TR EMERITUS

"The term Minister is a Middle English phrase, stemming from the Old French word ministre, originally minister in Latin, meaning 'servant’.” From this definition, we can understand that the role of a minister is to serve the country. It is a huge honour to be able to serve and lead the country. As such, a minister should only be motivated to serve his country with national pride, but not due to the power, benefits and the monetary gain of being a minister. It is ridiculous to hear that a minister should be paid comparatively to the top CEOs in the private sector. These CEOs are expected to run a profitable business but a country should never aim to be profitable. Instead, a country should primarily be run in a way that she is able to give back as much as it could to her citizens while doing well with her finance, this being kept a secondary aim. In this way, the citizens and the country will be much value-added in the long run. Looking back into history, we have seen numerous patriotic politicians who have fought hard for our country’s independence. Now that we are politically stable, it might be hard for the country to produce politicians of similar calibre. Even so, I’m sure that every true Singaporean still feels patriotic enough to serve the country forward, regardless of their capabilities. Among them, I’m sure that some of the creams of the crop are good enough to lead us. Right now, what we need is a new set of team to bring Singapore to the next level. On a macro-level, a supreme leader is ineffective in controlling his team when all of them are equally good. A supreme leader can only work well when he is giving direct orders to his subordinates who lack the mental capacity to understand the reasoning behind those orders. What is effective though, is when all team members contribute their parts and they nominate someone to help coordinate their movements and keep them focused on their objectives. Bringing it over to the political stage, what we need is true democracy whereby normal people can have the same rights as their leaders to mould and fine-tune Singapore. If everyone is able to give and take, we may be able to enjoy a high standard of living even if it may mean a high cost of living. As such, it is also important for our leaders to lead by example for the citizens to emulate upon, just like how a father should be exemplary enough to support the child’s development in his different aspects of life. We also have to remember that respect can never be demanded but should be earned. As a reminder to our future leaders, we have history on our side to learn upon. Many empires have fallen due to greed, mistrust, complacency and lack of compassion. Buddha is a fine example of a good leader by living in simplicity, peace, gratitude, wisdom and compassion. Prophet Muhammad s.a.a.w. led a life of poverty while at the same time, influenced and enriched the minds of his followers. You may call them religious leaders but nevertheless, they are still good leaders with legions of followers trusting their ideas and beliefs. To set the ball rolling, I shall throw down a challenge to the oppositions. Are they willing to sacrifice the worldly pleasures to lead us through the future with dignity and mutual respect? I think it is time that we should not overpay our leaders. The changes to the benefits of a minister should be as follows: The radical change will be to scrap these minister’s wages totally. Instead, they will be treated with more dignity. They will be given a spacious but not so lavish private property each, a real paradise home to live in for a lifetime. However, the only catch is that these properties are owned by Singapore and will be passed on to the next leaders upon their deaths. They need not worry about their essential household bills as that will also be part of their benefits. As our leaders, we should trust that they will not waste water, electricity and others. An estate whereby all the ministers stay should be introduced. Having a close community for them can build up their rapport and encourage team bonding. They will also be provided a reliable and nice car, without it being too luxurious, to travel around in Singapore. Since the citizens need not pay for their wages, these ministers can go anywhere to enjoy free meals, provided that these meals must be well-afforded by most Singaporeans. With more ministers having their meals in shopping mall’s restaurants and etc., I’m sure they will be able to understand more about the lives of fellow Singaporeans. Education is very critical in the development of a person. The children of these ministers should be given free education to study in the local schools, similarly to most Singaporeans. If they cannot believe in the strengths of Singapore’s education system, they should not be Singapore’s ministers in the first place. If a minister is good enough, he should be able to lead as long as his mental capability still permits. Should a minister decide to retire after feeling the burnout of his job; he should be compensated accordingly to how long he had served the country. With more years of being a leader, the higher his monthly pension should be. By then, his descendants should be able to live independently and a monthly pension of between $1k to $5k should suffice for them to enjoy their retirement and the occasional holidays. With the citizens being compassionate enough, I’m sure the leaders will get to enjoy life similar to that of an upper class citizen. A healthy life will contribute to a healthy mind so it’s also important to ensure that our leaders are given a bit more leeway such that they are able to live comfortably. I’m sure that even if after all these have been implemented, the amount will be just a small percentage as compared to the insane amount of pay that they are getting right now. To prevent corruption, we have to ensure that all their needs can be met and at the same, we should also be able to differentiate between a need and a want. All we need are patriotic leaders who are willing to serve the country. As to how good they can be to lead the country, they can always rely on the support of their teams or even the people to brainstorm on new ideas. Just take a good look at Mozilla Firefox, ”the Mozilla project is a global community of people who believe that openness, innovation and opportunity are key to the continued health of the Internet”. It is constantly improved upon by the community to benefit everyone. The best thing of all is that it is provided at no additional cost to its users. It is time that we take a pragmatic approach on how a leader of Singapore should live his life. “The glue that holds all relationships together - including the relationship between the leader and the led is trust, and trust is based on integrity.” – Brian Tracy     Adi  Read More →

I refer to our Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s recent urge for retirees to keep on working  after their retirement age at 62. There is enough scientific proof to show that retirees who keep on working long after their retirement has found a new-found  zest for living. Of course, there will be those who are desperately dying to get out of their humdrum routine  and go without work for the rest of their life after retirement. After working for the past few decades, this no-work orientation is completely understandable. I tend to believe that this group may also belong to those who loathe their work and only work to pay for their bills. If work is so enjoyable and the employer wants you to stay after retirement age, why leave? Don’t be surprised that this no-work retirement group  forms  a huge proportion of our local workforce here.  This group may  find life very routine and when retirement age arrives, they will not hesitate to leave their  9-to-5 routine and look for something more exciting for themselves. It could be a hobby or even a long-held dream to do something for themselves which they never find the time to while working. I have  also known a few retirees who are afraid to leave their workplaces after retirement  as they simply could not fathom  life without work.  Some have even told me that after retirement, they live life as if heading for the grave as its both boring and meaningless –  without any clear goal. Many took endless holidays to make them feel that they are active and on the go. Once stranded at home, they are restless and feel useless. They felt lost and frightened as they do not know what to do next with their life. More importantly, they lose the focus for their life and nothing can easily replace the dignity that work can bring to a person’s life.  Work creates a sense of belonging and esteem for the person and we feel valued when compensated for it monetarily. This is especially so for man who feels that their self worth is tied to their work. There is also the financial loss that comes with retirement as we do not have a proper pension scheme in place in Singapore. Many still need to pay the home mortgage and retirement may mean selling their house and downgrading their lifestyle. I believe that many people are not ready to retire yet as we don’t save enough for our retirement. My financial planner has helped me plan out how much I need when I retire. If I require $2000 a month for the next 20 years, I need at least $750,000 in the kiddy by the time I retire! I told her that I don’t even have one  percent of that amount yet and I am already reaching 50 in a year’s time. A new-found hobby, cultivated after retirement, can provide some joy and even take away alot of the free  time  but can never bring the kind of self esteem that work brings. It is no wonder that once a person stops working, he lapses straight into depression as he has lost that focus and sharpness. It really takes quite a while to adjust oneself to life without a job that has being the main goal of many people here. Living one’s life without a goal and aim can be really meaningless. However, in Singapore, is it practical to keep on working way after  retirement age especially in a fast-paced stressful society like ours ? Many local employers prefer to hire younger foreign workers over our older local ones as they are seen to be faster and cheaper. It does not make economic sense to hire a more expensive and older worker unless there is enough legislation puts in place to enusre that the older worker’s employment rights are in place. MM Lee can continue to work at the pace he wants as he is  the boss here. He can work half a day or even take a long lunch nap daily without anyone snapping at his work rate. The same could not be said  for many others earning a salary at the work place. He has to perform up to expectations or else he is rendered not economically productive and may even be laid off. For many people in their 50s, the body has slowed considerably and the mind ain’t that sharp anymore. Work that requires strength and good bodily co-ordination may not be viable for those wanting to work in their twilight years. I remembered my dad used to sleep at least half the afternoon to prepare for his night shift driving taxi when he was in his 50s. He has since passed away twenty five years ago. In my late 40s now, I have to go to bed at ten o’clock nowadays as the body and energy level tends to slip considerably  at that hour.  At my age, you also learn things slower now as the mind takes more time to process new information. The hands are also stiffer and the back aches once you stand for more than an hour at a stretch. Thus, MM Lee may have speak for alot of retirees out there who still want to contribute their skills and experience at the work places after retirement. I know of a ex MOE-trained teacher who still teaches as an adjunct teacher at the age of 62. He looks sharp and recently even  starts a small one-man business. I am amazed at his zeal for living and attributes his active passion for living to his optimistic outlook of life. He is also is the outdoor type and even hike around alot in Malaysia at his age. Sometimes, his boundless energy level  put me to shame! Personally, I won't want to go back to work after retirement for the sake of working. It has to be work that I enjoy and something that I am capable of doing. If I need to be retrained all over again to be employed, that will be too much of a hassle for me. I am all for upgrading and re-skilling but it must be a job that I really like to do and not something that is pushed to me. I guess many retirees have no choice as they need the finances to get by after they have retired and will take on any job that pays the bills. I guess if you want to work on after retirement, go for it as no one can stop you from  contributing if you can find an employer willing to hire you due to your skillsets and work experience. For those who want to leave work immediately upon retirement and do something on their own, it is also a personal decision and choice. No one can decide for you – not even the MM.     Gilbert Goh  Read More →

Last year I spent a semester studying journalism (a crazy thought, I know) at a university in Singapore. I wrote for the area/campus newspaper, was a producer for the campus TV network and hosted my own radio show on the school radio band. All of the teaching staff in the communications department were foreigners. My newspaper teacher was a print man from England, TV head was Taiwanese and the radio adviser was an American who worked for Clear Channel as a Top 40 DJ. While it took a long time for me to wrap my head around the way things worked, I finally understood the nuance of it all by the time I left. In the end, it was fascinating semester learning how journalism worked in a society so shielded from the media. The big story that helped this epiphany was the apparent attempted murder-suicide by an international student from Indonesia on campus. When news broke that a disgruntled student stabbed his professor, and then “jumped” nine floors to his death, things got understandably crazy. The government and administration stepped in and tried to stop our reporting. However, they new the story was just too big to ignore. We had reports from students that the deceased student stabbed his professor, and in the altercation, the professor threw him over the balcony. It was never officially reported because we had people breathing down our neck. In the end, the story was simply a memorial for the student and a simple account of the official story. It was disappointing. The school went into saving face mode and set up ludicrous help lines, and counseling services to make it look like they cared. I was one of two Americans in the class and the only one who ever argued at meeting for how journalism was “supposed” to work, I guess. I can’t count the number of times I fought my editors tooth-and-nail about how to approach a story. Asking a tough question was something the students were never taught. Questioning the system, especially as journalists, was something they just didn’t do. When someone said “no” to an interview, they gave up. The only way my professor kept from going crazy was to use his famously-dry wit. After spending several long hours discussing journalism in Asia with my professor, he let me into some ideas that I never even considered, coming into the United States. The role of the media, as stated in the above article, is to make the government look good. If you make the government look bad, you are making the *people* look bad too. You are making the nation look bad as well. Given that most people perceive their city-state as fragile (they are in a weird delusional fear of Malaysia “retaking” the island), making the country look bad will be bad for everyone. And why would you want to make everyone look bad? Another story I always remembered was a report students did on the rise of interracial marriages. Some students went around town interviewing interracial couples asking them how hard it was given the societal implications of their love. That part was good. Then, when it came to talking to students, the usual canned response was, “I would like to [date outside my race] but my parents won’t let me.” To me, they left out the most important question: “Yes, but would encourage your children to only date in their race?” Without that question, the report fell flat and looks like a PSA. It could challenge the way people thought about interracial marriage as something beyond, “it’s good for those people, and the city, but not for me!” Discussing the social issues is out of the realm of thought for the students. It took me a long time to accept it, but it helped me get through my time there. Race and religion are a huge point of contention in Singapore, which is why you can’t discuss them at the Speaker’s Corner. The author left out that you can’t discuss language there either. Dialectical debates never end for the Chinese majority. Even though Singapore has four national languages and an ethnic Chinese majority, there are a lot of people from different places who believe a lot of things. It’s actually one of the reasons why I loved the city so much. The food and culture are amazing, the government, not so much. One reason LKY came into power was after the race riots in the 1950s. The riots were very bad and left a huge stain on the image of the island for a while. People looked to Lee to keep things together during what Singaporeans called, “a dark time.” It was the sort of, “we will keep things in order if you do what we say,” kind of deal. I have a million other stories, like how the opposition party leader went and talked at the university and the government yanked the story at the last minute from the print. It was a big fight for my professor, but he ended up losing in the end. The article wasn’t even about what the guy’s principles were; it was an article that said this man “visited.” The retort from the PAP (People Action’s Party) was, “he was a trespasser on the university, that’s not news.” Anyway. Sorry for the ramblings.   John Gamboa * This article is also posted on http://www.transitioning.org/  Read More →