TOTD: SMRT: The Instant Failure of Privatization

Thought of the Day - SMRT: The Instant Failure of Privatization

In Economics study, there is always a debate over the pros and cons of "Privatization" of companies providing public goods like public transport.

Companies providing public goods are natural monopolies because they need economies of scale. But the downside is, it tends to be inefficient if it is under government administration. However, this may not be always true.

Natural monopolies are preferred to be under government control because this will prevent them from "exercising their monopolistic power" to "overcharged" and gain abnormal profits through maximization of profits pricing strategy.

Even when natural monopolies are turned into private companies, they will be heavily regulated due to the enormous monopoly power over pricing. This is in the interests of the public.

However, there are other issues when you try to achieve "efficiency" via privatization a monopoly like SMRT. When it becomes a private company, it will shift its priorities from providing reliable public service to making good returns to its private shareholders to sustain its stock market value.

SMRT's privatization exercise in 2000 is a typical example of how such shift of priorities will harm public interests.

After its privatization and public listing on SGX in 2000, SMRT appointed Saw, a lady from DFS and with only skill set in retail to become its CEO. The motive is simple. They wanted to MAXIMIZE profits from the vast potentials of the properties it owns under its MRT stations.

But Saw went beyond extending the retail space in MRT stations. As a person without any Engineering skillsets but with vested interests in getting hefty bonuses by increasing profitability and cutting costs, she started to cut the "Cost Centers" of SMRT operations. Obviously, the Maintenance Division is considered as a huge cost center that doesn't generate sales nor revenue but costly to SMRT!

Just like any ignorant money smelling face, she thought she could cut down expenses in Maintenance by replacing "expensive" but experienced engineers and technicians with "Foreign Talents" who have only some paper qualifications (oh, never mind if these paper certificates are fake or not) but extremely cheap at a fraction of the experienced staffs. All thanks to PAP government opening the Floodgate to "Foreign Talents" so that SMRT could capitalize on this fully!

She thought she could just ignore the need of upgrading or replacement of critical assets of the rail system so to boost the profits of SMRT further!

Well, in the short run, SMRT did "extremely well" in giving out good dividends to shareholders. Dividends jumped more than 5 folds after 2002 in some years.

However, it is just obvious and common sense that such management of a company which is heavily depended on good engineering to keep the CORE business running smoothly cannot be sustainable. Eventually, the rail system broke down. This is also partly due to the "overloading" problem due to the extensive influx of foreigners which inflated our population up to 5 million and beyond!

The MRT system was designed and built for a capacity of 3 million. It is supposed to have 8 cabins (like the Hong Kong MTR) in order to cope with a 5-8 million population.

While it is possible to mitigate the problem of overloading by building extensive by-routing rail network like the NW line, Circle lines and Downtown lines, but the stress on the main line NS and EW lines are still extremely heavy. Furthermore, the increase of the number of lines and stations would also mean the need to expand the maintenance division extensively!

How could SMRT keep the growth of expenditure on its maintenance division comparatively low while the number of lines and stations keep increasing in such a speed? You need time to train and get new engineers and technicians to familiarize with the job scope!

The proportion of money spent in maintenance as compared to Hong Kong MTR is extremely low. Do they really want us to believe that SMRT engineers are magicians or superman and women who could do wonders?

The entire system ended up in the current sorry state just because PAP screws it up with its Money-face-cronyism management strategy. They just anyhow send in someone who know nuts about running an effective and efficient rail system to become CEO just because she might be great in squeezing every penny out of SMRT!

And the most ridiculous thing is that they made the SAME mistake of sending in a replacement from the army who also knows nuts about running a rail system and hope that he could clean up the mess the previous idiot has done!!!???

What is worse than putting people who are totally clueless about the job scope to run an important rail company? And both just took in their own KAKIs from the same UNRELATED industry who similarly, CLUELESS and lack of the relevant skill set and in-depth technical knowledge of rail system to run the departments!

Instead of headhunting people with REAL Experience in running a rail system, we ended up with these mulit-million dollar parasites who are clueless of running a rail system!

This is how Privatization of such an important public goods provider cum monopoly ended up so wrong. I guess this will enter into World Wide Economic and Management Text Books!

On the side note, PAP has always treated GLCs as their "dumping ground" for their "scholars" who have expired their usefulness in SAF or civil service. Maybe it is time for us to rethink whether the extensive Scholar system we have right now, especially the SAF scholarship system, is still useful or relevant. We cannot just dump them anyhow into GLCs which they lack the skillsets and experience to work in!

Goh Meng Seng

TOTD: The Return of the Gold Standards?

Thought of the Day - The Return of the Gold Standards?

(This is going to be a bit technical in economics)

In Economics term, we are living in an ever inflationary world basically because we are all using "Fiat" money which government around the world could just print money in the short term without caring the long term consequences.

Prior to 1971, US dollars were "convertible" to gold at the Federal Reserves if presented by other government. The Gold Standard was changed significantly when the Breton Woods Treaty was implemented after World War II. People could no longer exchange Gold for their money via their governments. It was a necessary step as the Great Depression of the late 1920s throughout the 1930s gave the Americans a very tough lesson on Monetary Policy. The Gold Standard has its limitation as it would reduce Money Supply when people just convert their money into Gold. This created a spiral effect on the economy with a reduction of Money Supply.

Breton Woods Treaty solved part of the problem of instability of Money Supply. However, Monetary play between countries took another toll on the arrangement with the Americans basically ceased the convertibility of US dollars into Gold in 1971.

But US dollars remains as a strong international currency basically due to the "Petrol Dollars" arrangement. It means that all trades in oil have to be done based on US dollars. This implicitly means that due to the high demand of oil and petrol, the US dollars are basically "backed by oil/petrol". That is why it is called "Petrol Dollar". It would also mean that the American governments could basically keep printing money to cover whatever trillions of deficits as it wishes without significant impact on its economy as most of these US dollars would be used in trading oil and other international trades.

But will this arrangement be sustainable? Apparently not. Oil would either face drastic reduction in demand due to the rapid growth of alternative renewable/Green sources of energy or it would just deplete and dry up. There will no longer be high oil trade to back US dollars up!

In 2001, Dr Mahathir proposed the revival of Gold Standard in terms of Gold Dinars among the Muslim countries. The largest Gold owners among the Muslim countries were Libya and Iraq. These two countries were oil exporter and supported the idea to trade oil in Dinars. This would mean that they are going to end the concept of "Petrol Dollar" earlier than its inevitable natural death! Now you know why the Americans invaded these two countries and the Gold stored in these two countries are unaccounted for!

The Gold Dinars idea was destroyed with the destruction of Libya and Iraq. However, a BIGGER Challenge evolves and they are not easy opponents like Libya and Iraq.

The BRICS led by China and Russia have been discussing the setting up of an alternative currency for international trades among themselves. This would also mean the sideline of the US dollars as the main international currency for trade. This new proposed currency will be back by Gold, partially, with a basket of currencies consisting of Chinese RMB.

It would mean a medium shake up or even sending shocks to the international trade and financial sectors. BRICS will be able to execute such bold plan because Russia is one of the largest oil exporter while China is one of the largest exporter of goods and services in the world! If they demand all oil or goods purchased by other countries from them need to be paid in this new BRICS currency, the US dollars would be totally made invalid and redundant.

US dollars will suffer a nose dive if that happened and it will create an unprecedented inflation within the US economy because those US dollars which could not be used in international trades will have to flow back and create a real demand on US economy!

But with the Gold which the US army had captured from Libya and Iraq, they could do something to anticipate such financial disaster. They could just use their new found fortune of Gold to create the new modern Gold Standards to neutralize that impact. At the same time, they will require other countries to support their effort by lending their Gold to US to create this new US dollars.

This is exactly what the Americans are doing, creating a new currency issued by its Treasury (instead of its Federal Reserves) which is theoretically and supposedly backed by Gold.

The BRICS arrangement will affect not only the US dollars but the Euros as well. This is the main reason why Germany is quietly demanding and shifting its Gold back from US in anticipating the "New World Currency Order". Germany is the LARGEST economy among the European Union. It will either have to use its economic muscles to back the Euro currency or to return to a Gold Standard Deutsche Mark in the event when Euros collapses due to the evolving of "New World Currency Order".

There will be turbulence ahead in the next few years and nobody knows exactly how it will work out. Will the world face inflationary pressures to the countries which didn't peg their currencies to Gold or will there be deflationary pressure on international trade when international currencies for trade will be restricted and limited from expansionary path?

Or would BOTH happen and we will be stuck in stagflation?

Goh Meng Seng

HDB 99 Year Lease Time Bomb

At least TWO PAP Ministers (Khaw Boon Wan & Lawrence Wong) have confirmed my point about the HDB 99 Year Lease being ZERO in value when the lease expired. This is an important critical fact that most Singaporeans have ignored for decades and despite of such reality, Singaporeans are still pumping huge amount of money willingly into HDB resale market which in turn, pushes up the new BTO HDB flats!

This is one of the important reason why I would insist a TOTAL de-link of new BTO prices from resale market prices because it doesn't make sense at all.

There are two broad ways of analysing the impacts and implications of this HDB 99 Years Leasehold issue. i.e. Macro Level vs Micro Level.

Minister of National Development Lawrence Wong has recently flip-flopped over this HDB 99 year lease issue. First he admitted that when the lease is up, the HDB flat will have ZERO value and the "Leasers" (which Singaporeans always thought themselves to be "owners") will have to return the HDB flat to HDB and HDB has to return the land to SLA. But a couple of days later, in a dismay effort to cushion off the shocking effect on Singaporeans, Lawrence Wong came up with the notion that "HDB is a good store of value"!

How could HDB flats which will depreciate and end up with ZERO value eventually to be a "good store of value"? That's totally nonsensical and illogical.

There are many people and well known bloggers who have written on this topic and got many points right but miss a few critical points altogether.

Micro Perspective

The former MND Minister Mah Bow Tan and up to now, Lawrence Wong, keeps talking about "Monetize HDB flat for Retirement", which is a totally flawed concept. I would have debated against Mah Bow Tan on this point LIVE on TV if he had dared to accept my challenge back in GE 2011 and I would have shot straight into his face with this 99 Year Leasehold issue of HDB and ask him how could it be possible to "Monetize HDB for Retirement" when most Singaporeans would face great difficulty in selling off their HDB flats when it passed the 50 year lease mark?

Yes, the Time Bomb doesn't start to blow up with it reaches 99 Year but rather, when your flat reaches 50 year old. How many people are able to fork out over $3000 or even $2000 monthly to pay their mortgage for your 50 year old resale HDB flat? Or even if they could afford to, why would they want to buy your flat knowing that it is going to depreciate further and become ZERO in value in the next few decades?

I believe the projections by the chart above (by Soh Yun Yee) is just too overly optimistic. HDB flats which pass that 50 year mark, would have suffered a steep fall in value thereafter!

And look at it this way, for HDB flats, you cannot own TWO HDB flats at the time! Thus it means that if your parents passed away and left you their HDB flat while you still own a HDB flat, you will have no choice but to sell one away! i.e. either you sell off your own HDB flat or your parent's HDB flat! Many Singaporeans will face this problem and with the upcoming silver bombing due to aging population, the resale market will be flooded with lots of old HDB flats with lease less than 60 years or 50 years while demand will be extremely small!

Thus, what is the impact? A major collapse of resale market for HDB flats which have less than 50 years lease!

This is the FUNDAMENTAL difference between a Private Property vs HDB flats with the same 99 year lease. For Private Property, you could still keep that property which you inherit from your parents and rent it out, really "monetize" it, but for HDB? You can't.

For Private Property, there is a good chance for you to seek private en-block and monetize it fully, renewing the lease again when you do so. But for HDB? You will have to wait for HDB to initiate that SERS which is basically non-existence now because it is not PROFITABLE for HDB to do so! This is the reason why only 4% of HDB flats had gotten SERS and Minister Lawrence Wong has "hinted" or rather "WARNED" that Singaporeans should not expect their HDB flats to enjoy SERS!

Macro Perspective

Uncle Leong has rightly pointed the following:


There are 1 million HDB flats, of which 70,000 or 7 per cent are over 40 years old. About 280,000 units are 30 to 40 years old. That’s one in three flats 30 years or older.

But what is exactly the implication? It means that by 2020, the problems of 99 Years Lease will start to surface. Yes just 3 more years. Most HDB flats were built in late 1960s, 1970s to 1980s. From 1970s to 1980s, we have housing estates like Tiong Bahru, Tanglin Halt, Queenstown, Bukit Merah, Bukit Ho Swee, Toa Payoh, Hougang (old Hougang), Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Jurong etc built within this period. It would also mean that many flats from these towns will face the problems when they cross 50 years lease, starting from 2020 (1970 to 2020, it is 50 years)!


It also means that if PAP government just stop doing SERS or do it at extremely slow rate, when the lease expired for all these HDB flats in these towns, where are these Singaporeans going to find another HDB flat to live in? Where to find even HALF the size of these towns (assuming flats will be built double the height of the old ones) add together to house them?

By 2060, we will start seeing these problems exploding.

On the other hand, do you really think your HDB flats could last 99 years? I am doubtful that most HDB flats could even last 70 years while some could not even last 50 years due to poor quality of the material used during the late 1970s to 1980s construction boom. HDB upgrading could only solve parts of these massive problems. Some old HDB flats even have obvious cracks and problems of concretes falling off that walls before they reach 50 years old!

Conclusion

99 Years Lease HDB flats are good policy deal IF AND ONLY IF the flats are kept at extremely low cost and there are continuous efforts to en-block and rebuild them starting from 30 years old onwards. At least 50% of the flats built from 1960s to 1980s should be SERS or en-block and rebuilt before the 99 years lease expired. This will ensure we have enough land for cross generations usage and cater for gradual population growth.


It is not meant to be "Asset Enhancement" nor "Monetize for Retirement" but PURELY cater to the housing needs of Singaporeans of ALL GENERATIONS. 

Unfortunately PAP has strayed too far away from its initial ideology just to insert all means to milk Singaporeans while kicking the cans of problems down the generations instead of maintaining a good balance in providing for the critical basic needs of Singaporeans.

I would not mind to replace my 99 years lease HDB flats with another one when it is near expiry if I have bought my first HDB flat CHEAP at cost plus and continue to buy my second replacement flat CHEAP at cost plus as well!

But the crazy Asset Enhancement Scheme introduced by PAP government during Goh Chok Tong's era has really screwed us up badly with the poison of greed to entice Singaporeans to use more of their CPF funds to pump up the HDB flats while sold the FALSE dream of forever "Enhanced" value of their HDB flats so that they could "Monetize their HDB Flats for Retirement"! It has mixed up and over-drawn, over-stressed our CPF which should be strictly for our retirement needs!

Singaporeans are blinded by the poison of greed of short term gain in buying and selling their HDB flats in one or two generations, but they have unknowingly, sold out their own retirement plan and their future generations' welfare by falling for such poisonous enticement.

Goh Meng Seng

TOTD: PAP's Poison to the Sick Economy

Thought of the Day - PAP's Poison to the Sick Economy

I didn't comment much about the current budget debate now but I look on with much nauseating disbelief with what PAP is doing right now.

It actually reminds me of what happened in 1981 and 1984, when the economic downturn and crisis was imminent but PAP government back then continued to increase cost to the people and businesses. It did cost PAP two seats in parliament but apparently that wasn't bad enough for PAP to learn its lesson.

Most importantly, the economy dipped much worse than expected due to PAP's totally senseless economic policies melted out through its yearly budgets.

70% of Singaporeans have to take responsibility for the current senseless doings of PAP government. They had given PAP such a strong mandate that PAP literally has the total blank cheque to sign on.

We are going to face a serious structural economic downturn in the coming months but what did PAP do? It just adds on the burden of Singaporeans and businesses by raising various costs. Water, as the most basic necessity for human beings, is slated to raise 30% within two years! But PAP's MPs and Ministers, with totally naive and sometimes, idiotic senseless humor, expects Singaporeans' pay to increase in such economic difficult situation while goods and services should not increase in prices!

The water pricing, along with electricity tariff, are the two basic fundamentals for both human beings and businesses. It would be totally naive to believe PAP's rhetoric that each household only pay $18 more on average for water when other goods and services, especially food and beverages, will increase in prices as well!

Right from 2015 "PAP VICTORIOUS 70% mandate", PAP had increased almost everything possible. Mark my word, GST would be the next golden goose they will aim at.

Singapore has already one of the most expensive water pricing in the world while its raw water cost from JB is kept fixed at such a low level. Hong Kong which bought raw water from China, had paid a higher price as compared to Singapore but in the end, Singapore's portable treated water price is more than 5 times more expensive than Hong Kong! Hong Kong is definitely not a "low cost" city but why did Singapore's water price so much higher? There are many reasons but I shall not deal with it here. In fact, the real cost of raw water from JB which Singapore bought, had DECREASED due to depreciated Malaysian Ringgit! Basically, Singapore has allowed cost to escalate without much control.

The introduction of Carbon tax at this instance, will add oil to the fire we have. Not only electricity tariff will go up but all cost will shoot up in no time!

Most people have realized PAP's CFE report is nothing but just old wine in new bottle. These are not some magic pills to address our current and future economic development. But the current acts of PAP increasing so much costs to livelihood in Singapore, is definitely a poison to our ailing economy, which our dear PM refused to acknowledge its sick status.

It is a common knowledge that PAP will want to increase prices and milk Singaporeans for whatever they can milk at the mid term of their 5 year rule so that Singaporeans could slowly forget such pain by the time when elections come in another 2 or 3 years time. They will throw goodies and candies just before the next GE just to appease all voters. They thought the current "bitter pills" would be OK for Singaporeans to swallow but they are wrong. These are really POISON they are feeding Singaporeans, without any good sense of judgement of the current economic situation!

The current Finance Minister, who had just recovered from his "stroke", may not be thinking proper. It is unbelievable for him to come up with such poisons for Singapore at this stage. Finance Minister Heng Swee Kiat should resign if his proposed massive increment in prices, indirect taxes and cost burden to Singaporeans and business finally killed us in the upcoming economic storm.

On top of that, PM Lee should also take assumed responsibility for allowing such bad budget to be passed in parliament.

Goh Meng Seng

People’s Power Party (PPP) Response Committee on the Future Economy Report

For Immediate Release:

People’s Power Party (PPP) Response Committee on the Future Economy Report

We refer to the Committee on the Future Economy report. 

There is nothing exceptionally new from the report apart from recognizing International Trade and Relations as an important integral component of our Economic Success.

International Trade Treaties

People’s Power Party would like to reiterate our stance that whatever Trade Agreement or Treaties signed by the PAP must put Singaporean workers’ interests as the uncompromising first priority.

Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has been very focused on securing trade agreements for its economic sustainability in an increasingly globalised world. 

Nonetheless, trade deals had more often came along with some trade-offs. One nagging opportunity cost has been the unemployment of locals.

In recent years and decade, we have seen PAP government having negotiated and signed Free Trade Agreements without much public consultation, debate or engagement. These FTAs include CECA signed with India which had basically opened up the flood gate for Indian PMETs to get jobs and stay in Singapore without much control. This has inevitably displaced quite a number of Singapore workers. In return, CECA mainly benefited large corporations like Temasek Holdings and GLCs to invest in India without substantial job creation for Singaporeans. 

We have also seen PAP government negotiated the now-failed TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) in secrecy without any public consultation. Only big MNCs were involved in the negotiation without the involvement and participation of our Labour Union or any other political parties or civil society groups. 

The failure of the TPP may mean a loss of opportunity for Singapore’s businesses.

However, we are more concerned about the need for transparency of any negotiation or signing of such trade pact . 

The failure of TPP coupled with the shocking “Brexit” of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, presented starkly to Singaporeans sudden moves against agendas that they have been herded towards.

Coming out of these shocking episodes is the clamour for transparency. The peoples of those nations wanted their voices to be heard and they have done so. The citizens of the US and UK have signaled that they want to be involved in decision-making that involves their lives and affects their nations. They want to know the details and not just be told. 

It would only be wise for the Singapore government to be open for a constructive dialogue that discusses the costs and benefits of all trade pacts including the TPP. 

PPP would like to suggest a public forum in which Singaporeans would be able to discuss any future negotiation of Free Trade Agreement with the Singapore government directly. This is especially important when FTA in present context is no longer just about demolishing trade barriers but involve more other aspects such as free mobility of labour, legal aspects of commerce and trade etc.

International Relations

We have seen how PAP’s missteps in handling international relationship had caused much upheaval, tension and unnecessary pressure to Singapore businesses in China. 

PPP would like to remind PAP that it no longer enjoys the protection of political goodwill and respect that Mr Lee Kuan Yew had garnered and it should tread carefully in the world politics, especially when it comes to the politics of big countries with huge economic clout. 

Singapore has survived and prosper throughout the decades with the help of great diplomacy in building bridges, making friends and creating political stability in our immediate region of existence. We have survived the uncertainty due to Confrontation, Vietnam war, Korean war, Cambodia war and the uncertainties due to the cross strait ties between China and Taiwan. We have managed to turn past enemies and threats into friends. We should not create unnecessary tensions in our region which is critical to our survival and prosperity. 

Apart from Globalization and Free Trade, Diplomacy of Peace is one of the most important survival strategy for an open economy like Singapore. It is worrying to witness how the current PAP government handle International Relationship and Diplomacy which will eventually affect our economic well being as a whole. 

We can only hope that the current mindsets of those involved in PAP government’s dangerous diplomatic stunts could be replaced with more humility and wisdom. 

Soft Power of Cultural Essence and Organic Industrial Growth

While we are not against the PAP government spending money on upgrading the skills of Singapore workers, but we observe throughout the decade, such programs had minimum value add to Singaporeans when our workers are not protected adequately from the displacement due to the influx of foreign PMETs. 

We also observe that PAP government has finally given up spotting “successful industry” to bet on after experiencing mediocre results from past bet on Bio-Tech industry. PAP government had led us in chasing rainbows one after another in the past decades but in the end, many Singaporeans of past generations eventually found that their skills are fast becoming obsolete when PAP tried to focus on other industries. 

We have serious doubt of such economic strategy. We would like to stress that most productive and useful innovations are derived from organic industries instead of learning something totally new and trying to compete with other countries which are already experts in this field. 

Singapore should identify its own Organic Growth Industries: those industries which we have comparative and competitive advantages. Innovations should be developed from these Organic Growth Industries to increase productivity. Else, we would be chasing Rainbows again like a headless chicken in the fast changing world of technology.

While technology is important in today’s economy, we should not lose sight of the Soft Power of Cultural Essence. We observe that there is a lack of utilization of Cultural strength in our local businesses and industries. 

There is a lack of in-depth exploration of the huge economic potential of our rich cultural heritage. Although we have a few good local brands that go regional and international, but compared to other countries we are still lacking behind. It shows that we have not put in enough efforts to help local companies in making use of our Cultural strength to enhance our international brand status.

Our cultural heritage could also provide us an advantage in enhancing our role in economic connectivity with our regional neighbours. But the apparent lack of general knowledge of our neighbouring countries has become a hindrance in making us an effective hub for the region. 

Increasing Business Cost vs Productivity Growth and Wage

DPM Tharman had put up a grand strategy to increase yearly productivity growth by 3% back in 2011. It seems that it has become an empty promise again. 

There are a few reasons why our Productivity Growth has been extremely low in recent decades. The high cost of doing business in Singapore has forced businesses to look for cheaper labour from foreign sources. This high business cost is basically due to the high rental which was basically controlled by GLCs and government agencies. Apart from that, indirect taxes such as COE on commercial vehicles has also taken a toll on businesses, especially business start-ups. 

Instead, PAP had addressed these issues by opening up the floodgate for cheap foreign labour which inevitably affect local wages and even displacement of local workers creating underemployment. Such move will inevitably reduce productivity growth as well as wages. 

The only way to ensure that Singapore continues to grow with high productivity growth is to prevent a Rent-Seeking Economy to develop. Rental and indirect taxes should be controlled so that more resources could be put into developing local human resources as well as business development.

Unfortunately, the CFE report did not touch on these important issues at all. 

Business Connectivity and Market Intelligence

There is generally a weak support of Market Intelligence and Research provided to local SMEs to help them in reaching out to the various matured as well as emerging markets in the region and the world. 

While the GLCs enjoy the support from the various government statutory boards in providing the necessary help in getting connected to the world and obtaining market intelligence of target markets, SMEs lack a comprehensive approach in obtaining such information and network.

If networking and connectivity are crucial for our local economic success, we would expect the PAP government to put more resources into building up resource centre and network of trade offices that focus on providing relevant information to local SMEs. 

Conclusion

We hope that this CFE report is not just another old wine in new bottle effort by the PAP government.

Sivakumaran s/o D Y Chellappa

Vice Chairman c/o Head of Policy Research

For CEC of People’s Power Party

TOTD: The Parasites of Elitist Cronism

Thought of the Day - The Parasites of Elitist Cronism

GLCs or Government Linked companies used to be the PRIDE of Singaporeans where many Singaporeans would like to work for them. We always thought that being "government linked", they are big and supposed to protect Singapore's and Singaporeans' interests, including those Singaporeans who work for them. And indeed, in the past, these GLCs set the high standards of employment, in terms of pay as well as benefits, in Singapore's labour market.

But now, we suddenly find more and more of these GLCs are actually in suspect of breaching the labour law or good HR and employment practices. Some even bully their lowly educated employees to take advantage of them, by deducting their over time hours consistently without giving any good reasons and making them working excessive overtime hours, much more than the 73 hours over time per month allowed by labour law.

Worse still, these entities play with figures manipulated the pay structure in their employment contract as contrast to their advertised salary. They set extremely low basic pay so that whatever overtime pay you claim would be based on a low pay structure. Furthermore, they will set unreasonable conditions to milk the employees, basically inhumane to take away the "monthly allowance" if the employees take Medical leave or annual leave in the month which were legitimately protected as entitlement under the labour law!

Basically such employment terms are MODERN SLAVERY to the max and it is really unimaginable that all these bad practices are actually coming from our once glorious GLCs!

And now, we have another GLC trying to disguise massive retrenchment as some "sacking of under performers" in the bid to avoid paying retrenchment compensation!

What is wrong with all these GLCs? Well, to me, this is the inevitable result of a government that runs on Ultra-capitalism mindset. The top management will only care about their own fat pay cheque and to meet all KPI (Key Performance Indicators) so that they could get more salary increment to their million dollar pay as well as asking for bigger "performance bonus". But these KPI or "performance" don't really add value to the company nor the economy as a whole. These are all based on exploitative unethical enslaving employment practices rather than real value add to the company.

This is the reality of PAP's entrenched rule of over 50 years. They have lost sight of their moral compass in running the country after all these years and ended up with a bunch of elitist cronies who are turning into parasites of the whole system. Instead of adding real value to the companies, people and country as a whole, they are only interested in feeding on the blood and sweat of the people.

When they screw up a GLC and cannot turn it around, they would just do lelong sale of valuable assets to show unreal "profitability and value", cut cost by cutting jobs to continue justify their big fat pay and eventually sell off the whole company to foreign ownership just to wash off their hands of the inconvenient truth of their failure! Well, never mind if that is an National iconic company!

This is the sad state of affairs in Singaporeans, run by a group of unethical, heartless and soul-less, undeserving and overpaid elitist cronies groomed by PAP's rule!


Goh Meng Seng

Inconsistency of PAP: Chicken, Pork and Fukushima Food Imports

The PAP government has come down hard on the Chicken distributors and accusing them of price fixing.

However, when it comes to petrol companies which are just too obviously acting like a big powerful cartel, defying world oil price slides to maintain a relatively high petrol prices with the blessing as well as SQUEEZING from PAP government by an additional petrol tax, PAP government kept absolutely quiet about it. Why? It has enormous vested interests in keeping petrol prices high and it was the one which imposed additional petrol taxes!

Well, let's get back to poultry. Pork was banned from Malaysia since late 1990s when Nipah Virus broke out. But since then, there is no more outbreak of Nipah virus in Malaysia for the past 16 years and yet, pork is still banned from Malaysia up till now. There is vested interests for some stakeholders who own or trade in pork from nearby Indonesia pig farms.

Henipahvirus, which was in the same family of Nipah virus, was first found in Australia, outbreak among horses. Nipah virus can infect other animals other than pigs. Since 1999 Malaysian outbreak of Nipah virus, there were numerous outbreaks of Nipah and Henipahvirus in Bangladesh and Australia (Townsville 2004, Sunshine Coast 2004, Cairns 1999/2004). Latest updates for 2014, there were a total of 50 outbreaks of Hendra Virus (same family) in Australia!

However, there were no ban of poultry, lest long term ban of poultry products (including pork, lamb, beef etc) from Australia, unlike the ban on pork from Malaysia. Why?

This is the reason why Singaporeans are suffering from higher priced pork when one main cheaper source of pork from Malaysia was totally banned. While we would expect cost of rearing pigs in Indonesia would be cheaper but due to the monopolistic nature, someone is enjoying high extraordinary profits from this protected and controlled trade in pork.

Nobody has died from Nipah Virus in Malaysia since 1999, either from consuming pork or working in pig farms. So why is PAP still banning pork from Malaysia for more than 16 years?

One last ironic comparisons. PAP have banned pork from Malaysia due to one Nipah Virus outbreak in Malaysia happened more than 16 years ago which will not have lasting effect than nuclear radiation but PAP has decided to allow primary products from Fukushima Japan to be imported while the nuclear disaster has long lasting devastating impact on farm produce. Got logic?

Goh Meng Seng

Afternote: A friend of mine message me an update on the ban of pork from Malaysia. Singapore has allowed FROZEN pork from Sarawak since May 2015. (Read: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/first-batch-of-frozen-pork-from-malaysia-since-1999) However, this is far from allowing FRESH pork import from West Malaysia which will be cheaper and provided much better price competitiveness to the current situation. If AVA could make assessment and inspections on the pig farms in Sarawak, I do not understand why they could not do so in West Malaysia as well. 

Press Statement on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

For Immediate Release
Press Statement on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

1) The conclusion of the negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has been announced by the President of United States as well as our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 5 Oct 2015. However the negotiation was done in total darkness of a black box operation in which, up till now, there is no formal public revelation of the details of all the 33 Chapters embedded in this agreement.

2) While the Minister of Trade and Industry Mr. Lim Hng Khiang has painted a rosy picture for Singapore SMEs to benefit from this TPPA, but we know that for every Free Trade Agreement, there will always be tradeoffs for every country.

3) It is inadequate for our Prime Minister and Minister to only talk about the potential benefits of TPPA without telling Singaporeans the tradeoffs we are going to make in return.

4) We urge the PAP government to make public all information with regards to TPPA as early as possible so that debate on this extremely important FTA could be carried out rigorously. We note that the government is obliged to make public the details of this agreement within 30 days from the signing. We would expect PAP government to fulfill this obligation.

5) It would be more helpful if an independent panel of academia, economists and experts could be set up to explain the potential implications of all the 33 Chapters.

6) We are particularly concerned over the impact on the income growth as well as job prospects of all Singaporeans, medicine cost, cost of living and population growth.

7) We are also concerned on the social and national impact of TPPA. In particularly, will TPPA give overwhelming powers to big corporations and MNCs to dictate our local legislation based on compliance clauses stated in it?

8) People’s Power Party is against black box operations for any legislation or ratification of any Free Trade Agreement without much transparency, open debate and scrutiny. If TPPA was proven to be overly controversial, we would want a referendum over its final approval.

9) We hope that PAP is more forthcoming and transparent with all the information of TPPA and do not shy away from public debate over this agreement.


Goh Meng Seng
Secretary General
For Pro-tem Committee People’s Power Party

Challenges in Post LKY-Era

Although I dislike and cannot forgive LKY for what he has done to our democratic system and I have decided not to mourn his death, but I have mixed feelings about his death. I am more worried about Singapore's survival and sustainability after his death.

First of all, the dictatorial system which he has built is not sustainable at all. It will need a "Philosophical King" to be at the helm. For any generation, the chance of having a Saint-Like "Philosophical King" is worse than playing lottery, least to have such PK to be placed at the top of the political leadership. Confucius, though highly regarded as a "Saint-like" philosopher and teacher in history, has never played any substantial political role of any big states during his era. Neither did Socrates or Plato, who had preached about the "Philosopher King" concept.


Thus, to depend on the current dictatorial system to bring us continuous stability, prosperity and most importantly, honesty in political management of the Nation, is totally irrational and unrealistic. We will need to build a full Democratic system with proper separation of powers to provide the necessary checks and balances.

The second worry on my mind is that we have lost a very important political leader who could garner respect and the necessary diplomatic network which will ensure Singapore, a small open economy state's interests, safety and stability to be guarded among the fluid and dynamic global situations.

At this moment, I cannot see anyone in PAP's current political leadership has that ability and global influence to fill the gap that LKY has left us. This may be the crucial and critical survival skill set our Nation is lacking for our survival.

Singapore's future may face a lot more uncertainties if our current political landscape doesn't change.

李光耀 - 盖棺定论 (全)

李光耀 - 盖棺定论


缘起


每一位第一次到新加坡旅游或公干的人，多多少少都会对这个弹丸小国感到惊讶。每一条道路旁都排列着整齐的遮荫树木。整洁的城市规划加上守规矩的新加坡人一定会让许多人刮目相看。尤其是，新加坡有超过八成的人都住在政府所津贴售卖的公共房屋中，而四大种族都能和谐的群居在一起。这令许多外国人都非常羡慕。这种现象多少反映了新加坡政府的管治能力。当然，这也是累积了三代领导班子的成果。


外国人一提起新加坡就会很自然即刻想起李光耀先生。无可否认，在国际政治舞台上，李光耀是一颗耀眼的明星。许多不同时代的各国政要都对这来自蕞尔小国的大人物赞不绝口。他们对他以往的政治演说和国际时事的分析，更是洗耳恭听。几乎每个政治评论员都对他能在短短几十年内能为新加坡创造经济奇迹吹捧得非常厉害。就算是中国这样的泱泱大国，都有人追捧学习李光耀治国之道。更有人夸大其词的说没有李光耀新加坡就不可能从一个“小渔村”发展成第一世界国家等等。如果仔细研究李光耀从政的一生，我们就不难发觉，就算是把新加坡街道边的一草一木，甚至说“花园城市”这个美誉都跟他划成等号，这一点都不夸张。


在这一些众多的赞誉背后，隐藏着许多对李光耀非常不客气的批评。多数的批评都围绕着他是个独裁者。他在不同时期以不同的手法残酷迫害他的政敌和异议份子。更有一些华校生会永远对李光耀在1980代关闭南洋大学和消灭华文教育的行动耿耿于怀。也有人拿他和家族在1996年购买高级私人房产时收受特别折扣来批评他。


在批评他的人当中，不乏国际媒体著名的撰稿人。而李光耀对于这一些报纸、刊物和作者都给予沉重还击。他不只控告这一些对他肆意抨击的媒体和人物诽谤，还以行政和立法权力限制这一些媒体在新加坡的销售量，更剥夺他们在新加坡发行刊物放置广告以打击他们的收益。对于国内的异议分子，除了以内安法令逮捕，没经审讯任意监禁之外，也以诽谤罪和威吓对付他们。有不少反对党分子也因此破产而失去参于国会竞选的资格。也有不少异议分子被迫流放国外。


也许多数的伟大领袖都是如此具争议性的，而李光耀也不例外。李光耀对他人的种种批评，表面上不屑一顾，但事实上，他是非常在意他这一生所留下的声誉。这可以从他在生前不断出书自传，以他的观点解说历史上许多的争议而看得出他是非常在意别人如何为他盖棺定论。


简短生平


李光耀在1923年9月16日生于一个中产土生华人（男、女俗称峇峇、娘惹。他们是早期华族移民与土生马来族或其他非华族通婚后而产生的混血后裔。他们有自己的文化特征而多数以马来语为母语。）的家庭。


李光耀是聪明绝顶的人。小时候就已经从一间普通学校转至以英语为教学语言的莱佛士书院就读。莱佛士书院是新加坡顶尖的学校而它当时只收取全马来亚150名最优秀的学生。


李光耀负笈英国剑桥留学的计划虽然因日本占领新加坡而延后了四年，但这并没阻止李光耀在菲茨威廉学院法律系以双重一等荣誉毕业。


李光耀除了聪明绝顶外，还是个务实的机会主义者。根据他自己在自传里的透露，他在日据时期，曾经在日本皇军的宣传部队“报道部”当翻译。与此同时他也在当时的黑市做买卖，甚至与朋友一起为日本皇军提供军需品和建筑工程服务。当他从所截听的盟军消息得知日军在节节败退时，他就暗地里准备逃离到马来亚的金马伦高原去避风头。但是因日军开始怀疑他而对他展开跟踪而作罢。他自述在这日据时期的经历对他政治生涯起着非常大的影响。日本人的铁腕统治让他了解到权威的重要性。他务实的态度不只让他和家人能安然的渡过艰巨的日据时期，更让他累积了一点积蓄以资助他在战争后负笈英国留学。


政治成就与过失


李光耀这种务实机会主义的人生哲学在他的政治生涯里一再展现无遗。


经历了因英国无能而战败，导致日本人残暴统治的李光耀终于领悟到新加坡必须脱离外国人统治。这促使他展开了反殖民主义的斗争。但是在1950年代的反殖民运动中，受华文教育的左派人物才是主流。务实的李光耀就联合以林清祥为首的左派成立了人民行动党。李光耀以此当上了左派工会的顾问律师，从而让他争取到巨大的政治资本。


从1950至1960年代，面对许多各地反殖民地主义的英国也被逼考虑如何在不损害自身利益的前提下，退出殖民地而让自己信任得过的人掌权自治和独立。李光耀看准了这时机，运用了高超的政治手段，一方面使英国相信在伦敦剑桥读过书的他是他们的最佳人选，而另一方面还是打着反殖民的旗帜大骂英国人“白种人”。与此同时，他利用英国人把他党内的同志，林清祥一伙人扣留起来，直到他赢得选举当了总理。


1963年，在林清祥等人脱离行动党自组社会主义阵线（社阵）后，机智的李光耀就利用与马来亚合并的契机，在马来亚首相的要求下，顺理成章的把林清祥和社阵所有的主要人物一共一百多人，全都以内部安全法令(内安法)，不经审讯的扣押起来，并且试图把责任全推到英国人和马来亚首相的身上。这时，他就把这一些人标签为“共产党恐怖分子”。


从此之后，一直到1980年代，李光耀就举着反共的旗帜，把异议分子都以“共产党恐怖分子”名义在内安法令下抓起来，任由监禁。 根据统计，在他任内总共以内安法囚禁果2600 名异议分子之多。


但是一向坚持反共的李光耀，在中国总理周恩来向他招手时，还是务实的回应了他的邀请，到中国访问了。虽然最终无法和周总理见面，但这一次破冰之旅还是为李光耀和中国历代领导层的关系展开了历史上的第一页。


在李光耀的政治生涯中，他最伟大的成就就是以务实的态度和中国建立起良好的关系而促进全东南亚的和平。他以坚定的意志，说服了邓小平副总理，中国必须停止向周边国家输出共产主义才能建设和谐的环境以便经济能共同发展起来。中国最终不止终结了对马共和泰共的资助，更在柬埔寨战争上扮演了非常重要的角色。李光耀在促成中国、东盟和美国合作，了结柬埔寨战争的事件上，起了关键性的影响力。这彻底解除了越南对东南亚地区的军事威胁，并给与东盟建立了和平稳定的有利环境。


没有李光耀高超的政治外交手腕，新加坡是不可能在同一时间取得美国和中国的基本信任以至能争取到这样显著的成果。同样的道理，李光耀以他和台湾的友好关系为海峡两岸僵持不下的关系解冻。历史性的第一次汪辜会谈能成功圆满的在新加坡举行，李光耀居功至上。这更进一步缓和了整个东亚和东南亚区域的紧张局势。


李光耀虽然在区域和国际政治舞台上有着显著的重大贡献，但他以那铁一般的手腕对付新加坡国内的异议分子却是他政治上的一大败笔。虽然许多人认为在建国的首几年，李光耀的铁腕统治提供了新加坡所需要的稳定环境来发展经济，但是他把政敌在没有经过审讯的情况下长久囚禁达32年之久是非常不人道的。这摧毁了许多人的人生和家庭。


他在1987年继续以“马克思密谋者”的罪名把22名支持和帮助反对党社运分子全都以内安法关了起来。这一举动掀起了许多争议。就连他的年轻内阁同僚都觉得不妥。这是因为在那时期，中国已经开始改革开放，不再向东南亚输出共产主义，而前苏联也脱离了冷战思维，开始逐渐瓦解。用这样的借口来打压异议分子已经没有什么说服力了。自此之后，虽然李光耀不再以内安法令来对付异议分子，但却换了个方式以诽谤罪使反对党人和异议分子破产来延续他的独裁政权。


在这一系列打压异议分子的行动中，很不幸的是，法治无可避免的被严重冲击。而在民主选举方面，李光耀的政府虽然没有舞弊，但是他运用了立法权和执政权，任意的更改选举制度和干预选区的划分而保住了他集权独裁的意图。李光耀的集权举动，也无可避免的摧毁了新加坡应有的民主基石 – 权力的分立和相互的制衡。这是他政治上的最大过失。


经济


许多人都把新加坡的经济奇迹归功于李光耀，但这是有一点言过其实。新加坡只是一个比上海小9倍的城市小岛国。持有新加坡公民权的也只有3百多万人。当初独立时，我们继承了英国殖民时代所遗留下来的良好海港和基建。新加坡是英国众多殖民地中，在远东最重要的海港。优越的地理位置和海港基建是新加坡最重要的资源。相对于当时的东南亚，甚至整个东亚，新加坡的基建和城市化程度是最好的。以人均收入来看，也是居高者。以人均收入来看，它在1965年是东南亚最高的，而在整个亚洲也只屈居于日本和香港。

（以下是两个关于新加坡的电影片段，摄于1957和1958年）






所以说李光耀从英国接手的新加坡并不是如许多人所说的“落后的小渔村”。


但在那建国初期，新加坡面对了许多严峻的问题。这包括了居住环境，经济面对内部强势工会的动荡，印尼的武装威胁，而最大的挑战是英军即将撤离的问题。英军是当时单一雇佣最多员工的机构。它也是保障新加坡免受当时苏卡诺领导的印尼政府军事敌对的威胁。


幸好就在英军迁离新加坡之际，越南战争使新加坡成为了美国的重要的补给基地。这缓解了英军撤离的影响。


在1959年刚上任的李光耀总理（自治区）也只是一名三十五岁年轻律师，对经济根本一窍不通。但很幸运的，他身旁有个智多星，吴庆瑞博士。吴庆瑞是新加坡经济发展的总工程师。他说服了李光耀降低关税，把新加坡设定为自由港。然后再着手土地改革，建廉价的公共组合房屋（组屋）以把人民从恶劣的居住环境搬迁，从而释放更多土地给与城市发展。他更发展了工业园区，设法把经济从单一依赖港口贸易转型到以制造业为首的经济体。再来就是重组教育制度，好让人民能接受更多工艺和工程系的教育，使他们更能够受雇于制造业。这种种发展，配合了世界工业的转型。在1960年代，在西方和日本的大企业开始了外包和寻找代工的经营模式。他们也因本国成本的提高而开始向国外迁移厂房。


在这世界工业的新潮流中，得益的是亚洲四小龙：韩国、台湾、香港和新加坡。新加坡之所以能有如此非凡的经济起飞，其实是依靠这工业潮流的发展。新加坡在四小龙里是最小的经济体，所以很显然的，它的经济成就也比其他四小龙地区较容易突出。


新加坡的“经济奇迹”其实是结合了天时地利人和的有利因素，而李光耀先生的贡献，其实比不上吴庆瑞博士。


但是我们不能抹杀李光耀为新加坡在国际和东亚开展投资机会的巨大功劳。尤其是在对中国的经济发展趋势的解读，他更是具有独到的远见。虽然新加坡政府在苏州工业园的投资失利，但这惨痛的经历只给李光耀上了一堂中国经商和政治文化的再教育。新加坡并没有因此对中国减少投资。


社会和文化建设


李光耀对新加坡社会建设的影响是非常深远的。他以他个人的意志和务实的考量规划了社区的发展。


李光耀除了众所周知的以严刑峻法对付不雅的反社会行为（如随地吐痰，乱丢垃圾，涂鸦等等）之外，他还以行政手段推行他所想要的城市情景。比如说，他非常喜欢园林，所以在城市规划中，绿化必定是首要考量。新加坡特别设立了国家公园局来打理全国的花草树木。所以说，当你一踏入新加坡的街道时所看到的一草一木都跟李光耀有关系。这一点也不夸张的。


他也出于务实的政治考量，以法律规定每个社区里，必须以种族比例分售组屋给国民。新加坡是由四大种族形成的。在1969年时，曾经发生过种族暴动。所以李光耀特别关注国家的种族和谐。他认为各个族群集聚在各自的传统地域将不利种族和谐的发展。这将让有心人能很容易的去煽动种族敌对情绪。如果把各族群平均的分散在不同的地方，让大家都有机会学习如何和睦共处的话，这对长期各族群的磨合将会有巨大的帮助。他这务实的做法的确让许多长期受种族暴动或冲击的国家来说，真是大开眼界。


但是在某一些社会议题上，李光耀也遭到滑铁卢。他激进强施的“两个（孩子）就够了”的人口控制政策，造成了这小国在短短的时间里，面对严峻的人口老化的问题。他的精英遗传论更在1980年代引起了巨大的反弹。这使他不得不把这两项不得人心的政策给撤了。


在教育、文化和语言政策方面，李光耀的争议性更大了。


新加坡在殖民地时代曾经是东南亚的第一个发展电影业的文化城。文化领域上，真是百花争鸣。


但在早期的政治斗争中，李光耀把许多文人和报人全都以内安法令给关了起来。这包括之后被誉为“国宝”的戏剧泰斗郭宝昆、南洋商报主笔李星可等。在李光耀的铁腕统治之下，这原本是被誉为东南亚的维也纳文化中心的土地，一时之间就变成了充满文字狱的白色恐怖国家。


加上李光耀全力打击经常批评他的华校生，导致南洋大学（南大）被逼在1980年关闭而所有华校体系的中小学都被逼转型。这是南洋一带华校生对李光耀更加敌视的原因。


这关闭南大的决定其实是与李光耀对中国的政治、经济策略有所冲突的。过了不久后，李光耀就发觉新加坡从此就非常缺乏受过华文教育的人来跟中国打交道。


与此同时，他也发现他关掉的不止是一所大学，而是消灭了整个时代海外华人的“南大精神”。南大是儒商陈六使先生发起的。他本人虽然没受过什么正统教育，但他知道民族要自强不息，就要注重教育的发展。他于是发起了建立一所以中华文化为教育重点的大学，捐出了大批土地来建设南洋第一所中文大学，南洋大学。当时马来亚的华人都纷纷响应他的号召，有钱出钱，有力出力，终于实现了建设中国海外的第一所中文大学。


这种为社群无私的奉献，就是南大精神的神髓。而也是一个对海外华人影响深远的精神。李光耀在关掉南大后，才后悔他也毁灭了这种伟大的无私精神。


很讽刺的是，李光耀过后大提以儒家思想为本的“亚洲价值观”，试图以这新论述来把自己的独裁粉饰、合理化。但是一个如此推崇儒家思想的政治家，怎么会把象征中华文化教育的南大给关了呢？


面对南大精神的毁灭，新加坡便全面的进入一个以功利主义统治和发展的时代。原本廉价的组屋的价格也逐渐被提高到与市场价格挂钩。原本享有高额津贴的医药服务，也贵得令新加坡人觉得能死不能病了。


除此之外，李光耀最失败的是摧毁了公共服务的精神。在那一些与他打天下的同僚全都退休后，他就以“高薪养廉”的理由，大肆提高新一代部长的薪金。现在新加坡的部长都享有至少新币一百多万（等于人民币5百多万）的年薪。这是世界上最高的政治薪酬，比美国总统还要高。


盖棺定论


要为李光耀先生这样具有争议性的人物作定论，的确不容易。对于一代被他迫害的左派人士，他们肯定是百感交加。


不管是他的宿敌或仰慕者，他们都不能否认他的确是个有许多缺点的伟大政治家。他在国际和东亚所做出的巨大贡献是谁也不能藐视的。但对新加坡民主基石的摧毁，也一样是铁一般的事实。


许多国家都在研究李光耀的“新加坡模式”：在独裁一党独大的统治下，也能取得巨大经济发展的模式。但是我认为，这“新加坡模式”与李光耀一样，是独一无二的。这是因为这“新加坡模式”是在独有的地缘政治和一个独有时代的世界经济发展潮流中产生的。就有如李光耀先生一样，历史上也只能只有一个李光耀。因为他是在独有的天时、地利、人和的大时代里塑造出来的杰出世纪政治领袖。


如果要真正评论李光耀，那就要看他的离世会让新加坡和国际缺少了些什么。


对于新加坡来说，它失去了一位能在国际舞台上为这小国的利益周旋的能手。李光耀在世时，是新加坡的活招牌。 因为无人不知李光耀，所以也无人不知新加坡。在这急速全球化的国际形势里，这对一个经济开放的小国是非常重要的。望眼目前新加坡国内的政治人物，没有一位能真正取代李光耀这个活招牌。


对于整个亚太地区来说，我们也失去了一位可以为各国搭起有效沟通桥梁的领袖。尤其是在两岸问题、南海争议和钓鱼台问题日益复杂，随时会擦枪走火的时局之下，这位子更显得举足轻重了。


新加坡在李光耀时代也失去了民主的基石。这是新加坡在后李时代必须严正对待的问题。李光耀所遗留下来的政治体系只能在一个相对廉洁的独裁者带领下延续运作的。后李时代会有太多变数而权力分立相互牵制的民主制度才能有效的保证这廉洁的体系可以维持下去。


在李光耀的铁腕统治下，新加坡的文化环境有太多约束而结果变成死水一潭。要使新加坡文化复兴，它就必须开放社会风气，把所有不必要的约束去除，放宽对文化活动、创作、主流媒体等等的严控。


最后，有一些在李光耀铁腕统治下所失去的东西，也许是永远都无法挽回的。他把南洋大学关闭而导致一代人所累积的南大精神能量，是永远无法重新找回的。


一个像李光耀这样杰出政治家的离世，影响的不只是本国的政治经济的前景，而也影响了整个区域的和平发展。像他这样具争议性的政治家逝世，虽然对新加坡带来了无可弥补的损失，但也带来变革的机遇。


不管我们对李光耀的功过有怎样的评价，我们都无法否认他是当代亚洲杰出的政治人物。当然，信奉民主体系的我对他的独裁以致摧毁新加坡民主基石，是无法原谅的。


吴明盛

Please Wake Up to Dawn of Post LKY Era

Dear Singaporeans,

Please wake up from the Spell of Sympathy as soon as possible. The propaganda you have been seeing and hearing for the whole last week cannot whitewash nor deny the fact that LKY has brought upon Singapore a Dictatorial rule. Don't be fooled by the mere presence of "General Elections". As I have told my Hong Kong friends, Democracy is not just about Universal Suffrage. It is about a whole system built on the basis of Separation of Powers, to effect a true system of Checks and Balances.

Besides, the GE we have in Singapore, has been tainted by the constant intervention of the Executive in terms of Gerrymandering and Pork Barrel politicking. The Power to Elect the people's representatives, must be independent and kept out of interference of the Executive ruling party.

The Judiciary as well, has been tainted by Rule by Law instead of Rule of Law. The most recent comparison of Amos vs the Young PAP member who put up sedition remarks on religious bearing is one fine example to remind us, little has changed.

We can only rebuild Real Democracy for Singapore, after we acknowledge and understand exactly what are lacking and needed to be restored after decades of dictatorial tendency inflicted by LKY's rule.

LKY's "Singapore Model" of a clean, efficient government with dictatorial rule which could bring Economic progress for us, is not sustainable in the long run. This is because his model relies heavily on "Philosopher King" concept; there must exist someone like him, who is clean and incorrigible by power, to be the dictator of the system. However, if the system fell on a corrupt person, all these attributes will be gone and the system will in fact, turn into the worst nightmare for Singapore because the system provides a tremendous concentration of powers with very little checks and balances.

Hong Kong has maintained a strict separation of powers as a Core value for their system. Although Hong Kong is not a country and they are fighting for "Universal Suffrage" for both Legislative Council and Chief Executive elections, but their system itself provides a clear cut of separation of powers. Any attempts by the Executive to interfere or exert influence on the Judiciary, ICAC, Press freedom or even Academia, will be critcised heavily. Their system of freedom of expression may sometimes look clumsy or even draggy for policy making, but it also provides the needed checks and balances which will maintain the system of clean and efficient governance. They still enjoy economic growth, though not as fast as Singapore.

LKY may be gone, but our aim of building a truly democratic system will not be made easier because his party and son, will continue to try to maintain almost monopoly of powers, with all means.

I have been debunking all those distortions of Historical facts and narratives by PAP's propaganda machinery for the past two weeks. I have received so many hate messages and some of my friends, even FEAR for my safety. They fear PAP may take revenge by many other means. They even FEAR somebody may harm me and my family physically. When I decided to attend the open live City Forum held by RTHK, they even tried to ask friends privately to help to protect me at this Open Air Forum. I really feel overwhelmed by their care.

I really appreciate their concerns and considerations made for me. But I am not afraid. I cannot be afraid nor frightened by such mental threats or subtle threats. Else the FEAR which my friends and associates are so deeply inflicted with, will perpetuate further in Post-LKY era. And yes, we will have to learn to walk out of that FEAR, even when we know, PAP will continue to use the tried method of "killing the chicken to frighten the monkeys" to instill FEAR in everyone of us.

But the pertinent question we need to ask ourselves, do we still want to continue to let them rule with FEAR? Continue to rule us with DICTATORIAL power? Rule not just us, but also our children and future generations?

We have to move on, chart our own course for Singapore, from Dictatorial rule towards Consensus Rule through Democratic system. Let's not forget, it is your interests as well as mine, to walk out of this long shadow of dictatorship of LKY which he has imposed on Singapore.

The new dawn may or may not come and it all depends on you and me. Nobody else. We have to face the reality of the fact that LKY's Model of Singapore rule, is not sustainable. Either we change or we let our Nation dies with it. People say follow LKY and you won't die. I would urge you to think carefully whether it really makes any sense to you at this very instance of Post-LKY era.

A nation ruled by Fear will not prosper with creativity and innovations. LKY's "Singapore Model" can only work if and only if, the dictator himself is like him and FULL obedience from Singaporeans must be instilled, be it via FEAR or otherwise. Can this be possible in this era of Internet with massive information flow and opinions shared through New Media and internet forums? It can only happen in places like North Korea. Not an open economy like Singapore.

We should wake up from our dream and spell in believing what LKY did 50 years ago, is still relevant to our Singapore today. In today's world of complexity, you can only use persuasion through more open political debates and consensus building process, to unite the people's view, to conclude new social order, mindset and contracts so that our little Nation can move as one People, One Nation. The use of FEAR and dictatorial rule, should be thrown into the rubbish bin because these are no longer effective means nor stable methods.

Let us start a new page for Singapore, my fellow friends, in the start of Post-LKY era. Let us do it right so that the political system can be sustainable and our Nation can outlive each and everyone of us, for many generations to come. Build the Democratic system our Nation deserves.

Goh Meng Seng

Mr. Lee Kuan Yew's Legacy: Good or Bad, Harsh Hard Truth

I am writing this because I am pretty annoyed and sick of PAP's spin doctors and people putting up bad propaganda write ups of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.

LKY, as most of us called him, is great in his own rights but there is no need to exaggerate and worse, put up slanted and misleading historical narrations to make him look like a God. He is no God, just a man.

Even as a man who doesn't worship him like me, cannot simply ignore his contributions and achievements in various aspects. But distorting historical truth doesn't do justice to our children and future generations. Let's put things into proper perspective with critical objectivity.

Harsh Hard Truth:

As I have stated so far, LKY has greater achievements than most his PAP people and spin doctors would want to talk about but either due to ignorance or some agenda, harp on the wrong credits to LKY of "Fishing Village to First World" narration.

For those who believe or keep singing ridiculous praises of LKY getting Singapore from "Fishing Village to First World", I hope you get the fundamental facts right first. A lot have been said the myth and falsehood of Singapore being the "Fishing Village" that all these people are harping when PAP took power. Whether it is a "Fishing Village" or the most advanced port which the British left us when PAP took over, it is not really possible for LKY to be contributing much directly to our Economic growth. Even the "Miracle" of such development may be exaggerated in some sense.

Note: Singapore in 1965 was THIRD in terms of GDP per capital in Asia, behind Hong Kong and Japan, but TOP in Southeast Asia. Please refer to the data and this: 

Let's look at the hard facts. When LKY took over as PM in 1959, he was just a young 35 year old lawyer. Yes, he was extremely bright lawyer who has gotten a double star (Double First Honours) for his Law study in Cambridge, but no, he wasn't trained in Economics at all. He knew nothing about Economics and it was recorded that Dr Goh Keng Swee has a hard time convincing him about getting rid of import tariffs so to position Singapore as a Free Port, so much so that Dr Goh has to give a few books to LKY to read.

No doubt LKY was a very intelligent fast learner and picked up Economics along his path of political governance, but let me put this perspective, it is really totally impossible for anyone who has just to start learning Economics from scratch to have that ability of making an Economic Miracle out of Singapore.

Thus, rightfully so, Dr Goh and his advisers, were the ones who brought Economic development to Singapore. Coupled with the fact that Western and Japanese Industrial Economies started to go for outsourcing and subcontrating and shifting some of their productions to cheaper places like Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (4 Asian Tigers), thus, our economy boomed.

Singapore is the smallest economy among the 4 Asian Tigers and thus, inevitably, the economic benefits and impact of such Global development will spread much faster to everyone on the island. Thus, the so call "Economy Miracle" itself is an over-exaggeration without looking at the context of the start of Globalization of the Industrial world.

Well, Singapore and LKY were really fortunate to have the most able Economist Dr Goh Keng Swee during this period which provided the necessary economic vision, direction and development which allowed us to ride on this trend of Industrial Globalization.

LKY contributed in other ways to Singapore and even the whole Asia Pacific region, through his pragmatic and opportunistic cultivation of PEACE among the various countries. From getting peace from Suharto after Suharto successfully overthrown Sukarno, convincing Tunku Abdul Rahman to a truce on racial bickering and more importantly, engagement of China to stop propagating and supporting the communist elements in SEA, getting China and US, along with SEA partners to put the war in Cambodia to a peaceful end as well as successfully getting China and Taiwan to hold the first ever official talk in Singapore and thus, raising Singapore's status in the International Political Arena.

A small country like Singapore can only thrive when there is PEACE surrounding it, not just within it. And that is the greatest contribution of LKY, not only to Singapore but to all the countries in SEA and Asia Pacific which are enjoying decades of growth under the peace which LKY has contributed tremendously in achieving.

To attribute LKY's achievements narrowly to merely Singapore's Economic development is a GROSS UNDERSTATEMENT with Ignorance.

Although I do not like LKY's dictatorial governance of Singapore which has caused much unnecessary sacrifices by many of his critics, dissidents and political opponents which in the end, destroy the tenets of Democracy as well as creating a Cultural Desert out of fear for Singapore, but as an Economist and politician, I cannot ignore his tremendous contributions in all these MORE important areas.

In my opinion, nobody else in PAP's current slate of politicians and ministers, not even PM Lee himself, could fill the gap of such important role, the opportunistic pragmatist Peace maker of Asia Pacific. This role is becoming especially more important in view of the current complicated development of South China Sea conflicting claims and the tension between Japan and China. But who in Singapore can continue to provide that function and fill the role which LKY has left vacant?

This is something more important for Singaporeans to ponder about for the future safety of Singapore, in order for us to live and grow our economy.

Having said all these, despite of LKY's achievements in this area, as a Democratic Fighter, I will still refuse to mourn the death of a dictator who has done great harm to many of his victims as well as Singapore's Democratic Development.

However I will not stop others to mourn for him and my urge to those who agree with me, not to create too much of a tension with your friends and family members due to our refuse to mourn for him.

And for those ignorant PAP spin doctors, people and LKY fans who really lack the international perspective to give proper credits to LKY, please stop distorting historical facts and narrations of our Nation's history in your attempt to "exaggerate" the greatness of LKY in the WRONG way. This will do no good and a great sin for our future generations. LKY is NOT GOD and he might have done really bad things to other people, even bad decisions, political scheming in his life, so be it. No need to try to white wash all these for LKY and the truth is, LKY was not shy to admit all these in his life, though with excuses and defence which are not acceptable to people like me. LKY is just human and we should just remember him as such, a human who is fallible to the bad ills of what power can bring to one.

Goh Meng Seng

PAP's "Affordable Demon"

It is really getting absurd everyday with PAP and its cronies to chant the Devilish Word "Affordable".

For every thing PAP wants to increase prices in order to feed its army of cronies of million dollar salary, they do not need to JUSTIFY the need to increase the prices but just chant, "It is affordable to Singaporeans!" Does it mean that as long as you can afford, it is perfectly alright for PAP to squeeze every bits from you by raising prices?


Whether it is HDB flats (MBT famous rant about affordability) or electricity tariffs or basic needs like public transport fares, the only thing they need to do is to shout it all out loud, "Don't be stingy! You can afford the price increase! It is AFFORDABLE to you!".

Whenever you have salary increase (true or false or just some imagination), they will shout it out loud," Hey you have 4% increase in salary! We just increase 2.8%!", never mind about how many percentage increase in their own CEO or top management remuneration and the profit increase they enjoy despite of POOR SERVICE Quality (historical high MRT breakdown) and now, drastic decrease in cost due to drop in oil prices. What they want to do is to MAKE SURE whatever you have earned, MUST be SQUEEZED out from you eventually!

Never mind if this claim of 4% increase in salary is SKEWED as this include the OBSCENE increase in salaries like those Top management in these public transport companies! The overall salary increase may be 4% but what about the salary increase of those who take public transport? Do they enjoy as much as 4% increase in their salaries?

Never mind about such things as they are not interested in justifying their GREED but only throw the "Affordable Demon" at everybody.

That is the sad state of affairs in Singapore. PTC is all filled up with PAP and its cronies, worse, the representatives from the transport companies. What checks and balances are there, except the Affordable Demon guarding the interests of these greedy fat pigs?

My dear fellow Singaporeans, if you do not want to be suck dry of every drops of your blood, you will have to do something about it when you go to the polls in next GE. Think before you vote. And be warned. The 10% GST is coming and they will release their Affordable Demon at you again.

Goh Meng Seng

PAP's Core Value --- Greed

Greed has no boundary. Oil prices dropped by 40% since June this year but look what Singaporeans get:

1) Pathetic "token" decrease of pump prices by the cartel and neither CASE nor PAP government say anything or do anything about it.

2) Well, as if that is not enough, electricity tariff controlled by government didn't decrease accordingly as well, giving crap reason that our power station run on gas, not oil. But the last time we heard when oil price increased and gas price was stagnant, they increase the electricity tariff anyway, giving crap reason that the gas price is pegged and hedged to oil prices! Win liao lor!

3) As if all these are not enough to squeeze every bits from Singaporeans, now they want to increase public transport fares! Last time they increase fares citing increasing fuel cost due to high oil prices but now, when oil prices plunge, they give other excuses to increase fare despite having very healthy and high profits...

Guess it is not difficult for anyone to conclude that Greed is PAP's core value from all these happenings.

Goh Meng Seng

My Responses to Media Enquiry on Mr Lee Hsien Loong's Criticisms of Opposition

My responses as follow:


Do you agree that the PAP should set the standard and the opposition held accountable to it?

Why should PAP be the player, the organizer who set the rules and standards as well as the referee or judge at the same time? Let the Voters be the judge and I believe they have their own standards set out for opposition parties as well as PAP. As the ruling party, whether it likes it or not, voters' expectation and standards will be set at very much higher level. Rightfully so because PAP has the power and resources to do what it is supposed to do as a ruling party.

2. Has the role of the opposition evolved post-2011? Is it perhaps too old to use the "check and balance" function as a platform to run a campaign on?

Whether the role of opposition has evolved in post-2011 depends very much on voters' expectation. But one interesting sign I have observed is the rising of civil activism which is non-partisan in nature. The non-partisan social-political activists have been leading the charge on social-political issues like the 6.9m Population White Paper issue as well the Return-Our-CPF protests. These activism may have unintentionally put pressure on political parties to step up to reclaim their rightful role as political opinion leader in articulating more coherent policy views rather than sitting on the sideline as passive political free-riders. If they fail to do so, they would be seen as ineffective even as an agent for effecting the "check and balance" function and it will be very unconvincing for them to sell this idea of "check and balance" function as their front running campaigning theme.

My view is that, "check and balance" is the inherent rightful role of any opposition party all around the world in any democracy. In Singapore's context, it is still a relevant campaigning theme as the result of the GRC system, the highly disproportionate number of opposition MPs in parliament vs the total percentage of votes opposition has garnered will always be a critical imbalance which Singaporeans need to address. This will inevitably falls on the urgent need to correct this insufficient and inadequacy of check and balance function in our system. However, the contrast cast by non-partisan social-political players have put serious doubts on opposition parties' effectiveness as a player to provide such function. If opposition parties don't buck up to show that they could lead the charge at the front of check and balance function, they might lose their legitimacy as the important component or element to effect the function of check and balance. Voters will be disillusioned by their passiveness in comparison.

3. As a check, how well do you think the major opposition in Parliament, the WP, has done?

No comment. I will leave it to voters to make the judgment. But as I have expressed in my answer to your previous question, all opposition parties including WP will have to buck up to play a more pro-active role as a check to the PAP government if they do not want to be considered irrelevant by voters.


4. What challenges do you see besetting a centrist party like the WP in the upcoming election?

IMHO, there are three challenges WP has to address in order to convince voters that it is still the BEST Choice of opposition parties to be voted into parliament:

a) WP has to address and provide immediate remedy to the erosion of its most important CORE COMPETENCY aka Political Capital in Town Council management.

b) WP has to demonstrate its ability to keep its promise to achieve its last GE aim of "First World Parliament". Up till now, the mediocre parliamentary performance of WP's MPs will inevitably make its past GE Manifesto of "First World Parliament" to come back and bite it. This is made worst by the contrast provided by those non-partisan social political activists.

c) Economics is always WP's weakest link in its policy deliberation but in Singapore's context, Economics precedes every other policy matters. WP will have to find ways to improve its economics learning and articulate its economic policy views more coherently and effectively.


5. Opposition parties like the SDP have responded by saying they do have alternative visions. Do you think the SDP's manifesto in particular is workable? Can all parties say they have alternative visions?

I do believe most political parties have their own alternative Visions, whether it is based on Democratic Values, Economics logic, Social Welfare perspective or otherwise. Apparently, PAP is more focused in its attack on opposition parties' Economic Visions.

On the surface, opposition parties may express their own Visions based on their core beliefs and values. However, it would not be fair for PAP to attack opposition parties' inability to deliberate on the finer details on such vision because they do not have the privilege of the ruling party in getting vital information as well as civil servants to help them in researching and formulating their full policy details.

I reserve my comments on SDP or any other opposition parties' manifesto as it will take a long debate to articulate the plausibility of their plans.


6. Mr Lee is framing the upcoming general election as a national one, not just a local one, and one that will be a "deadly serious fight." How do you think this message will wash with voters?

I would say that with due respect, Mr Lee is already a LATE COMER in realizing that past GE2011 as well as the two by-elections we had since 2011 were already fought on National issues instead of local ones. eg. HDB and transport issue in GE2011. I believe voters will not only vote according to what they feel about National issues but will also consider who are the candidates put forward by the various parties. I do not believe PAP will lose power totally, even though it may lose more seats.

Even if PAP is to lose over 50% of seats, it will still remain as the dominant party with the most seats because at this moment, all opposition parties won't be able to contest more than half of the seats alone, least all the seats. The Constitution will require the President to call upon the Dominant party to form the government, be it a coalition or a minority government.

Thus, I do not think voters in this era, with more knowledge of how politics work, would be intimidated by such exaggeration by Mr. Lee.


Goh Meng Seng

The Protest @ Hong Lim Park 5 July 2014

I am compelled to write this article to record this event not because of the low turnout we have but rather, the fantastic event I have enjoyed should not went unrecorded.

This event is special because it has included a live band singing of songs which inspires political struggles. All thanks to Gilbert Louis, Tina Mercury de Costa along with her long lost cousin, Daniel de Costa. They have uplifted the spirit of the protest with their inspiring songs.

We have impressive young speaker like 17 year old Ariffin Sha to 72 year old elderly layman like Sulaiman to share their views. Of course, not to mention the "agent provocateur" who spoke in support of PM Lee Hsien Loong but was met with unexpected reactions from the crowd who just booed him out of stage half way through his speech.

I have learned something from Mr. Sulaiman. The PAP government has not spent enough money to help Singaporeans and we should not be a "Beggar State" whereby citizens have to beg the government for help. This may sound too simple to many people but it means something very profound to me. It simply sums up how stingy PAP government is when it comes to helping our citizens in need.

There are a few songs sang by Gilbert Louis group. The songs include my all time favourite John Lenon's "Imagine", the infamous song from Les Miserables "Do You Hear the People Sing", "Wind of Change", "Voices That Care", "From a Distance", "Shout" (by Tears for Fears) etc. I personally feel that these songs are great songs which could become a group of Theme Songs for any protests held in Hong Lim Park. These songs are not just any other songs but come with meaningful background and lyrics.



I have seen how the protest organizers in Hong Kong utilize various songs effectively for their events. They even have their own written songs for their own events. The annual 4th  June Vigil is one good example.

Music and songs are powerful medium and tools to create the appropriate atmosphere for such events. These are so powerful and influential that PAP has to ban them altogether for any political rallies held during General Elections. But I believe we need to change all that.

Next, I will come to my own speech, which is in fact, "incomplete" as we were running out of time then. I am going to run through the rationale of my speech here.

The whole theme of my speech is, what are the reasons which will justify an urgent need to ask Mr. Lee Hsien Loong to resign as Prime Minister? I have somehow missed out some important points during the rally as there was a time constrain but the following are my thoughts:



1) Leadership Quality

The role of the government and thus, Prime Minister, is to take care of Singaporeans' welfare and interests. What does a Prime Minister needs, beside eyes, ears and a brain? It is the HEART. If you do not have the HEART to take care of the citizens' welfare and interests when you are making every decisions, then you are not fit to be our political leaders, least Prime Minister.

PAP has always been OVERLY GENEROUS towards themselves while being EXTREMELY STINGY towards Singaporeans in need. As the other speaker Mr. Sulaiman has mentioned, we have become a "Beggar State" under PAP rule. The Singapore Government hardly spent any money extensively on the welfare of Singaporeans. Even hospitals are no longer "Government Hospitals" but business oriented "Restructured Hospital".

There is little help available for Singaporeans who have, for whatever reasons, fallen into temporary hardship. We have to BEG PAP government for that miserable help they squeeze out of their tiny little pocket hole. That's what "Beggar State" is all about.

I am going to talk about the problem of having Ho Ching even though none of other speakers have spoken on this. I am not interested to DEFAME Lee Hsien Loong but the truth is, when he agreed to put his wife Ho Ching as the CEO of Temasek Holdings, he has set a VERY BAD EXAMPLE for such an important leadership position.

There are numerous corruption cases being investigated and charged in court. High level, well paid civil servants are deemed to give special favours or special treatments to their mistresses, students turned girlfriend or simply friends, are charged for corruptions. What is the fundamental problem of all these? Conflicts of interests! (the crowd responded as well) Yes, it is all about conflicts of interests. But in two cases, the accused have been acquitted of corruptions even though there is such a glaring conflicts of interests! Why? Conflicts of interests may not necessarily be considered as "corruptions" even though it might have created doubts or speculations. However, what is considered as "legally acceptable" may not be "politically" acceptable.

When the Prime Minister agreed to put his wife in such a high prominent position which runs the government owned Temasek Holdings, no matter what due diligence has been made whatsoever, it is inevitable that such arrangement will be seen as a problem of Conflicts of Interests! How can the Prime Minister have the moral authority to lead when such conflicts of interests has been displayed? Can the Prime Minister tell the civil servants off if they did the same thing?

The Prime Minister, as the TOP LEADER of the government, should lead by examples. The proper thing for the Prime Minister to do, is to practice AVOIDANCE of Conflicts of Interests! It means that no matter who want to "por" (flatter or attempt to show favor) the Prime Minister by suggesting to put his wife or sister or whoever in his family members at top positions in the civil service or government owned entities, he should DECLINE as a good practice of "Avoidance of Conflicts of Interests"!

Else, he will lose the critical moral authority to lead politically.


2) Really BAD Diplomatic Gaffes

We can't fault Mr. Lee for some of the embarrassing gaffes that he has made over the years, from "Mee Siam Mai Hum" to labeling Singaporeans as "Kao Peh Kao Bu" (Cry Father Cry Mother which implicitly cursing one of making noise as if their parents are dead. ) when we made too much noise in the internet. This is basically because he was born in with a Golden Spoon, has never eve stayed in a Condominium or Terrace House before, least a HDB flat like most of us. But when he made a gaffe that would affect International Diplomatic Relationship with one of the most important country in the world, that will no longer be just "funny" but actually DEAD SERIOUS.

During his visit to Washington and after meeting President Obama, PM Lee recounted a sick joke about Beijing's air pollution, alleging that you just need to open the window to get a "free smoke"! This was speculated to be one of the main reasons why China's President Xi has deliberately give Singapore a by-pass while he was shuttling between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur while he was attending the APEC meetings in Bali, Indonesia.

If we allow Mr. Lee Hsien Loong to continue to lead us as Prime Minister, I do not know how many such embarrassing and damaging gaffes we would have to suffer in future.


3) Vision? Mission? Core Values? What is Mr. Lee Hsien Loong's Principles?

Does anyone know exactly what is Mr. Lee Hsien Loong's Vision? Mission? Core Values? Principles? The only come to our mind is MONEY $$$ ! (In fact, the crowd responded with the same answer as well.)

We got used with the "Pay and Pay" notion of the ruling party PAP way back from 1980s till now. It is ok for most Singaporeans to tolerate such "Pay and Pay" situation as long as they can have a good job and earn more than enough money to cope with such culture.

However, after Mr. Lee Hsien Loong took over as Prime Minister, the situation is really worse than Pay and Pay. The Core Principle of Money-Minded government has evolved into a bigger monster. We, Singaporeans, have been sold out for whatever money they can get from the deals they made.

For example, when there was a huge protest against the White Paper on 6.9 million, PAP announced that they might have to slow down the intake of foreign workers. Which was the first country to make noise about this? India. India government claimed that by doing so, Singapore would have breached the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that we have signed with India! I did a little research on this FTA which PAP has signed with India. This is what I have found:

The India-Singapore FTA is called CECA which stands for Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement. It was signed on 29 June 2005, just about a year after Mr. Lee Hsien Loong became our Prime Minister.

If you read carefully through the CECA, the main benefits for us is for our mostly banks and companies owned by Temasek Holdings to have the right and access to invest in India, mostly in their financial, telecommunication and real estate industries. (Read Trade in Services):

The sectors which Singapore gets preferential access include business services, construction and related engineering services, financial services, telecommunication services, tourism and travel related services and transport services.

For Financial Services, Singapore owned or controlled financial institutions have been given greater privileges to access the Indian market. In banking, DBS, UOB and OCBC can each set up a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) in India to enjoy treatment on par with Indian banks in branching, places of operations and prudential requirements. Alternatively, should they choose to set up as branches, they have been allocated a separate quota of 15 branches (for all 3 banks) over 4 years, over and above the quota for all foreign banks.

For asset management, Singapore owned or controlled fund managers have the additional privilege of offering Indian investors mutual funds and collective investment schemes (CIS) listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as well as exchange traded funds (ETF). These instruments offered by our asset managers are free from the restriction that they must only invest in entities which have a stake in Indian companies.

For asset management, Singapore owned or controlled fund managers have the additional privilege of offering Indian investors mutual funds and collective investment schemes (CIS) listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as well as exchange traded funds (ETF). These instruments offered by our asset managers are free from the restriction that they must only invest in entities which have a stake in Indian companies.

India has similarly lifted this limitation for India owned or controlled fund managers. Both Singapore and India owned or controlled fund managers can also invest an additional US$250m in equities and instruments listed on the SGX, including mutual funds, CIS and ETFs. This is in addition to the US$1 billion cap that all asset managers can invest abroad.

For Telecommunication Services, India will bind its foreign equity limit from 25% to 49% for most services including basic, cellular and long distance services and 74% for internet and infrastructure services. India will also ensure that telecommunication providers from Singapore are treated fairly, transparently, and allowed to obtain access to the necessary public infrastructure in order to offer their services, thereby creating a more level playing field in India for our Singapore's telecom providers.

It is all good but at whose expense? We must first remember that although our CPF money is mixed into the Main Reserves and allocated for GIC or Temasek Holdings to invest, we do not benefit FULLY on the actual returns made from their investments. In spite of the inherent risk resulting from the investment made from GIC or Temasek, we are only given a fixed return of 2.5% to 5% on our CPF accounts.

In order to let Temasek and GIC made in-route into India's emerging market, our jobs have been totally sold out to India by PAP government led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. This is clearly stated under Chapter 9 Movement of Natural Persons. It comes with an attached list of 40 professional fields of jobs which Singapore should allow Indian Nationals to access for employment! Furthermore, not only should Singapore be obliged to allow Indian Nationals to gain employment in Singapore for these 40 professions, but we are also obliged to allow the spouses and "dependents" to gain access to our Singapore job market in ANY OTHER FIELDS!!!

This is clearly stated under Article 9.6:

ARTICLE 9.6: EMPLOYMENT OF SPOUSES AND DEPENDANTS

For natural persons of a Party who have been granted the right to long term temporary entry and have been allowed to bring in their spouses or dependants, a Party shall, upon application, grant the accompanying spouses or dependants of the other Party the right to work as managers, executives or specialists (as defined in paragraphs 2(f)(i) to (iii) of Article 9.2), subject to its relevant licensing, administrative and registration
requirements. Such spouses or dependants can apply independently in their own capacity (and not necessarily as accompanying spouses or dependants) and shall not be barred by the Party granting them the right to work from taking up employment in a category other than that of managers, executives, or specialists solely on the ground that
they as the accompanying spouses or dependants are already employed in its territory as managers, executives or specialists.

Now, let's get this straight. Even for Singaporeans with foreign spouses, Permanent Residencies are not easily granted to their foreign spouses. For the first numerous years, they will only be granted some long term visit passes that do not grant them any rights to work in Singapore at all. Here, we have PAP government under PM Lee's leadership, promising to provide jobs not only to Indian professionals listed in the list of 40, but also to provide jobs to their spouses in any jobs in other fields with absolutely no restrictions at all!

India is a huge country with a huge population of almost 1.3 BILLION people, about 370 times of our population size of 3.5 million! Is it logical for us to provide UNLIMITED jobs to India which has a population so much bigger than us? Got logic or not?

Thus, it is obvious that this India-Singapore CECA is basically a blatant TOTAL sell out of our Singaporeans' jobs to India in exchange for the benefits of Temasek Holdings and GIC! We Singaporeans' welfare and interests can be sold out for their benefits!

Did PM Lee and PAP give any thought to our Singaporeans' interests, welfare and jobs when they sign this FTA with India? Apparently not. They are only concerned of how much money they can make from the opportunities of investing in India and the number of CHEAP LABOUR from India to help their GLCs and MNCs to save more labour costs! And obviously, that is at the expense of Singaporeans' wages and jobs! Our wages will definitely be suppressed by such influx of Indian workers!

Furthermore, did they care about the impact of such move upon our infrastructure? When we complain about the THIRD WORLD conditions in our "Restructured Hospitals" all over Singapore, PAP Doctor MP has the cheek to declare "Don't Politicise Healthcare issues". I have to reiterate again, ANYTHING that affects Singaporeans' lives, interests, welfare and benefits, IS POLITICAL. More so for the CRITICAL situation we have in our hospitals' A&E departments! PAP MPs and Ministers may not have the opportunity to experience first hand how bad the situation is due to their privileged background but I still want to get this message straight to PM Lee, his RECKLESS, ILL PLANNED and IRRESPONSIBLE action in increasing our population size by importing FTs rapidly, is ENDANGERING our Singaporeans' lives!

I speak from my personal encounters when my mother was admitted to KTPH. I believe the other hospitals around Singapore is as bad as, if not worse, than the situation in KTPH. And this is EVERYDAY PROBLEM we are facing in hospitals, not just an outlier happening.

I shall not elaborate here as I have written a separate article on this issue. But my point is, has PM Lee thought about such deadly consequences when he decided to sign this FTA with India? Absolutely no.

Thus, PM Lee has basically led us into some very dangerous situation whereby the concept of Pay and Pay no longer satisfy his vision of $$$. Singaporeans' jobs and interests can be and have been sold off for the benefits of Temasek and GICs!


4) What is Lee Hsien Loong's Economic Policy direction?

Do we know exactly what is Lee Hsien Loong's Economic Policy Direction? There are two. One is Casino. Two, increase labour and MNC investment.

The Casinos, under the guise of "Integrated Resorts" have been introduced after Lee Hsien Loong took over as Prime Minister. Up till now, we are still unsure how many jobs have these casinos created for Singaporeans but we definitely know how these Casinos are killing Singaporeans with so many suicides due to debts, problem gambling incidents and affecting our economy adversely when not only aunties and uncles got hook on casino gambling but wealthy businessmen who should be spending more time to enhancing their businesses, ended up hooked or even bankrupted by casino gambling!

The second madness of PAP's economic policy under Lee Hsien Loong is GDP growth at ALL COST. Why does he need that? To justify his and his ministers' multi-million dollar annual pay!

Basic Economics state that GDP= Labour + Capital Investment + Land.

If you want to grow GDP, just increase labour and capital investment. This is why PAP is so engrossed in opening up the floodgate to CHEAP foreign workers as well as MNCs, even though sometimes, these MNCs are only employing overwhelmingly CHEAP foreign workers instead of Singaporeans!

But did Lee Hsien Loong plan properly? Has he considered the impact on the various infrastructure in Singapore? The impact on inadequate Public Transport system? Housing? Hospital care?

During last elections, MBT kept saying that HDB is "affordable" but when I challenged him to a live open debate on this housing issue, he just siam ah! Who pay for PAP's mistake? Our younger generation Singaporeans! When I suggested the Cost-plus pricing mechanism for our young Singaporeans to lower prices of new HDB flats drastically, MBT proclaimed that this would effect a "raid on our reserves"! Well, my simple retort is, when PAP keep increasing their million dollar pay, isn't that also "raid on our reserves"?

Lee Hsien Loong's administration has gone so far to come up with that infamous "6.9 population White Paper" without first solving the immediate mess that his past screwed up economic policy has created! What is he really thinking in his brain?


5 Clear and Present IMMEDIATE Danger of PM Lee's recent Decision...

I am not so sure whether PM Lee has studied physics or not but he should know that for nuclear substance, there is something called "half life". For nuclear substances, half lives can range from over 60 years to almost 100 years. What does this mean? It means that it will take more than 60 years before the nuclear substance is being half, thus, radiation also being halved.

It means that it will not just take a few couple of years for the nuclear leaks in Fukushima to be solved but it will take tens and maybe hundreds of years before nuclear contamination could be minimized in Fukushima!

How can PM Lee decide to lift the ban on food imports from Fukushima right now when even farmers in Fukushima don't even dare to consume their own produce? Is Lee Hsien Loong putting Singaporeans' health is utter danger of nuclear contaminated food?

Why would PM Lee do that? Now, most probably, it is encourage Japan to get into the Trans-Pacific Partnership TPP agreement!

Do we still want a Prime Minister that would put our immediate health in danger just for some economic benefits from a broad free trade agreement which most likely, benefiting mostly Temasek and GIC again?

Conclusion

Apparently Mr. Lee Hsien Loong has completely lost the moral authority to lead Singapore and he has to be removed immediately because his totally bizarre decisions which will not only compromise Singaporeans' jobs but also endanger our lives. If we were to wait until next GE before we could remove him by voting him out, it might be too late as these irreparable and irreversible harm would be entirely instituted into our system.



Goh Meng Seng