TR EMERITUS

Four years after being turfing out its ruling party-in-perpetuity, Malaysia did the unthinkable – it sent its former Prime Minister, Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak to prison on charges of corruption. Mr. Najib, had until that point been regarded as something of an untouchable figure, even though he looted and abused power on a scale that Malaysia had never seen before (this included US$700 million in his personal account). [LINK] As a Singaporean, it can be tempting to get smug about all these things going on in Malaysia. Singapore’s successive governments have taken pride in not being anything like their Malaysian counterparts. Sure, our Prime Minister remains the world’s best paid, despite a pay cut but nobody has found anything unexplainable in his personal bank account. The difference in official corruption in Singapore and Malaysia can be seen most visibly at the street level. Your papers need to be in order whenever you enter Singapore. If you must pay a traffic fine in Singapore, you pay it because offering the cop a little extra is a guaranteed way to jail. Malaysia is, to politely, vastly different in this respect. I remember crossing the Causeway with my mother-in-law and being told to “give something to my officer,” by Malaysian immigration. It is easy to get smug when you compare the levels of government corruption between the two countries. However, while Singapore may score higher than Malaysia according to Transparency International, Malaysia has passed two crucial test, which Singapore has not. The first test came in the 2018 General Election, when the “Barisan Nasional” (BN) ruling coalition was thrown out of power for the first time in history. It was by all accounts an amazing election that was not just politically significant but culturally so. Malaysia has a political culture based along ethnic divisions, yet Malaysians united along racial lines and voted to get rid of a government that had become so corrupt that it made people’s lives miserable. Sure, the opposition coalition that won that election has not been remarkably better and Bumiputra policies remain. However, the Malaysian electorate displayed a maturity of being able to unite across ethnic lines despite what the best efforts of politicians. Not only does this contrast with Singapore, which is officially “non-racial,” but accepts talk about the public not being ready to be led by someone from an ethnic minority, but it also compares well with the mature democracies of the West, which have seen a rise in ethnic nationalism. The second test comes with the High Court upholding Mr. Najib’s jail term. Malaysia’s judiciary has shown that it has a certain level of independence to punish a kleptocratic former Prime Minister. While Mr. Najib may no longer be Prime Minister and have control of levers of the state, Mr. Najib does have a following and a lot of influence. Talking about Mr. Najib as being “untouchable” was not an exaggeration. We also need to remember that this is a region where “corrupt” leaders are not necessarily disgraced and pushed to spend their latter years under the radar – the Philippines has just put the son of a man that robbed and rapped the country back in the presidency. Malaysia is in the region where such things can happen. Still, the Malaysian Supreme Court was not bowed and sent Mr. Najib to where he belongs and the message became clear, nobody including a very influential Prime Minister is above the law. In a way, this sets a good example for the ASEAN region (if you discount Singapore as an anomaly). Having an electorate that can unite across ethnic lines despite the best efforts of politicians and a judiciary that can move against those with power and influence shows that nations in this part of the world are capable of building stable societies where people can prosper. This would be a week to say “Malaysia Bolleh.”   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.          Read More →

Although LKY has LGBTQ among his family clan, he had resisted to Repeal 377A. Why? I bet he clearly understood that this is not just a simple act of repealing a law but will trigger a whole lot of social battles. Most probably he didn't think it's worth the political social risks to trigger a bomb which no one could possibly control or reverse. The numerous examples of what happened in the Western world must have rung a big alarm bell for him to consider the enormous risks involved. If a seasoned and skilful politician like LKY didn't have the confidence to deal with the aftermath of poking this LGBTQ hornet nest, why would a group of less skilful and experience PAP leaders think they could actually handle this? It is totally niave and even stupid to think that the LGBTQ agenda will stop at repealing 377A. There are plenty of examples in the world where the LGBTQ movement is never content nor satisfied until to the extent of wanting Special treatment and privileges rather than just mere "rights" under the guise of being the victims of "discrimination". We need a really strong leader like LKY to stop this else it would not be "Progressive" but rather "Self Destructive" for a small nation like ours. It must be made very clear that to decriminalize gay sex doesn't mean the society at large is accepting gay sex as "Normal"! Gay Sex is never Normal but exception for a small percentage of people. While Gays could be inborn, it could also be induced. Thus, it should not be promoted or allowed to be promoted. If Gay Sex become "Normal" and more than 50% of people turned into gay, what will happen? Human species on Earth will eventually extinct. Normalization of Gay Sex would mean the extinction of human species. For a small country like SG, the effects and impacts would be even much worse considering the already low fertility rate we have now. I am surprised PAP under PM LHL could be so naive and amateurish that they think they could possibly handle the aftermath of removing the main plug of LGBTQ agenda.   Goh Meng Seng      Read More →

Singapore current progress has a lot to do with the legacy built by first generation leaders. It prompted Singapore to be the leading tiger and China sending officials to understudy how we transformed from third world to first world in relatively short span. Singapore had laid foundation for future vision or growth, the government had laid all kind of frame work for all kind of policies with a view for next 5, 10 or even 20 years onwards. For example, there was this IT 2000 (LINK), National Technology Plan from 1991 to 1995, Science and Technology Plan 2010 - MTI, Research Innovation Enterprise 2020 Plan - MTI and many other plans to ensure Singapore continue to lead and progress. So many decades past but what had happened? Productivity and quality instead of improving, we are now regressing. Things no longer work perfectly, instead of finding out how to remedy and improve, they fix the KPIs and lower the scores and standards. Vietnam and Indonesia have taken over innovation and start ups, most start ups prefer to launch their pads there, Singapore is no longer the preferred destination for Innovation and Technology. So decades back, Singapore had all these sort of plans in place to ensure we continue to lead but it looks like these plans are just for study or show. The parliament is a place where politicians representing Singapore and public interest debate and ensure policies are robust. But today, few people attend parliament(looking very empty), if they attend, they were either sleeping or falling asleep. If you look carefully, there are not many young in parliament, we have a parliament of oldies, most are passed 50s or 60s, with multi-million pay or lucrative outside jobs. What has Botak Tharman and TCH proposed last 10 years? We have old and aging politicians who continue to collect big fat pay cheque without much contributions, all they do was to vote to agree to all lousy policies or hammer oppos. Can anyone point out any outstanding politician who made a difference? But again, this is the same govt who told citizens if you are above 30 or 40s, you are considered old and should be retrained or upgrade, don't you think this is an irony to what they are preaching. Singapore is definitely not transforming, nor progressing, it is mainly counting on massive immigration to continue to boost economy. It has run out of innovation but stick to what they only know. Year in and year out, in most speeches, you are constantly reminded we need to be open and we need foreign talents. And of course, the constant mantra is you need to pay more for quality, their pay package and how they charge you for all things. Singapore is already falling behind many countries in actually progress in terms of innovation, happiness and transformation. Today, Singaporeans with good qualification are forced to downgrade to menial jobs such as PHV drivers and food delivery. Our leaders constantly reminded locals not to study degree and MSM regularly telling stories encouraging locals to give up PMET jobs to be hawkers or self employed. So my friends, do you think what I said make sense? Their key mains are GDP growth (to show dumb locals), massive immigration which help boosts GDP and winning general elections. The country has deteriorated, people still dont realise that they are using new migrants to continue to win elections to continue to be in power and enjoy riches without any regards for the future of Singapore and Singaporeans. A bunch of conservative and stubborn old mules in parliament who are complacent and stubborn, not open to competition will transform Singapore? What do you think?   Shereen Lim      Read More →