Is Singapore Cracking Up?

I fear so.

Here's why:

Reason 1:
Economy and money is more important than people.

In "MM Lee explains Singapore's long-term investment horizon" by Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia on February 6 2009, he said,

"So those MPs who say, 'Give S$300 to every citizen and we will boost the retailers', they just do not understand the bigger picture. You give S$300 like that and it is gone in a shot, and all the things that they will buy, three-quarters of it are imported," he said.

As my mother is not a graduate, understanding the bigger picture may be 56 man years away from me.

I may be wrong but I think the MM was referring to MP Denise Phua's 2009 Budget Debate when she said, "provide a grant of up to $300 per month per eligible Singaporean for as long as the Jobs Credit Scheme is running or when a job is found, which ever is earlier" for the needy retrenched.

Being a lesser mortal, I understand Denise's proposal and objective is to help the needy retrenched. Is MM Lee scoffing at the MP's suggestion? Or is he referring to something else? If Economy is more important to him than his fellow Singaporeans, then I'm sad that Lee Kuan Yew is no longer the human leader he used to be. Does he consider the down-and-out Singaporeans and "needy retrenched" worse than lesser mortals? Are they better off dead since they have become unproductive digits in the grand scheme of 1st world Singapore?

Or is MP Denise Phua the target of MM's dismissal because she highlighted Temasek's Singapore Semiconductor's retrenchment and the loss of more than $400 millions in ABC Learning when she expressed that Jobs Credit Scheme may not do the job of saving jobs but help CEOs and Board members get rich?

Now that MM's daughter-in-law Ho Ching is quitting Temasek, has Denise Phua's comment in Parliament added insult to injury?

Reason 2:
Will foreign talent finally take over Singapore?

As much as Tharman is to Lee Hsien Loong and Chip Goodyear is to Ho Ching, (both may be holding the shit end of the stick) I'm sad that Goodyear (not a Singaporean) knows more of the reserves in Temasek (created and own by every Singaporean) than lesser mortals like us! Having trusted Ho Ching who finds a convenient time to jump ship, am I now asked to trust Chip for more good years? Maybe Ho Ching should offer her services to USA as United State's Secretary of Treasury? Quid pro quo? That is if the man who dares to own up to say, "I screwed up" is able to accept and work with a risk-taker with no regrets!

Reason 3:
Checks & Balances = Trust.

On dipping into reserves and why it takes only one week for the President to approve the $4.9 billion, we are told by our Finance Minister, "This is a system that relies on trust in the individuals who are in charge, including those appointed to the CPA and the Elected President.” "Do you trust them? Have they made decisions wisely? Has the government been acting responsibly?" Pardon my cynicism but after all the song and dance of the incorruptible checks and balances that our Government crows about ad nauseam, we are now asked by Tharman Shanmuguratnam to merely trust?

It is scary! Due to the fact that our "system relies on trust in the individuals who are in charge" we are now losing millions through Town Councils and billions through Temasek and GIC. Majority of Singaporeans who happen to be lesser mortals are respectful and trustful. Question is: Are those to be trusted worthy of our trust?

One key? Two key?
Puki, it's such a quickie!

What's inconsolable is the fact that President Ong Teng Cheong who was denied a state funeral was told that he had to wait 56 man years to know the value of our reserves. Now it takes only one week for the ex-Japanese translator and his council of presidential advisors to agree in principle the release of the reserves? Fantastic! We have progressed by leaps and bounds!

Honestly, the reserves are nothing but a mirage. Except for the leeders, who in Singapore knows what reserves are all about? Transparency is a bloody joke! Far as I know, my CPF contribution (my untouchable Medisave that I cannot use in full for my heart attack), what I paid in taxes and what I paid for my little overpriced (subsidised???) HDB pigeon hole add on to the reserves.

Minsters dear, I do not grudge your obscene pay because you have worked and scheme your way up there. I take offence to the fact that you are not doing what you are paid to do. With all the 'A' Team talents that's been claimed in justifying the obscenity, why are we lesser mortals worse off than before you had your increment by the millions? Fair is fair. If you cannot deliver, do you still deserve so much?

The scary fact is:
Too many in Singapore have trusted too few for too long.

As long as the rulers insist on being opaque and think that common folks do not deserve any better, the skeletons will always be in the cupboard. Then again, life is such that truth shall prevail. We all know the skeletons that's dropped out of the cupboards in Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia.

Time will tell.

feedmetothefish

ps: Please bear with me for being repetitive but I thank Charles Chong for the use of the words, "lesser mortals"