11 days or 56-man hours? Let's hear it from our Presidents.

Q: When you made the decision, did you have the information on like how big our reserves, how much of a draw this would be on the reserves...
President Nathan: Of course I have. Of course I have.

I'm simply amazed that it would have taken 56-man years for our late President Ong Teng Cheong to know how big our reserves were but it takes such a short time for our current President Sellapan Ramanathan to know it all. Amazing! Read here .

In view of the exposure by President Nathan in the Straits Times, I can't help recalling the interview I read years ago that President Ong had with a foreign press. I did a google and found this:

Extracted from AsiaWeek dated 10 March 2000.
Maverick Politician
Ong Teng Cheong is out but not down
By ROGER MITTON Singapore

Public protests are rare in Singapore. Official ones, rarer yet. But 12 years ago, the then deputy prime minister, Ong Teng Cheong, led a noisy demo against American interference in Singapore's affairs. Some local lawyers had been detained without trial and a U.S. diplomat (later expelled) had suggested other Singaporean lawyers should stand as candidates against the ruling People's Action Party in coming elections. While PM Lee Kuan Yew and his designated successor Goh Chok Tong spoke out, it was the deceptively unassuming Ong who marshaled 2,000 trade unionists to stand in approved areas with anti-Uncle Sam banners. "Don't smile," said the DPM. "This is serious business." Unfortunately, a cameraman caught Ong doing just that. Please continue (read here)

MARCH 10, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 9

E X T E N D E D I N T E R V I E W
'I Had a Job to Do'
Whether the government liked it or not, says ex-president Ong

Please read here for the extended interview.

It's good to see how much we have improved since 2000. The current civil servants that we have are so much more efficient than those during our past president's days! With them President Nathan can have information on our reserves, "Of course, I have, Of course, I have." which President Ong had to wait 56-man years.

By trying to come clean and validate their diligence, righteousness, dignity, honesty and whatyoumaycallit (including justifying million dollars salary) to the public, the President and his mintsters may have just shot their own feet and made themselves look cockeyed and preposterous.

Then again, with our 'golden age' money burning by the billions through GIC and Temasek, what is most laughable is having built up the hih worth of the A-Team mintsters, the performance has shown that they are worth a dime a dozen.

Hello, if you keep saying you are so bloody good, you had better prove your worth! Please do not put the blame on USA nor globalisation nor your dead grandmother for your poor performance. The proof is in the pudding!

We are a having a dose of bad government. Indeed!

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