9/28/2009
Weeny warlords and draconian policies
Singapore is seen by the world as an authoritarian state rightly or wrongly. We have many 'draconian' laws ranging from banning of chewing gums, caning and the death penalty. From a Singaporean point of view, especially from the angle of law abiding citizens, such laws don't really affect them as they are targetted at the irresponsible and criminals. In fact such laws are seen as good by many, including foreigners who came from their land of disorder and near anarchy.
This culture of handing down tough laws and policies have over time seeped into the veins of many weeny little warlords who have no qualms in dishing them out to the masses. One favourite item is to make things compulsory, even to the extent of impounding the people's money under whatever guises. And we even have jail penalty for commuters who cheat the bus company of a few cents.
In today's ST, Goh Eng Yeow wrote a long article about the stiff penalty that the Stock Exchange is handing down to small traders for carelessness. The fine is a hefty $1000 for data entry error or a mistake that may be worth a few hundred or a few tens of dollars. Goh Eng Yeow's article explained fully the whole gist of the matter which he described as another form of draconian laws that this island is infamous for.
The sad thing is that many poor buggers were punished for a small unintentional mistake. Maybe a $1000 fine is not worth mentioning in the eyes of the little warlords. What is $1000?!!! It is so little, so small, and people should not quibble over it. Well, when one can be fined for a few thousand dollars for chewing gum offence, this $1000 fine is not even close to a peanut. And nobody cares. Everyone of some importance will have more important things to do than to bother about little people being fined for $1000, rightly or wrongly.
Small people should count themselves lucky if their heads are not cut off by the warlords within us.
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9 comments:
Well, small people always get the big stick and big people always get the small stick.
Why? They don't use big sticks on themselves or one of their own!
If you are a small Singapoream and not important in the eyes of your big warlords, then you have to live by their rules. What else can you do?? Your voice is so feeble and weak they will not even bother to hear you. When you get into difficulty in you life, then you have to sort it out yourself. No one will lift a finger to help you, in fact they might just enjoy and clap at your misfortune, Such is the ways of the Singaporeans, in general. If you cannot live with this, then move out.
Jealous people umbilically attached to their precious "ideologies" often do not see the full story.
The fact is, at least in the short to medium term, the social experiment of self-determination for Singaporeans -- after their rule by Great Britain -- is considered to be a "success" by many on the right wing, republican and conservative. The people who have issues with modern Singapore tend to be those internationlists, left of centre or hard left, western "progressive" liberals who think that "freedom" rests solely on freedom of speech and democracy, without considering the importance of economic freedom in the debate.
Sure, S'pore is not perfect and there are many things in the internal socio-political arena which can (and probably will) destroy the nation, but despite the flaws (and no country is perfect), I would do business with S'pore as my base over most other states. Things *work* in Singapore -- that's the bottom line. To make money is relatively EASY compared to other basket-case countries or countries where the regulation and taxes will kill you before you even start to serve your customer.
The people always get the government they deserve: and there is NO COUNTRY ON THE PLANET which hasn't begun it's existence or continues to be managed by "nice guys". Politics and government are nasty and brutal. Countries are created usually through bloody struggle, or at the very least all manner of deception, political maneuvering, suppression of rivals (like opposition and opposing ideologies), fooling the gullible masses etc. It is Machiavellian -- it is not "transparent" or "fair" or "compassionate".
Wake up and smell the kopi.
P.S. Hearing "God Save The Queen" down at Marina Bay circuit and have PM Lee and other stand at attention whilst Hamilton poses for the cameras as a Briton who is not white but black (actually chocolate) was priceless. That area of S'pore used to be the heart of British administration under colonial rule.
I was watching the F1, drinking vodka and eating kangaroo sausages last night... what a great sight. S'pore really looks good on TV!
God Save The Queen... and all the locals stand at attention. Fucking lovely...
after 45 years of indepedence, we still love the queen. god saves the queen.
After 45 years of independence, God save Singapore!
God says; Save yourself!
patriot
Even god can't save Singapore. Only the mutant spawn of Lee can :)
Mutation could lead to malformation resulting in MONSTERS.
Beware !!
patriot
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