4/14/2007

Maslow's 5th level of Needs - Self Delusion

Maslow's 5th level of Needs - Self Delusion Have we crossed the rubicon? The staunch supporters of PAP, some MPs and Ministers, adamantly said no and are sticking to their guns. This is the best policy, though a giant bitter pill to swallow. This is reality. People loves money and will work only for money. They would even go to the extend of paying even more as the formula is deemed the correct formula and the answers coming out from the formula must be correct. A cold calculative method, delinked from any emotional attachment and sentiments. Another GIGO. Can political decisions be made by a mathematical formula that does not take into consideration all the sensitivities of politics? Why is there a need to get our best minds to be in Humanities? Maybe this is a case of too much hard sciences and engineering. The lack of the human element is so glaring. Just hear the responses from the ground as reported in the Straits Times. 1. The numbers just don't look good, laments Nee Soon South grassroots leader Poh Phien Seah....he is finding it almost impossible to explain to constituents why the same govt that this week said it was necessary to raise ministers' salaries to $1.6 million, also refused to raise the public assistance allowance for its poorest citizens by more than $30 a month. 2. The disparity is so great...says Mr Poh, who owns a logistics business. 3. People ask me, why not do more for the poor, especially in their twilight years? I don't know how to explain to them...grassroot leaders 4. Shanmugam, ...the decision was bound to strain the social compact. This is one of those policies on which political capital has to be spent. 5. Medical practitioner Edith Quah, a grassroots leader in Chong Pang, warns that some community volunteers are so disillusioned by the Govt's decision, they might stop helping out. I am talking about very loyal grassroots people who are saying this. Why? Because they see the fragmentation in society. We feel this move is a bit self serving and the timing is very insensitive. Here you have people struggling to buy school books and uniforms for their children. Despite such negative feedbacks, is there any minister who will say that it is a bad thing to do? Or how many MPs will still insist that it is a right thing to do? Or would they have stuck to the position if they were not ministers or MPs? Do they really believe in what they are saying if they were not in the same camp? Here comes the self delusion. At this stage, no decision can be wrong. Every decision is the best decision and must be right. Like it or not, it has been decided and it is for the good of the people and country. The people are just too ignorant to understand the goodness and wisdom of the decision. I know best. And they will forget when the next election comes. Or when the economy is good the decision will be vindicated. The people appreciate the Govt's transparency and intention and are probably more receptive to the proposal now. Presumably some bought the arguments.... The people will just move on because there is nothing much they can do except to register in private ways their disquiet. Where it matters, at election time, Singaporeans will not judge the PAP govt on this issue only. I think the next election will be just another walkover. Just paste a dollar sign on the candidate's face and nothing more needs to be said.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope they do not go on believing that people will forget by the next election. As older voters pass on, younger voters may have longer memories and they are certainly more well-informed with access to the internet.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Alamak redbean, you are deluding yourself lah by making too much of a big deal about the pay level of ministers.

This shit has been goin on since 1994. Every single time the govt increased ministerial pay has been met with criticism and scorn from the people.

And the same-o same-o (incorrect) CONFLATION of minister's pay and welfare handouts comes to the fore and it sounds something like this:

The bladi garmen pays ministers so much money... but the poor get nothing... PAP take peoples money mah! Kaninabu!

To anonymous:

The PAP runs scare campaigns during election, and will predictably tell the people that they have delivered and the opposition (whoever they might be) with crash the nations economy returning Singapore to the Dark Ages.

So perhaps the Buddhists are correct: delusion leads to the cycle of suffering and re-birth.

Personally, I think it is funny. People are resistent to change, and breaking out of one's conditioning is scary, difficult and uncertain.

Therefore I prefer to sit back and enjoy the show...

Anonymous said...

Aiyah... Those made those silly comments can be just thrown out lah...
Who will bother?
What to do? All stuck on this tiny island.
You now understand why I become inactive.
Where need worry no one help out?
I no understand...

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

no lah, just a hot topic and so many angles to look at.

and i also believe that the majority of the people support this payrise. they just bitch a bit only. come the next election, the majority will be more than 66.6.

actually i thought it would be a better idea to let the people vote for the motion. after all everyone is convinced the people will love the idea. it is so practical and so logical.

then no one can cry and complain about it anymore. once the people have said, that will be the moral authority to accept the pay and sleep well.

Anonymous said...

To Matilah-singaapura:

Strangely, the scare campaigns during election time seems not to have worked well in Hougang and Potong Pasir.

Anonymous said...

To anonymous:

Yeah, touché! If they can do it, there just might be hope for Singapore yet!

Will the people take back their country from the state? Who knows?

Anonymous said...

To the 2 anonymous above me, ever heard of the saying 'One swallow does not a summer make' ? Nothing will happen if the most of the voters with "balls" are concentrated in only two wards.

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