An aspiration, a noble one, but still only an aspiration
nonetheless.
An aspiration only till each and everyone of us, from young to
old, understand fully what 'democracy' and 'equality' means, and
espacially its RESPONSIBILITIES, our pledge will only be the
guiding light and path we must aim towards.
Pragmatism still rules, espacially in grey and muddled waters.
To claim achievement of democracy without resolving or
understanding our responsibilities to each other, to our society,
is to be delusional and need to be brought back to practical Earth
ground.
But the Utopian dream still lives on and see fruitation one day,
as we make our oath to our society each day and attempt to live it,
flawed humans that we are.
Did you deliberately miss out mentioning "JUSTICE" in your
reply - which mentioned much about "democracy and equality"
requiring RESPONSIBILITIES from all the Singaporean
Citizens ?
Are Singaporeans not entitled to "JUSTICE" - or are
there similar conditions before justice can be dispensed to
Singaporeans ?
Are there no justice available to the politicians from the
Alternative Political Parties - who have made so much
personal sacrifices for Singapore and Singaporeans ?
Is there no justice for Lim Chin Siong and his generation
detained without trial - especially Chia Thye Poh who was
detained for 32 years and released without even his signature on a
piece of paper to admit to all the false charges ?
What about justice for JBJ, CSJ and all those accused
by LKY and the ISD to be Communists in the Catholics Church in
Siglap ?
What about justice for Ryan Goh
- the leading member who had represented the interests of
the Singapore Airline Pilot Association
“Alpha-S” - and was forced to leave Singapore
with his family ?
It is a fallacy to believe that democracy and
equality will exist only when citizens have some or complete
understanding of the responsibilities involved.
Can the principles of democracy and equality be traded according
to someone's determination or judgment of the achieved levels of
responsibilities ?
Democracy and equality are sacred to any society - and more so
in a multi-racial society like Singapore - as was intended in S
Rajaratnam's perception in the pledge that came about from the
aftermath of the racial riots in 1963.
A community of citizens gives of themselves to protect each
other in the Community, and the citizens will expect their
Community to protect the Rights of these citizens with
democratic values, justice and equality.
The responsibility works both ways and applicable to every
single individual.
In the understanding of LKY - who hide behind the spectre of the
riots in the 1950s and 1960s which were consistently created by
those in authority - he had reasoned that the Singapore Pledge
is only an aspiration.
If at all, the fact is that any government policies
that adopt the declared principles of Democracy, Justice
and Equality - will only challenge and weaken LKY's
carefully crafted position for the PAP to continue dominating
Singapore.
In LKY's views - it seems that it is right for the
Community to expect the Individual to make sacrifices for the
Community, but it is wrong for the Individual
to expect the Community to give any democratic
values, justice and equality as the automatic right of the
Individual.
It is the Right of the Community to seek the services of the
Individual, but not the Individual's Right to seek services or
protection from the Community.
This skewed and parsimonious value in
the dispensation of the Individual's Rights can only be
designed to hold to ransom all the indivdiduals in a
community.
Now the reason is clear for the reasons in the PAP taking
actions in bastardising the Singapore Constitution - by
changing the clearly expressed basic principles of the minimum
Citizen's Rights.
