Annus Mirabilis?

Or are Singaporeans mere gullible 'ikan bilis' to the power that is?

Someone asked why am I so anti-PAP? Is it the hubris of PAP that gets my goat?

No, it is not only the arrogance. It is more than that. It includes but not limited to the following:

• Disrespect for Singaporeans: How on earth can a PAP leader justify the obscene salary paid to his 'Kar Kiahs/Kakies' by saying that my mother, wife, daughter and even grand daughter will end up as maids in other countries if ministers are not paid by the millions!
  Surprisingly, they have realised their grave mistake and Junior is now in damage control with Gerard Ee's help. Whatever the outcome and how much mintsters will be paid, the damage is done!
  Gerard has just cleared the hurdle and has passed his Report to the PM. Now let's see if PM is happy with Gerard's work? Or is it going to be another time wasting "Much Ado About Nothing" Wayang of "Dad, should I cut our pay and pensions?"
  
  
• Faking Democracy, Meritocracy & Transparency:
  When the Election Department is under the control of the Prime Minister;
  When grassroot leaders are defined and selected by Peoples' Association and PA is chaired and boarded by PAP's top brasses;
  When the savings in our CPF can only be withdrawn on the whims and fancies of blokes we don't really know;
  When Temasek and GIC is so 'transparent' that it's like Peoples' Money being moved around like chips in gambling dens in Marina Bay Sands and Resort Sentosa,
  
  it is time to wake up to the fact that a joke can only go so far . . .

• Very Difficult to Pardon Comments:
  When "I stand corrected" silenced all and sundry after bad and wrong examples were made of Muslim/Malay's inability to integrate, unmarried Malay teenage pregnancy [Link], and most painful of all, Muslim family not sharing rice with other races.
  When someone said that the National Pledge is nothing but an "aspiration", we aspire to know, "Then why the fook are the school kids wasting their time every school going morning reciting it?"
  
  
• Expose, Expose & Expose:
  Dr Lim Hock Siew's detention [Link] & [Link]; Teo So Lung's book, "Beyond The Blue Gate"; Vincent Cheng's tortured non-torture; Alan Shadrake's "Once A Jolly Hangman" [Link] and his stay at Prison Singapore and Chia Thye Poh being honoured recently [Link] show that we are slowly arriving.
  
  
  
• Their Creme de la Creme MPs:
  'Kate Spade' leg stompin' "I don't know what to say" comes to mind. 'Janil Puthutcheary who never did a day of National Service but ‘I’ve spent the last 10 years saving kids’ lives.’ [Link] is another. But the one I love most is 'he' who refused to appear for PAP in the last election and caused a "oops... who to replace him?" at Tampines GRC! What's his name?

I'm sad that a caring and decent politician like Chiam See Tong and his wife Lena were not voted in in the last election. I'm thrilled that Low Thia Khiang and his party retained Hougang and succeeded in Aljunied GRC. The photo-finish win of Tony Tan as President of Singapore shows Singaporeans may not be that gullible after all.

With the loss of Aljunied; the admission that Minsters' Pay sucks big time that led to a review; the wayang apology that doesn't mean squat (what with the ever increasing population that continues to find it difficult to breathe in trains and every where else; the crazy unaffordable pigeon hole called HDB flat; the distressful increase in taxi/bus fares and the comical but possibly dangerous SMRT Fiasco; the once-in-50-years-flood that happend many times in 2011, I must say 2011 is the Annus Mirabilis for PAP! Or is it Annus Horribilis? Whatever turns you on ;)

Will it get better in the year of the dragon?

We'll see.

Meanwhile, I'll pick up my guitar and learn how to sing the Ballad of Chia Thye Poh. See the [Link] here and learn how to sing here. [Link]

And when I thought I was getting serious, I got to see this! [Link]. If anyone thinks Malays do not know how to share their rice with others or accept advice from others on unmarried teenage pregnancies, they've got to watch "Gemuk Girls"! Apart from other virtues they possess, they have talent!

Let's respect races and religion (or non-religion) other than our own!

We, the citizens of Singapore,

pledge ourselves as one united people,

regardless of race, language or religion,

to build a democratic society

based on justice and equality

so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and

progress for our nation.

Malay version

Kami, warganegara Singapura,

sebagai rakyat yang bersatu padu,

tidak kira apa bangsa, bahasa, atau ugama,

berikrar untuk membina suatu masyarakat yang demokratik,

berdasarkan kepada keadilan dan persamaan

untuk mencapai kebahagiaan,

kemakmuran dan kemajuan bagi negara kami.

Chinese version

我们是新加坡公民，

誓愿不分种族、言语、宗教，

团结一致，

建设公正平等的民主社会，

并为实现国家之幸福、繁荣与进步，

共同努力。

我們是新加坡公民，

誓願不分種族、言語、宗教，

團結一致，

建設公正平等的民主社會，

並為實現國家之幸福、繁榮與進步，

共同努力。

Wǒmen shì Xīnjiāpō gōngmín,

shìyuàn bù fēn zhǒngzú, yányǔ, zōngjiào,

tuánjié yīzhì,

jiànshè gōngzhèng píngděng de mínzhǔ shèhuì,

bìng wèi shíxiàn guójiā zhī xìngfú, fánróng yǔ jìnbù,

gòngtóng nǔlì.

Tamil version

சிங்கப்பூர் குடிமக்களாகிய நாம் இனம்,மொழி,மதம்

ஆகிய வேற்றுமைகளை மறந்து ஒன்றுபட்டு,நம் நாடு

மகிழ்ச்சி,வளம்,முன்னேற்றம் ஆகியவற்றை அடையும்

வண்ணம் சமத்துவத்தையும்,நீதியையும்

அடிப்படையாக கொண்ட ஜனாயக

சமுதாயத்தை உருவாக்குவதற்கு

உறுதி மேற்கொள்வோம்!

For more than 4 decades, I've been doing my utmost to do and live it! But it is just an aspiration for some.

Happy New Year!

feedmetothefish