I came across the following quotes in an article by Chan Joo Yee. The questions for you to ask and ponder are:
a) Do these people really understand you and your plight?
b) Does some introductions in a coffee-shop, old age home, hawker centre mean they are now ‘closer to you?’
c) Is your estate and Town Council management much more important than the national issues that will not only affect you, but your children and their children in future?
d) Are you prepared to gamble 5 more years with them in the hope that they will change overnight and abandon policies you don’t want?
Consider the following quotes by these very men and women who are urging you – to quote the PM, ‘not weaken the PAP team.’ This is what the so-called strong team you elected into power in 2011 had to say about you:
The Quotes:
1. “Singaporeans first policy would not benefit the economy in the long term.”
2.“It’s not the government’s duty to love Singaporeans.”
3.“Contrary to public perception, the White Horse classification is not to ensure that sons of influential men get preferential treatment. Instead it is to ensure that they do not get preferential treatment.”
4.“Retrenchment is good for Singapore. If there is no retrenchment, then I worry.”
5.“NSman’s service to Singapore cannot be measured in dollars and cents.”
6.“Well, everybody has a car, we have two — my wife drives one, I drive one. We are both professionals, we need to travel.”
7. “If you’re lazy and work less, you’ll have less Medisave.”
8.“Save on one hairdo and use the money for breast screening.”
9.“If the annual salary of the Minister of Information, Communications and the Arts is only $500,000, it may pose some problems when he discusses policies with media CEOs who earn millions of dollars because they need not listen to the minister’s ideas and proposals.”
10.“Some cardboard collectors treat it (collection of cardboards) as a form of exercise and activity rather than being cooped up at home.”
11.“How much do you want? Do you want 3 meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?”
12.“It’s not for the money (multiple directorships) because some of the companies pay me as little as $10,000 a year.”
13.“People use democracy as a free-floating abstraction disconnected from reality. Democracy in and of itself is not necessarily good. Gang rape, after all, is democracy in action.”
14.“It would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin.”
15.“CPF is not your money.”
16.“If chicken is expensive, eat fish.”
There’s probably a lot more, but you get the idea. This is the thinking and mind-set of the men and women you sent to Parliament the last time. They can scold, mock and try to do the opposition in – but do remember – who’s the cause of your all your problems now? Is it the opposition or the Govt you have routinely given a blank cheque to do whatever they want, when ever they want? And now they are telling you to consider ‘an enlightened self-interest when you go and vote.’ Is your self interests vis-à-vis your estate amenities, which don’t forget is what is expected of any Govt in power anywhere in the world, or is the national interests and your future as Singaporeans in your own country, more important?
You have a tough choice and decision to make – think carefully and vote wisely.
Sir Nelspruit
* The author blogs at Anyhow Hantam.
Source: www.tremeritus.com
