MBT Admits Tampines Is Very Dirty

[Zombie]

You're just arguing for your ego.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/look+after

Phrasal Verbs:
look after
To take care of: looked after his younger brother.

 

[Queen Seok Duk]

Is it so hard to accept and admit that you've made a slip, say sorry and rectify it?

He must have learnt from you lah.

近朱者赤近墨者黑

 

[Ramseth]

He must have learnt from you lah.

近朱者赤近墨者黑

What has it got to do with me? I don't influence him anything. He's Cpt. and Sec-Gen. If a nobody like me can influence him, then that's worrying.

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

So the MP is not supposed to take care of the ward, but merely "look after" and be a "custodian". However, he is supposed to take care of the whole of Singapore by addressing national issues.

I can see why voters are confused.

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

Nobody argued with that, not me, not the voters. You're just arguing against your own mastery the language and politcal implication. Even I think it's not that. You're just arguing for your ego. Is it so hard to accept and admit that you've made a slip, say sorry and rectify it? Instead of digging on and on a moot point?

I'll defend you against malicious groundless allegations by others. But if you want to DIY, I can't help you. Go ahead, by all means.

So if GMS looking after, taking care, or merely being a custodian of his own ego?

BTW your ego is not small too, Mr Kuang.

 

[Alamaking]

Tampines Resident: "GMS, Tampines is very dirty leh, how?"
GMS: "Ok, i go fire the TC manager"

Few months later
Tampines Resident: "GMS, Tampines is still very dirty leh, how?"
GMS: "Ok, i go fire the TC manager again"

GMS is a lousy solver, LOL :p:p:p, I think Ramseth can talk better, he can convince the residents until the residents will voluntarily spend their weekends to clear the rubbish, LOL

 

[Sideswipe]

So the MP is not supposed to take care of the ward, but merely "look after" and be a "custodian". However, he is supposed to take care of the whole of Singapore by addressing national issues.
I can see why voters are confused.

A MP represent his constituency to address national issues in parliament.

"take care, look after or be a custodian", all mean the same to me but not to GMS. I am confused. :p

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

Act 1 Scene 1

Goh Meng Seng is voted MP of Tampines. 6 months later, a resident comes in to complain about rat infestation.

Resident: Mr Goh, there are lots of rats at my block. Can you do something about it?

GMS: Sorry, my job is not to take care of the ward. That is the town council's job.

Resident (shocked): But you're the MP, right? Aren't you in charge of the town council?

GMS: I am.

Resident: Then why you say it's not your job?

GMS: You must make the distinction clear in your mind. My job is only to be a custodian of the ward, not to take care of it. All these things must be managed by the town council.

Resident (pissed): OK, then can you PLEASE get the town council to clear the rats at my block.

GMS: Yes, I can relay the message for you, but please understand it is their job, not mine.

Resident (confused): But if there's any problems, I still have to look for you to take care of them, right?

GMS: You can, but the correct phrase is "look after". I can look after it for you, not take care.

Resident (ANGRY): What's the difference?!?!?

GMS: A lot of difference. My primary job is to take care of the whole of Singapore by addressing national issues.

Resident: How can you take care of the whole of Singapore when you don't even look after your ward?!?!?

GMS: No, I look after the ward.

Resident: But you just said you don't!

GMS: Where got!?!? I said I look after the ward, get that clear in your head!

Resident: You said it's the town council, not you! That's what you said!

GMS: Yes, the town council is supposed to take care. I'm only the custodian.

Resident: You just said you look after the ward!

GMS: Correct, I look after.

Resident: You idiot, I should have voted Mah Bow Tan instead!

GMS: If MBT is your MP, who's going to debate national issues for you? Remember, even ex-Ministers like MBT does not really take care of your ward. That's the job of the town council.

Resident: (STORMS OUT.)

 

[Ramseth]

Act 1 Scene 1

Goh Meng Seng is voted MP of Tampines.

I thought tonight I'd be a late sleeper but you beat me to it. Not yet 3 a.m. and you're dreaming big things...

 

[jw5]

"Take care" not = "Look after"?
So when someone tells you to take care, it's not the same as look after yourself?

Perhaps he thinks that the residents are all waiting with bated breath for his speeches in parliament and the laws he proposes.

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

I thought tonight I'd be a late sleeper but you beat me to it. Not yet 3 a.m. and you're dreaming big things...

Reading this thread made me laugh for two straight hours, and now I can't sleep!

 

[silverfox@]

The problem doesn't stop at "dirty". The cleaners are actually clearing rubbish chutes late at night, sometimes till 12 am!

Apparently, some people cut corners...

Goh Meng Seng

I have seen CWO offenders helping to clean up Tampines Estate. Maybe to make the estate cleaner, chop up all the trees

Don't delude ourselves to think that there are superman powers to "take care" of the wards. Simply put, don't try fool voters just to get their votes. Most Singaporeans are not stupid.

Goh Meng Seng

You can be brutally honest to the voters, but if you don't change your style, you wouldn't win a seat. This aspect, MBT wins you already.

You are already at a disadvantage compared to the spending power of PAP, neither do you have the media influence that PAP candidates command. Now if you think Singaporeans will vote for you because you are being honest with them, that itself is a delusion.

We may not be in Tampines to give you a vote, but if you cannot convince most people here (considering that many here are not pro-PAP), how are you going to convince people in Tampines? Just because you think Singaporeans are not stupid?

 

[Ramseth]

Mother : Here's my baby. Take care of him for me.

Babysitter : No. I'll look after only. Anything happens, I'll just call police.

 

[Cruxx]

GMS really don't know how to "spin". The rhetoric ought to be: "I'll adopt a laissez-faire approach and trust those working at the grassroots level everyday. Residents too can contribute by sending their requests and suggestions to me and I'll assess them accordingly. It's a communal effort. We should start treating the electorate with the respect they deserve instead of micromanaging their lives for them as though they know no better."

 

[silverfox@]

GMS really don't know how to "spin". The rhetoric ought to be: "I'll adopt a laissez-faire approach and trust those working at the grassroots level everyday. Residents too can contribute by sending their requests and suggestions to me and I'll assess them accordingly. It's a communal effort. We should start treating the electorate with the respect they deserve instead of micromanaging their lives for them as though they know no better."

He is too honest with his words. PAP MPs do not dare to say this, even though its in their hearts. Chinese is 说话要圆滑，原则是放在心里，不是放在嘴边。

 

[Maximilian Chua-Heng]

GMS is right on this one, in theory at least. An MP is a legislator, first.

However, the ruling regime had over the years de-centralised and municipalised the role of an MP and this has been ingrained in the voters' minds. So in practical terms, "yandao kia" Ramseth is right.

If you want the votes, cater to municipal issues first. National issues? perhaps much later. It's all about catering to what your consumers want/need.

That's how the system works whether it's to your fancy or not.

To put it simply, the main primary, sole, important job of MP is legislation. Don't be distracted by PAP's pork barrel politicking. We should be taking care of the whole Singapore by debating on the policies rather than just taking care of our own wards.

Goh Meng Seng

 

[Papsmearer]

There is no such thing as confidence without concrete experience involved. And I will say it again, taking of the ward's cleanliness is the Town Council estate manager's responsibility. A MP at best, is the custodian of the Town Council, deciding who to hire and fire for the job to be done.

There will be Town Councilors to be appointed to give feedback on the Town. The MP will have to walk around the Town, meeting the people on the ground. He may give direct instructions if he sees something wrong with the place. But ultimately, the instructions will be given to the estate managers to get problems solved.

You try asking any PAP MPs who are lawyers, doctors or directors of companies or the Ministers to take care of the town... They may not even know what is happening down there!

For opposition MPs, it is just too exaggerated to say that they "take care" of the ward. They may be full time MPs but their priority is to attend parliament to debate on policies. Running of Town Councils are done by employing estate managers. Most probably opposition MPs spend more time going around the estate to meet the people, talk to them etc. Opposition MPs could do a better job if they go on full time MP, spending more time interacting with the voters. Taking care of them? How? Write letters for them? How many cases could you really solve with the civil service bureaucratic system in place? Put it simply, even PAP MPs or Ministers could not solve the problems of many of their constituents by writing letters!

Don't delude ourselves to think that there are superman powers to "take care" of the wards. Simply put, don't try fool voters just to get their votes. Most Singaporeans are not stupid.

Goh Meng Seng

GMS, I think u are incredibly ignorant here and not in possession of the broader picture. U say the MPs priority is to attend Parliament and debate on policies. Yes, they have to attend every session. Yes, they can debate on policies there too. SHould this be their priority? Absolutely not. Why? Unless the opposition has a sizable minority, lets say they hold 1/3 or more of the seats, any debate from them is useless, and ineffective. A PAP controlled Parliament will simply rubber stamp whatever policies they want to implement. The national media will not report on your debates no matter how eloquent and pursuasive they are. Any points u raise in the debates no matter how much merit they hold will also not be reported or given very little coverage. U must know this by now.

The best thing you can do is to do well on what you can control. U cannot control the PArliament, nor the speaker, nor anything on a national stage right now. What u can control is what is happening in your ward/constituency. It is here that u show yourself to be more capable than the other PAP MPs in their wards. As the elected official of the ward, u will be the chairman of the Town Council. U have in your power to appoint your own people to the executive committee, and to committes overseeing finances, maintenance, etc.

U know that there are many concerns that people have in their own wards. U have to show that u care for them and want to help them. Deep inside, u may not feel that way, and u may feel that your real role is in Parliament and not "taking care of the ward". If that is so, fine, but you cannot articulate thatin public because the optics come out making u look very bad. U can hire people to work for you in the TCs that are really good at this sort of thing, and they will make u look good with the "taking care of the ward" aspect while u are in Parliament. But to voice it out loud is just stupid.

Yes, taking care of the cleanliness is the estate manager's job. But as the chairman of the TC, u are his boss. U cannot simply say that is his job, and not yours, and if u wait for him to fuck up, and than simply fire him, its already toolate. U have already looked bad. People do not blame the estate manager for the filtiness in their estate, they blame the MP, and chairman of the TC. If you want to be re-elected, u better remember this.

Yes, you are right, many PAP MPs who are lawyers, doctors, etc. have no idea what is happening in their ward? SO, why are u comparing yourself to them? Just because they have no idea, it makes it ok for you to follow the same path? SInce when has u and your party set itself by the PAP's dubious standards?

Yes, writing the letters and what not on behalf of your electorate might not help at all with solving their problems when the civil service or other govt. bureaucracy is as intransigent as u say. But that is not the point. Even if u write all the letters and nothing happens, the constituent at least can see that u have tried hard on their behalf. The result may not be there, but I guarantee u they will remember your efforts at the next elections, even if u did not produce the result for them. If you write articulate and strong letters or emails to the relevant authorities to help them, and copy them on all the correspondence u send and receive, they will appreciate it even if the outcome is not what they want. I am surprised u do not see this.

Other things people are concerned with is the financial situations in their TC and the lack of financial transparencies. If you are their MP, u can make the whole financial situation much more transparent. People can see where the money went, how the contracts were given, etc. No doubt, u will be able to expose many dubious practices when the ward was under the PAP if you chose to audit the statements. U can set the groundwork with expose after expose and make the PAP look so bad that it will be hard for them to win the ward back. If you communicate with your constituents, and tell them what u will do for them, its much better than telling them what u will not do for them. U can reveiw any management and maintenance contracts, and terminate people and contractors who are not doing the job. There are certainly things that u can do to help the ward. ANd u need to do it.

Your priority is not to debate policies in Parliament. Your first and always top priority is to get re-elected. If you fail in this priority, u can debate all u want, you will be gone in 4-5 years, and even worse, u will have communicated to the people that u cannot even manage a ward well, much less manage an entire country?

 

[Don Muthuswamy]

Very well put bro. It appears that GMS is just too short focused to c any of these.

 

[aurvandil]

Let me issue a CHALLENGE here to everyone who has been saying that Goh Meng Seng is silly and does not know what he is doing politically.

Imagine that you are running for elections against the PAP.

List down what are the ACTIONABLE things that you would promise voters that you would do to “look after” the ward.

I bet that no one here can come up with a single ACTIONABLE thing that you can promise voters that would make them vote for you.

 

[Alamaking]

Let me issue a CHALLENGE here to everyone who has been saying that Goh Meng Seng is silly and does not know what he is doing politically.

Imagine that you are running for elections against the PAP.

List down what are the ACTIONABLE things that you would promise voters that you would do to “look after” the ward.

I bet that no one here can come up with a single ACTIONABLE thing that you can promise voters that would make them vote for you.

Why dun you ask GMS list out what ACTIONABLE things that he can do for the voters so that the voters will vote him?

If he dun have, for fuck they vote him for?

Dun do a PAP minister, get high pay, sit there do nothing, asking public for opinions/solutions for FREE and boast its your ideas.