From Goh Meng Seng’s blog, Singapore Alternatives:
There is nothing shameful to admit that I was also an illegal hawker since I was 5 years old, helping my parents to mend our temporary “stall” or going around the flats to sell their lasi lemak, ottah kwei and bee hoon. I am the youngest and thus I have to help out in the morning before I go to school. I spent most of my holidays hawking these food “illegally”. If there is anything PAP or ISD want to dig, this is the ONLY DIRT they could find about me, a young illegal hawker at the age of 5 till 11.
They have to wake up 3am in the morning to prepare all the food for sales to the morning working crowd.They have made a name for themselves in the neighbourhood for selling the delicious nasi lemak and dumplings. Pre-orders for dumplings during the festive season were in the tens and hundreds.
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It is now NEA trying to curtail our political activism on the ground by issuing such silly summon of “illegal hawking”. Choosing between becoming a totally law abiding of silly law which make us politically inactive and being an effective political party actively engaging the ground but risks being summoned as “illegal hawkers” by NEA, I would choose the later. I am not here to make NSP just a flower vase of PAP’s farce pseudo Democracy. I am here to make NSP an effective party that would actively challenge and put proper checks and balances on PAP’s dominance of power.
This is not only about the survival of NSP or any other opposition parties alone. It is about the sustainability of the healthy political development for Singapore. If there is a small price to be paid as being insulted as “illegal hawkers” by the unreasonable PAP’s rule, so be it.
Read the full article on Goh Meng Seng’s blog here: Singapore Alternatives.
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what so shameful? in the olden days every mothers would turned to illegal hawkins to substain an income..my mum did
my dad do it as well
heck even the former polis commsioner parents do it as well…
not every singapooriums hav an employed father who is still earnin over $100,000/month @ the aged of near 90
NEA focus on environmental issues instead of politics. So much littering in Orchard Road which cause the flood according to official excuses. Your men still got time summoning opposition party ? Better see what your road sweepers and littering enforcement officers are doing before other drains are choke with litters.
#georgia tong
sorry, we cannot focus on the litter.
Director has cooking class to attend,
lower ranking officer is trying to extort sexual flavours from literbugs.
we are busy.
LoL.
Wait a minute! Lets get the fundamental point right. A law is a law, however silly it is, it must be complied.
The fact that a person’s parents woke up at 3 a.m. to earn a living or a certain political party wants to be effective is irrelevant and not an acceptable excuse for breaking the law. Period!
Any political party chose to break the laws that have been supported and cherished by the people is committing an act of self destruction! Period!
From the hygiene point of view, it is not justifiable to charge Mr Goh Meng Seng under the guise of illegal hawking, since the products peddled (newsprint, or a form of wood) were not for human consumption, neither are they hazardious in any way to health since they are also not external medicine.
However, from the fair-competition point of view, there is some justification.
Licenses, i understand, are only given to the really destitute, for proper control of street vendors. For example if you are a rich person and you want to sell some nasi lemak just because you are a great cook, you are illegally competiting with a poor Mak Cik lady who needs the money more – never mind if her nasi lemak tastes yukks..
So the rules are designed to help the really really poor people. So Mr Goh has to prove to the authorities that he is destitute, no job, no family supporters. If he doesnt do that, he is unfairly competeing with the Ah Pek who sells Shin Min news on the roadside.
Now how do you argue against that, not that i agree with it…
zero
no need to worry about illegal hawking.
we just need 100,000 new foreign workers cum talents to influx and these should help employers pick and choose the best and lower cost worker to help the employers stay alive.
With these, illegal hawking could be a thing of the past.
We should welcome the 100,000 Additional foreign workers. They will make the economy grow. Lets bite the bullet and open our arms wide wide and embrace them and help them to settle down. Be a tour guide and help the go around singapore. Organize events for them to mingle with one another. Setup business, find good paying jobs. Buy flats. Find their children good schools. Lets come together.
More good years! I am confident citizens will be able to do this. You are the role models for the world!
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/moral-camouflage-or-moral-monkeys/?hp
a good reading for all singaporeans since we’re so closely tied up with uncle sam.
Obviously, the CEO of NEA wants to get noticed by his political master.
Can a “silly” law be a law to be obeyed by anyone with a sound and clear mind ?
What makes for a “silly” law ?
Should it not be one that defies common sense ?
An “arbitrary” Law, or a Law that is arbitrarily applied is different from a “silly” Law – and will need to be contested in court for justice to be addressed.
Unfortunately, when the justice is blind to injustices – can we depend on the Singapore Courts to have justice to exist – especially in political cases such as these ?
When a political party that dominates all spheres of authority – from its acts in Parliament that tie the hands of the judiciary with mandatory laws, trim the powers of the Elected President, re-interpet laws to benefit its position, that even extend to usurpring the powers of clemency from the President – can citizens have any recourse to any form of justice ?
Clearly, CSJ and the SDP is correct in fighting for political space for Singaporeans, and Goh Meng Seng is now also awaken to his tasks to fight for equal rules for the Alternative Political Parties so as to be relevant to Singaporeans.
CST from Potong Pasir and LTK from Hougang cannot possibly remain in deep slumber any longer, and will need to activate their parties in support of Goh and CSJ.
Interesting to note how George Yeo and his team immediately wakeup from their slumber to capitalise on this good opportunity present by the NEA of deactivating the main opposition’s public outreach of selling newspapers in Aljunied to do their anxious MPs walk-about in Bedok Reservoir’s market. He and his team feel very safe now that the world belongs to them and theirs alone.
to zero:
the ah pek sells newspapers but NSP sells political newsletter, they are not competing as their audience is different.
surely a person can buy both newsletter and newspaper. who knows,buying the newsletter may interest the buyer to buy newsletter and vice-versa.
your argument only stands if newspaper is also regarded as political in nature(which i doubt SPH will admit to), then i suppose the ones who should really be complaining are the other opposition parties who sell competing newspapers
The SPF has been used by the governing political party, PAP, to suppress another political party.
We definitely need more competition in the political arena as differing political view points would be better for us ordinary Singaporeans.
The PAP is getting old, stale, moldy and repressive.
to cy
your point noted, great.
one thing still remains, since GMS is not in dire straits, he is not supposed to be able to get licence to hawk goods, the precious license are distributed to poor people only i think. you can’t sell anything, not nec political publications, if you have not prove to the authorities that you are in dire straights. We don’t have an entreprenural culture, the pap govt actually kills us with all this stupid laws.
Alamak! GMS should try to rent a small retail/outlet and sell his newsletters fm the outlet. This way he would not contravene the law and is retailing newsletters instead of ‘hawking’ them.
As a retailer, would he still require a licence fm the authorities to retail newsletters?
It’s all to do with choices, something which Singaporeans do not have. Like someone mentioned; “the law is that law”. It is such mentality that stifles the socio-political growth of a people who originated from fear, born out of fear.
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Singaporeans, and I am talking about lots of them, are breaking the law everyday to survive the overly unfair circumstances they find themselves in.
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Write an innocent book and the next moment you find yourself faced with some criminal charges and immediately being treated as one.
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Take photos of a flood a you are again faced with a charge of criminal trespass and obstruction of police activity, with the policeman on duty acting as judge and jury.
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Allowing a terrorist to escape is a pardonable act.
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Can anyone claim that all these have the support of the people? How manipulative the government and its followers have become, to attribute everything it does to having the support of the people even when it is clear that half the population did not get the chance to cast their choices, and for those who did, almost half chose against them.
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Surely these voices matter, or do they?
i always thought NEA is only concerned with the matters of the environment.
what the hell has selling party newspapers got to do with the environment?
we you guys littering?
Or are they implying that you guys are worthless sh*t trying to discredit the pap and therefore the pap is sending NEA officers to clean up sh*t?
But,pap also selling their partywares,be it papers,t-shirts,flags and whatever the hell they are selling.
I dont see NEA officers doing anything at all.
So opposition selling is a cause for concern for the environment but pap is not.
I say pap is a whole pile of sh*t that needs clearing.NEA should wake up their ideas and start clearing sh*t where it matters.
I propose starting with the 90 year old sh*t that is still costing singapore some 3 million/year.
after that,the buckets of sh*t that spawn from that 90 year old sh*t…..its going to be a stinking job….but someone gotta do it.
I think as GMS has commired a crime, he should be charged. Age is not an excuse. The statute of limitation may have saved him this time but better not push your luck,
@ My Views
You have never heard of “abuse of due process” or “otherwise wrong” administrative law, right?
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/vic/VSC/2002/364.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=“otherwise%20wrong”
this cannot that cannot then 100,000 foreigners coming to get jobs here. we die la.@$#@ the government!!
Singapore DESERVES its KARMA-legal and illegally-period!
Felicity 19 July 2010
As a retailer, would he still require a licence fm the authorities to retail newsletters?
…………..
today hear another bad news from moi’s oleclient.. he foldin his fish/coral farmin in lor hantu..
he will be movin up north
as in north johor.. he mentioned our pap government is so good in implementin so many laws and so strict on mosquito dengue fever preventions..so all this oletimer buisness people who are dealin in waterbased projects hav to buy/least new highend eouipments which is very very costLEE…
yet our owned pap government can’t even solved the floodin issues which bred even more dengue fevers….
Doing street hawkers is not easy as we thing.
Wake up as early 2am to make preparation…
Selling at affordable price … & tasty food…
Most important thing is what they are doing is to support their family…
Salute to Street Hawkers…
Most of the councils in UK (95%) still operate indoor/outdoor market for traders to trade, this facilitates those individuals who would like to start up their own business to have a chance to taste entrepreneurship with limited resources.
The rents usually cost between £20 to £38 per day depend on locations and the number of days you operate! So you dun see street hawkers as the council is there to help! Let us suggest the town councils in Singapore to do likewise and assist those citizens who are in need!
If a LAW is UNJUST and is a stupid law or if the LAW is SELECTIVELY APPLIED than it is only MORALLY courageous for the Offender to stand up to the UNJUST and slective application of the LAW.
I applaud Goh Meng Seng.
If the Opposition comes into power in the next GE…Goh Meng should look into this idiotic law.