PM Lee is a TOTAL Failure

A month or two prior to this National Day Rally (NDR) speech of PM Lee, there was much hype about it with rumours that "Major announcement" and Major changes will be made during his speech. But in the end, it is a total let down. Apparently, PM Lee has totally lost touch of the ground and didn't really know nor understand what is expected from him and his government by the people.

The THEME of this year's NDR is supposedly to be "Honouring Pioneer Generation" and retirement financing is inevitably the hottest topic in town after the numerous CPF protests held in Hong Lim Park earlier this year, along with PM Lee suing a blogger Roy Ngern over his CPF articles. A lot of CPF issues have been brought to light and public discourse has been ongoing but PM Lee has just done a cosmetic surgery on the whole lot of issues without addressing the REAL PROBLEMS of the inadequacy of CPF for retirement financing.

Is Singapore our HOME for our Retirement?

I have the opportunities to talk to two "Foreign Talents" with regards to their choice of place for retirement. They are regarded as the "upper middle class" people with very high earnings. One of them is Director M, who is a Regional Director of a MNC, Malaysian citizen. The other is Professor D, a lecturer and head of department from a university, Hong Konger.

Both of them are in their late forties or early fifties. Both of them were having a dilemma of whether they should get Singapore citizenship and retire in Singapore. They were discussing this with me a couple of years ago but this year, it seems that BOTH have concluded that they would rather retire in their respective country or city of birth. i.e. Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Both of them do not know each other but somehow, they have come to the same conclusion that it is best for them to retire in their respective home base. Director M has been a Singapore PR for decades but after learning about the horrendous HIGH COST of healthcare services in Singapore as compared to Malaysia, he has finally decided that it is totally not worth retiring in Singapore after all.

He has a relative who was on treatment for cancer in Malaysia and he only paid Malaysian Ringgit $50 for each jab of chemotherapy! Imagine how much it will cost in Singapore? Furthermore, cost of living in Malaysia is relatively much lower than Singapore! Thus, he has decided that, despite the fact that he is pretty wealthy, he still prefers to go back to Malaysia to retire and live like a King!

Similarly for Professor D. He felt that Hong Kong has excellent healthcare system which is TRULY affordable, unlike Singapore. He said that cost of living in Singapore is really on par if not higher than Hong Kong. There is no reason for him to migrate to Singapore to suffer HIGHER medical cost since it is expected that for an aging person like him, he would have needed more healthcare for the rest of his life.

It is truly enlightening to see that BOTH people from the "Third World" and "First World" places like Malaysia and Hong Kong are shunning Singapore for "retirement". But as Singaporeans, do we have a choice at all? We are born in Singapore and we have little choice but live, retire and die in Singapore. However, under PAP rule, we are going to suffer, after decades of contributing to Singapore's development, we will die poor, having to be forced to sell off our HDB flat for our retirement.

I guess the ultimate aim of PAP has been leaked before, they wanted us to retire in JB (Johor Bahru)!

Who is responsible for CPF's inadequacy?

No matter how much PAP is going to raise the Minimum Sum for CPF, the fact still remains, despite of a high CPF contribution rate over the decades, at least 70% of Singaporeans are not going to have enough money in CPF to meet their retirement needs. Why so?

There are three key reasons why CPF has failed for its primary purpose of retirement financing.

First of all, PAP has deliberately reduced the interest returns for CPF since 1990s to a marginal amount of 2.5% to 4%.

The Second reason is that PAP has increased HDB flat prices since 1980s and it went into full steam of escalating the prices in 1990s in the name of "Asset Enhancement Scheme". This is a plot to siphon off Singaporeans' money from CPF to Main Reserves through "Land Sales" or higher "Land Pricing" for HDB flats. Of course the "Market Subsidy Pricing" logic has helped PAP to escalate the HDB prices for this purpose.

Whatever is left in your CPF is "partitioned off" for Medisave. For this money, you will never see it unless you use it to cover the ever increasing medical cost or until the day you die. Else, it will stay in the Main Reserves and kept in GIC or Temasek Holdings for their investment. Make no mistake about it, no matter how PAP tries to side track or hide the fact, the truth is, part of the funds Temasek Holdings is investing comes from our CPF monies. The high healthcare cost, hospitalization cost accompanied by long waiting time for hospital beds will negate whatever money you have in your Medisave.

It is a kind of irony that PAP tries to make you feel good with "Asset Enhancement Scheme" in order to make you pay extraordinary high prices for a PUBLIC HOUSING flat which you do not really own in essence but in the end, turn around and corner you, forcing you when you are old to sell off your flat for your own retirement needs!

PAP is the MAIN Culprit in creating the situation of inadequate CPF for your retirement financing via their flawed policies in public housing, healthcare and investment returns from our sovereign funds. But in the end, instead of addressing these issues effectively, they turn around and say the best they can do is to help you to sell your HDB flat.

Well, imagine this, first they make you pay high price for your HDB flat and then they will force you to sell your flat cheap back to them for retirement. Or force you to downgrade to some overpriced studio apartment with a limited lease when you do not have enough money for retirement.

When you are old and don't have enough cash for retirement or to pay your medical fees and you think you can approach them for help, the first thing they will tell you and aim for, is to ask you to sell off your HDB flat! Never mind if you have some fond memories attached to your home but you have to sell off your HDB flat and no, they won't provide another cheap rental flat for you to live after you sell your HDB flat.

They will ask you to pay hefty and horrendous prices again, for a small studio apartment which will have only a 30 years lease. This will technically make the value of this studio apartment unattractive because no bank will make any mortgage loan to anyone to buy a property with only 20 or 30 years lease! There is absolutely no value for inheritance by your children even though you have paid a gross $70K or $80K for such studio apartment.

Yes, they will continue to squeeze every bits from you even when you are old, retired and without a job and this is done with such a beautiful name of wanting to help you with your retirement!

They have made up a beautiful empty dream of "Asset Enhancement" to make believe that you will be rich by paying horrendous prices for your HDB flats which technically, you don't really own it. You can't even re-mortgage it if you need to when you are short of cash for anything, least, retirement. So what this talk about "Asset Enhancement" when eventually, you will be forced to sell off every assets you have? Worse still, they pray on your greed but eventually your children and grandchildren will eventually be the ones who will suffer under high HDB prices!

Inadequate Hospital Care with Squeeze You further

My mother has suffered during one of the hospitalization saga. Due to over-population and shortage of infrastructures, there will be but a total lack of C class beds which "promised" a "market subsidy" price to Singaporeans. Imagine when you are so uncomfortably in pain but you are asked to wait more than 36 hours or even 48 hours for a proper bed in the ward, UNLESS you upgrade yourself to those "less subsidize" B1 or A class wards!

Avoiding to Solve the REAL Problems

If you look at the WHOLE picture closely, it is not difficult for you to realize that the main problem lies with the Sovereign Funds, aka GIC and Temasek Holdings. They are just like a HUGE MONEY VACUUM CLEANERS, sucking lots of money into it but not giving the appropriate returns to our CPF.

When PAP raise the HDB prices, it basically justify it by the "market pricing" of the land which your flats are built on. But bear in mind that most of these land are acquired at dirt cheap prices from our forefathers. All Land Sales proceeds via SLA will go into the Main reserves and thus our sovereign funds, GIC and Temasek. At the same time, our CPF monies are transferred to these two entities via the special Singapore government bonds as well, which give a pitiful returns to our people.

The only difference is that funds that acquired from selling HDB flats to Singaporeans will bear no "burden" on these Sovereign Funds to provide returns while the CPF monies via SSGB will require them to produce return. Thus, right from 1990s, they have capped the returns to our CPF monies while increased new HDB prices. It basically means that they are reducing their obligations of providing adequate returns to our CPF as a whole. They have systematically tweak the system and fooling us into believing they are doing good to us via "Asset Enhancement Scheme" and quietly reducing returns on our CPF.

For some strange reasons, it seems that this is just not enough for them. They have also systematically dragged on the period for these Sovereign Funds to give us back our CPF monies. First, Medisave has been created and whatever money you have in this account, you won't be able to see them in broad daylight till the day you die but only be "transferred" as digits into the big black hole of high medical cost you will face in life.

I believe they will try to make it a law that whatever inheritance your children will get from your CPF, including your Medisave, will be transferred to your children CPF accounts in the near future! They have already tried to tweak the system by introducing such similar mechanism into the CPF nomination scheme as "option" but I believe they will make it "opt-out" instead for those who didn't make clear of their intentions. It just reminds me of the HOTA legislation whereby an initial "volunteer option" of organ donation has become the default choice unless you opt out.

It seems to me that they are doing everything they can to feed these monsters (GIC and Temasek) with money and trying their very best to delay any payment and thus, cash outflow from these monsters.

I do not know why they are trying everything to keep the cash in these two Sovereign Funds but apparently if this is what they are striving for, there is no reason for them to solve the three problems of Inadequate CPF for retirement financing.

1) Low CPF returns
2) High HDB price
3) High Medical Cost

What needs to be done is simply:

1) Raise the CPF returns or liberalize the system to allow Singaporeans to invest their own funds in appropriate trust funds or even directly into Temasek and GIC! To get this work effectively, basic financial management skills should be taught in our schools. If most Singaporeans are to be proficient in managing their own funds, I do not see why we should just settle for that miserable 2.5% from CPF. They could even withdraw their CPF at age 55 and manage their own funds for their own retirement if they can prove their proficiency in financial management!

2) Change the HDB pricing mechanism to Cost-plus pricing system for New Flats. This will reduce BTO prices with minimum impact on resale market.

3) Public Hospitals should remain as Public, instead of thinking making money via Medical Tourism. There should only be one class of beds with REAL subsidies to citizens. A fair Universal Healthcare Insurance should be put in place.

There are many other things that need to be looked into. eg. The CPF Life Annuity system is really a joke. I do not know whether it is just another scheme for PAP to make money or what but the payout is definitely "profit-bias". This has been explained by many other bloggers in Singapore.

Nevertheless, to solve the inadequacy problem of CPF, PAP will have to look hard at these three fundamentals first. 

Conclusion

This is where PM Lee has failed badly. He thought he could hoodwink us with such small cosmetic surgery by allowing us to request (approval is not guaranteed!!!) to withdraw part of our CPF money at 65 years old and putting up some measures for us to reverse-mortgage or sell off our flats to solve the problems created by them, in terms of inadequate CPF for retirement financing. What PM Lee should do is to address these fundamental problems that are creating a huge gap in the adequacy of our CPF which is meant for our retirement financing. It is totally a joke for a country which has a mandatory contribution rate of 36% of our gross salary but in the end, we ended up with insufficient funds to finance our retirement and most of us will be forced to sell our flats for retirement!

But I guess Singaporeans are not that stupid at all. The fundamental question we want to ask is that, will PAP take up the responsibility of providing for those who can't have enough money for their retirement? This is especially a REAL problem for many Singaporeans because apart from the above 3 main problems created by PAP, its ultra-liberal FT policy has basically depressed Singaporeans' wages over these two decades and worse of all, displaced quite a number of Singaporeans from their proper jobs. Many professionals or PMETs were forced out by cheaper Foreign labour and have no choice, to become Taxi Drivers! This will add to the difficulties for these Singaporeans to have enough savings in their CPF to cater to their retirement needs.

All in all, I have basically lost confidence in PAP's manipulation of the whole system and this is why, I do not trust them at all. Not with my CPF money. Their past and present tweaking of the CPF, HDB and Healthcare systems, on top of it, the ultra-liberal FT policy, have basically made me skeptical about their real intentions.

My gut feeling is that there is a bigger problem in this whole system which is totally opaque to us. The only way to find out is to kick PAP out of power first.

Goh Meng Seng

In Memory of Opposition Sage-Fighter - Goh Seng Soon

"The coffin is for the dead, not for old man". This is Seng Soon's pet-phrase. Today, his death has ironically confirmed his pet-phrase: he has to leave this world before he could drink that champagne which he has prepared for years.

Most probably to all those who are not in the field of opposition politics, or even to most of those who are in it, Goh Seng Soon is a stranger to them. However his contributions to Singapore's Democratic political development should not be ignored. He was one of the only 5 heavy weight members in Workers Party who were conferred as "Honorable Member" of the party. He was one of the very few political figures in Workers Party who has the most political acumen, wisdom and idealism. He was also one of the very few senior veterans in Workers Party who has claimed the Badge of ISD.

I have once said Mr. Low Thia Khiang is my initial political teacher, but I have never mentioned, Mr. Goh Seng Soon was however, my advanced political tutor and soul-mate. Along the lonely path of political struggle, I am really fortunate to meet such a good teacher and soul-mate.

To understand Goh Seng Soon's political course, we will have to start from Singapore's political exile and refugee, Tan Wah Piow's saga. Seng Soon was born in a poor family but he was a bright student who seek to take up part time diploma courses in pursue of a better paper qualification. In that era of active student movement, he has the opportunity to get to know Tan Wah Piow and other prominent student leaders of that time.

When former union leader and PAP's MP Phey Yew Kok framed, falsely incriminated and accused Tan Wah Piow of "rioting", Seng Soon became the key witness for Tan Wah Piow. When the said "riot" was happening, Seng Soon was just having coffee with Tan Wah Piow near the venue of the rioting. In the name of Justice, Seng Soon has chosen to fight against the unreasonable and rascal almighty bully all the way without any reservation. No matter how intimidating the opponents were in court, he fought them fearlessly. The crossing swords in court has created a rare excitement in Singapore's judiciary history, so much so that it has become the daily headlines of the then Chinese newspaper Nanyang Sang Pao for that duration. Seng Soon has repeatedly outmaneuvered the Deputy Public Prosecutor that he ended up flipping his tie over his shoulder in frustration!.

Seng Soon admired Tan Wah Piow's talents and he admitted that he has learned a lot from Wah Piow in debating skills and leadership. In view of Wah Piow's talents, Seng Soon believed that Lee Kuan Yew would definitely find every means to get rid of him if possible. This was basically the reason why all of them believed that Tan Wah Piow has to run road, else he would definitely be dead.

When the verdict of injustice came to put Tan Wah Piow into jail for 1 year, Seng Soon stood right outside the courtroom's door and told the reporters, "I guess I will not be going home today". Indeed, he was mentally prepared to be arrested by LKY's ISD. True enough, the ISD agents were waiting for him right outside the court building! He was detained by ISD without trial for more than 4 months. When they gave him the "cold shower" in the detention centre, he retaliated by throwing hot coffee at them and even wanted to beat them up. When they tried to force confession out of him of being Communist, he told them he belonged to the LARGEST PARTY in the world, the Rice Bowl Party. His unyielding and dauntless attitude has left a great impression till today, only that he has left us now. However, being kept in captive by these bullies would inevitably mean that he would be tortured by them. Such humiliation has been unforgettable and unforgivable to Seng Soon. This was basically the fundamental reason for the deep-seated hatred Seng Soon had against the LKY-PAP regime. He has even named his dog "HARRY", the Christian name of Lee Kuan Yew, to vent his anger. Lee Kuan Yew has thus become his "sly fox".

Initially, Lee regime wanted to send Tan Wah Piow to army training immediately after his release from prison. However, after a strong protest from the student unions, Lee regime finally relented and agreed to allow Tan Wah Piow to go back home to visit his family members for a day. Lee regime has sent ISD agents to follow Tan Wah Piow everywhere he went on that day but luckily, with the help of Seng Soon and his friends, Tan Wah Piow managed to do a disappearance act and escaped from the agents' surveillance. After hiding for months, he managed to leave Singapore safely. Seng Soon became the unsung strategist of his escape.

Seng Soon lost his opportunity of higher education due to his involvement in the student movement and activism. Ｉbelieve that if he were to have the opportunity to further his studies, his achievements would be very much greater than it is now. Although he lacked the opportunity of acquiring a proper higher education but he was able to become Consultant, in his own merits, for a wooden plank factory in Indonesia as well as high class restaurant etc. in Singapore over his lifetime.

Politically, his contributions at the back scene cannot be ignored. Even though in his whole life, he has only participated in one General Elections in 1988, but in that battle, PAP has activated almost all its heavy weights to support its candidate in Chua Chu Kang SMC! These heavy weights included Mr and Mrs Lee Kuan Yew, former DPM and President Ong Teng Cheong, current President Tony Tan etc. Despite of such great showing from these PAP heavy weights, he was still able to garner 40.7% in that 1988 GE. The reason why Lee Kuan Yew was so concerned and nervous about Goh Seng Soon's participation in the elections was because if he ever got elected into parliament, they would be facing an opponent more formidable and "troublesome" than JB Jeyaratnam himself!

Even after Seng Soon stood down from frontline politics, he was still very influential within the party. He has helped out with Mr. Low Thia Khiang's grassroot activities during the foundation years and had contributed his time, effort and money on various occasions and activities. He was pivotal and critical in the progress of getting Low Thia Khiang to replace JBJ as Secretary General and undoubtedly, was credited as the most important man behind WP's move towards a totally new era from then on. He has also acted as the treasurer of the party, one of the more important position in the party CEC. He was also the Election Agent of Dr Poh Lee Guan during the 2001 General Elections.

During this elections in 2001, the authorities had created a lot of issues for the Workers Party but Seng Soon was ever ready to engage in the battle of wits and courage with them. In facing the various deliberate unreasonable difficulties created by the police, Seng Soon was always able to collect all evidences and fight if off with the police officers with full confidence. Whenever the police wanted to make things difficult for him, he would put up with a cunning smile and walk off as if nothing happens. This has confused the police until they didn't know what to do with him. In the end, the top police officers in the Ang Mo Kio Police Station were said to be so afraid of him and would avoid him at all cost. It was such an unforgettable terrible experience with Seng Soon that they have given him a nickname, "The Devil from Workers Party"!

In the past, for almost every Sunday, Seng Soon would pay out of his own pocket to prepare appreciation luncheon for those Workers Party members who had gone for Hammer Sales all around Singapore in the morning. After lunch, they would sit down together and count the intake for the Hammer sales on that day. This also provided the opportunity for members to chit chat and enhanced comradeship among themselves. Once the URA called him up and claimed that he has contravened the rules of private residency by carrying out "political activities" in his private flat and they wanted an explanation from him! As usual, Seng Soon was so calm and steady, did not even show any bit of anger when he visited URA. He just left them a simple statement, "If you think I am in the wrong, please sue me in court!", gave them that cunning smile and then just left URA with the staffs stunned. URA was shocked and didn't know what to do with him! Actually, it was only Seng Soon's style to always be prepared for such incidents. He has long collected newspaper cuttings as evidence that PAP leaders had told the press that they had once had a very important meeting at one of the senior leader's house to make a very important decision. If URA was to sue him for breaching the law, then this senior leader must have broken the law as well! Luckily URA didn't take any action against Seng Soon else the veteran senior leaders of PAP would face great embarrassment if they were to be taken to court as well!

Seng Soon was never a power crazy politician. When Workers Party was able to find enough young people to take over important roles in the CEC, he took the initiative to ask to step down from CEC when the election of new CEC was due. However, this doesn't mean that he didn't care for WP' development anymore. On the contrary, up to the very last days of his life, he was still worried about the development of Workers Party.

Among all opposition members, Goh Seng Soon could be considered as a rare species. He has an extra-ordinary huge network in Singapore and he was definitely one of the smartest strategist among the veterans. He could analyse and determine the truth of political reality with his Theory of Relativity and logic. Nothing was too complex to be solved by him. Regrettably, he has left before he could accomplish what he has set out to do.

Although I have learned quite a lot of things with regards to politics and diplomacy from Seng Soon, but I didn't dare to consider myself as his "disciple" because I have not gone through that proper formality. He has a totally different view of this student who was considered by many people as "traitor of Workers Party". In the face of overwhelming WP members' hostility towards me, he was still willing to regard me as one of his soul mates and best friends. I am very touched by the trust he has in me. For some ultra-sensitive information which he would refrain from sharing with his WP comrades, he has shared with me unreservedly. Our mutual trust was built on the fact that we have come to acknowledge that we were both on the same path, we have the common goals and common idealism. He has shown understanding that my criticisms of WP were all made based on the premise of enhancing a better progress and development for Democracy. His only complain to me was that my actions or criticisms of WP has put him in a very difficult spot among his WP comrades. However, he still hoped that I could return to WP. He has encouraged me and even wanted to try every means to put me back into WP. But I have subtly and tactfully put such suggestions into cold storage. Deep down my heart, I was very grateful for his good intentions but I didn't dare to tell him, without me, Workers Party will not die, but if I returned to Workers Party, I will definitely perished!

How many soul mates can one meet in a lifetime? It is even rarer still for a political soul mate. In this lonely political path of mine, Seng Soon was the only political soul mate whom I could have perfect genuine meeting of minds and souls, spoke freely about anything and everything, mutual respect, looked out for each other...etc. He used to joke frequently that he has achieved the status of "Political Sage Fighter", one who have both the wisdom and valor while I was just a "Political Fox"! This was because he was always circumspect and farsighted, could always foretell with divine accuracy in political matters. What he set to do, he would always accomplish it. However, the unexpected had happened and he has lost quite badly in his last battle of his life, in full regret. Now, I am left even more lonely in this path of politics.

The passing of Goh Seng Soon is definitely a great loss to opposition politics. To the Workers Party at this critical juncture of democratic development, such loss is definitely a huge blow to it. As for me, it is emotionally totally unbearable.

For now, I only hope that my teacher, Seng Soon, will have a smooth journey to heaven. You have such little regrets in life, no big deal and you shouldn't be bothered at all. I hope that my little eulogy here could well put your extraordinary life on record of Singapore political history by summing up your contributions to our political development in this life. I sincerely hope that we shall meet again to continue our friendship in next life. Please Rest In Peace.


In Mourning,


Goh Meng Seng

悼一代政枭 -- 吴成顺

“棺材是装死人的，不是装老人的” 这是成顺经常挂在口边的口头禅。今天，这也印证了他这句话，他始终不能喝他那已准备已久的香槟，而先走一步了。

对于许多政治圈外的人，甚至是政圈内的人，也不一定认识吴成顺这个人。他对新加坡的民主政治的贡献，却是不可忽视的。在工人党里，他不只是党内五位被封为永久名誉党员之一的重量级党员，他也是工人党内党员之中极少数最有政治智慧和理念的政治人物。他也是工人党内极少有ISD“勋章”的资深党员。

我曾经说过刘程强先生是我的政治启蒙老师，但我没说的是，吴成顺先生却是我的政治导师与知己 。在这孤独的政治道路上能有个良师益友，是非常难得的。

讲起吴成顺的政治历程，就必须从陈华彪事件讲起。成顺出生贫寒，但天资聪慧的他也努力的尝试半工半读的考取好文凭。就在那七十年代的学生社运大时代中，机缘巧合的认识了陈华彪和其他学生领袖。

在陈华彪被彭由国诬赖骚动时，成顺是陈华彪最主要的证人。事发时，成顺就跟陈华彪在事发地点附近喝咖啡。为了正义，成顺与无理，无赖的强权对抗到底。在法庭上，就算是敌对方摆出强势的阵营，也无所恐惧。法庭上的唇枪舌战，更成为新加坡历史上罕见的精彩。那时的南洋商报更是重点报导。那时的主控官更是被成顺辩得哑口无言，气得当场飙起领带赌气！成顺对陈华彪是赞叹不已的，他也坦诚他从华彪身上学了不少东西。对华彪的机智和才华，成顺认为李光耀必定会顾忌而除之后患。这也是为什么那时他们都认为陈华彪如果不跑路，必死无疑。

当陈华彪被冤枉判罪入狱一年，成顺便在法庭门外对记者说，“我恐怕今天回不了家了”。他已经做好被李光耀政权的内安局ISD抓进牢里！就如他所料，内安居人员真的就在法庭建筑物外恭候他多时了！他被内安局ISD在没有审讯下，关了四个多月。当狱中的人员对他施与冰水浴时，他就把热咖啡丢向他们，甚至要出手还击。当他们向他逼供，说他是“共产党员”，他就说他是天下第一大党的成员，“饭碗党”。他那不屈不挠的精神，至今依旧，只叹人不在。但是毕竟是被强权无理的扣留住，狱中被他们折磨，这耻辱是他毕生难忘的。就因为这样，他和李光耀政权结下了深仇大恨。他甚至把他所养的狗叫作李光耀的洋名“HARRY”来泄愤。李光耀就成了他口中的“老狐狸”。

原本李氏政权想在陈华彪出狱后就马上把他押到军营里去受军训。在当时的学生会强烈抗议下，也只好给他出狱后一天的时间回家探望家人。当时李氏政权出动了内安部ISD人员到处跟踪陈华彪，幸好有成顺这班朋友帮他出了“金蝉脱壳” 之计，才能逃脱爪牙的跟踪，辗转逃离了新加坡。成顺因此成了幕后的无名军师。

成顺因学生运动而失去了读书升学的机会。我相信如果他能有读书的机会，他的成就必定不小。虽然缺乏这样的机会，但他还是靠着自己的本事，在印尼的木板场当过顾问，在高级餐厅也当过顾问等等。

政治上，他背后的贡献也不可忽视。虽然他只当过一次工人党的候选人，但是那次一战竟然使人民行动党出动了几乎所有重量级人物到蔡厝港单选区去为他们的候选人站台！这些重量级人物包括李光耀夫妇，王鼎昌，现任总统陈庆炎博士等等。然而他依旧能在那次1988年的选举中拿到40.7%的得票率。李光耀对吴成顺的参选如此“大阵营”和紧张对待是因为他们知道如果让成顺胜选入国会，他们所要面对的将是比惹耶更棘手的对手了！

成顺退居幕后后，还是起着举足轻重的影响力。他帮助刘程强先生巩固了后港区的基层运作，在不同场合和活动中也出钱出力。在工人党决定让刘程强接棒惹耶秘书长之位的过程中，也扮演了决定性的角色，是使工人党走出新局面的最大功臣。他在工人党党中央当过重要的财政职位，也在2001年大选中，成为傅日源博士的竞选代理人。在这次竞选中，状况连连，成顺更是与警察们斗智斗胆！在面对警察的种种刁难时，成顺往往都是胸有成竹，各种证据都是收集齐备，准备与警方对着干！每一次警方要刁难时，他都以他那若无其事的阴笑面对，使得警察不知如何是好！据说当时宏茂桥警署的高官们都对他敬而远之，毕生难忘！他们都给成顺取了一个外号，“工人党的魔鬼”！

以往成顺还会自费在几乎每个星期天准备好午餐，以好慰劳在早上到全岛各处去卖党报活动的工人党党员。饭后，大家就一起算好那一天卖报所得，也以此为党员联谊，聊天。有一次， 市重建局竟然找他麻烦，说他违反了私人住宅条例，在他的私人房子里“进行政治活动”而要他到市重建局解释！成顺也就如他一惯的作风，不慌不忙，也不动气的到市重建局，只抛下了冷冷的一句，“如果你们觉得我错了，请到法庭去告我吧！”，然后依旧给了他那见之丧胆的阴笑，走了。市重建局竟然被他吓得不知所措！其实以成顺的性格，他肯定是有备而来的。他早已经收集了报章的报导，行动党的大老们曾经自己自爆说，他们是在其中一位元老家里开完政治会议，而做出了某个重要政治决定的。所以如果成顺在他家里慰劳党员算是政治活动，那么在行动党党员家里开政治会议，做出政治决定，也必定是违法了！幸好市重建局那时没有对成顺采取任何行动，要不然行动党的元老级人物可要糗大了！

成顺在工人党有足够新血做世代替换时，就主动的要求从中委选举中退下来。但这不表示他不再在乎工人党的发展。直到他去世之前，他还是为工人党的发展担忧。

在众多的反对党人当中，吴成顺可说是稀有品种。他的人面广，人际关系网络特别大，而且是工人党中最有谋略的老党员之一。他能以相对论和逻辑法，轻易的识破政治真相，对错综复杂的事情都能轻易的解开谜团。但是唯一遗憾的是，他大志未了，便先行一步了。

虽然我从成顺身上学了许多政治和处世待人上的道理，但是我也只能自称为学生而非“徒弟”，因为我没有真正拜过师。他对我这人人喊杀喊打的“工人党叛徒”的“学生”却有独到的看法。面对着众多工人党员对我的敌意，他还是依旧以知己相交，对我的信任，更是令我感动。有些机密的情报，连工人党的同志他都忌讳分享，而他却跟我分享了。我们彼此的信任，就建立于我们都认清了彼此是同路人，我们都有共同的目标，共同的理念。他也谅解我在针对工人党时，是对事不对人，而是在促进民主发展的大前提下所做的批评。他唯一埋怨的是，我这么一搞，使到他周围的同志都对我不满，让他难做人。然而他在生前还是希望我，鼓励我回到工人党去，甚至要帮我，把我弄回去工人党。但是我还是婉转的冷对待了。在我心里，我只能对他的好意感激不尽。但我没跟他说的是，工人党没有我，不会死，我回工人党，我必死无疑！

人生知己几何？政治上的知己更是少之又少！成顺是我孤独政治旅程中，唯一能肝胆相照，畅所欲言，互相尊重，互相照应的知己。他常笑言，他已经是政枭了，我只是政狐罢了！这是因为他经常老谋深算，料事如神，要做的事，总能做到。遗憾的是，人算总不如天算，他还是在他人生的最后一役中，栽了跟斗，遗志未了，惋惜不已哀。而我这政治道路会是更加孤独了。

吴成顺的逝世必定是反对党政治的一大损失。对工人党来说，在这民主政治建设的关键时刻来说，更是重大的损失。而对我来说，更是情何以堪啊！

此时此刻，也只希望成顺老师，一路走好。你这一生中，也只有那么少许的遗憾，没什么大不了的。我这小小悼文，也只能把你一生的精彩，略作记录，为历史做个交代，也为您政治生涯做个总结，以祭您在天之灵。我由衷的希望我们来世再见，再续我们的师徒缘。安息吧。

哀
吴明盛

后记：
有些人对于我用“枭”这字来形容吴成顺是不敬和不恰当的。我倒是不以为然。

第一，成顺本人选择用政枭形容自己，我也了解为何，也尊重他的意愿。
第二，成顺自喻为枭，自有他的理由。你以为你要成为枭，就能成吗？

没有两把刷子的人，是不能成枭的，也许只能成狗熊还差不多！

真正认识成顺的人，都会知道他以枭自居，以枭为傲。我都说了，成顺虽然饱读中国历史，但是他是截然不同的华校生，看事物是坦荡荡的，绝不迂腐于儒学封建论述，更不会理会别人迂腐的思维。

第三，枭雄，对成顺来说，就是对他最恰当和最贴切的形容。他的确可以变得满身杀气来对付敌方。对他来说，对付像李光耀这样的枭雄，就必须自个先成为枭雄！

这就是成顺的傲气所在，对于只是纠缠于文字意义的书生来说，这是他们无法了解的。

第四，所以俗话说得好，秀才造反，十年不成！只有枭级人物，才有那个能耐可以造反成功的。

第五，以下是权威字典对“枭”的定义，其一为智勇杰出的人物

第五，世俗的人往往被误导，以为儒家的那一套才是正统，叛离造反在儒学里是离经叛道的，所以对曹操这类枭雄定了贬义之型。儒学只被君王用于架奴人性，制约叛变造反之心，所以才出了君君臣臣父父子子之说。秀才为何造反不成，就是因为受这种思想困锁住了。

Majulah Singapura

Good Morning Singapore. Happy National Day... even though I do not think there is anything worth being Happy about when our Prime Minister still wants us to sell our HDB flats to finance our retirement and this would mean that they will have to maintain HDB's prices as high as possible and in the end, our future generations will suffer even more under such high HDB pricing.

One would have thought that PAP has learned the painful lesson of losing Aljunied GRC due to the hot HDB issue from GE 2011 but no, apparently, they are still stuck with "Sell our flat for retirement" model.

CPF is of course linked to HDB pricing and I am sure by now, everyone is talking about the inadequacy of CPF for retirement financing, mostly due to past high HDB pricing initiated by "Asset Enhancement Scheme" way back in 1990s. But yet, PM Lee wants us to feel "at ease" and reassure us that we can possibly retire by selling off our HDB flats!

I am totally disgusted by such suggestion, especially from the ruling elites of PAP who have been paid obscene amount of salaries for the past decades and do not understand how it feels to be "forced" to sell off their "HOME" for retirement. Our HDB flat is our HOME, not an investment. PAP ruling elites don't even understand this.

I foresee that HDB prices will be pushed up so high in order for such "sell your flat for retirement" that younger generations can no longer afford. When they are forced to stay with their aging parents because they can't afford to buy their own HDB flats, how could their parents sell their HDB flats for retirement without affecting their children?

PAP is just kicking the can of big problem down the road without much consideration. They are going to destroy Singapore's future if they got their ways in making this a reality. We and our future generations will be forever enslaved by such a system created by them.

It is our National Day today but PM Lee's message has made my heart sank with great anger. After last GE in 2011, I thought I have succeeded in bringing forth the evils of high HDB prices and the underlying bad deal PAP has made for us, selling our HOME for retirement but I was wrong. All those PAP's cosmetic changes they tried to make is just an attempt to make belief that they have "changed" but deep down, they have not.

It is with a deep sadden heart I am forced to reconsider the option of stepping back into active partisan politics. I am very reluctant to make such considerations because I am living a happy life ever since I went into political sabbatical in 2012. There have been quite a number of invites and persuasions by many people over the years, to ask me to return into active partisan political engagement but I resisted.

In the past years, I have seen quite a number of veteran politicians passed away with unfulfilled dreams and idealism. I always live my life without much regrets. I always believe I have fulfilled what I have set out to do but somehow, I was proven wrong by PM Lee. It makes me think whether I will die of regrets of unfulfilled dreams and ideals.

Recently, someone I regard as my political tutor and close friend for the past decade, has fallen very ill. Witnessing him struggling and fighting death made me feel guilty. He knows he has an unaccomplished political mission, unfulfilled dream and he has to fight on, to stay alive for at least another few years. He is not afraid of death but dying is just too easy for him to get away from his unfinished business.

A dilemma for this National Day. Should I just walk away and enjoy in what I am doing now or bear the burden of the unfinished business of getting things right for Singapore? To be or not to be... Majula Singapura

Goh Meng Seng