This guy penned an open letter to her.
The letter below has been submitted by “John Woo”
Catherine is a noted writer of many fictional articles. She
writes beautiful pieces of drama and I must say I enjoy her latest
“open letter” in just the same way I had her little stories.
I would like to start this letter by assuring you, Catherine –
that we are not in the midst of a crisis where “people no longer
trust their government and the government no longer cares about
regaining their trust”.
If you want an example of misplace of trust, look no further
than our neighbouring countries. Look at Thailand. That my dear
friend, is a case of where people no longer trust their
government.
What you’ve described in your article, really are the workings
of any normal, healthy democracy. Can you imagine a country where
people are absolutely sugar-sweet happy, without troubles? Just
like you, there will always be a segment of people who
disagrees with the government. In the 1960s, the people from
Barisan Sosialis and its supporters also distrusted then PM Lee
Kuan Yew and his team. You tell me, in hindsight, where this has
taken us?
With the amount of reserves Singapore has, this government could
have easily spent its way to electoral success – look at true pork
barrel politics of oil rich nations. But have we? And did we? Could
you even say with a straight face that GIC has mismanaged national
reserves?
As a case in point, let’s look at the recent CPF uproar. The
government could have easily allowed the people to withdraw their
CPF at 55 in order to pacify them. But did it? It didn’t. And it
would not have been responsible of them if they did. Research has
proven that individuals could not manage windfalls and end up
worse-off than if they did not receive the money.
Yes, there were some incidents of graffiti cases, one of them on
the rooftop of Blk 85 Toa Payoh, a first in Singapore. There were
also many strong online criticisms. The number of protests at
Hong Lim Park too has also gone up. And there is public sympathy
for Roy Ngerng.
Don’t you think it is normal? Don’t you think it would be weird
that a healthy democracy does not see expressions such as the
above? To conclude that “Singaporeans no longer trust the
government” based on the above is a naive conclusion. But i’m sure
a learned Doctor such as yourself is not as naive… you’re a
wordsmith and a skilled writer, I’m certain you meant it to do
whatever you meant it to do.
Yes, Roy did receive about $80,000 – of which you attributed to
a “public outpouring of sympathy”. If he was not able to raise this
money, either legally or denied outreach – then we have a huge
problem.
Oh by the way, the President’s Charity of 2013 netted $5million.
That is what I call public outpour.
Yours Sincerely,
John Woo
http://www.fivestarsandamoon.com/your-letters-a-reply-to-catherine/
