Spore's political situation is beyond salvage. The Old Man has destroyed whatever that had made Spore & the people great. Spore is already beyond hope while the future (despite IR)is bleak. Dr Chee Soon Juan & JB Jeyaretnam are to be commended for their courageous efforts to make the people aware of their democratic rights & to oppose the FamiLee. But it is in vain & where is the support? CSJ has only a small band of hardcore supporters while JBJ cuts a lonely figure post-Workers Party. The last few election, we have seen tremendous public attendances at opposition rallies, but on polling day, the status quo is maintained. This has happen far too many times!
The reason lies with Spore's origins & insidious govt policies which have accentuate the racial differences & cultivated a cultural divide. The Old Man fears English speakers. Sporeans who were born before or around 1965 remembered a time where the racial identity was blind - Chinese, Malay, Indians & Eurasians played together & became friends. The common factor which allowed this to happen was English - everyone spoke English. The kampongs & villages were a melting pot of racial harmony & communal relations were great. Post-independence, Old Man's social engineering policies started to bite. A minor digression - Most Sporean Chinese originate from Southern China & their forefathers came to seek fortunes here after political upheaval & economic uncertainty in China. From father to son, the message passed down thru generations was not to meddle with politics but focus on your own future - career, job, work or business. Material comforts are important but politics unwelcome!
The Old Man was smart but he's not a brilliant chap. He was more of a ruffian, a Street Gangster, not a Strategist. He was Baba (of Nyonya-stock). How could he understood Chinese culture & thinking? He was monolingual & could not even read nor write Mandarin then. Yet he implemented policies which had tremendous racial & cultural impact on Spore. 1st, the bilingual education policy which impacted heavily on English speakers & created deep racial divisions.
The Eurasian were the 1st to suffer & they were forced to emigrate in the 1970/80s. The Anglo-Indians felt the bilingualism effect, they, too, left. The English speaking Chinese remained but were excluded from higher education due to stiff bilingual requirements. However, English speakers were middle & high income, they could afford to send their children to USA, Canada, Australia, NZ or the UK in the 1970s/1980s. The local institutions could churn out local graduates in numbers but many were weak in communication, reasoning & writing skills. English speakers with their overseas degrees return & help Spore with the next growth phase (1986 - 1996) - Electronics (post- IBM PC); Banking/Securities Trading, etc.
This group understood democracy & human rights from their time overseas but fortunately for Old Man, they were too busy with their careers to bother with politics.
The problem with bilingualism is that psychologically-speaking, the brain works only in a monolingual channel; either in English or in Mandarin. The severe requirements of bilingualism require that Mandarin takes priority over English. That is no coincidence that although English is spoken in Spore but spoken English has declined. "Catch no ball","You see me no up","You no friend me" are meaningless phases that are literal translation of Chinese dialect and Mandarin. Foreigners won't understand but only locals do. The P65 generation (Post-Independence) & Gen-X, although they speak English but amongst friends, they used Mandarin to communicate.
The Old Man's policies pander to the majority of Chinese speaking Sporeans; traditional & conservative (>65%). No coincidence that the recent election - 66.6% voted for the FamiLee. They are his power base! Why did CSJ fail while Chiam See Tong & Low Thia Kiang succeeded are for the same reasons - Chinese speaking Sporeans. This majority don't understand democratic principles & human rights.
Old Man channel huge funds to Channel 8 & U - Chinese language programs, promoting media celebrities and expensive serial programs to keep this group happy. Underneath, they insidiously transmit & glorify Chinese & Confucian values i.e., respect for authority, passivity to govt, family, filial piety, conformism, avoid inquisitiveness, etc. Channel 5 locally produced English programs by comparison seemed infantile & silly. Why? Because Old Man deemed this group dangerous. Censorship targets at this group since most if not all, democratic, human rights & liberal materials are written in the English language. Few, if any, are in Chinese.
The HDB program & HDB racial quotas have divided Spore into racial enclaves. Rarely interracial friendship or interactions are seen in Spore today. Eastpoint in Simei is predominantly Malay while Tekka Square is Indian. Old Man's forced infertility program has hurt Spore replacement numbers & economic potential (foreign Talent scheme was just a stop-gap measure)
The Asian crisis 1997/1998, Global Tech crash 2001/2002 & SARs 2003 had hurt the English Speaking group badly. In addition, Old Man's son & his stupid securities trading & banking liberialization policies destroyed many jobs in those industry. Furthermore, PSA's mistake in underestimating Maersk Line costs huge job losses; SIA which retrenched many staff during the 2003 SARs crisis when no other airline did the same; HDB with its unsold public housing stock like wise. Between 1997 to 2004, English speakers were being hammered from pillar to post.
They no longer felt secure & were being let down in Spore; they had felt the blunt of the economic environment and compound by inhuman govt policy (liberialization) & terrible business decisions (PSA/ SIA/HDB). Those with qualifications & means began a quiet exodus in emigrating overseas. In 2002 NDP, then-PM Holy Goh made his silly & unwarranted speech, "Quitters vs Stayers" and instead of convincing them to stay, actually caused a stampede of Sporeans to leave. He publicized the emigration issue. Many migration agents came out of the woodwork in Spore to provide migration services ironically thanks to Holy Goh. The problem is the group most likely to assert for political participation has already deserted Spore. That is why Spore cannot be salvaged. The govt caused a terrible brain drain to occur.
This will bring Spore many, many future problems. 1st of all, they were educated, highly skilled, speak & wrote good English and their children will benefit their adopted nation. They are and will be irreplaceable. 2ndly, the foreign talent scheme is only a stop-gap bringing boatloads of PRC, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, etc. The bottom line is English continues to decline affecting service levels in tourism, shopping & servicing. Already, local non-Chinese are complaining about service staff unable to communicate in English. A foreigner commented after his Tiger Airways flight that he could not understand the English announcements made by the cabin crew & thought it was a foreign language. Also, recent problems with Tiger Airways flights were not effectively addressed by management staff - instead stranded passengers were left high & dry. The business organization is suffering from sclerosis - an inability to coordinate and is breaking down at the critical end. An elitist govt cannot hope to function nor operate if sclerosis is affecting/hardening all its branches downwards. Like Stephen Hawkins, a brilliant but totally paralyzed scientist, the Old Man suffers from sclerosis of his mind - become harden (inhuman policies/climate of fear) and uncoordinated (lost touch with the ground). So what if he has millions to last a few lifetimes, he has lost his chance for integrity, respect and admiration years ago and these will be priceless unlike money.
The reason lies with Spore's origins & insidious govt policies which have accentuate the racial differences & cultivated a cultural divide. The Old Man fears English speakers. Sporeans who were born before or around 1965 remembered a time where the racial identity was blind - Chinese, Malay, Indians & Eurasians played together & became friends. The common factor which allowed this to happen was English - everyone spoke English. The kampongs & villages were a melting pot of racial harmony & communal relations were great. Post-independence, Old Man's social engineering policies started to bite. A minor digression - Most Sporean Chinese originate from Southern China & their forefathers came to seek fortunes here after political upheaval & economic uncertainty in China. From father to son, the message passed down thru generations was not to meddle with politics but focus on your own future - career, job, work or business. Material comforts are important but politics unwelcome!
The Old Man was smart but he's not a brilliant chap. He was more of a ruffian, a Street Gangster, not a Strategist. He was Baba (of Nyonya-stock). How could he understood Chinese culture & thinking? He was monolingual & could not even read nor write Mandarin then. Yet he implemented policies which had tremendous racial & cultural impact on Spore. 1st, the bilingual education policy which impacted heavily on English speakers & created deep racial divisions.
The Eurasian were the 1st to suffer & they were forced to emigrate in the 1970/80s. The Anglo-Indians felt the bilingualism effect, they, too, left. The English speaking Chinese remained but were excluded from higher education due to stiff bilingual requirements. However, English speakers were middle & high income, they could afford to send their children to USA, Canada, Australia, NZ or the UK in the 1970s/1980s. The local institutions could churn out local graduates in numbers but many were weak in communication, reasoning & writing skills. English speakers with their overseas degrees return & help Spore with the next growth phase (1986 - 1996) - Electronics (post- IBM PC); Banking/Securities Trading, etc.
This group understood democracy & human rights from their time overseas but fortunately for Old Man, they were too busy with their careers to bother with politics.
The problem with bilingualism is that psychologically-speaking, the brain works only in a monolingual channel; either in English or in Mandarin. The severe requirements of bilingualism require that Mandarin takes priority over English. That is no coincidence that although English is spoken in Spore but spoken English has declined. "Catch no ball","You see me no up","You no friend me" are meaningless phases that are literal translation of Chinese dialect and Mandarin. Foreigners won't understand but only locals do. The P65 generation (Post-Independence) & Gen-X, although they speak English but amongst friends, they used Mandarin to communicate.
The Old Man's policies pander to the majority of Chinese speaking Sporeans; traditional & conservative (>65%). No coincidence that the recent election - 66.6% voted for the FamiLee. They are his power base! Why did CSJ fail while Chiam See Tong & Low Thia Kiang succeeded are for the same reasons - Chinese speaking Sporeans. This majority don't understand democratic principles & human rights.
Old Man channel huge funds to Channel 8 & U - Chinese language programs, promoting media celebrities and expensive serial programs to keep this group happy. Underneath, they insidiously transmit & glorify Chinese & Confucian values i.e., respect for authority, passivity to govt, family, filial piety, conformism, avoid inquisitiveness, etc. Channel 5 locally produced English programs by comparison seemed infantile & silly. Why? Because Old Man deemed this group dangerous. Censorship targets at this group since most if not all, democratic, human rights & liberal materials are written in the English language. Few, if any, are in Chinese.
The HDB program & HDB racial quotas have divided Spore into racial enclaves. Rarely interracial friendship or interactions are seen in Spore today. Eastpoint in Simei is predominantly Malay while Tekka Square is Indian. Old Man's forced infertility program has hurt Spore replacement numbers & economic potential (foreign Talent scheme was just a stop-gap measure)
The Asian crisis 1997/1998, Global Tech crash 2001/2002 & SARs 2003 had hurt the English Speaking group badly. In addition, Old Man's son & his stupid securities trading & banking liberialization policies destroyed many jobs in those industry. Furthermore, PSA's mistake in underestimating Maersk Line costs huge job losses; SIA which retrenched many staff during the 2003 SARs crisis when no other airline did the same; HDB with its unsold public housing stock like wise. Between 1997 to 2004, English speakers were being hammered from pillar to post.
They no longer felt secure & were being let down in Spore; they had felt the blunt of the economic environment and compound by inhuman govt policy (liberialization) & terrible business decisions (PSA/ SIA/HDB). Those with qualifications & means began a quiet exodus in emigrating overseas. In 2002 NDP, then-PM Holy Goh made his silly & unwarranted speech, "Quitters vs Stayers" and instead of convincing them to stay, actually caused a stampede of Sporeans to leave. He publicized the emigration issue. Many migration agents came out of the woodwork in Spore to provide migration services ironically thanks to Holy Goh. The problem is the group most likely to assert for political participation has already deserted Spore. That is why Spore cannot be salvaged. The govt caused a terrible brain drain to occur.
This will bring Spore many, many future problems. 1st of all, they were educated, highly skilled, speak & wrote good English and their children will benefit their adopted nation. They are and will be irreplaceable. 2ndly, the foreign talent scheme is only a stop-gap bringing boatloads of PRC, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, etc. The bottom line is English continues to decline affecting service levels in tourism, shopping & servicing. Already, local non-Chinese are complaining about service staff unable to communicate in English. A foreigner commented after his Tiger Airways flight that he could not understand the English announcements made by the cabin crew & thought it was a foreign language. Also, recent problems with Tiger Airways flights were not effectively addressed by management staff - instead stranded passengers were left high & dry. The business organization is suffering from sclerosis - an inability to coordinate and is breaking down at the critical end. An elitist govt cannot hope to function nor operate if sclerosis is affecting/hardening all its branches downwards. Like Stephen Hawkins, a brilliant but totally paralyzed scientist, the Old Man suffers from sclerosis of his mind - become harden (inhuman policies/climate of fear) and uncoordinated (lost touch with the ground). So what if he has millions to last a few lifetimes, he has lost his chance for integrity, respect and admiration years ago and these will be priceless unlike money.
