2/24/2006

half mast: consistency or to be not

s rajaratnam's departure and the honour of a half mast has raised questions. and many were thinking, how it causes a lot of discomfort in several quarters. devan nair may be a doubtful starter. but teng cheong seems to receive many sympathetic calls and grumbling about the half mast he was not given. this will go down our history book and will resurface every now and then. a half mast is given to a founding father who rightly deserves the honour. for consistency, we can expect keng swee, chin chye, othman, pang boon and nyuk lin to be given the same honour when they take their turns to go home. after this batch would the honour be bestowed to the second generations of leaders? chok tong as pm, would likely be given a half mast. what about the rest of the ministers? so far all are living their lives quite correctly as honourable people. but one slip and tongues go awagging.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2006 9:48 am

    I think all the First Generation Leaders should be given a half-mast, no matter what they did, afterall they still contributed much to Singapore.

    But I would not want a half-mast to be given to our current leaders. With them taking Million Dollar salaries and rising prices of basic commodities here, i would not like to see them geting the honour of a half-mast.

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  2. Chua Chin Leng蔡镇龍 aka redbeanFebruary 26, 2006 10:15 am

    fully agree with you abao.

    the social contract has changed. it was quite selfless of the first generation leaders. some may call them stupid. but they will be respected forever.

    today it is a business contract. no one owe them anything. they are paid very well, exceptionally well, to do a good job. if they failed, they need to be blasted. if they did well, they are expected anyway, for the money they are getting.

    there is no honour or nobility in the job. it is just a job.

    it is not a calling to serve the people or the nation. it is self serving.

    but for protocol reasons, a few key appointments still need the rituals of a state.

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  3. Chua Chin Leng蔡镇龍 aka redbeanFebruary 26, 2006 10:55 am

    i think barker and yen thong were also in the team during the days of separation from malaysia and should also be among the founding fathers.

    it reminds me of the 'who's harry?' midnite phone call between lky and barker.

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