there must be distinction between state and party

Mah Bow Tan contributed an article in the Straits Times forum today to explain his stand on lift upgrading and the criticism by Sylvia Lim and some other letter writers. On this issue many people disagreed with him. His explanation is that the money used for the upgrading were earned by the PAP govt and thus can be used for party interest. How blind and misguided this kind of thinking can be. The whole nation's resources are available to whoever is in power and at their disposal. It is so because there are managing the nation on behalf of the people as one nation, one people. The nation's wealth and resources and revenue generated, belongs to the nation, not to the party in power. Otherwise the party might as well use it to build a monument or a huge party complex since it is now deemed the party's money and they use do it to serve party interest. This is the failure of being too long in power and unable to draw the line between the nation/state and the party. Can't blame him as many people have treated the govt as the PAP and also synonymous with the country. That's why you have people who are unhappy with the PAP and ended up being unhappy with the govt and the country. But the line must be drawn clearly just like personal selfish interest and interest of the country. For the good of the country or for the good of self or party. They are not necessarily complementary.