Deemed a maverick for speaking up against the Population White Paper (PWP) and then taking refuge in the toilet when the voting started - good reason not to elect politicians with weak bladders and weaker constitutions - he once catalogued the shortcomings of his party's record:
"I suspect that there has been some amount of complacency that has crept into the system. Whether it is the MCE fiasco, or that of the lack of hospital beds or dealing with the Little India riot, the corruption cases in the many government agencies like The Singapore Civil Defense force, I detect a certain amount of complacency in our government agencies in dealing with these problems and the trend is not healthy and needs to be eradicated fast. If Singaporeans lose confidence in these key institutions, we will face greater problems in nation building in the future."
So why is he dancing again to the tune of our local variant of the Pied Piper of Hamelin? If he remembers the fable well, he should know the rats are led to a miserable end. It's not like he was sent off to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to reflect and recant like a 16-year-old. The clue lies in his rebuttal of the “Inderjit Singh: Why I left the PAP” story. He says he remains a member of the PAP and will be assisting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his election campaign in Ang Mo Kio GRC.
For the favoured, stepping down from office is like the Japanese practice for retired bureaucrats to "descend from heaven" (amakudari) into a lucrative job in a public corporation or private industry, purportedly to create a strong bond between private and public sectors. Play the game well, and he could be a Chandra Das, with a free hand to set up $2 companies like Action Information Management (AIM). Far from being tainted by the town council affair, Chandra Das has just been appointed non-Resident High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. If Inderjit Singh knows when to take a leak while the PWP votes were being counted, he sure knows how to go with the flow.
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You hit the nail on the head (figuratively and literally), Tattler. For those with stronger constitutions, the fate is well-known. No state funeral (for OTC), being "uninvited" (like Tan Chen Bock) or ignored (like George Yeo). The spitefulness and the pettiness is there for all to see.
ReplyDeleteWe know kissing asses like a das was rewarded with enuf directorships to buy more than a good class bungalow, but if peeing can buy us all a good class bungalow, then anyone would be willing to be called a dog, can pee anywhere, anytime... awf awf awf... where do I sign up?
ReplyDeleteMembership has its privileges...enuf said!
ReplyDeleteIn politics.. principles, ethics, morality are never fixed and defined. The practice is always to go with the flow.
ReplyDeleteBut what is surely defined is a minimum wage for themselves.
A feature that is very close to their hearts.
What is one on the path to exit when there are lines of many waiting in the wings to play the latchkey dog.
ReplyDeleteYes, one of my favourite words - amakudari.
ReplyDeleteThe other relevant ones are nomenklatura and plutocracy.
This is our uniquely Singapore tripartite relationship.
In SG parlance, it is called helicoptered into a lucrative job. Think Desmond Kuek.
ReplyDeletelucrative huat arghhh!
DeleteNo wonder the paper genderals are so willing to be chosen! We are about to witness an even bigger ego chief defence force being parachuted into one of the many lucrative jobs created. And he would be the highest ranking (LG - not lucky goldstar ok!) military man in the next cabinet. All the BGs and MGs and Rear Admirals would need to stand up and salute him during cabinet meetings. huat arghhh!
Tsk tsk.
DeleteSo when ah heng say election is not lottery to the citizens he is right. Because it is never about the citizens who has a big windfall, is the PAP candidate lah!
Well put Tatler. The Japanese press described it best as :-
ReplyDelete//"...the seemingly ineradicable practice known as amakudari – “descent from heaven” – an old and much maligned but stubbornly resistant custom whereby retiring bureaucrats parachute directly into lucrative sinecures they owe to connections forged while wielding, supposedly in the public interest, power and influence.
Amakudari has two standard patterns. In the first, a bureaucrat accepts a post-retirement position with a private company falling within his or her official jurisdiction. It’s a win-win arrangement, with only the public losing – the company gains influence in official circles, the bureaucrat secures an enviable post-retirement income the prospect of which, critics say, is a perpetual temptation to selectively relax bureaucratic enforcement of regulations.
The second pattern involves an array of government-supported “foundations” whose raison d’etre is often murky and which exist, some observers argue, less for their ostensible functions than to provide retiring bureaucrats with a dignified job title and easy money.//
So much for he $2 zombie companies aplenty in the island, all contributing to the shamelessly low GDP where civil servants and politicians in cahoots are paid for using our hard earned tax money.
Thank you for playing, here is your big fat pay cheque or urakudari, as they say. Think Lim boon heng, Georgie yeo, Chandra das etc etc and the list will go on as long as PAP runs the show. The slow painful demise of this republic is in our bloody hands or votes that we contribute to mediocre in the guise of meritocracy. Is like a new form of karma reinvented by a new God. The more merits you accumulate, the more you are rewarded, mind you, as a blindingly faithful and unquestioning follower. It has nothing to do with your merit as a good decent human earthlings in your lifetime. Same but different different. After all, is not good to have a godless society meh. The peasants are starving for new spiritual being to save their empty souls.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Japanese and weak bladders, I suppose it's good our PM and his merry men don't suffer from IBS like Abe does. Otherwise they'd shit all over us. Oh wait...
ReplyDeleteHey, at least Japanese ministers are not paid millions to maintain dicknity. Lol
DeleteAnd they do resign when they goofed up, or even commit seppukku.
DeleteThat's why they deserve millions! No need to bow or scrape, nor harakiri, and demand love and respect and dignity. Waseyman..if this is not the highest art form of aristocracy, what is? All the self help books written by daddy is paying off. More glaringly, that half junta is already in place ready for freak election. Lol..sinkie voters, too little too late liao lah.
ReplyDeleteIn the late late 1800s/ early 1900s, Empress Dowager CiXi labelled such people "蛇鼠两端" 。。。。。in Ingrish roughly it means two-headed, one end a snake, the other end a rodent ...... when the incumbent is in power, he would bend there. When the wind of change blows the other direction, he may give the previous incumbent a further kick down the ravine and hug the thick thigh of the new power to be ......
ReplyDeleteThe best laid plans of mouse and hens often go awry - now the flip-flop of the recalcitrant Singh, to Ah Hen's annoyance. Inderjit, please come clean. Recall LKY took a leak while Tin Pei Ling started to speak? Bravo for keeping a straight face. It seems incontinence is a refuge for some parliamentarians.
ReplyDeleteWe have Army Generals and Rear Admirals aplenty, and now descending from the Air Force: "Inevitably, there will be questions asked about LG Ng's future plans, particularly, if he is entering politics. Given his tested leadership and proven capabilities, I would not at all be surprised if indeed he is." (Ng Eng Hen) Anyone not surprised, kee chiu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SgWDypg1Fk
I once met the Singh from AMK and surprised to see how height-challenged he is. I always thought all Sikh are suitably sized to guard Standard Chartered Bank.
ReplyDeleteWell this short but bold Sikh from AMK has a business to run. He would be ruined if he did not get back in the good book.
The Chief of Defence Force who oversaw the passed-away parade of the horrible man. received his reward The filial son, suitably impressed, will reward the LG a mllion$ job in his cabinet.
Naïve me thought that a General receive accolade from winning wars and not from running funeral service.
True, it's a challenge trying to spot Inderjit in his walkabouts with Ah Loong. Hehe. However he makes up for his height with his business acumen, savvy and political nous. And it definitely won't hurt to be among the powers that be. Those Sikhs who jaga banks are big and friendly, but more mentally challenged.
DeleteYup, our paper generals are the best at directing state funerals - that's one way to earn their fruit salad. "Lt-Gen Ng is the first to admit that even the best of plans can go awry." So take heart Ng Eng Hen, your plans are not the only ones that got screwed up by eager beavers. But hats off to our fightingest General who will battle Sinkies at every cyberspace and street corner.
Can't we post the General to head up NTUC Funerals.
DeleteAt least the General has relevant work experience.
And he can help NTUC Funerals to carve out a niche in arranging state funerals around the world.