http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/08/23/the-only-direction-lhl-will-take-sg-is-backwards/
[h=2]The only direction LHL will take SG is backwards[/h]
August 23rd, 2015 |
Author: Contributions
As
Lee Hsien Loong introduced his new candidates for Ang Mo Kio with the words,
“We’re looking for a new team to take Singapore forward”, my first thought was I
had heard that before-not just once but at every election.
It also brought to mind that old and racist joke about how many gears an
Italian tank had. The answer was five-one forward and four reverse. The PAP
Government today is like that tank and the only place they are likely to take
Singapore is not forward but backwards.
Every election the PAP says the same thing. Then they introduce the same crop
of ex-civil servants, GLC and statutory board executives, new citizens and
generals with the occasional doctor thrown in. All yes-men and women. Even those
who come from the private sector usually have a GLC and scholar background.
Lee Hsien Loong may talk the usual cliches about renewal and young blood but
we are not going to find a new team to take Singapore forward from these people.
Their candidates may get younger but they are like clones of the MPs they
replace. They have no new ideas and are in any case so scared of jeopardising
their million-dollar and multi-million dollar pay packages that they will not
speak up if they did.
With the replacement of Inderjit Singh at the relatively young age of 55 the
PAP have if anything become even more conformist. They have lost one of the few
backbench MPs who was prepared to criticise PAP policies, though only mildly and
within strict limits.
The truth is that despite all the talk about a new team to take Singapore
forward, Lee Hsien Loong is floundering. He does not know what to do now the
global economic environment has turned against him. He is calling an election
early because he knows that the economy is going to get a lot worse. Of course
when economic growth was high it was due to his government’s clever economic
management. Now that the economy is teetering on the brink of recession it is
the adverse external environment that is to blame.
As I wrote in my previous blog, “Beware
of This Man! LHL Will Boost Singapore’s Population to 10 Million Once Global
Growth Recovers“, Lee Hsien Loong admits he has “maxed out” the easy growth.
It is no longer possible to play the confidence trick that he is improving your
lives by using foreign workers and immigration to boost economic growth. It no
longer works not because the PAP have decided to recalibrate their policies
because of public pressure as they claim, but because the economy is weak
because Singapore exports have fallen off a cliff due to weak global demand. If
the economy picks up so will the demand for foreign workers and the rate of
population growth.
Meanwhile your wages stagnate or decline in real terms while the competition
for jobs from foreign PMETs intensifies. Even more in a low-growth
environment the pressure is on Singaporeans whom under the current system
employers find all too easy to replace with cheaper PMETs who do not have the
burden of NS or CPF. Never mind that their qualifications are often inferior to
the Singaporeans they displace. The Government pays lip service to supposedly
protecting the welfare of Singaporeans but has a huge conflict of interest as
the bigger employer and owner of businesses.
Productivity has been negative for three years which looks like being
extended to a fourth year.
Why would you trust the PAP team and Lee Hsien Loong to lead the country out
of the mess they have got us into? They are certainly not worth the millions
they are being paid, and the hundreds of millions their spouses and relatives
are earning as managers at Temasek and GIC and the many other unaccountable and
opaque entities that control the wealth that Singaporeans work so hard to
create.
Unfortunately it looks extremely unlikely that the impending election will
produce the change of Government that Singapore needs and an end to the PAP’s
failed economic policies. That is why the Reform Party has chosen to challenge
Lee Hsien Loong directly in Ang Mo Kio. Our aim is to achieve accountability and
transparency over the nation’s reserves and a fairer share for Singaporeans in
that wealth. Even if the Government does not change, if we win in Ang Mo Kio we
will get a new Prime Minister and hopefully the adoption of new policies that
achieve this.
The only direction the PAP will take Singapore is back to the
past.
Kenneth Jeyaretnam
*
Kenneth Jeyaretnam is Secretary-General of the opposition Reform Party. This
article first appeared in his blog, The
Ricebowl Singapore.
[h=2]The only direction LHL will take SG is backwards[/h]
August 23rd, 2015 |
Author: Contributions
Lee Hsien Loong introduced his new candidates for Ang Mo Kio with the words,
“We’re looking for a new team to take Singapore forward”, my first thought was I
had heard that before-not just once but at every election.
It also brought to mind that old and racist joke about how many gears an
Italian tank had. The answer was five-one forward and four reverse. The PAP
Government today is like that tank and the only place they are likely to take
Singapore is not forward but backwards.
Every election the PAP says the same thing. Then they introduce the same crop
of ex-civil servants, GLC and statutory board executives, new citizens and
generals with the occasional doctor thrown in. All yes-men and women. Even those
who come from the private sector usually have a GLC and scholar background.
Lee Hsien Loong may talk the usual cliches about renewal and young blood but
we are not going to find a new team to take Singapore forward from these people.
Their candidates may get younger but they are like clones of the MPs they
replace. They have no new ideas and are in any case so scared of jeopardising
their million-dollar and multi-million dollar pay packages that they will not
speak up if they did.
With the replacement of Inderjit Singh at the relatively young age of 55 the
PAP have if anything become even more conformist. They have lost one of the few
backbench MPs who was prepared to criticise PAP policies, though only mildly and
within strict limits.
The truth is that despite all the talk about a new team to take Singapore
forward, Lee Hsien Loong is floundering. He does not know what to do now the
global economic environment has turned against him. He is calling an election
early because he knows that the economy is going to get a lot worse. Of course
when economic growth was high it was due to his government’s clever economic
management. Now that the economy is teetering on the brink of recession it is
the adverse external environment that is to blame.
As I wrote in my previous blog, “Beware
of This Man! LHL Will Boost Singapore’s Population to 10 Million Once Global
Growth Recovers“, Lee Hsien Loong admits he has “maxed out” the easy growth.
It is no longer possible to play the confidence trick that he is improving your
lives by using foreign workers and immigration to boost economic growth. It no
longer works not because the PAP have decided to recalibrate their policies
because of public pressure as they claim, but because the economy is weak
because Singapore exports have fallen off a cliff due to weak global demand. If
the economy picks up so will the demand for foreign workers and the rate of
population growth.
Meanwhile your wages stagnate or decline in real terms while the competition
for jobs from foreign PMETs intensifies. Even more in a low-growth
environment the pressure is on Singaporeans whom under the current system
employers find all too easy to replace with cheaper PMETs who do not have the
burden of NS or CPF. Never mind that their qualifications are often inferior to
the Singaporeans they displace. The Government pays lip service to supposedly
protecting the welfare of Singaporeans but has a huge conflict of interest as
the bigger employer and owner of businesses.
Productivity has been negative for three years which looks like being
extended to a fourth year.
Why would you trust the PAP team and Lee Hsien Loong to lead the country out
of the mess they have got us into? They are certainly not worth the millions
they are being paid, and the hundreds of millions their spouses and relatives
are earning as managers at Temasek and GIC and the many other unaccountable and
opaque entities that control the wealth that Singaporeans work so hard to
create.
Unfortunately it looks extremely unlikely that the impending election will
produce the change of Government that Singapore needs and an end to the PAP’s
failed economic policies. That is why the Reform Party has chosen to challenge
Lee Hsien Loong directly in Ang Mo Kio. Our aim is to achieve accountability and
transparency over the nation’s reserves and a fairer share for Singaporeans in
that wealth. Even if the Government does not change, if we win in Ang Mo Kio we
will get a new Prime Minister and hopefully the adoption of new policies that
achieve this.
The only direction the PAP will take Singapore is back to the
past.
Kenneth Jeyaretnam
*
Kenneth Jeyaretnam is Secretary-General of the opposition Reform Party. This
article first appeared in his blog, The
Ricebowl Singapore.
