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| The practitioner on the art of seduction |
General Nguyễn Cao Kỳ once confessed that everyman has his price, and his was an American helicopter. It came in useful during the fall of Saigon, he piloted himself to safety on one of the aircraft carriers positioned offshore for the evacuation. The question unasked was what is Balakrishnan's price.
His insinuation blemished the memory Lim Kim San who demurred compensation to take on the challenge of housing the masses. For one who sits shakily on a moral high horse, he should pay more attention to his own words:
“It’s not making me popular, but I will insist on honesty … on declaration of conflicts of interest … on declarations of related party transactions. I will insist that ... if you’ve cheated before, come clean.”
This coming from one who has yet to account for the $79.8 million buried in the books as "Other costs" in an inflated blowout of $387 million. Every project budget has an element of contingency allowance, typically about 5 - 10%, but $78.9 million should raise eyebrows, and warrant investigations of shady dealings like, say, related party transactions. Facebook user Ghazali was arrested for questioning the increase in the YOG budget because he wished figuratively to "burn Vivian Balakrishnan and the PAP" and "rally together and vote them out". The Minister's comment?
"I didn't know about it until I read about it in the papers. It shows that I almost didn't care."
We should care. It's our money, and we are not even referring to the plunder of the Central Provident Fund. Honesty is not restricted to money matters, it's synonyms are integrity, probity, and rectitude.
Posts
/// no politician will work without financial incentives ///
ReplyDeleteHow much incentives do you want? Enough to buy a 3-room HDB flat, a private condo unit, or a bungalow on Sentosa?
The "original version" about three meals is "the all time best"!
DeleteNone has ever come "closer".
The closest maybe was about XO carrot cake.
Nonetheless these two are easily in the "top 10 all time political gaffes in sinkieland ".
One recently by Lao Goa may have made it into the "all time top 10" as well.
Given the trend, perhaps the list should be expanded to "top 30", to make space for more such in the coming days ....?
First line of the first paragraph:
ReplyDelete"The question from the floor at a National Day Rally public forum organised by government feedback arm REACH (Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry @ Home..."
^
I think that can be safely disregarded.
I hope you're old enough to remember the shenanigans of REACH back in the day when the PAP govt was indulging in the 'Remaking Singapore' wankfest.
Why does our PM needs to be paid more than 5 or 6 times the salary of US President in order to stay honest? Is our PAP Govt arguing that the US President is only worth 1/5 or 1/6 the honesty of our PM ? Doesn't square off isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThen what are our laws for that they are not tough enough towards preventing pur Ministers from being corrupt if yhey are not paid that much as demanded?
becos no one will want to shake his hand and talk with him when he attends World Economic Forum in Davos.
DeleteMoney talks with money.
"To be paid ... to stay honest" - oxymoron? or the definition of open bribery? Imagine them being paid $5m a year; over 30-year career, that would be a significant fraction of how much some "Arab King gave" to some northern politician.
DeleteOnce again, living proof that voters should not be seduced by notion of servant leadership from PAP.
ReplyDeleteKeep taking a few GRCS away from them until you see their true colors. One swallow is not enough to make them swallow their pride.
Vivian is merely sprouting another equivalent of GCT " don't be seduced by lie. We are our own check."
ReplyDeleteHis version is the follow up to it translating as "don't be seduced by calling. We write our own cheques " .
Only in his world, you are either handsomely remunerated or you are corrupt dichotomy. You have to wonder if the rest of world leaders like Obama , Angela Merkel or other well run countries leaders fall into which camp of his extremes?
https://harishpillay.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/he-probably-is-indeed-telling-the-truth/
DeleteGreat post from blogger.
If PAP is so concerned with corruption without incentivizing with the highest salary, then the citizens should propose that the state install death penalty to leaders who corrupt!! Since they are always the strongest proponent that death penalty is the fpeffective deterrent to drug peddling , why won't we consider that? Then problem solved right? Minister are paid fair salary, no one ever said is free service. Even paid minister must earn their keeps with performance. Has PAP or Vivian deliver the transport, healthcare, the jobs to local or simply managing a sports project without busting the bank account?
Nobody will work without allowances..?
DeleteIs that why your grassroots leaders can ownself claim reimbursement ownself approve huh?
Or do you mean no politicians can work without allowances for mistakes huh!?
Yes I much prefer the North Korean solution. Ineffective or corrupt and one bullet to the face.
Delete// We should care.//
ReplyDeleteOn paper and at first sight, "高薪养廉" seems to make "good sense".
On second look, there seems some flaws in the arguments.
On closer scrutiny and analysis, it could be a "Pandora Box" ......
The issue of high ministerial remunerations ( amounting to about 5 millions per annum inclusive salaries, double-digit months of bonuses {often more than all the fingers and toes on a normal human's body added together}, the other side of the equation of a almost 100% subsidy for a, for example, $8 heart-bypass ops, a lifetime pension, individual and family members benefits ........ etc etc ) is arguably a real concern in today's context.
DeleteSinkies are told to work their butts off, spurred up like a porcupine, worked until dropped dead or at least for exercise on a trampoline till the age of 67, 70+, 80+ and even 90+ ...., to stay "competitive" in the face of "globalisation " ......??? ( why then they make land so expensive in SIN City as labour and land are both equally scarce but one opened to infinite global competition to the masses detriment and the other not open to global competition but again to the masses detriment ...... Who is/ are standing at the end of the line or circular flow netting a huge chunk of all the wages deflation and real estates inflation at the masses expense ......?)
In that context, should not the topic of (ridiculously, obscenely and unconscionable ) high ministerial remunerations be opened for further discussions and debates to put a "conclusive" assuring end to it to avoid any further aspersion, revilement, condemnation, vituperation, lambasting. ....?
/// no politician will work without financial incentives ///
ReplyDeleteI'd postulate that no PAP politician in LHL's government will work without financial incentive.
I'd say Nelson Mandela was working without financial incentives for many years.
So too many of our Opposition politicians are working without financial incentives;
JB Jeyaretnam
Chiam See Tong
Chee Soon Juan
Goh Meng Seng
Low Thia Khiang
and etc.
What financial incentive is there for an Opposition politician in Singapore?
Please tell me.
Many in the alternatives are working without any incentives.
DeleteIn fact, many end up digging into their own pockets, time etc to do the work of the alternatives. .....
Are alternatives necessary?
The answer to that is probably the answer to the following questions:
1) Is it necessary, in the natural world, to have day and night? What would happen if it is 24 hours brightness or 24 hours darkness? Would lives on earth be sustainable?
2) Is it necessary to have sunny and rainy days? If it is 365 days all sun or 365 days all rain, what would happen? Can lives subsist?
3) In a democracy, is it necessary to have a ruling party and opposition? If all members or predominantly are on one side, what would be the short, medium and long term consequences? When power resides predominantly in one party, what and how is it different from ancient and feudalistic absolute power, monarchical imperial system? Is an ancient imperial mode of governance and government suitable ( at all ) in modern times? If there is 365 days rain or 365 days sunshine with no balance, is it not equivalent to have a lop-sided democracy without ( check and ) balance?
In the natural world, is it not true imbalance leads to unsustainability and certain demise? Does not gravity applies to everything on earth? Gravity does not exist in sinkieland? Gravity does not apply to aristocrats? Gravity does not apply to politics in sinkieland?
With such dinosaur-mentality in politics, is not sinkieland doomed and destined for extinction, like dinosaurs? Is sinkieland not on a certain path of ultimate self-destruction on current trajectory?
// no politician will work without financial incentives //
ReplyDeleteFormer NY mayor Michael Bloomberg, S Korean Prez Kim Myung Bak were not paid a single cent while in office.
I just invalidate his statement
Perhaps he should have qualified as' No PAP politician' and that's why the demand the highest pay
Only cancer cells have a strategy of "Growing for the sake of growing".
Delete- Do you think PAP's economic strategy is like that of cancer cells.
"What's wrong with collecting more money?"
Lee Kuan Yew
https://www.facebook.com/TheNewEraSingapore/posts/611369322249177
Just so we are clear.
Delete- No PAP politician will work without financial incentives.
One Horse Minister once argued that if our PAP Govt does not include the market value of the land price in the selling price of our pigeon hole flat, then it can be considered a raid on our future reserves.
ReplyDeleteThe one Cow Minister said that they have to delink the price of new BTO flats from the market value of resale HDB flats so as to make it affordable.
Now which is which, which of these animal Ministers is more honest with the truth? How much profit are they making out of each daft Singaporeans for each BTO HDB flat they are selling?
Why can't our PM be completely honest with the true cost + profit they are making out of each Singaporan family?
What profit is there to be made? They already said it is a deficit every year and actually giving a subsidy & a grant ?
DeleteUnless you are implying they are lying to the people? Which is which?
what profit? we subsidised you until HDB must borrow lots and lots of billions every year from public, what profit?
Delete//They already said it is a deficit every year//
DeleteIf that is true, how come the minister is still paid millions every year? In the private sector, a loss in the profit and loss statement account means the sack for the CEO!
Sinkies may like to blame themselves for supporting their Rulers all these years.
ReplyDeleteI will not be surprised that although some DAFT have realized their follies, many will still be siding their tormentors and will vote for them.
This has repeated for 50 years and I do not expect it to change much in the Coming General Election. However, a 10% swing from PAP Supporters migrating over to the Alternative Sides is quite likely.
There is a high chance of PAP losing it's 2/3 majority, ultimately only Sunkies themselves can make it happens.
Make PAP into the OPPOSITION and Sinkies can be assured of a FIRST CLASS OPPOSITION IN SIN.
Absolutely no need to look and search for one.
patriot
5 Million Sin Dollars a year for a 5 Year Term.
ReplyDeleteImagine that each of them serves no less tgan 2 Terms which also means they are entitle to perks such as retirement pension.
Wonder how much taxes are these people paying?
Ask yourself how much You earn a year.
For me, at 65 year old, I have not even earned more than a million supposing I had an average income of $1.8k per month for 45 years.
What a vast difference between the High and Low Income Singaporeans.
If a Sinkie currently earns $3k a month, doubt he can afford to buy a Three Room HDB and form a family. Reason; most Singspore Ladies will NOT want to marry him.
Uncle here is lucky to be born earlier.
So, with $1.8k a month, I have 3 adult children with the Youngest at 29 year old.
My impression about Sinkie's life after all these years UNDER THE PAP IS:
THE YOUNGER GENERATION'S LIVES ARE FULL OF CHALLENGES AFTER ALL THESE YEARS UNDER PAP.
VOTE WISELY,
DO NOT LET YOUR LIFE GET
SCREW UP BY GREEDY RULERS.
OTHERWISE, LIVING WILL GET HARDER AND MORE CHALLENGING.
patriot
2 year term finished then they have numerous directorships to collect director fee in the hundreds of thousands a year, also can start $2 AIM companies bid for town council or garmen contracts. Das is how you buy Good Class Bungalows in the Bukit Timah district, right?
DeleteAmos in his video about Singapore politics analysed that if PAP wins the minimum no. of seats by just 1 single vote ie 50% + 1 vote, all they need is just a simple 27% or 33% of the total votes to change any law or change the Constitution respectively.
ReplyDeleteNow if Amos's analysis is accurate, then this is simply plain dishonesty on the part of PAP to manipulate the whole system if you were to ask me and that is tantamount to cheating the electorate isn't it?
Just to add : Can anyone with the clear understanding of how our Parliament works check whether Amos is correct?
Delete"... all they need is just a simple 27% or 33% of the total votes..."
DeleteCan have choice one ah?.. wah.
damn good deal man.
Amos is correct if they lose heavily in the defeated seats but win marginally in those they won. In other words, they could lose the popular vote but still win more than two third majority in Parliament.
DeleteEspecially so in a warp electoral GRC system that is subject to gerrymandering..
There is no dishonesty.
DeleteThe elections act is for all to see.
No body is cheating.
Its like playing a game. If you do not understand or even not know the rules and how the game is played, you will lose each & everytime. And its a game that you have no choice but to play.... if you choose not to play, you still lose. ( spolit votes, refuse to vote )
That is described as daft.
FPP first past post system will always result in two major parties just like UK. Other smaller parties will be severely disadvantaged and that's just how the system is designed to produce onky the two strongest parties.
DeleteBut in singapore, you have so much stacked against the opposition that the system is almost rigged to favor Monopoly instead of Majority. You can thank PAP for that. On top of that, they have successfully for the last 50 years cultivated enough daft and fearful citizens who uncritically think that changing the status quo is to rock and ruin the stability, instead of viewing it as making it better and strengthening it.
Yes, jazz rock star included. They simply don't have the wits to rock the leaking sampan. Perhaps he also welcomed the 7m audience he can play his music to.
// “It’s not making me popular, but I will insist on honesty … on declaration of conflicts of interest … on declarations of related party transactions. I will insist that ... if you’ve cheated before, come clean.” //
ReplyDeleteThe only way one can convince others is to "To Practise What One Preached! "
If "coming clean" is the mantra, don't sinkies think people in public office should officially declare their assets and what nought?
The practice of "ZERO TRANSPARENCY " in terms of "assets declaration " SERVES WHAT PURPOSE?
"纸包不住火"?
DeleteHa ha ha ha ha ......
What this Vivi attempted to "argue" is analogous to trying to fill up a pair of worn off socks with water from the beach toilet to the picnic site ...... With all the "countless holes" in the socks, it is quite plain such "arguments" can hold no water.
//Honesty is not restricted to money matters, it's synonyms are integrity, probity, and rectitude.//
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese synonyms are:
1) "不知廉恥"
2) 丧心病狂
Delete3) 社会的寄生虫
ReplyDelete4) 丧尽天良
Delete5) 道德沦丧
Delete6) 国不将国
ReplyDelete7) 人不人, 鬼不鬼
Delete8) 男不男, 女不女
Delete9) 说"正义", 行"邪恶"!
Delete10) "作贼喊賊"
ReplyDelete11) "人前爱国, 背后卖国"
Delete12) "说善行恶"
Delete13) "心如蛇蝎"
Delete14) "不爱人民, 只爱功名"
Delete15) "不顾人民亡, 只顾自己富"
ReplyDelete16) "一人富贵万民穷"
Delete17) "说钞票, 说百万薪水, 说 20,000 sq ft Good Class Bungalow (GCB), 说 $五千万 Bt Timah Good Class Bungalows (GCB), 说 $88,000 cooking lesson", 说 $600,000 花生 ( peanuts ) ....."
DeleteThat's a "very long" synonym.
DeleteSome more in mixed Chinese and English!
First in the world .....?
Ha ha ha ....
No?
Looks like readers here are going to fill in the list until ...... 50?
Delete// Anonymous8/28/2015 5:17 PM
DeleteThat's a "very long" synonym.
Some more in mixed Chinese and English!
First in the world .....? //
Ministers' remunerations also world first!
" Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary reactions "?
Delete(18) "只爱金山, 不爱江山"。
Delete(19) "视民如粪土"。
Deleteno idea what you're talking about, as, like a fair percentage of the population, I don't read Chinese/Chinese characters.
DeleteWah jialat. So many chinese idioms so applicable to them. Yet somemore dared to wear the white uniform but stained with so much shit.
ReplyDelete"Look pure outside but inside indescribable"?
DeleteThey put the biggest liabilities in the same group as Pinky to ride on his coat tail.
ReplyDeleteThe son of Punggol who offended many with his 'we have 2 cars', 'we are professionals so we need to travel' talk. Ms Intan who blundered and feigned ignorance about Yangyin who was AMK RC grassroots member as well as Mr Pyramid Game ex host.
And then, the newbies or not so well knowns in Aljunied GRC. Doesnt look too good about their level of confidence ..does it?
PAP politicians, the heart is very pure.
ReplyDeleteSo pure that you can call them HoLee Politicians.
I wonder how much will you charge to betray Singaporean? Why must we vote you since you can be bought?
ReplyDelete// General Nguyễn Cao Kỳ once confessed that everyman has his price, and his was an American helicopter. //
ReplyDeleteThe flip side of price is cost.
"What is the cost of shouldering the hope of the next generation waiting with strained necks to be liberated from the clutches of evil, suppression, dirty politics...... etc etc?"
For true heroes of the people, no amount of money or promise of fortune can buy the true calling of righteousness, courage, conviction to champion and fight for a better future for the next generation. No impediment is too big for them to go over. No temporary setback is too fatal and overpowering for them to surmount and overcome. Destiny has brought them there and together. Stood the ground they will. Success and victory for liberalisation often is just minutes away when the dark, cold night gives way to dawn. The warm, freshness and brightness of the morning sun herald a new day, a new beginning, a long awaited liberation from a long night of cold, often unknown danger from the evil forces of darkness waiting to pounce on the brave and unshakable warriors of justice, hope and sunshine.
When Sun Yat Sen liberated the Chinese diaspora from the clutches of the inept, decadent, corrupted Qing regime, he lost more than everything....... Many a time, there were numerous attempts made to assassinate him. He stood tall. Many loyal local and overseas Chinese stood behind him with unwavering support and faith. Many put in huge sacrifices to ensure Sun Yat Sen succeeded in his patriotic and gigantic endeavors. Overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds, evil forces of the Qing regime and along the way, countless trials and tribulations, Sun Yat Sen and his supporters stood tall in the face of all adversity and travesty. Sun Yat Sen did not fight the battles and wars alone. The people were behind him. That gives strength and the power to surmount any obstruction and roadblock. Succeeded Sun Yat Sen did. The rest was history.
In the course of history when the good takes on the evil forces, certain amount of pain, anguish and at times despair is inevitable and unavoidable. Having weighed the decision and deliberation and finally taken the course, there is no necessity to look back. Certain amount of headwinds is to be expected and a given. The hope of the next generation rests on the warriors' shoulders. The iron will to succeed inadvertently helps to cut and pierce through all roadblocks. The march of the people's warriors will not stop until the finishing line of liberation and victory!
When there is a just cause to champion, the courage of conviction to step up to the challenge, the dauntless spirit, camaraderie and solidarity to fight side by side with the people, what cost is too high to bear?
ReplyDeleteWith the playing field arguably skewed on a vertical incline against the alternatives, how many people who had done well in life would have the courage and conviction to take up the plough and risk their good lives to fight on the same side with the peasants?
DeleteIf everyone takes the road paved with gold to riches or stay on the side lines in their comfort zone, who is going to take up the calling to champion and fight for the cause of the poor, the downtrodden, the disadvantaged? To free them from the suffering of abuse, abject poverty, extreme hardship, utter despair and even death?
DeleteWhen our society is able to spend billions and billions on white elephants and vanity projects, what disables it from extending concerted efforts and genuine, caring hands to pull the unfortunate from the brinks of poverty, the throes of extreme hunger and deprivation, the inevitable downward spiral and even slow but certain death?
DeleteIn our society, what should we call that?
DeleteUnforgivable tragedies and sins in a land of plenty?
DeleteOr just mere digits not unlike all the casualties and deaths in a brutal war?
DeleteDo we as a society pretend such misfortune and ever increasing tragic occurrences do not exist?
DeleteDo we act like deaf frogs while drawing obscene remunerations?
DeleteOr do we stick our heads in the sand like ostriches, and thus "see and hear no evil"?
DeleteHow does our society propose to solve these problems given the invisible but real existence of OB markers, fear, suppression, pretense of those in charge to be deaf and/ or blind?
DeleteWaiting in vain or in perpetual eternity while tragic cases after tragic cases unfold right in front of our eyes and under our very noses?
DeleteIn the name of chasing to be par excellence and creme de la creme in almost anything that are materialistic, ostentatious, vain, egoistic, opulent and what naught, who holds the keys to adjudicate what is right or wrong things to do or act? Who will look out for those who have fallen behind? Or through the cracks?
DeleteIs it really that important to be perched on the throne of self-glorification and self-righteousness when many suffered terribly and some even died in agony in our ( mindless ) pursuit for everything and anything that glitters or shines?
DeleteWhere is the compassion?
DeleteAre people still human if no sense of remorse or empathy exists in them in their selfish pursuits of that one more gold nugget, one more converted sycophant, one more self-serving corrosive yes man and woman to carry out their biddings?
DeleteWhat exists in a society when there is no more care, concern, empathy, mutual help and understanding to see fellow human beings through this journey on earth?
DeleteA hollow object? An unspeakable emptiness? An inflated balloon with hot air, floating higher and higher into oblivion?
DeleteIs this the vision of a great leader? Is this the achievement of a great nation? Is this what sycophants, yes men and women are unquestioningly and blindly complying every single day in awe of their GREAT LEADER?
DeleteOne cannot help but wonder are we the S E Asian close cousin of one pariah state in N E Asia?
Delete"You take the WHITE pill, the story ends.
DeleteYou wake up in your bed and believe whatever STRAITS TIMES want you to believe.
You take the BLUE pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."
- Morpheus, The Matrix
"We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace— business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
ReplyDeleteThey had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
All this talk of courage, passion, love for the 'people', justice..
ReplyDelete.. a good dose of bad government will cure it.
The business of politics is control and power.
Regardless of opposition or incumbent.
Fairytale scenarios of love & justice, equality has never worked.
>>> The business of politics is control and power. <<<
DeleteDuring the rule of Qin Dynasty, books were burnt, absolute control imposed on its subjects, scholars buried alive.
Power was so absolute Emperor Qin Shi Huang ramped through the implementation of a common language, a common currency, a common unit of measurement.
High taxes and toll were exacted on the peasants to finance many monumental white elephants.
Qin Dynasty was established in BC 221.
After just a brief reign of 15 years, it collapsed monumentally in BC 205, the shortest in the Chinese over 5,000 years recorded history.
It was succeeded by the Han Dynasty, founded by a lowly official ( 刘邦 ) overseeing no more than a small village.
Due to his roots in the common people, after Liu Bang defeated the tyrannical Qin Dynasty, he instituted a governance centred on the welfare of the 老百姓 ( literally means "old 100 surnames ", which easily represented almost 100% of all its subjects and this term is used to refer to the people. )
The reign of the Han Dynasty ushered and heralded the dawn of the first "Golden Era" in China's 5,000 years recorded history.
It lasted more than 400 years, the second longest in the Chinese civilisation.
Another tyrannical Dynasty under Emperor Sui Yang Di in the 7th century AD lasted a relatively short 38 years.
Even in ancient Chinese monarchical dynastic rule, power and control abused to the max to extract the last drop of "blood" and every pound of "flesh" from its people are consistently and roundly rejected.
Incidentally after the tyrannical Sui Dynasty, the succeeding Tang Dynasty saw the blooming and prosperity of the Chinese "Second Golden Era".
It seems using the power and control accumulated to exploit and abuse it's subjects often lead to mass discontent and bring a relatively short reign to its ruler.
Han Dynasty that lasted 400+ years was not a fairy tale. Even the US from independence till now is only 239 years, another 200 years short of the longevity of the Han Dynasty reign.
The Tang Dynasty lasted almost 3 centuries from AD 7th century to 10th century. If that is a fairytale, then the United States of America, the strongest economic and military power the world has ever known, which is now only in its 239th year rule ( far shorter than the Zhou Dynasty {800+ years}, Han Dynasty {400+} and Tang Dynasty {almost 300 years} ) is ALSO A FAIRYTALE.
Who is spinning another "fairytale" early on a Saturday morning?
Indiscriminate exploitation and extraction of the "last drop of blood and last pound of flesh" IS NOT THE BUSINESS OF POLITICS.
"IT IS THE POLITICS OF LEECHING, PARASITIC, ULTRA GREEDY, SELF-SERVING, SELF-ENRICHING GLUTTONY!"
(1) The political scene and society may be undergoing the three stages of change as postulated by change and organisational behavioural expert Professor Kurt Lewin, the processes of “unfreezing”, “changing” and “refreezing".
ReplyDelete(2) The process of "unfreezing" may have already started, albeit incrementally, restrained and "highly civilised".
Delete(3) It is inevitable when there are political, social and economic disequilibria.
ReplyDeleteA new equilibrium in each dimension should emerge eventually.
How the eventual new equilibrium of each aspect would look like, how long the three stages would take may be a process of incremental and/ or moderate changes.
(4) New political parties; new relatively capable strong candidates in existing opposition political parties; new twist and turns.
ReplyDelete(5) With so many “ex-generals and admirals” currently in charge, watch out for a strong “pincer” counter offensive and even an “all-out mobilisation" among the contestants to win the hearts and minds of the electorate.
ReplyDeleteYou guys heard him but you guys are not listening. For a moment, ignore his script. Listen carefully to his voice. Whenever a person is not speaking from his heart, it would sound like that, very insincere. It is not deliberate. The speaker himself does not realise it. Listen again and you guys would be able to distinguish and recognise this tone in a voice. There are other examples...you may wish to check out other speakers who sounded like that when they spoke...Lee Bee Wah and Sam Tan, just to name a few.
ReplyDelete(6) The elites, the super humongously remunerated scholars have the work laid out in front of them.
ReplyDeleteThe era of coat-tails politics might be receding.
Now, the society at large shall await and see whether the perceived “boastful, arrogant, elitist, aloof, snobbish” scholars are all “hype” and only worth 1 cent to every dollar they are paid? Or they really have what it takes to be the rightful people overseeing the future and the destiny of an entire people who have gone through years of silent hardship, endless toil, agonies, anguish, pain, emotional suppression, pressure cooker life-style from as young as 2 months old.
(7) Arguably without the institutions built by the old guards and the pioneer generation, providing the buffer and backstop, all these predominantly academically book-smart "installed" office holders could be overwhelmed by "a grassroot revolt", as proclaimed by Ngiam Tong Dow previously.
ReplyDeleteThough not necessarily good, a period of change such as the upcoming one is inevitable when viewed from a historical perspective. Possibly the new society to emerge could be far better than now holistically and the best may be yet to come after the society has "unfreezed", "changed" and "refreezed".
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