TR EMERITUS

Please be informed that TR Emeritus will be disabling all commenting functions on 30th August (Wednesday) effective 2355 hours till the official end of polling day on 1st Sept @ 2000 hours. This has been our standard practice during all previous GEs and PEs, to avoid infringing on the regulations imposed by the cooling-off day set by the election department. Our website will remain online and visitors will still be able to read the articles and/or make a donation to support our upgrading, if they are willing. Since cooling-off day is just a day away, we will be churning out contributed articles (pertaining to the PE) as fast as possible, so do check back often if you do not wish to miss any of them. We would also like to thank the many newbie commentators that have flocked to our website in the past few days, mostly posting comments critical of Tan Kin Lian and singing praise of Tharman and Ng Kok Song. Please rest assured that we are an unbiased platform and your views and comments are appreciated and respected, these comments will not be censored or deleted, as long as it is allowed in our AUP and TOS. Thank you for your continued support and please vote wisely for the sake of our future generations.     TRE Techie for TR Emeritus      Read More →

The following video is the most complete version of Mr Tan Kin Lian, Mr Tan Jee Say and Dr Tan Cheng Bock speaking to the media in a press conference after the trio’s joint appearance at People’s Park Food Centre. At the same press conference, Mr Tan Jee Say and Dr Tan Cheng Bock, both former Presidential Election 2011 candidates announced their endorsement for Mr Tan Kin Lian.   Both former candidates also pledged to assist Mr Tan Kin Lian should he gets elected. One for the price of three?    Read More →

Tharman for me is suspect because of his affiliation to globalist elites. Has he been bought and paid for by the WEF? Is he one of those that Klaus Swab meant when he boasted WEF has infiltrated the cabinets of many countries in the world? All his brilliance and financial ingenuity count for nothing for me to take a chance on someone whose heart and soul is aligned to the interests and designs of an organisation so well beloved by 1% of the world’s billionaire inhabitants but feared and detested by the rest. Not to forget his nonchalance of state secrets led to his being charged under the Official Secrets Act. A forgiving system saw him let off the hook with a slap on the wrist and a too big to fail, or too important an official to loose mentality, saw no negative impact on his HR report card. Putting state secrets and WEF together is pretty worrisome for me. As for Ng Kok Song, he may have no party allegiance, but he hails from the same incestuous closely-nitted network of the Singapore Inc crowd. He is a blackface trying hard to gain street cred with HDB hinterlanders. His sudden appearance is highly suspect. Has he ever uttered a word in support or in sympathy of lesser folks in the CECA debacle, in Hyflux or mini-bond investment fiascos when small fries got burnt? Or voiced the pain of the man in the street protesting the 2% GST hike and HDB prices? He strikes me as one who has been called upon to do national service for a system that he served well and in turn been treated extremely well. Kok Song worked for decades as CIO for GIC. He exited GIC in 2014 to set up his own Amanda Investment Fund. Which company lets an employee go set up operation and pumps billions of dollars for him to kick start his game unless blue tie network really means something. I am happy for his success, but I don’t like to be fooled. Kok Song, like Tharmand, has a Gordian knot of establishment bondage they cannot cut loose. Their claims to an independent presidency lacks credibility. Now for Tan Kin Lian, he gives me headache. I see a lot of his FB posts and I want to be brutally frank here, no pussyfooting for me. In private I have often commented his posts on serious issues seem to display a lack of depth in his world views. Most of his posts have been kitchen variety inconsequential types. I tolerated his posts because there is a quality of cuteness and innocence to them. Overall, it reflects sincerity and a man connected to the ground he walks on. Who am I to say how he should connect with his Facebook followers. But for me, the problem is twofold which can come back to haunt him now that he is seeking higher office. One, sometimes he lets his guard down and careless in his comment that can be misframed in ways he never intended, such as that ‘pretty woman’ thingy currently going the rounds. Two, the pettiness of subject matter does not exactly speak well for one aspiring for high office. Of the three candidates, Kin Lian has his heart in the right place. He has real concerns for the ordinary people on the wrong side of the economic miracle of Singapore. For this concern, he seems to see a larger role in the office of the presidency. There is no executive role for the president other than the narrow scope set out in the Constitution and other legislation as well as the protection of minority rights. I for one has consistently tried to deflate this well-intended but misguided expectation of Kin Lian whenever I see him stray into this topic and I think he does not take kindly to my comments. He has constantly made the point he will discuss with the Prime Minister and guide ministers in matters where public voices can then have a better influence on policies. In other words, he sees the president’s role as a back-up loop connecting public voices to the Executive. Kin Lian gave the assurance he is non confrontational and will approach this in the spirit of respect and team building and will work with the government of the day. Apparently he failed to understand 2 things here. Firstly, he is out of scope, and secondly, bringing a counter opinion to the Executive sets a potential collision course. This underlies a dangerous misunderstanding of the role of the Office of the President. The president’s role is not to act as a counter check on the government. The separation of duties is very clear, something Kin Lian does not seem to grasp. In this respect, I feel the Elections Board made the right decision in truncating that part of his speech where he had strayed outside the scope of presidential duties. The Board did well in releasing an explanation of their action in timely fashion. So with Kin Lian I am conflicted. I see a well meaning good man. Stature wise he is nowhere near Tharmand, personality wise I am afraid he trails behind both Kok Song and Tharmand. As regards the overhyped custodial role of state reserves, all three candidates are equally up to the task from experience but will similarly work in the dark like all past presidents. There is something about someone growing into the office. Should I vote with my heart and trust Kin Lian to grow into the office, or vote from adulation of a highly esteemed senior politician who harbours ideological philosophy prepared to bequeath Singapore sovereignty to international cabal of global elitists, or better yet, for someone who benefited tremendously working his entire life for the system and now suddenly professes to have the independence to represent the other side.?   Patrick Low * Article first appeared on Down The Rabbit Hole.      Read More →