Originally posted by oxford mushroom:
The decision to benchmark Minister's pay was made in the open,
debated in Parliament and the media. It was no hush-hush.
Singaporeans had many opportunities after that to vote out the
ruling party if they objected to the move. THAT DID NOT
HAPPEN.
The debate that happened in
Parliament was not exactly a debate, as there were only two
Opposition Members of Parliament against the entire SINGLE PARTY
dominated Parliament.
The backbenchers from the Ruling Party were hippocrates by laughing
at the objections raised by the two honorable Opposition Members of
Parliament, while some backbenchers from the Ruling Party had also
voiced reservations and objections to this proposal.
Unfortunately, when it came for Parliament to vote on this piece of
legislation, even those from the Ruling Party - who objected to
this atrocious concept of benchmarking Minister's salary - had no
choice but forced by the Party Parliamentary Whip to vote according
to Party decision.
Was the official media allowed to carry the voice of Singaporeans,
or were the official public media propagating louder then the
dissenting voices of the majority of Singaporeans ?
During the subsequent elections, more than half of Singapore's
Population did not participate due to the gerrymeandering of
political boundaries, and changes to the election rules for
political candidates which forced the outcome of many walk-overs in
favor of the Ruling Party.
Were Singaporeans allowed the opportunity of voting on this issue,
or was it over-ridden by vote bribing with promises of upgrading
services ?
If Singapore election rules had followed that of Thailand, our
Elections that have been conducted would have also been declared
void, as there was less than half of the Singaporean population
participating in the election process.
