4/30/2013
Selfish Meritocracy – Goh Chok Tong
“We do not want a society whose citizens seek to advance their own interests without a care for others, or worse, at the expense of others. I call this ‘selfish meritocracy’. It is up to those of us who can, to reach back and help those behind to climb the ladder with us, and not to pull up the ladder behind us.”
“Those who have risen to the top owe the greatest responsibility to help the weaker in society. A ‘compassionate meritocracy’ can help us build a resilient and inclusive society. A ‘selfish meritocracy’ will divide us and ruin our society.” – Goh Chok Tong
What is Chok Tong saying? Why did Chok Tong make these remarks? Is he saying that some people are practicing selfish meritocracy? Or is this just a general comment, there is no such thing but just a warning that this can happen and should be avoided? The consequence is a divided and ruined society, he said.
Assuming that Chok Tong is acknowledging this problem, what is he or the Govt going to do about it? Would those that are advancing their own interests without a care for others be taken to task and the process be stopped? It must be as the consequence according to Chok Tong is a ruined society and surely he and the Govt would not want that to happen.
And there is this complaint by many concerned Singaporeans, by the retrenched or out of job PMETs, even by the MOM, that FOREIGNERS are practicing selfish meritocracy here with Singaporeans the silent victims, losing their high paying jobs to foreigners being brought in to replace them. Actually this is more than selfish meritocracy. It is a concerted effort to get rid of Singaporeans and replaced with their own kind and has nothing to do with meritocracy.
Can I say that there are now two problems, one, high achieving Singaporeans are practicing selfish meritocracy to benefit themselves at the expense of less able Singaporeans and the question is, why is this allowed to happen? And why allowed to happen if the Govt knows about it?
The second problem of FOREIGNERS practicing more than selfish meritocracy, intentional and preconceived acts to replace Singaporeans with their own kind is now being tackled by Tan Chuan Jin and the MOM. How much has been done and how effective were the measures taken to improve the lot of Singaporeans that fell victims to this is yet to show itself in a big way. How long will it take to get rid of FOREIGNERS guilty of this malpractice in our own country against our very own citizens? Or is the Govt adopting a gentle touch and hoping that things will improve, and how long will it take to improve? Would the jobless PMETs see their problems removed or would it be too late and they become history by the time something is done?
By not acting fast to tackle these problems is itself a form of selfish meritocracy. Let’s see whether Chok Tong can do something while he still can and what he said is not just lip service, spoken and forgotten, no longer his problem. He already said that those at the top have the greatest responsibility to curb such abuses. It could be his last generous and righteous act for the people who have supported him and placed their trust in him to make him the PM for so many years.
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9 comments:
Its typical of PAP's style of govt -
"Do as I say BUT dun do as I do"!
fat hope lah...do you think he cares, unless he is the one being on the receiving end.
The white-haired MP who wanted to be called senior emeritus minister does not walk the talk. Did he or any of his former minister even devout themselves to any charity or volunteer work? They are all busy scooping money in the board rooms!
Is Goh Chok Tong, his family and his Government role model or even example of what he preaches?
patriot
Most rich will not give back to society because they have come to believe that where they are is 100% through their own effort. Hence the state needs to take from these people through higher taxes and re-distribute to the poor ie higher income tax for people earning $200K and more and bring back ESTATE DUTY.
With regards to foreigners being hired over Singaporeans, the fact is that Singaporeans are at a disadvantage because of CPF and NS. The state needs to impose the same 20% contribution by employers for foreigners and this money should be use to upgrade and train Singaporean to fill the skill gap which employers claim is the problem.
For PRs, the employer's part of CPF contribution should also go to this training fund. The simply logic is that currently, PRs come here to work, accumulate their CPF or use it to buy houses and then cash out their CPF when they give up their PRs. BIG drain on our CPF!
“Those who have risen to the top owe the greatest responsibility to help the weaker in society."
Ho Ching is top in Temasek, LKY is top in GIC, Hsien Loong is PM and Tony Tan is President. How did they help the weaker in society? The President Star Charity counts?
9.52am, yes president star charity counts as well as temasek foundation charitable activities as without them, thousands of people will not benefit from their effort
Selfish Meritocracy is a redundant term.
Since Meritocracy already means that you must be selfish.
In order to identify an individual's merit, we have to recognize what he has achieved by his own individual effort.
Hence a meritocratic system is a selfish system.
The follow-up is that there is no such thing as "selfless meritocracy". In this case, "selfless meritocracy" would be an oxymoron.
Goh Chok Tong talks only lah, what Swiss Standard, meritocracy, caring, selfless and other craps.
What has he delivered or done good to us, the People?
patriot
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