Hsien Loong hearing voices

Hsien Loong said he often heard voices of LKY, words of wisdom that he could rely upon to make political decisions. Could not remember what he heard but he quoted something, was it about the Elected President? Anyway, LKY said a lot of things and many are still relevant and applicable but many are obsolete or irrelevant in today's context. For instance his advice on taking up a govt scholarship to pursue a degree and subsequently join the civil service or PAP, I mean politics as a career. I can't disagree with him on this then as this was and still is the shortest and quickest and most assured road to instant multi millionaire for a young man without much working experience in the commercial world, without having to work to produce something of value.

I said I disagree on this is as many ministers have openly spoken out against having a degree while some even said a degree is really useless. It is skills that are more important. Fake degrees also never mind as long as people think you have the skills. Degrees cannot be eaten. So if degree is not important, what is the point of being a scholar? However some would say a scholar with a degree is different from a non scholar without a degree. Ok, I can accept that. The instant millionaire route is still relevant but for how long?

Now where was I? Oops, I was talking about Hsien Loong hearing voices. I think he did not hear this from LKY, and I quote, “Everything works, whether its water, electricity, gas, telephone, telexes, it just has to work. If it doesn’t work, I want to know why, and if I am not satisfied, and I often was not, the chief goes, and I have to find another chief. Firing the chief is very simple.“

LKY also used to say this proudly, ‘in Singapore, when you push a button, it works’. That was his Singapore. Can't say this about the SMRT today. In the latter it is more like every time a button is pushed, nothing works. The faults plaguing the SMRT are like a daily affair and if there is no fault in one day, it is a pleasant exception. This is Hsien Loong's Singapore, not LKY's Singapore.

Why did I bring this up? It is in everyone's lip, the amnesty offered by Desmond Kuek to his staff to own up for non compliance, non performance or even dereliction of duty. This is the first time such an idea is being used in Singapore, pardon first for non performance or violation of standard operating procedure, deceit, and talk later. You can imagine the kind of aghast and the shock waves spreading across the island.

There is a disbelief that Singapore's work ethics has degenerated to this level. Hsien Loong probably did not hear this in his head. LKY must be fuming if he is alive. This is not the Singapore he created or at least at one time during his watch.

LKY better makes his voice heard to make things better. How many CEOs would have lost their jobs in SMRT if he was in charge? Nowadays quite senang. Fingers point here point there and point everywhere. Definitely not my problem, OPP is other people's problem. Not bad for collecting millions every year with no accountability
Latest heard that Desmond Kuek’s amnesty bore immediate result. Several staff had owned up and they were duly sacked despite the condition that no punishment would be meted out. This part a bit grey and people could interpret it either way. Yes, no punishment, just leave. Some would argue that sacking is a punishment. The union would have ‘one head two big’, scratching on how to tackle this new development.