The unbelieveable talent of politicians

We have just witnessed the appointment of a new cabinet of ministers, with some ministers taking on new ministries and some new faces being appointed as ministers. Many people have taken for granted that this is a normal thing, just getting people appointed as ministers. There is nothing unusual about it.

From the HR perspective, this is the biggest fallacy that no one ever questioned. Now what am I talking about? These are very important appointments that require exceptional skill sets. They are not the cashier or the counter sales girls. Even these lower skill jobs require some form of training and may be some form of relevant qualifications. Now you are getting it.

In political appointments, there is no skill sets to talk about. There is no profession training needed. You can put Ah Meng as a defence minister or an education minister, as long as he is elected by the people and the party puts him into the job. Now the picture is getting clearer. In the industries, every joker is talking about skill sets and lack of skill sets to hire or not to hire, to go overseas to look for the talent with the required skill sets.

There were hue and cries about our lack of talent in the IT and finance industries. But we never heard of lacking talents in politicians. There was no need for any qualifications or training as politicians. Maybe being a politician is the easiest thing, in born, a natural skill that does not need any training. But when one takes on an appointment like finance, education, defence, law, health, etc etc, is there any specific training or qualifications needed? No, no need, anyone is good enough to be in any ministry. We put a soldier as an Education Minister and he is expected to know what education is all about. We put an eye surgeon to become a Foreign Minister and he will know the job. We put an administrator as the Transport Minister, and instantly he is an expert in solving transport problems.

In conclusion, either the job of a politician even at ministerial level is so easy that no training is needed and any training or experience will do, or a politician is born to be multi talented, born to know everything and be an expert in everything. An MP will automatically become an advisor to clan associations, sports associations, clubs, guilds, industrial associations etc etc. Somehow an MP also becomes a knows all.

It is really good to be a politician, your status, skills and talent immediately changed overnight and one becomes a knows all superman or superwoman without the need for any professional training.

This is the best profession on earth. No need special professional training and good for life.

15 Prime Ministers for Singapore

This is my recommendation. You don’t have to agree but I have good reasons for it. The appointment of two ministers each in MTI and Education is so well received that the reasons for it must be right. Singapore should seriously be thinking of having 15 Prime Ministers to be efficient and productive and to take the country forward

Here are some of the favourable comments in support of having two ministers in the two ministries reported in the ST. No one has a bad word for it. No one can find anything wrong with it. It has no flaws, as good as a concept in perfection. I will put them down in point forms for ease of reading.

1. Challenging period and tepid economy

2. Two ministers mean greater focus on each area, each dedicated to specific areas, aka dedicated ministers, I like the pun

3. Global competition and fast pace technological advancement

4. Greater attention and accountability

5. Business can expect more help, also know the priority of govt

6. Boosting economic growth like a car with two engines or is it two exhausts

7. Ministers would have more time to interact with business leaders

8. And for better coordination it is apt to have a coordinating minister on top of them. If not we may end up like the housing crisis, influx of population but not building flats

9. SME Association Kurt Wee even suggested a third minister dedicated to SMEs. This is good anticipation ability to see the trend for more ministers

The two minister concept is such an ingenious creation that the govt should have thought of it long ago. Never has a govt initiative been so well received. And by the comments from the business leaders, the govt really needs to have more ministers in every ministry. Singapore is growing, the world is growing, jobs are getting so big and so complicated, one minister is just impossible to cope and do a good job.

Actually the move has already been started long ago in the PMO. There are quite a number of ministers in the PMO, suggesting that there is a need for more PMs. So with ministries getting more ministers to help to run, it is unfair to expect the PM to work alone. The current practice of having so many ministers in the PMO should be abolished and replaced by having more PMs with one PM overseeing one ministry. Then to make sure that there is proper coordination and efficiency, there will be a Coordinating PM to gel the PM team together.

Singapore will have the most effective and efficient govt to take it forward in the next 50 years. This is political entrepreneurship, with creative and innovative new ideas in govt.

What about cost? Never mind, if the new structure of having so many ministers is productive, it would pay by itself even if the cost of govt is 10 times more. You must pay for good quality right? It is the result that counts. Did you see why Singaporeans are paying so much for housing and cars and still able to pay? The simple answer is that they can afford it as they are making a lot of money. So there is no need to worry about cost of govt when there are productivity and growth.

We need to seriously study this new approach to govt for more productivity. The old concept of productivity means one minister wears 10 hats and one MP with 50 directorships. The new productivity formula is many ministers in one ministry and many ministers of state and parliamentary secretaries and Chairman of committees to work together to improve productivity.

This is simply ingenious. Harvard is going to take this idea further and develop a course on it for a Ph D in Govt Administration.

Who else is offending Malaysia?

The Bersih 4 protest had offended Malay dignity and Islam. The Chinese Ambassador’s comment in Petaling Street that China opposed discrimination on ethnic minorities has offended Malaysia, an interference in Malaysia’s domestic affairs. The Acting Foreign Minister had called up the Chinese Ambassador to clarify on his remarks that had ‘attracted attention and caused concern to the Malaysian public’. Interestingly no minister has raised concern about the aborted protest in Chinatown that threatened peace and security and violence against the Chinese minority.

What about the FBI investigation on Najib’s involvement in 1MDB and the threat of arresting the PM? Would that be a concern or important enough to call up the American Ambassador to clarify on the matter and to ensure Najib’s safety in the USA? Maybe the public did not see any problem with that and so not a concern and not offending to Malaysian or Malay dignity.

By the way Jamal is going to organize another protest this time against Dr Wan Azizah in her constituency. This protest is more political in nature and the police have less reason to ban it. Just hope that this protest is just against Azizah and nothing else and would not spread into Chinatown and take on a different slant and different consequences. Maybe the shops would be closed again for good reasons. The public would not be concerned for anything bad to happen surely.

Hsien Loong’s new cabinet

A new cabinet was announced yesterday with Lui Tuck Yew replaced by two new faces in Ng Chee Meng and Ong Ye Kung plus several ministers of states and parliamentary secretaries. Vivian is promoted to Foreign Minister and Boon Wan has taken over the hot seat in Transport. Other than the overloading of several ministers and ministers of states and parliamentary secretaries to helm each ministry, a way of saying that that the job is damn big and requiring many ministers to cover, attention is all on Boon Wan’s role in Transport.

The talk of the town is the matching of the most troublesome job to the most effective minister in the cabinet. Boon Wan is touted as the minister that solved the housing issue which to some was never an issue until his predecessor messed it up with his screwed up policies. Boon Wan should thank the person for digging a hole that all he needed to do was to fill it up and get all the credit like he had done a miracle.

The Transport Ministry is a different kettle of fish from the series of failed housing policies that were in a way consciously created for some spoofy reasons. Though much work and money have already been spent to tidy up the problems in public transport, this is not as easy as filling a hole that someone dug. And if the population is going to rise to 6.9m and more, the little extra lines added would still not be enough to meet the rising demands. Boon Wan would now have to face a real tricky situation that is evolving all the time and any mistake or failure would be felt immediately in real time. The commuters cannot be told to wait for 3 years when the train stops running.

The real test of Boon Wan’s ability has just begun. This transport problem is real and it is not just building more lines and having more trains on the track. It is not just a brick and mortar issue. Let’s hope Boon Wan will do a miracle deserving of praise in transportation.

Who is the real devil?

ISIS is evil, there is no doubt about it and US is constantly portraying it as such. But who is supporting and sustaining ISIS? It is the Pentagon and CIA of the Evil Empire. Why is it so? It confounds people. Why does America want to do such a thing? America is playing a double game , all for its own interest. America wants to destabilise the whole of Middle East by sowing dissension and hatred among the dimwit Arabs and incite them to fight against each other. America can then make money by selling obsolete military hardware to the fighting factions. In this way America can continue to hold sway over the Middle East as the overlord . It is strategic for America in some ways and two of them are to control all the natural resources , largely oil of the region and to deprive China of it. The third advantage is that US hope to outflank Russia and China from military strategic point of view. So both ISIS and US are evil. Both must be destroyyed.