The PAP has been governing Singapore since its independance in 1965. While there is no doubt that the party played a pivotal role in transforming the island-state from a third-world to first-world status in just a few decades, there seems to be growing discontent among Singaporeans about how the government leaders today seem to be disconnected from the suffering and problems faced by its citizens, particularly those from the middle and lower-income groups. Now, these are not just mere claims I am making – scholars from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy have also highlighted this issue, amongst others.
In times of economic crisis, such as now, when it becomes more apparent that many Singaporeans are having difficulties making ends meet, the disconnect seems to be more greatly felt – with many Singaporeans lamenting that the stimulus package unveiled by the PAP-controlled Government seems more targeted towards relieving businesses and capitalists rather than regular wage-earning Singaporeans.
To make matters worse, in such times when highly-paid civil servants ought to be more sensitive towards the feelings of Singaporeans who are hard hit by the recession, we have people like Perm Sec Tan Yong Soon who bragged about his lavish holiday in France in the mainstream media… and MP Charles Chong who joined in the foray by insuinating that Singaporeans who complained about Tan Soon Yong were just “lesser mortals” who were envious of him. At least he didn’t use the term “green-eyed monsters”.
And of course, more recently there was another MP (edit: a reader pointed out this was NMP Loo, not a PAP MP, just to clarify… apologies for the mistake) who suggested that we should revert to a 5.5 days work week just because Singaporeans are not procreating enough despite the reduction in work week (by half a day. Wow). This chap don’t seem to understand the bigger picture why Singaporeans are not procreating – is there a direct correlation between procreation and work hours, or could it be due to other factors like financial and mental stresses of working and living in Singapore?
Poor PR management indeed. But this is merely icing on the cake. The public outroar at the Tan Yong Soon incident only occured because people had an opportunity to do so since it was an outright display of insensitivity. How about the rest of the top government leaders and ministers who have been quietly enjoying their million-dollars salaries, at the expense of taxpayers who are now finding themselves facing very real risks of retrenchment or pay cuts?
And what about our national reserves which are being ’safeguarded’ by ‘prudent investments’ made through Temasek Holdings and GIC? Mdm Ho Ching, wife of PM Lee, announced her stepping down as CEO of Temasek Holdings, around the same time when it was announced that Temasek lost 31% of its portfolio value (and Temasek justified it by saying that the loss was below benchmark, so it actually outperformed the benchmark by managing to keep losses to ‘just’ $39 billion). We thought Temasek knew better than other investors when they decided, at the onset of the economic crisis last year, to buy massive amounts of equity in the troubled banks like Citi and UBS – it now seems clear that it couldn’t have done so at a worse time.
Rumours having also been floating that GIC lost $50 billion. Combined with the nearly $40 billion losses made by Temasek, that would total $90 billion – perhaps about 1/3 of the rumoured $300 billion in total reserves, or 1/2 if the total reserves are more like $200. Ouch.
Granted, it was not entirely Temasek and GIC’s fault that they lost money in this economic crisis – how many investors actually turned a profit in such times? However, the investments in the foreign banks last year really baffled many people. I wonder if we could have lost less of the country’s reserves by being more conservative – buying stakes in banks during economic crises started by banks’ imprudent lending practices don’t seem to be a very good investment idea, in my humble opinion.
The competence of a country’s leadership is perhaps best tested during economic recessions. This is when we can observe whether the leaders have what it takes to bring us through the recession with minimal impact. This is when we can observe whether our leaders are as good as they claimed they are – remember when PM Lee announced the salary increments for senior civil servants? He said that we must pay competitive salaries to retain top talent. So why has Singapore, under the leadership of top talents, become the first Asian country to be hit by recession, and being impacted so greatly?
To be honest, I rather have less money in our national reserves and a more compassionate government with leaders that understand citizens’ problems and can feel for us, rather than one that proclaims to understand us and yet goes about implementing a stimulus plan that don’t directly address our immediate needs as much as those of businesses and investors. Granted, businesses and investors are an important group to take care of… but in extraordinary times like this, people do expect more direct aid.
Will this recession spell the beginning of a marked decline in popularity of the PAP Government? We shall see what happens in the coming General Elections, which is slated to be held by 2011… not very long from now.
No related posts.
Actually, nothing will change. They will still get the 60%+ “mandate” they want in 2011. There are so many reasons, major one is the IRs have opened and the youth olympics just ended. And they will ride the high.
Furthermore, Singaporeans are just to KS to allow more oppositions in, they believe everything the gahmen says and also the threats, whether it is logical or not. My dad is a good example, the PAP (to him) can do no wrong. All explanations are correct and logical.
“My dad is a good example, the PAP (to him) can do no wrong. All explanations are correct and logical.”
One good suggestion is to tell your father that you will be sending him to Johore to retire in nursing home because this is what PAP tell us to because it is so “correct and logical” due to high cost of living of Singapore.
“Analysts expect construction of Marina Sands to top US$6 billion (initially budgeted at $3.85 billion). In contrast Sands Macao casino cost $265 million to build and recouped its costs in less than a year. But that was in the boom years in 2004. Experts estimate that Marina Sands will have to earn more than US$1 billion a year just to remain viable. And this has to occur in the midst of a protracted period of an economic bust.”
-quote from this article: http://yoursdp.org/index.php/perspective/special-feature/1882-holding-lee-kuan-yew-accountable-part-2
My opinion is that the IRs are doomed right from the beginning. We do not have the kind of attraction power that places such as Macau (gambling haven) and Vegas (gambling and entertainment) has.
Remember Crazy Horse? It was touted as a first in conservative Singapore… but look at what happened after the initial hype and investment…
Needless to say, the current economic situation is not going to help the IRs much either.
you know what, half of your wish will come true:
now you will have LESS RESERVES and a more hard-nosed money-minded gahmen…
vote for accountability, vote for transparency.
The marriage of convenience with the PAP will be over, rocky with squabbles over money, affairs with foreigners, neglect of children over adopted ones. When the man of the house finds a new lover, hell hath no fury, like a lover scorned.
[...] Discourse – This lush garden within: The beginning of decline in PAP’s popularity? – Wayang Party Club: Dismantling the myths of the PAP system – ringisei: The PAP does not pander to [...]
Hey Singapore, now do you people still think our nation will collapse without the pap govt? or we are already at the blink of collapsing now with them losing more than $120billions of our taxpayers money. Goodluck and pray hard if there are still some balance left, those responsible may have now packed and get ready to disappear for good.
If pap loses power, all the shits will be dug up just like in Taiwan,where the fall of Chen dug up a lot of scandals.
The losses could be muffled because of the recent revision to accounting rules. Illiquid securities are no longer valued at mark-to-market for accounting purposes.
http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2009/02/singapore-to-give-second-chance-to-ubs.html
Came across this. I agree this is the beginning, though of what? I am not so sure.
mr biao,
I’ve never linked Singapore with entertainment in my head
Crazy Horse may owe its failure to restrictions made to how it could (and couldn’t) advertise itself… and also censorship.
Here’s an article with some background, with pictures illustrating the difference between Crazy Horse in Paris/Singapore.
http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2006/yax-577.htm
A political strategist assumes room temperature and finds himself at the Pearly Gates. The strategist is taken inside Heaven by St. Peter and given a guided tour. He’s led into one huge room that is full of millions of clocks, and he notices a clock with his name on it that has stopped.
St. Peter explains that everyone has a clock that counts down the seconds of their life, and when someone dies, their clock stops. All this fascinates the strategist but when he examines all of the other clocks, he notices that some of the clocks’ second hands are moving faster than others.
St. Peter explains that every time someone tells a lie, which is a sin, they lose part of their life, so their clock’s second hand ends up moving faster.
The Democratic strategist looks around but doesn’t see the old man’s clock, so he asks St. Peter where it is.
“Oh,” answers St. Peter, “that’s being used as a ceiling fan.”
what a puzzling piece. first, the factual mistakes:
1. “The PAP has been governing Singapore since its independance in 1965.” – The PAP governed S’pore since 1959.
2.”… there was another MP (can’t remember his name) who suggested that we should revert to a 5.5 days work week…” – It wasn’t an MP. It was an NMP (it wasn’t a PAP MP but don’t let the facts get in the way of a good moan). And his name is Loo Choon Yong. There’s this nifty invention called google…
and now the clincher:
first you complain that “We thought Temasek knew better than other investors when they decided, at the onset of the economic crisis last year, to buy massive amounts of equity in the troubled banks like Citi and UBS – it now seems clear that it couldn’t have done so at a worse time”
then you say: “Granted, it was not entirely Temasek and GIC’s fault that they lost money in this economic crisis – how many investors actually turned a profit in such times?”
make up your mind.
3.
My portfolio of savings accounts and fixed deposit accounts outperformed Temasek and GIC.
didn’t yours also?
Anon >
No mistakes for #1 – I said, “since its independance in 1965″ – although PAP started governing Singapore in 1959, Singapore only attained independance in 1965, no?
#2 – Yup like I said, I couldn’t remember who said that (and Loo Choon Yong ain’t a very prominent name in Singapore politics anyway). I can’t care less about naming whoever said that since readers who are interested would already know or will go check if they are keen
#3 – I don’t see what’s wrong with the 2 statements, other than you selectively chose 2 statements that seemed to contradict each other without taking into context the entire message – I think I was just trying to be fair by pointing out that not many investors are turning profits at such times… but at the same time, the issue was with the TIMING of the investments made in UBS and Citi – right at the onset of the economic crisis, when the facts are not so clear yet as to how bad the recession would be. Look at the news today – UBS losing further $ due to governance problems. Good investment?
Aye, at least we’re not losing money on the fixed deposits
Actually, who cares about Temasek making double digit percentage profits during good years when all they do is to churn the earnings back into investment… just to lose them all in a bad year.
I seriously believe that in times of bullish economy, any idiot can make money on the stock market by randomly choosing a basket of blue chips. That was probably what Temasek and GIC was doing. Look at how much money the talents have lost for taxpayers.
And if I remember correctly, the “talents” who drafted this year’s economic stimulus package were mostly young people… the youngest about 28 years old, barely a few years out of school? A nation is at stake here, and they’re fielding amateurs.
I tink maybe coming up w economics policies to improving the life of average sgporeans since independence is simply not enough for any human being.
I tink a part of the reason y sgporeans r gradually ‘unhappy’ w the PAP govt is human’s need for personal growth psychologically.
Despite the fact that sgporeans have plenty of material freedom, we r deprived in terms of our psychological needs.
the lack of a basic social welfare system in sg may make one insercure n unwilling to challenge him/herself to fulfill his/her dreams and aspirations.
When a person is insercure, s/he loses the freedom to make informed choices of what s/he feels is true to him/herself.
the lack of freedom and acceptance to speak up on what one’s feels and thinks may in turn lead one to feel deprive of his/her psychological needs to feel competent socially.
as a person constantly receive ‘rewards and punishment’ from sociaety on how s/he ought to behave, the person will eventually seek other means in other to fulfill his/her needs psychologically. these other means may just be temporary and inconducive to the person in his/her personal growth.
Based on this reasoning (though not absolute in accounting for every sgporean), what this country really need is not only capable leaders, but leaders whor compassionate (as wat mr biao says), respecting and accepting every individual’s need to grow in their own ways. moreover, policies can be modified, rectified and create to protect every sgporeans basic needs, physically and psychologically.
>>>No mistakes for #1 – I said, “since its independance in 1965″ – although PAP started governing Singapore in 1959, Singapore only attained independance in 1965, no?
that’s a cop out.
>>>#2 – Yup like I said, I couldn’t remember who said that (and Loo Choon Yong ain’t a very prominent name in Singapore politics anyway). I can’t care less about naming whoever said that since readers who are interested would already know or will go check if they are keen
still doesn’t change the fact that Loo is a NOMINATED MP, and not a PAP MP. like i said, don’t let the facts get in the way.
I just took a second read and realized, yup, I should make it clear that it was an NMP not a PAP one since my subject is about the PAP.
My oversight, and thanks for pointing out.