Both Lee and Goh sure made their contributions alright - Lee with his "5 years to repent" challenge, and Goh with his share of scoring his own goals. Given the timing, barely one week after the election post-mortem, maybe it was a Saturday Night Massacre. We'll never know for sure, these guys bring their secrets to their graves.
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At last!! Is this the beginning of a REAL handover of power? Kuan Yew was the power centre in the cabinet when GCT was PM. Did we really have a transition of power, then? Unlikely.
ReplyDeleteChange will only take place however when sacred cows are dismantled.
Good Riddance! By the way, they quit for the good of their party not the country! I wonder how much pension they will get.
ReplyDeleteWoooohoooo!!! Pop the champagne and play da music! :)
ReplyDeleteDon't celebrate yet. They may still pull the strings from back stage. :(
ReplyDeleteDoes it mean S$7 million saved?
ReplyDeleteThey already have had millions deep in their pocket. No big difference when they retire as a matter of fact, and even though Goh Chok Tong was PM last time, LKY was still somewhat "guiding" him as SM. My point is, it does not look like there will be a real difference. It's only cosmetic difference, but party ideology remains the same.
ReplyDeletehurray.
ReplyDeleteIt's a step in the right direction. Next, they need to revise the salaries for ministers and the president!
ReplyDeleteIt will be more convincing IF
ReplyDeletethere is no media coverage of old fart and woody goh for the next 6 mths.
WongKS, MahBT, RaymondLim, NgEH are given 6 mths to show results, otherwise given the boot!
with immediate effect, downgrade VivianB, TeoSL, not least, TinPL, JPuthu, FooMH, LeeBW, JoTeo, IreneNg, etc are assigned to take charge of MPS duties, mon-fri until midnite, with monthly feedback from residents.
In the meantime, it's only one bottle from my vintage collection, still early days, so I will save the rest for events that bring greater cheer to the 40%
Now, which one of them will be standing for President. Or maybe for MM and SM will offer themselves as candidates. What a dilemma it will be for voters - the devil or the deep blue sea. A Hobson's choice.
ReplyDelete=> Anon @ May 14, 2011 10:02 PM
ReplyDelete"Does it mean S$7 million saved?"
No, it should be S$7 million x 5 years = S$35 million.
Typo - maybe both MM and SM...
ReplyDeleteNeither can run for president because they're still MPs. If however LHL decides to go the whole "reform" route, you never know we might just get our first woman president. The only person with substantial fiscal experience and is no longer an MP - she is on the loose now..watch this space.
ReplyDeleteIf both(or either) SM Lee and SM Goh run for presidency, honestly, that is way beyond us to imagine. They should seriously just consider retiring totally from politics and stop trying to "fix the opposition". It won't do anyone good, let alone their party, which already has an increasing image of strongheaded politicking without caring for the people on the ground's sentiments.
ReplyDeleteI meant MM Lee in my former post. oops
ReplyDeleteTo Anon at 11:54 pm
ReplyDeleteThey can run for the Elected Presidency if they first resign as MPs, which they can do so at any time. Not that I wish that would happen, unless the PAP promises to call for by-elections in Marine Parade GRC and Tanjong Pagar GRC when they resign!
Wouldn't it be a conflict of interest having father as President while son is PM?
ReplyDeleteWhere got conflict ? Father appointed son, then later son appointed father, as in any family business. It seems the only conflict must be the other odd man out.
ReplyDeleteHe must be stomping his feet right now and maybe questioning himself "How come he can but I cannot be Mentol Minister meh and now he wants me to quit now together with him, I really don't know what to say!"
If the quit their MP role to run for PResident, then I'll think there'll be a true outrage. There 're a substantial amt of pple who hv voted in SM Goh based on his credential. If he's not on the ticket, the outcome of MPGRC might have been very different. Voters will see through the fact that it's a devious ploy absolutely. However, since MM had a walkover, that wld be less an issue but for him to run for presidency is unthinkable at this age now. He can't even predict he will survive to see the next election!
ReplyDeleteThat leaves us some existing pool of candidates. LHH is a possibility given her Finance/Temasek b/g.
You can say it made my day, last evening. ( Sat 14th May 2011)
ReplyDelete1) Sylvia Lim announced her resignation from Temasek Poly to be a Full-Time MP.
( Let us see who in the PAP camp will emulate her. Can we expect 1 MP within a GRC to be a Full-Time MP ?)
2) The MM & SM announced their "retirement from cabinet". Never mind their continual collection of their MP Allowances & not insignificant Pensions.
Do not meant to sound ungrateful for all the Good Things that the two gentlemen did for Singapore, but it was time the PM be his own man.
I am looking forward for more announcements.
Agree with 11:32. That son of a gun can finally be a PM like any other PMs in the whole wide world! He will have real opposition party to contend with, and while I suspect the father will continue to dispense advice to his son in private capacity, it's high time we see how/why PM & his batch of leaders are worth their$3m salt! So to quote the old man's "It's pragmatic politics". No love lost for him & GCT. Let's just get on with what his Party can do for the good/love of SG. Otherwise, make way. SG is bigger than any Party.
ReplyDeleteIs nothing more than cosmetic changes designed to shore up son's waning credibility.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought. If after these two "very wise and experienced" are properly retired and Singapore contine to hum along with no ill-effects, does that mean we've been paying them a fortune all these years for nothing? Could it be that their positions are truly redundant? And in the spirit of Singapore Inc, they should be retrenched to safe the nation some money.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing, if LHL proceed to remove HC from Temasek Holldings and replace her with an independent professional, Ibll really take off my hat.
And finally if he removes those biased judges and the dreaded ISA, that will be icing on the cake,
@goondoo, I think you are overly optimistic. No reason to remove his wife from Temasek...didn't he said something to the effect that he had married her for her management abilities?. As for judges and ISA, he did mention "fixing the opposition" in the 2006 election. Don't forget, LHL is after all his father's son.
ReplyDelete@8:09, yes, I too belief I'mwildly optimistic but I can't wait to see Singapore transform into a normally functioning democracy and not a laughing stock when I tell my overseas friends Singapore is a democratic country. I hope to see this happen within my lifetime. There are two ways to do it. Either his father's son make all the right changes b4 the next election or someone else comes in to do it after the next election or the one after that. Singaporeans are not going to take crap from an incompetent government anymore. Oh, I forgot to mention a grossly overpaid one too.
ReplyDelete@goondoo, you know this bunch of leaders haven't shown much in the last 20 years...I have not seen any major rethink in the policies regarding our healthcare, transport, housing, education...they have been cruising along with existing ones, like COE & gantries to solve traffic problems; medisave is not working for people with chronic or serious illnesses and there is no social safety net. One has to be almost destitute before one can seek and get assistance from the authorities. Our children has one of the highest rate of myopia in the world, class sizes have hardly improved, more children are seeking private tuition - 1st class education system? Yet, they have shown that they sometimes can come up with fresh ideas and can implement them quickly too - not necessarily for our collective good - like the new immigration policy to reach 6.5 million population, and the out-of-this-world ministerial salaries! So no, I do not have the confidence that good changes would come from this group but hopefully we will get there in the not too distant future!
ReplyDeleteThe Ruling Party is looking for new leaders to take over controls and It had harped much that some potential ones in their new candidates. Those 'picked' from the Armed Forces are said to be the of outstanding qualities and if they ever get to be the CEO of the State, it could be worrisome and nightmarish for all we know.
ReplyDelete