Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Signs Of A Weak, Ineffectual Government

"We've told everyone back in China how good and safe Singapore is - how do we explain to them now about what has happened to us?" The answer won't come easy for for Mr Li Wencheng, who hails from scenic Guilin, China, and now a Singapore permanent resident at Tampines. MP with special privileges Lee Kuan Yew inadvertently gave the clue when interviewed on China Central Television, "I believe once you have a weak, ineffectual government, the whole progress you have made will spiral down." That must be his son's governance he was referring to.

Li Wencheng, 39, and his wife, Yuanxiu, 42, had just returned home from their fish soup stall at Tampines 1 Mall, when they were slashed by a 25 year old at the door step of their rented flat. Their two daughters, ages 17 and 9, are studying in China, and are not taking advantage of MOE's generosity towards foreign students. Since the assailant was staying in the same block, this violence could not be pinned on the loan-sharks, who are doing a roaring trade since the casinos opened shop. Samaritans Of Singapore reported 352 calls for help about loan sharks, up from 217 in 2009. So where were the friendly neighborhood police when you need them?

The neighbourhood police post system was styled after the Japanese Koban (交番, kōban), where uniformed police work is done from small buildings located within the community, a form of community policing. In the early stages of implementation, the police actually made their patrols of the housing estates on bicycles, Japanese style. Nowadays, they prefer to be cooped up in their airconditioned cosy corners, doing their monitoring by surfing the internet. Or they might cruise the private estates in their airconditioned patrol cars, maintaining security for the odd Ang Moh jogging with an ill-fitting sports bra along deserted roads. Or handcuffing school kids who are still wondering what hideous criminality could be attributed to distributing flyers and name cards for pocket money.

3 min 50 sec of infamy
According to the police, Li Wencheng's attacker was suffering from mental problems, and "investigations are in progress", the same phrase used when responding to queries about the status of the investigation on the "Cooling Off Day" transgression. We will have to wait to see if the attack was instigated by xenophobia fueled by the likes of another China PR, Wang Peng Fei (王鹏飞). In a 4 minute YouTube video, since taken down, Wang wore ghastly lipstick and parodied Singaporeans, describing local Chinese as descendants of poor Chinese coolies. A police report has been lodged, and "investigations are in progress". The police definitely moved at a quicker pace in 2005, when two Singaporean bloggers were charged under the Sedition Act for making racist remarks online, and another Singaporean blogger promptly joined their ranks 4 days later.

13 comments:

  1. I believe the reason for Mr Li for educating his two daughters in China is because he has no faith in Singapore's education as much as we would like to tout that we have a world class education. It does appear that he and his wife are only here to make as much money as possible before packing up and retire back in China. Looking at the big age gap between the children, it seems that Mr and Mrs Li could have taken up PR (I presume) in order to have a second child. A clever use of loophole against the one child policy. The future for their children is in China which by the time they enter the workforce will be the biggest economy in the world. And happily for the parents, they will be retiring in comfort with the money they made in Singapore. Not a bad arrangement I must say except for the family separation.

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  2. LKY claimed he ruled SG with pragmatism, not dogmatism.
    However, when it comes to first world country, he wants that claim, he deserves the credit.
    When it comes to first rate govt/party, he wants that title, he is yet to earn it. Doubt anyone can or should ever rest on that laurels.
    When it comes to first world parliament (with opposition participation) he claims it will only weaken it.
    When it comes to first world electorate, he claims other foreigner talents are better than home grown.
    What sounds a lot like hogwash! He can have all the exclusive first world, first rate, first class benefits & titles & elitism & power that goes with it, but not prepared to give others a chance. If that 's not dogmatism, what is?
    He needs to get off his extremely high horse and pedestal and learn to be a humble private citizen again (with no glory and perks and guards and motorcades around him) so that he can truly receive the daily punches on his face like any ordinary citizens. And we'll tell him that cannot be helped because of their stupid lousy rate policies. Let it be reminded that he stood on the 3m shoulders of local talents called singaporeans to be a giant once upon of time..his era is over, brought down by his own arrogance, and the ineffectual of his sons' immigration at all costs policies, in large part to over compensate for his stupid graduate mother and stop at 2 polices.

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  3. Me thinks that youtube fella are not any more racists than our own kumar.

    Now he is expelled from school and country, then why must chong-kong his $10000 tuition fee? Singapore so money faced, like that also want to take advantage of other people's misery, just send him packing home lah. no need so heartless mah. first world my foot. wayang only.

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  4. Quote:
    Me thinks that youtube fella are not any more racists than our own kumar.
    Now he is expelled from school and country, then why must chong-kong his $10000 tuition fee? Singapore so money faced, like that also want to take advantage of other people's misery, just send him packing home lah. no need so heartless mah. first world my foot. wayang only:
    Unquote:

    Hello, tell it to EASB lah. Maybe he can become the Prime Minister of China, and he would send his aircraft carrier to Singapore.

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  5. ooo, i wldn't say this was the first sign, as your headline seems to indicate. u may recall that sometime in the 1990s, a prime minister of singapore promised to make this a gacious country. things had already gone wrong then...

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  6. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/world/europe/26norway.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

    When I read this article, i thought it was talking about our immigration policies. What's our integration or assimilation plans for such immigrants (or fanciful title called talents)? Zilch! Show me what they have to do minimally to earn that rights? What exactly are those point systems that are elusive and opaque to the citizens? When you are throwing it away so easily, it's no wonder they come here and treat the place as stepping stones and stepped all over its people. No wonder we can't wait to get over this NDP wayang soon.

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  7. We are told foreign talents who come to work are talented and smart, how do we explain to singaporeans now that the couple are actually here as fish soup seller? Are these talents that you can't find in singapore?

    We have women who wants to return to workforce but not given a chance or lowly paid. Ex civil servants/corporate managers who now drive taxies or can't find jobs or into real estates, replaced by mediocre talents who are willing to accept cheaper pay. If the PM don't stop this bullshit of bashing singaporeans and relegating them to 2nd class citizens, it will be a path of no return for PAP.

    As expected, that student has already flee the country at first sign of trouble.

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  8. Koban? Police neighbourhood post? LOL
    They should build some of those and station one each at the reservoirs and rivers. Too busy cracking down vices like loansharks, prostitution rings, handcuffing students, domestic quarrels all courtesy of casinos. What can you do?

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  9. Perhaps he should bring some much-needed foreign talent into the cabinet, seeing how he thinks we have no talent.

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  10. Actually, they did bring in foreign talent into parliament, in other words, the new citizens who were citizens only a few years ago, such as Janil Puthucheary and Foo Mee Har.

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  11. Face it, Singapore has always wanted ready and easy credit, which they do by importing 'talents'. You can be sure they won't be beholden to them once these guys have become 'naturalized' and less economically active. It's a vicious cycle because they want and will run the place as a company.

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  12. anon 5:14pm - simple - it's called creating GDP growth by sheer numbers through importation of large amount of pple in a short amount to time. I think the govt of the day is being disingenuous by saying the reason for the curent lax immigration is just for exceptional foreign talent.

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  13. Of late massage spas seems to be the latest craze, painting the whole city red. PRC-style eating places are also mushrooming all over Chinatown. Are they also manned by husband & wife teams who happens to be PRs ?

    And did the father & son team ever explain the real hard truths why we needed such foreign talents in the first place, no ? To complement our caSINos or to complement our votes ?

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