My Parents and trh annuak ND Rally

[scroobal]

Without the exception the National Day Rally by the Prime Minister is that time of the year when my parents would look forward to it with a mix of religious and patriotic fervour.

The first prime minister would use it to highlight the dangers ahead, share his thoughts on many things, some controversial, some quirky but certainly innovative. The report card would be read and when the rally ends, he would have them completely in his hands. The admiration, adulation , the respect and the the faith in him was absolute. The sins would be dismissed or buried in the deep recceses of their minds.

The second Prime Minister also decided the pulpit was indeed a powerful instrument and stayed the course. Controversies took a back seat but playing to the lower end of society became the order of the day.

The third Prime Minister had a different style. The report card came to the fore. Not his nor his government's. It was that of a father that could nor read or write but passed his safety exams. It was about how NTU and Ngee Ann did the country proud. There was clearly more chicken soup than meat. Occasionally it was tinged with woes in housing and transport and $20 B over 10 years to get it. It was no longer what the government should and must do. It was more about what Singaporeans could and should do.

Yet my parents walked away thinking what a great country Singapore is and what an inspiring leader that we have.m

Woffles Wu, the expensive surgeries that cost more than $8, the lack of accountability and transparency over simple things like the country' s demographics, the conflict of interest in dealings with vendors, the comtinued concerns over Temasek, the use of reserves without the President's knowledge, the senior staff who sat in a tender committee awarding contracts to her cousin, the displacement of middle aged employees by foreigners, the disquiet over the prosecutorial and judicial branches of government, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the quality of cabinet, the pay renumeration, the abuse of PA and the use of state resources for party realted activities etc etc etc..... all seem to disappear.

At this rate, I can predict that MPs meet the people sessions will be opportunities to find more chicken soup stories, get lecturers to hide behind the scenes and their students to make submissions to international competitions, Jack Neo's new use of technology etc will be par for the course.

Here is one glaring example. In 1997, we saw Micropolis with a loss of millions within months of buying it. In 2007, 10 years on, the Prime Minster's wife buys ABC Childcare at A$7.30 a share and shortly after the stock starts going south and it collapsed with losses runnings into millions. It did not occur to anyone why the registered address of the company happens to be palatial home of the founder. No inquiry, no debate and no nothing.

It did not occur to my parents why these issues were never raised and never adrressed during The ND Rally. It never occurred to them when they asked me for my report card, it somehow carried the results of all the subjects that I took, the results I achieved or did not achieve and that they took the opportunity to ask me to explain my performance across all subjects. I am sure they would not have accepted if I created my own report card, embellish the results and carried only the good.

 

[halsey02]

I don't get the point of your post? sounded like a person who had just came out of the toilet with constipation!?

 

[scroobal]

The cake looks very good on the outside. Its pointless talking about the good things that are done and can be done. And its no longer what the govt has done or going to do. Its now what you as Singaporeans do and can do.

I remember how the parents of a Primary 1 student went to meet the teacher at Parents Teachers meeting at the end of year. The teacher told the parents the curriculum for the next year, what they should do to prepare him, what the expectation were from the teacher and how they can do it. They came away thinking that they were the teachers and the teacher was the parent.

The naive ones will never realise that the roles have been swopped and the onus now lies on the parents and no longer with the teacher or school. The school and the teacher are no accountable. The onus now lies with the student and the parents.

If you watched the ND Rally, you would have realised how the roles and responsibilities have been swopped. I have no issues if the cabinet did voluntary work and was paid a reasonable honorarium. Remember Keechiu comments about his duty is not solve the problems but look towards the people to do it.

 

[chilakak]

Scroobal, I get your point very clearly. Sad but true, our nation has descended into one which has the world's best paid government putting all the blame for the nation's problems on its people and expecting the people to come up with the solutions. Reminds me of a time when I was speaking to someone holding a rather senior position in a ministry about some of the flaws in their policies and this person's reply was, "Why don't you tell us how to do it better if you feel so strongly about it?" My answer to that moron was, "Why don't you hand over your monthly salary to me and I shall do your job for you?"

And your description of modern Parent Teachers Meeting (more often called Meet the Parents session) is spot on. Nowadays it is always about the schools laying down their expectations for the parents and parents are never asked about their expectations of the schools. The biggest "jiak liao bis" are the people sitting on School Advisory Councils (SACs). In many schools, a vast majority of these chaps are just there to buff up their own resumes. The vast majority of them hardly even walk the ground of the schools they are supposed to be advising and practically do not even give useful input to the schools. They pop up during the annual Speech Days (or some call them Prize-giving Days) in turns just to show their face.

As in most things in Singapore, it is all a big wayang.

 

[scroobal]

Passing the buck seems to be a new trait. It used to be "you only listen to me".

Incidently the teacher in question was acting VP and in her class was the son of GY. I heard she never made the grade to VP. Thank god.

I too have come across these people who are unfit to hold such positions. Came across a recent case, where due to a re-strucure, this guy by fluke became the regional head of 12 countries. He immediately flew to these countries and asked them about their challenges. They naturally poured their heart out. He then told them to send him a status report of what they have done to overcome these challenges.

He does not know it yet, but he is going to be asked to explain his conduct, the air miles chalked up and how he is goung to repair the damage done. Someone once told me this - never give a monkey a flower.

And your description of modern Parent Teachers Meeting (more often called Meet the Parents session) is spot on. Nowadays it is always about the schools laying down their expectations for the parents and parents are never asked about their expectations of the schools. The biggest "jiak liao bis" are the people sitting on School Advisory Councils (SACs). In many schools, a vast majority of these chaps are just there to buff up their own resumes. The vast majority of them hardly even walk the ground of the schools they are supposed to be advising and practically do not even give useful input to the schools. They pop up during the annual Speech Days (or some call them Prize-giving Days) in turns just to show their face.

As in most things in Singapore, it is all a big wayang.