GE2015 – Feeling cheated

Some residents of Pasir Ris GRC are complaining. They are not happy with the SDA contesting in their GRC against the PAP. During the hassling to avoid a 3 corner fight, the opposition parties had agreed to leave Pasir Ris GRC to the SDA led by Desmond Lim. They are angry because they would prefer a stronger party than the SDA. They would prefer SingFirst to stand in Pasir Ris instead. The performance of Desmond Lim in the Punggol East by election was dismal and has affected the image of the Party.  Some of the voters are really very unhappy to have to vote either for PAP or SDA. They are crying for a change, for a better opposition party to contest in Pasir Ris. They felt let down given the choice of voting for the two parties they both rejected.

How serious is this sentiment? By performance and record, SDA under Desmond Lim is indeed the weakest of all the opposition parties. To make matter worse, some are accusing Desmond Lim and SDA as a mole of the PAP. Of course this is not proven. Whether it is true or just an imagination, the unhappiness is there.

There is a cry to be better represented. The people of Pasir Ris want a better opposition party to represent them. Would the party chiefs of the opposition camp heed their plea and call for a review on the Pasir Ris GRC? Would ignoring the cries of the people of Pasir Ris lead to other negative consequences?

The leaders of the opposition parties may want to take a look at this unique development that the voters are rejecting both parties before an election. They may want to walk the ground and gauge the true feelings of the voters there. If there is a case for a change, they may want to do something when there is still time for it. They could put up a join team to replace the SDA or even allow the SingFirst to contest Pasir Ris and talk Desmond Lim and his SDA out of it, or even to ignore the SDA and go for a 3 corner fight.

How appealing is Desmond Lim and his SDA to the voters in Pasir Ris? Is this already a lost cause even before the election has started? How serious is the problem of fielding SDA in Pasir Ris? If it is indeed a gone case for SDA, the big chiefs in the opposition camp may want to do something to show to the people that the opposition camp will not let them down and would not let a good opportunity slips away by default.

Should anything be done about Pasir Ris GRC? Would Desmond Lim and his SDA talk to the people now and have a good feel of the ground and if it is indeed unfavourable, they may want to volunteer to stay out of the GE? Or would SDA put up a really strong team to convince the voters they are serious in representing them?

This is a very unusual development in a GE. There is a perception problem. And if it is that serious, it must not be ignored and let the Pasir Ris voters feel that they had been the sacrificial lamb for opposition unity.

What do you think?

Reform Party’s Dream Team for Ang Mo Kio

I saw a photo of M Ravi canvassing with Roy Ngerng and Kenneth at a hawker centre. And it was reported that Amos Yee was there as well. And so was Han Hui Hui. Kenneth has yet to announce his team but by it would be interesting if Roy and Ravi are  in the short list.

As I was rooting earlier for a combined team with SingFirst, the addition of Jee Say and Ang Yong Guan would make the team quite formidable. Now Reform Party is going to fight it all alone and for Jee Say to back out from the contest, I suspect Kenneth must have given him a peep into his cards and that could have impressed Jee Say to let Reform Party have a crack at Hsien Loong’s steamboat.

Other than Kenneth, Roy and Ravi, who would Kenneth field to strengthen his team? Would the controversial maverick in Amos Yee be added to make it more dramatic? Amos and Roy have their own pulls as victims of the system and could draw a lot of sympathy votes. Ravi as a human rights lawyer has a strong appeal among the young. Kenneth of course has been gaining more credibility with his outspoken pieces on the social ills.

Would the financial expertise of Leong Sze Hian give the team more ballast and weight? Or would Kenneth come up with another big catch to surprise everyone? A team comprising Kenneth, M Ravi, Roy, Leong Sze Hian, Amos Yee and probably Han Hui Hui or another big wig, would be a serious proposition for Ang Mo Kio GRC.  Controversial though, the mix is not a push over and has a lot of appeal to the voters .

Ang Mo Kio GRC is going to be closely watched and full of drama and surprises in this GE. The result is going to be very unpredictable. The sad part is that M Ravi has announced that he would not be using his $1m war chest as he would not be running. Leong is still very mum and not saying anything. And in the case of Amos, he is still underage and would not qualify to stand. There will be no Dream Team.

What is Kenneth’s game plan? He better comes up with a good team after Jee Say had graciously gave way to his Reform Party. If he is unable to present a good and credible choice to the voters, this would be his last call and no one would take him seriously anymore. He is given a chance to take Ang Mo Kio. If he can’t do a good job, the voters would be very disappointed with him and his Party. He would be blamed for spoiling the chance of SingFirst to put up a good fight. This is the least expected from Kenneth and not rising up to the challenge is inexcusable.

The ball is now in Kenneth’s court. Any opposition party that is given a chance to fight a straight battle but not putting up a decent team and expect the voters to blindly vote for them is a sign of naiveity and incompetence, and the voters are going to be very suspicious of their intent. They will not have a chance to be back in the next GE. They will be dumped for good. 

When the people are desperately looking for change, do not be a spoiler. You will not be forgiven.

Napoleon threw a birthday party

Napoleon led a revolution and chased away the angmoh farmer from his farm. He and his fellow animals took over the farm as theirs. Napoleon told his animal peers that they were the new owners and they should work hard as the fruits of their labour would go rightfully back to them. The cows, horses, goats, sheeps, chicken, ducks and the dogs were all excited by this new dream, as co owners of the farm. They worked day in and day out to improve the productivity of the farm. And the farm prospered. There was plenty of everything for everyone. And everyone was happy that they were working for themselves and for their own good.

That was many years ago. Napoleon had taken over the role of managing the farm with his fellow pigs. They were in charge. And they told the rest of the animals that they needed to work doubly hard to produce more, the farm was their farm, and they would share the fruits of their labour.

Napoleon celebrated his 50^th birthday. He threw a big party for all the animals in the farm. It was like Christmas time. Everything on the table was on the house, paid for by the farm’s income. And every animal was so happy and helped themselves with the food and drinks.

In the midst of the party the old horse looked around and asked, ‘Where are the turkeys?’ Their turkey friends were missing. Then someone whispered, ‘Look, look at the table….’ Before he could finish his sentence Napoleon voice was heard roaring from the stage. ‘Welcome everybody to my birthday party. I am so happy that you are all here. I can see you are all enjoying yourself and having a good time.’

The animals roared and clapped in approval and shouted, ‘Long live Napoleon. Long live our great leader.’

‘Ladies and gentlemen, allowed me the pleasure to introduce my relatives and their friends who have travelled far to be here to join me in this party.’ The animals clapped again. Only then that they realised that there were many pigs present that were not really the same as Napoleon. They looked different, but never mind since they were Napoleon’s friends and relatives.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I am embarrassed. My friends and relatives are complaining to me that there were not enough turkeys to eat.’ The animals stared at the Napoleon and all the turkeys were gone. And they looked again at Napoleon’s friends and relatives and saw them struggling with pieces of turkeys in their mouths.

Napoleon continued. ‘My fellow citizens of the farm, we have run out of turkeys for my friends and relatives and they are not very happy. Can someone suggest what we should put on the table to make them feel welcomed? They like our farm very much and wanted to make it their home. We need to make them happy, we need to integrate them and make them one of us.’

‘Horse meat, horse meat,’ someone shouted. Another shouted ‘Dog meat, dog meat.’

Napoleon raised his hands. ‘No, my fellow citizens of the farm, we cannot have horse meat. They have worked very hard for the farm. They deserved to be retired and enjoy their sunset. As for dog meat, this is also a no, no. The dogs are very loyal and deserve better. They protect us and our farm.’

The animals nodded their heads in agreement. Napoleon was always so wise and had thought about everything and had always been looking ahead, about their future.

‘Fellow citizens of the farm, to make my friends and relatives feel good and welcomcd, and hopefully they will stay here with us to share our prosperity, I would like to suggest that we serve them with roast beef and lamp chops.’

‘What about roast pigs?’ Someone shouted from the back.

Napoleon shouted back in an angry voice, ‘Who said that?’ There was silence. ‘I warn you not to say that again. In this farm there will be no serving of roast pigs or anything related to pigs.’

The rest of the animals bowed their heads in silence. Their great leader had spoken. The cows, the sheep and the goats went back in tears. The turkeys did not enjoy the party. Their party was also coming to an end. And they could hear the dogs barking away in the distance of the night.

They dreaded when would be Napoleon’s next big party.

Chok Tong decides to stand for MP again

Chok Tong has announced that he would contest this election one more time for old time’s sake. He said he had a long discussion with Hsien Loong and Hsien Loong said he is needed for his experience. Hsien Loong’s assessment of Chok Tong is quite different from his father. Chok Tong is an asset to Hsien Loong, to provide the shade of a big banyan tree now that LKY is no longer around. The senior statesman fits the role like a glove. Maybe he would be promoted to MM after the election and moved in to the Istana to hold court for visiting dignitaries looking for the Oracle. Singapore would have another Eastern wise man residing in the Istana.

There was another view that in the long chat with Hsien Loong, they were negotiating whether he should or should not stand. Apparently Chok Tong came up on top with his wise arguments that he must be around to be the goalkeeper.  Chok Tong seems to be still very influential and thus his service is indispensable or Marine Parade could go to the WP. No matter what, after nearly 40 years in Marine Parade, he must have many admirers and fans that would vote for him. Asking him to stand down would mean these votes, mainly the dialect speaking oldies, could be won over by Ah Hia and vote for WP.

So, as much as Hsien Loong would like to have a new team of people younger than him, he could find no good reason to retire Chok Tong. Chok Tong’s star is still shining and would be given another chance to see his promise of a Swiss standard of living for the people coming true. As the most senior minister, he would have a lot of weight to want his passion to materialise just like his India Dream.

It is all green for Chok Tong now. It is now left to the voters to make his dream come true, maybe to out serve LKY as the longest serving politician in modern Singapore. He is only 74 and he could add another 16 years to his record.

If he is successful, historian could call it the Chok Tong era instead of post LKY era.

MOM telling Singaporeans it is working for Singaporeans

38 firms have been place on MOM’s watch list for not employing Singaporeans. Oops, the exact word is locals, which means PRs and Singaporeans.  What if they employed PRs that are not Singaporeans, ok right, treated as employing locals so no need to bother them. According to Swee Say, his ministry is talking to another 100 companies on the need to employ Singaporeans and application for Employment Passes will be closely monitored.

I hope this is not pre GE rhetoric and gerrymandering and more serious effort would be applied to enforce the need to employ Singaporeans first after the GE. Hope it would not turn into another nightmare after the GE when the current effort is reversed and everything back to normal, more foreigners, more EPs and more Singaporeans being replaced.

What is the point of allowing foreign companies to operate here to benefit from our good infrastructure, our system and to employ foreigners? Shouldn’t these companies be asked to go somewhere else if they are not providing jobs to Singaporeans.

And what is the purpose of employing foreign talents here to do local businesses with local clients? I can understand if the companies are operating and competing for businesses in the international environment and in foreign land. Didn’t some local HR Directors claimed that Singaporeans have better advantage in understanding the local market and business environment? Why is there a need to employ expensive foreigners to operate and function in the local environment?

MOM must start with govt linked companies, ask them to explain why they need to employ so many foreigners even in middle and lower management levels. If the GLCs did not see it a national duty to provide jobs to Singaporeans and think it is their duty to provide jobs for foreigners, then foreign MNCs will conveniently do the same.

I will like to see if Swee Say and the govt mean business and go after GLCs that are turning their organizations into foreign companies. The govt cannot be so blind not to see and not to know what is happening. It is anti Singaporean policies. Take the cue from Hsien Loong, who said he did not owe any responsibilities to the world to employ their citizens. His responsibility and his govt’s responsibility it to Singaporeans first. Not locals! Would this be a top priority govt policy or is this going to be just mere pre GE talks?

Show some sincerity and kick the butts of CEOs who think it is very clever and use it as an excuse to employ their country men to replace Singaporeans.

Swee Say, Singaporeans are all watching. GE is around the corner. Do something to show the Singaporeans that the govt is for Singaporeans, at least before the GE. Does Swee Say or the MOM believe the middle and lower middle management jobs cannot be filled by Singaporeans? Take a walk in Raffles Place and MBFC and get a real feel on the ground. Or make a trip to Changi Business Park. And open your eyes when you are there. The tolerance of Singaporeans is at breaking point.

What? Singaporean core? What is that? What about that CECA.