THE PAST
It all started with a man who has been able to put his thoughts
into action. His country has been asked to leave the Malaya
Federation. His pain is to ensure that he would show the world
what he is capable of. He put into motion the re-engineering of a
country called Singapore.
He is brilliant, no doubt about it. He capitalized on the human
resource as there are no natural resources found on that little red
dot. He played on peoples fears. He cajoled them, he built fear in
them for not succeeding and he promised them a better tomorrow. Bit
by bit the pieces fell into place. Some pieces are tough, and some
are not. The people rallied around, hoping for a better
future.
Unfortunately, he found a weakness in his fellow countrymen. He
realized that as people get a taste of a better life, they are
willing to forego their principles. So he started building good
roads, nice flats, clean streets, crime-free environment and etc.
The Economy is used as a backdrop to show the successes in terms of
$$$. The emotional blackmail had begun. As with everything in life,
it started off step by step.
THE PRESENT
The Singapore today is vibrant, clean and safe. I did not mention
successful as how do you really measure success when the billions
that are accumulated are frittered away investing in foreign lands
on projects like Suzhou, Optus, Shin Corp and god knows how many
more. The shortfall in the performance of the Govt. is clear for
everyone to see. However, the emotional blackmail is now at a very
advanced stage.
The people knows the failure of the government, from the Ah Soh in
the kopi tiam to the Ah Chek who sells Chye Tow Kway. You could
always overhear them saying Cheng Hu this! and Cheng Hu that!. But
why do they still vote for them when the elections are called? This
is not only restricted to the hawkers, it also plays in the minds
of 66.6% of the population. ASK YOURSELF THIS! WHO ARE YOU GOING TO
VOTE FOR IF YOUR VOTE IS GOING TO 1) AFFECT YOUR CHILDRENS FUTURE
2) AFFECT YOUR ABILITY TO MAKE ENOUGH MONEY FOR YOUR OWN FUTURE 3)
AFFECT THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF YOUR LIFE eq. CLEAN STREETS,
EFFICIENT PUBLIC TRANSPORT, CRIME FREE ETC. You throw out your
principles! We have become a drug addict of the environment. How
often do you hear Singaporeans complaining against many countries
they have visited? How often do you hear things like so dirty! so
inefficient! so corrupted! All these are exactly what the
government wants to hear. If Singaporeans are so proud of these
factors, they will never want to change it, and together with it;
never change the establishment too.
The current unhappiness over the Increase in Ministers Salary
stems from every citizens observation of the hardship that goes on
around them. They see old people hardly making ends meet,
neighbors electricity being cut, etc. The people are now willing
to give their two cents worth of opinion as I believe many of them
are now saying enough is enough! The emotional blackmail is still
playing in the background; ensuring that they will not over
protest.
So you see, the Singapore enigma is very interesting. I believe
there are people out there who are following this development over
the many years to see the conclusion.
THE FUTURE
It will be for another time and date.
Cheers!