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3/20/2013
Misplaced smugness is not appreciated
In the comment & analysis page of the Today paper there is an article by a Charles Tan Meah Yang, writing from London about his feel of the social political scene here. He is an Investment Analysis working in London and should be above average in IQ and what he said must be worthy to be given prominence in the main media.
He raised two points, 1, Singaporeans should stop making emotionally charged, one sided complaints if they are unwilling to offer pragmatic suggestions/solutions and defend them vigorously against scrutiny. 2, politicians need to avoid making unilateral decisions without due communication to the electorate; they too must be prepared to justify and defend their policies instead of waving off concerns.
I fully agree with his second point but totally disagree with his first. His premise is that Singaporeans can complain but must also come out with a solution. This is flawed in many ways and smell of misplaced smugness. In the first place, most people that complained are your average citizens and you cannot expect them to be able to come up with a coherent and workable solution to national issues. And why should they when they are not paid to do so while the people in charge are full time doing the job, with all the information, supporting staff and resources and being handsomely rewarded?
He quoted an example of a chat with a taxi driver and concluded that the people are complaining but not able to give a solution. But that is exactly the point. If the people can provide the solution, there is no need to employ all the super talents with super talented pay. He unconsciously admitted that feedback is important to the Govt and that is exactly what the people are doing, feedback, kpkb when it hurts, complained to let the Govt know.
Does anyone really think that the men in the street, not on the job, without the information and resources, could do a better job or do the job for the ministers and his ministries? And if he cannot provide the solution he should shut up? Who then is going to provide the feedback to the Govt? This reminds me of what someone said, if one is going to comment about politics, one must join a political party. What crap! It is the job of the people who are paid to do the job to do a good job especially when they demanded out of this world salary. It is the right of the people to comment, to kpkb and to curse and swear when things are not right or hurting them.
Did I make my point clear? Is this logic so difficult to understand? Any minister that still talks cock and demand a solution from the people that complain needs to be knocked hard on his head. This kind of smugness is not appreciated and unwarranted. You want me to give you a solution to do the job for you, pay me the consultancy fee. There is no free lunch. What you take the people for?
What Charles Tan was saying is that if students do not have the answer they should not ask the teachers. They can only ask when they, the students, have the solution(answer).
ReplyDeleteFuck him Charles Tan, may he gets screw at UK.
Right bro, fuck him. If he's good do not have to work fir the Brits ago are bankrupted themselves.
DeleteWhy kowtowed to the white pricks???
Good morning Redbean. You are up early and working hard. Let me buy you some kopi.
ReplyDeleteRB, agree totally with you. When citizens kpkb, the govt should treat this as constructive feedback rather than as complaints. Not everyone is articulate enough to "dress up" feedback nicely. Those smug ministers who demand solutions from citizens who complain loudly should take note that finding viable solutions is part of their million dollar job. If they can't find the solution then they are not worthy of their millions and should quit. I see all these Natcon as evidence that many of our ministers have NO solutions and expecting citizens to provide them with solutions. Come 2016, they will be served their just desserts !
ReplyDeleteHi RB, don take banker's word too seriously la. If you think of what their business really is, there wouldn't be surprise that they sprout nonsense.
ReplyDeleteBanker survive on usury, inflation, off-shoring, asset bubble, creating unemployment base on Philips curve, enriching 1%, cooking toxic derivative...etc...
It is not possible for them to live honestly.
This is not so bad.
ReplyDeleteThere is one moronic ex-Ministar who suggested during the Catherine Lim saga that you must join a political party if you want to criticise politicians. So if you want to criticise teachers, you must be a teacher yourself; if you want to criticise a doctor, you have to become a doctor.
How did these twisted logics go unchallenged is really beyond me.
Kani na. There are people who make a living designing "solutions" for systems which need fixing.
ReplyDeleteWhat is that fuck-tard thinking? What asshole book on communication did he read?
Free speech and free expression is no hold barred lah. That's why it is 'FREE'. It also means the intended recipient is no 'obligated' to listen. He can ignore it. And if he gets in a mess because he ignored a warning, that's his funeral.
Therefore I disagree with both his points.
Agree totally.
ReplyDeleteThe academic who commented that people who complain must have solutions first, this is a really stupid academic. I don;t need to be a musiciain to be able to say, this guy is playing the piano piece out of tune.
Everyone is capable of making a judgement whether things are right or wrong. We are not dumb. We on the other hand need not be experts in the field to detect something off-tune.
zero
"You don't have to be a chicken to spot a rotten egg" -- Victor Doggett.
ReplyDeleteMr Doggett was one of the best classical piano teachers. He was also an irascible music/ drama critic who wrote for the Straits Times. The quote above was his response to angry people who didn't agree with his often scathing critiques and challenged him to "do better".
Reading his critiques was usually much better entertainment than the acts he reviewed. He is sadly missed.
When one is the emperor, it is so easy to rubbish critics by sheer abuse of power and logic.
ReplyDeleteHead I win tail you lose. I banker, chng kay.
He can say what he wants and we do not have to agree. He is not God and not perfect and made mistakes and can stand corrected and blad blad blad....
ReplyDeleteAnyway, just cut the ministers pay and see whether they 'complain' or not. Complaining is part human nature. When the people complained, they are expressing a discontent or displeasure and if the politicians brush them aside as noice, are they acting in good faith?
Mr Charles Tan living in London is clued-out. What makes he think that Singaporeans have NOT offered alternatives and solutions to the Govt?
ReplyDeleteAt least, I have. I even go to the extent to back-up my views with statistics that I manage to find in the public arena.
Some in the academia and through their industry/profession bodies have also provided alternatives.
You can bring horse to water. You can't make the horse drink it, eh? At least, NOT DEAF FROGS (as Minister Lim Swee Say described PAP in Parliament in Mar 2010)!
I do not follow anyone’s blog.
ReplyDeleteI am penning my comments onto your blog because someone forwarded your blog on this subject to me. I take an interest because I feel Charles Tan Meah Yang’s commentary is well-balanced. Hence it is educational to read another viewpoint.
When I read Charles Tan’s commentary, my immediate reaction was different from yours. Whereas you saw red flag on his ‘first point’, I saw it as an invitation to critics to discuss. Basically, he is saying: “okay, you disagree with the Government on this, now, tell me why you disagree and what would you have done differently?” The taxi driver can probably say why he disagrees and what he likes to have, and probably unable to offer what he would have done differently. However, to people like you, while it is not expected that you come up with a “coherent and workable solution to national issues”, it is not too much to expect a meaningful and robust, if necessary, discussion so that more ideas/suggestions can be generated to help to move forward, and on this note, does it really matter whether the grand idea is from you or I or the Minister?
And if the solution offered by the Government is not well-received whether by minority or majority, this does not mean that the solution is not the solution … it could well be that it is the ideal solution taking all the information available at that point of time and the constraints and trade-offs. If decision-making process of national issues is simple and clear-cut, then why are governments all over the world struggling to navigate between competing wants?
When I was working, when my boss did not like a proposal or suggestion, he would focus on the weak point and then damned the whole report even though the other parts of the proposal or suggestion merited consideration. And if my boss disliked that particular staff, then he lost his objectivity with his name-calling (‘stupid’, ‘smart-alec’). I do not believe connoting Charles Tan’s commentary as ‘smugness’ is going “to shock the mind and to elicit responses” in a positive way, assuming that that is what you want.
Ong Poh Seng
24 Mar 2013
Even before it is reasonable to expect people to give meaningful suggestions - they must first believe wholeheartedly in the idea they are valued citizens who have just as much a stake in the affairs of running a country as politicians.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Charles does not seem to understand Singapore has one of the most repressive Internet laws in the world. So tell me against a climate of fear, who in bloody right mind would even want to stick out like a sore thumb...let alone stand up and give solutions....no I think it premature to talk about an active citizenry when there is no information democracy or when bloggers and commentators are regularly harried with law suits etc etc. I much rather blog about cooking.....DIY...primroses and parks.
Good day
Darkness 2014
Charles Tan is fortunate to live, work and play in a functional democracy. Yes, there are many problems with the UK...it is certainly far from perfect. But when was the last time he read about bloggers being sued, taken to court in the UK. Academics who have been denied tenures. Or for that matter politicians who can get away with hardly any scrutiny from the public or complicit second fiddle press or for that matter accountability when they choose to embark on policies that have far reaching ramifications on the well being of a nation and it's people.
ReplyDeleteI really think it's premature and childish for Charles Tan to even suggest citizens in Singapore should suggest solutions, as this implies it's safe to do so - maybe you should all go and ask Lucky Tan why he decided to give social political blogging a permanent rest.
It's not even a apple to apple comparison...comparing the UK to Singapore without even bothering to take into account the political realities along with risk is simply so flawed that this piece by Charles Tan cannot be taken seriously, to me it's just happy ruminations that all fall into the category of forgettable sound and feel good nonsense.....as it lacks the intellectual rigour of being thorough.
Good Day and Good luck to Charles Tan working in the city with that sort of happy go lucky cavalier attitude of scaling threats, opportunities and risk....
Darkness 2014
Red bean would appreciate it if you remove these imposters from your comment section. I do not want to come here any longer if I can. So in future all post that carry either my moniker or dottys should never be put up.
ReplyDeleteAs they are not me and I am not them. In life if you mix with losers, you end up playing a game where you can only lose.
Thank You
Darkness 2018