As the final curtain fell in Parliament’s first session, the big guns of the two camps took their final stand. PAP drew its best from its most eloquent and flowery speaker, Swee Say, to do his final take on the opposition’s position.
The final issue came down to be the CBF workers versus the CBF ministers, the former stands for cheaper, better and faster versus the latter version of costlier, betterer and fasterer ministers. While Swee Say coined the infamous CBF term for the Singapore workers, nothing of the like was reflected in the minister’s pay, which keeps going higher and higher. This has led to the public’s perception that the ministers were not as sacrificing as they claimed to be, but more self serving and looking only after their own gaji rather than the people.
This, according to Swee Say, was shocking. He rebutted the accusation, that ministers were working their guts out for the interests of the people, all the time thinking for the people’s welfare. If this is true, then the public must have grossly mistaken. If this is not true, then it is very frightening. Whatever, Swee Say said he was lost for words, in another word dumbfounded.
Actually he could lead by example as leaders instead of politicians, and for telling the workers to be CBF, ministers too can be CBF with the same meaning, cheaper, better and faster. For that to be believeable, he could announced that ministers would take a 50% pay cut to show to the people that they were really not self serving, working for self interest, but working for the people.
That kind of statement would be as good as giving Low Thia Khiang a tight slap for bringing the public’s negative perception into Parliament, and will straight away be proven wrong.
Well, Parliament will be in recess and it must be the biggest opportunity missed by Swee Say to score a winning goal for the PAP. And no matter how shock or dumbfounded he claimed to be, the accusation still stands and he did nothing to dispute it. The public’s perception of self serving ministers is still hanging there, waiting to be proven wrong, and to be taken down.
I am equally dumbfounded.
I thought you were talking about Chee Bye Face.....sorry sorry
ReplyDeleteWhenever they need to sell 'koyok' they need this man from NTUC.
ReplyDeleteStill, Never Trust Union Chiefs!
Swee Say said he is lost for words? You mean dumb, besides being deaf as well, as all MIWs are nowadays.
ReplyDeleteNot surprising. It is all becoming, as they used to say, as per normal lah!
May be if LSS opens his month, dollars and coins will gush out from it ? So he needs to be dumb founded to prove otherwise. Then, is he is indeed not too well paid.
ReplyDeleteHa Ha !
Hsq
Lim Swee Say's monthly CPF is much more than my part-time monthly gross salary though me am more than him in age.
ReplyDeleteOkay, pardon me as me am only a lowly educated senior citizen.
In any case, love to see the funny man as he is very comical and entertaining. However, he is damn good at sweet talking and maybe even scheming, not necessarily evil though.
patriot
LSS is the best man they have to connect with the grassroots, hoi polloi?
ReplyDeleteIf this is not a joke, then we have been robbed (by the obscene pay) and they are done for.
Saycheese
By their philosophy,it is probable that leaders of PAP have intented to have foreign talents running the various ministries,however it has not been practised due to possible strong objections from our citizens.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest PAP thinks out of box,try to bring in foreign talents up to PM level
with track records to be ministers and test the reaction.
For me,for a start,I wouldn't mind if PAP can get foreign talents,say of US ex-Clinton calibre to manage our government,why not?
"However, he is damn good at sweet talking and maybe even scheming, not necessarily evil though"
ReplyDeleteHaha, if he is not a sweet talker, how come Union members are sold on CBF only at the bottom, but not at the top, CPF cuts with promises of restoration, but never fully restored in the end.
As for scheming, that is his forte, that is why he is there in NTUC to sell koyok to the Union members. And he was the one who said that substantial increases in salaries of ministers is for Singaporean's own good. What about the lower income workers whose salaries have been depressed to rock bottom by foreigners?
Really hate when PAP argue without substances. Lily Neo is probably the only MP genuinely and sincerely helping her ward. This CBF (Chee Bye Face) Lim Shit Say is the highest paying clown in history of mankind.
ReplyDeleteSwee Say, is he swee(good looking), sweet(talker) or suay(spoiler/jinx).
ReplyDeleteSwee is individual, sweet because his voice tone criss-crossed between a man and a woman, very gentle so to say.
Suay, only to local workers as he seems to slave-drive local workers to favor and benefit employers. Pay for average workers have either stagnated or remain the same with more work and longer working hour. CPF Rate has also not return to the level as said.
So, is Swee Say swee, sweet or suay?
Lim Swee Say please be honest with yourself and with the people that you are at "a loss of words" ( in other words - dumbfounded, 'I don't know what to say' ) because there is a feeling of guilt in you at the truth of what Mr Low Thia Khiang raised about you and your PAP stalwarts. You are not worth the salary you are being paid. To Singaporeans paying a clown millions of dollars is simply throwing the money down the drain. Definitely hope to see you in oblivion at the next General Election in 2016.
ReplyDeletesouthernglory1
The PAP likes to say many cheap things to the people like, 'building good characters and teaching right moral values in schools', march into the future with confidence, no one will get left behind, let's put Singaporeans first ' and others too many to quote.
ReplyDeletePAP must show good examples in good character and high moral values. Smearing at Singaporeans and opposition members and character assasination of opposition members reflect badly on PAP characters. Cheating in constantly changing electoral boundaries and paying incongruous high ministerial salaries do not reflect good moral values.
'No one gets left behind" The truth is thousands are not only left behind but also unable to see doctors when sick.
"let us put Singaporeans first" and "march into the future with confidence". Do they know what they are saying? Do they consult the people or have the people's welfare in mind when they secretly pay themselves insane high salaries . Their high salaries together with unreasonable GST, ERPs, COEs,high bus and MRT fares as well as high cost of HDB flats result in unaffordable high cost of living for the people. They do not know how much the people are suffering.Only PAP stalwarts and MPs can march into the future with confidence and as for the people they shudder at the thought of the future.
We hope the PAP stalwarts will be more down to earth and stop bluffing the people.
sg
This blog had attract negative energy and those know how to scold ppl but without contribute ideal suggestion... Very sad. Delete it from favour now
ReplyDeleteHahaha
ReplyDeleteNothing is for free. Even suggestions!
It is not suay, it is sia-suay!
ReplyDeleteFor positive energg please go to Young PAP or SPH websites, which attract apple-polishers and bootlickers.
ReplyDeleteWe just love the negative energy here. The positive energy on those websites will lead to hypertension and heart attacks. Not good for old people.
Those who want to be invited for tea and stand for election must go to places with positive energy.
ReplyDeleteWell. since we are becoming "multi-national"... Foreign-born MPs would definately be cheap, better and faster! LoL... How are Bill Clinton, i bet he will would be satisfy with a millon dollar per year?
ReplyDeleteThe PAP is a self serving elitist class and it plans long term to entrench itself in power in perpetuity through the insidious education system. Below is a comment on the flawed education system follow by an article in three parts on the negative aspects of the insidious education system.
ReplyDeleteSingapore education system is a great failure . It is only a success in so far as it is to build up an elitist class to serve PAP and to preserve and maintain a corrupted elitist class in power in perpetuity. In India they are trying to break down the caste system which is cruel and wrong . But here in Singapore, PAP has been systematically building a society class system which will eventually reflect that of the evil Indian caste system. The PAP discriminatory class system starts from toddlers play centres and kindergartens. Then the evil system takes a more pronounced form from primary 1 to primary 5 where the pupils are sieved in exams and graded in top down classes according to the results in their examinations. The evil sieving system is accentuated in Primary Six when pupils have to sit for the do or die PSLE - Primary School Leaving Examination. Then it is fine tuned in secondary schools where the best or cream of those who passed the School Certificate Leaving Examination are put in the best junior colleges and eventually in the best reserve faculties in the universities. These so called cream of the best in the universities will eventually be picked to serve the government with incredible high salaries or to serve in government related companies. Finally many of these priviledge young men will be inducted as PAP party members to serve the interest of the Party and the elitist class and thus preserve and maintain power of the elitist in perpetuity.
However the PAP does not realise that the system has an intrinsically and cumulative build in downside perspective which will eventually not only destroy PAP from the inside but also the country or city state as a whole. The evil and negative aspect or perspective of the system is well discussed in the article below entitled The Great Sieving Machine.
Southernglory1
PART 1: PSLE the great sieving machine
ReplyDeletePSLE : The Great Sieving Machine....
For parents with children that are 12 year old this must be a period of anxiety as the PSLE starts this week.
When I took the PLSE many years ago, students only had pass/fail results. There was no score. The better students were broadly identified as belonging to the top 8% - I was not one of them and it didn't really matter. Many of the students in the top 8% chose to go to average secondary schools so you get a mix of good and bad students in the same secondary school - you sometimes have both good and not so good students in the same class. Today we differentiate primary school right down to the fine resolution of 1 in 300 points. You pass by a tuition center these days and you will notice they put up a list of top students - score of 280 for the top student...anything below 250 and you won't get on anybody's list. Competition starts young and differentiation starts young. Using their PSLE and reference entrance score from past years students usually choose the best ranked secondary school possible with their score. In the secondary school the students will again be sorted .with the best students going to the best class and so on. By the time the student walks into his first class in secondary school - every thing is sorted out based on PLSE scores. You have the best class in the best school and the bottom class in the worst secondary school. Other than differentiation using PSLE scores, we have NUS High which picks out gifted students so they can get out of the regular system and be educated in NUS High for direct entry into NUS.
What we have done is intensify the competition between people at an early age and accentuate the difference in outcomes for these people - the NUS High gives the best training and highest quality of education to those who make it there and neighborhood schools typically get the average teachers teaching unmotivated students who discourage each other from doing well.
Our current president, Dr. Tony Tan, completel his primary school education 60 years ago chose to go to a lesser known less prestigious secondary school called St Patrick's Secondary School rather than Raffles Institution like the rest of the presidential candidates. I thought that was a selling point he could have used in his campaign because he would have mixed, mingled and made friends with children who later move on to various strata of our society. We did not have so much differentiation of children at a young age and in a typical secondary school you would find a good mix of students. Today's system is completely different.
Our education system has turned into the great sieve machine and it sorts students obsessively. Once every few years we get 12 year old children leaving the exam hall crying because the maths paper is so difficult they couldn't do many of the difficult questions[Link] - if you pick up a PSLE maths paper, I think many of you will be baffled by the some of the questions. All this to try to differentiate between students so some will get A* and others just A.
PART 2: PSLE the great sieving machine.
ReplyDeleteWe should really roll back to the basics and ask ourselves what is the purpose of an education system? Is the main purpose just to sort students based on exam scores? What happened to the joys of learning? What happens to childhood and friendship? Is it healthy to put students through such intense competition at such a young age? What does such a system achieve at the end of the day?
Strangely, after putting our own children through such a tough education system, the govt is very happy to have foreigners from England, Australia and Phillipines take up some our best jobs. It looks like the tough education system does not give you too much of an edge when you join the workforce. Based on what was reported in WikiLeaks, the govt does not even encourage all Singaporeans to reach their full academic potential if they are able to get degrees. So what does all this energy and time spent on doing well for exams achieve for our society as a whole? For individuals it is very clear, you try to beat the others to get into better schools and later on scholarships that lead to opportunities in govt and SAF. But collectively will our society do better with such a system when it comes to differentiating oiurselves from economic competitors and giving our people a better quality of life?
Many Singaporeans being in this type of system for so long can't even imagine that there other forms of education system that work well. If I suggest we go back to the system of my time when students are just award a pass grade instead when they clear their PSLE exams, I'm sure many parents will say that system is no good because it doesn't help their children get ahead of others and secure the best secondary schools and so on. Singaporeans have come to believe competition is inevitable and intense competition is unavoidable.
To understand the alternatives, we have to look at systems that work well and are at the other end of the spectrum.
"The basic compulsory educational systemin Finlandis the nine-year comprehensive school(Finnishperuskoulu, Swedishgrundskola, "basic school"), for which school attendance is mandatory (homeschoolingis allowed, but rare). There are no "gifted" programs, and the more able children are expected to help those who are slower to catch on." - Wikipedia, Finland's Education System[Link]
PART 3: PSLE the great sieving machine.
ReplyDeleteThe number one education system in the world is the Finnish education system - an egalitarian system in which tremendous effort to taken to provide high quality pre-school to everyone. Contrast that with Singapore's approach where pre-school is not compulsory and poor students skip pre-school while richer parents send their children for pre-school that cost $20K per annum. Our govt's idea of levelling the playing field is to give some poor students 1 month of pre-school that cost their parents $10 (read Stark contrast between pre-school.education of the rich and the poor...). Richer Singaporeans would even buy property next to a prestigious primary school known for training students to get good results so their children have better odds of getting into these schools.
"The Fins adamantly oppose any form of divisions or ranking, and 'advanced' or 'elite' divisions are major taboos. Separation into different classes is also not practiced in the system. Heidi, a 28 year-old employee at the University of Helsinki, recalls that she was good at math in primary and middle school, but the teacher never praised her work in front of anyone else, only stealthily handing her more advanced texts to read on her own." - Secrets to Finland's World Topping Education System
In Singapore's elitist system where the best resources are allocated to the best exam-scoring students who later on secure the precious prestigious overseas scholarships and later on the best jobs and opportunities in the SAF and civil service. This system elevate the importance of exams over learning, amplify the inequality in our society and emphasizes competition over co-operation.
The strength of a society is build on the arms of the strong pulling up the weak so that no one is left behind. Children at 12 should have a childhood spending time making friends, cultivating the love of learning, learning to help one another and building core values....much of these important developments fall into the background when young children believe that they are better than someone else because he scored 10 marks higher for the PSLE. All the energy we spend to sort our students then later allocating disproportionate resources to a small number identified as the elite weakens what can really make us competitive - a cohesive workforce able to work closely as a team and not individuals perpetually trying to get ahead by breaking away from others. The one reason the MOE gives for all this sorting and sieving is they want to best develop each student based on their ability. If you believe that you have to believe that neighborhood schools like Bedok Green Secondary have better teachers than ACS(I) or Raffles Institution because they have weaker students that need better teachers to guide. The Finnish approach is to put everyone in the same school and teach the material at a pace that everyone can learn and give additional attention to those who are slower. If we want a cohesive society, we have to start with the young and teach them that to work to help each rather than against each other.
Posted byLucky Tan 40 comments
The 40 comments can be found in the sites KOPITIAM and SPEAK UP YOUR MIND.
Forget about education in Sin, after having paid and collected your degree, there is no desirable job.
ReplyDeleteThen, there are those that become educated rascals that scheme and cheat the less educated to enrich themselves. What has education teach modern man ?
He's like one of the most overpaid, underwork M in the cabinet. Yet talk so much.
ReplyDeleteOh i 4get, he's paid to tok tok tok tok tok ... till e cows come home.
anyway... our dear M in the PMO was 4pct point from losing his ministerial position and becoming like Georgie.
ReplyDeleteHumility sir ... plse.
That Siah Suah is talking nonsense. He's paid millions each year and yet can't even come out with any ACTION plans to resolve all the problems created by MIWs. He's wasting our precious oxygen, time and air-time to talk nonsense.
ReplyDelete