Response to PM Lee's 2013 New Year Message

Mr Prime Minister,

As a Singaporean, I am responding to your 2013 New Year Message.

Since you the man, I can't help but let you know that your speech writers are messing you up bad. Real Bad! Do you know your credibility went down the sewers when you mentioned:

• "Singapore made steady progress in 2012. We improved Singaporeans’ lives and addressed our more pressing concerns." I must say: "Self praise is a bloody disgrace!" Half truths are even worse! You may have improved the lives of PAP's close knit members and cronies but you have not improved Singaporeans' lives. With depressed wages, inflation and exorbitant public housing, life is getting miserable for many.
  
• "The weak US, European and Japanese economies dampened our growth, but some industries have also had difficulty hiring the workers they need to grow." Please do not put the blame on others when things go bad for you or Singapore. How can you blame the US, Europeans and Japanese for the lack of economic growth in Singapore. While at it, you are blaming Singaporeans too! Poor sods, Singaporeans complain of your excessive import of foreigners causing congestion and over-crowdedness in Singapore and you are indirectly blaming them for "difficulty hiring the workers they need to grow". Pardon my sensitivity, but that's how I read your message.
  
• "We have to learn to walk in one another’s shoes." Hey man, you are carrying this joke too far. Try walk a mile in my worn-out slippers. Better still, try walking barefoot under the sun or rain, day in day out, picking up used aluminium cans and carton boxes to eke out a living. Baby, I'd love to walk in your shoes even barefoot in the luxury of your richly carpeted ivory towers with $$$$$$$$millions to squander every year!
  
        
• "We also need to forge a consensus on the way forward, accommodate one another in a spirit of give-and-take, and place shared national goals ahead of individual interests." If only you uppity fooks in PAP know the spirit of give-and-take, you would not pay yourselves millions in salary in the first place! If you sincerely would like to give more and take less, how about coming up with a minimum wage scheme to protect the lowest income group for a start? How about re-instituting the Estate Duties Act? Individual interests indeed!
  
• "To realise our aspirations and manage our challenges, Singapore must have good governance. We need capable and committed leaders, who uphold high standards of integrity and set good personal examples, so as to have the moral authority to lead our nation." Gosh! you know what you just said? As much as you would like PalmerGate to be forgotten, dead and buried, are you not aware of:
  
  1. Seah Kian Peng's indiscretion and misuse of power in intervening the job of a traffic warden?
  
  2. The use of 14 Town Councils' Funds in building a software and financial system and subsequently sold to a $2 PAP company AIMS (Action Management System Pte Ltd) for who knows why?
  
  We need capable and committed leaders not to take care of PAP and their cronies. We need capable and committed leaders to take care of Singapore and all Singaporeans! If you do not investigate and make public the right or wrongdoings for all to see, you have no moral authority to lead our nation! Period.
  
• "But penalties and laws are not enough by themselves to keep the system straight. It is crucial that all of us know right from wrong and conduct ourselves with honour, integrity and probity, especially those in positions of responsibility. We must not just do the right things; we must also do things right. Such an attitude reflects the ethos of our society and the values we uphold." Not even million dollars salary can keep the system straight. If you have honour, integrity and probity to do right, just do it. Especially the 2 points above. Talk is cheap! 

Mr Prime Minister, just how many layers of checks and quality control do you do on your speech before you make it public? The quality of this new year message shows how far away you are from the masses in Singapore. Are you so ensconced and sheltered in your ivory tower that you do not know how the people feel? If you are not so shielded, this damning message would not have seen the light of day.

I doubt you would thank me but you are most welcome to my contribution to the National Conversation which this blog is part of.

Chinese saying:

活到老学到老

Pronunciation:

Huo Dao Lao, Xue Dao Lao 

Translation:

Living to Old Age and Learning to Old Age 

Sincerely,

feedmetothefish

For the full speech visit: PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG'S 2013 NEW YEAR MESSAGE [Link]