TR EMERITUS

From our Correspondent In a recent speech, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong highlighted 10 challenges for the next generation of Singaporeans. (read article here) They range from maintaining high economic growth to social issues such as minimising urban congestion. As expected, SM Goh did not mention anything about the inherent flaws in Singapore's political system. In fact, he quoted "strong political leadership" as one of the factors "favorable" to the future generation. SM Goh did not elaborate further on his definition of a "strong political leadership". Perhaps he is referring to the current political system which allows the PAP to enjoy a virtual monopoly in Parliament by winning repeated general elections. Yet, the one-party state which was consolidated and perpetuated after the demise of the Barisan Socialis in the mid 1960s is the biggest weakness in Singapore's political system in urgent need of serious reform. As we can see clearly from the recent Temasek fiasco, a government dominated by one single party cannot be expected to check on itself without any political pressure from alternative parties. A commission of inquiry should have been set up in the first place to investigate the disastrous losses suffered by Temasek and GIC, but it wasn't. Though Singapore conducts general elections held every 5 years, formidable hurdles are put in place to guarantee the victory of the ruling party and the exclusion of the opposition from Parliament. The GRC system and its flagrant abuse leading to rampant gerry-mandering enables the ruling party to pre-empt any "opposition strongholds" from emerging. The mainstream media is completely controlled by the ruling party thereby ensuring that citizens are kept ignorant about their political rights and activities of opposition parties. The police is used to stifle political dissent. There were reports of opposition leaders and activists being harrassed by the secret police in the past. Draconian laws were put in place to keep the populace on its toes at all times. The ruling party remains tightly controlled by an octagenarian and his inner cliche who shows no signs of retiring from the political scene for good. The 82 PAP MPs in Parliament are mostly yes-men who seldom dare to deviate from the official party line. The recent "reforms" initiated by the Prime Minister to allow more alternative voices in Parliament is merely a farce to appease the growing disgruntlement on the ground with the ruling party's continued hegemony. No matter how many NCMPs and NMPs the ruling party allow in Parliament, they will still be in total control of the government with a comfortable two-thirds majority. How can the next generation of Singaporeans vote out the ruling party legally through the ballot box and reform the entire system to foster the emergence and development of a true, competitive multi-party democracy in Singapore with the odds stacked against them? Are we going to live under the shadow of the ruling party forever? For all the economic growth and development, Singaporeans will not be the real masters of their destiny so long they have not redeemed the ownership of the country which remains in the hands of a selected group of elites with no inkling whatsoever to the hardships faced by the masses. Singapore is rich enough to lose billions of dollars in failed investments and still has "ample financial resources" left according to SM Goh. However, its citizens face a grim and uncertain future. With no social safety net to speak of, most Singaporeans have to depend on their CPF for retirement which are often depleted from financing housing loans for over-priced public housing. Why do Singaporeans who have one of the highest saving rates in the world not able to save enough for their twilight years? Why must they work and work till the day they collapse and die? Do you want to live your entire life slogging day in and out just to make a living in order to contribute to our GDP growth? The ruling party will never reform a system which has served it so well. Neither will they change their dictatorial style of management as long the same old fogeys are in charge. The era of "government knows best" is gone. Even the Malaysian Prime Minister has acknowledged it himself.  We do not need a nanny state costing taxpayers an exorbitant amount of money to maintain to keep telling us what to do. Singaporeans deserve the government we have because we have been putting up with the nonsense the ruling party has thrown at us patiently for half a century. It is time for a change now or our future generations will face more intractable problems than we already have now. To reform the obsolete political system which has made us a laughing stock of modern democracies in the free world, we must first boot out the ruling party through the general elections, but without a credible alternative waiting in place, we may have to put up with the status quo for many more years to come.   Related articles: >> The Royal Kingdom of Singapore by Gunfighter >> Debunking the myth of the "constructive opposition" by Eugene Yeo >> Dismantling the myths of the PAP system by Fang Zhi Yuan EDITORS’ NOTE: [If you like our work and would like to support us, please transfer your donations via paypal to our account ([email protected]). Any amount will be greatly appreciated! 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From our Correspondent The Marina Bay Sands IR had received about 7,800 applications for more than 1,000 dealer positions it offered during a job fair last weekend. About 20% of those signed up are foreigners.  (reference: Straits Times) Of the reported 80% who are Singaporeans, the real number of citizens is not revealed. The Singapore government has categorized citizens and PRs together as "locals" in the official statistics. One of the job-seekers is China national Ms Han Li Na, 26, a former sales assistant in China here on a visitor's pass. She has never been to a casino before, but is willing to learn the trade. According to Sands,  short-listed applicants will be contacted so that face-to-face interviews can be arranged with the management. Those who are selected will receive an employment contract and begin a three-month training programme. The Marina Bay Sands IR is scheduled to be opened early next year in stages. Ms Han said she hopes she will receive updates on her application soon, as her visitors' pass expires at the end of the month. 'I really need a job now. If I am successful I will return to China for the next few months and come back for the training in October,' she said. The financial crisis has hit China hard leading to a rise in the unemployment rate with a tide of out of work rural workers returning to the  countryside. According to official statistics, a record has been broken with the number of unemployed college graduates this year, which is over seven million. (reference: Inside China) Many young Chinese, like Ms Han, are forced to seek for jobs elsewhere. Singapore has a large number of Chinese nationals working in various professions such as nursing, engineering as well as blue collar jobs like construction labor, mechanics and cooks in restaurants. Chinese nurses are ubiquitous in all the public hospitals in Singapore. In addition, Singapore also has a significant number of "peidu mamas", single mothers who accompanied their children to study in Singapore who are not registered in the workforce. However, many of them find part-time work such as "massage therapists" to learn a living. It is not uncommon to find China nationals on a visitor's pass working in Singapore. Singapore is an attractive destination to an unconfirmed number of Chinese prostitutes who pry their trade along the alleys of Geylang during their short stay here. Both the Marina Bay and Sentosa IRs have not revealed exact figures for the number of foreigners on their payroll. It is unlikely that the majority of the available jobs will go to Singaporean citizens (not PRs).   EDITORS’ NOTE: [If you like our work and would like to support us, please transfer your donations via paypal to our account ([email protected]). Any amount will be greatly appreciated! Alternatively, you can also help boost our advertising revenue by clicking on the ads displayed. Thank you!]    Read More →

From our Correspondent The Singapore government has conferred the Distinguished Service Order (Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang) on the inspector-general of the Malaysian police, Musa Hassan in recognition for his "active and significant contributions in promoting close bilateral ties between the police forces of Malaysia and Singapore." (reference: CNA) A controversial figure back home in Malaysia, he was accorded the highest honor and pomp in Singapore when he received the award from President SR Nathan personally at the Istana. Musa Hassan became the Inspector-General of the Malaysian police in 2006. He previously served as a Senior assistant commissioner in 1999 when he was involved allegedly in the "fixing" of Anwar Ibrahim after he was sacked from the government by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Last month, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim lodged a police report against Musa Hassan and Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail for falsifying a report with regards to his detention under the Internal Security Act on 20th of September 1998. He also accused both Musa and Gani of falsifying the medical evidences in the black eye case. Anwar claimed that Gani and Musa were involved with ACP Koh Hong Sun in falsifying . Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim, the police officer who investigated Anwar’s black-eye beating in 1998, corroborated his claims. The case has not been investigated till now. Just a week ago, twenty-seven Malaysian opposition MPs at a parliamentary roundtable forum blamed Inspector-General Musa Hassan for the worsening crime rate in the country and called for his removal as the country’s top cop. Musa reached his retirement age in 2007 but has continued to serve for another two years, with his extension scheduled to expire in September. The roundtable participants said Musa was not qualified to seek a further two-year renewal of his tenure of service due to his alleged failure in the past three years to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and protect human rights. Earlier, Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang reminded the meeting that when the Dzaiddin Royal Police Commission submitted its report in May 2005, it said Malaysia’s reputation as a safe country was ‘seriously dented’ by the ‘dramatic increase’ in the incidence of crime in the past few years. “Instead of achieving the Police Royal Commission’s target of reducing the intolerably high incidence of crime of 156,455 cases in 2004 by 20% in 12 months (i.e. 125,164 cases), the reverse took place,” Lim said. He added that from 2004, when the commission report was tabled to last year, the crime index has increased by 35.5%. Musa Hassan was not the only debatable figure to be conferred an award by Singapore. Earlier this year in March, Singapore named an orchid "Dendrobium Thein Sein" after the Burmese Prime Minister and general in the ruling military junta.  Read More →