[h=2]The Greatest Irony: Singapore and China in the same bed![/h]
September 3rd, 2012 |
Author: Contributions
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, what do they have in common? On the face of it, PAP is a diehard ‘anti-communist’ party and Communist China is an avowed socialist country that used to call capitalists running dogs.
Now what do we make of the proud announcement by Prime Minister Lee that he will be speaking at the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Party School to be followed by a Q&A session where many up and coming Chinese officials attending will be be expected to have a ‘lively exchange’ (in his own words) with him. The Central Party School is a nest of hardcore party cadres still living in the past when they believed power comes out from the barrel of a gun as articulated by Chairman Mao, the number one killer in the world with at least 70 million deaths to his name. The number two killer is Stalin with 50 million deaths to his name. Third in line is Hitler with 30 million deaths.
This must be the greatest irony in Singapore’s history. Only not too long ago the ruling party was locking up everyone even remotely connected to communism including displaying any signs of socialism. The Marxist Conspiracy was an excuse to lock up a whole bunch of people who can’t even spell the words communism or socialism properly to save their own lives.
So what is it that Singapore and China have in common? If you answered Chinese you can go back to the class and continue your sleep there. When the ruling party was consolidating its power in the fifties and sixties it did everything in its power to get rid of the ‘Chineseness’ in the Chinese. Its culture was derided and language neutered. The government got rid of all the Chinese schools and Nanyang University was transformed from a lively excellent Academic school into a soulless Technical school.
What the Singapore government has in common with the Chinese government is their inability to tolerate dissension and criticisms. In politics, this is called dictatorship. Not a single dictator in the history of the world has been able to resist crushing dissenting voices when it gets too loud.
The world’s greatest murderers Mao, Stalin and Hitler wore different political badges made in the same factory. They even fought each other at times or conveniently colluded when they shared common interests: Stalin and Hitler crushed Poland jointly during Second World War. Their political affiliations may be confusing but there is one common thread running through them: dictatorship.
All dictators will at various times encourage dissenting voices to identify themselves and come forth to share their grievances so that the government can take care of it and fix it. Woe betide the person that take such clarion calls at face value. Something will be fixed but you can be sure it wouldn’t be your problems.
The current mass media onslaught against online anonymity in Singapore is the typical response one would expect from people that don’t examine the content but choose to question the messenger instead. The dictator’s knee jerk reaction to criticism is a standard fare in their modus operandi. This SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is so ingrained they will question their own mother warning of dangers ahead on the road they are travelling.
So, exactly what kind of lively exchanges can we expect to see between Prime Minister Lee and the aspiring dictators in the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Party School?
The world’s first economist, Adam Smith explained: “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty or justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.”
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Revisitor
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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, what do they have in common? On the face of it, PAP is a diehard ‘anti-communist’ party and Communist China is an avowed socialist country that used to call capitalists running dogs.
Now what do we make of the proud announcement by Prime Minister Lee that he will be speaking at the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Party School to be followed by a Q&A session where many up and coming Chinese officials attending will be be expected to have a ‘lively exchange’ (in his own words) with him. The Central Party School is a nest of hardcore party cadres still living in the past when they believed power comes out from the barrel of a gun as articulated by Chairman Mao, the number one killer in the world with at least 70 million deaths to his name. The number two killer is Stalin with 50 million deaths to his name. Third in line is Hitler with 30 million deaths.
This must be the greatest irony in Singapore’s history. Only not too long ago the ruling party was locking up everyone even remotely connected to communism including displaying any signs of socialism. The Marxist Conspiracy was an excuse to lock up a whole bunch of people who can’t even spell the words communism or socialism properly to save their own lives.
So what is it that Singapore and China have in common? If you answered Chinese you can go back to the class and continue your sleep there. When the ruling party was consolidating its power in the fifties and sixties it did everything in its power to get rid of the ‘Chineseness’ in the Chinese. Its culture was derided and language neutered. The government got rid of all the Chinese schools and Nanyang University was transformed from a lively excellent Academic school into a soulless Technical school.
What the Singapore government has in common with the Chinese government is their inability to tolerate dissension and criticisms. In politics, this is called dictatorship. Not a single dictator in the history of the world has been able to resist crushing dissenting voices when it gets too loud.
The world’s greatest murderers Mao, Stalin and Hitler wore different political badges made in the same factory. They even fought each other at times or conveniently colluded when they shared common interests: Stalin and Hitler crushed Poland jointly during Second World War. Their political affiliations may be confusing but there is one common thread running through them: dictatorship.
All dictators will at various times encourage dissenting voices to identify themselves and come forth to share their grievances so that the government can take care of it and fix it. Woe betide the person that take such clarion calls at face value. Something will be fixed but you can be sure it wouldn’t be your problems.
The current mass media onslaught against online anonymity in Singapore is the typical response one would expect from people that don’t examine the content but choose to question the messenger instead. The dictator’s knee jerk reaction to criticism is a standard fare in their modus operandi. This SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is so ingrained they will question their own mother warning of dangers ahead on the road they are travelling.
So, exactly what kind of lively exchanges can we expect to see between Prime Minister Lee and the aspiring dictators in the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Party School?
The world’s first economist, Adam Smith explained: “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty or justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.”
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Revisitor
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