Ingredients of our success

Come National Day Parade, it is natural for every Singaporean to be hit by a sense of awe and pride. We watch as the showcase revealed how far we have come. From the sophisticated weaponry and hardware to the organisation of a precise drill involving thousands of people, and a people in celebration of how well they are living. The message is that we have done well. And we got to thank the political system that we have developed, the dedicated and selfless leaders that are there to constantly improve the lives of the people, and an obedient and willing to be led populace that will listen and move along quietly, guided by a progressive govt. And many people feel that we have arrived. We shall maintain the status quo, not to rock the boat, everything is fine and well managed. We can only do better over the years and march into the future with confidence that things will be better. The life and progress of a nation is like the life of a person. It is a journey, a longer journey and will not end until the nation collapses or being overrun or taken over by someone else. To think that we have arrived and nothing more needs to be done is a sure sign of complacency. We need to keep on going, to improve ourselves, change and adapt to an unknown future, and be wary of death traps. The three ingredients that have brought us so far could also be the three ingredients that will destroy us. A small wrong step or wrong decision and we will face the wall. Our political system is so strongly biased in favour a strong govt that works for the people. It relies heavily on a strong team of men who will want to do good for the people and country. And the system allows such a team of men to do as they liked. In such a system, all it needs is a few scoundrels to take over the govt and run it for their own benefits. And that's it. The system will facilitate such a process, will facilitate the scoundrels to do what they want. The system does not check and restrain them. And the people, trained and moulded to be followers without questioning, unthinking, and a strong believer of the system and the leaders, will be led to jump over the cliff. The people will not know how to resist or check the govt. They will just go along, and go along for as long as they can. They have a very high tolerance to take pain. They have a strong belief that the leaders will always be the honest and selfless leaders that will take care of them. And they will be buried alive with that kind of thoughts and belief. They would not know how to react or sense that things are getting out of hand till it is too late. The three ingredients that brought us so much success will be the same ingredients that will do us in eventually. As we celebrate our National Day, we must constantly remind ourselves how long will it last.