Elected President – The first LKY legacy to fall

There is an article by a Cynical Investor in the TRE titled ‘Wanted President – Must not embarrassed the PAP’. In the article the author quoted the finest thinker in Singapore in Kishore Mahbubani raising the issue of electing a rogue President that would make life difficult for a good govt. I will not discuss why it should not be the other way, ie, a good elected President making life difficult for a rogue govt. In Kishore’s argument, probably the same thinking as the power of the day, this concept of an elected President has outlived its usefulness and must be discarded for good, and be discarded quickly before the next election is due for another elected President.

 

How could a care taker govt, some said a ‘jaga’ president, that hardly had any power other than the so called power of the second key to open the nation’s reserves, be able to make things difficult for an incumbent govt?  A ruling govt could easily get rid of a rogue govt when it is confirmed that a rogue is in the Istana.  Luckily we don’t have that experience since 1969. Why is this fear being raised at this time when no rogue president has been elected? How is it possible to elect a rogue president when the criteria to be even qualified to stand for election is so stringent and all holes covered?

 

But that is not the point. The very thought of removing this Elected Presidency is akin to heresy. Do those people objecting to this concept of an Elected President know whose idea it was? Are they going to tear away such a great idea before his body turn to dust? This thought is simply unfilial and disrespectful. Don’t even think about it. This is a legacy of LKY. Are the people objecting to the Elected Presidency saying or thinking that they are smarter than LKY, that they can throw away his great idea and legacy so callously?  It is so easy to create fear, fabricate fear, like the Americans creating fear everywhere to incite wars and sell weapons.

 

Why don’t they say the current political system could risk the daft electorate voting a rogue govt into power and that the system must also be changed? And if a rogue govt comes into power, it is imaginable that it would put many behind bars. Now, would that be dangerous, more dangerous than a rogue and one man president?

 

Let’s see who is arrogant and disrespectful enough to destroy the legacy of the father of modern Singapore.

The number of Singaporean Ah Qs growing

For those who are unfamiliar with this Ah Q character in Lu Xun’s political satire, Ah Q is the epitome of poverty but in a state of denial and trying to justify every failure and misfortune in his life as something good, to comfort himself and to minimize the pain. What is happening today in Sin City is that more and more Ah Qs are appearing and trying to make the best out of a bad situation by comforting themselves that it is good, or it will be good in the long run.

The media have been making many complementary statements about how good life is and how good cycling is. ‘Bold moves for car lite Singapore in the offing’ wow great stuff!  ‘Cycling as a viable commuting choice lauded’, another great stuff as if the people really love cycling and are throwing the burden of their cursed cars away.  Everyone is so happy about having more cycling lanes to make cycling more convenient and to throw away their dreams of car ownership. Car lite cities make for a better quality of life. Boon Wan was quoted saying, ‘There is a growing consensus among developed cities that few cars mean less traffic, congestion, less air and noise pollution and more land for public spaces and amenities.’ Or more land to build more flats to bring in more migrants?

Let me recall a statement by a Chinese missile scientist, Qian Xueshen when he tried to convince his good friend, a nuclear scientist, to help to detonate the first nuclear bomb in China. The latter did not want to as nuclear bombs are weapons of mass destruction. Qian told him that having the bomb and not using it was different from not having the bomb altogether. This, in the current context, is like having a car and not wanting to use against not able to own a car and has no choice but to cycle. For the cycling enthusiasts, cycling is a choice and their bicycles can cost several thousands. They cycle for fun, not because they must, not because they could not afford a car. Many would be having a big car in their garages.

While the rich car owners are trying their best to con the daft to abandon their cars, the daft are behaving like Ah Qs, swallowing the lie totally. And now the Ah Qs are even convincing themselves that cycling is a better quality of life. In Lu Xun’s Ah Q, he was a victim of circumstances, and had no choice. Poverty was his life and he had to try to live his dastardly poor life the best he could. He had to convince himself that life was not so miserable to carry on living.

The Singapore Ah Qs could not think and allowed the rich to con them that no car is good. And stupidly they believe so, giving up the dreams and aspirations to want a better life with the comfort of car ownership and cycling for fun on weekends. They could not see the difference between having a car and not using it and not able to own a car and have to cycle everywhere.

Which Ah Q is dafter? In the 60s and 70s, the poor commie country called China was filled with bicycles on the roads.  We used to sneer at their poverty, car less society due to being poor. Today they are all craving to own cars, for a better quality of life. The Singaporean Ah Qs will soon be shouting cars are bad, bicycles are good. Rich commies are bad, poor capitalists are good. Or cars are good, bicycles are betterer.

What about those who need a car for the old, the sick, the young and for the barang barang they must bring along in the course of doing their little businesses? How are they to get by without a car or a car that cost more than a hundred thousand of big Singapore dollars?

Francis Seow – The good, bad and ugly, they all shall pass away

These few years, and the next few years, we are likely to see the last few remnants of the pioneer generations kissing the dust. No one can escape this force of nature. Everyone shall decay and turn to dust. Whether they be rich or poor, acquired mountains of fortune or lived their last days as paltry recluses, good riddance.

Francis Seow had a meteoric rise to the cream of our history, to be there, but not there. His flash of success was clipped by his detention and humiliation in the cells of Mount Pleasant. He had gave the Singaporeans a glimpse of what actually happened behind those walls in the tranquil setting of a verdant forest in the most prestigious and expensive ground in this most expensive city state.

Francis Seow’s exile and eclipse from the corridors of power would be what Singaporeans remember him most, a victim of the politics of an era, hopefully never to be repeated again. The two camps would have different ways to commemorate his passing away and that is expected.  You would not hear good words from one camp or negative words from the other.

Our history, or modern history under the PAP, written and approved by the PAP, is only 60 years. What would our history be in another generation when memories of all the key players and their direct beneficiaries and victims have gone cold?  For the moment, the good, bad and ugly are well documented by official memoirs and the media. Would their places be switched when the powers change hands in the future? Would our history be told differently and the villains and heroes be named differently?

Now, who is next to join the list of has beens, came and left and turned to dust.?

Ip Man 3 – A nation building perspective

Ip Man 3 the movie is going to set records all over the world as a very watchable movie. Movie making has taken a paradigm shift, from the funny slapstick cartoon like fighting sequences of the past to more stylish and gravity defying stunt done at great speed, and appearing very realistic. The choreography of fighting scenes is like watching fighting men moving with the grace of dancers. This generation of movie making has made the movies of the past looked so amaturish. They are really very enjoyable to watch.

The themes and plots are fairly standard and familiar. But fans of kungfu movies did not pay just for the plots, though they made the movies more watchable. They went for the actions. Many also went to see Ip Man and his brand of fighting skills against his opponents, seeing the triumph of a skilled kungfu exponent taking on fearsome opponents and won. Good for the adrenaline and comforting for the soul.

There is another important aspect that many missed, the big picture. Ip Man’s movies were scripted in a period when China was the Sick Man of Asia and Hongkong 1959 was a British colony. The island was ruled by foreigners and the local elites were shameless, powerless, greedy and selfish individuals that only cared for their own good. They did not mind the foreigners taking over the govt, taking over the businesses and industries, bullying the helpless and poor country men, kicking them around, as long as they, the elite, could lead a good life.

The foreigners were everywhere and calling the shot.  Jobs were few for the locals and getting a job from the foreigners was a big thing, even being discriminated, being bullied and underpaid, and having to please the foreigners and enduring their abuses.  The masses were poor, hungry and angry, but could not do a thing. They could not depend on the local elites that were in cahoot with the foreigners to exploit them.  They could only hope for an Ip Man to stand up and fight for them. And they screamed for their hero. But the victory was empty. The system, with the foreigners in charge and calling the shot, and the locals as the disenfranchised people, with little rights, with no help coming from the elites, was the order of the day.

They did not know the island was lost. They were conquered and ruled by foreigners and depending on the mercy and charity of the foreigners. The parasitic local elites were more interested in enriching themselves, country or no country never mind. Life was good for them and their families. The masses could be left to be bullied by the foreigners, beaten by the foreigners, the elites would turn a blind eye. The elites were also fearful of the foreigners as the foreigners were in control, in charge of the country.

The historical context of the Ip Man movies was a lost people,  lost country, a people with no dignity, no will to fight for themselves, no pride, no money, no jobs, but waiting helplessly for things to happen, waiting for more Ip Mans to stand up to fight for them.

When a country turned into a Sick Man of Asia, that would be the fate of the people. They lost everything, their country, their jobs, their self respect, their dignity, their right to live as normal citizens of a country. They did not know how to fight back, to regain their rights in their country, to retake their country from the foreigners and the corrupt elites. The elites were were the real enemies of the people, not the leaders of the country.

Ip Man was just a flash of hope but would not change anything. The people need to rise together, to throw out the corrupt elites and the foreigners.  It took several revolutions, millions of death, and a lot of pain and suffering, to retake China from the corrupt regimes and the foreigners and later the return of Hongkong.

Look beyond Ip Man in the movie. There is a very important lesson in nation building to be learnt. It is not the fighting skills of Ip Man. It is not one man to change the world. It is the helplessness of a people that had lost their country to foreigners.

Singapore is an exceptional place on earth

When the whole world is threatened by terrorist attacks, Singaporeans can sleep in peace, partly due to the exceptional govt and the exceptional men in blue. 27 terrorists were arrested and deported to Bangladesh without doing any harm to Singapore.

What was remarkable is the discovery of this terrorist cell in the island. What is more remarkable is that the terrorists were not planning to hit Singapore. They were planning to hit Bangladesh. Now you see why Singapore is so safe? The terrorists would not dare to hit Singapore or would not want to hit Singapore. Isn’t that remarkable? This is uniquely Singapore. International terrorists were here, at least 27 of them, excluding whatever local terrorists known and unknown, and we are safe.

The other remarkable thing is that Singapore is an open country and people come in freely. The govt is very happy to have more migrants coming to work in the island. And many of the migrants, more than 2m are here, are from terrorist prone regions and countries. And up to the last arrest, only 27 out of more than 2m foreigners are terrorists. This must be some kind of record.

Singapore is safe because the terrorists want to make it safe. They are here but would not attack Singapore. So nice. We can open our immigration door wider for more foreigners to come in. Oh, maybe our integration programme is very successful to integrate the foreigners that they have become one of us, like our law abiding Singaporeans, helping to make Singapore safer. Many foreigners are also grass root leaders and helping in patrolling their neighbourhoods.

What a nice feeling to be Singaporeans. The bigger problem here is actually Islamophobia, Singaporeans over reacting to the threats from radicalized terrorists.