MORE PAP DOUBLE STANDARDS
Written by See Leong Kit
4 September 2008
Status: rejected for publication
I refer to your article “A Happy Ending” (Aug 31) on the pathetic ping-pong hoo-haa initiated by the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) President-cum-PAP MP Lee Bee Wah and her belated half-baked apology.
As a 60-year old tertiary-educated Senior Citizen, I am outraged, flabbergasted and disillusioned by its wider implications.
> “Outraged” at the thought of not just one but two female PAP MPs being paid the generous $13,000 monthly part-time MP allowance out of public funds to do what? To raise the blood pressure of members of the public to unhealthy levels?
Remember how, in the 2006 General Elections, PAP MP Irene Ng had caused a similar tsunami wave of public anger for her dim-witted “trouble-maker” description of opposition politicians?
Can you really blame justifiably angry Singaporeans for telling these two Malaysian-born imported political talent to “balek kampong” way ahead of the next 2011 GE?
> “Flabbergasted” at the following glaring disparity and double standards.
On the STTA table-tennis hullabaloo, both Senior Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Junior Sports Minister Teo Ser Luck had devoted nearly one whole week each on damage control and getting the STTA President to say the three simple words of “I Am Sorry”.
Last year, five young national dragon-boaters (age range from 21 to 31) drowned in Cambodia while representing Singapore at an international sports meet. They were our own home-grown sports talent and truly Sons of Singapore who have completed National Service.
Serving in the Management Committee of the Singapore Dragon Boat Association (SDBA) are Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean (as Advisor), President Kwek Siew Jin , Deputy President Chng Hee Kok (a former PAP MP) and two current PAP MPs, Dr Lam Pin Min and Dr Fatimah Lateef.
But when the inconsolable grieving parents of the drowned victims sought a simple apology as a form of closure to help them move on, they encountered a deafening dead silence from SDBA officials and the two sports ministers. As a former Navy Chief, surely SDBA President Kwek Siew Jin should know what leadership and accountability are all about?
> “Disillusioned” that, in supposedly First-World Singapore, it seem so difficult for our handsomely-paid public officials to say a simple sorry to the people for fiascos and debacles under their watch.
And this on top of their inability to produce million-dollar solutions to our various national problems to match their million-dollar remunerations.
Instead of addressing the underlying root cause of a national problem, see how they often adopt quick-fix solutions by “throwing taxpayers’ monies to the problem”.
As in “buying” Olympic medals through handsome rewards for imported sports talent; “buying” voter-support through public-funded HDB upgrading carrots and ”buying” babies by dishing out monetary rewards for young couples to indulge in the natural act of procreation.
Are our public officials really aware such approaches will only breed unthinking “yes-man” citizens with the crutch mentality of “me first” and “show me the money”? Is this good for the long-term future of Singapore (the nation) and Singaporeans (the people)?
Written by See Leong Kit
4 September 2008
Status: rejected for publication
I refer to your article “A Happy Ending” (Aug 31) on the pathetic ping-pong hoo-haa initiated by the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) President-cum-PAP MP Lee Bee Wah and her belated half-baked apology.
As a 60-year old tertiary-educated Senior Citizen, I am outraged, flabbergasted and disillusioned by its wider implications.
> “Outraged” at the thought of not just one but two female PAP MPs being paid the generous $13,000 monthly part-time MP allowance out of public funds to do what? To raise the blood pressure of members of the public to unhealthy levels?
Remember how, in the 2006 General Elections, PAP MP Irene Ng had caused a similar tsunami wave of public anger for her dim-witted “trouble-maker” description of opposition politicians?
Can you really blame justifiably angry Singaporeans for telling these two Malaysian-born imported political talent to “balek kampong” way ahead of the next 2011 GE?
> “Flabbergasted” at the following glaring disparity and double standards.
On the STTA table-tennis hullabaloo, both Senior Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Junior Sports Minister Teo Ser Luck had devoted nearly one whole week each on damage control and getting the STTA President to say the three simple words of “I Am Sorry”.
Last year, five young national dragon-boaters (age range from 21 to 31) drowned in Cambodia while representing Singapore at an international sports meet. They were our own home-grown sports talent and truly Sons of Singapore who have completed National Service.
Serving in the Management Committee of the Singapore Dragon Boat Association (SDBA) are Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean (as Advisor), President Kwek Siew Jin , Deputy President Chng Hee Kok (a former PAP MP) and two current PAP MPs, Dr Lam Pin Min and Dr Fatimah Lateef.
But when the inconsolable grieving parents of the drowned victims sought a simple apology as a form of closure to help them move on, they encountered a deafening dead silence from SDBA officials and the two sports ministers. As a former Navy Chief, surely SDBA President Kwek Siew Jin should know what leadership and accountability are all about?
> “Disillusioned” that, in supposedly First-World Singapore, it seem so difficult for our handsomely-paid public officials to say a simple sorry to the people for fiascos and debacles under their watch.
And this on top of their inability to produce million-dollar solutions to our various national problems to match their million-dollar remunerations.
Instead of addressing the underlying root cause of a national problem, see how they often adopt quick-fix solutions by “throwing taxpayers’ monies to the problem”.
As in “buying” Olympic medals through handsome rewards for imported sports talent; “buying” voter-support through public-funded HDB upgrading carrots and ”buying” babies by dishing out monetary rewards for young couples to indulge in the natural act of procreation.
Are our public officials really aware such approaches will only breed unthinking “yes-man” citizens with the crutch mentality of “me first” and “show me the money”? Is this good for the long-term future of Singapore (the nation) and Singaporeans (the people)?
