Dr Chee Soon Juan 徐顺全
The PAP is in trouble and DPM Lawrence Wong sure looks like he knows it. That’s why the party is now trying to reframe the picture and re-position his party for the next general elections.
He said yesterday, launching the Singapore Forward report, that the Singapore Dream is no longer just about the 5Cs.
Let’s be clear, there’s no 5Cs – it died a long time ago. The PAP has not been able to deliver what it promised Singaporeans all these years and now it is practising the art of distraction.
As retrenchment and unemployment grow, and the cost of living skyrockets, the PAP is desperately trying to shift attention away from its broken promises by telling Singaporeans that life is more than just the 5Cs. It’s not just about “I, me, and mine,” Mr Wong says, “it’s more about we, us, and ours.”
Before we switch pronouns, he should first explain why he and his cabinet colleagues say “I, me mine” when it comes to their million-dollar salaries and “us, we and ours” when it comes to the people having to live with biting inflation.
He should also explain why he is giving Singaporeans another financial whack when he increases the GST to 9% next year.
Third, he should address the question of why his fellow ministers, K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan, rent gigantic government bungalows when ordinary citizens are made to live in tiny HDB flats.
Even more unbelievably, Mr Wong says that the Singapore Forward manifesto “is not a top down government agenda.”
So, what does he call his party dictating to Singaporeans what, where and when we can speak; continues to use defamation suits and POFMA directives against its critics; and introduces election laws that cripple the opposition?
He waxes lyrical that Singaporean lives should be about “fulfilment, meaning and purpose”.
Here’s a question for Mr Wong: How does he expect citizens to live meaningful and purpose-filled when the police even investigate one lone individual for holding up a sign calling for peace in Israel and Palestine – and at Speaker’s Corner to boot? How much more meaningless can our citizenship be?
For Singaporeans to truly live fulfilled lives, we need to be empowered in our own country and to be able to exercise the full franchise of our citizenship.
To experience a meaningful existence in this country, citizens should not have to whisper when we criticise our rulers.
To lead lives with purpose, we need to know that Singapore is our home, not just a hotel.
Everything else is just words – words that Mr Wong and his party mates will no doubt repeat, quite emptily, at the next GE.
The PAP is in trouble and DPM Lawrence Wong sure looks like he knows it. That’s why the party is now trying to reframe the picture and re-position his party for the next general elections.
He said yesterday, launching the Singapore Forward report, that the Singapore Dream is no longer just about the 5Cs.
Let’s be clear, there’s no 5Cs – it died a long time ago. The PAP has not been able to deliver what it promised Singaporeans all these years and now it is practising the art of distraction.
As retrenchment and unemployment grow, and the cost of living skyrockets, the PAP is desperately trying to shift attention away from its broken promises by telling Singaporeans that life is more than just the 5Cs. It’s not just about “I, me, and mine,” Mr Wong says, “it’s more about we, us, and ours.”
Before we switch pronouns, he should first explain why he and his cabinet colleagues say “I, me mine” when it comes to their million-dollar salaries and “us, we and ours” when it comes to the people having to live with biting inflation.
He should also explain why he is giving Singaporeans another financial whack when he increases the GST to 9% next year.
Third, he should address the question of why his fellow ministers, K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan, rent gigantic government bungalows when ordinary citizens are made to live in tiny HDB flats.
Even more unbelievably, Mr Wong says that the Singapore Forward manifesto “is not a top down government agenda.”
So, what does he call his party dictating to Singaporeans what, where and when we can speak; continues to use defamation suits and POFMA directives against its critics; and introduces election laws that cripple the opposition?
He waxes lyrical that Singaporean lives should be about “fulfilment, meaning and purpose”.
Here’s a question for Mr Wong: How does he expect citizens to live meaningful and purpose-filled when the police even investigate one lone individual for holding up a sign calling for peace in Israel and Palestine – and at Speaker’s Corner to boot? How much more meaningless can our citizenship be?
For Singaporeans to truly live fulfilled lives, we need to be empowered in our own country and to be able to exercise the full franchise of our citizenship.
To experience a meaningful existence in this country, citizens should not have to whisper when we criticise our rulers.
To lead lives with purpose, we need to know that Singapore is our home, not just a hotel.
Everything else is just words – words that Mr Wong and his party mates will no doubt repeat, quite emptily, at the next GE.
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