TR EMERITUS

I have always supported underdogs. And as someone who has been politically persecuted, seeing the oppression Taiwan faces from China makes it important that we need to speak up for Taiwan. Not only that, Taiwan is one of the very few democracies in Asia and a bright spot for human rights. And in this #COVID19 episode, it has also shown itself to be capable of handling crises. Today, Taiwan saw zero new cases of the coronavirus. Taiwan's democracy is valuable because with the transparency and accountability in this country, it has allowed people to question and critique the government, and it has enabled people to be part of the process of governance. This is why Taiwan's response against COVID-19 has been strong, and is strong. Taiwan is not perfect, but at least the starting place is right. We have seen how authoritarian regimes conceal their cases before it's too late and cases explode. And we have seen how other authoritarian regimes we are more familiar with not follow science, leading to advice not to wear masks or lockdown, and leading to cases of the coronavirus escalating. Taiwan therefore is an example to follow. But it has been blocked by China from participating in international organizations like the World Health Organization and the United Nations. Still, Taiwan is sharing with the world its experience fighting COVID-19. It is also donating surgical masks to other countries. And Taiwan is a friend too. It even spoke up for Singapore during this Errrr... episode too. Throughout this COVID-19 episode, Taiwan has shown that #TaiwanCanHelp and it is willing to be a friend. Most importantly, it is a democracy and a place which believes in protecting people and their rights. As someone living here and feeling very safe because of the government's efforts, I hope that the world can finally see how #TaiwanCanHelp, and support Taiwan in its endeavors to be recognized. Recognizing what Taiwan has done also means supporting democracy, freedom and transparency, and supporting the very same for our own countries.   Roy Ngerng      Read More →

While the government may have dropped the ball in the COVID-19 fight, you can rest assured that it is very much on the ball when it comes to keeping the opposition at bay. When Pritam Singh of the Workers’ Party (WP) asked about the size of Singapore’s reserves last week, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat expressed outrage that he was doing it while the country was “in the middle of a storm.” As in, how dare you ask such a question at a time like this! After this show of petulance, he rejected Pritam’s question. Heng did not say why “in the middle of the storm” the government had the luxury of time to introduce a Bill in Parliament with elaborate special provisions for a pandemic general election. After which, it still has to expend enormous efforts to plan, schedule and execute the election. A similar thing happened earlier in the year when Pritam asked for more clarity on government employment statistics under the various Industry Transformation Maps, to show exactly how many jobs are filled by Singaporeans, Permanent Residents and foreigners. This time, it was Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing who took offence: “We can get you the numbers. But let me say this: What is the point of the question?” Express outrage by countering the original question with your own loaded question. That’s it, job done! If we go a little further back, to 2018, WP’s chairman Sylvia Lim was roundly chastised for suggesting that the government had “floated test balloons” about the impending GST hike. The government took grave offence. Sylvia was accused of dishonesty and hypocrisy and asked to apologise to the House. Once outrage is taken to such an extreme, the opposition MP has to backpedal. In this case, it did not matter that later on, it transpired that the National Trades Union Congress did previously conduct a survey on tax-related matters with its union leaders. What’s done is done. In Parliament, the PAP holds all the cards. The playbook is simple: once you have thrown a tantrum and put the opposition MP on the defensive for asking the question or making a comment, there really isn’t any need to proceed further. When the opposition is outnumbered and outgunned in Parliament, it’s not much they can do. Of course when it comes to a virus, it’s a different story. You can’t shame or bully a virus into submission.   Augustine Low * The author is a proud but concerned citizen. Voicing independent, unplugged opinion is his contribution to citizen engagement.      Read More →

In the 5 years since Mr Lee Kuan Yew's passing, Singapore and the pap's governance standards have declined so visibly until even my foreigner friends could tell. Over the weekend, it was reported that pap has stopped all ground engagements until 4th May and yet we saw on sunday past, pap mp Chia Shi-Lu and his entourage out visiting hawkers at Alexandra Village Hawker Centre and distributing masks. Given the current CB period, repeated official safe-distancing and stay home advisories, Chia Shi-Lu and his entourage not only blatantly flouted them all, he has also set a very bad example to the public too. He was not alone. From this current pandemic, we Singaporeans can see close up and at first hand just how hopelessly incompetent those so called pap exceptional leaders have been. They made mistakes after mistakes at almost at every turn. That useless son started early by telling Singaporeans that they need not wear mask if they are not sick and also they have been preparing for such an occassion for the past 17 years lalala but alas, all that were later exposed that they didn't have enough masks to protect everyone. It went from no need to wear mask if you are not sick to government not against people wearing mask to all must wear mask now when one is out of the house all in 3 months. My best description about his mask, no mask, mask suka lu puseng fiasco is lau ka kwee kor. To lhl, I will say this. You better make up your mind whether to tell people wear mask or no need to wear mask la. Not only that, he further encouraged Singaporeans to staycation and to go visit places of interest such as the Bird Park. Later, Grace Fu and Gan Kim Yong joined in to encourage Catholics to continue with their mass but take precautions, oblivious to warning of crowded places. Of all people, Gan Kim Yong, Singapore's Health Minister encouraged our Catholics to go to mass, albeit taking precautions. Can you imagine? Josephine Teo, Amy Khor, Indranee Rajah, Joan Pereira, Low Yen Ling and Ann Sim etc were seen celebrating Women's Day with a large gathering, again completely oblivious to safe-distancing and staying away from crowded places. Even a former pap cabinet minister was a loose cannon with his 'it took a virus to clear foreign workers' from an open ground in his constituency. Trust me, I can easily go on. With such poor political leadership screwing at almost every turn and not working in unison to reinforce each other but contradicting themselves, how could we not expect Covid-19 not to explode in our midst? The best pap days are over. They are well behind us. Today, what we have are very mediocre people but possessing big military ranks and big educational certificates masquerading as exceptional political leaders running Singapore and leading us. Please be smarter for yourself and especially your children's sake when you are at the polls. Think.     Simon Lim      Read More →