The angst of Lily Neo

Lily Neo spoke in Parliament about the increasing angst instead of gratitude towards the govt came under some strong rubbings in the social media. Despite her good intention to tell the govt that things were not so right as the govt would want to believe, she was yelling into the ears of the deaf frogs and risking being slapped like her colleagues in the past. The messengers of bad news are not welcomed and Amy Khor is a good testimony to how it felt being rebuked by the PM of the day, a public dressing down amounting to labeling her something like betraying her party. All she did was to say something for the people, not much different from what Lily Neo had said. It is no joke to get a dress down by a PM and reported in the media. She has since learnt her lesson and saying all the right things and is now a minister of state. Lily Neo got to learn from her to say the right things if there is still time for her to be promoted.
 
Lily Neo was lucky not to be slapped this time. It was a risky thing to say in Parliament. Inderjit did the safest thing, to avoid a public dressing in Parliament, by saying his peace in his facebook. That is pretty ingenious of him after his disappearing act to the toilet during the PWP voting.
 
Angst or no angst for the moment is determined by the people in power. When one is in power, everything is right and legal and good for the people and the party. The bold and brazen policies of touching the people’s life savings would be put to a severe test when the party falls from grace. The brushing aside of the people’s objection to the influx of foreigners, the dismissing of a generation of PMEs as collaterals for being replaced by foreigners would be a sour point that would not be easily forgotten as the livelihoods and well beings of many Singaporeans were badly affected.
 
There are many policies that are the angst of the people but not acknowledged by the deaf frogs. Everything is fine, for as long as they are in power. Who would know what the next govt will do to these policies and how the people would react to all the parties that caused all the angst to the people? The politicians, the top civil servants, the elite, the academics and legal professionals have all been reticent to the barrage of heavy handed policies, without protesting and in a way agreeing that there is no violation to the people’s rights and interests. It is good if there is really no wrong doing to answer for. If there are, many are complicits to them and will have to face the wrath, not the angst of the people when the day comes. For those who voted for, supported the controversial policies, they cannot say they did not. For those in a position to speak up but don’t, they have nothing to speak in their own defence for appeasing to wrong and harmful policies as an after thought.
 
When fortune changed, when the winds of change changes the power balance, many rights would become wrongs and wrongs would become right. All the angst would become real, not imaginary, not to be swept under the carpet. For the moment, everything is fine, everything is just perfect.
 
What angst was Lily Neo talking about? Got angst meh?

Mysingaporenews Collection Book slow moving

15 days to go and confirmed orders for my book is still moving very slowly.
I need more orders to get this book off the ground.

Any more orders coming?

Redbean

Who is the real kingmaker?

When Chok Tong was made the PM, everyone was clear who put him there. No one has any doubt as to who called the shot, who decided who it should be. When Chok Tong became the PM, he started to groom Hsien Loong to be the PM. It took him 20 years to do the grooming.
 
Then one fine day, or one fine evening, Wong Kan Seng invited a few ministers for a makan. And in that meeting, not sure if Chok Tong was invited, Kan Seng suggested Hsien Loong should be the PM. And those present agreed.
 
So, who was the kingmaker then, Chok Tong for grooming Hsien Loong and preparing for the post, or was it Kan Seng? It could be Chok Tong who instructed Kan Seng what to do. If that be the case, Chok Tong was the kingmaker and it did not matter if he was at the makan or not. What is the truth?
 
, Hsien Loong is still looking around for someone to succeed him. Chok Tong said it would be decided by the ministers of the day, just like what Kan Seng did, over a makan among the ministers. Presumably all the ministers were present or maybe some were and some were not. If that be the case, there was no king maker but a group of ministers making the decision, a PM appointed by consensus. This would dismiss the belief that there is a kingmaker and the PM is the man that grooms the next king.
 
What should it be? Got kingmaker or not? And if got, who and who is the new kingmaker today? Was Kan Seng the kingmaker then and is he still the kingmaker today? What is the role of the PM in the whole process? Was Chok Tong the kingmaker in his time as he implied in his grooming of Hsien Loong?
 
It seems so simple and straight forward but really not that straight forward and simple after all. Who knows, maybe Chan Chun Sing would call for a makan like Kan Seng and say let’s decide who should be the PM? Would it be like that?

The most expensive Managing Agent(MA)

Is AHPETC the most expensive MA? Apparently it is since 2014. No one charges anything more than AHPETC after 2014. How many dollars did AHPETC overcharged its residents compare to market rates ie PAP rates?
 
AHPETC and the other town councils are all Managing Agents of housing estates, single constituencies of GRCs. Did someone say overcharging the residents is naughty and unacceptable? Or did someone say what’s wrong with collecting more money? Looking from another angle, to be able to collect more means very clever, and cleverer still to collect more without the people complaining. Or there is a price for quality mah. The more expensive you pay, the better the quality of the service provided tiok boh? Maybe the price difference is for full time and part time MPs.
 
Then why are people complaining and making a big fuzz out of collecting a few dollars more than others?
 
Who is really the most expensive Managing Agent? If we take a step back and look at the bigger picture, is the govt of a country also something like a Managing Agent? If the govt of a country is a MA, the salaries paid to the govt must be the managing agent fee right? Don’t you think we are paying the highest managing agent fee in the whole wide world to the most expensive MA on a pro rata basis or in absolute terms? Can complain or not? Got overcharging or not? Or we are paying out of this world Managing Agent fee for out of this world quality Managing Agent? So the more expensive the better. Are we getting value for money?
 
What do you think?

Tahir – a pleasant and energising story of faith

One does not need to be in the government, in the seat of authority, to want to do good for the country and its citizens. One does not need to be the richest man in the world to start to give away his wealth, to share with the have nots. One needs not be the richest man in Indonesia to do that, to think of country and people. His wealth is reported to be US$2.1b, not very rich among the billionaires in Indonesia, not among the top 5 or top 10 in Singapore. But he is very rich in his heart.

His mission is to do good, not only for the Indonesians but also around the globe. His largest contribution is US$100m in a joint fund with Bill Gates to help the poorest in the world and to eradicate polio. He never forgets he is Indonesian and has set up many charitable organisations to help his people in the areas of education and healthcare.

His main thrust is to see no Indonesians working as maids abroad but as trained professionals in the fields of nursing and sales. To achieve this he has spoken to 5 governors to offer him buildings and training centres and he would provide the teachers, training programmes, food and lodging for the women trainees. This mission is not limited to the 5 governors he spoke to and could expand into other provinces. He is not in the government but what he is doing is what every government would be thinking and be doing, to do good for its people, to uplift their lives.

In God he trusts and he believes that God has provided him with the means and opportunity to give back to his country and people. He is grateful and he spends his time thinking about helping others, to share his wealth with the less privileged. He was not born rich, he made his own money but did not forget that there are many out there that need a little help that his money can make things happened for them. He helps others by giving out his own money. He does not talk about helping others with OPM or taking the money from the people he is helping.

His two Mayapada hospitals provide free medicare to the poor. The cost of a heart surgery is his hospital is less than $8, actually free. No subsidies needed, no govt grants needed.

The world is a much better place when you have rich people feeling rich by sharing their wealth to help others and not by counting the monies in their bank accounts and collecting properties after properties to show that they are rich. Rich people like Tahir have the blessings and approval of God to be what they are and to do what they are doing for the good of other needy people. God bless. Amen.

These are the concluding paragraphs of a Sunday Times article today. ‘He says people should pursue wealth as a means to do some good for the community or mankind, not as an end itself. The biggest and most glorious objective in life is to be a blessing to others, creating their happiness…Otherwise, like the Taiwanese say, you are so poor that money is all you have.’

Nevermind if this is too idealistic and the pragmatics would scorn at such comments when pursuing wealth is all they want to do, to be dignified with all the money they have acquired. See my million dollar cars and my mansions!

PS. I am not a Christian and not pushing for any religion. When believing in God can make a man to do good, that is all that matters. Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom. One can choose not to fear God or any gods.
Tahir is an Indonesia and Singapore PR, a Nantah alumnus.