Writting Off the Contributions of Opposition?

Someone said that none of the opposition parties should take credits for the changes that PAP has made since GE 2011.

I would disagree. I am not afraid nor shameful to take credit for the change in the HDB policies as the one who initiated a hard hitting campaign on Over priced HDB flats, not merely on pricing alone but the intellectual philosophy and discourse against it. Starting from HDB is NOT an INVESTMENT but a HOME to the debunk of PAP's argument of selling off or monetizing HDB for retirement. On top of that, highlighting the social injustice of PAP breaking its social contract when we allowed it to have the power to acquire land from our forefathers at dirt cheap price in return for cheap housing for generations of Singaporeans.

The activists who stood up against 6.9m Population White Paper and CPF's forever low return and increasing minimum sum should be credited for adjustments done to these policies.

SDP has persevered over freedom of speech and eventually PAP relented to put up Speaker's Corner. SDP has also touched extensively on universal healthcare policy and PAP came up with Medishield Life. Even though Medishield Life has lots of flaws but at least it is a first step of response to SDP's initiative.

Maybe he can only speak for his party and yes, WP should not claim any credits for all these policies because it has never led or initiated any public discourse or opinion on any important public policies so far, despite of the fact they have Numerous MPs in parliament and have put up a comprehensive manifesto.

WP MPs have not followed their own policy manifesto closely while debating in parliament. They have not uttered a word on abolishing ISA in parliament while they have written that in their manifesto. They even change their stance on ministerial salary using strange calculations which ended up as million dollar salaries.

So please, if you must comment, speak for your party's ineffectiveness and not robbing away due credits to other parties and activists.

Besides, this person who spoke about "no opposition party should take any credit" of the changes or improvement made was not even involved in the political arena for the past decade. Obviously, he cannot claim any credit to any of the happening, including the awakening in 2006 and the forward march of opposition in 2011 etc. But for him to write off all the combined efforts, sacrifices and contribution in this past decade in one full stroke, I guess that is really arrogant to start with.

Among opposition members and activists, we may have our differences and views but I respect their little contributions in their own ways. Yes, even the mere presence of WP MPs in parliament, though not fully effective (not even as "watch dogs" or "co-drivers"), is a little contribution in itself. This is despite the fact that we would like to see them more vocal and effective in their debates in parliament.

Many people, beside the opposition candidates in GE, have contributed tremendously to the opposition cause. This is especially so for the grassroot activists, spending time, effort and even money without remunerations, definitely without those million dollar deals. (Of course there are some bad apples who are more interested in making money out of opposition politics but let's put that aside). But to make it more effective and worthwhile, those on the frontline will have to put up a good fight, lead the public opinions and discourses on various public policies. Else, the disappointment of these grassroot activists in making such sacrifices will be irreparable.

The worst case scenario is to have a rookie to step up and write off all the efforts and contributions of many others before him. I am quite utterly disappointed.

Goh Meng Seng
 

PAP's Secret Weapon of Winning Elections

Over the Chinese New Period, I met several people who talk about the "Freak Elections Result" in 2015.

From a historical perspective, in a General Elections, any vote swing beyond 5%-6% would be considered as a "Freak Elections Result". However, this may no longer be true anymore.

The following is a tabulation of the increase of voters compared between GE2011 and GE2015. The table include a calculation net of Tanjong Pagar GRC as this was the only GRC not contested in 2011. 

As we can see the increase of the Total Eligible Voters is about 4.77% while the increase in Total Voter Turnout Net of Tg Pg is 5.48%. We have to bear in mind that this is quite a substantial increase (over 1% increase per year) despite the fact that we are facing a low fertility rate since 1990s. Couple with the fact that there is an actual gradual increase of people giving up Singapore citizenship and a deduction effect due to death, we would expect either minimal increase or a zero increment of voters base, or even a negative impact on voters number.

I do not have the time to look through the time series of figures on Death and Migration out of Singapore for the past decade and compared them to the figures of total number of births 21 years ago in correspondence to these figures to get an idea of how would the net effect on voters base for the the various GEs, but I suspect these figures should more or less canceled off. 

However, this is not true at all. There is in fact a "healthy growth" of voters base. The piece of puzzle lies in the number of New Citizenship PAP government has been giving out all these years. 

 

In the above graph, it shows the trend of New Citizenship given out from 2007 to 2014. These figures are not complete as we need 2006 to 2015 data to do a full analysis. I have used an estimation of the numbers of New Citizenship for 2006 and 2015 by assuming that it is the same as 2007 and 2014 respectively for the table below.

We can see from the graph above that PAP has been giving away Permanent Residency like nobody business from 2007 (or even earlier?) to 2010. Even when these stabilized in 2010, the number of New Citizenship issued had actually increased a bit and maintained at above 20,000 from 2012 till 2014. This is despite the fact that PAP has said it is reducing the intake of foreigners since 2012 protests against the 6.9m Population White Paper! PAP has in fact maintained a high number of PRs and New Citizenship issued from 2012 throughout till 2014!

Even so, I do not quite trust these figures simply because the figures don't really add up as I would expect if the detailed study on Death, migration out plus corresponding new born 21 years would have a slight negative impact on voters base.

If you take a look at the tabulation below, you will see what I mean.

We can see from the table above, with certain estimation and adjustment made, the sole POTENTIAL FULL impact of the increase of New Citizens from 2011 to 2015 is about 3.45%. This is about 2% to 3% lesser than the estimated increase of eligible voters or voters turnout from 2011 to 2015.

This practically implied that on average, there is still a net increase in voters base even when new citizens were taken out of the picture. We may not know the truth but let's leave it as it is.

IPS erroneously concluded that the impact of New Citizens on GE2015 results is just 2% to 3% due to this over simplistic calculations. It is assuming that those New Citizens who came in prior to 2012 did not change their voting patterns in GE2015. I beg to differ.

If you would have remembered, PAP has made a STRANGE announcement right after GE2011 that it is going to pursue a 6.9 million population target by 2030. It is strange for PAP to come up with such "White Paper" when it has just suffered a little electoral defeat in GE2011 with a reduced majority vote. The anger from the voters would have made PAP more wary to announce such plan especially when prior to GE2011, many people, including me, have shown data that the population has increased at an unsustainable rate and it has caused shortage of public housing, crowded hospitals as well as trouble public transport system with major breakdowns of MRT!

It was a very puzzling move at that point of time which many people perceived it as "suicidal" of PAP of doing so. It seems that PAP has "stupidly" exposed the "reason" of all the troubles we had for people to pin point directly at the FTs and New Citizens!

Some how, protests erupted against the 6.9million Population White Paper and anti-FT loud cries were made. And some people started to call such movement or protests as "Xenophobic". PAP wayang a bit and started to say that they will control the total number of inflows but as we can see from the raw data, they had at the same time increased and maintained the total number of New Citizenship issued out each year!

I would say that we have been out-maneuvered by PAP! PAP has deliberately put up the massive population idea to lure or ignite anti-FT and anti-New Citizens sentiments. This will invoke the emotional responses from ALL New Citizens, past and present, not just those 80,000 New Citizens initiated from 2011 to 2015 but including all past New Citizens!

On a conservative estimate of a 10 years cycle of adaptation and naturalization process, the total potential impact of all New Citizens who came in from 2006 till 2015 would be a potential 7.55%! If we assume a 20 years cycle (from 1995 onwards) of "naturalization" for New Citizens may be even higher! (It is believed that the total percentage of "New/Naturalized Citizens" is about 14% in total to population.)

Thu, I would say that it is erroneous to conclude that the impact of New Citizens to be minimal at 2% or 3%. Their impact or influence might have been more than 7% due to the political scheming of PAP in invoking the 6.9m population controversy.

Looking forward to next GE, I believe PAP will continue its aggressive New Citizenship policy or even increase the number of New Citizenship issued per year for the coming decades. I would expect after this article appeared, you will no longer find any data on the time series of total number of PRs and New Citizenship issued for past and future years. 

This is part of the reason why PM Lee is so confident that opposition will never ever be able to win any substantial number of seats in future elections that he is willing to cut down the sizes of GRCs,, increase the number of SMCs as well as NCMPs!

Due to the success of their New Citizens strategy, they believe that they will be invincible in the future GEs!

So my dear Singaporeans, it is time for us to rethink of what we should do next for our country and future. PAP has finally found the "perfect way" to GAME the voting system here. The day of REAL Democracy Reforms will not come if we do not make a concerted effort to push for it. If we, collective as a people, would only think of our own selfish interests instead of the big picture.

It will take a tremendous great amount of time for most New Citizens to realize that we need to break away from a one party monopoly system but for us, could we wait that long?

Goh Meng Seng

Afternote/Updates:

On 18 March 2016, PAP has revealed that there is an average of 18795 new citizenship given out from 2006 to 2015. It means that there is a total of 187950 new citizen voters in 2015 as compared to 2006!

My estimate above has underestimated the numbers and impact. The maximum POTENTIAL impact will amount to 8.1%!

And by the look of it, my suspicion that the total number increase of voters from 2006 to 2015 may be solely or predominantly due to the increase of New Citizens ALONE!

Casino & Social Impact

Sad Stories

I just had coffee with a friend and I was surprised that he started to talk about "Social Problems" to me.

He said that the impact of the Casinos is starting to set in and it is getting worse. I was surprised that he would talk about this because he was never a critic of the Casinos which PAP has built.

He told me that one of his friend who was the brightest kid in his kampung and attended RI in his younger days, has fallen to Problem Gambling after he went to the two Casinos to gamble. He was the Head of Department of a Secondary School but lost his job due to problem gambling and heavily indebted to loan sharks. He fell into depression while his wife threatens to divorce him.

He also know of other cases of Singaporeans fallen prey to problem gambling, like successful businessman who eventually accumulated huge debts due to Problem Gambling.

I told him that he is part of the problem and "has blood in his hands". When PAP decided to build the two Casinos back in 2005, masqueraded them as "Integrated Resorts", he didn't oppose it.

I have put up strong opponent and objections to the Casinos way back then but all these fell on deaf years. PAP still won decisively in GE 2006 and eventually the two casinos went ahead.

I told him that ever since the Casinos were built, numerous families were broken up due to Problem Gambling. It is not merely those gamblers who will face the onslaught but their family members around them would also face the negativity of it.

PAP didn't dare to publish suicide rates and do analysis on the reasons of suicides in the past few years. The truth is, many of victims took their own lives due to Problem Gambling.

Of course, majority of Singaporeans, even when they have heard of these cases of Problem Gambling, have chosen to ignore the problems by brushing it aside as some "other people's problems" until the problems creep up to their doorstep.

Singaporeans have to get rid of their selfish mindset and take a more altruistic social approach in viewing issues like Casinos, police having too much power, building of nuclear plant, TPP and such. They should be more concerned about issues or policies which will affect the Nation and their society.

Else, there will be irreversible consequences which will not only affect them but their future generations.

Goh Meng Seng

What is Trans Pacific Partnership all about?

PAP government has signed the TPP agreement on 4 Feb 2016 WITHOUT any Public Consultation NOR public debates at all.

There is not even parliamentary debate over this important issue and our only labour union NTUC has been acting Deaf, Blind, Mute and Dumb - Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Say no Evil and Think no Evil!

To understand the flaws of TPP, you can lick on the following:

TPP in 10 cards

I shall extract out two parts of which I am deadly concerned about:

The following information is on how TPP could compromise our sovereignty, in effect, selling away our sovereignty to huge MNCs which will dictate on what our laws can and cannot be.

What's ISDS, and why is Elizabeth Warren so upset about it?

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is one of the TPP's most prominent critics, and her campaign against the deal has focused on an otherwise obscure provision called investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). The goal — to mediate disputes between a government and foreign investors — might sound innocuous. But Warren warns that ISDS poses a threat to American sovereignty and could inhibit robust regulation of industries such as banking.

ISDS rules are designed to address a real problem. Suppose an investor from one country spends money building a factory in another country. Then a new government comes to power there and nationalizes the factory. That's unfair to the investor, and in the long run it's likely to be bad for the country with the factory as well. ISDS is an arbitration process that uses trade sanctions to pressure governments to compensate investors whose property is seized.

Obviously, the United States has a robust legal system that doesn't allow this kind of naked expropriation. Nevertheless, the TPP is expected to allow foreign investors to make ISDS complaints against the United States. And Warren argues that could "tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations" in a way that would "undermine US sovereignty."

TPP opponents worry that foreign companies could argue that the way America regulates banks, the minimum wage, or the environment constitutes an unjust taking of their property. If an ISDS panel agrees, the United States could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages.

There are two aspects of ISDS that have raised particular concern. One is the fact that, as with most trade dispute settlement panels, the process is overseen by arbitrators rather than independent judges. Warren worries these arbitrators, who may also represent corporate clients in other cases, will cause panels to be biased toward big companies.

Second, while the ordinary WTO dispute settlement process only allows complaints by governments, ISDS allows any foreign investor to complain. Critics say that removes an important check on misuse of the dispute settlement process.

Defenders of ISDS say Warren's concerns are overblown. The White House notes that there are about 3,000 trade deals around the world with ISDS provisions, including about 50 that involve the United States. According to the Obama administration, the US has only faced 13 ISDS cases under those treaties, and has never lost a case. The White House also says the ISDS provisions in the TPP will have stronger safeguards against abuse than those in previous treaties.

And it's important to note that ISDS can't actually force countries to change their laws or regulations. The most an ISDS panel can do is impose a financial penalty.

The next part deals with drug patents and how TPP will compromise our Healthcare Cost by giving extensive power to huge Pharmaceutical Companies.

The problem with drug patents in TPP is much more devilish than I initially thought.

It prevented Generic drugs from being available as there are clauses that set the barriers to it, even AFTER the patent expires.

For biologics, it applies the barriers HIGHER and for other drugs, it allows the original patent holders to just TWEAK the formula and thus, extending the patent longer.... ever green extension of patents forever!

Why are some public health groups opposing the TPP?

Public health groups such as Doctors Without Borders and the AIDS research group amfAR have warned that the TPP could delay the introduction of generic drugs, boosting drug prices and ultimately costing lives. Here's how that could happen.

Laws in the US and around the world grant patents and other legal privileges to the first company to invent a new drug — a reward to encourage research and development. After these legal protections expire, other companies can make cheap generic versions of the drugs.

Of course, big pharmaceutical companies hate this competition. So they've lobbied for the TPP to include rules delaying the introduction of generic drugs into the market.

For example, one proposal would expand the types of inventions that are eligible for patent protection to include modifications of existing drugs. Critics say this would make it easier for drug companies to engage in "evergreening," a process where drug companies make minor modifications to their products in order to extend the effective length of patent protection.

The TPP requires governments to extend the term of patent protection if the patent office processes a patent application too slowly, or if regulators delay approval of a pharmaceutical patent.

Another provision concerns complex drugs called biologics. Before these drugs can be introduced to the market, the Food and Drug administration requires drugmakers to prove they are safe and effective. Often, data from one drug's clinical trials is useful to other companies wanting to introduce competing, biologically similar drugs. But a controversial US law requires competing drug manufacturers to wait 12 years before they can use this data in their own applications. That makes it harder for generic drugmakers to get into the market, raising prices.

The Obama administration reportedly pushed for language requiring that all countries adopt a similar 12-year requirement. That was surprising because Obama's own 2016 budget suggested reducing the exclusivity period to seven years. Ultimately, US negotiators didn't get what they wanted; the final text of the TPP requires countries to provide five to eight years of data exclusivity for biologic drugs.

In short, the TPP can be expected to reduce competition and therefore raise the prices of drugs in some TPP countries. The deal probably won't have much effect in the US, where biologics already receive 12 years of protection and the law is relatively friendly to evergreen patents, but it will have a bigger impact in other TPP countries.

Singaporeans have to get themselves more involved and concerned about this implementation of TPP as there is absolutely NO ESCAPE Clause once it is signed and ratified by parliament.

PAP government did not put up the full text for public information and scrutiny, most probably for fear of massive objections.

If you want to know the exact text of TPP which Singapore is one of the signatory countries, you may not find the details in any Singapore portal. Countries who signed this pact are supposed to put up information for public debates so to get consensus and parliamentary ratification but PAP didn't even want to talk about it, lest hold any public debate or consultation.

You could find the exact text and details from New Zealand government website. Only more responsible government will be transparent and open about their dealings, instead of hiding in Such black box operations

You can find the Full text in the following link to New Zealand government website:

http://www.tpp.mfat.govt.nz/text


Now you would understand why massive people around the world would march and protest against TPP or its similar agreement which was imposed on the European Unions.

This so call trade pack is not merely a simple trade pack but a whole list of legislation which will sell off our rights to cheaper Healthcare and our Sovereignty. It will not only affect us alone but for ALL our future generations.

It is up to Singaporeans to get themselves information on all these important trade agreements being signed QUIETLY away, selling our future to the big corporations of the world. Go to your MPs and demand an explanation or lodge your complains against TPP. Do it and put pressure on PAP to think twice about ratifying this TPP.

Goh Meng Seng

Core Values - Our Lack of it (II)

When I was traveling to visit a friend during the Chinese New Year period, someone called out to me, "Are you Goh Meng Seng?" I returned my greetings and thought that this was just another the usual meeting with a Singapore supporter.

But I was proven wrong. This meeting with Michael, proved to be different from others. At the very least, we spent about 20 to 30 minutes chatting on the sidewalk of the busy MRT station.

Michael told me he is an opposition supporter despite the fact that he is a civil servant. The sad thing is that he said he is preparing to migrate out of Singapore to Japan. This is not the first time I met a supporter who will tell me that they are migrating out of Singapore, to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US etc. The last one I met before Michael was Jack at Cantonment Police Station when he was getting his certificate of good conduct from the police so to facilitate his migration!

Naturally, I asked Michael why would he and his family want to migrate to Japan? If all supporters like him were to migrate out, then who do we have left behind to give opposition their continuous support?

Michael explained that he is doing all these for his children. He has been to Japan and was  impressed by their education system. They teach "VALUES" to their students, not just subjects or "living skills" like how to deal with internet and the New Media.

I was stunned by his words. I thought there are no other Singaporeans like me who would talk about "VALUES" or the lack of it in our education system. In fact, from top down, Political Leaders to civil servants and commoners, wrong values were transmitted in various subliminal messaging through the political system and pop culture. One of the reasons why I decided to step into opposition politics was due to my rejection of PAP's vote buying exercise via using ASSET ENHANCEMENT HDB UPGRADING carrots. It is basically telling Singaporeans that your votes and soul could be sold or bought by such pork barrel politicking. I did not want my children to live under such system which cultivate such BAD VALUES. Thus, I decided that either I fight PAP to change this system or I shall resign myself to making more money and prepare myself to leave this place; for the sake of my future generations.

In fact, I have decided to let my daughter to study in Hong Kong instead of Singapore, purely because of my rejection of PAP's indoctrination of BAD values through the education system. The massive brain washing via distorted history books and slanted National Education which mixed PAP's propaganda into various messaging.

I do not see the day I could successfully eradicate the PAP's system of self interests and self preservation. But at least, I tried and am still trying.

And Michael is right, our education system has stopped cultivating our shared common morals and good values with regards to Morals, Equality, Fairness, Humanity, Social Justice, Social Responsibility and Democracy.  Even our National Pledge was treated just as an empty promises of the State and ruling party everyday; rightfully so because PAP has openly declared that this National Pledge is nothing and has no value at all but just a Highfalutin ideals which we should just ignore.

Our education system is more interested in Elitism, to filter out the "bright" Scholars with high IQ, never mind if he or she has any morals or core values to begin with, so that PAP could just put them into civil service and eventually into their party to serve their political monopoly.

Michael told me that many civil servants, high ranking civil servants, are looking into migration out of this place we call Singapore. I was surprised because no matter what, civil servants, especially those high ranking ones, were the ones who helped created the current system! Why are they migrating out of their own creation?

They are just here to work and meet their KPIs which may or may not give the best results that the society needs but definitely serve their own promotions and bonuses. They saw the flaws of the system in many instances but the Top down management would just discourage any dissidence towards the Elite Scholars. Thus, when their time is up, they would just leave Singapore, for the sake of their children.

Michael also told me that the stifling academic environment will not provide the kind of First World education that Singaporeans deserved. He said that he has known various foreign lecturers employed by the local universities had their contracts or tenure shorten or discontinued just because they have made unflattering remarks on local politics, PAP and its policies. The lack of academic freedom would compromise the standards of learning dependent on critical thinking.

Our education system basically discourages critical thinking while promotes conformity or group thinking. This is why Michael felt very pessimistic about the future of his children if they were to remain here in Singapore.

My little conversation with Michael has to end as I was late for my visit. But this little conversation with Michael sets me thinking on the future of Singapore.

Education is the foundation of every Nation and it involves not merely economic importance but also the cultivation of our Nation's Soul. This Soul will determine how our society will look like, how our National Identity will be forged or disintegrate. Any political system's effectiveness will depend on this cultivation of the Nation's Soul, its cultural and social consensus based on the values it holds. But somehow, our Good Core Values are serious lacking while bad influences like political propaganda have been on the rise.

Without the Freedom to Think with strong cultivation of Core Values, there will only be Mind Slaves left in the country.

Goh Meng Seng

Core Values - Our Lack of it (I)

I know many people have been sharing that video about "Majulah" and it seems to suggest that Singaporeans do not have National Identity because we forgotten about the word "Majulah".

This is a FALSE Premise; a FALSE proposition which made use of your initial feelings to guide or misguide you into thinking of something which is of little relevance.

Our National Identity has been weaken due to many reasons; the massive influx of foreigners which benefited from the stability and good environment and infrastructure which we and our forefathers have built and protected by going through our National Service but in the end, we felt SHORT CHANGED in every aspects of life Singapore by the PAP government, from Education, Healthcare, Politics of False promise of Democracy, CPF to jobs. These are the fundamental reasons why we felt cheated and thus, reluctant to pledge our lives to defend and Die for our Nation.

The video is an attempt to give false proposition to distract the fundamental flaws of PAP's Rule, whereby they just treated the National Pledge which we so used to say every morning before going to class as some "Highfalutin" ideas which they are not interested in achieving for us as a Nation!

What we seriously lack as "CORE VALUES" in our National Identity is not "Majulah" but the disillusioned National Pledge which we used to believe in!

This is the reason why I have started the very FIRST National Pledge reciting in GE2006 last WP rally at Serangoon Stadium, to remind everyone the false promises of building of a Democratic Society for us and our future generations, the false promises of bringing Equality and Prosperity to ALL of us, Singaporeans!

Let us not be led astray by this "Majulah" nonsense but remember each and every word of our National Pledge:

We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity
and progress for our nation.

Goh Meng Seng

Add photos

Tag peopleAdd what you're doing or how you're feelingTag a location

Public

Impact of New Citizens Voters

In one of the CNY gathering, someone expressed the view that opposition can no longer attack Foreign Talent policy because there are over 14% of New Citizen voters this round and by next round it may just continue to rise. It will be suicidal for opposition to attack Foreign Talent policy.

However everyone round the table agreed that this Foreign Talent policy or rather New Citizen policy is a double edged sword for PAP.

I opined that it is not only a double edged sword to PAP but also to Singapore social political stability as well.

Imagine that the conflicts we may have with the three biggest group of New Citizens, PRC, INDIA and Philippines. These new citizens may only be name as Singapore citizens but deep down their hearts, they are still emotionally linked to their "mother land". This was demonstrated by the overwhelming responses of some New Citizens when leaders of India or China paid Singapore a visit.

If there were conflicts between China and India (as they have fought border wars before) or China and Philippines over Spratley islands, whatever decisions made by the government of Singapore would not please all these New Citizens. These New Citizens will still be emotionally attached to their mother land and may react vigorously against any adverse decisions made against their mother land.

True blue Singaporeans will only care about our own country's interests but these New Citizens may not think that way. Conflicts between the different groups of New Citizens may arise and we will be stuck with internal strife.

That is a plausible and horrible scenario for Singapore but is PAP ready to handle such situations?

Goh Meng Seng

2016年 丙申年 新年致词

通常年关除夕我都会高高兴兴的撰写贺年词给所有的朋友和支持者，但今年的心情有一点沉重。

林俊辉小弟弟因过大警权被滥用而自杀，使我和我党内的同僚都感到非常沮丧。我也很难想象林家上下目前的心情是何等的悲伤。我在此谨代表我，我家人和我党人民力量党给与林家由衷的慰问。

身为人父，看着我那十几岁的女儿成长，是我人生最大的满足。将心比心，如果有一天我女儿也遭受如此无法理喻的警察国度粗暴的对待而致精神崩溃，我也一定会心如交割。这种给与警察无比大的权力，实行几乎畸形原始的司法权，以先行假设有罪而定论，施行各种手法，包括精神羞辱的手段去迫使逼供成招的制度，是我们社会的共业。

过去有多少不公义的事发生，我们都选择了沉默。当民权一再被削落而警权被无限的扩大时，我们也继续沉默。直到警权变成霸权，失去了监督和平衡。这就成了我们的共业。

不要以为林小弟的死是个孤立事件。他的死其实就是凸显了我们这畸形警权制度的弊病。有多少人每一年都在承受这过大警权的肆虐。所以在悲伤之余，我们必须继续秉持着我们对五权分立的观念，不懈地去争取我们理想制度的实现。

在这除夕夜，我也受到台南地震所震撼。我希望台湾的朋友们能凭着他们以往的毅力，克服灾害所带来的悲伤和痛苦。我为台湾的朋友祈祷，希望能拯救所有被困的灾民，把伤亡减少至最低。

最后，在这年除夕，我诚心的祝福各界朋友和支持者，在来临的一年，身体健康，出入平安。感恩你们这些年的支持和鼓励，希望我们在新的来年会活得更好。

吴明盛

2016 Chinese New Year Message

Normally at this time of the year, I would be happily preparing my Chinese New Year greetings for all my friends and supporters, but today, my heart is heavy and saddened.

Benjamin Lim committed suicide because of the inappropriate use of police force and this has made my party colleagues and I extremely depressed. I could not imagine how the Lim family could possibly feel anything good about this festive season with such overwhelming sorrows of their lost son. On behalf of my family and my party, I would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to the Lim family.

As a father of a teenage girl, it is my greatest joy to watch my girl grow up. However, if one day, my daughter was to be brutally abused and ill-treated by this ridiculous police state until she has mental breakdown, I would also be totally devastated. Thus, I empathize with the Lim family of the loss of their son. This system of overwhelming police power which was allowed to exercise the most primitive deformed kind of police procedure, based on the first premise of guilty before proven innocence, extended its power to use whatever force including mental humiliation to extract confession, is in fact our common karma.

Benjamin Lim’s death is not solely an insolated incident. His death is in fact an amplification of the absurdity of this system of excessive police power. Every year, there are numerous people who have suffered under this excessive police power. Thus, in the midst of sorrows, we should resolve to fight for our ideal system based on our belief in the balance of powers through the Separation of Five Powers.

On this eve of Chinese New Year, I am also shocked by the devastating impact of the earthquake in Tainan. I hope that our Taiwanese friends could overcome the pain and sufferings with their determination and willpower. I will pray for our Taiwanese friends, praying for the speedy rescue of the trapped and injured. most importantly I will pray for the minimum casualties for this unfortunate natural disaster.

Last but not least, on this Chinese New Year Eve, I sincerely wish every friends and supporters, good health and safe travel in the coming year. Thank you for all your support over the years and I hope we will have a better life in the coming one.

Goh Meng Seng

The Rule of Law - A Matter of Principle

The Rule of Law - A matter of principle

Very few people really understand the term Rule of Law in Singapore and they are more emotionally swayed rather than looking at things from the perspective of Rule of Law.

When I decided to stand up and protest against the cruelty and ill treatment of Amos Yes back then, many friends privately tried to dissuade me from doing so.

They opined that he is an idiot, rude, no big no small, "deserve it" and most importantly I will risk losing support and votes by "defending" such an idiot.

It made me ponder for a long while. I told all my friends and well meaning supporters that I do not like Amos Yee as well and I agree he is really a spoilt brat. However I find the police and government abuse of the system, using the whole government controlled machinery to crucify him just because most people find annoyed by him, is more intolerable than his acts of defiance on the net.

I said that even if it is a big bad criminal who have raped or murdered anyone, he should still have the proper treatment under the rule of law instead of mental torture.

My protest of his ill treatment doesn't mean I support his rude behavior but rather I am defending a proper system of legal procedure which takes human rights into proper account. I am against Mob Rule and totally intolerable of it.

Obviously I am the only STUPID politician who sticks his neck put for Amos Yee which by political calculations, a vote losing move. Not even the MPs in parliament with lawyers care to talk about the intolerable systemic torture the police state exert on a juvenile, while should I bother? It is definitely not a "politically correct" thing to do!

True enough, there are lots of attacks from the White and Blue camp on my appearance in the protest held in HK but I care less. Sometimes as a politician of conscience, we will have to choose between being politically correct of making the right choice and our matter of principles in doing the right things. We have to garner our own Moral Courage to do the right things.

I stick to my guns and persevere. I may be made to look stupid once but at least I can sleep with my conscience clear at night.

A leader should not be slave to the votes he seek but lead the votes that seek him.

Goh Meng Seng

The Murderous Police State

The job of the police in investigation, is to FIND OUT THE TRUTH and not "EXTRACTION OF CONFESSION". There is a fine thin line of VAST difference between the two.

Today some members of the public told me this, they are very angry about this case. When there was a riot in Little India, the police acted like wimps, didn't know what to do or just simply running away from the rioters. But when they handle a child, a teenager, they turned into big bully... simply bully kichi until the child committed suicide! The contrast is just too huge for them to be forgiving.

However, the problem is nobody thinks that way when the whole state machinery, including the state police, prosecutor, mass media etc came down hard on another teenager Amos Yee. If more people had made enough noise and protests, the police might have been forced to review their SOP but we failed to do so as a Nation. So the rouge police state carries on their SOP with the defence of the PAP ministers and MPs to deny anybody early access to legal assistance while in police custody and interrogation!

And a young life was lost with only patronizing statements from the state.

We as a Nation, have blood in our hands, for allowing such primitive and inhumane system which deny basic human rights of legal representation to extend unlimited powers of police intimidation, coercion for confession via interrogation techniques exerted by the overwhelming police power.




When Amos Yee was ill treated by the State Police, put through the torture of interrogation and remained in IMH, many people didn't see the problem of such act by the police state. Even when people like me protested against such treatment, even though I do not agree to his rude behavior, were scorned at and criticised.

When it comes to Benjamin, the same police state tactic was used upon this poor child who was even younger than Amos Yee. The only difference is that this young boy could not take the pressure and committed suicide. Then there is this uproar.

The irony is, the same old technique has been used by the police over and over again, regardless whether you are a teenager or adult. Cruel techniques were used to extract unwilling confession from the ISD detainees but nobody squeaked. Few people squeaked when Amos Yee was treated badly by the same police state just because people are more intolerant of his rude behavior than the rouge police state.

Few Singaporeans see the need to speak up against the rouge police state because they are blinded by their own fear and prejudice. Singaporeans have little sense of social justice until something really bad goes wrong. Singaporeans also lack the empathy to understand that by not standing up to the tyrannic police state, they will become part of the justification of the murderous system. Yes, Singaporeans, by keeping quiet all along with all the injustice happening throughout the decades, are guilty of letting this bloody system grow and take the life of a teenager.

Pastor Martin has this to say about the COWARDICE of the Germans under the Nazi:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

And the same can be said about Singaporeans as well:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Student Activists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Student Activist.
Then they came for the Opposition, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an Opposition.
Then they came for the Social Activists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Social Activist.
Then they came for the Young Rascal Amos Yee, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Young Rascal like Amos Yee.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

I do not think Benjamin will Rest In Peace when the whole society is guilty in part to the murderous police state.

Goh Meng Seng