Impression of Lijiang. An open air show choreographed by famous director Zhang Yimou
6/12/2013
PAP, the most confident supreme political party ever
I am going to write something in praise of this great political Party. It has been so successful for so long that even its opponents have conceded that the Party will continue to rule till kingdom comes. I would like to caution readers that some of you may find the content upsetting, uncomfortable, unbearable and nauseating. Those with a weak stomach may choose to skip reading from here.
Historically I don’t think any political party has ever enjoyed such high popularity and dominating the Parliament with more than two third majority for so long, and be able to make changes to the country’s constitution almost at will for the good of the country and people.
The best part about the dominance and confidence of this Party is its ability to push through very unpopular policies with no fear of losing the votes from the people. Take the population growth as an example. It brought in about 2m foreigners into the country within a decade or so as if it was just a walk in the park. For the uninitiated, 2m is more than 50 percent of the citizen population. By the time the citizens realized it, it was too late to do anything. And better still, the Party even pushed through a very unpopular Population White Paper in the face of strong objections from the people to bring in another 1.7m people by year 2030. Oops, it was only a planning parameter.
By the time IF the new arrivals arrived, the Singaporean core will be an absolute minority. But the Party could convince the Singaporeans that the Singaporean core will be strengthened as a result of the immigrants. Simply brilliant.
The unpopularity of this Paper led to an unprecedented public protest, twice within a few months and with a crowd that was unseen before. Who dares to protest when 4 persons are considered illegal assembly?
And knowing how unhappy the people are, the party simply ignored the people, thumping its nose as if there is nothing the people can do about it. Any political party acting in this manner will find itself out of power before one can finish saying hallelujah. There will be protests and street demonstrations to remove the party. But no, the PAP is confident that nothing will be able to rock it from power. It will be in power despite the people’s unhappiness and protests cause it was doing the right thing.
The huge influx of people into the little island led to the inevitables, high cost of living, high property and car prices and congestion in roads and public transport and many more problems. And these problems were compounded by the housing ministry for slowing down its housing programme to a trickle. Such a huge housing problem would have thrown any political party out of govt. But the Party knew the people very well, that the people loved what the Party had done, the high property prices, the high car prices and the high cost of living were happily embraced, quietly, with just a little show of public disapproval.
The unhappiness expressed was not real. The Party knew what the people wanted and gave it to them. As long as property prices keep going north, the people would not be bothered even with their CPF statements and the money in the CPF. The minister may be smiling at his CPF statements, the people will be laughing everyday at their high property prices.
Many jobs were given to foreigners and many local professionals have been booted out. So what? These are the minorities and likely to be the losers, the untalented and undeserving. What would the people expect the Govt to do? Nothing really. A few statements that the govt understood the problem would be enough to appease the people. The people would not remember the problem the day after. The govt is also giving a lot of top management and CEO jobs to foreigners instead of Singaporeans and it knows that Singaporeans would not mind. This is a necessary move as no Singaporeans are good enough. So there is no complains.
The number of unemployed due to this will be too small to affect the Party from being elected again and again. The less experienced and less confident political parties would be having cold sweat alienating these voters, but not the PAP. While losing a few votes, they are getting more votes from new citizens who are so happy and grateful to the Party for the opportunities given to them.
Some parents have been forced to empty their savings for their children’s overseas education. They complained like having a lot of grievances against the Party. Would the Party worry? Definitely not. For every unhappy parent, the Party is making many more parents happy. And there are foreigners who are invited and paid to study in local universities, given jobs and are only too happy. As long as the Party knows that it is making more people happy than unhappy people, it is in good shape.
Many Singaporeans seem to think that the Party will be voted out of power by making so many unpopular decisions and anti citizen policies. But they are damn wrong. The Party knows that it is doing the right things and the people may grumble, but deep inside, the people knew that all the things done were good for the people.
That is why the Party can continue to do the right things without fear of losing power. They don’t even have to listen to the people, and know that things will be just like they have planned, in 2016, 2021 or further away. There is no way for this Party to lose power. People may deceive themselves to think that the Party is doing all the wrong things and its days are limited. Don’t bet on that. The little noises over the new media regulations will be just a little noise and will not mean anything in the 2016 GE.
Sorry to disappoint you guys thinking that 2016 will see a change. How can PAP be doing so many unpopular things to get itself out of Parliament? Cannot right? This is the most confident political Party ever existed in human history, and it knows exactly what it is doing. It may even win more seats by 2016, retake Aljunied GRC as well. There is no political party like the PAP.
I feel so good writing this article.
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29 comments:
Indeed in the History of the Democratic World, none is comparable to the PAP. Even the Best is a distance away.
As a born Sinkie, me must say that All of us must be grateful to the PAP. Without it, we are coolies, amahs, fishermen, farmers, prostitutes and pimps. We would be living in attap(palm leaves) huts in slums.
Many would have no shelter of their own had the PAP not built and is building public housing for us. Not only PAP provides us SUBSIDIZED HOUSING, it has been enhancing the values of our houses by so many times. If one is to sell of his/her property now in Sin, the Seller instantly becomes multi millionaire or billionaire if moved to lesser neighbouring nations. So, be very thankful to the PAP, it brings in the filthy rich from all over the World to enrich Sinkies. It is such that Sinkies need not have to work to be rich.
Sinkies have of course been and being grateful and will continue to remain so. What is 5, 10 or 20 thousand Sinkies at Hong Lim Park when there are sbout 3.5 million citizens?
At Raffles Place where some suggested to gather for show of displeasure, no Sinkie turned up. Many were of the view that it was not right to make civil disobedience by being there. See how law abiding Sinkies are?
To cut it short; PAP has done very well, so well that even if it sells Singapore to aliens, Sinkies will not mind and will be grateful to it forever.
patriot
I think the key is net Hapiness as well articulated by woody. As long as majority is happy one will stay in power
Singaporeans are basically cowards, ignorants and selfish lots...... the kiasi, kiasu and bochap natives also works against each others which resulted in benefitting the evil PAP to works against us easily.
Evil PAP success is mainly the creation of "LAYERS OF LIES, THREATS and FEARS", lol,lol......
What they are doing is for the good of Sinkies but too bad,daft Sinkies cannot feel it.Their kindness had been seen as their weakness.
Of course there are some policies that make one Tulan but it is not their fault but its their Khakia's incompetency who dun know what their towkay want and execute the policy wrongly.Lauleekia would like to see more happy faces.Cannot blame keep blaming the Khakia's towkay .Should blame the Khakia's Sinkie parent who dun teach them the right value.Sinkie is to be blame.
As for me,if my future wife and children are getting naughty and dun support me,I intentionally get more mistresses here to produce more children to spur them and to support me .Whats wrong with that.
And I can also do it intentionally so that they can kick me out of the house.I can then retire oversea peacefully leaving the shits to those children who think they are good enough to take over.After all I make enough.Can take my money along.
What to do?No capable talented children to take over me.Kpkb wayang wayang is only what they can do.Everyday take care of my children and not being appreciated,You think I am not tired meh?Kick me out lah.
When Singaporeans are ready to vote out the PIGS;
A leader will appear.
Until Singaporeans are ready for change.
We will not be able to recognize the leader ... even if he is standing right in front of us on TV.
Where is Raymond? I am waiting for him to give me an A grade for this article.
Thoughts of a Cynical Investor
[S’pore dessident and rebel suggests an easy, effective & lazy way of undermining PAP rule]
"I had written that new media was like Lao Tzu’s description of water,
'Water is fluid, soft, and yielding.
But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield.
As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard.
This is another paradox:what is soft is strong.'"
http://atans1.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/spore-dessident-and-rebel-suggests-an-easy-effective-lazy-way-of-undermining-pap-rule/
RB, you do not need Raymond. We give you the A Grade you desrved. Well said and well written. You summed up the problems in Singarland.
Nothing stay the same forever.
The party rule with much 'yang', however just like the moon,'yin' , when its reach its fullest it start to wane. PAP support the base is aging just like the baby boomers,so as the party elders.
Change happens all the time even when we cannot see them.
GE 2016 has started already.
redbean has attempted a logical analysis of the state of the government's popularity, or lack thereof, and he's made a brave prediction in the conclusion, which BTW, I agree with, but for very different reasons.
I consider voting for the PAP akin to people brushing their teeth: no one really "likes" cleaning their teeth, but they do so because the consequences from not doing so appear to be really bad. Although these days the electric toothbrush has helped somewhat, the daily regimen of one's oral hygiene is a huge pain and inconvenience, but pales in comparison to the pain, inconvenience, financial (and probably social cost) of laxness or complete neglect.
So you do the thing, twice a day, brushing and flossing...no one even thinks about it, it becomes automatic behaviour, taking the benefit for granted -- only to notice if one's stops brushing and flossing for an extended time ;-)
One can make predictions about the future, but realise that predictions are at best: guesses. You might based your guess on data, but the data changes.
Also, there is a certain PROBABILITY attached to the likelihood of every event occurring in our experience. As causal as we'd like to believe this world to be, it isn't always the case.
Think RANDOMNESS. Human's are not wired to understand randomness. Understanding of randomness can only be gained by learning and study. Many great minds have slaved and pondered over it. And still, the picture of randomness is incomplete, because it it counter-intuitive. Our intuitions (mostly flawed) prefer the concept of causality, because it makes it easy to understand and explain the world; and also accords with our sense of "folk justice" whereby we assign BLAME or CREDIT to whom or what caused the event in question.
In politics and society, the government/ dictator/ ruler/ monarch etc who is chosen or allowed to ascend to power is always THE MINORITY which means the MAJORITY ultimately shoulder the responsibility of the existence of "authority". In other words, as I have written countless of times before (and will continue to do so): The People Get The Government They Deserve, which means the people's choice is the BEST at the time and 100% "correct".
No one likes paying insurance premiums. Everyone curses the insurance companies. Pick any city in the world: a vast majority of all the biggest buildings are owned by insurance companies, or banks. People curse these fucking mammoth corporations.
So I don't think the PAP are in because of "popularity". I think they are in because the people are voting for INSURANCE. :-)
The single most powerful 'ýang' in that party where others have been playing a more submissive role 'yin', machiam like sun and moon, is gradually changing.
We could see more 'smaller suns' to appear within the party to fill the large vacuum when the former PM retires from politics by 2016 which is quite likely.
The imbalance then stabilise again.
Temasek promoted Rajiv Batra an outsider, in 10 months with third world qualifications.
Senior Associate at Temasek Holdings
Location
Mumbai Area, India
Industry
Investment Banking
•Current Senior Associate at Temasek Holdings
Past Associate at Temasek Holdings
Analyst at Avendus Capital
Business Technology Analyst at Deloitte Consulting India
Education Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
April 2013 – Present (3 months) Mumbai Area, India
Associate Temasek Holdings Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Investment Management industry
June 2012 – March 2013 (10 months) Mumbai Area, India
http://in.linkedin.com/pub/rajiv-batra/11/2a/b08?trk=pub-pbmap
More transparency please Temasek .
From citi to temasek holding, alot of Singapore citizens are being pushed out by applicants with lousy qualfication.
Members of Parliament please raise the issue of employment discrimnation against us.
"PAP, the most confident supreme political party ever"
Redbean
In my opinion, although a bit crude and ordinary Sinkie style, but it is the best and most fitting posting not only about PAP but also the reality in Sinkieland that I have ever come across.
"Know yourself, know your enemies, 100 battles, 100 victories."
Sun Tze ancient Chinese military strategist
PAP definitely knows themselves and their enemies. That's why every election, every victory.
WP also knows but not that much. That's why every election, only a little victory. But they are learning and improving slightly.
SDP definitely knows very little. Not only lost what they had won in 1991, but also every time lost since then.
SPP Chiam better learn to avoid being another SDP.
For the rest, forget it lah. Never even win at all since day 1. Never learn one.
Redbean's blog now no need to worry about putting $50k bond.
The Party did not make those unpopular decisions and anti citizen policies for the good of the people. The Party did it for the good of the country - like rapidly letting in immigrants to grow the GDP at the expense of the citizen's jobs and incomes; like NS where the male citizen slave and sacrifice for the good of the country, only to lose out in employability and career opportunity.
The citizen carry the burden for the good of the country. We create this great place for the old fart to take all the credit and the foreigners to enjoy, but we can all sell our expensive properties to retire in JB or even Batam.
This Party is the greatest. When they screw the people, they say all the things done were good for the country. LHL said, "I want to do well for Singapore so that the people can do well" or something like that and 60% did not mind him doing well for Singapore.
If there any threat from the little noises over in cyberspace, the new media regulations will take care such that they will just remain little noises and not mean anything in the 2016 GE.
Now, how can the Party not retain at least 50% support when 60% believe in the PAP propaganda from the Party organs without credible counter from non Party affiliated voices?
Saycheese
RB is playing reverse psychology to win over the trust of the ruling elites. Who knows who has been feeding him kopi? Surely not us sinkie who are so impoverished that they cannot even afford kopi O for ourself.
I read over CNA news that in USA, 2 human rights groups are suing their President for the extensive surveillance on the people, revealed by the whistle blower Edward Snowdren.I suppose that is what makes a country great. People willing to fight and die for their rights.CNA also has been showing a feature on citizen journalism in China titled " High tech and Low Life" It is about two guys who traverse the country to report on social injustice and bureacratic abuses in their blogs.They are indeed very brave in a country where people can be locked up and the keys thrown away
We too,have brave bloggers like RB.
With their tireless and courageous efforts, I am sure the people will be awaken in time. The new citizens may even be leading the charge when they find the system is working against them.
Unless there is election fraud, pap will not gain full control of power. The dengue problem has escalate to a level never before. The same goes for disappointment in pap confidence. Furthermore, it will be the first GE without old lee. It will be the first GE where power will be shared by a few parties.
oldhorse, for now the only people buying kopi kau kau are you guys here. So I need to write more interesting or provocative articles to share and kill time.
Even when opposition parties are very weak, they already garnered 40% of votes in the last GE. All these problems that we have now will not go away in the coming GE and since the opposition parties are stronger now, they will be able to garner more votes. No one is impressed by any pap mps nowadays and all the screwing ups, name calling, bullying tactics by them will not go well with the voters.
RB, be careful what you wish lor that to kill time. U may be lock up in the next thirty years hor if you are not careful.
Annon 3:25. Exactly. These days the calibre of MPs are questionable. To me they are civil servants obeying instructions from the top. No question asked and no need to be nice to daft citizen. Get your fat pay, follow instruction, enjoy your rank and don't think too much.
On that night of nomination day 2016 General Election, many old folks would get taken aback psychologically, when they read the headline, 'first time in 50 years Tanjong Pgar will led by a new man.' Singaporeans voters turn the page then read, Marine Parade GRC also will anchored by a new man.
But if they decide to annouce their retirement earlier, they might even call for an early election.
Don't forget the next dpm, the PM in-waiting also cannot wait too. Need time to train.
BBC
[Kenyan MPs 'agree to lower salaries']
"Kenya's MPs have agreed to drop their annual salary by US$45,000 (to US$75,000) following a public outcry.
On Tuesday, protesters in the capital, Nairobi, denounced MPs as 'MPigs'.
MPs voted for a US$120,000 annual salary in May, in defiance of the wishes of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
'Trade-off'
They argued they deserved the amount because they worked hard and gave financial help to their constituents.
But their decision sparked national outrage as the MPs are among the highest paid in the world
and the average income in Kenya is around US$1,800 a year."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22881161
Many construction and foreign workers did not have medical benefit and if they are struck by dengue they are likely to live it out. Thus they will be walking around for the mosquitoes to do the necessary.
Confident really?
Gone are just unpopular policies, many policies now work against Singaporeans.
Allowing foreigners to take up higher skills while persuade its citizens taking lower level jobs is one of them.
Many around the world have wake up after 2008 crises
but certainly not them.
Redbean, you are losing it. Be more precise lah.
///For the uninitiated, 2m is more than 50 percent of the citizen population. ///
An increase of 2m from 3m to 5m is more than 67% of the citizen population.
/// Who dares to protest when 4 persons are considered illegal assembly? ///
More than 4 - not 4 persons. In other words, 5 or more persons constitute illegal assembly.
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