It's No Fun Being Poor But Is It Fun To Be The HIghest Paid Politician?

This report by Al Jazeera was done in 2008. It's coming to 4 years since but are the poor in Singapore getting better today?

In his recent interview with Fareed Zakaria [Link], PM Lee Hsien Loong said, "If you're poor in Singapore, it's no fun, but I think you're less badly off than in any other country in the world, including in the US". Honestly, are the poor in Singapore less badly off than the poor in any other country in the world, including in the US?

Poor as in no money; no job; no home; no health; no minimum wage; no respect; no integrity?
I think it applies to all regardless which country one belongs to.

Or it could be poor as in no democracy; no freedom? Or heavens forbid, poor as in a reduction in salary for PAP ministers? Crying shame, the poor sacrifices that rich ministers have to make!

I just read from Martyn See's facebook this will-never-appear-in-msm interview of Dr Toh Chin Chye [Link] by Melanie Chew on why Lee Kuan Yew cried not once but twice in 1965 and had to take a 6-week break to recover from his crack-up. With a response like, "If you're poor in Singapore, it's no fun, but I think you're less badly off than in any other country in the world, including in the US", one would think that Lee Hsien Loong needs a 6-week break too!

To brag about paying oneself 4 times more than the President of USA is one thing but to show off the poor of Singapore as being better off than those in US and other countries is disgraceful! This idiotic act of arrogance shows the character of the person! It reminds me of  Dr Balakrishnan's famous remark in 2007, "How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?" when MP Lily Neo asked for more public assistance for the poorest of the poor in Singapore.

As much as he tries to show that he is capable and deserves the riches that he gets as PM of Singapore, I think he has gone over the top with such an atrocious comparison of the poor. For the sheltered, privileged and the materially rich life that he has had since he was a kid, I can understand his ignorance of the poor. Since he has neither been there nor done that, it is offensively impolite of him to utter such rubbish!

Even a nincompoop knows that it is no fun to be poor but how are we to know that the poor in Singapore are better off than the poor of elsewhere? Or are the poor in Singapore enjoying 3 meals in restaurants daily now?

There were 2 blokes [Link] who proclaimed that there were no beggars in Singapore and now we have the highest paid PM in the world publicly declaring, "If you're poor in Singapore, it's no fun, but I think you're less badly off than in any other country in the world, including in the US".

What does it take to change the essence of a man?

Just what does it take to change the essence of a man who is paid millions by taxpayers of Singapore?



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