TR EMERITUS

From our Correspondent According to Straits Times article promoting a SPH publication on the history of the ruling PAP, the editorial team encountered difficulties in getting PAP stalwarts and "leftists" to speak to them. (read article here) Written by three Straits Times writers Sonny Yap, Richard Lim and Leong Weng Kam, the book, titled "Men in White: The Untold stories of the PAP" will be launched on 8 September by MM Lee in person. A key player identitifed to be interviewed was a retired politician who left politics in the 1980s. The team took more than six months of efforts to persuade him to agree to the interview. Besides the key players, many ex-PAP leaders have to be cajoled and persuaded to be interviewed including Mr Yap himself, when he was invited by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to work on the book. Several former PAP politicians, who were still embittered over how they were unceremoniously dropped, said it was pointless to talk about the past and that they wanted to move on. Among them was the first mayor of Singapore, Mr Ong Eng Guan. One former PAP stalwart, who helped to rebuild the party during the big split of 1961, even slammed down the phone on the interviewers, saying he had nothing more to do with the party. In stark contrast, PAP ministers, in particular MM Lee, Senior Minister Goh and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave a considerable amount of their time in several interviews with the writers. In 1961, leftist elements broke away from the party and formed Barisan Sosialis. They included 35 out of 51 branches, and 19 out of 23 branch secretaries. The "leftist elements" were branded as "communists" by MM Lee in his memoirs "From Third world to First". Many of them were detained under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) during Operation Coldstore launched by the PAP in 1964. A journalist Said Zahari was detained for 17 years while a Barisan MP Chia Thye Poh held the dubious record for the longest detained political prisoner in the world at 32 years. It is not known if they are among the interviewees. A recent film "Zahari's 17 years" made by Martyn See was banned by the authorities in Singapore. The accounts of the PAP's "leftists" in the early days of Singapore's struggle of independence were often omitted from official historical texts. They were often labelled as "marxists", "communists", "radicals" and "extremists" who were out to subvert the rightfully elected PAP government hence justifying the repressive measures employed. Many of the PAP old guards who helped the party pulled through the crises in the 1960s were "asked" by MM Lee in the 1980s to step down in order to make way for the next batch of leaders, among them MM Lee's son, the current Prime Minister and his nephrew-in-law Wong Kan Seng, the Home Affairs Minister, who joined politics in 1984. Over the years, the PAP has evolved from a political party into a one with a highly centralized structure where power is concentrated in the hands of a few. Due to the lack of a proper system of succession and renewal, the party has encountered problems in recruiting young, capable and charismatic leaders to join its ranks.   Related articles: >> Exposing the fallacy in PM Lee's 'ideal' form of governance >> Debunking the myths of the PAP system by Fang Zhi Yuan >> How Singapore managed to lose its opposition over the years by Eugene Yeo  Read More →

From our Correspondent The ruling party's continued obsession with race and religion matters is either a testimony of their failure to forge a united people identified by their nationalities after 44 years of uninterrupted rule or a smoke-screen to divert public attention away from more pressing, and perhaps embarrassing issues. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spent a large part of his recent National Day Rally speech reminding Singaporeans of the potential racial and religious faultlines in our society. Following his speech, the state media has been bombarding Singaporeans with almost daily coverage of the matter as if we are going to ripped apart by some social unrest soon. According to a latest report from the state media, most youth leaders are confident that young Singaporeans can move from being tolerant of different races and religions to acceptance. (read article here) A straw poll revealed that 91 per cent of the 28 youth leaders from various ethnic and faith-based organisations who attended a Community Outreach Group dialogue (COG) on Wednesday displayed such upbeat views. It is little wonder why no polls have been conducted on the rising cost of living, influx of foreigners or the losses suffered by Temasek Holdings which are more important issues than race and religion as of now. In a  poll of 30 students from various academic disciplines in NUS conducted by the Campus Observer, 70 per cent of respondents said they did not agree with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that issues of race and religion have the greatest potential to cause social unrest in Singapore. (read article here) Instead of the double threat posed by race and religion, a majority of the students polled cited the current economic downturn as having the greatest potential to cause a rift in society. The rising inflation rates, especially the record 6.7% last year had hit ordinary Singaporeans hard, particularly HDB prices which have since reached a peak. There are also increasing concerns from the ground about the relentless influx of foreigners. A recent letter written by a PR to ST Forum advocating for equal chance in Primary 1 registration has stirred a furore in cyberspace. Not only did the ruling party not addressed the worries of Singaporeans, it continued to force its unpopular policies down our throats. MM Lee urged Singaporeans to "embrace foreigners" as they are "vital" to our economy. The ruling party spared no efforts and resources in organizing events for new citizens and PRs to make them feel "welcome". As always, race and religion is a useful bogeyman employed by the ruling party to create a sense of crisis among the people and to rally flagging support for their "strong" governance. In the 1991 elections, Workers' Party candidate Jufrie Mahmood was labeled as a "Malay chauvinist". Six years later, it was Tang Liang Hong who was accused of being an "anti-Christian Chinese chauvinist" by the ruling party. He lodged a police report which subsequently led to him being sued for an exorbitant amount of damages. While racial and religious fault lines will always be present in a multi-cultural society like ours and their inherent dangers must never be underestimated, it is unhealthy to keep harping on it. After 44 years of nation-building, Singaporeans should have attained a certain degree of understanding, respect and acceptance for one another's race and religion. The real danger lies in the newcomers who are clueless about Singapore's unique culture and tolerance for diversity which may lead to the formation of ethnic enclaves in the community. Instead of using this outdated scare tactic to exert an indirect form of thought control on the citizenry, the ruling party should deal with the crux of the problem immediately by limiting the intake of foreigners and implement more stringent criteria for PRs and new citizens. The regime's continued obsession with race and religion is yet another indication of how out of touch its leaders are with the common man in the street.   Related articles: >> Why social cohesion is at the forefront of the Prime Minister's National Day Rally by Bhaskaran Kunju >> PM's National Day Rally: Key issues being missed out  Read More →

From the Malaysian Insider AUG 29 – It pays to work in Switzerland: employees in Zurich and Geneva have the highest net wages in the world, a study by banking group UBS shows, while those in India’s Mumbai take home the lowest. The world’s cheapest places to live were Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur, Manila in the Philippines, and India’s Delhi and Mumbai. But the average employee in many of these cities, as well as Jakarta and Nairobi, gets paid some of the world’s lowest salaries which have between 11 per cent and 15 per cent of the purchasing power of a salary in Zurich. The Swiss cities were also ranked among the top five most expensive in the world in the bank’s 2009 “Price and Earnings” international study. “With its extremely high gross wages and comparatively low tax rates, Switzerland is a very employee-friendly country,” the Swiss bank said in a statement. “No other cities allows workers to take home more income at the end of the month than Zurich and Geneva.” The study, published every three years, compares the income and purchasing power of employees in 73 cities across the globe, highlighting wide discrepancies in wages between different regions, and even within the same country. The biggest gaps were found in Asia, the study said, with Tokyo ranking as one of the world’s five costliest cities while the capitals of developing countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines and India were all at the bottom of the price range. Oslo was this year’s most expensive city, based on a standardised basket of 122 goods and services, followed by Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Tokyo and New York.When rents are factored in, however, New York rises to the top spot, the study said. This year, the bank said currency fluctuations caused by the global economic crisis affected the rankings of several cities, most notably London, which was the second most expensive city in 2006, but which fell nearly 20 places following the pound’s drop earlier this year. The analysis involved more than 30,000 data points, collected by several independent observers in each city, in March and April, the bank said. All amounts were converted into a single currency before being compared. “An average wage-earner in Zurich and New York can buy an iPod nano from an Apple store after nine hours of work. At the other end of the spectrum, workers in Mumbai need to work 20 nine-hour days, roughly the equivalent of one month’s salary,” the study said. Working hours also varied in the cities surveyed, with the study finding that on average, people in Asian and Middle Eastern cities work much more than the global average of 1,902 hours per year. Overall, the most hours are worked in Cairo, followed by Seoul, while the least hours worked were in Lyon and Paris. Source: The Malaysian Insider    Read More →