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5/25/2015
PRs are not citizens
Over the weekend the citizens were greeted by news of govt handouts, goodies and great discounts for the senior citizens. While the welfare state was a taboo topic in the past, the high cost of living, the premature termination of employment and the post retirement lifespan of 20 to 30 years will take a toll on the seniors with no escape. Without an income, with insufficient savings, only the super rich can live without worries that their savings would last them a good 30 years and ride the waves of inflation. Many would have no choice but to look towards the govt for handouts and subsidies. The conditions for a welfare state have been created and a welfare state is inevitable. Without govt handouts, life is not going to be affordable for the jobless seniors and retirees, and can be very miserable.
The goodies that were announced would be most welcome. But there is a sour taste in this deal with the inclusion of PRs. Who is a PR? What is a PR? A PR is definitely not a citizen, without the obligations of a citizen, can come a go, and will go when the going is not to their expectations. In a country where national service is a big responsibility to the citizens, and a big handicap, a PR becomes a preferred choice for many to enjoy the good life, the good jobs here without having to pay for their security and the needs of a nation. And now, PRs are accorded the same privileges, perks and handouts from a bizarre govt that treats them like citizens. What is going on?
PRs in most cases are economic refugees. They are here because things are good and betterer for them than in their countries or in other countries, or they could not go to betterer countries and this is the best for them. Many came with a simple goal, to get a good job, make as much money as they could, and would eventually go home or go somewhere else. They have no intent to be citizens and to share the obligations and responsibilities of the citizens.
There are those who genuinely want to be citizens, some fair weather citizens, but not given the citizenship for good reasons, that they are not people we want to be citizens.
Why are PRs given all the perks and privileges and handouts when they are already having a good deal here? No PRs coming here expects the govt to throw goodies at them. They know that they do not qualify, not eligible, not entitle to such goods that are reserved for citizens, the privileges of being citizens, and for paying a heavy price in our case, for being citizens. Why is the govt so willing to share the nation’s wealth with the PRs? The country does not owe anything to the PRs. If any, it is the PRs that owe it to us, to repay their debt of gratitude for being allowed here to work and to many, to go home rich.
Or is it that spending OPM is easy. Not my money, so can anyhow give. And in the case of PRs, no need even to ask. And some cocky PRs even think that they deserved all the privileges given to the citizens, because they got this crazy idea planted in their heads by crazy people that they are here to help the daft Sinkies to a good life. Many of these PRs would have no where to go, no country would want them, would want to give them good jobs and a good life. And many were here with fake qualifications.
What is worst, they are now getting this entitlement mentality. They are entitled to the perks and privileges like the citizens. And without having to be citizens to enjoy them, where is the pull to make them into citizens? They are having the best of both worlds. Such freebies are in a way encouraging them not to become citizens.
No, they are here to help the daft Sinkies and giving them some perks is only right and proper. In fact they should be given more and treated betterer than the daft citizens? So, being PRs have special privileges and entitlements? No need to be daft citizens.
ReplyDeleteFor the PRs out there.......
新加坡是天堂! 新加坡是天堂!
如果第一世界的新加坡不是天堂 哪里是天堂 ?
Hahaha.........
Better give them more goodies or they would be snatched by the rest of the world and Singapore would lose these fake talents.
ReplyDeleteA PR is a potential PAP supporter. I would venture to say that, as citizens, they are all 'pau chiak' supporters of and for the PAP. They must be nurtured with loving care.
ReplyDeletePRs are not citizens, but they too are humans similar to citizens.
ReplyDeleteAll should treated as humans and be fairly treated.
PRs are not citizen-slaves.
ReplyDeleteTherefore they have a choice.
Since they have a choice.
They must be given more freebies than Singaporeans who are nothing more than citizen-slaves.
"PR are not citizens, but they too are humans similar to citisens. All should be treated as humans and be fairly treated" unquote
ReplyDeleteBut opposition voters, who are true blue Singapore Citizens, are also humans, but have never been treated fairly. In fact they also serve NS, unlike the PRs.
@ false premise, redbean:
ReplyDelete>> Why is the govt so willing to share the nation’s wealth with the PRs?
The govt IS NOT sharing the "wealth" with PR's lah. In fact, the govt doesn't share wealth...unless it accrues some benefit to them :-) Please remember, you are in Singapore---the most cleverly governed territory on this blue planet.
Welfare is paid for by govt "revenue": taxes, fines and fees. PRs are TAXPAYERSi.e. they contribute to the social welfare funds. Thus they are ENTITLED to a share of the social welfare.
In Oz, PRs cannot access the welfare system for a few years. Great! Why should they? They haven't paid enough tax to cover their claims yet.
So have a similar system in Singapore: PRs can only claim welfare after a certain time---in which they must be at full employment and paying taxes.
>> The conditions for a welfare state have been created and a welfare state is inevitable. <<
Absolutely 100% agree. Some form of "welfarism" will be part of society, the culture and politics, and it'll cause very boisterous debates.
I'll be part of the debate, but I won't be pursuing my old libertarian tropes about free markets and redistribution through taxation....forget that. Instead, I'll be arguing for the ENTIRE welfare spending to be paid for BY TAXES ALONE---no borrowing, no inflating.
The people must "feel" the bite of the taxes to always keep the idea of state welfare "real", i.e. as a "real cost" to every worker. i.e. he is working but he is also being TAXED to pay for other people (several of them) NOT TO WORK---for whatever reason---which of course he couldn't care less.
The productive, tax paying worker must feel it ---the automatic deduction of 25-30% of his pay packet in TAXES to pay people to NOT WORK, and this has got to piss him off. He must be reminded that the: "You die, your business", the excellent cultural philosophical principle never diminishes in its effect and affect. When the people feel the direct cost of welfare in their bones and in their hearts, this "gnawing" way, they'll wake up their ideas, all the time.
One of the blessings of a meritocracy like Singapore, is that being on welfare invariably creates social stigmas for those wards of the welfare state. The idea that people will "loose face" if they are on welfare is a HEALTHY idea, as "face saving" is a very powerful culturally based motivator for those tainted as social outcasts to redeem themselves.
Welfare Statism? Sure, bring it on. And with it MORE taxes!
Rb not be too calculate lar eg my mother is a PR but all her children and grand children all sinkie plus all make serve NS. It's just that government has not grZnt her citizenship yet. So like her u don't wNt to give meh not that she wanted to remain as PR mah
ReplyDeleteThe Ah Long and drug loads all contributed to the economy as entrepreneurs. Let's give them more welfare.
ReplyDeleteHi Anon 12.00. It is very difficult to make exceptions when there are so many PRs here. The distinction between PRs and citizens must be very clear. Once you start to blur what is right and wrong, the problem will multiply and eventually it will be big blur sotong.
ReplyDeleteA good example is the fake degree incident. When fakes are not rooted out, then the system will rot to beyond recognition. This is the first sign of the fall of the PAP when the line between right and wrong is blurred.
'the fall of the PAP'.
ReplyDeleteThat's many many years
down the road.
Maybe many of us here are
no more around.
@ wishing for a fairer world so he can be happy, RB:
ReplyDelete>> The distinction between PRs and citizens must be very clear. <<
These days in almost all cuntrees, in the day-to-day activities, there is not much distinction, perhaps the colour of the NRIC is different.
However PRs are usually barred from certain jobs---like high level/ high security govt and state jobs. They also don't vote and neither are they allowed to participate in the political process.
Basically, PR and citizen...sama sama.
@ patriot, from RB:
ReplyDelete>> the fall of the PAP <
Please lah. Saving some kind of "black swan" event, like a coup or conspiracy or the complete failure of the state of Singapore (i.e. failed state), it is unlikely the PAP will "fall".
>> when the line between right and wrong is blurred.
Oh please lah uncle, you need to get out more and hangout with people 1/3rd your age ;-)
"Right" and "wrong" are mostly relative and normative at best, and at the very least cultural. That is the reason for my suggestion that you engage more youngsters in discourse.What they consider "right" in their generational culture was "wrong" for us: for e.g. same sex relationships, polyamorous relationships, the legalisation of soft drugs, the rising dominance of women...al this considered "wrong" only a few generations ago.
@ 905:
ReplyDelete>> 新加坡是天堂! <<
新加坡 is whatever you want it to be lah. Up to you. You can be born here or come here---like OUR ANCESTORS---and then see if you have the character and the will to make something for yourself, and of yourself.
And many Singaporeans, and immigrants have succeeded. Afterall, Singapore is one of the wealthiest places on earth.
It's damn hard to argue against the objectivity which facts present ;-)
@Matilah Singapura:
ReplyDeleteAnyway I look at it, Sinkies are unlikely to sack the PAP in the Next One Decade or Two, though I wish It to happen.
However, Sinkies are likely to fall victims to natural disasters which could happen anytime; outbreak of deadly highly contagious disease is the Most Probable. Even a climatic(weather) disaster can happens.
Man-made disaster is in the Making. Though not as bad as natural disasters, still many will be affected. Many would be out of jobs, homeless and starving if the many eating left over foods are prelude or indication of things to come. Suicide and Euthanasia maybe solutions to end the Sufferings. But, they are disastrous measures.
patriot
Right Patriot, Singaporeans will be the second generation of now the boat people of the Bangladeshi and Rohingya
Delete6.9 to 10 million rats beans on this tiny dot.
The madness of the present nincoompoo group of so called leaders and the apathetic sinkies who leave their fates to them.
Hope not to see it during my remaining years.
@ℳatilah_$ingapura said...
ReplyDelete@wishing for a fairer world so he can be happy, RB:
>> The distinction between PRs and citizens must be very clear. <<
These days in almost all cuntrees, in the day-to-day activities, there is not much distinction, perhaps the colour of the NRIC is different.
However PRs are usually barred from certain jobs---like high level/ high security govt and state jobs. They also don't vote and neither are they allowed to participate in the political process.
Basically, PR and citizen...sama sama.
May 25, 2015 1:54 p.m.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/02652498247201967379
---------------------------------
Why did he say this?
A. “No wonder Lee Kuan Yew is a Great man…Grand Master of Asia…he has made himself one because “(Lee) is bloody-minded and ruthless with his adversaries. He stomps them into the ground.” – Dennis Bloodworth, journalist, 1989
B. So now @ℳatilah_$ingapura with that distinctive Lee Kuan Yew-PAP $ Sign cultist withal for only GDP economic growth AT ANY COST via his Cambridge learned legal professionalism DECLARATION but NEVER UNDEFINED meaning of "practical" in his white purer than white verbosity of:
1. "It is better TO BE practical than to be legal and logical"!
2. "I prefer TO BE feared than to be loved. For if I am not feared, I am nothing"!
3. "If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it."
- Lee Kuan Yew evoking the ghost of Deng Xiaoping whilst endorsing the Tiananmen Square massacre, Straits Times, Aug 17, 2004
4. The sheer hypocrisy of PAP. The following quotes show starkly how LKY has changed after gaining power.
Lee Kuan Yew, Before Singapore's independence, Malaysian Parliamentary Debates, Dec 18, 1964
-- Quote --
"Let us get down to fundamentals. Is this an open, or is this a closed society?
Is it a society where men can preach ideas - novel, unorthodox, heresies, to established churches and established governments - where there is a constant contest for men's hearts and minds on the basis of what is right, of what is just, of what is in the national interests, or is it a closed society where the mass media - the newspapers, the journals, publications, TV, radio - either bound by sound or by sight, or both sound and sight, men's minds are fed with a constant drone of sycophantic support for a particular orthodox political philosophy?
I am talking of the principle of the open society, the open debate, ideas, not intimidation, persuasion not coercion..."
-- UnQuote --
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
C. Lee Kuan Yew, Address To The General Assembly Of The International Press Institute At Helsinki Wednesday, 9th June, 1971
-- Quote --
"Freedom of the press, freedom of the news media, must be subordinated to the overriding needs of the integrity of Singapore, and to the primacy of purpose of an elected government"
-- UnQuote --
Contn.. Part 2
ReplyDelete@ℳatilah_$ingapura said...
@ wishing for a fairer world so he can be happy, RB:
>> The distinction between PRs and citizens must be very clear. <<
These days in almost all cuntrees, in the day-to-day activities, there is not much distinction, perhaps the colour of the NRIC is different.
However PRs are usually barred from certain jobs---like high level/ high security govt and state jobs. They also don't vote and neither are they allowed to participate in the political process.
Basically, PR and citizen...sama sama.
May 25, 2015 1:54 p.m.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/02652498247201967379
---------------------------------
Why did he say this?
A. “No wonder Lee Kuan Yew is a Great man…Grand Master of Asia…he has made himself one because “(Lee) is bloody-minded and ruthless with his adversaries. He stomps them into the ground.” – Dennis Bloodworth, journalist, 1989
B. So now @ℳatilah_$ingapura with that distinctive Lee Kuan Yew-PAP $ Sign cultist withal for only GDP economic growth AT ANY COST via his Cambridge learned legal professionalism DECLARATION but NEVER UNDEFINED meaning of "practical" in his white purer than white verbosity of:
1. "It is better TO BE practical than to be legal and logical"!
2. "I prefer TO BE feared than to be loved. For if I am not feared, I am nothing"!
3. "If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it."
- Lee Kuan Yew evoking the ghost of Deng Xiaoping whilst endorsing the Tiananmen Square massacre, Straits Times, Aug 17, 2004
4. The sheer hypocrisy of PAP. The following quotes show starkly how LKY has changed after gaining power.
Lee Kuan Yew, Before Singapore's independence, Malaysian Parliamentary Debates, Dec 18, 1964
-- Quote --
"Let us get down to fundamentals. Is this an open, or is this a closed society?
Is it a society where men can preach ideas - novel, unorthodox, heresies, to established churches and established governments - where there is a constant contest for men's hearts and minds on the basis of what is right, of what is just, of what is in the national interests, or is it a closed society where the mass media - the newspapers, the journals, publications, TV, radio - either bound by sound or by sight, or both sound and sight, men's minds are fed with a constant drone of sycophantic support for a particular orthodox political philosophy?
I am talking of the principle of the open society, the open debate, ideas, not intimidation, persuasion not coercion..."
-- UnQuote --
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
C. Lee Kuan Yew, Address To The General Assembly Of The International Press Institute At Helsinki Wednesday, 9th June, 1971
-- Quote --
"Freedom of the press, freedom of the news media, must be subordinated to the overriding needs of the integrity of Singapore, and to the primacy of purpose of an elected government"
-- UnQuote --
@ 1117:
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with almost everything Dennis Bloodworth writes about LKY. LKY has never denied that he was a "thug" when it come to politics, and if something needed to get done, he would get it done---by force---if necessary. And many times, it was necessary.
If you are a Benign Dictator, this is not only in your nature to do so, but it is in your JOB DESCRIPTION---so just fucking DO IT, like Nike says.
>> 1. "It is better TO BE practical than to be legal and logical"!
2. "I prefer TO BE feared than to be loved. For if I am not feared, I am nothing"!
3. "If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it."
- Lee Kuan Yew evoking the ghost of Deng Xiaoping whilst endorsing the Tiananmen Square massacre, Straits Times, Aug 17, 2004 <<
100% AGREE. If you are Benign Dictator, then your nature is to FORCE your ideas. It is open to discussion, but a Benign Dictator rarely changes his mind. Too much discourse. Over analysis. WTF? A Benign Dictator acts swiftly, decisively, without remorse, nor regret after the fact.
Wah, now really "offended" by apparent "lies" and deceit:
>> The sheer hypocrisy of PAP. The following quotes show starkly how LKY has changed after gaining power. <<
I have a different take. Malaysia forced Singapore's secession. Now Singapore is in DEEP SHIT, in danger of imploding and starving to death; poverty-stricken and diseased.
No choice lah. Former "freedom fighter" and passionate defender of "rights" has now got to changer and alter to ADAPT TO THE VASTLY DIFFERENT C I R C U M S T A N C E
Now that isn't to say LKY isn't capable of being "deceitful". "Deceit" is an indispensable tool in the toolbox of the career politician. As a politician you can choose to use deceit, misdirection and outright FRAUD, especially if you have all the DICTATORIAL POWER a mortal human can have. And such people are RARE.
If one visits the historical record, it clearly shows that LKY is a STRAIGHT SHOOTER---i.e. he'll just shoot from the hip, with intent, passion, attitude and AUTHORITY. The man doesn't lie lah. If he was going to fuck you up, he came out and said so. If he thought a cuntry was fucked, he came out and said so. If he thought the Woman's Charter was a piece of shit, he fucking said so.
As a Benign Dictator, LKY, IMO is the foremost, the undisputed champion, "A" fucking Number One, a vastly superior version of Machiavelli's The Prince, an absolutely TRUE EMBODIMENT of Plato's Philosopher King-Benevolent Dictator right out of Plato's Republic, UNdemocratic and truly authoritarian. As a Benign Dictator, LKY was pure perfection.
Anyone who can be GOOD at being BAD when necessary, is a badass. Respect which comes from FEAR, is still respect.
And for that, he has my admiration.