No PM potential!

Hsien Loong must be having a hard time looking for a successor for the PM position. Even among the present batch of ministers, no one is likely to fit into that position. I think I know the answer to this problem. Hsien Loong must have discussed the topic with his colleagues. And very likely they all told him that they were not good enough or have no ambition to be the next PM. The problem thus lies in not having anyone with the ambition or aspiration to want to be the PM. This is the same problem as no one in his right mind wanting to stand for the Elected President. When no one want the job or think that they are good enough for the job, maybe with the exception of a few loonies in the opposition, we really have a replacement problem. How could Hsien Loong fire up the people, including his ministers, to be audacious enough to say they want to be the next PM?

Openness, dignity and integrity

'You cannot be a political party and be strong in a democracy when there is a strong disconnection between your message and what the populace is now about. And the populace is now about openness, dignity and integrity.' Dr Ooi Kee Beng, a fellow at the Institute of SE Asian Studies. Ooi was referring to UMNO and commented that the days of Barisan National is over.

$1 million solution to rising food prices

This has been touted as a nation wide scheme and the best stop gap measure to the food crisis. 'Community leaders say it is likely to be the best measure, although certain troubling questions will have to be addressed.' Lin YanQin reported. This is front page news, top news in the Today paper. Amy Khor feared that such a great scheme would breed the dependency mentality, a sense of entitlement. But Zaqy Mohamad and Fatimah Lateef were concerned that it might be too little and not enough. For $1 million and it is already a nation wide solution, imagine how much can the ministers can do with their $3 million pay cheques? If ten ministers were to offer $1 million each, we could avoid ten of such crisis nation wide.

Unprecedented public dressing down by LKY

After so much noise about the complacency slight, allow me to look at the issue from another perspective. This is probably the first time that the security agency has received a public dressing down by LKY. He made it very clear that it was their fault, their complacency. Unprecedented man. The second point he made was that the govt cannot take care of everything. There were areas that the govt may overlook, oversight or did not do well. Another unprecedented statement. And the third unprecedence, the govt is fallible. Oops. Now this is a very serious statement and admission from LKY, that the govt is not infallible. It was a time for humility and not to take things for granted. Now, did you people get the picture on complacency? A public dressing down, and an acknowledgement that things can go wrong and a govt that cannot be depended on completely. So the people must not be complacent and be vigilant, and must think and make wise choices. It must be looked at from this context. That is perhaps the furthest LKY could say, stopping short of saying that an alternative govt should be in waiting, just in case. When the govt is fallible, the people cannot afford to be complacent. Is that the correct message that I am getting? People must listen carefully when a wise man speaks.

An issue of complacency

The current issue of complacency is truly the fault of the people. And we shouldn't complain or blame the govt at all. We are so lucky to have such a good govt that we have taken everything for granted. If only that the govt is not as good and as efficient. Matilah, in mysingaporenews blog compared Singapore with Zimbabwe. Now that is unfair. You cannot compare paradise with hell. It is insulting to put us side by side with Zimbabwe and say we are good. We need to compare apple with apple. I would suggest that the govt sacrifice a GRC to the opposition and let them mess it up. Then the people will understand what it is like to be in a place that is badly governed. Using an opposition GRC is the best way to get a good and reasonable comparison. And no one can be complacent enough to say otherwise or use a bad example to compare with. This is the fault of being too good for too long that the people begin to take the goodness and efficiency for granted. Complacency is an understatement.