Is Catherine Lim Starting a Fire?

I was reading Catherine Lim's blog of her outrage at Wong Kan Seng/Mas Selamat already jalan sham?e when I chanced upon the comment by Chin Hwa to Catherine's blog below:

1. Chin Hwa
   4 June 2008 at 13:50

   This is not a time to nitpick and blow up matters out of proportion.

   Singaporeans enjoy more than 45 years of plenty under the rule of the PAP. Today, instead of crushing under the weight of the heavy global oil and food prices like many, many larger and resource-rich countries, this tiny resourceless and no-economies-of-scale little red dot continues to give out goodies to its people - Progress Package, Growth Dividends, Inflation Bonus, etc., to the envy of many countries. Thanks to the good management of Singapore.

   No one wishes to unconsciously stir up the ground from any thread. Look what’s happening around the world today. It’s volatile like kerosene and can spread out of hand. It that what we want? Street protests as advocated can turn to anarchy where looting and violence is the norm. Tourists for example will be too scared to come here then. What then will happen to the livelihood of the thousands of our taxi drivers, hotel people, food & beverage people, etc.,? Moreover, investments thrive on a peaceful, safe & secure environment. It may then not be easy to turn back the clock. Playing hero or Robin Hood is. See what’s happening time & again in Thailand.

   Don’t play with FIRE. There’s no starvation, no food riots, no NEP, no torture and what-not that plagues others in Singapore. In the 80-20, it’s bad to play up the 20. No one will benefit in the end, save our rivals and enemies. Don’t bring back the Lim Yew Hocks (one who sold Pedra Branca [Christmas Island]), Ling How Dongs, Cheos, etc. Don’t rock the boat.

   If we didn’t know. The faces in government come and go after they have made their contributions. They are people like you and me. They are not entrenched in stone; only the party’s name. Leadership faces self-renewal and self-regulation. The only founding member remaining is our grand old MM. No one will deny that he deserves the seat for as long as he can still contribute to the well-being of the nation. Contributing, beyond self and family, he is. It must be hard for a loving husband to leave his beloved sick old wife to go to Russia to seek out business for Singapore. Bother to give that a thought? Altruism? Need he?

   Look at the bigger picture, Singaporeans. Be grateful. And finally, there’s no utopia and paradise on this dog-eat-dog planet.
   

This is my response to Chin Hwa.

Do we have to live in a planet where dog eats dog? Do people have to behave like rats just because a rat race has been created in Singapore. Does $$$ becomes the be-all and end-all with PAP Ministers setting the examples by paying themselves obscene salaries?

Chin Hwa, you may not be "crushing" but there are other Singaporeans who can hardly make ends meet with the current inflation and 7% Special, aka the GST.

There are Singaporeans who wish neither to be rodent nor canine but human beings with freedom to write, speak and gather without Big Brother breathing down their necks with legislations that stifle.

I'm so sick and tired of the self-glorification of "Singaporeans enjoy more than 45 years of plenty under the rule of the PAP". It's the same sad story and it's been told ad nauseam by PAP leaders and their cronies. Yes, the story of fishing village to 1st world is getting a little stale. To some, a little fishing village without FT's today may be a COZY SINGAPORE with HAPPY SINGAPOREANS instead of so many unhappy Kiasu, Kiasi and Konceited rats!

With basic necessity like 3 meals and a roof in the air over the head for most, we should then be perpetually grateful to PAP? And not be upset with:

1. The GST Increase to help the Poor but could have ended up in the pockets of
   
2. The Million $,$$$,$$$ Dollars Ministers
3. The Scandalous Court Cases of Defamations Involving Politicians
   
4. The NKF Scandal
5. The Poor Getting Poorer with GST & Inflation
6. The Rich Getting Richer with Instantaneous Law of NO More Estate Duty
   
7. The CPF ( You can't touch this!)
   
8. The HDB and its Subsidy
   
9. GIC & Temasek throwing money everywhere except Singapore's Poor
10. and Mas Selamat Jalan & Wang Kan Seng mystery among others.

Christmas Island has gone Down Under and now Middle Rocks has gone to our neighbour up north. Who wins? Who loses? It depends which angle you are looking at.

How are we to know that we may even have it better without Lee Kuan Yew and PAP? Yes, we may have our so-called $300 billions(?) in reserves which we citizens cannot even smell but we also have the 10 issues (listed above) up there.

One may be satisfied and satiated by the "good life" in Singapore, but let's not be too conceited and "complacent". Let's get off our high horses and not run down our friends in Thailand as in"See what’s happening time & again in Thailand." My skin crawls every time Singaporeans especially political leaders look down and talk down other countries when they play the "Singaporeans, you don't know how lucky you are with LKY and PAP?" comparison game.

I often wonder if LKY and PAP did not exist, would our lives be different? Yeah, we could be Malaysians instead of Singaporeans.

1. We can have much greenery and climb Gunong Tahan and Mount Kinabalu instead of fighting the crowd at Bukit Timah Hill and MacRitchie Reservoir on Sunday mornings.
   
2. We can own big houses with garden with what we are paying through our noses now for a little HDB subsidised apartment in the air.
   
3. We do not need to waste time at the Causeway (due to Wong Kan Seng not Mas Selamat) to visit friends and relatives.
   
4. We earned higher interest with EPF (where you really get it all back at 55) instead of CPF (where legislations changes so often that they always keep your hard earned savings until you are 85 (if you live long enough!). What with Medisave, Medishield, Minimum Sum, Retirement Account, Longevity Annuity and what have you?.
   
5. We get cheaper petrol and cheaper goods without GST(?)
   
6. Even with their Bumiputra law, we still have jailbird like Lim Guan Eng ending up as Chief Minister of Penang. We also have another jailbird charged with sodomy previously but now having the unofficial post of an Opposition Leader.
   
7. We can have human rights demonstration like Hindraf and Royal Commission on lawyers, judges and political leaders who mess around with their power.
   
8. We may have less foreign talents who take away jobs from our seniors
   
9. We have a different and shorter (much... much... shorter) form of National Service and no Reservist's misery.
10. Pay less than a dollar to see a doctor . . . And What Else?
    

Who knows?

It's a sad day in Singapore when comments by political commentators and concerned citizens like Dr Catherine Lim are viewed as a pain or, even worse, unpatriotic.

Yes, we come, we go. We live, we die.

In between a little rain must fall. Even to the the rich and the mighty.

What is important to you may not be important to me. Likewise, what's important to Catherine and others like me may not be important to you. Let's respect each other and not suppress the views of those that disagree with us and knock those less fortunate than us, especially our Thai friends (or our neighbours) while blowing our own trumpets.

Yes, one left his sick and beloved wife to go to Russia. The other left his 3 young children and long suffering and beloved wife to camp in Queenstown Prison for another 12 days. Each with his own business, passion, goals and objectives? Who knows? And we are to respect and be gratefu for what they do? For the future benefit Singapore? Despot, senile and cut a pitiable sight? A cheat, a liar and near psychopath? To each, his own! Altruism? Until we know, we'll never know!

I do not think Catherine blew things out of proportion.

FIRE? No, we don't play play with it :)

feedmetothefish.