It sums up my thoughts about the recent parliamentary session which led to a conclusion that either Singapore has super-smart ministers and PAP MPs whom we can never understand their polices or thinking, or I have smart-ass ones who are absolutely clueless about the man on the street.
It gets even funnier when I read comments from die-hard PAP supporters. It always cracks me up. Usually these fall along the lines of:
- Singaporeans are arrogant. We should not take the current government for granted.
- Don't just criticise but provide alternative solutions.
- Flippant choice of first or third world countries, depending on subject discussed
First and foremost, the general Singaporeans are NOT taking anyone for granted even less so of the PAP government. Most of us are grateful for what they had sacrificed and done over the past 20-30 years when Singapore was just a teeny weeny swampy island.
But we have to learn to let bygones be bygones. There was an era where we survived the risk of isolation and rejection. That said, it is now futile to keep talking about the past when the very present situation has general Singaporeans struggling to survive or fuming about the high cost of living. All these racial riots and communism unrests have their places in in the 60s history.
For the love of the country, I'd strongly suggest keeping those memories there. In the past. I agree we should (and rightly so) glean wisdom and learning points from these unfortunate events but hey, we really have to move on in restrospect of what the current present situation holds and looking ahead to what the future has in store.
To put it bluntly I call this reminiscing of the past - fear-mongering. Time and time again, my PAP ministers use these historical references to bring about fear of what may happen. We are certainly living in a different time compared to our forefathers' era. The rehashing of our past cripples our forward thinking. It becomes blatantly clear whenever the public attempts to connect with the government on pressing issues or when the opposition members question the current policies, someone from the PAP club is certain to preach about our history.
And this leads to one of the main grouses - we, the public, have been trying to reach out to you by voicing our concerns but you diss us with your 'I know it all due to our track record' attitude.
Having said that, you throw in the spanner with 'don't just criticise but provide solutions'.
Allow me to speak straight into your face. Pay me your million bucks and I'll provide you solutions. How often have you made a collaborative attempt to include our voices into your policies? It is always 'bad medicine is good for you'.
In most solution-delivery processes, one must first understand gather the customers' requirements and needs before attempting solutioning.
In simple basic English - LISTEN. Yet time and again, the PAP-controlled government trips up this simple step. We are often recipients of their high-handed remarks. Quite some time ago someone called us 'daft' and in recent times we need 'spurs in our hides'. Your often haughty, one-rule-applies-to-all policies are shafted down our throats with a 'listen up or ship out' statement.
When we tell you large number of Singaporeans are migrating out, you call us 'quitters'. When we tell you the large foreign influx is affecting our lives, you chide us for not being inclusive and in dire need of a social integration mindset. And you kick off programmes to socialise or celebrate their festivals with our monies.
Gee have you been listening? Your thrust of messages is always we need to do something or we are not good enough. This brings about resentful feelings and apathetic responses in our everyday lives. The icing? Your 'we know it best' attitude brings out the worst of you.
Can you the PAP pause and listen to your citizens who are also your customers? For once take a step back and pay attention. Fundamentally we pay you so you had better 'shut your gap' and listen more.
Yet I'm sure we have these 'die-hard' supporters who still swear by PAP even at the face of death with a gun pointing at their heads. I'd reckon the fart from the posterior end of my highly-esteemed godfather is perfume to their nostrils.
So I give you these words mouthed by my 'smarter than thou' ministers and MPs before some moron start to write comments to give me their $0.02 worth of bullsh*t.
- Housing is affordable.
- We are 'deaf' to criticisms.
- How much do you want? Three meals in a restaurant, food court or hawker centre?
Now don't go crying to the public asking for alternate solutions when you the PAP did not even bother take time to listen from the beginning.
Last but not least, it never fails to irk me whenever a PAP leader or bootlicker flippantly choose between a first-world or third-world country to bring home a point.
To support their million-dollar salaries, they point to CEOs and top leaders of large corporations when I have the US president earning ONE-FOURTH of your salary! And mind you, he has to handle a lot more than you.
Firstly he manages a country many times over the size of Singapore. He deals with global crisis, implementing policies affecting millions of people and banks. His word moves or tumbles the world economy. He and his team handles catastrophic events of earthquakes and hurricanes. And my minister can't even handle minor flash floods.
Gee I think the US president has a pretty bad deal. No wonder a spokesman from the White House once quipped that he would not mind working in Singapore as a government official.
Then you PAPpies go about saying that the leaving presidents of US and UK have offers to give speeches and write books. Seriously apart from Lee Kuan Yew, I wouldn't give a hoot about my ex-president's book.
Why? Because I have absolutely no idea what he has been doing in spite of his four-million-dollar annual salary. I kinda linked him to 'holding babies', shaking hands and taking photos. Pretty expensive job, eh?
And the happiness index raised by the opposition member Sylvia Lim (fantastic speech by the way, God bless her soul). She aptly reminded the government to re-focus on the needs of the people.
What do my PAP politicians say? They put third-world Bhutan country down and alleviate their status about how good Singapore is because of their efforts.
Goondu or what? Are you opposing for the sake of opposing the opposition? You guys seriously ought to have your heads examined.
After watching some clips of the parliamentary seating, some of you left a very sour taste in my mouth
3 comments:
cldn't agree with you more.
u'v summed the sitn up well.
Yup, the PAP government never see themselves or their policies as the source of current problems.
They are indeed opposing the ideas floated by the opposition for the sake of opposing, but they will never admit to this.
Source: SMH
Well this is OZ mate which you claim pollies do not get millions?
HE IS said to be the most powerful man in NSW, the state's "infrastructure tsar".
But the head of Infrastructure NSW, Nick Greiner, has cost taxpayers millions over the past 20 years because of entitlements given to former premiers who have served for at least four years.
According to figures released by the Department of Premier and Cabinet as part of a freedom of information request, Mr Greiner has claimed the most in entitlements over the past three years. He is followed by Neville Wran and Bob Carr.
Advertisement: Story continues below Barrie Unsworth, who was premier between 1986 and 1988, has been the most frugal, only claiming an entitlement for $384.61 in the 2009-10 financial year. Mr Unsworth said this was for hire car travel to official functions with the Turkish and Korean presidents.
Figures show the entitlements of former premiers cost more than $5 million over three years.
Kristina Keneally is the only former leader to receive nothing.
In the past financial year, Mr Greiner claimed $588,532, most of which went towards staff salaries, a driver and his Macquarie Street office. He also spent $47,317 on ''other related costs''. Since 2008, he has claimed $1.83 million in entitlements from the government.
In addition, he received $262,500 last year as chairman of the manufacturer Bradken, and has been chairman of The Nuance Group, QBE Insurance Group, Blue Star Print Group and Playup.
In the same period, Mr Wran claimed less than Mr Greiner - $1.79 million - but in the past financial year he got $601,784.
As a non-executive director of Cabcharge, a position he relinquished last year, Mr Wran earned $40,354 in 2011 and $96,850 in 2010 as well as acquiring hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of company shares during his tenure.
The longest-serving premier, Bob Carr, who served for more than 10 years, comes in at third place, claiming $1.47 million over the same three-year period.
He has also worked as a consultant to Macquarie Bank since retiring from politics.
These three former premiers are the only ones who have claimed more than $1 million each in three years. The next most expensive is Morris Iemma, who held the job for three years and 33 days, and has claimed $314,996.
The Premier, Barry O'Farrell, announced a review of the entitlement scheme of former premiers in October last year.
His spokesman said the review has not yet been received.
At the time of the announcement, Mr O'Farrell said: ''The premiers who receive the vast bulk of these benefits have secured other roles in the private sector where they're well paid and probably don't need the taxpayer to meet the cost of those services.''
He also suggested premiers should be in office for more than five years before claiming any entitlements.
According to documents released by the Premier's Department, a ''long serving'' premier is defined as one who has served four or more years in office.
This entitles them to a car and driver on a full time basis, a car phone, a gold life pass for travel on all rail lines in Australia, free travel on State Transit for life, 12 first class return flights within Australia, and 12 return flights within the state.
Their spouses are allowed two first class return interstate rail trips and seven first class return intrastate rail journeys each year, for every year of service as premier. They also have free air travel if they are travelling together.
Long-serving premiers also get a home phone, an office, two full-time staff and free postage. All three former premiers were approached for comment but did not return phone calls.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/revealed-millions-of-dollars-worth-of-claims-made-by-former-premiers-20120110-1ptm5.html#ixzz1j8qLLXvl
Post a Comment