One last chance

The professional reporters and journalists have a last chance to write about this newsworthy article before Leong Sze Hian starts to bang his abacus. The people must all be eagerly waiting to know how much George Yeo and Lim Hwee Hua will be getting for their pensions in the next 40 years, assuming they live till the ripe age of 90 or more. Their salaries are public knowledge and the formula for calculating their pensions too are available everywhere. The point now is who will be the first to claim credit for putting this as a piece of news and earn the right to put his/her name to it? Without even cracking my head, I think the ballpark figure will be $1m and $2m per annum for Hwee Hua and George respectively. The best part is that they will not have to lift a finger to get this sum of money, which incidentally, is more than the dumb ass sitting in the White House sweating his guts out to prove that he is a worthy President. It is so pleasant to live life on such a pension. Working for 15 and 23 years respectively, and they earn the right to millions for life. I wish I could be in their shoes. I will say a very big thank you to the people of Singapore for the dole. Now to step back and see whether TOC or which main media is going to claim this honour. I am sure it is newsworthy. The world too will be eagerly waiting to get a hold of this news.

Plague of the locusts

After the heat of fire, there shall be rain and flood. The third sign shall be the plague of locusts. They shall come, all 900,000 of them, to devour everything in their path. No one will be spare. The first 60,000 shall come from the West, the next 60,000 from the East, and they will take turns, with more and more in numbers, until all 900,000 have swarm the land. There shall be no other churches except the church of the father. And you shall call no one father. You shall have only one father and he is in heaven. This is my promise, for your disobedience.

Notable quote by redbean

'I have my ears on the ground, but I hear nothing'. Redbean

What a shame

In 1955, when David Marshall was elected as the Chief Minister of the island, he was not given an office to execute his duties. The mean British, who were the colonial masters then, gave him a small table and a chair next to the staircase, like the desk of a security guard. That was the contempt the British rulers had for a locally elected leader of the people. David Marshall took the insult in his stride, for he knew that there was nothing he could do against the masters of the day. And it seemed that we have learnt from the British well, not be better masters, but on how to continue with the tradition of not providing an office to our modern day elected representatives of the people. It must be a wise practice of the colonial masters that we must retain, if not good, as a reminder of how things were then. Last night I watched the news and was shocked to see Yaw Shin Leong, the newly elected MP of Hougang, conducting his meet the people’s session in a void deck. Doesn’t the elected representative of the people deserved to be given a proper place to serve the people? I can only hope that I am wrong, that it was a temporary arrangement as he is a newly elected MP. I believe that in all decency, no matter which party the MP comes from, once he has been elected by the people to be their representative, it is only proper that the state provides him with an office space to carry out his duties to the people. Depriving him of such a facility is an insult to the office and the people that elected him to office. A people’s elected MP is not running his own private business. He is there to serve the people for the well being of the state. It cannot be that an office of the state, a representative of the people who can sit in Parliament to discuss national issues, have to meet the people in the void deck, or to pay for his own office. It cannot be that the country, with all the billions in reserves it has, is too poor to afford such an arrangement. Sounds very third world really. It would be interesting if the MP of Jalan Besar or Joo Chiat should set up his office in the back lane of Desker Road or on the five foot way outside a bar in Joo Chiat. I think I am wrong, and all elected MPs will be allocated a reasonable office for sure, in respect of the office and for him to carry out his duties to the people. But if this is not the case, then Yaw Shin Leong and all the MPs must be very grateful that the HDB did not charge them rent for the use of the void deck or to chase them away. I had a dream last night. I was walking along the void deck of some HDB flats and came face to face with some sign boards. One read ‘No football allowed’. Another one read ‘No meet the people session allowed’. Then I woke up only to know that it was a bad dream. I know that a first world country would not allow such things to happen when we can pay ministers in millions and with world class offices in the heart of town. Are we willing to continue to live with this shame?

Goh Meng Seng accepting full responsibility

Goh Meng Seng is accepting full responsibility for the failure of his party to win any seat. So, is saying accepting responsibility enough? Is this the culture of politicians here? Happily accepting responsibility and life goes on? The Japanese PM is forgoing his PM allowance to take responsibility for the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. This is what taking responsibility is all about. They used to slit their own tummy with a short knife or resign in shame for any faults or wrongs coming from their offices. The GRC of Tampines was ripe for the taking. It was very unfortunate that NSP failed to take it and many people, especially the young people waiting to buy their first flat, will have to suffer for it. Goh Meng Seng’s minister specific strategy was right. Any minister that fouled up would not be able to defend their failures. And everyone is expecting Tampines to fall. Goh Meng Seng’s failure was to over extend his forces. An opposition party cannot think of winning a GRC with half strength, or less than half strength. His major fault is, as everyone now knows now, spreading his talents too thin. Marine Parade was an abnormally. The team in Marine Parade was a no hoper. The Nicole phenomenon caught everyone by surprise and exposed the weaknesses of Marine Parade. The failure of Goh Meng Seng’s strategy of spreading his forces too thin also came to bug him in Marine Parade. Marine Parade could be his in the next GE if PAP did not change the team. This time round it was not a possibility from an objective assessment of the situation before the GE. With the success of Nicole, Goh Meng Seng taught he could have Marine Parade. But he forgot that the rest of the candidates were very weak. Depending on Nicole alone could just go that far. The biggest regret is still Tampines. A joining of forces with the other parties for the next GE would be very fruitful is the political climate is similar to what it is today. The NSP must learn from this fiasco after paying such a huge tuition fee. The principles behind the minister specific strategy is the same as turning weakness into strength, by concentrating the limited fire power on a weak point. Don't ever think of winning a GRC with a weak team.