What an Editorial piece!

TOC Editorial: Government’s lack of accountability bad for the PAP, worse for Singapore Posted by theonlinecitizen on April 23, 2008 The above TOC article is something that the msm cannot match. It has so much bite and so much common sense. If cyberspace is going to keep churning out articles like that, who would still bother to read the msm?

Crisis in leadership

We went through the NKF fiasco quite successfully. When the issue was in the open, Boon Wan quite decisively made a statement that no one will be spared. The message was clear that the wrong doers would be dealt with. They were dealt with. There were attempts to link it to the govt as a failure to prevent it from coming. But this did not hit off as the line was clear, a NGO charitable organisation. The current crisis is about the Home Ministry. There was a moment when no one was sure where it would lead to. Now the target is Kan Seng. There is even a petition calling for his resignation. A reminder of what happened in the NKF crisis. The subsequent events, the way the COI was delivered in Parliament, were not received well. It was the fault of the window, it was the fault of the Gurkhas, the poor design of the detention centre and many other lapses. Yes, a confluence of failures that led to the escape. It gave the impression that Kan Seng was a third party looking into the matter. And this was noticed earlier when the COI was formed. The Home Ministry investigating its own affair, unlike the Health Ministry investigating the wrongdoings of NKF. Wonder if it would help if Kan Seng had said, it was my men, my ministry that committed the lapses. Anyway, when Hsien Loong absolved Kan Seng and stopped the buck at the detention centre, the reaction was kind of a, what's that? The scene shifted. It is now a leadership issue. Would this issue develop into a full blown leadership crisis? The tension on the ground is simmering. This could be worst than the NKF crisis. I think damage control is in operation. I just browse through this morning's Today paper and there was not a single news on the issue. The silence is very telling.

A new era of cooperation

The wind of change is blowing strong, and positively. Abdullah is pondering on the possibility of cooperating with the opposition. Why not, 'If there is no clash in policies, then perhaps it opens the way to cooperate.' He said. This is in response to the opposition offering Gerakan's Lee Kah Choon to head two opposition run development and investment organisations in Penang. The conciliatory gestures are healthy for democracy and the increasing maturing of a polity and the politicians. Politicians can clash during election on issues, but can still work together. In fact this is the basis on which democracy is supposed to work. Confrontation and vindictive politiking belong to third world countries when the rulers are basically thugs or mafia chieftains.

Witch hunt for scape goat

In Chua Mui Hoong's article she mentioned that the govt has accepted responsibility for the Mas Selamat escape and went on to discuss the virtues or correctness of pin pointing the one who is responsible for the escape. Who is culpable, who is to be blamed, who actually contributed to mistake or failure? What it finally boils down to is that the person who is directly involved in the issue should be held accountable. Those higher up, who are at a distance, who are not directly involved, should not be dragged in and be held accountable. Given this line of reasoning, the govt should not even accept responsibility for the escape. The people to be held accountable should be the guards, the people designing the detention centre and managing the detention centre. The rest of the govt has nothing to do with in. It is meaningless to accept responsibility without accountability. And it is wrong to accept responsibility when one is not involved or remote from the incident.

Lack of talent in Opposition

The Mas Selamat case is a golden opportunity for the opposition to score whatever points they want in Parliament. Unfortunately their performance so far is very unflattering. The best opposition came in the form of Inderjit Singh, who was able to ask some meaningful questions quite forcefully. I must say that I am very disappointed. How could the whole embarrassing episode get by and the opposition could not even make a small dent on the govt? And they had to shield their eyes in the face of a few glares. The lack of talent in the opposition camp to rise to the occasion is very telling.