A pity you left S'pore 30 yrs ago. I am quite certain you would have made it as an opposition politican in S'pore. Maybe even into parliament.
Hello Brother [GoldenDragon],
Although based on the PAP's criteria, I am not as qualified as many of the candidates, I am flattered by your generous and kind compliment (if I take you seriously, on this occasion). I have been away for more than 30 years, and for whatever reason, my heart is still in Singapore notwithstanding that it is not the Singapore I loved and knew.
On hindsight, may be what you have written may reflect my then youthful dream(s) and aspirations. I recall my mother told me during one of my earlier visits to Singapore: "It may be better for you to be Canada". To me, it was a happy but yet sad moment because realistically, very few parents would like to see their children emigrate. However, given the political climate of Singapore in the early 1980's, I would be foolish to not consider and evaluate the costs versus benefits of a financially poor candidate, regardless standing as an independent or with the blessings and support of a more established political party.
In addition, although I consider my English to be above average, I am not as good and sharp as many other individuals in our generation. Although my spoken Malay is good for someone whose parents are of Chinese descent, my Mandarin went downhill after Primary One.
Frankly, I must thank the work and non-work experience as well as interaction in Canada which, in my respectful view, gave me a broad and deep appreciation and perspective of the world. This does not put lesser importance on the value of my formal education in Singapore, interaction with university students residing at Raffles Hall (then located at Nassim Road), my old friends from the SAF (there a few whom I still enjoy open and frank discussions for hours whenever we meet), and new friends whom I cherished meeting and discussing various matters whenever I visit Singapore.
Often times, several friends in Singapore as well as my spouse, continue to remind me that I no longer reside in Singapore, and that I should not spend so much time to keep abreast with and to comment on matters pertaining to Singapore.
My sincere wish for Singaporeans is that, hopefully during our lifetime, the government will continue to improve vis-a-vis the Singapore Pledge, and:
1. consider spending a small portion of its huge reserves to help the lower two deciles (based on income) of the population;
2. conduct an immediate review of several of the government policies, especially those pertaining to foreign workers, eligibility for permanent residence and citizenship (vis-a-vis, NS obligations, foreigners benefitting from the generosity of SG scholarship but using Singapore as a stepping stone to emigrate to their first choice destination country), overall infrastructure vis-a-vis their projected ideal population, over emphasis of the "Scholar and Administrative Service" (for example: how do you expect a 30 year old scholar cum Deputy Secretary or whatever senior title he or she may hold to make sound policies when he or she may not have lived the life of an average Singaporean - taking public transportation and lived amongst the "commoners" as a child, student, and adult) etc., and take steps to address the valid concerns of Singaporeans;
3. give more credit to Singaporeans, whether scholars, "educated" or considered not so educated and regardless of race and religion, and take concrete steps to make Singapore a more inclusive society;
4. re-consider the issues arising from the 2011 General Elections, and take steps to address the concerns of the Singapore citizens, especially as it pertains to the huge annual compensation for politicians, civil servants, judiciary, and senior officers in the SAF and SPF, medicare, extremely expensive cost of housing, public transportation, spending significant sums of money on scholarship for foreigners, opportunities for Singaporeans in local universities (especially medical school), etc.
Unfortunately, we did not meet again when I was in Singapore, to discuss a few of the above matters. May be during my next visit.