Yap Kim Hao
Throughout the General Election and its aftermath the word that kept popping up was: LISTEN.
Everyone claims they want to listen. Candidates from the opposition said they had listened to the voters and were responding to their cries. They then listed the litany of woes of those who found their present living situations difficult and the future bleak.
People’s Action Party (PAP) candidates had to defend and even apologized for not having listened enough to the grievances of the people and they promised to do better.
It is necessary for us to listen to all sectors of our community. We are pleased to listen to those who succeed and able to manage their lives. We need to listen and empathise with those who are struggling with the basic necessities of life in the midst of our relative affluence. The suffering of others in our community is also mine as a fellow human being. When one suffers all share in the suffering.
Some issues have surfaced which need to be addressed for the total well-being of the nation. Are we really listening to what the people are saying? All will have to work together in solving the issues we hear about.
High Salaries.
We have reached beyond the embarrassing stage where those who hold political office are paid the highest salaries in the world, beyond comparison with the more developed and larger countries. It is on a scale which is truly “out of this world.” Others even regard it as obscene and a form of corruption. It can no longer be justifiable by any means. The opposition has shown convincingly that they were able to recruit equally outstanding and talented people who are not tempted with astronomical remunerations.
Casinos
While it is true that government revenue has increased significantly and that a large number of new jobs were created, the question remains whether the gambling industry is the one that we need to engage in and the kind of jobs that we need to train workers for. The social costs are alarming. The “house” is calibrated to win always and millions of dollars are being siphoned out daily to the owners of our casinos. Lives are being sacrificed at the casino altars.
Minimum Wage
Wages need to consider the living wage for our workers and their families. Foreign workers who compare their own living conditions in their own countries are willing reluctantly to accept lower than living wages. Corporations in our borderless economic world will seek out countries that pay the lowest wage for workers in order to maximize their profits. Without a minimum age policy we are exploiting poor foreign workers and enriching the companies especially in the manufacturing sector.
Gerrymandering
It is obvious enough that there is gerrymandering to ensure the continued control of those in power. Whatever name we use it is a deliberate attempt through the electioneering process to benefit the party in power. The degree and the manner which we have done in the GRC’s have made its continuance highly problematic. We do not train people for political office by getting them to hang on to the coat-tails of successful office holders and bypass the proper election process of having the candidate contest in single-member constituencies.
Widening Gap
The ever widening gap between the rich and poor has no other option but to narrow. When the poor cannot afford to retire and continue to work in order to survive we see that could be one’s fate when one retires. When we depend upon our children’s medisave to pay our hospital bills we are spending not only our children’s inheritance but their present savings. The need for more equitable distribution of the nation’s wealth is crying out from the more deprived segments of our community.
Social capital
When I watch the tremendous crowds attending the political rallies, I look at other massive crowds gathered in many parts of our world today demonstrating for change and succumbing even to the violent overthrow of authoritarian regimes that have been in power for decades. There is an urgency
to build up the social capital of people who are committed to peaceful change. We need people to show fairness and to commit to compassion and to engage in caring for one another.
These are the pressing issues that come to mind when we listen to the voices from all directions when we go through a general election. They are the voices for change. If changes do not occur fast enough violence becomes the only option and we all suffer. We listen to the pleas and the cries of the people who suffer from the pressures of these problems. We can eavesdrop and listen to the voices from afar and they are reaching our shores. The listening process must necessarily lead to action to solve these issues in our society.
Are you listening?
HELP keep the voice of TOC alive!
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Lets wait for the next FIve years, No, two years even and see if the PAP does listen. All those points raised are very legitimate issues. We shall see what the new opposition candidates and incumbent PAP candidates will do about the issues. Personally though, i wion’t hold my breath. Oh sure, the PAP will introduce some cosmetic changes but ultiamtely they still hold the majority and Six opposition candidates cannot mount any serious challenge to policies. But hopefully it can drive debates to the voters.
While most of us are (were) distracting ourselves with petty issues as to who is ”right” or who is ”wrong” , the incumbents are quietly planning and bringing in truck/planeloads of foreigners n ”leaning” on the excuse of foreing ”talent” n lame excuse of shortfall of babies and what-not to build a bigger vote-bank to establish themselves even further. This is what happened during the last few years just before elections.
Many are still crowing about oppo lah, PAP lah; many new citizens with their votes saved the PAP from a bigger defeat cos majority of Singaporeans voted for oppo. THAT of foreigners-turned citizesn votes UNDID ALL THE HARD WORK , THE EFFORTS OF WEBSITES OF THESE SORTS AND ALL THE WISHING, WANTING ,COMPLAINGING was ALL IN VAIN.
Does anyone know if the new citizens were debarred for cos of not having met a certain period of stay eg., 5 years or .. mandatory period or if the incumbents ignored this anomaly and still allowed them to vote.
Till now, no one for sure knows how many amongst the eligible voters were new citizens? If they were allowed to vote on the basis of citizenship without any mandatory stay-rule then it certainly does not augur well for democracy.
ALL THEY HAVE TO DO (AND ARE DOING IT NOW) IS BRING IN MORE AND GIVE THEM CITIZENSHIP AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE TO MAKE UP FOR THE IMPENDING SHORTFALL N ERODING SUPPORT OF LOCALS.
Stupidity is normal, is human but to be this stupid is beyond redemption. The other big issue is that of disconnectedness, self-absorption (aka me first – kiasuism!) that is pervasive and endemic in Singapore.The incumbents know this and exploit to benefit. If SIngaoreans are uniting now, “ too bad, foreigners have forced us to wake up. To save our sorry arses we unite.
However, this unity will not last cos it is shallow, merely a means to and end. What is the end? Economic survival. Existentially, the disconnect cannot be mended by mere knowledge. It has to emanate from one’s Being. Being for eg, kind, being for eg, emphathetic and most of all being able to the unfortunate, the commoner. When and if each one of us as an individual is a catalyst to transforming another now, whoever it may be, society transforms and that is a big difference. There is no society but the individuals that make the society.
Change is akin to merely pruning a tree off its branches – it is superficial and the roots thicken to worsen. However, transformation is holistic and the roots taken on a new ”life” , a awakening of sorts.
Sadly, many seem to think that a change of ”clothes” would suffice.
PS: Muse over this
A man is at the bar n another man walks up to him n asks him, “Are you Ernie Smith?”
The man says, ‘yes”
The man then says, ‘Were you in Boston a few days ago?’
Ernie says, “Just a min,” n from his bag takes out a notebook, turns some pages, and then says, “Yes, I was a few days ago.”
The man says, “Were you in rm 5?”
Ernie looks into his notebook n says, “Yes.”
The man says, “Did you meet Mrs.Dorothy in rm 6?”
Ernie scans his eyes on his notebook n replies, “Yes.”
The man says, “Tell me, did you make love to Mrs Dorothy?”
Ernie looks into notebook again, says, “Yes, I made love to Mrs. Dorothy.”
The man says, “Well, I’m Dorothy’s spouse n I don’t like it.”
Again, Etrnie looks in his notebook and utters, “You know, that’s funny. I didn’t like it either.”
For the wise and intelligent it is un-necessary to elucidate with further egs. lah. PAP is a party that only hears what it wants to hear. Labelling me a cynic does not detract from what is true and transpiring. it was campaigning in poetry, the prose of governance is not going to ever be palatable excepting lip-service gestures and window-dressed bus-stops!
LHL and his cohorts will never listen, hearing, yes they do all the time. Listening is of the heart as opposed to hearing which is of the mind. Beware the misconception.
Good to see that the WP will not bow to Temasek Review’s interference and give the NCMP seat to its own party instead of Seah. Do not let a foreign blog from ex-Singaporeans enjoying PR and citizenships from other countries interfere with our domestic politics!
Think about it. The WP’s winning GRC team had 2 people associated with the legal faculty in Temasek Poly (Ms Lim) and SMU (Chen). Compare this was the faculty at NUS. As an alumni of the law faculty of NUS, I feel sad that the faculty there is more concerned with defending the status quo rather than taking innovative and progressive views on law and society. It might as well move to North Korea if it is reactionary. It serves as a hub for MPs and ministers for the govt (eg Chin Tet Yung, Ho Peng Kee and Jayakumar). Is it any surprise that the faculty has been receiving huge grants from the govt? It has a new swanky building and library. Was this part of a faustian pact with the govt? The only independent thinker there is Walter Woon and he had a short tenure as AG.
It is sads days to read of GY, LHH & ZAR in their unprecedented & public disclosures of nuggets of truths.
It seems that the PAP’s mind is made up & over the years despite the ground swell to deep resentment over national issues, they have a China wall to listening & a ” do not confuse me with facts, my mind’s is made up”. Things move on in a well drilled & orchestrated soft propaganda machine seemingly designed to supplant citizens’ minds.
Even if PAP try to listen, they simply cannot see the obvious clear disconnect between citizens & government. If there is real change and if the “New PAP” wants to stay in power – the advice for them – is to firstly to regain the MORAL ground as left behind for them by the “Old PAP”.
Secondly – it is PERFORMANCE as the “New PAP” prefers to run Singapore like a co with the executive branch tasked to do the work in a “poker face” way.
Also as ministers – you must be humble enough to take a good look at your own selves….are worthy of the million dollars paid, when you can first walk in under the tailcoats & the GRC fortress- in other words , you are not even chosen by the citizens in the first place…..& are governing with such arrogance & aloofness as to cause the swing of votes?
Who are you ? you may be the younger ministers & you may dress better – but it may stops there altogether. Have you earn the respect of the citizens in your own feel good world – ” I am somebody, I travel first class, & I have been chosen & I am smug ?
Ask yourself – what have you done right & for the citizens in your years since appointed as a minister ?
If you have not perform please be brave enough to step dowm & not wait for the next election, & internal politicking will not help the PAP to change in time.
Thirdly & the rest – BE TRUE TO YOURSELVES & do away with policies which make a mockery – start with what that may involve citizen’s next – for example the coming ” Elected President ” vote. If there s really to be an election, let it be a true & fair one.
Below the belt tactics would make a fool of the highest office elected & continue to create more citizen’s resentment…..
One black sheep plunged into the mud, all the white turned black coz they followed the leader blindly without questions. They would obligingly say Yes Sir, Yes Sir when all the leader need to say is just listen to all the good things. And they all closed one eye or both, brushing aside all the bad happenings. Some kind of Taiqi in practice.