Happy Labour Day. It’s also the eve of Cooling Off Day and PM Lawrence Wong had used his May Day address to send some “coded” messages across.
He cautioned voters about the risks of losing key ministers, saying, “Please, please have a care for our country and for the well-being and livelihoods of every Singaporean.” Using a football analogy, Lawrence Wong compared the government’s team to a starting XI, warning that losing three or four main players would hamper the team’s performance.
“It’s the same in any organisation, and it will be so in our next Cabinet if we end up with such a loss,” he explained. This was not the first time he had given Singaporeans that warning. Check out his rally speech.
If it’s going to be disastrous for us if we lose those ministers, then please, PM Lawrence Wong, save us by sending them to Marine Parade. Why did you send Gan Kim Yong to Punggol and at the last minute to boot? Aren’t you the one gambling at our expense and then gaslighting us into thinking that it’s our fault if we don’t go along with your moves? This is really pathetic but wait a minute. There’s more.
The newsPAPer said:
Asked about WP chief Pritam Singh’s criticism of the PAP’s use of “negative politics”, such as by denying opposition MPs access to People’s Association (PA) resources, PM Wong characterised this as an issue of policy and not negative politics.
“I’m sure there will continue to be debates on PA’s role, which we have always explained is non-partisan, and it helps to strengthen social capital in Singapore,” he said.
Somebody said that PLPs are brainless I don’t think so. The things they don’t have are principles and are fully capable of 睁着眼睛说瞎话. One Mr Chang Zi Qian posted a powerful rebuttal to Lawrence Wong’s claim about the PA.
Even the PLPs don’t deny it. What many of them can’t understand is, why am I not on their side when the benefits are so obvious? This is what distinguishes me from a PLP – principles. Then the other day, a PLP friend of mine posted a comment asking everyone to send a strong message to the WP for having a leader who lied under oath. We can’t argue against guilt since the court has already decided. But what actually happened here? As usual, the PLPs are only good at slapping simplistic labels on others. What I see is the case of a leader covering up for a mistake made by a rookie. Sure, it’s not right, but which benevolent soul in the position of leadership hadn’t done that?
Another statement that shocked me was Gan Kim Yong saying that if he is elected, Lawrence Wong being his good friend will be able to provide funding for Punggol that he will request. What? Is Teo Chee Hean not a good friend of PM Lee Hsien Loong? Why did it have to wait for Gan Kim Yong to be elected before the funding could be approved? In fact, one shouldn’t need to be a good friend of PM Lawrence Wong to get funding for Punggol. What happened to meritocracy and fair play? Is this some kind of mafia? What Pritam Singh said resonates with my principles and sense of morality: “As a Singaporean, I expect fair allocation of taxpayer resources to all our people. And the civil service will allocate funds and projects fairly.”
Truth be told, the Worker’s Party is not my favourite opposition party. Their manifesto is too PAP-like and I find them lacking fire. But at least they don’t insult our intelligence by saying that the PA is non-partisan. Nobody is perfect and I would definitely choose someone caught covering up a rookie’s mistake over someone who keeps gaslighting me and insulting my intelligence. There is a message I posted repeatedly on social media: “only votes count”.
My son will be voting for the first time. He may be young, but he could see through all that disingenuous smoke screens and gaslighting. But misplaced optimism and complacency occur when many people see the overwhelming turnout at opposition rallies. People can be lulled into thinking that the opposition will win all seats. Those of us who are old birds will know that the feel on the ground and on social media can be very deceiving. Lawrence Wong and his team have enough eggs on their faces, but make no mistake, people will still vote for them. The kiasu, the kiasi and the gian png. In various combinations, they form the majority in Singapore. Whose life has gotten better over the last 10 years? For people in their 50s and 60s, I doubt there are too many. The trouble with some elderly PLPs is the irony that while they recognise that the PAP’s policies are the root cause of their problems, they also believe that bandaids are better than nothing and only the PAP can afford so many band-aids. There is no courage to vote for a fundamental change. People are too kiasu and kiasi and are gian png enough to accept band-aid “solutions”. Don’t just look at the opposition platforms. Look at the PLP platforms. The folks there may not have much in the way of rhetoric, but all they need to do is to mark a cross and propagate our misery. My optimism is guarded. I can only hope for the best, but I truly believe that there are many talented candidates on the opposition who deserve to be in Parliament, much more than the generals and ex civil servants on the other side. I expect the results to disappoint, but I remain happy in the minority.
It was my last day at NUS yesterday. I received a parting gift in the form of an anthology of poetry by local poets. One of the contributors was Goh Poh Seng (1936-2010). My review of the novel The Immolation by Goh Poh Seng. It’s a piece of work that Singaporeans can be proud of, but remember, Dr Goh was an exile.