Great Leap of Faith in Singaporeans

Every Singaporean has to be forgiven for having the impression that our politics is actually petty politics of individual attacks and character assassinations. It is always about how to argue or talk cock to win a brownie point at best, nothing substantive or meaningful, and nothing constructive towards the well being of citizens and a better future. And every encounter almost without failed ended up in the gutters with both parties ending up dirty with mud and shit all over. There is no dignity in this kind of political scuffles even for the winners.

Oh, there were big issues being talked about but always a one sided affair. There seems to be a conscious effort to avoid discussing anything important or anything that will affect the people and the future of this island. Don’t believe me, check, any real discussion on the CPF issue or it is a case of I said so and it is now the law. So get on with your life.

What about the PWP, was there any discussion, or serious discussion? Oh yes, they discussed and voted for it in Parliament. Really? Then why was there a big crowd at Hong Lim and why are the people still so angry about it?

What about the cost of health care, the number of Singaporeans PMETs losing their jobs to foreigners, etc etc, were there really discussions, political discussions by political leaders?

When would our politics take a leap forward to a higher plane, to really talk and discuss about serious issues and not personal attacks and ignoring the contrarian points raised? Maybe there were some school boy debates going on. I am wondering if they were serious discussions that men and women in leadership should be doing, or simply the blasting and pushing aside of someone without any attempt to listen? No need to talk, no need a second look, anything coming from the other side must be bad and not worth the time to look at.

And serious discussions are not like kopitiam talks, when two parties just shoot it out and whoever can talk better, even when talking rubbish, would look good and clever. Serious discussions require serious and deep thoughts and take times to consider. The main stream media should take the lead to publish these thought processes in full not only for the authors to express their views fully but also to educate the masses of the opposing intellectual thinking. So far this appears to be the reserves of a few select academics and individuals. A few politicians may enjoy such a privilege to have their thoughts printed in the media, and rarely, if there was any coming from politicians from the wrong camp. In general, politicians did not seem to have serious ideas worth printings or to share with the public. Only academics are intelligent enough for this kind of works.

Isn’t this strange, that the million dollar politicians don’t have better or worthier ideas than the academics to be aired in the media? It is high time that the MSM put in effort to allow our super talents to have a say in the press, at least to prove that they are really intelligent. It is also time to show the world that our super talents can think and their ideas are worth printing and reading and bestest.

Why allocate so much valuable media space to foreigners that often have an agenda that could be contrary to our interests? Why allowed foreign propaganda and agenda to have so much space in our MSM, often written by dounces?

There is a need for national issues to be aired in our media, by our thinkers, academics and politicians. Nevermind if we only have a handful of thinkers. Nevermind if only the thoughts of Mahbubani, Tommy Koh, Chan Heng Chee and Barry Desker are good enough for the time being. There must be others that have ideas that are worth reading and sharing.  Oh, I nearly missed out on Han Fook Kwang, Warren Fernandez and Chua Mui Hoong. This island cannot have only these few local thinkers, and the thousands of highly paid foreign correspondents to fill our pages telling us their coloured views of local and international events.

We need to fill our pages with serious local issues, political issues, written by our very own thinkers. Please, spare us the new citizens. It is quite insulting to think that there is no works of local thinkers worth printing and only views of new citizens and foreigners are superior. Or it is true that we have no talents except the few in political office?

When will we take this great leap of faith, to openly talk and discuss about our own affairs and our own futures? Can start with CPF, PWP for the moment. Or there is really nothing to discuss, or too sensitive to discuss, or they are state secrets? Or there is no good enough or talented enough Singaporeans to discuss them? Or they are all too busy counting their money?

Kopi Level - Red