Saturday, June 18, 2005
Ok so let's do something about it!
Right. So we have decided to do something about it!
Fifth admenment? Sure we'll support it! I for one, will give carte blanche to every single fucker who wants to voice their opinion, no matter how diverse, how politically incorrect, and no matter how flaming it is.
You want to flame me? I'll take you on, public forums, blogs, newspaper articles etc etc. You see.
It's not that we don't have a diverse view on Singapore.
Check out tomorrow.sg, singaporeink, singabloodypore and thousands and thousands of politically (in)correct books out there such as "This is my home too" By Dr. CSJ (Chee Soon Juan), JBJ and other more recently exiled politicians.
The point is, the government actively discourages political talk and open/diverse views.
Look at Catherine Lim. Want to write political articles? Sorry, section blah blah blah says you have to join a political party to write political articles. You want to air your view in the PAP? sorry dude, you have to follow the party whip.
You want to set up a blog and air your grievances? Sorry dude. We'll threaten to sue you and take your blog down. Case in point: Chen Jiahao.
The point is that, Singapore has too many apathetic citizens in our society today. What happened to roundtable? What happened to political parties? What happened to diverse and different views debated in the open?
You know what? I joined the Youth Roundtable forum. I take part actively in discussions. I bemoan the fact the there are a lot of others like me who have views.
But they don't air them
Why? Fear of rebuttal. Fear of prosecution. Fear of everything and anything the government can throw at you.
The point is, Singapore has become such a staid city that the rulers of this city have carte blanche to do almost everything in the name of "Good"
Casino debate? Fuck I put my fucking name down in the CAsi-NO petition and it didn't even reach the fucking toenails of the cabinet.
You see, we have been cowered, and downright blessed over the past 30 years. Singapore had the luck to have a good and tough leader like LKY in the past 30 years. We had another good leader in GCT.
And now, we have more leaders than ever before. LSL, Balakrishnan, George Yeo. etc etc.
But why are we losing in the global scale? Because after all these years of growth and prosperity, the people have gotten complacent!
We decide not to change, to be more liberal, to have people making decisions for themselves.
We decide we have to be a nanny state. We ban Car racing, car modding, implement COE, ban drugs with death sentences. etc etc etc,
The Point is.
In an open and pragmatic and MATURE society, the people are the ones who decide for themselves, they make their own decisions and the result of their own decisions are their undoing themselves.
You see, we have no such people.
Nowadays, the typical student goes through
6 years of Pri school
4 years of Sec School
2 years of JC/ 3 years of Poly
4 years Uni
Work
Why? Because people are our only resource. Of course. So in order to squeeze out as much from out only resource as possible, we have to exploit them as much as possible. Graduates can't get jobs, Architects are retrenched, Taxi drivers are out of jobs and can't pay their rents.
And we are stuck here. Why? HDB home ownership scheme. COE. Taxes. NS. blah blah blah.
I must applaud the government for making my life so predicatable and easy.
After all, I am lucky. blessed. I managed to climb to almost the top of the socio-economic tree. When I try to make changes to benefit society, I can't. I am not a decision maker. I am constricted by rule number 12024 and various societal norms of a "confucian society".
I manage to be at the very top of a service oriented economy. Where my talents can be rewarded with a $3k a month salary and probably a car (with COE paid) after 2 years of working and a stable job until I am 30 years old.
And while all these is happening, I have to serve my NS reservist and be obligated to serve (because I am bonded to, not necessarily because I have the passion to) my nation.
Now, is this the citizens we want?
Or do we want citizens to have an active role in Singapore? To have buskers by Clarke Quay? To have poets expousing their wares along Bras Basah? To have demonstrations against casinos, to have dissidents against fare hikes, to protest against latest ERP charges, to demand the right to smoke even if it kills us, to have the right to rant against the government?
Or do we want to hold our peace, do what we are obliged to do, do nothing, be apathetic, and have absolutely no qualms living the way we do with the usual complaining?
It's not the complaints. It's the way Singapore IS. My roundtable group is almost dead, with nothing posted on the forums since April. Activists are few and far between. Casino views are held silent and most now AGREE with the "goodness" that casinos will bring our economy. Bus fairs are $144.10 for a typical 4 person family, when I spend almost $80 myself a month.
It's not about stayers and quitters. It's "what is here left to stay for" that begs an answer.
lip
Fifth admenment? Sure we'll support it! I for one, will give carte blanche to every single fucker who wants to voice their opinion, no matter how diverse, how politically incorrect, and no matter how flaming it is.
You want to flame me? I'll take you on, public forums, blogs, newspaper articles etc etc. You see.
It's not that we don't have a diverse view on Singapore.
Check out tomorrow.sg, singaporeink, singabloodypore and thousands and thousands of politically (in)correct books out there such as "This is my home too" By Dr. CSJ (Chee Soon Juan), JBJ and other more recently exiled politicians.
The point is, the government actively discourages political talk and open/diverse views.
Look at Catherine Lim. Want to write political articles? Sorry, section blah blah blah says you have to join a political party to write political articles. You want to air your view in the PAP? sorry dude, you have to follow the party whip.
You want to set up a blog and air your grievances? Sorry dude. We'll threaten to sue you and take your blog down. Case in point: Chen Jiahao.
The point is that, Singapore has too many apathetic citizens in our society today. What happened to roundtable? What happened to political parties? What happened to diverse and different views debated in the open?
You know what? I joined the Youth Roundtable forum. I take part actively in discussions. I bemoan the fact the there are a lot of others like me who have views.
But they don't air them
Why? Fear of rebuttal. Fear of prosecution. Fear of everything and anything the government can throw at you.
The point is, Singapore has become such a staid city that the rulers of this city have carte blanche to do almost everything in the name of "Good"
Casino debate? Fuck I put my fucking name down in the CAsi-NO petition and it didn't even reach the fucking toenails of the cabinet.
You see, we have been cowered, and downright blessed over the past 30 years. Singapore had the luck to have a good and tough leader like LKY in the past 30 years. We had another good leader in GCT.
And now, we have more leaders than ever before. LSL, Balakrishnan, George Yeo. etc etc.
But why are we losing in the global scale? Because after all these years of growth and prosperity, the people have gotten complacent!
We decide not to change, to be more liberal, to have people making decisions for themselves.
We decide we have to be a nanny state. We ban Car racing, car modding, implement COE, ban drugs with death sentences. etc etc etc,
The Point is.
In an open and pragmatic and MATURE society, the people are the ones who decide for themselves, they make their own decisions and the result of their own decisions are their undoing themselves.
You see, we have no such people.
Nowadays, the typical student goes through
6 years of Pri school
4 years of Sec School
2 years of JC/ 3 years of Poly
4 years Uni
Work
Why? Because people are our only resource. Of course. So in order to squeeze out as much from out only resource as possible, we have to exploit them as much as possible. Graduates can't get jobs, Architects are retrenched, Taxi drivers are out of jobs and can't pay their rents.
And we are stuck here. Why? HDB home ownership scheme. COE. Taxes. NS. blah blah blah.
I must applaud the government for making my life so predicatable and easy.
After all, I am lucky. blessed. I managed to climb to almost the top of the socio-economic tree. When I try to make changes to benefit society, I can't. I am not a decision maker. I am constricted by rule number 12024 and various societal norms of a "confucian society".
I manage to be at the very top of a service oriented economy. Where my talents can be rewarded with a $3k a month salary and probably a car (with COE paid) after 2 years of working and a stable job until I am 30 years old.
And while all these is happening, I have to serve my NS reservist and be obligated to serve (because I am bonded to, not necessarily because I have the passion to) my nation.
Now, is this the citizens we want?
Or do we want citizens to have an active role in Singapore? To have buskers by Clarke Quay? To have poets expousing their wares along Bras Basah? To have demonstrations against casinos, to have dissidents against fare hikes, to protest against latest ERP charges, to demand the right to smoke even if it kills us, to have the right to rant against the government?
Or do we want to hold our peace, do what we are obliged to do, do nothing, be apathetic, and have absolutely no qualms living the way we do with the usual complaining?
It's not the complaints. It's the way Singapore IS. My roundtable group is almost dead, with nothing posted on the forums since April. Activists are few and far between. Casino views are held silent and most now AGREE with the "goodness" that casinos will bring our economy. Bus fairs are $144.10 for a typical 4 person family, when I spend almost $80 myself a month.
It's not about stayers and quitters. It's "what is here left to stay for" that begs an answer.
lip
# posted by lip @ 2:23 AM 
