Preserving a Dynasty

Surprise surprise. MM Lee came out to say (according to today's ST, a government controlled sycophonic publication that for the lack of a good competitor has passed off as a "newspaper" for decades) that his ambition is "not to preserve PAP" but "to keep a system that works."

RIGHT. I suppose Stalin could said the same of his policies and actions that they were meant to "preserve communism and not his grip on power." Everyone can see who are the people who holds the reins of power and money in Singapore. Coincidence?

But moving on, the things he argued all could not stand up to scrutiny. For example, he said that the electorate wants the PAP in power but want an opposition to "squeeze" the government. The simple fact that he used the word "squeeze" showed that he thought it was a bad thing even though he conceded in a grudging statement later "Well, that's all right." Apparently, his mind could not comprehend the meaning of "checks and balances" which more important than allowing people to elect their government defines democracy. Afterall, communist countries like China do allow for elections, it is just that there is only one legal party.

And of course, having the opposition to CHECK on the government is not "all right" with him as evidenced by how he had slammed good and credible opposition politicians like Low Thia Khiang and Chiam See Tong. But since he is the God of Singapore, no one would have the balls, much less the eunuchs in ST to point out to him such a disparity (to put it mildly) between words and action.

The God then went on to say that, "But if they [the opposition] become the government, that's real trouble" and "Our problem really is how to make the electorate sufficiently wise and sophisticated to understand that these are the limits."

Okay. It doesn't take a lot of reading between the lines to understand that these "limits" refer to the number of opposition party members the people should put into the government and that "wise and sophisticated" means pro-PAP. Now, let's put that side by side with his earlier sentence about "his ambition is not to preserve PAP". Anyway, he doesn't have to worry much about that. The two eunuch organizations SPH and Mediacorp are already doing an excellent job in ensuring that people remain "sufficiently wise and sophisticated". One only needs to turn to the Insight Section on Saturday ST to find all the "political commentaries" that in spirit if not in style so closely resembles the responses published by ministries' corporate communications departments when government policies are under criticism. And of course that whole statement also imply that Singaporeans are not YET "sufficiently wise and sophisticated" and so we are like children who do not know what is good for themselves. If he so insults the intelligence of the people in any democratic country with truly independent press, the next day would see everyone hounding for an "explanation" and for an apology. But I can bet my last dollar that here nobody notices.

There is more. The God later said that the EP or Elected Presidency is important because it prevents the government from misusing the reserves. Now let's see, the last President who requested for a national accounting of all the assets was denied by the government and he got so upset with the whole matter that he said he was not able to do his job to guard the reserves of Singapore if he could not even have a sense of WHAT there is. Due to this tense relations with the ruling party, he did not even get a state funeral when he died and I maintained that this ex-president is much more deserving of a state funeral than the late Wee Kim Wee having done much more for Singapore as DPM, Transport Minister and Secretary General of the Union.

"Even with an Elected President, if they win a second time, the reserves are open, because THEY CAN THEN ARRANGE FOR THEIR PRESIDENT TO BE ELECTED..."
I remember that we the people have not had the chance to elect a president for 2 terms.

"The day we can produce an opposition of the same quality as us, that day we are in a safer condition." Silly me, I almost missed the important point that a good opposition has to be endorsed by the ruling party.

But whatever it is, it has been one entertaining article to read and maybe in an ironic sense almost "reassuring". When speaking to foreign businessmen and delegates who have on and off visited Singapore, they always remarked that things change so fast here. Perhaps they forgot or missed the part that the hardware may change but the software or at least the OS or Operating System of this country remains in the same version as it was in 1965. Talk about time capsule....