Throwing caution to the wind

It is necessary to seek alternative views and opinions. People who come out with different views and perspectives are not necessary the devils or trying to spoil the broth. There is a front page article on Ngiam Tong Dow in the Today paper. Ngaim is talking through his vast experience and is cautioning against this unquestioning righteousness and the arrogance of never wrong. He revealed, through hindsight, what had gone wrong of decisions that were then seemed so right and backed up by even Goh Keng Swee. History will vindicate what is right or wrong many years down the road. Many things are being sung tonight as the best decisions and the right decisions. Would they stand up tomorrow as the right things to do? The second point which Ngiam was trying to say, which we all know, is that the realities on the ground are more real than mere statistics churned our by statisticians. We need to read statistics wisely and carefully and not be lulled into a sense of well being when what is happening at the ground level is saying that things are not right. Ngaim's third key concern is the way we are pushing up our population growth. The consequences of what we are doing now at this maddening speed will tell tomorrow. By then it is too late to unwind. And the faster we hit the 6 million mark, the faster we will hit recession. Unless we continue to pursue population growth as an engine of growth and do not stop at 6 million. The question is what then when 6 million is reached? The convinced and believers will just believe blindly. But we need the doubters, the non believers to tell the other side of the story.