At the PAP conference held on 24 November 2024, PM Lawrence Wong said that the party must “come out in front” to explain its policies, engage Singaporeans on the issues they care about, and show them why they can trust and depend on the PAP. The postponement of an anticipated GE2024 left some people scratching their heads. The answer may be found here.
A lot of this worrying is actually quite unnecessary. The PAP will definitely form the next government after GE2025. That’s because a good majority of voting Singaporeans are hamsters. They wake up every morning to go run on their wheels. It’s doesn’t matter that they are going nowhere. It doesn’t matter that they will need to run faster and harder even as they age. They are on auto-pilot. They leave all the adjustments, calibrations and directions to the PAP government – the only government they know. As long as they have a wheel to spin and they have food on the table, vouchers to spend and some cheap goodies thrown their way, they are contented. They are the perfect subjects for new age feudalism. Just go around observing and eavesdropping on conversations in the heartlands. Every other person you meet is a hamster and you’ll have a fight on your hands if you try to take the wheel from him.
Not only that, if you try to make the hamster think and question the status quo, he may see you as a dreamy troublemaker who has nothing better to do. The wheel is equated to food and shopping and that’s all the hamsters need. They don’t care about right or wrong, fair or unfair. They just keep on spinning the wheel, completely resigned to it.
To be fair, not all hamsters are exploited. One turn of the wheel only earns peanuts for most hamsters but some hamsters earn a fortune with every spin. For these folks, their wheel of fortune is very much dependent on PAP monopoly and policies. Do they have any alternatives? Perhaps, but they would rather continue doing what they have been doing. So what if there’s a scandal? What do they gain by going against the system or establishment? There are also not too few in this category. Like their lesser hamsters, these hamsters can put up a fight if you threaten the monopoly of those who grant the wheel. Why are folks like me poor? Because I refuse to be a hamster and run on the golden hamster wheel. Who can I blame? Hamsters, regardless of whether they spin rusty wheels or gold-plated wheels, see themselves as workers of a company rather than citizens of a country. No matter how well educated, hamsters do not see themselves as individuals qualified to be involved in any matters concerning government policies. They see those who question as arrogant folks who try to dabble with the job of superior beings. Rightly or wrongly, many hamsters see the civil service as synonymous with the government. The AIM saga gave an indication that the civil service may have “difficulties” working with a government other than the PAP. Even some rebellious hamsters are concerned.
The disgruntled and reluctant hamsters form a very small minority. Even among those ranting on social media, most of them are just griping like a woman about her “hopeless” husband. There are no real plans for divorce. Given this situation, what is there for the PAP to fear? At most they’ll lose a couple of GRCs. They are still guaranteed an overwhelming majority in Parliament. POFMA-like laws, however distasteful, will still get passed facing little opposition. People may make some noise, but only a minority would dare to vote against them. Mr Lawrence Wong may be more worried about how his compatriots in the party will regard him if they see PAP domination slipping.
Unlike the lazy and unambitious hamsters like me, most Singaporean hamsters have no time for “entertainment” like this.
America is not a perfect country. There is fraud, there is abuse of power, there is injustice and there is even corruption. BUT. There are legitimate channels to right the wrongs and expose the cover ups. People like Senator Josh Hawley are not disappeared or POFMAed for challenging the authorities.
Next, for something a little more light-hearted. We have Han Fei Zi 2.0, a Chinese influencer who complained about being rejected entry into Singapore and Malaysia. You can see a comment which says: “Actually she wasn’t wrong, but since she did not take orders, they gave her shit..most immigration act like mafia, u don’t play with them even if you are right”
Yao mo gao chor ah? How can she be right? Visa free entry has its T&C. If you’re caught without a return ticket, you jolly well buy one on the spot. Bargaining with immigration officers to bend the rules for your sake is arrogant and downright disrespectful. There is nothing mafia about following the rules. It’s amazing how many of our local Sinophiles support these misfits.