When Viswa Met Catherine

Everybody knows Meg Ryan was faking it in "When Sally Met Harry". But there's nothing fake about the frank exchange of views in this Inconvenient Questions video . Viswa Sadasivan, a veteran news and current affairs presenter and former Nominated Member of the Singapore Parliament, was really upset when he asked Catherine about people who are capable of engaging the government for the greater good of Singapore but abdicating the responsibility (at 16:42 or thereabouts).

He calls it "intellectual hypocrisy". Not willing to go out on a limb but wanting others to fight the battle. Even for the doyenne of Singapore writers, that choice of phrase was a very strong outburst. Her own anecdote was about a "highly educated" friend who said she had to vote for the ruling party because her son-in-law was due for a promotion. Her prognosis is that the "very compliant" older generation is about to be replaced by a more vocal young. It is no longer convenient to hide behind the veneer of fear.

Only a few know that the bogey of the serialised ballot paper was invented by the Barisan Socialis, who tried to frighten the masses from voting in the "rigged" referendum of 1 September 1962. Unfortunately for them, spoilt/blank votes were counted as Option A - actually all the three options, A, B or C, were for merger. The self censorship is still working, and the incumbents are still benefiting from the unwarranted fears.

The orgasmic moment in the interesting dialogue is not the mention about Amos Yee being interviewed by CNN last week (not BBC). Near the end, time for broaching the inconvenient question, the author is asked if Singapore is ready for a non-Chinese prime minister. Citing "the sincerity that gets across", Tharman gets her full hearted and full throated endorsement. Okay, that should explain why the present one is still fighting hard "to earn your trust and support."

Gross Profiteering

Poor Ng Eng Hen, nobody seems to heed his no-negative-campaigning directive. Teo Chee Hean bared his fangs at a fair damsel just because she paid compliments to the Fengshan hawkerfare. Goh Chok Tong upped the ante with his version of Sun Xu's "more dogs than humans in Singapore" tirade; the fossilised has-been lambasted citizenry who "chase after bits of meat thrown by the opposition."

Looming ahead is a potential rehash of the bak chor mee saga of general election 2006. The podcast classic poked fun at the ruling party’s incessant demonising of Workers' Party (WP) candidate James Gomez, for botching up his submission of election forms. The mainstream media devoted pages and pages to what amounted to a laughable "sorry also must apologize" crusade. Then some disconnected individual thought he could hire Jack Neo to produce a “mee siam mai hum” variant in retaliation, and the rest is history.

The politicized Ministry of National Development (MND) statement about the former managing agent for Workers’ Party-run Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) “grossly profiteering” from services rendered is insidious on its own, but the enlightening response cuts to the chase:

"With regard to paragraphs 3 to 5 of your letter, we wish to highlight that arrangements between FMSS and its employees are entirely commercial and not within the control of AHPETC.  I am not aware of the matters you have highlighted therein, as AHPETC does not ask its contractors about their profitability or internal arrangements.  We emphasise that AHPETC has ensured that payments made to FMSS are in line with and within the budget provided under the tender awarded.

In any case, it is misleading and unfair to compare MA rates charged by FMSS with MAs of other town councils under the People’s Action Party (PAP), since their MAs did not submit a single bid for our public tender for MA services in 2012.  FMSS’ bid for MA services in 2012 was assessed, using the former rates charged by CPG Facilities Management for the PAP-managed Aljunied TC as a baseline.  It is also ambiguous as to what the Ministry means by an “abnormal” profit margin, when it is not clear what the other MAs’ levels of profit are in other town councils."

What is not ambiguous is that citizens' contributions to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) have a return of 2.5% while the appointed investment houses regularly trumpet Total Shareholder Return (TSR) has been 16% since inception. Perhaps MND should share their thoughts on this mode of “gross profiteering”.

Tharman provided respite to the furor when he gave assurance that the AHPETC issue is not treated as "political game", nor "aimed at putting the WP down":

"When I speak about an issue, it's because I'm worried and I want to make sure we have responsible and honest politics in Singapore, that's all."

So do we, Mr Deputy Prime Minister, we are all on the same page for responsible and honest politics. How about having a quiet chat with the minister who is hiding behind the poison pen of the MND official?

No Personal Animosity Intended

Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam claims that his key points made at a Singapore Press Club forum on Thursday (Aug 27) were:
1) The Chinese leadership in various local areas in Malaysia want to maintain control over the Chinese population;
2) At the same time, many mainstream schools in Malaysia are becoming more Malay and Islamic which discourages the Chinese from going into those schools.;
3) So you end up with having more Malays going to mainstream schools, and more Chinese going to Chinese schools.

That's the kind of racist commentary that upset sensitive types and got Singapore tufted out of Malaysia.

When Sangeetha Thanapal ("independent scholar and social media activist engaged in anti-racism work in Singapore") took offence at the interference of a neighbouring country's domestic politics, the Indian law minister's initial approach was civil and statesman-like, the type of classy response that makes you wonder why one racist said Singapore is not ready for an Indian prime minister:

"Dear Madam, I hold no personal animosity towards you. Will be happy to speak with you."

The meeting of the minds - Sangeetha thanked him for offering to speak to her and provided her telephone  number so he can call her on Saturday for an appointment - will never take place. We are disregarding spousal objection to the out-of-office rendezvous here. Higher powers must have intervened, and now we have an oddity of a law minister intending to file a police report over the Facebook post which has been deleted:

"Who are you, an Indian, to be deciding what is that acceptable enough way to be Malay-Muslim?"

Whoa! What happened? Can the spirit of a dead horrible person reach out from Hades to possess the living (鬼上生)? Somebody or someone has to be putting words into the peace-loving animal-lover type politician:

“(The late Mr Lee Kuan Yew) foresaw these things, which is why he kept talking about such issues. And, each time he talked about those issues, every generation which was not his generation tended to be dismissive. ‘Here goes old man again trying to scare us.’”

The scary part is that this could be a cockamany election tactic to move the populace to rally around the flag when missiles (figurative! figurative!) from Malaysia start flying across the Causeway. If that's the game plan, someone will be sorely disappointed. The more likely outcome is that risk adverse fence sitters will finally realize the rabble rousers are from within, and that the time for alternate leadership is long overdue.

30 Aug update: Shanmugam has decided not to file a police report after all

Price Of Honesty

The practitioner on the art of seduction

The question from the floor at a National Day Rally public forum organised by government feedback arm REACH (Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry @ Home) was about the justification for the stupendous Member of Parliament (MP) allowance, which stands at $192,500 annually. Vivian Balakrishnan's response that no politician will work without financial incentives speaks volumes about his, and his party's, motivations.

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.

Paying The Price

New faces on the block

According to official spiel, this general election is supposed to decide on the team which will set the direction for Singapore for the next 50 years. Yet only 9 days - the minimum period under current election laws - is set aside for the electorate to vet the new players. This looks more like speed dating on steroids.

While the alternate voices - a better term than the derisive opposition label - struggle for a seat in parliament to represent our wishes for a better future, the incumbents have a string of hangers on lined up to ride coat-tails into office. A quick survey of the day jobs they are jettisoning in favour of entering politics suggests that monetary reward has to be a prime motivator:

• former Syariah Court deputy registrar Rahayu Mahzam, 35
• deputy director at a polytechnic, Darryl David, 44
• assistant general manager at some child care outfit, Joan Pereira, 47
• foreign exchange research head at a Malaysia bank, Saktiandi Supaat, 41
• corporate lawyer - please, not another overcharging Alvin Yeo - Amrin Amin, 36
• an animal activist, Louis Ng, 37

Even a former Assistant Commissioner of Police can expect a hefty hike in take home pay. As for the executive director of a homegrown investment, trading and management consulting firm, the game changer has to be "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire".

Goh Chok Tong begs to  differ, he is saying the electorate are the ones being seduced. In his equivalent of the horrible person's call for repentence, he admonishes:

"And if the (Marine Parade) people are not careful, they will be seduced... they will pay a price."

Goh has a curious choice in turn of phrase, accusing the alternate parties of "looking for plunder". Another $3 billion has just been announced to seduce the senior citizen's vote, on top of the Pioneer Generation Package goodies. Coming in at a time when industrial output has shrunk for 6 months in a row - with potential to drag the economy into technical recession - one has to ask where the money is coming from. Ask nicely, not the way Chee Soon Juan once did:

"Mr Goh! Mr Goh! Come here Mr Goh! I want to talk with you, come here! Where is our money Mr Goh? You can run, but you cannot hide."