Country in trouble?

scb said...

Dear Feed Me To The Fish;
whether the Citizens or, and, the Government are complacent and negligent, the Country is in trouble.

The Citizenry and the Leaders are splitted right in the middle with acrimony. Over four decades of so-called nation building has yet to produce any sign of nationhood.

It is truly ominous!

Dear scb,

Thank you for your contribution.

Is our country in trouble? Maybe.

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the party that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections."
Lord Acton

4 decades of nation building? Yes, there was a sense of nation building in the 60's, 70's & 80's and even 90's. I must admit there was pride being a Singaporean. Even doing a manual job then to survive contributed towards the sense of nation building. Doing rugged national service in the late 60's to defend a Singaporeans' Singapore was worth the blood, sweat and tears. Yes, even worth the bitching hell and pain of "change parade" and "point drill" from the regular hardcore NCOs and officers.

We were proud of being Singaporeans and were united in defending ourselves. Life threatening Konfrontasi in the 60's was a good example of our cohesiveness, our togetherness. We were proud when leaders verbally stood up and replied to insults and snide remarks thrown at us, especially from up north.

Lately, it's all changed. For the worse!

Now when we are stung by our neighbours on issues like sand, water and monopolies of their telcos, I wonder if we are reaping what we sow? Has our so-called success, our arrogance, our money grabbing (sometimes money losing as in Suzhou, Shincorp, UBS, etc) ventures in their countries make them hate us so much that it brings them delight when harsh realities hit us. Oh, I am not surprise that the current magic escape of Mas Selamat is filling them with glee! What with our fist (first) world security system run by handsomely paid leaders who are always right!

I think Singaporeans' loyalty to Singapore went to the dogs the day the leaders decided to further glorify their positions by paying themselves obscene million $,$$$,$$$ salary.

The self-justification for their greed like:

• "The cure to all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government," Lee senior told the Straits Times on Thursday, adding that it is "absurd" for Singaporeans to quarrel about ministerial pay and warning that Singapore would suffer if the government could not pay competitive salaries. “Your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's countries,"
  
  
• “Cutting Ministers’ pay won’t trim fat. You’re getting a bargain for the ministers’ pay. As a surgeon, I worked half as much and made 5 times more.” Ng Eng Hen
  
  
• "If we don't do that ... corruption will set in and we will become like many other countries," Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean
  
  
• "It is ultimately Singaporeans who will pay the price if we didn’t pay our public officials adequately".

makes a mockery of loyalty and of service to country. Worse, it makes NSMen and Reservists look stupid with their meagre allowance. When leaders serve themselves instead of the people, it marks the beginning of the end.

Btw, we are paying through our noses and Mas Selamat is still missing. We have become a laughing stock not because of the escape (which, if real, is serious) but because of the arrogance of our big money talk of buying efficiency and effective leaders with $,$$$,$$$!

Maybe current ministers and MPs should read Chief Minister David Marshall's interview of 1994 by Dharmendra Yadav to learn how to serve their fellow men with integrity by not going overboard with their crazy income. Just how much is enough and enough for what?

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." With what's happened in our regions since the 60's. I tend to agree with Lord Acton.

The other reason for our dazed state is the issue of so-called foreign talents. Instead of caring for its own Singaporean students, they let the dogs out by dishing out scholarships to foreign talents. The way they confused us with "residents" instead of "PR's" and "citizens" when questions on university's places were asked was another insult to injury! What is a Singaporean? Ask any red blooded NSmen now if they'd fight for Singapore and the answer is, "How much are they paying me to fight? Who am I fighting for? For the rich gahmen or the FTs who takes away my job and need not serve NS?" Interesting but true.

Another cause of concern is that the great divide mentioned by Catherine Tan is getting wider. The 3 meals in a hotel, restaurant or hotel joke for the poor people living with $290 a month takes the cake! The divide is so great that the leaders are so far off the ground that they do not realise when they are talking cock!

And we are treading on dangerous ground when we keep harping of our support for the American's presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. I watched Bush War at Frontline
and I wonder why Singapore still supports this sad war.

We are in trouble when we are treated like morons. When father always knows best. We are in trouble when the leaders refused to acknowledge that we are fed up with progress.

I also thank Vinyarb for his comments and like him, I sincerely apologise for my screw up in complacency.

While writing, I wonder which toilet Mas is in now and hope that current detainees at Whitley are allowed to visit toilets for urination and defecation :)

With lightness and laughter in my heart,
feedmetothefish