Spring in Hong Lim Park

As I drove down AYE towards Hong Lim Park the sky was covered by thick black cloud. There was a drizzle and lightning flashes across the sky. It was quite threatening and I was not optimistic of the turnout for the protest rally. Who is not afraid of rain, thunder and lightning in the open?

I arrived just after 4pm and the Hong Lim multi storey car park was already full. I ended parking right at the top level, and I was lucky as the few empty lots were quickly taken up. I hurriedly made my way to Hong Lim under a slight drizzle. The rain had petered off and no more lightnings. Thank God. Maybe the large crowd already at the wet and muddy field was strong enough to chase away the dark clouds. Umbrellas were everywhere, and the noise, the roar and tremble, could be felt as I approached the field. It was filled to the brim. I have never seen so many people in Hong Lim. The crowd was 10 times bigger than the Gay Rights Event, easily 5 to 6,000 in my estimate.

The drizzle, the wetness and the refreshing air, and a people acting in unison, with one dream and one purpose, it was like spring is in the air. I was busy trying to find some good angles to shoot some pics for the blog. The light was just good enough and can't complain about the rain though a bit worried about my camera. My disappointment was not able to meet up with Fish, but with the crowd it was near impossible. Neither was I able to catch a glimsp of Patriot and the rest of you. Manage to meet up with a few RI mafias who were there too. And yes, took a photo with Dr Wong Wee Nam too.

Here are some of the pictures which can better tell the story of the Hong Lim Spring.

The White Paper jigsaw puzzle

So many things have been said about this White Paper and so many pieces of thoughts or rubbish have been uttered to justify its relevance and execution. Let me just highlight the loose pieces here and try to piece them together to see if they make any sense and what is the complete picture. Life time crisis, worst case scenario, a planning paper, political suicide, TFR, senior citizen dependency, GDP growth, good quality living, more foreigners, Singaporean core, and 6.9 population target just for fun.

Let me deal with the most important statement of the White Paper, it is a life time crisis that we are facing. Is this crying wolf or for real? The crisis mentioned so far is about a fast ageing population and a low fertility rate. So our population will shrink. Is that a crisis or a life time crisis? Many matured economies are facing the same problem. Are they facing a life time crisis? There is an international call to reduce or at least stop the world population from growing. The human race is consuming too much of the limited resources in the world and over consuming to the risk of destroying Mother Earth. A slowing down or dwindling population is not a crisis and not a crisis of a life time. The solution is how to cope with slower growth without lowering the quality of life. The perverse solution of pumping more heads to sustain growth is pure nuts. It is like having a higher dosage of drugs to keep the high.

The population decline is over a period of decades, a slow ageing process and there is time to consider all the options and solutions to manage this process without rushing into an equally difficult position that will get the country and people into an even more in extractable situation in the future. Is there a need to force the country into taking a path that amounts to political suicide? Is the ageing problem that mounting and there is no better way out except to increase the population by bringing in more foreigners? Is this the best the Govt can think of?

And it was also said that this was just a projection by the planners to plan ahead. And the 6.9m is only a worst case scenario. They want to plan ahead, build ahead and provide for the future. What happens to the life time crisis? Is there a crisis or just a planning crisis? Why are the politicians so jittery about this proposal like it is a do or die solution?

Or is it about GDP growth and in order to have growth, it would need to increase the population. No population growth, no economic growth. So must increase the population by another 1.6 million. And because of the increase, more housing needs to be built, more land reclamation, and more economic activities and more growth?  Now, which comes first, 1.7m people or economic growth or more housing and land reclamation? If there is no need for 1.7m more people, all the infrastructure for them need not be built and no need to incur the cost, monetary and environment and social and also political. Can economic growth be achieved through other means? Is economic growth and numbers the reason for all the cravings and desire for more people?

Or is the White Paper about better quality living and not about any life time crisis? The future towns will be better, more well designed with greeneries everywhere. It will be just like Sentosa and the Avatar Garden, very green and very costly, all man made, to replace the natural greeneries that were nature’s gift for free.

Or is the White Paper about strengthening the Singaporean core? There is a compelling reason to bring in more foreigners in order to strengthen the Singaporean core, in quality and not in quantity. I don’t buy that. Do you? For if such a logic is true and taken to its final conclusion, the lesser the number of true blue Singaporeans is left, the stronger will be the Singaporean core, and finally we will be left with the strongest of the strongest Sinkie core of 77 or 80 Sinkies.

The senior citizen composition in the population is a natural and transient problem and will go to pass. And the problem is not as big as it is blown up to be. The baby boomers, many are very well off, if not, they will have their CPF savings or a HDB flat to live through their last days with enough to eat. One caveat, if they are not robbed off of every savings by the hospitals and the medical professionals in their dying days. And many are working, through the years, 65, 70 and more. Many have families to take care of them. The dependency ratio is outdated in our context when personal and national savings are one of the highest in the world, and many are asset rich and can be traded off for retirement.

Where is the problem, where is the life time crisis? What is it that is real in the White Paper? Why the urgency and political suicide to pass through a paper in such a rush? A major crisis will need more time and serious considerations to ponder over what is best to be done. Looks like this crisis can wait for no time. It must be done immediately, saved by this White Paper and nothing else will work.

I have tried to put the puzzle pieces together, but they don’t seem to fit and many gaps are still waiting to be filled. How transparent is this White Paper and what is the real crisis proportion problem that the people are led to believe? Anyone any wiser?

Poll result for Hong Lim Park Rally

First let me say a word of thanks to all the respondents to the two recent polls on the White Paper. It is very heartening to have more than 600 people participating in a poll on a small blog like this. It is even more encouraging to know that the people are of one mind, or at least 97% of the people share the same values and thinking.

And now the poll on the attendance to tomorrow’s protest rally has just ended and we have 79% (191 of 239) indicating they will be there and another 11% indicating maybe, which will definitely boost the number attending to well over 80%. My experience with some of the gatherings at Hong Lim was that the number of participants was anaemic, about 200 at most in most instances. And just from the bloggers here alone we have almost that number going to attend. This is a small indication that this event is going to be big and the number is going to surprise many people.

The response in other blogs and sites are equally encouraging. Just a simple rule of thumb, if 20 blogs could generate 200 participants each that will be 4000 heads. And if one were to include those not counted, the number could easily double, or if everyone is to bring a friend.

It is nice to see the Sinkies being interested in national issues that affect them dearly. This is also the feedback that the Govt is asking for. This is the maturing of a people, with eyes open, to want to know and to want to have a say in matters of the nation.

Thank you all once again. And thank you for your coffee. Just keep it coming and let the advertisers pay. Thanks everyone.

The passion of Fish

Singaporeans must recognize the enormous amount of work and effort Gilbert Goh and his team are putting in to organize this protest rally at Hong Lim Park this Saturday at 4pm. This is real sacrifice! The manpower, the logistics, the invitations to speakers, and the spectrums of things that he and his team are putting in, all for free, are very demanding for volunteers, people acting on their free will. It is a people’s movement started by a core of very passionate citizens who wanted to have a say, and also to shape the future of their home country.

Gilbert and his team will labour on to make this event the Event of the Year, with no organizational or institutional help or support. They cannot snap their fingers and have highly trained people at their finger tips. They have practically no financial resources and have no goodies or goodie bags to give away, to entice greater participation. But they soldier on. It will be a sad day if their effort should go to waste if the people of Singapore fail to show up, fail to show support to a very important cause that will transform their lives and the lives of the future generations to come.

Other than Gilbert, there is another very passionate individual among many individuals that are drumming up support for this event. He is none other than the never say die FeedmetotheFish or simply Fish. He will be there with his family and grandchildren. He is calling every Singaporean to be there or at least sending a representative from each family to be there. He is shouting his voice hoarse, despite his troubled heart, both organically and emotionally. Fish is going to lead the charge of the Sinkie miserables. This word, miserables, may not be appropriate or relevant today but could be a pain in the neck in the future when the island is flooded by immigrants.

How many Sinkies will heed the call? How many Sinkies will think this event and the issue are important enough to move their butts to Hong Lim Park? How many are still ignorant of this event? I have yet to read it in the main media. This is an event of the people that have been ignored. Will the people, you, be ignored?

The social media is taking on this daunting task to raise the concern of the average Sinkies and all Sinkies. It is the voice of the people, the silent majority that has not been heard and will not be heard without the social media. There are many heroes in this Event of the Year. Fish, Gilbert and many others stand out as shining examples that Sinkies have awakened and will rise to the occasion when it really matters.

Will you be there?

Multiculturism can do us in - LKY

Below is a quote from LKY on multiculturism and how America could be done in if multiculturism makes America more Hispanics than Anglo Saxons. It is about tribes, about the vitality of certain species over other species. This is his quote in Forbes.com, ‘He(LKY) also gives U.S. immigration practices a failing grade, declaring that “multiculturalism will destroy America.” The key question is: “do you make the Hispanics Anglo-Saxons in culture or do they make you more Latin American in culture?”’

We are moving aggressively into multiculturism above the historical four major ethnic groups. Now we are pouring in the cement and mud of other immigrants into our mix. Are we putting in more mud or cement like the Hispanics versus Anglo Saxons mix? If we are bringing in more of poorer quality genes, we will be just as worst off as the Americans as described by LKY. We will also be done in.

What would the 6.9m mix be like? Or have we included too much mud into the 5.3m mix already and have to live with it in the future?