Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Return Of The Generals

Major-General Chan Chun Sing, 41, followed BG Tan Chuan-Jin in "retiring" from the Singapore Armed Forces to join the ranks of the ruling party. He won't actually say so, but who is he kidding? How can one "retire" as a Chief of Army when one has served only one year of service - the uniform is barely wrinkled. Chan's supporters claim he is able to connect with the ground very well, talking with instead of down to his soldiers, an admirable trait given his White Horse credentials of being a President's and SAF Overseas Scholar.

"One can never have enough time to complete the work of the army," said Chan. So why is he dumping the Temasek Greens prematurely when his professional job is not yet done? Singapore generals are very well paid, and were once driven around in Mercedes cars so that "the men will look up to them." Okay, maybe not enough to move into $20+ million bungalows occupied by the likes of George Yeo, Teo Chee Hean and Lim Hng Kiang, the original Mindef Mafia.

On the plus side, we can sleep soundly knowing there are ex-generals in the cabinet guarding the nation's interest. Especially when fast tracked foreigners are already sneaking past the defences via the Trojan Horse of the GRC. More than the temptations of our Sovereign Wealth Fund is at stake here. Imagine waking up tomorrow to find that the national dish of chicken rice is replaced by Ipoh kway teow! It's bad enough that one FT embraces the ISA instead of his father's torment, we have another who would not publicly knowledge the MP who bestowed her his imprimatur. Is loyalty so out of fashion these days?

In Indonesia, ex-generals are giving their President Yudhoyono restless nights. Men like Tyasno Sudarto, Chief of Army till 2000, who says the government has not helped the poor or done enough for migrant workers. Or Endriartono Sutarto, Armed Forces chief till 2006, who said the number of poor has increased under Yudhoyono's administration. Men of gravitas, whose uniforms are well worn and tattered by the scars of service. But the soldier who will warm your hearts, especially the loyal citizens who sacrificed 2 years for NS, has to be Sergeant Dip Prasad Pun. When he ran out of ammunition and grenades fighting the 30 Talibans, he battered the enemy with the tripod of his machine gun. Sgt Pun carried on the family tradition of being decorated for bravery, after his father, and his grandfather. Now, that's the kind of candidate to welcome for political office .
Guess who's been invited to the tea party?

16 comments:

  1. Here is a excellent opportunity for the people to tell the govt in no uncertain terms who is the boss. Collectively, the people can say a big and resounding 'NO MORE' to more carpet generals in the cabinet come this polling day. We can all 'remotely target' (NB only figuratively speaking!) this white horse with out votes.

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  2. Remember how one of the clown prince's princes was involved in some white horse incident and the whole incident quickly whitewashed out of sight, out of mind.

    If some regular did what that prince allegedly did, it would have been a different kind of outcome altogether ?

    Yet some Minister denied there was ever any white horse treatment ? And now lagi best, we may have a potential male MP or Minister who has never gone through a single day NS ?

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  3. And now lagi best, we may have a potential male MP or Minister who has never gone through a single day NS ?

    Dear Alan,

    Maybe the 2 year NS is not as important as we thought it was. We are sacrificing 2 years of our lives so that foreigner PRs can come and enjoy the fruits of our economic sucess without doing NS in any shape or form.

    Perhaps we should stop demanding that everyone does the 2 year NS and start asking ourselves why anyone should do a 2 year NS?

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  4. Can we let MG Chan run in Potong Pasir please? Because I want to see him move into this shit-hole office when he does his meet-the-people sessions there. Then it will prove to me that he can truly connect with the ground very well like Mr Chiam has done so for the past decades.

    http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/03/that-makeshift-cubicle-at-the-void-deck/comment-page-2/#comment-183980

    And further to asking why anyone should do a 2 yr NS, everyone should ask why all taxpayer monies have gone into building PAs that is in support of the ruling party? It is a blatant misuse of people's money. They should be build for Singapore and Singaporeans, regardless of Party-affiliates. Ask your conscience people if you still have one. This is how Mr Chiam has "tong" until now..can you imagine what hospital beds in batam or cheap rental tents in East coast for the homeless will look like?

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  5. Me think new candidate Desmond Choo who profess that his political aspirations is to help the poor should be the one to win Potong Pasir. He can sit in the makeshift rabbit hole and gain some first hand experience to help the poor residents of potong pasir who have been denied any goodies & fancy upgrading in past years. His MOM can throw in a $500+ Herman Miller chair to comfort his ass to start with.

    http://dlzj.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/hapless-cna-and-luxury-chairs-a-sorry-state-of-affairs/#comments

    Enough said. It's high time CST moves into the Bishan/TP GRC to take a mini revolution to WKS ward's. I'm sure that would be quite a welcome change.

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  6. Honestly, nothing will please me more in the next two months than to see him "retire" from army, join the PAP in elections, NOT get voted in and be left on the shelf.

    Oops, sorry! There is actually something else better than this. That PAP will lose two-thirds of all the seats and be a minority party in the parliament. Maybe this ex-general can be invited to be a NCMP then.

    Vote for Change! Real Change! Not the sort of change leftover from the PAP goodies...

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  7. I sick of seeing paper generals intruding into politics through the GRC backdoor.
    If you really want to stand, pls fight in a one to one smc.

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  8. Me wishes against hope that the Voters will not leave their futures to the Present Leaders. We have depended too much on their kindness and fast becoming useless ourselves not unlike caged birds that cannot survive on their own when set free. This is dangerous for ourselves and will be more fatal for our future generations.

    For the FIRST TIME in many decades, voters have the opportunity to vote, not like before when most voters got 'Polling' Holidays without any chance to participate in voting though it was/ is 'compulsory'. There was no opportunity to choose your Member(s) Of Parliament. NOW, most will have the OPPORTUNITY, please cast it according to your heart. Take the FIRST STEP to make decision for yourselves and abide the consequence after that.

    In order to wean from the dependence from the Policy Makers, we have to have some says over our own live. We cannot be led by the noses nor be caged forever and just depend on our masters to keep us alive.

    So, me says think carefully and vote for the candidates of your choice and no regret after that.

    AT LONG LAST, THERE IS AT LEAST AN OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE.

    patriot

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  9. One has to question the commitment of the "generals" in the Singapore army. Has the army becoming a stepping stone to greener pastures in GLCs and parliament? If so, how ready is the army in face of adversity?

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  10. NCMP is a cop-out. Any Opposition Party worth his/her salt should NOT take or accept that invitation. They should make it VERY clear to the residents that if they're not VOTED in with majority win, they will decline the seat. It is a sTRONG and Definitive stand to the voters that they don't get their cake and eat it (PAP win & I get Opp as alternative voice too). A useless voice that has no "actionable" responsibilities.

    No thanks!

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  11. agree with anon @10.44pm
    PAP losing badly in the GE will be the ideal outcome for these 'generals' hitching a ride into parliament thru' the GRC.

    not surprised these 'generals' overlooked the fact, victory in the coming GE is not a given, unlike their promotions in the military i.e courtesy of LKY and son.

    to Amused-not! @12.27am
    neither am i ! and you can include many of my colleagues who have dealt with generals while they were in the military and subsequently in the GLC. they are truly second rate, even third rate in whatever role and to trust them in real battle would be a grave mistake.

    ps:this is LKY's system of selection for spore!

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  12. A GENERAL SURELY KNOWS HOW TO TAKE COVER BEHIND...

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  13. Whose behind? Oh you mean MOM's?

    http://bit.ly/eUHOLJ

    So I can sleep soundly. Can I also sit on my laurels too? Especially on the $575 types, it will work wonders for my behind and straighten my spine too.

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  14. i glad he left the COA post...i'm sure i won't go to war under his "leader$hip"

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  15. A military junta in the making?

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