anaksingapura
New Member
Dear Forummers,
I have just registered today after lurking here for years.
I am contented with just reading and learning.
But now I am compelled to register, to post, to ask senior forummers here some of my concerns after the recent By-Election.
Please bear with me - quite long winded I hope not the following:-
*********************************************************************
I was born in the year of independence 1965, that makes me 47 this year.
Growing up as a heartlander, I live through this dichotomy:
in the 70s, 80s until the first election, LKY was a figure of grudging respect in my family.
Of course, my elders referred to him in hokkien, Lau Lee. There was awe, admiration even some fear - all in all - politics, no no, it is a dirty business.
Growing up, reciting the pledge, living in the 70s 'build a rugged society', then 80s ' towards the second industrial revolution' - a term I think first coined by Rajaratnam or Devan Nair. In 1981, MOE introduced Computer Science at A levels. In 1982, I took Computer Science at JC at a time when CS French's text book described distinct categories of micro, mini & mainframe computers.
The national pledge I learned in primary school was recited as an article of faith.
Back then, artificial or otherwise, sustainable or otherwise, I grow up believing in our uniqueness : multiracial, religious, cultural, to build a democratic society and all that.
Every year, family ritual is to tune in to National Day Parade and of course a few Sundays later, the National Day Rally from National Theatre to Kallang Theatre to Spore Conference Hall (1984) then to NUS Cultural Center, from LKY to GCT to LHL.
My parents used to say without fail : we are so proud of Singapore's progress from the place we knew in the 40s & 50s - son, you are as old as this nation... be good, do good, advance & progress like our nation.
1985 our first recession ever.
In NUS then, bulletin board was the thing (pre-internet). Israeli President Herzog's visit to Singapore, JB protests and threats of cutting water awaken our political consciousness. Great Marriage Debate in 1984 and the unpalatable Graduate Mothers Scheme were hotly debated.
A section of us watched with awe our NUSSU presidents Simon Tay, Vivien Balakhrishnan etc and predicted man, these chaps would surely be our political leaders some day - at least, given their undergraduate activism.
1986, I joined Youth Wing PAP, thinking that warts and all, let's work from within and put things right.
1981, my father and I were at Anson, now demolished blocks at Blair Plains, at Lower Delta HDB blocks at the carpark rally, watching Pang Kim Hin got beaten by JBJ. JBJ ! Wow! We saluted him.
This chap driving a beetle, we followed him from Cairnhill to Potong Pasir. After losing to Lim Kim San, Howe Yoong Cheong, he emerged to beat Mah Bow Tan. I was at the Fullerton Lunchtime rally to hear LKY belittle Chiam's O Level scores vs Mah's. I thought : my my this is distasteful. I am for good government & PAP's achievements but this elitist line is objectionable.
Over the years, Eunos, Cheng San, Hougang then Lee Siew Chor & JBJ in Parliament, then disqualification then by election Marine Parade saw Teo Chee Hean come in against someone who claim 'he has one the best brains to match the PAP', Chiam's proudly unveiled his brilliant find -Dr Chee.
Then 1991, Cheo, Ling came in knocking out Ng Pock Too & Seet Ai Mee.... enough nostalgia.
I am familiar over the years with anti-PAP sentiments- many are justified.
Then you ask : in the name of pragmatism, is it just elitist style or can that be tolerated in the name of good government?
From helping in MPS to being election agent for my MP, I eventually find the middle crust of 'activists' be they in party, PA, or even civil service - the same : bureaucratic, immature, herd instinct, sycophants, seniority based, dismissive, self-righteous, patronising, snooty the list goes on....
So I become detached, distant and dormant.
When George Yeo saw the reading on the wall and in his parting shot said the party should 'transform', I feel the right word which he chose not to use is REFORM.
But REFORM ? too little too late ? too far gone?
I like a recent post from Forummer JW5 he siad: are we conditioned to think that MPs must go thru formal education all the way to degree and post-grad, work in MNC/ Stat Board / army / etc then identified, invited, interviewed, screened then parachuted into grassroots organizations then stand as candidates? Other than Richard Hu and Peter Chen from Shell, no one of note in corporate MNC private sector have come in. Ng Eng Hen is in the category of Specialist Medical Professional - not in the same league. So, its army/perm sec/NTUC that we see so called 4G potentials being brought forward.
Of course, that is the PAP modus operandi.
Opposition? any tom dick or harry. from the scissors man, slipper man, chinese self employed types to some doctors and lawyers here and there, as long as you can settle your election deposit, basically anyone can stand.
2011 caught my attention. In fact, it was a build-up.
First, NCMPs like Steve Chia (struck by nude pix), NMPs like Siew Kum Hong, Walter Woon, then NCMPs like Sylvia Lim then Goh Meng Seng (sic), Gomez James, then KJ, Wijesingha Vincent, then Kenneth Jeyaratnam, Alec Tok, Dr Ang, then CHEN SOW MOU, PRITAM SINGH, YEE JEN JONG, GERALD GIAM......
I have a lot of respect for Low Thia Khiang - a true politically savvy and determined fighter.
I have lost faith in PAP - almost. If George Yeo's wish for internal reform can happen, then these men with experience of good government can give the people back the PAP of the 60s and 70s that we used to know.
Question: Will PAP go far and deep enough sincerely to recognise, accept, acknowledge, reignite the original DNA, or will it still be young turks like Kee Chiu MG Chan, though himself not born with silver spoon but treat everything in life like an engineering problem without heart soul and humanity? Or boring technocrats like Lin Hng Khiang, Lui Tuck Kew - colorless and uninspiring and insipid ?
Hougang is not Singapore yet Hougang is a picture of the 30+ % (and growing) who voted non-PAP islandwide every election.
3 scenerios:-
(1) Under PM Lee Hsien Loong, he tries - but never enough or he still don't really get it ...
so lukewarm improvements -thinking it is just about new media, more consultation or appearing so...
result: no wow with people, electorate calcified into cynicism - rightly or wrongly. reaction: old school hardliners then take over and say let's play hard ball or tweek the rules of engagement some more.... more disharmony and bitterness in society. Inclusiveness is just a slogan and pipe dream
(2) an optimal point : WP evolving next not into an alternative government or government in waiting, but a credible opposition sizeable to play the check & balance role in parliament to keep PAP on its toes.
All the while, WP grow in organization in terms of their own grassroot machinery (since PAP is unsporting and against fairplay using 'symbiosis' to justify that 'special relationship' - ranging from PA to NTUC, RC etc ) .
This is the sacred cow PAP must slay. Forget the party's phobia and history with Barisan Socialis then - grassroot and labor organizations must be truly NATIONAL in character. But I believe PAP lack the security to slay this sacred cow.
(3) Discontent knows no bounds and indeed the proverbial freak result happens: PAP either loses 2/3s or in the extreme gets thrown out.
Coalition government time for the non-PAP winners? This society and nation has no experience of that. It will indeed be learning by doing.
I hate to paint scenerios and go down the 'anal'list route like Mr Goh Meng Seng.
So I will stop here.
Irrational exuberance, a term Greenspan coined, in the local context can breed intense, irrational hatred of PAP such that forever the electorate or a significant portion of it will no longer trust PAP or any reform it tries. It is divisive : us against PAPzis.
Cool heads are gone.
Intractable problems like long term economic viability of Singapore - be it aging society, FTversus local talent, new citizens vs declining indigenous population, transport, housing, retirement planning etc etc every issue can become politicised.
Even politicking or simply the art of politics - winning elections and connecting with the electorate - a lost art destroyed imho by LKY's distrust and supreme self-righteousness in the aftermath of the 70s success. Give me technocrats anytime - charismatic types are charlatans and demagogues mostly.
Meritocracy, this government delivers etc etc as if might/right and results are everything.
If indeed so, then screw GE every 5 years. On merit alone, PAP must be returned without question, isn't it?
So, clearly the way good government is enacted and delivered matters as much if not even more so.
All these emotionally dynamite words like 'sinkie', 'peasants', 'grasslooters', 'ministars', 'braddell road brothel' did not happen overnight and without reason.
Can cynicism and negative energy be reduced in Singapore?
For that the PAP government and leadership hold the biggest responsibility.
Has it gone to the point of no return such that it is only a matter of time before PAP goes the way of KMT and Japan's LDP....
Can PAP reform within - no way unless the Top Man, the Secretary General gets enlightened and takes courage and strength to take action.
If George Yeo, the modern renaissance man can fail to have significant influence, I do not know who else can - let alone from a humble disenchanted party member like me.
It is quite painful to switch parties so probably just get out and be independent and unaffiliated.
But Goh Meng Seng's actions leaves a sour taste in my mouth - whatever his justifications and personal pains, it struck me as self-serving, weak, cowardly and totally without long term commitment.
At the end of the day, I believe every forummer here, however strident and cynical, rabid or abusive, are of the belief that they are justifiable proud to be born and bred here - if they feel shame and like tonychat 'sinkie-bashing' that is because the sense of haplessness, futility and defeatism have turned that love into frustration, anger, exasperation, skepticism and mean cynicism.
Those of us born here, this is my country, my society, my people, my home. As George Orwell would say: Singapore, My Singapore.
We all want the best for this nation always.
Screw all the pragmatic talk of how viable we can be, how unhomogenous and therefore, siege mentality and all....
Screw that - and I am not stupid - just choose to leave it outside my mental horizon in the main.
I want to make what is aspirational the reality.
I want to make the National Pledge I learned as a schoolboy into a living moving creed to live my life out.
I want that society (independent 1965) that vision and I am prepared to work with others to evolve and inch our country ever closer to that ideal enshrined in our Pledge.
Don't let anyone, including Lee Kuan Yew Sir, tell me it is all aspirational, and we should remember reality and have entrenched CDAC/SINDA/Mendaki and GRC/EP and all that crap. poor citizens are poor citizens regardless of race, language or religion.
Reform within - through whom, enlisting who, overcoming odds untenable?
Join the WP alternative - help them up from scratch (not really from scratch, for 21 years they have come a long way and long way more to come)
or just continue lurking, sniping, bitching and letting off steam and flame, curse and troll.
or just up everything and migrate since we are just so helpless and all we can do realistically is to watch out for ourselves and our family?
I don't have all the answers.
But I have stopped lurking.
I have registered myself.
I am anaksingapura.
I am born a Singaporean - and proud of it.
And for the rest of my life, I want to continue to be proud of being a - SINGAPOREAN.
I have just registered today after lurking here for years.
I am contented with just reading and learning.
But now I am compelled to register, to post, to ask senior forummers here some of my concerns after the recent By-Election.
Please bear with me - quite long winded I hope not the following:-
*********************************************************************
I was born in the year of independence 1965, that makes me 47 this year.
Growing up as a heartlander, I live through this dichotomy:
in the 70s, 80s until the first election, LKY was a figure of grudging respect in my family.
Of course, my elders referred to him in hokkien, Lau Lee. There was awe, admiration even some fear - all in all - politics, no no, it is a dirty business.
Growing up, reciting the pledge, living in the 70s 'build a rugged society', then 80s ' towards the second industrial revolution' - a term I think first coined by Rajaratnam or Devan Nair. In 1981, MOE introduced Computer Science at A levels. In 1982, I took Computer Science at JC at a time when CS French's text book described distinct categories of micro, mini & mainframe computers.
The national pledge I learned in primary school was recited as an article of faith.
Back then, artificial or otherwise, sustainable or otherwise, I grow up believing in our uniqueness : multiracial, religious, cultural, to build a democratic society and all that.
Every year, family ritual is to tune in to National Day Parade and of course a few Sundays later, the National Day Rally from National Theatre to Kallang Theatre to Spore Conference Hall (1984) then to NUS Cultural Center, from LKY to GCT to LHL.
My parents used to say without fail : we are so proud of Singapore's progress from the place we knew in the 40s & 50s - son, you are as old as this nation... be good, do good, advance & progress like our nation.
1985 our first recession ever.
In NUS then, bulletin board was the thing (pre-internet). Israeli President Herzog's visit to Singapore, JB protests and threats of cutting water awaken our political consciousness. Great Marriage Debate in 1984 and the unpalatable Graduate Mothers Scheme were hotly debated.
A section of us watched with awe our NUSSU presidents Simon Tay, Vivien Balakhrishnan etc and predicted man, these chaps would surely be our political leaders some day - at least, given their undergraduate activism.
1986, I joined Youth Wing PAP, thinking that warts and all, let's work from within and put things right.
1981, my father and I were at Anson, now demolished blocks at Blair Plains, at Lower Delta HDB blocks at the carpark rally, watching Pang Kim Hin got beaten by JBJ. JBJ ! Wow! We saluted him.
This chap driving a beetle, we followed him from Cairnhill to Potong Pasir. After losing to Lim Kim San, Howe Yoong Cheong, he emerged to beat Mah Bow Tan. I was at the Fullerton Lunchtime rally to hear LKY belittle Chiam's O Level scores vs Mah's. I thought : my my this is distasteful. I am for good government & PAP's achievements but this elitist line is objectionable.
Over the years, Eunos, Cheng San, Hougang then Lee Siew Chor & JBJ in Parliament, then disqualification then by election Marine Parade saw Teo Chee Hean come in against someone who claim 'he has one the best brains to match the PAP', Chiam's proudly unveiled his brilliant find -Dr Chee.
Then 1991, Cheo, Ling came in knocking out Ng Pock Too & Seet Ai Mee.... enough nostalgia.
I am familiar over the years with anti-PAP sentiments- many are justified.
Then you ask : in the name of pragmatism, is it just elitist style or can that be tolerated in the name of good government?
From helping in MPS to being election agent for my MP, I eventually find the middle crust of 'activists' be they in party, PA, or even civil service - the same : bureaucratic, immature, herd instinct, sycophants, seniority based, dismissive, self-righteous, patronising, snooty the list goes on....
So I become detached, distant and dormant.
When George Yeo saw the reading on the wall and in his parting shot said the party should 'transform', I feel the right word which he chose not to use is REFORM.
But REFORM ? too little too late ? too far gone?
I like a recent post from Forummer JW5 he siad: are we conditioned to think that MPs must go thru formal education all the way to degree and post-grad, work in MNC/ Stat Board / army / etc then identified, invited, interviewed, screened then parachuted into grassroots organizations then stand as candidates? Other than Richard Hu and Peter Chen from Shell, no one of note in corporate MNC private sector have come in. Ng Eng Hen is in the category of Specialist Medical Professional - not in the same league. So, its army/perm sec/NTUC that we see so called 4G potentials being brought forward.
Of course, that is the PAP modus operandi.
Opposition? any tom dick or harry. from the scissors man, slipper man, chinese self employed types to some doctors and lawyers here and there, as long as you can settle your election deposit, basically anyone can stand.
2011 caught my attention. In fact, it was a build-up.
First, NCMPs like Steve Chia (struck by nude pix), NMPs like Siew Kum Hong, Walter Woon, then NCMPs like Sylvia Lim then Goh Meng Seng (sic), Gomez James, then KJ, Wijesingha Vincent, then Kenneth Jeyaratnam, Alec Tok, Dr Ang, then CHEN SOW MOU, PRITAM SINGH, YEE JEN JONG, GERALD GIAM......
I have a lot of respect for Low Thia Khiang - a true politically savvy and determined fighter.
I have lost faith in PAP - almost. If George Yeo's wish for internal reform can happen, then these men with experience of good government can give the people back the PAP of the 60s and 70s that we used to know.
Question: Will PAP go far and deep enough sincerely to recognise, accept, acknowledge, reignite the original DNA, or will it still be young turks like Kee Chiu MG Chan, though himself not born with silver spoon but treat everything in life like an engineering problem without heart soul and humanity? Or boring technocrats like Lin Hng Khiang, Lui Tuck Kew - colorless and uninspiring and insipid ?
Hougang is not Singapore yet Hougang is a picture of the 30+ % (and growing) who voted non-PAP islandwide every election.
3 scenerios:-
(1) Under PM Lee Hsien Loong, he tries - but never enough or he still don't really get it ...
so lukewarm improvements -thinking it is just about new media, more consultation or appearing so...
result: no wow with people, electorate calcified into cynicism - rightly or wrongly. reaction: old school hardliners then take over and say let's play hard ball or tweek the rules of engagement some more.... more disharmony and bitterness in society. Inclusiveness is just a slogan and pipe dream
(2) an optimal point : WP evolving next not into an alternative government or government in waiting, but a credible opposition sizeable to play the check & balance role in parliament to keep PAP on its toes.
All the while, WP grow in organization in terms of their own grassroot machinery (since PAP is unsporting and against fairplay using 'symbiosis' to justify that 'special relationship' - ranging from PA to NTUC, RC etc ) .
This is the sacred cow PAP must slay. Forget the party's phobia and history with Barisan Socialis then - grassroot and labor organizations must be truly NATIONAL in character. But I believe PAP lack the security to slay this sacred cow.
(3) Discontent knows no bounds and indeed the proverbial freak result happens: PAP either loses 2/3s or in the extreme gets thrown out.
Coalition government time for the non-PAP winners? This society and nation has no experience of that. It will indeed be learning by doing.
I hate to paint scenerios and go down the 'anal'list route like Mr Goh Meng Seng.
So I will stop here.
Irrational exuberance, a term Greenspan coined, in the local context can breed intense, irrational hatred of PAP such that forever the electorate or a significant portion of it will no longer trust PAP or any reform it tries. It is divisive : us against PAPzis.
Cool heads are gone.
Intractable problems like long term economic viability of Singapore - be it aging society, FTversus local talent, new citizens vs declining indigenous population, transport, housing, retirement planning etc etc every issue can become politicised.
Even politicking or simply the art of politics - winning elections and connecting with the electorate - a lost art destroyed imho by LKY's distrust and supreme self-righteousness in the aftermath of the 70s success. Give me technocrats anytime - charismatic types are charlatans and demagogues mostly.
Meritocracy, this government delivers etc etc as if might/right and results are everything.
If indeed so, then screw GE every 5 years. On merit alone, PAP must be returned without question, isn't it?
So, clearly the way good government is enacted and delivered matters as much if not even more so.
All these emotionally dynamite words like 'sinkie', 'peasants', 'grasslooters', 'ministars', 'braddell road brothel' did not happen overnight and without reason.
Can cynicism and negative energy be reduced in Singapore?
For that the PAP government and leadership hold the biggest responsibility.
Has it gone to the point of no return such that it is only a matter of time before PAP goes the way of KMT and Japan's LDP....
Can PAP reform within - no way unless the Top Man, the Secretary General gets enlightened and takes courage and strength to take action.
If George Yeo, the modern renaissance man can fail to have significant influence, I do not know who else can - let alone from a humble disenchanted party member like me.
It is quite painful to switch parties so probably just get out and be independent and unaffiliated.
But Goh Meng Seng's actions leaves a sour taste in my mouth - whatever his justifications and personal pains, it struck me as self-serving, weak, cowardly and totally without long term commitment.
At the end of the day, I believe every forummer here, however strident and cynical, rabid or abusive, are of the belief that they are justifiable proud to be born and bred here - if they feel shame and like tonychat 'sinkie-bashing' that is because the sense of haplessness, futility and defeatism have turned that love into frustration, anger, exasperation, skepticism and mean cynicism.
Those of us born here, this is my country, my society, my people, my home. As George Orwell would say: Singapore, My Singapore.
We all want the best for this nation always.
Screw all the pragmatic talk of how viable we can be, how unhomogenous and therefore, siege mentality and all....
Screw that - and I am not stupid - just choose to leave it outside my mental horizon in the main.
I want to make what is aspirational the reality.
I want to make the National Pledge I learned as a schoolboy into a living moving creed to live my life out.
I want that society (independent 1965) that vision and I am prepared to work with others to evolve and inch our country ever closer to that ideal enshrined in our Pledge.
Don't let anyone, including Lee Kuan Yew Sir, tell me it is all aspirational, and we should remember reality and have entrenched CDAC/SINDA/Mendaki and GRC/EP and all that crap. poor citizens are poor citizens regardless of race, language or religion.
Reform within - through whom, enlisting who, overcoming odds untenable?
Join the WP alternative - help them up from scratch (not really from scratch, for 21 years they have come a long way and long way more to come)
or just continue lurking, sniping, bitching and letting off steam and flame, curse and troll.
or just up everything and migrate since we are just so helpless and all we can do realistically is to watch out for ourselves and our family?
I don't have all the answers.
But I have stopped lurking.
I have registered myself.
I am anaksingapura.
I am born a Singaporean - and proud of it.
And for the rest of my life, I want to continue to be proud of being a - SINGAPOREAN.
