TR EMERITUS

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam Is there any adult in and outside Singapore who has not heard of Tharman Shanmugaratnam? With his superlative credentials, local and international, he made a once-in-a-life-time senssational announcement of standing for presidential election in September this year.following the expiration of the tenure of President Halimah Yacob.This may be a surprise to some but not entirely unexpected. Without any iota of a doubt do you think that there will be any challenge from any self-exalted candidate to his presidential aspiration? Although he made it clear that he was offering himself as a candidate independently after considerable introspection there is no denying that he will be naturally projected as an establishment figure. This is so prominently proliferated by the SMS and Mediacorp ad nauseam since his announcement of standing for presidential election A day never passed without Tharman propagating on TV and newspapers and even a child finds it hard to believe he is not an establishment-sponsored candidate. Will this convey an illusion of hypocricsy? The voters can decide if there is a contest which boggles the mind as it is clear that Tharman will romp home without any squeak from any contestant. So why do the PAP think that there should be an election? Tharmen will just be the right choice for the PAP to fiddle with the reserves like the presidents before him Halimah Yacob and Tony Tan. It must be some kind of compassionate divinity that there is indeed a prospective candidate-in-waiting who is contemplting throwing in the gauntlet for the contest. It is mentioned in the Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao today. He is known as Goh Chin Hwa (my romanisation) (吴振华) who comes from a humble beginning and is now the non-residential ambassador to Morocco. He is an entrepreneur of Ossia International and is quite well-known in the Chinese community as a charitable man who helped cardboard pickers by supplying them pushcarts and getting Border Mission the buyer to give them a good price. He does not match the local and international standing of Tharmen shhanmugaratnam and whether he can give Tharman a run for his money will be left to be seen. But it will a trial of strength that will be the cynosure of the eyes of Singaporeans and of course the outside world.   Yoong Siew Wah * The author was the Director of Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) from 1971 to 1974. He was Director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in the 1960s, and had a distinguished career in the Singapore Special Branch in the 1950s. Mr Yoong has granted TR Emeritus exclusive right to his memoir, to be published on an independent website (work in progress), upon his passing.       Read More →

To borrow from professional soccer parlance, a world-class striker is asked to put on the number 1 jersey while the team is in the midst of changing team manager. Many people are excited about Tharman’s announcement to be a Presidential candidate, but I am sceptical about this “ownself check ownself” charade. My scepticism stems from the following: The President, the custodian of our treasury and titular head of state with some critical procedural power, should be an independent office. There seems to be a conflict of interest. He is part of the same government for the last 40 years. The natural question arises: To what extent, if he becomes President, would he exercise his power for accountability and transparency? There is very little transparency in our government to begin with. Some may see Tharman’s candidacy as a shift in the normal order because he has the potential to breathe some independence into the administration. He would probably be the first president to know how much our reserves are and where they are parked. With his insights of the audit trail and the power bestowed upon him, he is certainly in a position to make a difference to the status quo. However, “independence” is only allowed if tribute, which includes subordination, is paid ala the Chinese Imperial System. Would he set the new gold standard of accountability and transparency? Or would he fool us with optics only to perpetuate cronyism in the appointments of the most important offices? As President, how would he position himself against the authoritarian rule of the PAP? Would he assent to bills that depart from the principle of justice and human rights? How would he respond to the anti-death penalty campaigners? Would he break away from the political will of the PAP that undergirds his candidacy fundamentally? Tharman’s candidacy is the PAP’s desperate attempt to win the Presidential Election. They want to minimize the negative impact on the upcoming General Election to ultimately maintain the dominance of PAP. It is clear that they fear the growing disruption to their hegemony. The cabinet in the house is being dismantled to prop up a crumbling altar.   Tan Tee Seng * The author blogs on Facebook.          Read More →

DPM Lawrence Wong Yesterday Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong warned of dangerous and troubled times. He told Singaporeans that “we must, therefore, be prepared for more shocks that can severely disrupt the world and our region, and surely Singapore.” They have been ramping up such talk of Singapore facing danger and trouble. Just a month ago at the May Day Rally, DPM Wong highlighted “the increasingly dangerous and troubled world we live in.” A couple of weeks before the rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had already said in Parliament that the world has “turned much more troubling, even dangerous.” He sketched out a scenario of three major geopolitical storms that threaten to make things difficult for Singapore. Singaporeans are a pragmatic bunch. We know that not everything is peace and bliss in this world. But for the government to keep harping on danger, trouble and storms is going way over the top. Is there any other government that persists in painting such a gloomy, dreadful picture to its citizens? What makes it even more galling is that after playing doomsayer, they then turn cheerleader. DPM Wong said at the recent May Day Rally: “So despite the dark clouds around us, I say: never fear, and never lose heart. Singapore may be small. But this little red dot is shining brighter than ever.” It was exactly the same with PM Lee only days before in Parliament. After talking at length about multiple storms, he said: “We may be a small island state, but we are not a small people, and neither are our hearts nor our aspirations. Let us think boldly, aim high, and seek far.” Are they playing games? One minute, they exude enough pessimism to make us worry and despair, next minute they tell us to be bright and cheery. After so many years, we get it. Impossible not to. All they are saying is that the people are always better off with the People’s Action Party (PAP) government. Have no fear, the PAP is here. When storms hit, take shelter with the PAP. The presidential election is coming up soon. The general election may not be far off. So we must be prepared to keep hearing of shocks, danger, trouble and storms. They been been doing this for more than 20 years. Back in 2001, then Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo talked extensively about Singapore being at the receiving end of the “perfect storm” – the mother of all storms. Since then, it’s been one storm after another. At the 2010 May Day Rally, for example, PM Lee spoke of Singapore being “vulnerable to global storms.” “This is a dangerous world we live in, we try our best to avoid and steer around storms . . . ” What he said back in 2010, is repeated almost exactly in 2023. It shows a bankruptcy of ideas and messaging.   Augustine Low      Read More →