement Sylvia Lim opposed it but with all the ‘faithful Dogs’ barking loud on a single voice, is there any effect? This is what I call- ‘sweeping’ policies forced down our throats.
The redrawing of boundaries to PAP’s advantage. The 6-people GRCs? Where in the world do you see such political imbalances. Only a draconian absolute insensitive and bullying-of-opposition PAP government can resort to such measures.
VOTE FOR CHANGE. FOR PAP OUT GRADUALLY.
ONLY WE CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE CAUSE OF HISTORY. WE MUST BE BRAVE TO DO IT RIGHT!
leesjuan-pat
Thank you for your comments. Just would ask you a question – how old are you?. I am 61 and went through those hardship years where getting a job is so difficult. Those days, we admire great cities like Manila, Colombo (Sri-lanka, Bangkok etc. We were much behind them in standards of living and everything. Today what happen? Their nationals are now flocking to our country to be employed as labourers and maids, a job shun by our young Singaporeans. Why and how come? I do agree certain policies are implemented badly but tell me how many countries that you can name (with all the democratic freedom that you desire) have done well over the past 20 years. Look at Taiwan, you really want our MPs to be throwing punches at each other and getting nothing done. In Thailand, you have Red shirts and yellow or pink shirts and the Army threading punches getting people killed all in the name of democracy and freedom of speech. You know how small Singapore is? While Bangkok is in chaos, tourists are still flocking to other resorts in Thailand like Phuket etc oblivious to what happen there because it is so far away. Do you think that if we have a similar riots in say Ang Mo Kio, places like Jurong, Toa Payoh or the city areas will not be affected. People will still do their business and can assume nothing has happened. Are you aware that Bangkok alone is much bigger than Singapore as a whole? Other than criticising, I think we should put forward constructive suggestions as to how we can do better. No country is totally free of problems, democratic or otherwise. To me a totallitarian government is undisirable so can be said of a fully democratic one. You will have chaos if everyone can oppose any policy because no policy can be 100% acceptable. You should be happy if you get 70% acceptance. 30% will still oppose, perhaps you belong to this 30% group. You suggest “Vote for change for PAP out gradually..”. So you still hoping that the PAP will be in power for the moment and that you have no confidence that the opposition will be able to govern on their own. So you want to vote in opposition for opposition sake but at the same time let the PAP as a government make all the mistakes and gunned them down gradually…… But with all this, let me give you what I really feel – Can Singapore survive as a nation for another 50 or 100 years. I really doubt because no matter how good the government can be, Singapore is really too small, and past history has proven that no small country can survive on its own. To me, an eventual merger with Malaysia, is the way forward but, of course, under different terms and circumstances which probably we will not live to see.
Raymond
PAP’s monopoly and unfair strategy against the opposition, practically give them no chance to be voted in. We saw what happened to creditable oppositions being sued till their pants dropped.
I have to say vote PAP out ‘gradually’ because we can see the present state of affair of our dis-united oppositions. LKY is right to say that PAP will win the next two elections. And I sincerely hope PAP will not. For change to be effective, all constituencies got to be contested, but I do not see this is possible at present for the opposition to do so.
For PAP to recruit new candidates to stand for election is easy. And many graduates or scholars will jump on the bandwagon to piggyback as MPs and enjoy a good PAP life. Many were never be voted in.
Opposition has a tough time finding new good candidates, being obvious. That is the reason I show greater respect to a new opposition candidate than a PAP one.
Sylvia Lim is one good example of a true blue opposition with ability. And for that matter, any true blue opposition candidate that will fight for the welfare of the deprived S’porean. PAP now is only interested in enriching their own coffer. I have voted for SL in the last election in Aljunied GRC. A fact that I will not be afraid off.
A change of government not necessary have to be a chaotic scenario like present Thailand. A peaceful change is possible. If PAP is to lose power, they must be morally prepared to pass on the government to whomever is elected in the near future and not create trouble like Taksin Shinawatra who is the main culprit behind unrest and riot in Bangkok. In defeat we must be gracious. No one can hold on to power forever.
I am 4 years older than you. Have lived through the good and bad times of changes. We are no fool to put all our trust in PAP now. Public housing’s is beyond the reach of many average young couple to buy.
We must let our children and our children’s children have a choice of good justice and under the PAP, this will never materialise without more true opposition voices voted into parliament not the co-opted NMPs and NCMPs. They have no constitutional power to influence policies, just voices in the wilderness. LHL thinks we citizens are all fools. Look like we must thank him for being the main character in a wayang kulit show and the NMPs and NCMPs as actors.
Raise the curtain for a new play in parliament – “Prolonging a Dynasty in Singapore”
leesjuanpat
Talking of Thailand which practices somewhat true democracy other than they still have a king (who probably have the final say), Taksin wasn’t voted out in the elections. He was kicked out when he went overseas by a group of people who professes freedom but at the same time could not wait for their turn at the ballot. The yellow shirts demonstrated when Taksin’s people are in power, caused chaos in the streets and finally occupied Bangkok’s airport and by freedom of speech and everything, got what they want by having a PM they wanted. Some of these people who caused chaos became ministers or got into positions of power. Now Taksin’s cronies-the red shirts are giving trouble as tit for tat. The government in power could not do anything because their yellow shirts supporters were also given the same freedom previously. So is that democracy you are talking about and want to have. A true democracy that you are talking about is what is happening now in Thailand. You must have the freedom to arouse those around you without being threaten with jail or other punishment and to demonstrate freely in the streets. Should Singapore practise such democracy and what would be the consequence? You look at China, do you think that they are able to achieve what is today with true democracy. If Deng Xiaoping had not put down the students at TianAnMen, China could be in chaos today. Indonesian, after Suharto, tries to practice true democracy. What happen? Despite their vast resources in abundance of oil etc, have they got far? India, where you have freedom in everything, today, after 50 years, is still one of the poorest country in the world. Their freedom resulted in nothing was done because everything must have 100% consensus before it can be implemented. Over several times, democracy in India resulted in hung parliament, and governments changed hands at the expense of the poor. Because they practise true democracy, some MPs are even criminals and murderers and while in jail, can still remain in Parliament. Is that the democracy that you want?
To this day, I still believe Singapore has achieved the impossible. How can a country, so small that it is actually a city only and even that much smaller than many other cities in the world including Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai, New Delhi, Bombay and so on. And yet within this small place with population of 3-4 million, we are able to achieve a standard of living and economic power much greater than countries hundred or thousand times bigger than us? How are we able to accumulate over the years since the PAP came to power in the 60s a sovereign wealth fund that is worth S$300 billion? Many more powerful and bigger countries don’t have this money and envy us and if we are not strong militarily, could have devour us up like what happened to Kuwait by the then Saddam Hussein of Iraq. All these does not come without planning made years in advance. And the government got to keep on planning for the future sometimes very unpopular it may be. For why must the government think of how to look after the aged in 20 years time when it may not be in power? Why don’t take whatever money you have and spend on popular policies to ensure you get elected the next round. If you buy insurance policies, you know the returns are hardly 2 to 2.5%(maximum), so how does the CPF managed to generate 2.5% on ordinary account and above 3% on the Retirement Account. Even insurance companies (the genuine agents) will advise you to keep your money in the CPF and not take them out to put into insurance as the returns are smaller. A country, so tiny that it is really a dot on the world map, with no natural resources yet able to rank themselves as some of the largest investors in countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and even China in the earlier years. Do you know that Petronas (the Malaysian oil co) receives royalties on the oil and they made annual contributions to their Government from their profit and the amount given to the latter for the past 5 years was enough to give every single Malaysian (young or old) to sum equivalent to Ringgit 5 million! Do we have the benefit of such easy money? All the money we have is earn from our exports of finished goods, tourism etc and the surplus in the government budget were saved up and that is how we have GIC and Temasek. The Government could made itself very popular by spending away all these surplus but is that the way we should do for our future generation?…
//Raymond
Old stories again and again.
All the other dragons did the same and the secret is obvious:
People here work hard and defer gratification.
People will eventually bring some sense to the govt.
inverted_CPF
Old stories maybe but true, only that it is natural that nobody want to bring out to glorify your opponents. Yes people here used to work hard but the good times has made many Singaporeans becoming lazy and take everything for granted. Same thing happening in the West, you have countries (like Greece)going bankrupt and yet the people still want to fight to retire at 40 so that they can enjoy free pensions. But who pay for these pensions? It is the taxpayers’ money but if everyone wants the good life and dont want to work, where is the taxpayer? True, the current government do supress freedom but for certain reason. As citizens we should point out the government’s mistake and offer solutions. It is easy to criticise. If you are your own boss or a Manager of a Company, you would realise whatever you do, even you do it for the benefit of your staff, there will still be pockets of unhappiness but the important thing should be, the things you do should benefit the majority and expect some still not happy. You can try to give a $1000 pay rise to all your staff. Everybody should be happy isn’t it. No, some will come back to you to say he wants more because the other guy who gets the same actually doing less work than him. If you give in and give him more, there will be more complains – it is a never ending cycle of people being never satisfied. It is a very difficult job to balance everything. One policy may make some happy and also some unhappy. If the opposition comes to power, I am sure they will also implement policies which may not satisfy everyone…
Anyone from Opposition I will vote u in regardless of your qualification. Currently, the s from these assemble batch created more social distress than having a common goal. Sad team.
Of course PAP will win the next 2 elections, in fact, they can win indefinitely. Who are the people manning the pollng stations? Who are the people counting the votes? They are civil servants, aka GOVERNMENT employees. Do we have an independent election commission? NO!
I feel sad that “skipper” dont seem to know how the election is conducted at all. Could Mr Chiam or Mr Low or Silvia please come out and give a fair assessment as far as the manning and counting of votes is concern? It is voters like TomDickHarry and skipper that frightens me what will happen if there are more of them. Do Mr Chiam and Mr Low as some of the most respected opposition MPs also believe that it is not necessary to bother about the quality of the opposition candidates because you have people like TomDickHarry who will vote anyone that is in the opposition.
He should forecast how much TEMASEK holding and GIC will lose/gain in 10 yrs time.
So long I have a chance to vote, my vote will not go to the PAP, regardless of whom the opposition is. Enough is enough.
15 years thinking these safe guards??!!!
hes wasting his 15years of life man! LOL!
Man….WHY kept thinking that the opposition are blood thirsty people will turn Singapore upside down if they are suppose to win by a freak results?
Cant this guy be more gracious??!!! i thought he always want us to be gracious but i nvr seen him gracious enough to accept opposition.
A balance government with the opposition is the very 1st step towards a healthy PARLIMENT!! Look at PAP now? So Stale with flys!! Rotten almost… god save us!
Read the following article from FT supplement “The Future of Cities”.
http://bit.ly/dj5Yrn
I want to highlight the last paragraph that says “It shows what you can achieve if you are willing and able to plan and implement something without asking the general public for permission”.
I think this sums up the very sad, but truthfully poignant tale of what Singaporeans have become. A nation of non-critical thinking herds who does not have a voice to challenge, and will not even need rubber stamping from the all-deciding government. We’ll pay for the price the day comes without LKY because we didn’t build enough opposition party (or a culture of diversity that promotes critical and robust debate among parties/citizens) is the start of the fall of Singapore.
Dear Reader,
This is our chance to made a changed.First the policy of high paying minister job is a ploy to control those in office not to oppose him(LKY)Or they will lose their very high paying job and suffered outside the PAP umbrella.Secondly where on earth high salary minister are not responsible and accountable for stupid mistake such as the over spending budget of YOG games.Does that mean that those under PAP umbrella will be sheild from prosecution.This made the argument of high reward for talent without accountabilities very confusing/contradicting.Obviously this argument of paying high salary to minister for talent is to enable a better control of those in office to be subservient or they will lose a very lucrative salary job which they will never be able to find outside.To me the current crops of Minister are mercenaries out to only enrich their pocket and not really working for our belove little island which we called home.