When The Trinity Gets Holy

I'm not writing about religion. This is about Singapore's Supreme Triumvirate of PAP, NTUC and Employers.

According to Ministry of Manpower, it is a Tripartism of MOM, NTUC and SNEF (Singapore National Employers' Federation. [Link]

Is the Trinity getting too 'holy'. No, not as in divine or sacred or worthy of worship but 'holy' as in having too many holes. Synonymous with 'leaking', 'damaged', 'disastrous', 'ridiculous' and 'untenable'.

When I read that "Ong Ye Kung said salaries for drivers [Link] have to be fattened more if both operators are to attract enough people to drive the 550 buses funded by a $1.1 billion plan to improve bus services" , I wonder if Mr Ong was speaking as

1. Executive Secretary of National Transport Workers' Union and Assistant Secretary-General of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)
2. Board Member of SMRT [Link] or
3. Member of PAP Establishment [Link]?

The conflict that goes through his mind must be tremendous when he spoke of upping the salary of SMRT bus drivers who lagged behind those of SBS Transit. If he's the good guy (God?) to the workers, would he be considered playing the bad guy (Devil) to the board and shareholders of SMRT? Or has he the versatility to do both? Be God to both sides and Devil to none? Or has he to play both ends against the middle?

As much as some may claim that he's good enough to switch his hats to come up with win-win situation for both union and employer, I have my doubts. Something has got to give. The uniqueness of his position(s) leaves much to be desired. I'm not advocating that union and management must always fight each other but . . . to have one man playing at 2 extremes is unhealthy. It is detrimental to the union, to the management and with compassion, to the man himself. If one needs to sleep peacefully, it cannot, simply cannot, cut both ways.

Ong Ye Kung is also the head of SMRT's internal investigation team into the train disruptions over four days, affecting thousands of peak-hour commuters. [Link]

With so much prominence and highlight given to One Ye Kung after he lost at Aljunied GRC in GE 2011, I wonder, for lack of a better word, if "Pre-Nuptial Agreement" were signed between PAP and their new candidates? That they would not lose out if they fail to win in an election?

Or have they also to sign the 'Will-Not-Leak-PAP-Secrets Act' before they are put up as PAP candidates?

Doing the right thing? Doing the thing right?
Yeah, I wonder and so do many others.

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