The old PAP is NOT the same as the new PAP. The old PAP led by Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Keng Swee, S Rajaratnam, Hon Sui Sen, Lim Kim San, Ong Teng Cheong were of a different calibre. These were selfless men who did not work for million dollar salaries, bonuses & pensions.
It is crucial to distinguish between the track record of the old PAP and the current PAP. The PAP of today is a utterly different breed. To claim credit for the achievements of the old PAP just because the current PAP belonged to the same political party is misleading, manipulative and fallacious. The new PAP did not oversee Singapore’s independence from the British or from Malaysia. Nor did they play any significant role in transforming Singapore from third world to first. They did not devise the economic policies that led to Singapore’s current status as a financial center and international commercial hub.
The new PAP is more self-serving, more venal than the old. Dr Goh Keng Swee would have disapproved of ministers getting 8-month bonuses on top of their million annual salaries; Dr Goh indeed was widely known to be frugal and austere.
Lee Kuan Yew, who led the old PAP was an unrelenting & uncompromising taskmaster. Though he may be paternalistic and autocratic, he demanded far more of his ministers than he did of ordinary citizens – and for this reason, they delivered. He tolerated no errors. He has demoted or removed ministers, MPs, ambassadors for blunders -Teh Chiang Wan and others.
Has the new PAP, led by the current PM ever chastise any one? Not a single minister or MP was ever taken to task let alone dismissed, even for gross blunders. We need not go into Mas Selamat, gross overspending on YOG or GIC/Temasek losses, etc to make the point.
The new PAP of LHL has tolerated or even encouraged a cover-up culture to seep in. And so, whenever a problem arises, the immediate reaction nowadays is not to try and find a solution, but rather, to obfuscate and find ways to window-dress the issue to escape blame.
The new PAP’s so-called track record is nothing more than a hollow myth. The PAP of 2011 has a track record of complacency, arrogance, self-entitlement, incompetence and irresponsibility. It has a track record of sweeping its mistakes under the rug, rationalizing them as either the result of “uncontrollable global phenomena” or simply as someone else's fault. And yet it has the gumption to claim the Opposition has no track record!!!
It is crucial to distinguish between the track record of the old PAP and the current PAP. The PAP of today is a utterly different breed. To claim credit for the achievements of the old PAP just because the current PAP belonged to the same political party is misleading, manipulative and fallacious. The new PAP did not oversee Singapore’s independence from the British or from Malaysia. Nor did they play any significant role in transforming Singapore from third world to first. They did not devise the economic policies that led to Singapore’s current status as a financial center and international commercial hub.
The new PAP is more self-serving, more venal than the old. Dr Goh Keng Swee would have disapproved of ministers getting 8-month bonuses on top of their million annual salaries; Dr Goh indeed was widely known to be frugal and austere.
Lee Kuan Yew, who led the old PAP was an unrelenting & uncompromising taskmaster. Though he may be paternalistic and autocratic, he demanded far more of his ministers than he did of ordinary citizens – and for this reason, they delivered. He tolerated no errors. He has demoted or removed ministers, MPs, ambassadors for blunders -Teh Chiang Wan and others.
Has the new PAP, led by the current PM ever chastise any one? Not a single minister or MP was ever taken to task let alone dismissed, even for gross blunders. We need not go into Mas Selamat, gross overspending on YOG or GIC/Temasek losses, etc to make the point.
The new PAP of LHL has tolerated or even encouraged a cover-up culture to seep in. And so, whenever a problem arises, the immediate reaction nowadays is not to try and find a solution, but rather, to obfuscate and find ways to window-dress the issue to escape blame.
The new PAP’s so-called track record is nothing more than a hollow myth. The PAP of 2011 has a track record of complacency, arrogance, self-entitlement, incompetence and irresponsibility. It has a track record of sweeping its mistakes under the rug, rationalizing them as either the result of “uncontrollable global phenomena” or simply as someone else's fault. And yet it has the gumption to claim the Opposition has no track record!!!
