Howard Lee /
Elderly folk sitting and chatting on field mats and foldable stools, and children with scooters and neon-lighted clappers. The rally for Marine Parade GRC on 30 April had a festive atmosphere to it, with or without the toad that made its way from the back to the front of the rally site (I kid you not), to the giggles of attendees. But, I will not write further about frogs in the well.
The rally started with two grassroots leaders delivering their support for the People’s Action Party, before the candidates arrived at about 8pm. Mr Ong Ah Heng opened the session in Hockkien, before the candidates did their speeches in turn – Ms Tin Pei Ling, Dr Fatimah Lateef, Mr Goh Chok Tong, Mr Seah Kian Peng and finally BG Tan Chuan Jin.
The speeches of the candidates all followed a certain pattern – demonstrate that they have been walking the ground, list the good work that the PAP has done for the constituency, sketch out both party and personal plans for their wards and the constituency, before chastising the opposition for their empty promises. They all ended with a warning about the pitfalls of voting on emotions, for popular and easy choices, and for incompetence, and categorically reaffirmed the PAP as the only party worth the vote of Marine Parade GRC residents. All par for the course.
Depending on their personality, seniority and personal experiences, each told the same story in different ways. Tin, for instance, quote a personal experience with a resident in detail, Goh harked back to the days of old, and Tan related to the people through his leadership experience in the army.
While all the other candidates were content to lambast the commitment, credibility and the lack of concrete plans by the National Solidarity Party, Goh was the only one with experience, and perhaps clout, to take swipes at a number of opposition parties in a speech that lasted almost 40 minutes.
Among all the candidates, Tin had the most comprehensive and specific list of to-dos for her constituency. It included increasing access to healthcare for elderly, coffee sessions with youths to find out their ideas and find out what they would like to see in their community, install energy saving light bulbs to help residents cope with utility bills, a mentor reading programme which is apparently already in the works, and bursaries and study awards.
Fatimah made a couple of rather awkward statements. The first was to claim that the support the PAP received from the team’s walkabouts was not just warm, but HOT. Giggles broke from the crowd, probably due to the rather warm night. The second was, “Look at what we have achieved here in the past 40 years – do you call this slow?” Interesting that progress over 40 years can be considered fast. The rest of her four-minute speech in English was dedicated to saying the opposition has not been walking the ground.
Goh made many points that amount to cautionary notes on voting in the wrong party – plummeting stock prices, the dangers of voting out Mr George Yeo, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua and Mr Zainul Abidin in Aljunied GRC. What stood out most was his view on Singapore Democratic Party candidate and his former PPS, Mr Tan See Jay. He indicated that back then, he “did not think (Tan) could make it as a Permanent Secretary”, whereupon Tan decided to move to the private sector for career advancement. Is Goh insinuating that Tan is now seeking vengeance by going against the party of his former employer?
Goh also warned that if the opposition manages to have significant representation in parliament, say 20 seats, the PAP would have difficulties forming a first rate government since there will be fewer elected PAP candidates to choose from for office. He used the examples of the United Kingdom and Malaysia, where people who have not won elections were appointed into parliament, and indicated his reluctance to do so as it would be “bua cao” (playing cheat). It eluded me why he did not mention the possibility of making office appointments of elected members of the opposition with suitable qualifications. He then reiterated his doubts about the originality of Workers’ Party’s First World Parliament, and compared it to “selling koyok”. He ended his speech with the analogy of Singapore being “a little boat sailing in a storm… and we want the best captain and crew”, and a plea for voters to “vote for yourself”.
Seah indicated that “the NSP has no local agenda, they are only using (the elections) as a vehicle for their party agenda”. He also indicated that the NSP’s webpage for the Marine Parade constituency plan was still “under construction”. He must have been referring to this page. Strangely, he is right, but only because all the opposition candidates have made it a point to focus on macro issues rather than take on constituency matters.
Tan Chuan Jin came across as the most forceful speaker, with a loud commanding voice that never broke pitch. Bet his arguments are not without portholes. He quoted Mr Goh Meng Seng who mentioned that NSP “has always been interested in Marine Parade for strategic reasons”. By this, Tan alluded that NSP does not have the interest of the Marine Parade people, and are only seeking to advance the NSP’s agenda.
Tan must be referring to this article. If so, he should know that Goh was responding to the question on whether Nicole Seah was fielded in Marine Parade in direct competition to Tin. In addition, Goh also added that the NSP “wants to take on the Senior Minister in Marine Parade because… many national policies and their accompanying problems were formed when Mr Goh Chok Tong was Prime Minister. These include policies on housing and transportation”. Is this what Tan meant when he said the NSP did not think of the people? If so, why did he not include them in his speech?
All in, it was a rally that aimed to discredit opposition’s positions as empty rhetoric, and refocus the attendee’s interest in the concrete plans offered by the PAP. I will leave it to you to decide if that is really what voters should be interested in, but the level of interest at this rally might give an indication. Apart from a group of 20-odd clapper and pom-pom wielding supporters at the front, there was very little response from the rest of the attendees, who seem content to watch from afar and fiddle with their tech gadgets.
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a reckless driver deserves to be slapped.
Perhaps in the past, locality politics would have made sense. But nowadays, with foreign nationalities taking over constituentcy after constituentcy at alarming speed, do not be surprised that in 5 years’ time, even marine grc will become another little India or china! So it is only logical to focus on the big picture and tackle the issue at national level (aka relentless immigration flood). If you have no more country, how to talk about having a nice and stable home? Think and vote carefully with full consideration of the implication not only based on the past, but more importantly, the future 5-10 years, using the ” policy trends” from the last 5 years as a gauge and barometer to forecast what will happen immediately after the elections within 1 weeks’ time!
The opposition has brought out many good points in this elections, with many heartfelt topics and being the voice of Singaporeans in issues of Housing, Cost of Living, Foreigners etc.
I have no doubt that PAP should be upfront about their mistakes, and rethink some of the concerns raised by the opposition but honestly,are we being overly critical of the ruling party when we know that they are also humans, prone to mistakes? It is always easier to remember one’s negative points than good points and to help The Online Citizen maintain a balanced point of view, I feel that I should highlight some of the positive actions of our Govt which many have forgotten, perhaps because our Govt did so well in handling the situations that resulted in us taking them for granted.
1) What if the Govt had not hauled Singapore out of a recession? Many nations including US still have relatively high unemployment rates and unhappy citizens still feeling the effects of recession. If our Govt is was really incompetent, our unemployment rate would be skyhigh, with many having no money for food and daily living, much less spend money for the latest ipad 2, spend at IT Fairs or go for holidays.
2) What if our Govt and Union are not working hand in hand? The close relation ship between NTUC and our Govt is one which I am proud of because just take a look at nations like France and UK for example, it had been shown many times that when the Union goes against the Govt, the economy comes to a standstill, cost arising from public damage goes up, investors get scared away due to the volatile situation and uncertainty (resulting in loss of investment and jobs) and most importantly, the citizens are inconvenienced (due to disruption of services) and their general well being of the citizens being threatened (due to violence). When I see images of union clashes and strikes in other nations, I feel blessed that our union and Govt are smarter to do things in an amicable fashion, wihtout having to resort to such uncertainty faced by France and UK.
3) What if our Govt had a welfare system in place, such as that in the US where the unemployed get subsidies? In nations such as US and UK, they are so much in debt due to their Govt’s policies of monthly welfare handouts to their unemployed. With their govt caring for them, the incentive to look for a proper job to earn their own keep is greatly reduced. What happens then? Unemployment goes up, govt budget for welfare has to increase, govt has to increase taxes, (fairly or unfairly) affecting those who work hard to earn their own salary. In Singapore, though we don’t have welfare handouts, our govt does give us regular one-off help such as GST Credits, Growth Package etc. Not forgetting the many other schemes to help low wage workers or the needy cope with daily living.
4) What if our Govt did not allow foreigners into Singapore? We are having trouble with our population growth and as such, in the long run, our economy cannot be sustained by the shortage of workforce. Hence we have no choice but to turn to the foreigners. I can almost hear some of you thinking- “we know the need for foreigners, but why so many?” Think about the jobs that many of the foreign workers are doing and honestly ask yourself if you would like to be doing their job. They are doing jobs in the cleaning, security, retail, F&B sectors which many of us Singaporeans do not want to do. I encountered many F&B SMEs who want to employ Singaporeans but cannot find anyone to fill up the positions because our asking salaries are too high, we don’t like the long hours, the manual tasks, the negative perception of the job or the weekend work. In the end, these F&B SMEs are forced to look overseas to bring in foreigners to fill the vacancies. Nowadays, the SMEs are finding it harder to bring in foreigners due to tightening restrictions on entry into Singapore and in the end, it is still our Singaporean SMEs who will have to either close shop (because cannot find anyone) or lose profits by giving in to the demands of our local workforce.
I respect the intention of TOC, to bring a neutral and unbiased (be it to opposition or PAP) view of politics and news and I hope that by sharing my views above, TOC readers can adopt a more balanced view because to be very honest, many of the comments here are very much biased.
While i reiterate that our Govt needs to rethink and refine some of its policies to better help us Singaporeans, I think we must also remember to give them due credit for the good work they did for us.
YES, ALL MANUFACTURING COMPANIES ARE GIVEN SUBSIDIES FROM DAY ONE TO COME HERE, TAX FREE HOLIDYAS TOO, WHO IS PAYING, TAX PAYERS OF COURSE, IT CANNOT BE FROM LKY’S POCKET OR LSS’S POCKET,
BUT DOES THE TAX PAYERS BENEFIT, THINK……
WHY ARE THESE COMPANIES IN ALL KINDS, CALLED FDI, NEEDING SO MUCH OF SUBSIDIES OR ALL KINDS AND TAX FREE STATUS FOR 10 YEARS OR MORE, WHY, THE CEO’S ARE DOING THEIR JOB, HELL NO, MILKING THE ISLAND NATION, AND THEY CLAIM THEY DON’T HAVE A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT WHEN SO MUCH OF SUBSIDIES ARE GIVEN, IT JUST SHOWS THEY ARE NOT “UP TO IT” AND THEY WANT CHEAPER LABOR, NOT SINGAPOREANS BUT CHEAPER AND CHEAPEST.
TRY SLAVES !!!
IT JUST SHOWS OUR MINSTERS ARE DUDS, PLAYING ALONG THIS LINE, SLAVE TRADING IS THE NORM HERE, AS LEVIES ARE COMING IN BY THE MILLIONS AND BILLIONS, FOREIGN LEVY OF ALL KINDS, INCLUDING MAIDS….
DID YOU VOTE FOR THESE DUDS ???
I SURE DID NOT SINCE 1986………..
AND I SURE WILL NOT……..!!!!
but..but…I don’t want a Captain and crew who will bring in 900,000 more people on the boat – the boat will sink!! We cannot take in anymore : no water, no house, no food…..
Dear concernedvoter,
you seem just like a PAP parrot. I shall attempt take on some of your points.
[1) What if the Govt had not hauled Singapore out of a recession? Many nations including US still have relatively high unemployment rates and unhappy citizens still feeling the effects of recession. If our Govt is was really incompetent, our unemployment rate would be skyhigh, with many having no money for food and daily living, much less spend money for the latest ipad 2, spend at IT Fairs or go for holidays.
]
You give too much credit to the govt role for s’pore getting out of the recent economic crisis.
The whole world esp. asia market recovered in 2009/2010, due to the overly panick selling down of the market in 2008. we only ride the waves as it happened, to claim credit for this i feel is, at least dishonorable, or really, downright despicable.
[3) What if our Govt had a welfare system in place, such as that in the US where the unemployed get subsidies? In nations such as US and UK, they are so much in debt due to their Govt’s policies of monthly welfare handouts to their unemployed. With their govt caring for them, the incentive to look for a proper job to earn their own keep is greatly reduced. What happens then? Unemployment goes up, govt budget for welfare has to increase, govt has to increase taxes, (fairly or unfairly) affecting those who work hard to earn their own salary. In Singapore, though we don’t have welfare handouts, our govt does give us regular one-off help such as GST Credits, Growth Package etc. Not forgetting the many other schemes to help low wage workers or the needy cope with daily living.
]
When we talk abt welfare, it is always with reference to the western countries’ style of welfarism. can’t the million dollar ministers think out of the box? Who says we need to provide welfare for the poor & uymemployed? We can provide for the WEAK & AGED, those who are able should not expect any welfare. The aged have already contributed their dues to singapore’s development. It is only right for us to take care of them when they are weak & old now. In this sense the current govt I find is very very much lacking in compassion & responsibility. When Dr Lily Neo asked for just a bit more for the aged, she was brushed aside by “How Much is Enough??” by our Minister for community development.
what captains we have in these two?
while singaporeans row rather hard to go forward,these two lousy catains are trying to ship-wreck us by rocking our boat.
gct has no moral authority to pass any untoward comments on our OPPO as he has not only failed to deliver on his golden promises like ‘MORE GOOD YEARS’ but has indeed help give us,lesser mortals,MORE AND MORE BAD YEARS while he and people like PM LEE keep the ‘good years; for themselves?
@ Concernedvoter
Sir, with all due respect, you don’t know what you don’t know sums up the fallacies in your post above.
For a start, SM Goh says our economic model is unsustainable. And LHL agreed that he and SM Goh were caught off guard by the impact of the pace of globalisation. The PAP has been in governance for over 50 years, is this not enough of “incompetence”?
IT CAME RIGHT FROM THE PROVERBIAL HORSES’ MOUTHS.
If you don’t believe me. Here is the proof.
BOH LHL & GCT AGREE ON ONE THING – THE ECONOMY IS THOROUGHLY SCREWED UP. Read what they say below -
“With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong would have started preparing Singaporeans “five or better still, 10 year earlier” for the challenges of globalisation…..If we had know ho quickly the pace of change would accelerate and how much our people would be under pressure from globalisation….we would have put more resources in…Singapore would have less problem now of workers catching up”
These were the utterances of LHL at a dialogue at St Regis hotel to mark CNN’s 30th anniversary – moderator was Ellana Lee
Source : Straits Times, Thurdays, 21 October 2010 – “What PM Lee would have done differently….” – Page A 10 by Li Xueying & Casandra Chew
And now, after flooding Singapore with an endless flow of cheap foreign workers, what did SM Goh said??
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_645664.html
“THE days of companies relying on a cheap and plentiful supply of foreign workers to boost their output and bottom lines are over”
THAT MEANS OUR CURRENT ECONOMIC MODEL IS UNSUSTAINABLE. And for how long they knew this is failing and remaining silent while this country languish???.
Put the two together – it is major macro-economic policy failure – caught off-guard by the pace of globalisation which traced back to days of Goh’s administration and since taking over in 2004, the same failed economic management continues till this day of only now acknowledged as destructive and decaying failure.
As for the rest of your “objective, unbaised” comments of yours, I will leave you to fill in the blanks of multiple choce question – true or false.
You decide if you are informed or oblivious of awareness and knowledge of what is going on instead of accusing comment here were “biased”
“Concernedvoter” strikes me as the archetypal PAP voter who swallows the party’s propaganda hook, line and sinker. This is the daft electorate so prized by MM… docile, compliant, deferential to authority, prepared to take less than what they deserve. I see the so-called “Tripartite” link between labour, business and government as favoring business. Whenever there is a downturn, labour is the first to be reined in. Only when that fails, when shops go bust, when malls are like ghost towns, will business (which includes the GLCs) be encouraged to cut rent, fees, etc. The govt frequently proclaims itself as being pro-business. Singapore is rated 2nd in the world for freedom to do business. So wake up man, take control of your destiny or someone (read the gahmen) will.
Concernedvoter
honestly,are we being overly critical of the ruling party when we know that they are also humans, prone to mistakes?
………….
harlor.. i also said that to the traffic polis..i strayed into the yellow buslane by mistake..just 5 seconds nia…
traffic polis replied..my problemo mey?
pay YOUR $130 summons @ the checkout counters
NEXT!
@anonymous, thank you for sharing your views. To clarify, I was stating my personal views on why our govt even considered the option of foreigners in the first place. I did not attempt to justify the need for more and more foreigners. In fact, with the govt pushing for more productivity among the industries, more skilled workforce is needed, not more foreigners so agreed with you on that point.
However, I hope you do see my point regarding who will do the jobs that locals turn away from? Are you certain that all our locals will willingly take up retail assistant or F&B waitering jobs (with long hours, weekend and holiday shifts) as their career?
To all the readers who have commented that I represent PAP or am blind to not see PAP’s bad points, I stand by my personal views and I am glad to have TOC as a platform to share them freely with all of you. It is always easier to complain and gripe about things that go wrong without first asking yourself, what would you have done if you were in their shoes. If you think you can make the correct decisions all the time to all our problems, then I propose you join a good political party to make Singapore a better place.
Concernedvoter 2 May 2011
@anonymous, thank you for sharing your views. To clarify, I was stating my personal views on why our govt even considered the option of foreigners in the first place. I did not attempt to justify the need for more and more foreigners
………….
you didn’t?
bloomin LIAR…
sued me if you can/dared to
this is your same 2nd spammin
i already challenged you on your original
you hav yet to REBUT against mine
Concernedvoter 2 May 2011
then I propose you join a good political party to make Singapore a better place.
…………
and now you are churnin out RUBBISH…
what are the ALTERNATIVES candidates doin ere?
havin a free orgy in the openned parks/stadium BBQ for the next few nights?
what i PROPOSE you should do is bentover and wait for your master leekingyou to plan his next moves and clicked his fingers
why are you echoing your master leekingyou sentence? didn’t leekingyou challenge the oppositions to field in good candidates to form a GRC team if they can/dare?
@ concernedvoter
IT IS A LOT MORE THAN just our Government even consider the option of foreigners….. in quoting you back below.
“To clarify, I was stating my personal views on why our govt even considered the option of foreigners in the first place. I did not attempt to justify the need for more and more foreigners.”
I invited you to decide true or false for the rest of your comments is for the sole reason of asking you to reconsider how FAR FROM REALITY are your comments on the thread. My thesis ( for want of a better word) is that most of your stance and observations were FLAWED – particularly the Government’s economic credentials. Both LHL and SM Goh know we are at the cross-road and DEEPLY IN TROUBLE.
And that is the cause and symptoms of a lot of other collateral damages – including MASSIVE reliance on foreign workers to drive only a marginal gain in economic growth but with major detrimental impacts on congested transport, housing price escalation, social anomie and generally costs of living pressures. You obviously, until now, could not see the link which I deliberately leave out to see if you connect the puzzle together of failures in Government.
For all your lack of cohesiveness in fitting the conceptual puzzle of what went so badly wrong in Singapore, you ventured to call other comments as “very much biased” is patently wrong and way of the mark.
As I said, you don’t know what you don’t know. But that does NOT mean you are not entitled to your opinion however detached from realities.By the same token, I am also entitled to point out to you how unreasonable of truth and substance of your comment to propose the views of others here as “very much biased” simply because it does not fit into your map of uninformed ignorance of what is going wrong in Singapore. A lot of people thinks our economy are going for rolling good times but LHL, SM Goh, Tan Jee Say and I think we are in deep trouble. I supported my position with data, and can supply more.
@ concernedvoter,
I really think our Government needs to rethink our FLAWED economic model. of course, in election season, SM Goh would be most unlikely to talk about the “UNSUSTAINABLE” premises of our economic dependence on the influx of cheap foreigners he told Singapre Chinese Chamber of Commerce recently. such an admission of failure put him and PAP in an indefensible position of explaining their COMPLETE FAILURE OF ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT in an election fight. That must be fatal to the PAP’ political survival.
How can the PAP going into an election, admitting that after 50 years of uninterrupted dictatorial rule unchallenged, it is in the driver’s seat driving this economy over the cliff to disaster suicide?
Tan Jee Say from SDP spoke of re-modelling our economy. I agree on that for many compelling global economic variables ( particularly the falling US dollar, impending energy squeeze, post-Fukushima rethinking etc etc) and changed global economic landscape now.
But will LHL changed course without opposition pressure in Parliament? Or will groupthink of the past 50 years sustains and really sending our economy and survival over the cliff in the next few years? Has the government any ideas on how to restructure our economy other than casinos, cheap foreign labour formulae, and pray for heaven good luck that lightning don’t strike us to misfortune of a global downturn again? I see LHL’s government very tired of new economic ideas, insular instead of outward looking where oppotunities inhabit the global stage – if only our TH and GIC are very capable of investing successfully opening pathways.
The reality here again is the opposite – a lot of our Government-led investment outside Singapore in the last 20 years really got “burnt” into ashes. One good “Chip Goodyear” calibre of true foreign talent can bring GDP gain which 2 million foreign workers cannot collectively generate in the same year.IT IS SAD BUT TRUE.
@iPUSHleekingyouwheelchair,
I had decided not to reply your comments to mine after reading through them (and your other comments to other people’s coments as well) as I feel that it will be a waste of my time.
Your arguments are absolutely pointless and have no substance or content whatsoever.I suspect you are just a disgruntled and unhappy person wanting to stir things up for the sake of it.
Enough said, just replying you is a waste of my time. You ARE the main reason why I have decided not to vote for the opposition.
GCT, your boss already told you and all your colleagues to remember that you are servant leaders. Do you know what servant leader really means?
A Servant is to serve but you said why should you serve when you’re not appreciated. But mind you, you’re serving not for free. You’re actually serving your million dollar pay check.
Next, a good leader not only leads, but lead by example. However, you are forcing people to follow you even when you displayed lots of bad examples.
You are indeed quite blind to the environment and to peoples’ feelings.
A one-eyed person can be the king in the kingdom of the blinds.
No wonder you can see so much good of TPL, because she is only one-eyed. So, she is like a king to you.
You are indeed a very bad servant and bad leader. PAP is better without you. You’re pulling PAP down. You had better zip up from now.
By the way, you became PM not because of your capability that was on par with the MM, but because of your capability in convincing the PAP ministers and MPs that with you as their PM, they all can have an enjoyable time which they never could enjoy under the MM.
Even when you handed over the baton of PMship to LHL, you called him on stage and told the audience not to unfairly expect LHL to be like you, just like what the MM had wanted you to be like him. You used that opportunity on the pretext of helping LHL in order to take revenge on the MM for commenting that you were his 4th choice candidate for the PM post.
In the 2001 Nov GE, you won 75.3% of the valid votes not because you were gaining popularity, but because Singaporeans were afraid to vote for the oppositions (just in case they were voted in to take over as the government) immediately after the 9/11 attack in the USA. You were simply lucky!
The SARs outbreak started in 2003 and the WHO only announced officially the end of SARS sometime in May 2004.
You handed your PMship to LHL in August 2004, and you make it sound like you’re so magnanimous in handing over your PMship to LHL so early. However, I see it more like you were throwing away your responsibility to LHL to pick up the shits just in case if SARS were to have a relapse. If you are a responsible leader you should held on a little longer until all dust are really settled and everything was in good shape before you hand over to LHL.
And since you had been a very nice boss to all the PAP ministers and MPs, can LHL revert to the MM’s style of leadership? Looks to me like he had no choice but to follow your style or be even nicer than you in order to receive their loyalty to him.
From all your actions and behavior and the way you carried yourself, I can see that you are just a very cunning person. You’re always not real with what you said and professed.
PAP will be better for you to be voted out fast.
Moreover, GCT, because of your laissez faire leadership style in order to get your subordinates to love you, you have mentored people like LHK the ex-health minister, who wanted to raise hospital fees during SARS; and YCT, the ex-transport minister who wanted to raise transportation fares during SARS, both with your televised support on TV!!!
It took KBW after taking over as health minister to discover that medicines were selling at differing prices in different polyclinics and public hospitals and some are even more expensive than those sold in private hospitals.
Under your leadership as PM, Helen Yeo (wife of YCT) dared even attempt to ban the book ‘Escape From Paradise’ which includes passages on how Helen Yeo arranged one of her young lawyers to register a company to buy over a property from one of the Haw Par Villa’s descendents Mr ‘X’ and doctored the title deed somehow so that Mr. X’s wife would not get a cent after his divorce. More info on the book at : http://www.escapefromparadise.com/NewFiles/bc.html
Even after the end of your PMship, your wife proudly made the famous statement that paying $600K to TT Durai of NKF was peanuts!!! Didn’t you both ever have pillow talks for you to understand more of NKF and their needs? Weren’t you aware of Durai’s $600K pay check, and did you agree it was peanuts!
Do you know that asking for donations is far easier than selling a product or service??? If Durai’s $600K pay is peanuts to you, no wonder all your ministers feel that they deserve much more.
So, can you see that what’s happening today in this GE’s rallies and anger of the people is all of your doing, GCT!
Stop trying to prove that you’re better than the MM and his old guards. You did nothing but simply jumped onto the band-wagon. And the more you talked with all your silly childish analogies that make no sense, the more people can see how small your brain is.
All your mentees are like you now, nothing compared with the old guards.
Would Mr. Goh Chok Tong care to verify what I was told as below?
A friend shared with me that her father Mr. ‘C’, an entrepreneur, was almost bankrupted in one incident sometime in the early 1990s because of Helen Yeo’s dirty job.
Mr. ‘L’, a partner of Mr ‘C’, engaged Helen Yeo who helped him make a false police report about the way Mr. ‘C’ and his wife cheated the government of tax. The Police then convinced the CAD to raid Mr. C’s and his wife’s business premises one day after the police report was made, and took all their business records for an almost 6 months of investigation. Mr. C’s business came to a standstill for 6 months without the revenue to pay for the monthly overhead expenses and advertising cost incurred.
Mr. C’s lawyer discovered that the CAD acted on the police report that was sent to them a day before the CAD’s raid.
Mr. C wrote to all 77 PAP MPs (and ministers) to complain and to ask for an investigation as to why Helen Yeo has such power to get the police and the CAD to act so swiftly as if it’s a terrorist or life and death case.
During the pre-trial conference and the trial, Helen Yeo’s young lawyer dared even called Mr. C’s lawyer names, and the presiding judge did not object!
Why was the police force so obedient to Helen Yeo? and the CAD so obedient to the police? It was as if Helen Yeo owns the Police Force and the CAD! Even the judge was bias!
Despite that the CAD was informed with evidences that Mr. ‘L’ was the company director, overseeing and in charge of finance, purchasing, marketing and the business entity of Mr. C’s wife, and that as such, Mr L’s claims that Mr. C and his wife’s hanky panky accounting to cheat him and the government could not hold water, the CAD insisted to press on charges. In the end, Mr. C’s wife pleaded guilty on the lawyer’s advice in order to save the running legal fees as CAD had the right to drag the law suit, convincing Mr C and his wife that it was just like a traffic summon. The CAD could not have a case against Mr. ‘C’.
According to Mr. C, he wrote twice to all 77 PAP MPs and ministers but he received no response at all.
Mr. C is prepared to present himself again to help with the investigation if the Police and the CAD is prepared to dig up the dirt.
If someone in Helen Yeo’s law firm, or in the Police force or the CAD were doing Helen Yeo a big favor whether for personal gain or friendship, it is only fair to Mr. C and his wife that this person or persons be persecuted.
Moreover, if someone who was in charge of filtering letters received for the PAP MPs and ministers he/she too must be probed into, as to why this was not brought up to the minister in charge, or the minister in charge also did a favor to Helen Yeo (Yeo Cheow Tong’s wife) to help them cover up.
After knowing what Helen Yeo has done as mentioned in that book, ‘Escape from Paradise’ there must be something not right with our judiciary system.
I think the people is also interested to know how could this happen in Singapore’s first world government.
Those involved must pay the prize!
Sorry, I mean ‘prosecuted’, not ‘persecuted’, AND
‘price’, not ‘prize’
Don’t think Zainul as Chairman of the Malay Heritage Foundations and also Yaacob Ibrahim (MP for Jln Besar GRC in the Kg Glam Area) has done anything outstanding for the Malay Community there. There are less Malay /Muslim related business there now than previously.Even the wakaf land are either not developed or sold to non beneficial entity.