I was overwhelmed

The events that were unfolding over the last two days must have numbed many Sinkies. After reading all the information laid out on the salaries of ministers, I am still in a state of shock.

The GE was like a minor earthquake of 5 in the Richter scale followed by an after shock in the Presidential Election. This revelation is like a 7. There will be bigger after shocks, and maybe a tsunami over the horizon. Things are happening very fast. The People’s perception and support for the ruling party is going to take a hit.

As an observer of political events, the GE was a small shake up and a little warning of worst to come. Seven months past, other than Boon Wan, who seems to be sensing something wrong and hastily trying to do some damage control, the rest do not seem to see any urgency for change. The 7 months of grace period to regain lost ground were wasted in a way. The expected hikes in fees and charges are flowing in predictably and in orderly fashion. Even minimum sums in CPF were raised as a non event. There is absolutely no need to consult the people, taking the people for granted.

Now this huge earthquake is going to shaken and loosen every foundation there is, and if a tsunami is to strike, it is going to be a waste land like Fukushima. I am still wondering how this salary thing is going to impact the ruling party and whether they can weather this perfect storm. At the moment there is no answer to the shocking revelation. What was being reported, written in blogs, are just the tip of an iceberg. The true sentiment of the people is simmering inside and would not come out in full, at least for the moment. There are still too much restraints and refrains from telling the truth. The PAP will never hear the truth.

What is more troubling is that there are some who are praising the Salary Recommendations. This will give the PAP a false sense of confidence that the prescription by the Review Committee is the solution they are waiting for. The more congratulatory support for the recommendations the more delusion they will get into. When the imperial physicians diagnosed that the emperor was only having measles instead of syphilis, there was a big sigh of relief and self congratulations. The physicians were brilliant. And the prescriptions were equally brilliant, just a few days of panadol and Vitamin C and the emperor will be back to good health. The diagnosis was what they wanted to hear and the prescription was what they wanted, and the imperial physicians did what they thought was best for everyone, including the emperor and their own good.

Is there any more goodwill left, any more political capital left, for the ruling party to survive this crisis, or I am just imagining things? What crisis? There will be a resurrection! Would the party be given a new lease of life after this storm and come out stronger? Or this is just a tropical storm and nothing more to it, and things will be back to normal in no time, with bright and sunny sky? Those who wanted the diagnosis to be measles would tell you that this is just a tropical storm and will blow over. Let’s hope they will be right again.

As a political observer, my crystal ball is revealing a different story.