Sinkies now allowed to let go some steam

Did anyone remember that there were two protests regarding the 6.9m population held at Hong Lim Park? Briefly I could still recall being there and taking some photographs and mingling with other Sinkies that made it a point to be there, to protest. Ok, the Sinkies had their chances, two in fact, to say their piece about the population issue. Now everyone back to work, case closed.

Sinkies should be grateful that today they are given a chance at least to let go some steam. And they too went to Hong Lim one more time to release another fart on the MDA regulation to license websites reporting on Singapore affairs.

With the protests out of the way, with the issues of foreigners discriminating against Sinkies and Sinkie PMETs having difficulties finding appropriate employment forgotten, life goes on as normal. Nothing really changed, nothing.

The 6.9m population will be a reality. The MDA licensing means those affected will have to apply for a licence. The discrimination against Sinkies and PMET unemployment issue, … never mind, never mind, no more issues already. No one is talking about them anymore. Let’s move on.

Does anyone remember about HDB’s affordable pricing and not disclosing the cost of building a flat? Does anyone remember about all the HDB policies discriminating Singaporeans and disqualified Singaporeans from buying HDB flats but allowing new citizens to do so? Does anyone remember that their CPF savings, their hard earned savings, are locked up because some jokers decided to do so? The list can go on and on.

Singaporeans should called themselves lucky and be very grateful that they are now allowed to complain, to kpkb for a while. And the Govt is listening, but nothing will change. The Govt will do what it thinks is good for the Singaporeans, including not selling them HDB flats and keeping their hard earned savings by all kinds of schemings.

Poll results as an indicator of public opinion

The result of the earlier poll on whether the govt is a proactive one or just merely reacting to the haze problem is obvious. And the perception of the public across cyberspace is equally unanimous and there is no need to belabour the point.

This new poll has just started and 95 people have read and the perception is unanimous as well. One may claim that this is only the views of a small segment of the population that is highly critical of the govt and will see it this way. But if this is translated to 60% of the overall population's view, the govt is going to be in for a rough ride. And the harder the govt is pushing for this thing called 'integrity and trust' the more ridiculous it will look.

When a govt has lost the trust of the voters, no matter what it says or does, it is not going to be believed or accepted by the people. It will backfire if the heart of the people is no longer with the govt.

Unlike in the past when the people were fully behind the govt, anything the govt said will be accepted, even reluctantly. The people would just go along even if the policies were tough.

This is the stark and unpleasant difference between the current govt and the govt of yesterday. Perhaps the govt may want to hold a similar poll in reach and find 95% giving the exact opposite result and can feel good about it.

The PMO has spoken on the hawker centre issue

Today, 12 Jul, the PMO has issued a 9 point justification on why Vivian Balakrishnan had to take the WP to task on the issue of integrity in Parliament. I just quote the second point here and to use it for a poll I set up on the top right of this page.

‘Good politics is first and foremost about integrity. Singapore has succeeded because we have honest, upright people in politics: people who can be trusted to uphold the public interest, to speak the truth even when it is inconvenient, and to admit mistakes when things go wrong. This is how we have built trust between Singaporeans and their leaders, worked together to build the nation and improved everyone’s lives.’

How many people believe that we have honest and upright people that can be trusted to do the right thing? Please indicate your take in the poll on the right.

I want to clarify here that whatever a person votes, it may be right or wrong, but it is definitely what the person perceives or thinks so. For example if everyone thinks that the govt does have honest and upright people, it can be a statement of truth. And that is good. On the other hand, the majority may not think so, and this can also be a statement of truth, which then is bad. But if this is false, and if the govt has honest and upright people but the people do not believe so, this in itself is another problem. It simply means that the people do not trust the govt and have a very bad impression of the govt. And the govt really needs to conduct an investigation as to why it is like dat.

The best result is for the majority of the people to think that the govt has honest and upright people that can be trusted to do the right thing for the people, and that this is also the truth.

So please vote accordingly on what you perceive or think.

Cheers.

Let me add further that this cleaning of hawker centre thing is really a very small issue. It is nothing compares to the AIM issue and was best put away and moves on.

And I think it is a horrible mistake for Vivian to thrash it out in Parliament thinking that he can score a winning goal against the WP. More horrible is for the whole cabinet to think that this was a good idea to throw at the WP.

What is going to happen now is that this supposedly minor issue is going to open the Pandora Box and allow the critics of the govt to dig into a can full of worms and that may become quite embarrassing and difficult to put away. It is like the proverbial saying that people living in glass houses should not throw stones. Unfortunately things are heading in the wrong direction now. Unfortunately the emperor did not know that he is not wearing any clothes and is strutting around very confidently in his new clothes.

How would this minor issue (of course some people think it is damn big issue) end eventually and who would land with more mud on the face?

Obama, please step aside

All our ministers are earning more than Barack Obama, the President of the USA. They are all carefully talent scouted, men and women of great abilities. It is a waste that they should be made to deal with petty problems like cleaning hawker centres, haze, dengue, public transportation, primary school education, problems with childcare abuses, and what else.
 
We are not making full use of our talented ministers and insulting them with such menial tasks. They are made for bigger things. If we keep asking them to solve mundane daily chores don’t be surprised that they will lose interest soon. 大才小 用。It is like putting a gifted child in primary one when he should be in the university. That was the same problem Einstein faced when he was in school and was thrown out. Boredom trying to do simple things when his intellect was meant for bigger stuff like understanding the universe.
 
I think our ministers should easily fit into the seat in the White House. Obama, please step aside. I am sure they will shine in the right environment and the right challenge. The tougher or more challenging the situation or problem, the more they will excel. In a way we are abusing our multi talented ministers.
 
There is a problem though. The Americans would not be able to pay them. What a pity.

Did anyone say the WP was sleeping and not doing anything?

The hottest issue in cyberspace these few days is not the haze or the near epidemic dengue situation with record numbers of people having dengue. The hottest issue is who should pay for the cleaning of a hawker centre’s high ceiling. And this has led to the WP being grilled by the PAP and how hard they had to work to defend themselves. And mind you, they had to work very hard and very smart and had to be very careful as the debate in Parliament would be in the air after the 9.30pm news. Can’t imagine what would be shown if the WP made a mess of it and could not defend themselves effectively.
 
For the few hours in Parliament, I believe both parties would have spent a lot of time and resources preparing their positions, how to attack or defend the points raised. For the amount of money they are getting, it is really hard work. It is a tough battle with 7 fairly new WP MPs other than Low Thia Khiang, against the full force of the PAP MPs and the veteran ministers. And the last session on the cleaning of the hawker centre must be so important that it was nearly full house in Parliament. This is quite a rare experience.
 
Let’s put our hands together for the parliamentarians on both sides for working so hard to debate on these national issues for the good of the residents.
Did anyone say that the WP MPs are not working, or the PAP MPs are not working? To be a WP MP means a lot of pressure. Doing too little for the people sure kena walloped. Saying too much of the wrong thing lagi chiat lat. Go to Parliament means one month cannot sleep, got to prepare to ward off attacks from all corners. Must wear protective gears just in case.