What to make out of May Day at Hong Lim?

I was there as an observer, met some bloggers who have followed my blog and listened to the views of Singaporeans there, mostly negative. One thing, the crowd was much smaller than the previous rally, probably less than 3,000. But this time there were more media representations. The other point to note was the predominantly older crowd. The young were less represented, perhaps more busy having a good time while it still lasts.

I must say that despite the smaller crowd, the speakers were more enthusiastic this time and speaking with more vigour. Leong Sze Hian made his often statistics laced speech simpler and easier for the people to understand. And the star speaker must be Ravi, the famous lawyer of the downtrodden. He posed for a photo shot for me. Ravi was simply exciting and witty in his speech. I remembered him saying that it needed a cleaner like Vellama to sweep clean up the Constitution or something to that effect. The crowd loved him. He was furthest from the stigma that he was having some mental problem. I think the people having mental problems are those who think so.

Many issues were raised in the presence of a respectable crowd. The main issue of 6.9 took the main platform. But after all have been said, would it have any impact on the Govt? Would the Govt be bothered to listen and reflect on this big population game plan and tone down on the aggressive ambition? I think the Govt is likely to ignore this Rally totally as if nothing happens.

There was a lone independent speaker who spoke generally about the same issues. He must have felt very passionate about it to mount a little mountain in Hong Lim with his own loudspeaker to speak to the crowd. And beside him was a poster that said it all. ‘You call us noise. We call it truth!’.

To some, what were being said are plain noise. But for the noise makers, it is their version of truth. Who’s will shall prevail? No prize for the answer. Looks like Hong Lim Rally will just be another rally that will soon be forgotten as most Singaporeans are busy making money and have no time for it. 6.9m or 10m, so what, they will take them in their stride.

Gilbert and his team and their hope for a bigger turn out must be feeling a bit dejected though they were not showing it. The Singaporeans that would be affected by the outcome of a huge population were not coming forward to support the cause. The Govt won hands down. The White Population Paper will be executed duly and in good time. Singaporeans should just live with the 6.9m comes 2030.

Selfish Meritocracy? Chok Tong is wrong

In his latest sermon, Chok Tong preached about selfish meritocracy and the need for those who have risen to the top of the heap to help those below, not to pull away the ladder. It is a serious call, a virtuous sermon to remind the successful to help those that are less successful, to give a helping hand instead of keeping the hands in the cookie jar to help themselves for more.

I think Chok Tong is seeing only one side of the coin. Singapore is a very selfless meritocracy in every count. As a country, we are extremely successful and we are very generous in sharing our success and wealth with people around the world. The people from the Third World are invited and swarming here to make their fortunes. The luckless and unable to make it people from the First World are also here to be treated like gods and given great jobs and great salaries that they would not get back home.

We have turned a swamp into a shining jewel and our first class infrastructure and systems are for people of the world to come and share and enjoy. We have the best universities and students from Third World countries are invited to study here instead of their down and out universities at home. And if they cannot afford the high cost of living, no sweat, our Govt will pay for tuition and living allowances, bond free. Several hundreds of scholarships were given out every year to these fortunate foreign students. Even their monthly allowances were more than what Singaporeans gave to their children.

We are even more generous in offering job opportunities to foreigners as long as they tell us that they are talents and have papers to prove it. We even sideline our not so able PMETs to make way for these foreign talents to make it good here.

Now, who is saying that we are guilty of selfish meritocracy? Look at how many foreigners who are now CEOs of our local institutions earning millions annually, which we could have kept them for our locals. But no, we are generous, and we believe in selfless meritocracy. We don’t mind giving the millions to foreigners who are good, and hopefully they don’t pull the ladder from the locals when they are up there, given the opportunity by the our govt to be here. Hopefully they don’t see it as tribal preservation to pull the ladders from the locals and offer the ladders to their friends from their home countries.

Singapore and Singaporeans can vouch and swear that we practise selfless meritocracy, and particularly in favour of foreign talents. Many foreigners have benefited from our meritocrazy. The locals that failed to enjoy the generosity and the meritocrazy policy have only themselves to be blamed.

What do you think? I think I am telling the truth. I only wish that our Govt practises a little bit of selfish meritocracy to benefit our own people.

Gilbert and his speakers

Gilbert being interviewed

The speakers

Gilbert and Zaobao reporter

Ravi enthralling the crowd

An independent speaker on his own

This one is carrying LKY on his back

The Singaporeans at Hong Lim May Day

The ladies are present

The future is also present

The Singaporeans are there

More Singaporeans

And more Singaporeans

Even more Singaporeans

Still more Singaporeans

Not the last Singaporeans

May Day messages at Hong Lim