Forget about the rhetoric and forget about the divisive campaign with the name calling and all of its negativity. Instead, take a step back and look at what the Trump win can mean to us ordinary Singaporeans.
Here is a man who has absolutely never held any form of political office before. Not as even as a Mayor, councilman, or state representative. He has zero experience in politics and zero experience in any form of public administration. Add to this is the fact that he has never served in the military either. But yet he won election over an opponent who had decades of political office experience, including at a very high level as Secretary of State.
He won despite a media that was much skewed against him and whose coverage was 90% pro-Clinton and almost completely negative against him. In fact, CNN might as well be known as Clinton News Network. Why were Americans not afraid to vote for him in large numbers? Why were they not afraid that he has no experience in government?
Let’s look at it in the Singapore context. We have been deluged by a stream of PAP propaganda proclaiming that they were the most experienced politicians around and the most qualified and therefore should be regularly re-elected and at the same time be paid millions of $. Well, it turns out that you don’t actually need any experience or qualifications for public office at all to run for the most powerful country in the world. Is it possible that a small country like Singapore, with much less complexities could also be run by someone with no qualifications and experience? The answer is a resounding YES. After all, Corazon Aquino, a housewife, basically ran for and won the Presidency of the Philippines after her husband was assassinated. Lee Kuan Yew himself never held any political office nor was even in the public service when he won election as Prime Minister. So, why can’t the same thing happen in Singapore?
Like the Americans, who have endured decades of being ruled by The Establishment, and were sick and tired of not being listened to by their own govt., Singaporeans are reaching this breaking point too. The PAP does not listen to its people and have not done so for a long time. In fact, none other then Lee Wei Ling, the Prime Minister’s own sister, has stated “This current government is not like previous PAP governments”. And that it is taking action not in the best welfare of its people. The govt. did not listen when we did not want 6.9 million people, and they will not listen when we tell them we don’t want the next target of 10 million people either. The voice of Singaporeans in affairs of state and other matters have been ignored and sidetracked for years. When the people tell the PAP that they are afraid that FTs will steal their jobs (this fear has come true), they were ignored and told that FTs will miraculously create jobs instead. When the people told the PAP that gambling is a vice and that the 2 largest casinos in SE Asia should not be located here, they were once again ignored. In fact, the people are ignored on every major policy decision that impacts them. They are increasingly disenfranchised and disillusioned.
Of course there is a percentage of Singaporeans who think that he PAP can do no wrong; these are not dissimilar to diehard Clinton supporters. There are also Singaporeans who hold their nose up and vote PAP because they think that the opposition cannot successfully run a govt. And then there are the 30% of electorate that will never support the PAP. What Trump’s win tells you is not to worry about all of that. It matters not if the opposition candidate has a military track record as a retired general (because Trump himself never was in the military), nor has been holding some political office for donkey number of years. The Singapore voter simply has to look at the personal and career track record of the candidate. The candidate Donald Trump, despite what you think of him, has successfully run a multibillion dollar business empire. Whether he is a teacher, lawyer, doctor, etc. does not matter. Americans want to see a successful person in their chosen field. Singaporeans should look for the same at the next elections too. They should look at the real world and life experience of the candidate and not look for things that the PAP tells them to look for. These things are meaningless. Looking at Trump’s education, you see he when has only a Bachelor degree in a field related to his career, instead of the Masters degree and higher that PAP politicians have in fields not related to their careers. Which makes more sense? Trump’s paper qualification or the unrelated paper qualifications of PAP’s candidates.
Some of you might argue that Trump’s moral fibre is simply not there, and that he is not a nice person. Well, I have news for you. The world is not a safe place. All we have been doing is sending PAP choir boys in white, brought up in a very sheltered system into the world, and in the end, China is mad at us, as is the Philippines, and on occasion, the Indonesians and the Malaysians too. Perhaps it’s time we send our own viper out into the world to do battle with other vipers instead of sending a mouse. So, even of the next opposition candidate has alleged moral shortcomings, ignore them. The Americans did.
Perhaps the main point that Singaporeans should take away from a Trump victory is that Americans do not fear the consequences. They know that the day after he takes office, the planes will still fly, buses and trains will still run, schools will open, and everything will be as it is. Should a Trump like event happen in Singapore, I am here to tell you that everything that you see and take for granted everyday will remain the same. Just like in the US, the MRT will run, taxis will be available, police will be available, and schools will open, etc.
Trump himself is building a team to be in his administration. He is tapping qualified and experienced people to help him run the govt. He knows that he cannot do it all himself. Just like he identified and recruited talented people to run his business empire, he is doing the same for the governing of America. The same will happen if an opposition candidate with no experience is elected. He or she will also likewise tap qualified and smart people to run the govt. We have the budget to hire the best economist, engineers and managers to run this country, if local talent is not avaialable. It’s better to do it this way then the PAP way which is to give lots of money to ex SAF scholar generals who have no qualifications, and to let them run enterprises into the ground. So, be not afraid to make this choice if the opportunity comes at the next election.
……… for the next election will see the PAP at its most vulnerable. Lee Hsien Loong will be putting up a slate of new and sometimes untested next gen leaders, and for once in many decades, a member of the Lee family will not be in govt. This is as best as it will get. The pain is here now. Just like the pain was there for Americans in such quantity that they felt like they had to vote Trump. Look around us. Sometimes, we feel we are in a different country, and that we are a minority. Would we have trains as crowded as this if they were only 3.5 million Singaporeans on the island? Would there be as many layoffs and retrenchment if there were no FTs here taking our jobs? Would we have to wait that long for medical care if hospitals attended to only Singaporeans? Would our children be able to more easily get in the university that they want if there if there were no space reserved for foreign students with free scholarships? This list goes on, but you get the idea. Our pain has arrived now.
SO, look to the Americans for inspiration. It’s time we took this country back for ourselves. Just my 2 cents.
Here is a man who has absolutely never held any form of political office before. Not as even as a Mayor, councilman, or state representative. He has zero experience in politics and zero experience in any form of public administration. Add to this is the fact that he has never served in the military either. But yet he won election over an opponent who had decades of political office experience, including at a very high level as Secretary of State.
He won despite a media that was much skewed against him and whose coverage was 90% pro-Clinton and almost completely negative against him. In fact, CNN might as well be known as Clinton News Network. Why were Americans not afraid to vote for him in large numbers? Why were they not afraid that he has no experience in government?
Let’s look at it in the Singapore context. We have been deluged by a stream of PAP propaganda proclaiming that they were the most experienced politicians around and the most qualified and therefore should be regularly re-elected and at the same time be paid millions of $. Well, it turns out that you don’t actually need any experience or qualifications for public office at all to run for the most powerful country in the world. Is it possible that a small country like Singapore, with much less complexities could also be run by someone with no qualifications and experience? The answer is a resounding YES. After all, Corazon Aquino, a housewife, basically ran for and won the Presidency of the Philippines after her husband was assassinated. Lee Kuan Yew himself never held any political office nor was even in the public service when he won election as Prime Minister. So, why can’t the same thing happen in Singapore?
Like the Americans, who have endured decades of being ruled by The Establishment, and were sick and tired of not being listened to by their own govt., Singaporeans are reaching this breaking point too. The PAP does not listen to its people and have not done so for a long time. In fact, none other then Lee Wei Ling, the Prime Minister’s own sister, has stated “This current government is not like previous PAP governments”. And that it is taking action not in the best welfare of its people. The govt. did not listen when we did not want 6.9 million people, and they will not listen when we tell them we don’t want the next target of 10 million people either. The voice of Singaporeans in affairs of state and other matters have been ignored and sidetracked for years. When the people tell the PAP that they are afraid that FTs will steal their jobs (this fear has come true), they were ignored and told that FTs will miraculously create jobs instead. When the people told the PAP that gambling is a vice and that the 2 largest casinos in SE Asia should not be located here, they were once again ignored. In fact, the people are ignored on every major policy decision that impacts them. They are increasingly disenfranchised and disillusioned.
Of course there is a percentage of Singaporeans who think that he PAP can do no wrong; these are not dissimilar to diehard Clinton supporters. There are also Singaporeans who hold their nose up and vote PAP because they think that the opposition cannot successfully run a govt. And then there are the 30% of electorate that will never support the PAP. What Trump’s win tells you is not to worry about all of that. It matters not if the opposition candidate has a military track record as a retired general (because Trump himself never was in the military), nor has been holding some political office for donkey number of years. The Singapore voter simply has to look at the personal and career track record of the candidate. The candidate Donald Trump, despite what you think of him, has successfully run a multibillion dollar business empire. Whether he is a teacher, lawyer, doctor, etc. does not matter. Americans want to see a successful person in their chosen field. Singaporeans should look for the same at the next elections too. They should look at the real world and life experience of the candidate and not look for things that the PAP tells them to look for. These things are meaningless. Looking at Trump’s education, you see he when has only a Bachelor degree in a field related to his career, instead of the Masters degree and higher that PAP politicians have in fields not related to their careers. Which makes more sense? Trump’s paper qualification or the unrelated paper qualifications of PAP’s candidates.
Some of you might argue that Trump’s moral fibre is simply not there, and that he is not a nice person. Well, I have news for you. The world is not a safe place. All we have been doing is sending PAP choir boys in white, brought up in a very sheltered system into the world, and in the end, China is mad at us, as is the Philippines, and on occasion, the Indonesians and the Malaysians too. Perhaps it’s time we send our own viper out into the world to do battle with other vipers instead of sending a mouse. So, even of the next opposition candidate has alleged moral shortcomings, ignore them. The Americans did.
Perhaps the main point that Singaporeans should take away from a Trump victory is that Americans do not fear the consequences. They know that the day after he takes office, the planes will still fly, buses and trains will still run, schools will open, and everything will be as it is. Should a Trump like event happen in Singapore, I am here to tell you that everything that you see and take for granted everyday will remain the same. Just like in the US, the MRT will run, taxis will be available, police will be available, and schools will open, etc.
Trump himself is building a team to be in his administration. He is tapping qualified and experienced people to help him run the govt. He knows that he cannot do it all himself. Just like he identified and recruited talented people to run his business empire, he is doing the same for the governing of America. The same will happen if an opposition candidate with no experience is elected. He or she will also likewise tap qualified and smart people to run the govt. We have the budget to hire the best economist, engineers and managers to run this country, if local talent is not avaialable. It’s better to do it this way then the PAP way which is to give lots of money to ex SAF scholar generals who have no qualifications, and to let them run enterprises into the ground. So, be not afraid to make this choice if the opportunity comes at the next election.
……… for the next election will see the PAP at its most vulnerable. Lee Hsien Loong will be putting up a slate of new and sometimes untested next gen leaders, and for once in many decades, a member of the Lee family will not be in govt. This is as best as it will get. The pain is here now. Just like the pain was there for Americans in such quantity that they felt like they had to vote Trump. Look around us. Sometimes, we feel we are in a different country, and that we are a minority. Would we have trains as crowded as this if they were only 3.5 million Singaporeans on the island? Would there be as many layoffs and retrenchment if there were no FTs here taking our jobs? Would we have to wait that long for medical care if hospitals attended to only Singaporeans? Would our children be able to more easily get in the university that they want if there if there were no space reserved for foreign students with free scholarships? This list goes on, but you get the idea. Our pain has arrived now.
SO, look to the Americans for inspiration. It’s time we took this country back for ourselves. Just my 2 cents.
