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See this thread for the background http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?t=50667
“Imagine a Sg with the PAP in charge for another 50 years.”
A political party is only as good as its leaders are. The present PAP is a pale shadow of its former self and has ceased to be a political party altogether.
It is merely a political vehicle for a single man to govern the country. No PAP member can ever hope to rise up in its ranks without prior approval from this man.
The PAP has been enjoying a “good life” for far too long without any opposition in parliament to check on it.
Due to the lack of political competition, it has become complacent with many of its leaders losing touch with the ground and forgetting that they are put into power by the people in the first place.
There is little accountability or transparency in Sg’s present political system which resembles more like a third world dictatorship than a first world democracy.
All institutions of the state are controlled by the PAP directly or indirectly such as the police, media, civil society, grassroots organizations and trade unions.
Repressive laws are put in place to curtail the civil and political liberties of citizens under the guise of “public order and safety”.
It is not a surprise that Sg is described as a “textbook example of a politically repressive state” by respected international NGO Human Rights Watch recently in its annual report.
The entire set-up is put in place to perpetuate the PAP’s rule forever so as to prevent an alternative center of power from emerging to challenge it.
Even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong admitted himself that Sg is better off being dominated by a single party than multi-party politics.
Law Minister Shanmugam defended Sg’s political system on the basis that it needs an “efficient” government which makes fast decisions.
The stunning policy reversals made by the PAP recently is a testament to the failure of a rigid one-party system over-dependent on a 86 year old “forecaster extraordinarie” to think out of the box, anticipate future problems and to inspire an entire nation to follow its leadership.
Based on current policy trends and direction, the following stands a higher chance of happening than PAP distributing our reserves to every citizen if we were to allow the PAP to rule Sg for another fifty years:
1. Native Sgans will become a minority:
Due to the PAP’s liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies, foreigners now make up 36 per cent of Sg’s population, up from 14 per cent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 per cent who are citizens, an increasing proportion are born overseas.
The birth rates of native Sgans, especially the ethnic Chinese, continue to decrease despite a slew of government incentives introduced to encourage them to bear more children while the PAP has promised only to “slow down” the inflow of immigrants.
At the rate they are mass importing foreigners elsewhere to take up Sg citizenship, it is only a matter of time before native Sgans fall below 50 per cent of the population. In fact the day is not too far away.
With Sgans becoming a minority in their own country, it will become increasingly difficult for them to vote out the increasingly unpopular PAP which is actively wooing PRs and new citizens by roping them into grassroots organizations in a desperate bid to hang on to power
2. Brain drain will accelerate:
According to figures from the Home Affairs Ministry, there are about 180,000 Sgans working overseas, many of whom are unlikely to return.
About 1,000 Sgans give up their citizenships yearly and the number is set to rise in the coming years.
In an interview done by the Straits Times two years ago, more than 50 per cent of youths interviewed had expressed thoughts of emigrating.
Common reasons cited include stressful living conditions, lack of social security in old age and a repressive political climate.
Contrary as to what the PAP would like to believe, the degree of political freedom in a country is an important factor in keeping and attracting world class talents, few of whom want to live forever under the shadow of a totalitarian state.
Furthermore, there is an increasing number of unhappy, frustrated and angry Sgans who are voting with their feet because they have given up hope of voting the PAP out of office altogether.
The PAP is replacing the talented Sgans who left with second and third class “talents” from China and India which will surely decrease the quality of our “stock” in the long run.
How can Sg expect to compete with China, India and its neighbors when it is importing “inferior” talents from them while its own talented people are emigrating in droves? The future of Sg is becoming indeed bleaker and bleaker with each passing day.
3. Widening income gap between the rich and the poor:
Under PAP rule, Sg’s income gap between the rich and the poor has widened considerably over the last two decades.
Sg now has the highest income gap among the thirty most developed countries in the world due to the PAP’s lop-sided economic policies which favor big businesses at the expense of ordinary citizens.
It is widely acknowledged among economists that Sg’s phenomenal economic growth over the last few years is a result of its open-door policies to foreign workers which help to keep labor costs down thereby boosting the GDP growth figures artificially.
The relentless influx of cheap foreign labor has depressed the wages of ordinary Sgans which remain stagnant at $2,600 monthly.
The PAP doesn’t seem to be concerned about the implications of Sg’s widening income gap as illustrated by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s reply to a question on it at a Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum last year.
He said that Sg’s widening income gap is an “inevitable consequence” of globalization and it mattered little so long the government continues to create jobs for Sgans.
He forgot the fact that some jobs offer too low a pay to afford a decent standard of living in Sg and that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have been exposed to globalization too and yet they have a much narrower income gap than Sg.
Sg will soon become only a playground for the rich ruling elites and foreigners while the poor continue to slog day in and out to pay for the roofs over their heads.
“Imagine a Sg with the PAP in charge for another 50 years.”
A political party is only as good as its leaders are. The present PAP is a pale shadow of its former self and has ceased to be a political party altogether.
It is merely a political vehicle for a single man to govern the country. No PAP member can ever hope to rise up in its ranks without prior approval from this man.
The PAP has been enjoying a “good life” for far too long without any opposition in parliament to check on it.
Due to the lack of political competition, it has become complacent with many of its leaders losing touch with the ground and forgetting that they are put into power by the people in the first place.
There is little accountability or transparency in Sg’s present political system which resembles more like a third world dictatorship than a first world democracy.
All institutions of the state are controlled by the PAP directly or indirectly such as the police, media, civil society, grassroots organizations and trade unions.
Repressive laws are put in place to curtail the civil and political liberties of citizens under the guise of “public order and safety”.
It is not a surprise that Sg is described as a “textbook example of a politically repressive state” by respected international NGO Human Rights Watch recently in its annual report.
The entire set-up is put in place to perpetuate the PAP’s rule forever so as to prevent an alternative center of power from emerging to challenge it.
Even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong admitted himself that Sg is better off being dominated by a single party than multi-party politics.
Law Minister Shanmugam defended Sg’s political system on the basis that it needs an “efficient” government which makes fast decisions.
The stunning policy reversals made by the PAP recently is a testament to the failure of a rigid one-party system over-dependent on a 86 year old “forecaster extraordinarie” to think out of the box, anticipate future problems and to inspire an entire nation to follow its leadership.
Based on current policy trends and direction, the following stands a higher chance of happening than PAP distributing our reserves to every citizen if we were to allow the PAP to rule Sg for another fifty years:
1. Native Sgans will become a minority:
Due to the PAP’s liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies, foreigners now make up 36 per cent of Sg’s population, up from 14 per cent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 per cent who are citizens, an increasing proportion are born overseas.
The birth rates of native Sgans, especially the ethnic Chinese, continue to decrease despite a slew of government incentives introduced to encourage them to bear more children while the PAP has promised only to “slow down” the inflow of immigrants.
At the rate they are mass importing foreigners elsewhere to take up Sg citizenship, it is only a matter of time before native Sgans fall below 50 per cent of the population. In fact the day is not too far away.
With Sgans becoming a minority in their own country, it will become increasingly difficult for them to vote out the increasingly unpopular PAP which is actively wooing PRs and new citizens by roping them into grassroots organizations in a desperate bid to hang on to power
2. Brain drain will accelerate:
According to figures from the Home Affairs Ministry, there are about 180,000 Sgans working overseas, many of whom are unlikely to return.
About 1,000 Sgans give up their citizenships yearly and the number is set to rise in the coming years.
In an interview done by the Straits Times two years ago, more than 50 per cent of youths interviewed had expressed thoughts of emigrating.
Common reasons cited include stressful living conditions, lack of social security in old age and a repressive political climate.
Contrary as to what the PAP would like to believe, the degree of political freedom in a country is an important factor in keeping and attracting world class talents, few of whom want to live forever under the shadow of a totalitarian state.
Furthermore, there is an increasing number of unhappy, frustrated and angry Sgans who are voting with their feet because they have given up hope of voting the PAP out of office altogether.
The PAP is replacing the talented Sgans who left with second and third class “talents” from China and India which will surely decrease the quality of our “stock” in the long run.
How can Sg expect to compete with China, India and its neighbors when it is importing “inferior” talents from them while its own talented people are emigrating in droves? The future of Sg is becoming indeed bleaker and bleaker with each passing day.
3. Widening income gap between the rich and the poor:
Under PAP rule, Sg’s income gap between the rich and the poor has widened considerably over the last two decades.
Sg now has the highest income gap among the thirty most developed countries in the world due to the PAP’s lop-sided economic policies which favor big businesses at the expense of ordinary citizens.
It is widely acknowledged among economists that Sg’s phenomenal economic growth over the last few years is a result of its open-door policies to foreign workers which help to keep labor costs down thereby boosting the GDP growth figures artificially.
The relentless influx of cheap foreign labor has depressed the wages of ordinary Sgans which remain stagnant at $2,600 monthly.
The PAP doesn’t seem to be concerned about the implications of Sg’s widening income gap as illustrated by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s reply to a question on it at a Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum last year.
He said that Sg’s widening income gap is an “inevitable consequence” of globalization and it mattered little so long the government continues to create jobs for Sgans.
He forgot the fact that some jobs offer too low a pay to afford a decent standard of living in Sg and that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have been exposed to globalization too and yet they have a much narrower income gap than Sg.
Sg will soon become only a playground for the rich ruling elites and foreigners while the poor continue to slog day in and out to pay for the roofs over their heads.
