I do not want to sound alarmist but a recurring nightmare of mine is that someday we will find ourselves strangers in our own land.
Former senior civil servant, Ngiam Tong Dow (Straits Times, 24 Sept)
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indeed mr ngiam has alway been truthful in ALL speeches while he was in a governent position as well whenhe was the HDB ceo…
he kannaed whacked a few time when he was in parliament the last time…
well done SIR!
rubbish….talk is cheap! What has he got to fear? He has all the opportunities to rite many wrongs during his comfortable position in the civil sector. Who needs him to conduct a post mortem now? Get Lost!
We can avoid being strangers entirely. Remember ??? There’s an integration program going on….
All that’s needed is for heavy weight ministers to take turns week by week to extend invitations to FWs + FTs in significant numbers to their (the ministers’, not the FTs/ FWs) residences, sit on their sofas and have coffee, run a song and dance item with them, stroll their compounds, invite ministers’ neighbours to participate etc with independent media coverage on the entire atmosphere. Build a dormitory near their residences, better still!
Have policy makers lead by example (not by mouths), instead of volunteering citizens to lead. Demonstrate concrete committment towards successful integration, and do it quickly to express enthusiasm to embrace the implementation!
I like to express my sincere appreciation to Mr Ngiam Tow Dow for the many talks and write-ups on matters of public interests.
Whilst most retired politicians who held high offices have withdrawn totally from the State Affairs to enjoy the fortunes they made while in active politics, Mr Ngiam has constantly shared with us his experiences and wisdoms. As one who was a member of the Establishment for quite some time, he has been candid and not aligned himself with the Regime, at least he did not behave liked a member of the Herd.
I did wish that he had behaved like he does now whilst he was a member of the Regime and the Wish is even stronger and expectation more enhanced when younger Singaporeans became Parliamentarians. However, great disappointment has been exacted as none rise to the challenge, the Younger members behave more sheeply and robotic(manipulated). They are like pawns, no passion, no ideal and no gut.
Mr Ngiam, please provide our young politicians some inspirations, share more of your wisdoms with us all.
patriot
I wonder why was Mr Ngiam not so vocal when he was in the civil service? Is it a case of not biting the hand that feeds you? We are ALREADY strangers in our own land and pls stop harping about our immigrant beginning, circumstances then and now are entirely different. It has become a sell out of our sweat and toll over these 40 – 50 yrs, very much like an IPO, in any case, we are run like a corporation. I just hope I can cash out anytime.
I already do!
yo, ngaim can become NMP hor?
like this less need for opposition lor.
wa hahahahahaha!
I agree with Mr Ngiam. Nowadays many things in Singapore are artificial, from our reclaimed land to our Newater. Now even the population growth is artificial. Foreigners are imported like no tomorrow in order to make up the slow growth for our citizens’ population. Yes, the country has been successful in appeasing the MNCs & the foreign investors. At the expense of the happiness of the people.
The greatest irony is that we will be defending a land which do not belong to us. & we can’t defend a land which do not belong to us. This do not make us loyal soldiers but mercenaries.Mercenaries fight for the highest price without a cause, irregardless who are we fighting for. If this is the loyalty & respect which our leaders wants for us, they may carry on to protect their self interest.
Mr. Ngiam made a good point urging the policy makers to reconsider the haste to increase the population.
Question is, are these policy makers blindly taking orders from the dictator to increase the pool of new citizens ? Is the old man so obsessed with increasing political votes for his son that he’s desperately clinging on to the hope of amassing more new citizens who will pledge allegiance to him out of obligation and gratitude ?
I’ve worked in the middle east and our govt should seriously learn from them. In Dubai and Abu Dhabi, similar strategies were adopted to increase the population in order to expand & catapult both into the league of international cities. Difference is, both stopped short of granting citizenship to foreigners that comprise approx 60% to 70% of the population.
The locals hold all the key positions, politically, financially and economically, thus ensuring that all FTs are seen as a transient and subservient working force that pose no real threat to the locals. This arrangement has resulted in a congenial coexistence of the two. Afterall, their govt do recognise that the country’s wealth have been amassed by their forefathers and why should they let any foreigner be naturalised and claim rights to these wealth as well.
In Singapore, no wonder many of us felt so short-changed with the influx of new citizens claiming all aspects of our social infrastructure, our housing, our educational system, our welfare, our land, our reserves….
*sighz* i just how i can get out before my paper lost is realise…
#10..agree totally with you. Im already in UAE for the past 6 years…to and fro..and mind u forget even about PR status…and the amazing thing is the so called expats or even foreign workers somehow have so much respect and reverence for the locals….here in Singapore…it’s a BIG JOKE! We have to help them to integrate! What utter rubbish!
I am living my nightmare!
Just last night, a foreign young chap was going around from table to table at the food place to hawk his goods of “Valentino” wallets and what-nots. I noticed that at every table, the people will just shoo this guys away with rude gestures and he will just leave after a little pesistance. I being Sotong, smile when he came to my table (thought I can be nice to foreigners) while poilitely telling him that I do not need a new wallet. Taking my friendliness as opportunity, the man unloaded his goods from his bag on my table and I was just starting to eat my nice bak kut teh dinner. He simply refuse to leave my table for a long while until Mrs Sotong complain to the waitress.
This is a sight that I see commonly in developing countries but in Singapore? It is indeed sad that life in Singapore has regressed and all we can do is to wait for that freak election.
On the last day of the 7th month ghost festival, a young foreigner asked me what is the Aunty at the void deck doing when she is burning incense papers. I told this young man that it is the Chinese ghost festival and the gates of Hell is wide open with lots of hungry ghost coming to our Country to look for food.
Our nightmares when the hungry ghost comes to Singapore only last for one month every year. Our nightmares that we find ourselves strangers in our homeland will last forever. And all we can do is to wait for the freaks to come out during the next election.
I think we are already the minority living in a land of foreigners.
Those who stay here temporary 5 to 10 years and earn enough money then go back are smart people.Those who want to suffer 30 to 40 years like us true singaporeans, changing citizenship are stupid people.
At this rate, there will come a time when most singapore-born citizens will be subject to FT in our own land.
The nightmare is already upon us! But to the greater mortals, stuck in their ivory towers and ensconced in their district 10 mansions and chauffered around in their luxury limousines, the nightmare is only that, a nightmare, not real, only a bad dream. Life for them cannot be sweeter.
Just you wait till they (Our elite ministers) leech Singapore dry and cash out of here. I’m surprised no one has raised this point in Parliament yet.
Mr Ngiam stops short of asking the government what their targets are for the economy and population in 20 years. Immigration is only a means of getting there. How do they expect to achieve them and what consequences are they expecting us to handle? We can than really understand if where we are being led to is sustainable and indeed the interest of our society as a whole. Given that GDP growth is a large , if not the only, incentive for our leaders it is not surprising that they get blindsided on important societal issues in the pursuit of economic growth.
A totalitarian gahment do not care about its citizen, it care more about retaining power and keep it that way. We must wake up to the fact that the PAP regime is now recruit ing as many able Sinkaporean into their web of curruption so as to make it respectable and eventually it will accepted by Sinkaporean as (BAU)businese as usual. Watch out for changes in army and police forces before the coming GE. The usual method used by the PAP regime is to use money to retain loyalty of key personnel. We have nothing to loose as the majority of Sinkaporean could never be part of it. They may recruit a few thousand key personnel into their web of corruption but the poor foot soldiers will be still oridinary poor SinKaporean.
A interesting article from the BBC about opening a northeast passage from Asia to Europe cutting the journey time by 25% or more. This is bad news for Sinkapore. It will take a few year to become fully mature and SinKpore port will loose a big portion of its shipping trade. This is the indirect consequences of Global warming. The survival of SinKapore is at stake.
Two German ships have become the first Western commercial vessels to navigate the Northeast Passage – a shipping route which goes from Asia to Europe around the Russian Arctic.
One of the captains told the BBC that their journey opened new, exciting possibilities for the whole international shipping community.
Valeriy Durov, shipmaster of The Beluga Foresight, is your archetypal captain: a short man with a big moustache and a sense of great authority in his voice.
5) Wee SK on September 24th, 2009 12.30 pm
“I wonder why was Mr Ngiam not so vocal when he was in the civil service? ”
It’s funny when civil servant is no longer in the loop and get thrown into the pond and become like the rest of us…That’s when they realized the pain the rest of the salmons are facing.
Need to throw more mortals into the pond to swim with us…
22) George on September 24th, 2009 5.18 pm
Guys, think our fren George has brought up a valid point. There are other events that are evolving that could cause Singapore go belly up by the end of 21st century.
I am preparing my family members to migrate if our PAP’s only concern is about staying in POWER, and could not even handle basic needs of Singaporeans, let alone preparing Singaporeans for future calamities.
Every morning I wake up, I cry for Singapore. Our government has sold our motherland to the foreign imports and granted them citizenship indiscriminately.
To date we have 25% of foreigners for a population of 4 million. The social upheavel brings about a sense of alienation to the very citizens in our own Singapore. Our very native are driven to the walls and every facet life are being
infringed.
A STRANGER IN OUR OWN LAND, the consequence of the draconian policy of the PAP government who wihout far-sightedness imposed a stop at two policy 40 years ago. And now the citizens have to pay th price not of our own misdeed but the government’s high-handledness.
And with the influx of foreign import , the gahmen amassed billions from the levies imposed on the foreigners and enriched their own coffers and legally corrupted themselves with exorbitant paychecks. Citizens are squeezed to the
edge by the foreigners take-up rate to buy our HDB flats and leave the average poor Citizens to wonder how to own the expensive HDB flat. And the gahmen
are riding on the waves of high profit on the transactions of resale flats, mainly
bought by the rich foreigners and pushing the HDB price upwards. Many of us
are living in hell as a stranger in our own land.
If we do not act now to vote the PAP out or increase the voices of oppositions
into parliament, in another 10 years time our children will be a total stranger in
our sad motherland which our children cannot call Singapore but Foreignpore.
We will live to regret we did not react earlier to change history for a better life.
We want our Singapore back to the citizens. We vote for the ouster of the PAP regime. We cannot do anything less than that. We cry for Singapore if we fail.
The PAP government has failed and betrayed our sovereign state.
We cry for Singapore !
Alas! Mr Ngiam, the someday you speak about is already here.
I had once converse with a FT colleage (higher post than me). We discuss abt why S’porean delay marriage and subsequently he ask me whether is it advisable for him to convert to S’porean… I told him, its his preference.
He told me, unless the Government is willing to take care of his next generation i.e. free schooling to University etc, then he would want to convert.
Such is the greed of Man.
Poor Undergrad
post #27 on September 24th, 2009 10.23 pm
////I had once converse with a FT colleage (higher post than me). We discuss abt why S’porean delay marriage and subsequently he ask me whether is it advisable for him to convert to S’porean… I told him, its his preference.
He told me, unless the Government is willing to take care of his next generation i.e. free schooling to University etc, then he would want to convert.////
wah, he so PAP??!
pragmatic & practical… :)
ngiam why u say this now and not earlier.
running HDB interesting or not?
How’s life been for you?
Not to be an alarmist but really, how do we know for sure if a certain political party is not going to pull a Marcos act on us and siphon all the money overseas? The current situation is unfolding is eerily similar to the workings of ex-Taiwanese President Chen Shui Bian and Marcos. Such an issue would quite literally rip apart the social fabric of the country and those that should be smited for such a situation would have been long gone.
#30,
well the majority people do not demand nor request nor would like to see the accounts . I guess they base on TRUST even in the 21st century. Even though they are so-called well educated.
Trust is what they prefer.
Like this till eternity maybe.
Good luck to future gen.
i respect ngiam a lot esp what he had done to improved the standard and life of singaporean under the leadership of gks. though that after he retired from civil service and trouble shoot policy often in the media, i wish that he should comes out and work (being opposition party) with us, the lesser commoners, and help us to gain back our own motherland and fight for justice in sg.
Despite all the bread and butter issues on the table right now folks, let’s not lose sight of the larger picture lest we get hoodwinked and get the carpet yanked out from beneath our feet!
Dear Mr Ngiam et al (thanks to your Land Act),
Good luck to our future generation in singapore! I don’t give a shit about singapore; i am now happily working in malaysia and enjoying life. i am treated like a talent here. i will, however, come back to retire when the lky regime collapse(d). And it is so easy to come back to vote :>
Mr Ngiam
Please run for the elected presidency. In the meantime, make sure you don’t do silly things like jaywalk or whatever to give the gahmen lousy excuses to disqualify you!
His warning is a bit too late….nightmare already started for many of us.
This place will make Elm St look like Disneyland soon.
I hoped I am not spreading fear among our Blogger community but just sharing news I came across. Global warming is a issue that had already affected country like Bangladish where the low land had been flooded by rising sea level.Beind an island with limited land, that issue should be addressed with open participation of the population. To stick one head in the sand will not make the problem disappeared. Saying it is an act of god is no consolation when effort could be made to limit the effect. One positive effect of global warming is that large area of the northern hemisphere could be farmed but the draw back will be water shortage. Water is another issue that Sinkapore had to deal with and with plan to increase the population, this problem will be more severe. Although new break through with recycling partially solve the problem now but the long term prospect is uncertain. A open gahment with citizen participation with the problems and issues of the day, would make citizen feel part of the problem and may encourage many SinKaporean to stay.
Mr Ngiam,
That “nightmare” is already a REALITY in S’pore!!! Maybe you should walk further away from your prime residential area.
“All that’s needed is for heavy weight ministers to take turns week by week to extend invitations to FWs + FTs in significant numbers to their (the ministers’, not the FTs/ FWs) residences, sit on their sofas and have coffee, run a song and dance item with them, stroll their compounds, invite ministers’ neighbours to participate etc with independent media coverage on the entire atmosphere. Build a dormitory near their residences, better still!”
============================
That are 2 great ideas. Our ministers should walk their talk.
Our ministers should quit their motto of: Do as I Say, Not Do as I Do.
I don’t know how to “integrate” because I failed Calculus in school.
#5) Wee SK
” I wonder why was Mr Ngiam not so vocal when he was in the civil service? ”
…………………………………………………………………….
There were rumours that he was given permission by the PAP leaders to criticize the government but I believe he is sincere in his writing. I have also read his book. Only time will tell. Or until he writes something too sensitive to their liking.
The people will be able one day to speak and tell the government what they think of them come the next election! That’s when all who have been speaking out can cast thier votes and stand up for what they believe!
I have nothing against foreigners coming to sin and working here. But too many too soon and in droves that we have never seen before. As I said before when I take the MRT i feel I have in a foreign country surrounded by all these foreigners!
We live in a country that brainwashes us all the time. they avoid issues and twist and turn so that the people believe in them. The government lost close to 60 billion and say it’s on eof those things, ;et’s move on. The moment they make a profit of just a mere 1 biilion, it’s headlines for days praising themselves!
Welcome to SINGAPORE to all singaporeans.It’s time to get use to your new homeland!
have more babies, stop importing talent, problem solved. failing which, massive exodus
It has happened in some parts of Singapore.
An advice to Mr Ngiam, don’t just talk, take action if you want o save S’pore and the people. Join the oppositios or create your own. Change the tide around for the sake of all S’porean. Thanks. Wish you go health.
Speaking as a Singaporean born in the 50s’ and supporting the PAP thruoughout my adult life (despite disagreeing with some of their elitist policies) I will say it now that ‘enough is enough’.
The PAP Government policy of importing foreigners and granting citizenships to any Dick, Tom or Harry, thereby making our already stressful lives even worse, is the absolute last straw. The next vote of mine in the General Election will go to an opposition candidate even if he were that old Ah Pek Karanguni man.
It’s time to show the PAP that Singapore belongs to Singaporeans and NOT the PAP Party.
Wonder how many PRs or new citizens are in the civil service and the government ?
Seems like national policies are tilting towards the advantage of the PRs and foreigners and the new citizens.
Guys and Gals,
u know, i know.
There is ONLY 1 Way Out. Period.