A nation of Golden Calf worshippers

robertteh SG

In the word of ex-chief minister, David Marshall, the payments of the highest salary rewards to ministers has been regarded somewhat as Golden Calf worshipping.

It is indeed a great wisdom of a great man who could see what monies could do to harm humanity and service to fellow human beings as no great man should be equated to monies which could never replace his cause and passion and love of service to fellow human beings.

David Marshal's reference to the worshipping of the Golden Calf is especially true as monies can be extremely intoxicating to ordinary mortals. When one is intoxicated by monies, there is the end of all humanity as past that point where human turns to satisfy his every need in monies and materialism, there is no more value left in that human being.

The leaders who can be measured and bought by monies will never understand humanity, magnanimity, grace, community spirit, service with honour, spirit of unity and bonding. All the other talks about leadership and talents will be simply in vain if leadership is devoid of the foregoing qualities.

Outwardly while they still possess all the external quality like academic excellence inwardly his entire value for fellow human will be degraded and equated to his material gains and measured in how much money he earns for his service.

Not only monies will take control of their lives, they will bring up a whole generation who will ape the same behaviour. Every one will jump for the highest paid jobs with as little effort as possible to serve fellow humans with distinction.

If one is an entrepreneur, it is a totally different kettle of fish because if one has that spirit to be an entrepreneur he will be better off joining the private sector and be a businessman or chieftain one day in the business world. While can't all such persons be left alone and why must any government try to induce him to join any cause which requires passion and non-monetary commitment.

In our case, our leaders simply got all the value system and the differences of the two different sectors all mixed up treating everyone as the same kettle of money-worshipping in the private sector.

Atobe SG

By the late 1980s, the late Rajaratnam had observed that Singaporeans have begun to be obsesses with the material things in life that can be gained by the pursuit of money.

This change in social behaviour seems to be pushed by the Government in its efforts to drive up the wages, so as to forced the industries to be less dependant on low wage cost, and move into high-tech industries producing higher value added products.

Unfortunately, the push for higher wages infected the imagination of the Singaporeans, and soon everyone has the same desire for higher wages.

With LKY topping up this money chase in his declaration of raising the salary planned for the Ministers, Civil Servants, and a whole string of deserving individual Singaporeans.

This development resulted in the late Rajaratnam calling this indulging pursuit as 'Monehtheism'.