Political smear

The recent exposure of indiscretion by prominent public figures in the news has sent tongues wagging everywhere. Opportunists would have a field day telling their stories and innuendoes of the moral correctness and suitability of such people in places of authority. Character smearing and assassination and taking body shots at people and political parties could be done in all kinds of innocent ways. The media can show more interest and zeal in investigative journalism as part and parcel of their job to cover up their political agenda. What better excuses can one have to put down an enemy of sort?

I am pleasantly surprised that a lot of self restraint and refrain has been exercised on the part of the media to avoid sensationalising such incidents and not to indulge in excessive and repetitive reporting to score political points.

What was left undone was passed to the social media to do the damage needed, to draw blood to the fullest. The internet has seen an unusually insensitive and inquisitive interest in the affairs of these affected men. There were plentiful of calls for more confession, more details to quench their thirst for more lurid news. And of course, it is another case of sorry also must explain. Transparency, they screamed!

The culprits must be hanged or put on the stake to be burnt. Some of the attacks were pretty vicious and hurtful to the parties by obviously upright individuals who are flawless. And thank God there are so many of these morally flawless individuals still living among us. But what could one expect in paradise? Only the best behaved could reside in this heavenly realm.

If only such attacks were to be carried out in the main stream media, one can be sure that the availability of more able people standing out to serve in public offices would immediately dry up. And political parties and the civil service would have to recruit their candidates from the monastry or nunnery. In today’s complex world of permissiveness, even finding a monk or nun not tainted by some indiscretion or personal misconduct could not be an easy task.

The issue is to what moral standard is demanded of people in public offices? Would the people accept others who have crossed the line of social indiscretion to be in public office? If not, if the standard for public service is a pristine life of a puritan, no unsavoury deeds or misconducts, then would there be a need for everyone to make a self declaration of purity and a sinless lifestyle before coming forward to serve? And should a list of unacceptable conduct be assembled and all those appointed to public service be made to swear under oath that they have not breached any of them? Anything short of this is pure hypocrisy.

Could this be one of the reasons why there is a dearth of talents willing to contest for political office and risking the barrage of venoms from the journalists and self proclaimed righteous saints living among us and in the world of cyberspace? How many people are left untainted and above the high standards set by society to be in public service, including those that are pointing the fingers and demanding that everyone should come out clean?

Deserving kind words

As the founding fathers faded away to history, it is good to see kind words being said about them. They were the leaders who stepped forward at a very difficult time to create something out of whatever the British left behind. And the politics then could be a life and death experience. Funny that none of them have been heard screaming or thumping their chests about their great sacrifices for the people. And neither were they paid handsomely for compromising the quality of life of their families which could take a nasty turn for the worst. And there was no big carrot dangling in front of them, no assurance of what will happen tomorrow. Their participation in politics was a conviction to do something for the country and people. Nothing else.

This is a generation that through all their goodness and warts, will be remembered fondly by the people of this island. They are real contributors to what we are today and not that well rewarded in the monetary sense. Maybe this is the very reason why many of them are well respected and spoken with deference. The people could truly say that they owed this generation for their well being today.

Would this kind of reception and remembrance be repeated for the leaders coming after them?

The threat of no growth

Do you want more money? What a silly question. Do you want growth? Another silly question. But beware of what you are asking for. Many a time a dollar given can end up returning 90c or more. Money given must come from somewhere just like money taken must also come from somewhere. Money does not appear from nowhere except printing or OPM.

As for growth, there are many consequences for creating growth. But what is important is whether it is real growth or growth on one hand and higher cost on the other. On face value growth is desirable. Is growth the only panacea to all our ills? We laugh at the Japanese for more than 20 years of negligible growth while we keep growing every year. Should we be richer than the Japanese by now? And richer in what? Unfortunately no.

Japan is still the most prosperous nation in Asia or the world, with no growth. And they are able to maintain their high quality of life, graciousness, discipline and a good life, and a people that is proud to call themselves Japanese. And they will look Japanese.

What have we achieved with all the fantastic growth numbers? Yes, we are growing richer, and some extremely richer. But we are facing with greater and greater social and political cost. There were improvements in the quality of life but in some areas things are getting worst. Some of the not too desirable things are the adulteration of a population that was moving slowly to nationhood as a people, more graciousness, discipline and a cleaner environment to one that is less gracious with the social fabric being threatened. Many people are feeling alienated and marginalized in their own country. The pride of being citizens is now being questioned and ridiculed.

Compare to the no growth Japan that we are sneering at, you don’t see the same kind of silly and unnecessary problems that we are facing.
Some suggest that the Japanese must also adulterate their population, even bastardise them, but the Japanese choose to be otherwise. The freak nations of bastards are beginning to turn into a mess and will eventually be torned apart by the differences in the composition of their population. The greater the mixture, the more complex will be the problem and the pulls to different directions will be greater.

We used to have primarily three major races and a smaller Eurasian community in our mix and the issues of inter racial co existence may not be too arduous a task to deal with. If we continue to dilute this mixture and mess it around with all kinds of concoctions, we are only adding more problems for the future generations to deal with. And we are doing all these in the name of growth.

Will our model be more superior to the Japanese model? Will the model of China/India eventually prove more resilient that the mixed broth in the USA or UK?

By the way, there is no need to keep increasing the population just to register growth in the GDP. The goal is a better quality of life for the people, not GDP per se. The Japanese have proven that they can do that without crazy growth numbers. Maybe their politician’s salary is not linked to growth numbers.

Samfoo not allowed in church

This lady in her beautiful pink samfoo was shocked to be told that she would not be welcomed for Sunday mass at the Church of St Anthony in Woodlands. The church has some dress code like wearing of skirts that should not be more than 5cm above the knees. The samfoo is a proper Chinese pant suit that ended 5cm above her ankles.

Let me see what is so offensive about the samfoo. Maybe the warden mistakened 5cm above the knees as 5 cm above the ankles. Maybe the samfoo is offensive to some people. Maybe the samfoo is offensive to God. Maybe the colour pink is offensive.

I really dunno why the samfoo is offensive and not allowed in a church. From the picture of the lady in her samfoo, it was an expensive dress for the Chinese New Year which she must be very proud to be in.

If I am not mistaken, samfoo could be worn something even in formal occasions by the ladies. Hey, it is not the cheap black and white samfoo worn by the Ah Ma chehs of the past. Nowadays many rich ladies are flaunting with their beautiful designers samfoo to look graceful.

No other reason was given except that the samfoo was against the church’s dress code. Maybe the church has its own good reasons. But one thing, please do not insult the beautiful samfoo as it is a popular dress of the locals. If other kinds of dresses are allowed, what is so offensive or demeaning about a samfoo?

Subhas Chandra Bose, a place in Singapore’s history

There is an ongoing debate for an honourable place in the history of Singapore for Subhas Chandra Bose of the Indian National Army. Some Indian nationalists wanted to erect a statue of Bose somewhere prominent to honour his role in fighting for the Independence of India. Under most circumstances this is a call that would be appreciated by many who fought against British colonialism.

Bose was using Singapore as a base for his uprising against the British Raj in India. The main reservation against such a proposal was that Bose was working with the Japanese invading army that inflicted horrendous pain and torture on the local citizens. No one is questioning if Bose and his army had any part in the aggression against the local citizens. But for being on the side of the inhuman murderers was enough to rule him out for a place of honour in our country and history. Bose was honoured by the Japanese with a statue in a temple in Japan. Think he held the rank of a general in the Japanese Army.

The Indians, especially those in India, rightly must honour this nationalist that set up a resistance against the British. To the Indians, he was undoubtedly a national hero. To Singaporeans, he was on the wrong side of our history. The pain and suffering of the locals under the Japanese Occupation is an indelible scar in the minds of our forefathers. I don’t think Singaporeans would want to honour him for working with the Japanese that tortured and killed our forefathers, raped our women, with a bust in any part of Singapore.

Let Subhas Chandra Bose be honoured by the beneficiaries of his nationalism. If only he was not on the side of the brutal Japanese, Singaporeans would have no issue with his place in our history.