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7/08/2008
How are we evolving?
This is Sanjay Perera's article on how Singapore is evolving and he believes 'Singapore is becoming a fair and just society.' Any FT or new citizen who first set foot on this paradise will have the same impression. Singapore is indeed a paradise of fairness, justice and equality. At least when compare to where they come from. When your reference point is one of dastardly mismanaged countries, who can deny that Singapore is the paragon of all goodness in public administration.
I think if you ask the Singaporeans, not the residents, many will have a different opinion. Many will be very cynical. For they grew up, see and live with the changes which many are not comfortable with.
And Sanjay concluded his article by saying, 'We should ask ourselves how we want to define ourselves and what kind of society we want, free from what others think we should be.' It is understandable that as a new citizen, I am presuming that he is one, it is reasonable to have such a view. The locals will be grinning, with a big dose of cynicism.
Who is 'We' that Sanjay thinks he is referring to? The 'We' is a select group of elite that decide everything. The people are not the 'We' in this sense. No, who wants to listen to the people? We will decide what is best for the people. We will tell the people what is good for them and make it compulsory for them. We will decide their lives, even their money.
At the rate we are evolving, Singapore will become what India was during the times of the Maharajahs. Just give it a little more time.
What to say? All along we know that the elites and foreigners are ranked above ordinary Singaporeans, so the fairness and justness is only felt by the favoured minority. Cynical? Its the truth!
ReplyDeleteSir Redbean
ReplyDeleteAre you not presuming that he is a new citizen. Some of your complaints are valid whilst others to me sound similiar to the bumiputra principle espoused and now shown as fraudelent in the north of one north
Regards
hi mr wang,
ReplyDeletei may be wrong, but his name seems like a ft or new citizen.
we will soon be like the land of the maharajahs where the rich are extremely rich and privileged and the poor need to take care of themselves, to tighten more belts.
Sanjay Perera was born in Singapore in 1964 and served ten-years as an officer in the Republic of Singapore Navy.
ReplyDeleteHe studied Philosophy and Political Science at the National University of Singapore. He left the Navy in 1994, and joined The Straits Times, the largest English daily newspaper.
Sanjay covered defense matters. He worked on the Foreign Desk where he covered international affairs, eventually moving to the Money Desk covering foreign economic and financial news. After a three-years, Sanjay became a senior corporate communications executive at the National Library Board.
Eventually he became tired of working with government related institutions, Sanjay decided to do freelance writing and started working on several novels.He now resides in Canada. A LEAP IN THE DARK is his first novel.
(He's as much a Singaporean as you lah bodoh!)