APEC 2024 Peru. Biden shafted to a corner in the back row. Xi in front row next to Peru's President
8/01/2008
Change in the offing?
Chua Mui Hoong wrote about the possibility of change as hinted by Chok Tong. In her view there could be changes but under the ruling party's terms. The ruling party shall call the shot, decide who can play and set the rules. Is this not the case all this while? The govt, she said, which is actually the ruling party, shall be the controller, the game master and shall work out a system that is fair to all players.
What kind of system, and how fair, would come out of it if the game master is also the key player with vested interest to remain as the main player?
Sue Ann Chia also discussed about the hints of coming changes, probably bigger GRCs, bigger deposits, to ensure that the ruling party continues its dominant position but with more participation in the form of nominated MPs. The possibility of ever bigger GRCs, maybe lesser than 5, or maybe 1 or 2 cannot be ruled out. Such a change could totally rule out any opposition participation because of the extremely high cost in deposit money and their inability to gather enough respectable candidates. It will deal a death blow to the opposition and for all.
This is similar to what Zhu Ge Liang did when he advised Xiang Yu, I think, to tie all his ships together to form an unsinkable platform. It was a formidable strategy, like All In in a poker game. The rest was history.
Correction. Abao has given the correct names of the general and advisor. It was Cao Cao and Pang Tong. The moral of the story was the tying of the ships together and they all got burnt together.
With bigger GRCs & deposits, the possibility of voting PAPpy out of power seems more and more remote :(
ReplyDeleteThe original objective of the GRC idea was to enable minority races to be represented in Parliament. What is the rationale to have a, say, 6-person GRC if we have only 5 racial groups in the country to be represented?
ReplyDeletemaybe we need to provide one for foreign talents.
ReplyDeleteIt is political brinkmanship at its best. You win big, you also lose big.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, it reflects lack of confidence in PAP on winning the next GE. It is a sign of weakness and hence the needs to increase the size of the GRC.
ReplyDeleteThe signs of weakness are showing. Which country's PM needs 2 deputies, a SM and a MM to hold his hand?
ReplyDeletenot forgetting the high powered councils of advisors and the ones without portfolio.
ReplyDeleteit is very difficult to see anything wrong with our own actions, especially when they benefit ourselves. just like the drunkard who will not know that he is drunk.
ReplyDeleteBetter to remove your last paragraph about Zhu Ge Liang and Xiang Yu when you know nothing about it.
ReplyDeleteBoth persons are from different eras!
you are right anonymous. that's why i added 'i think'. couldn't remember the general involved. but the moral of that story was the tying of all the ships together and all flamed up together.
ReplyDeleteAiyo eh redbean, ur ROTK history is fail......
ReplyDeleteXiang Yu was from the Chu-Han Contention era; the Premier Zhuge Liang was from the 3 Kingdoms.
And going by the Novel, it was Pang Tong who advised Cao Cao on linking the Ships together to form a stable platform for ships.
However, in real History, the Chained Ships was thought out by Cao Cao himself, after observing that his troops arent used to the rough waters of the Yangtze river. In any case, he was to be outwitted by Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang and Lu Su in the resulting Battle of Chibi.
Thus, your last paragraph is completely wrong.
thanks abao,
ReplyDeletemy memory is fading. i was also too lazy to check on the names. and thanks again for clarifying that. i will amend the main post.
You see, the internet police itself. Where can the untruth be taken as the truth. Long live the internet.
ReplyDeleteredbean,
ReplyDeletealso yr English needs some watching:
In her view there could be changes but under the ruling party's term(s)(plural). The ruling party shall call the shot(s)(no r), decide who can play and set the rules. Is this not the case all th(is) while?
The PAP have already alienated 33.4% of the population by depriving them of equitable representation. The support from the remaining 66.6% will start to wane after feeling letdown by the poor performance of the 82 MPs, lacking in courage and honesty to speak up. It is disgraceful when you compare NMP Siew K H to these MPs in parliament. The PAP's blatant attempt to further tweak the system to increase their advantage to ensure victory cannot rule out increasing the anger index of the ordinary folks. The hatred may reach a stage and level that will be hard to contain. It will be shear madness to have 50 to 60 % ordinary folks having ill feelings towards the govt and its perceived beneficiaries. Truly a divided nation.
ReplyDeletethanks anonymous,
ReplyDeleteerrors amended. no excuse even if in the hurry and did not re read what i typed.
and welcome to the blog, eatmoney.
2 points. do the people feel alienated and how bad is it? as long as the people keep electing the pap to power, it means that for what is their worth, they are still welcomed to rule, or at least bearable.
siew kum hong has done a good job in raising issues in parliament. the ruling party mps are not expected to do that kind of things. even if they try, it cannot be the same as one from outside the party. it is better that they enjoy their cat naps. more credible that way.
hehe... Abao is right when she said your ROTK fail... Pang Tong was sent by Zhuge Liang to convince Cao Cao that tying all the ships together was a good move.
ReplyDeleteThus,they (Cao Cao and Pang Tong) didn't burn together... only Cao Cao and his troops... Pang Tong sniggered back to Zhuge Liang's camp :P