Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 years.

[Confuseous]

The strongest argument for the adopting of this strategy of the large symbol, both undeniably alien and alienating to the PAP temperament, has actually to do with PAP survival itself. The winds of political change cannot be shut out and will, at their appointed times, sweep through the world of practising, struggling and aspiring democracies intricately connected by the Internet. In Singapore, at some time in the future, whether foreseeable or distant, there will come the demand from Singaporeans to do away with this or that instrument used against this or that civic liberty.

Surely the best way for the government to prepare the ground for the future PAP leaders is to accept the inevitable and abandon the present grindingly slow and grudging pace of political liberalization, for a more speedy, forceful and convincing process. The longer the present leaders take to bring about this change, the more difficult it will be for their successors to do so in the future.

If the PAP has little hope, in the three or four years before the next General Election, of sweetening the ground for the next generation of leaders, they can at least spare it further toxicity. And there is no better way to do this than to take into serious account the emotional will of the people, and the aspirations linked with it. Only in this way can the PAP get rid of the political baggage from the past and provide a clean slate for the future leaders to work out a relationship of real trust and understanding with the people.

- http://catherinelim.sg/2013/03/11/the-pap-in-critical-transition-regaining-lost-trust/

 

[streetsmart73]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

hi there


1. as long as the broke record is kicking.
2. the empire stays on.
3. nothing changes hoh
4. erh! what happen to our resident bitch/cunt?

 

[Leongsam]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

In my opinion, the government should tighten its reign. The reason is simple. Liberalisation does not imply that life will be better. It could end up a lot worse.


******


Regrets for the man who laid Saddam low

By Peter Beaumont

5:30 AM Monday Mar 11, 2013

Ten years ago, Kadom al-Jabouri became the face of the fall of Baghdad.

Pictured with a sledgehammer while attempting to demolish the huge statue of Saddam Hussein in the city's Firdos Square, al-Jabouri's jubilant act of destruction made front pages around the world.

For former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States President George W. Bush, the image was a godsend, encapsulating the delight of a grateful nation that their hated dictator had been ousted.

The US networks showed the statue's fall for hours on end.

However, almost exactly a decade later, the "sledgehammer man" - who was helped by a US tank carrier to finally topple the statue - furiously regrets that afternoon and the symbolism of what he was involved in.

"I hated Saddam," the 52-year-old owner of a motorcycle spares shop said. "I dreamed for five years of bringing down that statue, but what has followed has been a bitter disappointment.

"Then we had only one dictator. Now we have hundreds," he says, echoing a popular sentiment these days in a country mired in political problems and corruption, where killings still occur on an almost daily basis. "Nothing has changed for the better."

Video from the time shows al-Jabouri that day, a huge bull of a man in a vest top with close-cropped hair, battering the statue's concrete plinth with furious intensity.

What actually happened that day is still the subject of rival claims by those involved. A report in the Los Angeles Times in 2004 suggested that the toppling of the statue was stage-managed. Al-Jabouri denies that. His claim is contested by the American soldiers involved, including the crew of the M-88 tank tow truck that eventually pulled the statue down.

Two years ago they told the New Yorker that the hammer belonged to them and that a first sergeant called Leon Lambert handed it to Iraqis who then took turns using it, al-Jabouri being the first of them.

These days al-Jabouri is still recognisable as the man from those images, the former champion power-lifter who spent 11 years in Abu Ghraib Prison under Saddam.

Despite his formidable physique, he could only break off chunks of concrete. Even with a rope supplied by the crew of the M-88, the crowd was still not strong enough to shift it. In the end it was the vehicle that pulled it down.

Asked why he had been in prison under Saddam, al-Jabouri answers only that his crime was "semi-political".

He has said in the past that he was sent to jail after complaining that Saddam's son, Uday, had not paid him for fixing his motorbike. Eventually he was released in 1996.

Whatever his subsequent regrets, the day the statue came down remains etched on his memory. "I was in my shop here on my own. It was around noon. I heard that the Americans were in the suburbs. I went to get my sledgehammer and headed to Firdos Square.

"I'd had the idea in my mind of knocking down the statue so I went to do it. There were secret police still in the square and fedayeen [Saddam's paramilitary forces]. They were watching what I was doing. But my friends surrounded me to protect me, if they shot.

"The Americans came 45 minutes later. The commander asked if I needed a hand and pulled it down. It was just me at first. Then 30 of us. Then 300. In the end there were thousands in the square. It was all about revenge for me, for what the regime had done to me, for the years I spent in prison."

The regrets began, he says, two years later under the US occupation, which he loathed. Nothing has happened since to change his mind - not the end of the occupation nor the handover of control to Iraq.

"Under Saddam there was security. There was corruption, but nothing like this. Our lives were protected. And many of the basics like electricity and gas were more affordable.

"After two years I saw no progress. Then there came the killings, the robberies and the sectarian violence."

He blames Iraq's politicians and the Americans for what has happened to Iraq.

"The Americans began it. And then with the politicians they destroyed the country. Nothing has changed. And things seem to get worse all the time. There's no future. Not as long as the political parties running the country are in power."

The "saturation coverage" fall of Saddam's statue - according to the most in-depth analysis by the New Yorker's Peter Maass two years ago - "fuelled the perception that the war had been won, and diverted attention from Iraq at precisely the moment that more attention was needed, not less".

The reality, as seen by al-Jabouri and other Iraqis with the benefit of hindsight, is that the worst times were only beginning, not coming an end.


-Observer


By Peter Beaumont
Copyright ©2013, APN Holdings NZ Limited

Copyright ©2013, APN Holdings NZ Limited

 

[enterprise2]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

Whats your point?? Change sometimes need time for change. But if you don't change, the future will become much worse. And change does not mean one big bang, it change after change ...and these series of changes needs to be managed. In Iraq case, the jury is still out. They need to get their act together.

 

[lesMISERABLES]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

In my opinion, the government should tighten its reign.

Let me see how this might mean in practical terms:

1. Only PAP supporters can be employed to work in the civil service, GLC and stat boards
2. Investments made by non-PAP supporters will not earn interest. They invest at their own risk.
3. Investments made by PAP supporters will be guaranteed against losses.
4. PAP supporters will be given discounts/rebates for travel on public transport, purchase of groceries, payment of medical bills.
5. PAP supporters will be given free health and accident insurance with no limit.
6. PAP supporters need to pay 10% of the COE price for the purchase of cars.
7. Mortgage rates will be at least 70% lower for PAP supporters

........and blah, blah, blah

 

[Bigfuck]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

Whats your point?? Change sometimes need time for change. But if you don't change, the future will become much worse. And change does not mean one big bang, it change after change ...and these series of changes needs to be managed. In Iraq case, the jury is still out. They need to get their act together.

You misunderstand his intention. Tightening now, will trigger war. They shoulf tighten it.

 

[nitecrawllerr]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

In my opinion, the government should tighten its reign. The reason is simple. Liberalisation does not imply that life will be better. It could end up a lot worse.

Indonesia is another example.

After the downfall of Late President Suharto, till today, corruption still exists and rampant. Rupiah down in values. Jobless rate increased. So much for "reformasi".

 

[laksaboy]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

Indonesia is another example.

After the downfall of Late President Suharto, till today, corruption still exists and rampant. Rupiah down in values. Jobless rate increased. So much for "reformasi".

You mean Singapore is not corrupted?

 

[nitecrawllerr]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

You mean Singapore is not corrupted?

No comment on that.

I was just comparing Iraq and Indonesia. Muslim countries.

 

[mojito]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

In my opinion, the government should tighten its reign. The reason is simple. Liberalisation does not imply that life will be better. It could end up a lot worse.

In the context of Iraqi, surely you meant "liberation" instead? I actually agree with your earlier statement. Liberalisation, particularly in the labour markets, is the root cause of the PAP's loss of support. A rare freudian slip from our forum host?

 

[Conqueror]

Bloody Dictator Or Evil Capitalist

In the context of Iraqi, surely you meant "liberation" instead? I actually agree with your earlier statement. Liberalisation, particularly in the labour markets, is the root cause of the PAP's loss of support. A rare freudian slip from our forum host?

So, are you saying he is more of an evil capitalist or just a bloody dictator like everyone is accusing him of ?

Liberty or freedom also means chaos. If the chaos does not align itself to goodness, then it will be better to have a dictator who seems to know the direction that everyone should go.

 

[Capano2121]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

You mean Singapore is not corrupted?

Of course Singapore is not corrupted!
The tax payers' fed fat dogs in white are incorruptible!
They only get miserable millions in salary per year!
And they get only miserable millions as directors in each GLC!
And they are only given directorship status in maybe a miserable ten to twenty of such GLC!
Thus in conclusion, Singapore is incorruptible because her politicians cannot be corrupted & they do not know how to be corrupted because their combine miserable millions are paid in one dollar coins and they just simply do not have the time for any other thoughts besides counting their miserable million dollars salary!

 

[greenies]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

Ha ha .. very true.
Don't think those are just imagination.
In fact, they are already in placed.

Let me see how this might mean in practical terms:

1. Only PAP supporters can be employed to work in the civil service, GLC and stat boards
2. Investments made by non-PAP supporters will not earn interest. They invest at their own risk.
3. Investments made by PAP supporters will be guaranteed against losses.
4. PAP supporters will be given discounts/rebates for travel on public transport, purchase of groceries, payment of medical bills.
5. PAP supporters will be given free health and accident insurance with no limit.
6. PAP supporters need to pay 10% of the COE price for the purchase of cars.
7. Mortgage rates will be at least 70% lower for PAP supporters

........and blah, blah, blah

 

[laksaboy]

Re: Bloody Dictator Or Evil Capitalist

So, are you saying he is more of an evil capitalist or just a bloody dictator like everyone is accusing him of ?

Liberty or freedom also means chaos. If the chaos does not align itself to goodness, then it will be better to have a dictator who seems to know the direction that everyone should go.

Let's put it this way:

If this island has a large reserve of oil and LKY is sitting on it but isn't playing nice with America (e.g. refusing to trade the oil for US dollars), there'll be a swift and bloody regime change too.

And LKY would probably be executed too, just like Gaddafi and Saddam.

All that talk of deposing dictators, spreading democracy, finding WMDs, protecting civilians etc are nothing more than pure bovine excrement. If it suits America's purposes, it will give full support to tinpot dictators. For example, the Shah of Iran and Pinochet of Chile.

 

[greenies]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

You mean Singapore is not corrupted?

In my knowledge, there is NONE in this world of corruption-free.
Ha ha... there are many forms of corruption everywhere.

Probably, some think corruption is just taking money or open bribery.

 

[eatshitndie]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

catherine lim just experienced her very first orgasm.

 

[myfoot123]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

I have always enjoyed her articles.

 

[soIsee]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

No comment on that.


I was just comparing Iraq and Indonesia. Muslim countries.

If you cannot comment further.

Don't start it..SINKIE.

keep quiet and enjoy the SCREWING!

 

[nitecrawllerr]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

If you cannot comment further.

Don't start it..SINKIE.

keep quiet and enjoy the SCREWING!

U own this forum, SINKIE?

 

[streetsmart73]

Re: Catherine Lim: SG is like adormant volcano of suppressed feeling over more 40 yea

You mean Singapore is not corrupted?

hi there


1. no way, bro.
2. sheepishland is kosong corruption hoh
3. with all its whiterer than white eites who are paid way above par.
4. plus sop clearer than distilled water.
5. pertaining to sheep on cpib case, they are just horny sheep mah:p