Minister-Without-Portfolio and NTUC Chief, Mr Lim Swee Say, was quoted by Channel NewsAsia as having said:
“If you’re the best today, strive to be better. If you’re better today, strive to be ‘betterer’ and if you’re ‘betterer’ today, strive to be ‘betterest’ so that over time, Singapore’s service standards can just keep getting better, ‘betterer’ and ‘betterest’.”
Below is a response from one of TOC’s fans, Kayln Asahi, on our Facebook page:
Beyond all the rants about linguistic abilities, what I took away from his statement is that no matter how hard we try we will never be good enough. Because even when you are the best, you can still do better. No matter how much you have achieved, you can achieve more. If a parent or boss keeps saying that to you, how will you feel? – Never good enough. And that is a very stressful, pressured and unhealthy environment to be in.
With ministers sprouting brainless thoughts like these and the MSM publishing all these sh**, what kind of culture are they building here? There’s every economic indication that we are doing well here but there’s no heart matter in Singapore. We will never be anywhere near being the World’s Happiest Countries. How can we be happy when most regular folks are trying our darn hardest to do our jobs well and live with rising costs yet members of the government keep dropping statements like as if not enough is done. It’s never enough.
Look, if we are already the best, we strive to maintain that standard and keep that position. That in itself is already a tall task. Telling people to strive to be better than best, how more greedy can they get?
What are your thoughts on this?
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I’ve always been imbibe this mindset since young. Ironically by the schools, army and also work places. Luckily my parents support me and never tell me I’m not good enough. Motivation is good, but not in negative connotation. Actually telling someone “well done mate!” is a great motivator to do better.
what a stupid way to say – better, betterer, betterest ??. Is this the english we want our children to speak ?
He could just easily say that singaporeans should not be complacent and rest on the success of the past and should always seek ways to improve continually.
Better, betterer, betterest from a Minister ? Come on. Don’t talk like a idiot. Or worse still, don’t talk down to us.
Contentment has become an “obscene” word as it is degraded to mean “tidak apa” complacent.
In our kind of culture, perpetuated by the present kind of gahmen, we will never be happy except the people run the medical services, including IMH.
During a seminar on suicides in Singapore, a suicide expert said that we have one of the highest suicides amongst elderly but it not to be publicised!!
Throw into the cauldron firstly an elitist leadership, then an incessant striving for perfection beyond perfection to feed their insatiable greed for nationwide performance results which supposedly leads to continuing reins of power and money, finally an inurement to the cries of ordinary citizens for social justice and balance, and you surely get a roiling mix of discontent at all levels, most notedly from the most disadvantaged slice of the populace, the original working class struggling with great difficulty to keep up.
Actuallyly, I also want to strive to be better than “betterest”, i.e. I will be BETTERISTICA, as like fantastica or battlestar galatica lah.
He would say this, wouldn’t he?
His boss wants to “spur” us.
the problem is that we do not have the power to rent seek the funds needed to put into whatever “productive” measures he is talking about unlike the sector that he is in giving him the privilege to spew out lexical rubbish.
“productive measures” which could be potentially expensive like initial capital investments which only line the pockets of consultants but do not really value add in terms of income distribution among those needing it most.
I think they ought to concentrate on the overall cost of running a business here especially on areas of some overpriced factors of production / services which have done nothing good but only pushed up inflation where we end up targeting the wrong areas and squeezing the wrong groups of people.
Ordinary S’poreans need to get “better, betterer and betterest”, so that the resultant GDP growth from our hardship will raise the salary of out ministera higher and higher and higher.
We certainly expect our ministers to walk the talk and not be deaf frogs or freakishly disappear. Or worse, be lame, lamer, lamest!
LeeKuanYew have said ‘Not Enough Spurs to the Hide’ of Singaporeans.
BRAINLESS LIMSWEESAY
So much for speak good english campaign.
As much as I dislike this minister…. I gotta say he’s comments was just an innocent by valid exhortation to all workers not to be complacent but strive to do better. No fault in that.
limsiasuayed..did you better yourself? you onlLEE seem to be BATTERED lateLEE
why don’t your butter your backside instead..in this way you s HIT more easiLEE..
天下为公 5 July 2010
it is like a king living off ostentatiously the hard work of others while at the same time exhorting the virtue of hard work.
the comment is valid but the moral authority of a person to say it is also important – it goes hand in hand.
it is like expecting people to squeeze inside a crowded train while you yourself drive to work everyday (or your own discomfort, if any, is very much compensated) while running a monopolized national transport system where comfort is not democratized/ spread evenly.
I cannot find the words “Betterer & Betterest” in the dictionary. Can someone tell me is it from the smartest man on earth who created it, anyway he must pattern it, and put it on record. I wonder how the ruling party keep this type of talent as minister, no wonder they claimed the party recruits only the best/qualified people as candidate for their party. I think some of the Opp candidate such as LTK 100 times better than him.
It’s one thing to pursue excellence in whatever thing we do but this should apply to all, including those in the cabinet and govt. Have they performed better, betterer, betterest in the past 10 years?? Why should this confined to only workers? It’s just empty talk. They think they can talk their way out of any situations. But sometimes, it ain’t enough anymore even though they have the best orator on their side.
Thank God he did not speak Mandarin…else the PRCs will die laughing
A fool cannot never know when it has stepped into the realm of being foolish, foolisher, and foolishest.
It is so characteristic of the Pro Alien Party Talent to dump a misfit to torture Singaporean Worker-members in the NTUC.
This clearly reflect the disdain of the power behind the Pro Alien Party – ever since they picked the late Ong Teng Cheong as the NTUC Sec-General, who later became a popular President Elect and will dare to demand from the PAP Ministers to submit a report on the Singapore Wealth, which the position of the Elected President is to watch over with the Second Key.
Clearly, the Pro Alien Party CEC do not wish this NTUC Secretary General to be a popular one that will threaten themselves sometime into the future.
Is our Minister promoting Singlish ?
Then why bother with the Speak Good English campaign and school trying to weed out Singlish.
If he is trying to humour us, he has failed miserably. No wonder he is a minister without a portfolio.
Lim Siah Sway is an utter disgrace to the PAP govt. Let’s forget what he said. You cannot be betterer or betterest. You can only be better or best.
It like having the stupidest Minister speaking out from his ass hole sprouting out rubbish! It does increase in momentum each time to become “STUPIDESTER” then “STUPIDESTEST”!
There is no such word as ‘betterer’ or ‘betterest’. Best is already the most appropriate word.
What if the students uses these wrong words in school and got penalised ? How are our teachers going to explain why this smart-arse Minister is allowed to use it ?
Is this how he wants to draw attention to himself ? Obviously for the wrong reasons ! What a f**king joke !
What a stupid turd.
If ever an IDIOT exists in PARLIAMENT Lim Swee Say takes the title HANDS DOWN,after all each Court must have its JESTER.
tell me, why do we spent millions of dollars feeding this fat white pig who cannot even speak proper english! telling us to be better??!! i say speak for yourself!
Lets call him the “Betterest” minister with porkarliow.
better, better-er & better-est?
in S’pore we got a Prime Minister, but he’s not prime enough a minister, he needs Senior Minister to be above to nanny him, as if not enough, S’pore got a Minister Mentor to end-it-all!
were the Senior Ministers & Minister Mentor elected or self appointed wan? better-est? nothing is impossible.
Uniquely S’pore!! lol…
To think there was once when I attended a Young Leaders seminar,I thought Mr Lim Swee say has some depth and will help improve the situation.
However, he seems to be making very severe gaffes and showed that he either lost or never had the touch of the common man.
But then again, his fellow PAP attendee of th seminar was Mr Sleeply Head Teo , and it doesn’t take too much to outshine that guy
If anyone of you can remember a visiting professor was interviewed in the papers. That to increase productivity, companies have to take care of its people, he went on to say that Singapore companies are not there yet, it takes two hands to clap, the employers and employees. Rest my case.
Kayin’s remarks exemplify the type of rabid knee-jerk and mindless anti-PAP rhetoric that frequently gets published in the comments function of The Online Citizen. The Minister was just saying that there is always be room for improvement, but that became construed a negative Singaporeans-are-never-good-enough statement. Come on lah. Let’s be rational, shall we?
This was mentioned on Facebook… a lot of witnesses have heard him speak perfect English in international functions. He uses this broken English to ‘relate’ to locals, supposedly because he thinks local workers are stupid and can only understand this kind of English.
Do we need running dogs of the PAP to tell us who is reacting ‘rabid’-ly?
THE SO-CALLED MINISTER IS AN IDIOT, NINCOMPOOP, and no amount of paraphrasing will ever be enough to show he is who he is – AN OVERPAID, SELF-SERVING, ASS-KISSING, ARROGANT HYPOCRITE, and also a DEAF FROG.
Why can’t the PAPies themselves be better, betterer and betterest. Instead, they are getting bad,bader and baderest.
How to be better when our ministers ask us to be betterest?
Sigh.
huh..?? gong simi jiao way…??
I wonder if Mr Lim Swee Say is an ex-ACSian? ‘cos he really living the ACS motto -> “The best is yet to be”.
>_<
Just maybe he was misquoted.
If not fortunately he is not the EDUCATION Minister.
There is no need for him to try to be funny!
You guys did not get it. We are asked to go from best to better … maybe we need to be only good enough?
Now, there is more reason Singapore needs to change the political system to a two-party system with more urgency!
A major overhaul is now long overdue!
To get rid of this moron is easy. Vote him out and save all our problems of complaining. He is a great dissappointment to Singapore labour.
Seriously, we need a ‘cheaperer’ minister. So vote wisely ok? Better vote wisely so that our lives can become betterer and that would be bestest !
Hmmm.. better, betterer, betterest —
Increase productivity?
Work till 80 years old?
Better still, work 2 jobs at 80 and be congratulated by the gvt? I would think someone at 80 doing 2 jobs is terrible.
Strange, really strange..
Such linguistic adulteration can come from a Catholic High Old Boy.
Cock, cocker, cockerest! Disgust, disguster, disgusterest! Idiot, idioter, idioterest! Disgrace, disgracer, disgracest!
$2 MILLION bucks, $2,000,000 per year.
wow.
Wow!
Expensive, Expensiver, Expensivest.
he is the ugliestest of all the already ugly frogs and trying to act like a prince, really a siah sway to singapore.
want S’poreans to be “better, btter-er & better-est”?
show us the money aka up salary. under-valued, overworked people coupled with stressful life (threat of being replaced by foreigners, high cost of living) will never deliver optimal performance.
our dear leaders only know how to protest S’poreans to do more, earn less & not complain. why dun they earn less & do more (saying problems occur “once every 50 years” is lame excuse) for a start? they can well afford it!
champion complainers? learn from the top de ley…
Lim SS should be our YOG ambassador, he Singlish is more powerful-er than Phua Chu Kang (PCK)!!
dun play play. hahaa… :D
mmmmmmmmm