Yushui Village in Lijiang, Yunnan, with snow mountain backdrop and cascading waterfalls.
7/17/2007
Sylvia Lim rebuked by Jayakumar
Sylvia Lim opposed the new bill to allow the PM to nominate two members to the Legal Service Commission and raised the spectre of executive interference in the judiciary. It reminded Jayakumar of the Conspiracy Theory of abuse of executive power.
The last time this happened, an investigation was conducted and Jayeratnam was fined. Would we be seeing another investigation?
Given the high quality of the people in political office today, such abuses of executive power is only a conspiracy theory. There are all kinds of checks and balances to prevent it from happening. Quite safe at the moment.
Even in corporate governance in the private sector, when there are good people in charge, the present system will be more than adequate. For that matter, when a decent man is in charge of the old NKF, nothing of the like would have happened.
It all boils down to decent men in charge. What happens if loanshark Ah Seng got elected into power? Or say a George Bush equivalent is elected into power? Can our system prevent such an eventuality? Are there enough safeguards in our system to prevent a rogue govt from coming into power? Given the past experience, the people has been proven to be quite naive and can elect any thing into power. This possibility cannot be ruled out.
When that happens, and when too much power is vested into an office, would we be digging ourselves into a very deep shit hole.
Jayakumar cannot answer Slyvia's question then snap and try to divert by bringing out old history and "conspiracy theory" for what ??? Cannot answer means cannot answer.
ReplyDeleteThen he bring out dunno what ranking which I never seen or heard before. I only remember our judicial system rank below Hong Kong. Our ranking maybe good for foreigners but not Singaporeans.
Parliament is a place to ask questions and voice concerns or else for what, is Jayakumar getting old by snapping this way?
We all know the President is quite useless in Singapore because he needs to be supported by ruling party.
Slyvia's concerns are valid and legitimate. Any person nominated by PM will of course feel his position is owed to the PM and thus decision-making can be biased.
Who will check decision-making in the judicial system is not biased ??
Let the judicial system pick their own nominees.
Was it Francis Seow who used the word "Beholden"?
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed frustrated to see our self claimed elite are damn short-sighted & arrogant. We ready more people like Ms Slyvia Lim (courage with sharp vision).
ReplyDeleteIf we still allow this lot of "bull leaders" to be in power, our future & next generation are going to suffer more for sure. It indeed a shame for a 1st world nation who has a 3rd world salary, beggars everywhere now & then. We can't even produce our own product (invention), pretty much depend on foreign investors. What we show the world is only we have a world highest salary leaders, it damn ridiculous & amazed.
not sure who said the word. either francis seow or jeyaratnam.
ReplyDeletewhat we are seeing is history repeating itself. in all dynasties and empires, the early leaders thought they knew everything, they knew best. and they went on to build all kinds of measures to preserve the empire/dynasty. just try to believe that these historical leaders were selfless men and not selfish men. so they were not doing anything for self preservation.
everything was done for the good of the empire. but everything done eventually led to their own destruction. they tighten the noose around their own necks and thought that they were very smart.
they were blinded by their own wisdom. it is like building walls to keep the enemies outside but ended trapping themselves inside.
all empires must fall. this is the law of nature.
the most recent example is malaysia. they taught they fought the secret formula to uplift the bumiputras. but in reality they are slowly strangling themselves to death.
or the americans thought they have found the way to deal with the arabs and muslim world. did they?
Some consequences are hard to prove, difficult to ignore and impossible to argue.
ReplyDeletelet it be and everything will take care of itself. this is the key principle of Taoism.
ReplyDeletehttp://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1671052&page=3
ReplyDeleteIf everthing can depend on trust, integrity, reputation and qualifications, then what for need systems, police and auditors ??
What Jayakumar say sets a very dangerous precedent for the future.
We have seen many instances people in powerful, rich and comfortable positions can be corrupt and abusive. Marcos, Suharto, Worldcom, Enron, NKF etc because the systems were not designed to check them.