APEC 2024 Peru. Biden shafted to a corner in the back row. Xi in front row next to Peru's President
2/14/2006
national service: the singapore solution
as expected, the over reaction mentality is again put into motion. heavier penalties and more stringent regulations to curb ns evasion. children below the age of 16 will now be affected if they stay overseas for more than 3 months without permit. fines and fines.
this is the standard way of public policy making. just whack the people with more fines, use the stick, use more disincentives.
why can't the approach be more incentives for citizens and those who serve ns as a dutiful citizen? the concept of tightening the noose around the citizens neck is very negative. the nation cannot force the people who longer wish to stay... to stay. by tightening the noose, it only increase the push factor for people to want to get out. and citizenship becomes so restrictive and a huge burden of can't dos.
i would thought a better approach would be to let those who want to leave... leave. and then add on the incentives for citizens who stay, who do their duties as citizens. make citizenship really worthwhile, an attractive and desirable choice. not a citizenship that has nothing more to offer except more restrictions, regulations and penalties. why are singaporeans be put on a leash?
what is clear now is that citizenship is nothing better, but a worse off option. is that what singapore citizenship is all about? where is the value and heart and soul to be a citizen?
Don't you know that Singapore is a fine city?
ReplyDeleteSingapore citizenship is worthless and of no value. To a certain extend, it is a burden and liability to be associated with it.
Singapore under PAP ruling is no longer a Nation but a Inc. which is more concerned with making more money than the welfare of Singaporeans who choose to stay behind in this little red dot.
i must say i am very disappointed. don't they think singaporeans are already fed up with their plight vis a vis the foreign talents? second class citizen at home?
ReplyDeleteand now caging the citizens like animals in the zoo. can go anywhere but remain within the zoo compound.
we are tied everywhere, our hands, our legs, our necks. ns, cpf, medisave, purchase of cars, hdbs, etc this cannot, that cannot....
ReplyDeletewhy can't singaporeans say, we are the best in everything. we will not trade our citizenship for anything else. we will willingly serve our ns. for the benefits as a citizen outweigh all the sacrifices we put into ns. and the bottom line still looks very attractive.
Btw, the link to the "banned politial film", Martyn See's 'Singapore Rebel' is downloadable and viewable online:
ReplyDeletehttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8057768553173785296&q=singapore+rebel
OK, now for some Seditious Speech from me..
I rigourously encourage every young man and his parents, to seek out ways of skipping National Service.
Everyone has a natural right to decide what he wants to do with his life, and no individual, group or institution may FORCE HIM to do anything against his own will.
Therefore, the first emotion to deal with is - GUILT. NEVER EVER FEEL GUILTY if you dodge NS. Generate a feeling of PRIDE because you were VIRTUOUS in your action - to get the claws of the all-powerful state out of your lives!
OK, now focus on the economics, and life progress:
When I came out of NS, the bloody girls I went to school with all had advanced in their lives - either in academia or in the work-force - many owned cars, and were enjoying a high standard of living for a successful young person. All, truly wonderful and a testament of peace and prosperity in the present.
... but, the newly Run-Out koolie kang, has to start from scratch - just as if he left school.
Don't be silly. You'll do yourselves a great disservice if you choose to be intimidated by the state's apparatchiks and their sycophants and succumb to your "civic duty" (all crap - its an illusion) and surrender yourselves to the SAF.
So plan. Plan carefully to design a life of your dreams and rid yourself once and for all time - of this abomination - state enforced conscription.
Thank you.
P.S. Hmmm.. did I break any laws ;-) (I don't fuckin care actually!)
there is the individual will and collective will. as an individual, you only answer to yourself. if one identifies with a group, the group or collective will takes priority. individual will is then subsumed.
ReplyDeletei think people shall be given a free choice to be a citizen and accept the responsibilities and obligations(plus benefits), or be a free soul, unattached and do not belong, like a guest in a hotel, come and go as you please.
and the group, for imposing its will on the individual must offer a better trade off for the individual to surrender some of his rights for the common good.
but if belonging to a group is a one way affair, where the group just ask and take, and the individual is worst off than being alone, then people will opt out.
there is a price and a trade off in whatever system and option.
matilah,
ReplyDeleteyou are quarrelling with a machine by name of beth!
for your question, we own only some of ourself. the state owns some of us. some are forcefully demanded from us. some are given unconsciously of through fear. and some through conditioning.
i wish i am in your position, in a big country as a guest when the govt is far far away.
ReplyDeletei try to imagine what i can do to live as an anarchist here. not possible. the state is too close for comfort.
yeah, i am fucked. the only maybe is to turn the table and go after them.
Seriously redbean, jokes aside... you'll never get rid of the state in totality. Yes, there are many free-state projects around the world being run by anarchists of all flavours, but these projects are years away from completion.
ReplyDeleteIn the meanwhile, whereven weventure in this world, we do so by moving from geographial territory to geographial territory, i.e. from one state of jurisdiction to another.
I live as a free-wheeling, devil-may-care anarchist everywhere I go - not even, but especially in Singapore. I speak my mind even with govt folks, just as I do on the net - no punches pulled, straight shooting. I have neve had a negative experience doing this.
We are all free to do as we please, and we own our lives. Once you see it that way, no one can rule over you, because you simply won;t give them permission
i must say that i have regained some of my freedom after my children are on their own. i am now prepare to say my peace if needed to. it is quite comforting actually.
ReplyDeletein a way, when you have enough capital, you can live in your anarchy state. no one can touch you and you don't care a damn. george soros could mount a campaign against bush, the president of usa by spending $40 million, i think. and that is an anarchist. you are beyond laws and states. when you are not happy, anywhere can be home. no govt can touch you.
there you have individual anarchy.
Sigh... wish I like all of you here... Richee's talk.
ReplyDelete你不仁我不义(Translate: You no goodie I no goodie.), any smartie here has any idea how to 'rob' the government? Hehehehe...
I also wanna be whaqt anarchy.
hey elfred,
ReplyDeleteyou want to be an anarchist, you must build up your capital so that you can go anywhere you want and people will welcome you.
You mean welcome my big fat wallet...? :D
ReplyDeleteAny idea how to do it in this... Land Of Opportunities for a guy like myself?
If all of us become anarchies, then we'd become multi-archy, then we would become very-naughty...? Waliao... Hahahaha...
OK. I wanna and need some decent cash to free myself of this LOO. Guys?
elfred and redbean,
ReplyDeleteYes, you need some capital to be an anarchist. But you already have that - you have a base capital of ONE LIFE.
Anarchy begins with a perceptual shift - a change of world view, a change in the way you view yourself, and the relationship to your environment.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7695/
---> good eBook as a primer to practical anarchism (becasue the guy writing it is living it), as opposed to all those romantic anarchist theories.
All the other stuff is material things you need to live. Sure some capital is necessary, but it is more important to be resourceful. There are THOUSANDS of "free" resources available in any modern society, because all modern societites produce abundantly - more than they need.
Anyway, even if you have capital, why DRAW DOWN on your capital? That is financial suicide.
I've lived as an anarchist for around 15years now. For me, I wouldn't have it any other way!
;-)
you have the soro type of anarchist and the matilah type. then there are many in betweens or outside these two types.
ReplyDeletetrue, with changing expectations and goals, one still can be an anarchist. but there are anarchist individuals. they can't be really on an organised and large group basis. it will be anarchic and chaos.
To ensure that the spontaneous order is working properly, it is essential to keep things in ANARCHY.
ReplyDeleteOf of chaos, sprouts order.
ANARCHY ensure that everyone is equally FREE to give whatever they are competing for THEIR BEST SHOT..
They all pay the price - the necessary "entry fee" - and leave it to the spontaneous order to see who gets the prize.
In other words, may the best person "win".
between order and disorder, govt and anarchy, we exist. when people have perfected or nearly reach the state of perfect order or control, it is time to break down and anarchy will emerge. this will cause so much pain that people will again look towards some order and certainty, some orderliness.
ReplyDeleteit goes round and round.
I have just emigrated to Canada with my wife.
ReplyDeleteAfter 30+ years of living here, I find the whole Singapore system of government to be one best related to that of North Korea or the previous Soviet Union. What democratic country in the world requires its citizens to request from its government an exit permit to travel overseas?
At the end of the day, my emigration is really about breaking the shackles that I had and I hope it will free my unborn children from this totalitarian society.
hi anonymous,
ReplyDeletesorry to here that the push factor has got onto you. it is a very tough decision for anyone to uproot the family and move to a new country to start all over again.
this is a big failure of our govt. when the people are pushed to emigrate instead of being lured away.
and they are still repeating the standard formula in policy formulation. more controls and the stick. and they think they are doing right and alright. that the people love the way it is. that they really think they have the full mandate from the people.
and their grassroot leaders are telling them this. there is no problem. all problems are solved. the people are happy and the ground is sweet. there is no alternative except to vote for them.
Hi anonymous
ReplyDeleteI wish you all the best in your new life. Pay little attention to redbean: starting afresh is exiciting, you open to new experiences, the liberation... I'm sure you've had that ;-)
Yes, it is going to be FUN watching the SPECTACULAR COLLAPSE of the totlaitarian state of S'pore.
I'm looking forward to it!
hey matilah,
ReplyDeletei am not discouraging anonymous. everyone will ultimately have to answer to himself and decide what is best. it is all options and what one takes, to stay or try out new things.