In 2005, then-Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, was the guest of honour at a youth and media conference. The key theme was censorship. “Ask not what you can or cannot do, but do something to make a difference instead,” Mr Tharman urged the youths then.
Four years later, Mr Tharman, now Finance Minister, had a golden opportunity to do just that – to make a difference.
On 18 August, Mr Tharman was repeatedly questioned in Parliament on Mr Charles Goodyear’s resignation from Temasek Holdings. In spite of a 25-minute grilling by Members of Parliament, according to the Straits Times, the Finance Minister flatly refused to divulge the “strategic reasons” which was offered by Temasek as the reason for Mr Goodyear’s departure.
The parliamentary sitting was, to my mind, a case of irony.
We had new Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP), Viswa Sadasivan, saying, “Accountability requires the government to go beyond lip-service in addressing the call for greater democracy, civil liberties and choices”. He was calling for the House to “[reaffirm] its commitment to the nation building tenets as enshrined in the National Pledge when debating national policies, especially economic policies”.
If the Finance Minister’s refusal to answer MPs’ questions on Goodyear’s resignation is not a travesty of the values espoused in the Pledge, and of the standing and authority of Parliament, I don’t know what is! Mr Tharman has given new meaning to the phrase “lip service” – his lips moved but only to insult Singaporeans, not to mention the parliamentarians in the chamber as well.
If the Government chooses not to be accountable to questions in Parliament, citing the reason that it does not serve any strategic purpose, then I say with great sadness as a Singaporean, that Parliament is a sham, and our parliamentarians should be ashamed, that this charade of non-accountability, non-transparency, continues even after 44 years of nationhood.
I was aghast at the Finance Minister’s remarks, that whilst he agreed that it was “a matter of public interest”, he chose not to answer the questions anyway. If there ever was a blatant disregard for the public’s interest, this was it.
And as a minister in the service of the people, and as a guardian of the people’s interests, Mr Tharman’s refusal to answer the question is totally and utterly unacceptable.
Is he saying that what’s in the Government’s interest (to not tell) is more important than the public’s interest?
A Government which puts its own interest above that of the people is not the people’s Government.
Has every Singaporean student’s daily recitation of our national pledge “gone down the drain”?
Did we not, just a few days ago, boast about how significant it was for the entire nation to recite the pledge at 8.22pm on National Day – as we put our clenched fists to our hearts and spoke the words which represented what we hold dear? Words such as “a democratic society”, “based on justice and equality”?
The Prime Minister keeps telling Singaporeans to be united. But, how can we be united, when Parliament is not accountable to the people?
Why elect and appoint MPs to represent the people when the Government can choose at its whim and fancy not to answer questions and keep important answers to issues secret?
The secrecy surrounding Mr Goodyear’s resignation is not the only example. There are the issues of Temasek’s investment failures and losses, the reinstatement of Ms Ho Ching as CEO after having resigned, the GIC’s huge losses too, the Mas Selamat escape fiasco, and so on. No government official has been brought to account for all these.
In the past, at least the Government tried to give all kinds of reasons and excuses, as to why it was not good for the nation, to disclose the information asked for.
This time round, the Government did not even attempt to give any reason at all for not answering!
Maybe it has finally run out of excuses.
In any other democratic country, what happed in Singapore’s Parliament on Tuesday is unthinkable – there would have been a national uproar! MPs would resign! NGOs would protest!
As someone who once urged youths to not be afraid, and to “do something to make a difference”, Mr Tharman certainly did not live up to his own words. For, as Finance Minister, he had the opportunity to make a substantial difference to the discourse over how the two sovereign wealth funds operated – and to lift the veil of secrecy which shrouds Temasek Holdings and the GIC.
“One does not develop a conviction and commitment to a society without first questioning and pushing the boundaries,” Mr Tharman said in 2005.
Sadly, in 2009, that very “conviction and commitment” to society of which he spoke was absent from the man himself.
Does Mr Tharman think that keeping his lips tight would help enhance Temasek’s – and Singapore’s – international reputation for transparency and accountability? Does Mr Tharman think that shrouding Temasek in secrecy helps in its recruitment drive or builds confidence in Temasek? As Finance Minister, does Mr Tharman think that his silence helps in S’pore’s ambition to be a financial hub?
And beyond the damage to Temasek and Singapore’s international reputation, Mr Tharman’s refusal to provide answers in Parliament has, to our minds, a more serious consequence – it undermines the public’s faith and trust in the authority and integrity of the House. For if the House is a place where accountability can be dismissed or avoided by mere semantics, it means the people’s voice and power, in our democratic society, has little meaning – and Parliament nothing more than an empty shell, a theatre for superficial debates.
Perhaps these are the public interest and strategic reasons which Mr Tharman should have considered before he so callously dismissed MPs’ questions.
Mr Tharman’s pathetic defence for non-disclosure is a mockery of Parliament.
Indeed, our parliamentarians should all hang their heads in shame.
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/08/a-mockery-of-parliament/
Dr Ng Eng Hen:
Let me be unequivocal about the government’s signals here. We cannot afford to stand still, rooted complacently but precariously in status quo.
We must move with the times, and respond to changing circumstances, needs and challenges. But each time we make a move, we must not do so unthinkingly but consider carefully each step forward, carving our own path towards a better society and a more vigorous economy.
Singapore and Singaporeans cannot afford to ape any model, but must choose or create a solution which is best suited to our nation.
Mr Viswa Sadasivan:
I’m not saying that the government is stuffing ballot boxes or doing things that are unconstitutional.
I was highlighting a lingering perception that I sensed on the ground that politically it’s not a level playing field, and if you don’t address this, there’ll be growing cynicism, especially among our youth, who choose to express their displeasure through angry postings on the Net, which is not useful.
Very sad the direction the country is heading.
If you go online and check out forums and blogs about singapore politics, the amount of disillusionment and angry / disgruntled people is rising by the day.
Combine that with recent happenings for the past 1-2 years, it's starting to snowball into quite a big mass of grumblings.
Haiz.
Originally posted by charlize:Very sad the direction the country is heading.
If you go online and check out forums and blogs about singapore politics, the amount of disillusionment and angry / disgruntled people is rising by the day.
Combine that with recent happenings for the past 1-2 years, it's starting to snowball into quite a big mass of grumblings.
Haiz.
Which only means one thing!!!
They have to give a bigger ang pow before the election to win more votes.
If you go online and check out forums and blogs about singapore politics, the amount of disillusionment and angry / disgruntled people is rising by the day.
Combine that with recent happenings for the past 1-2 years, it's starting to snowball into quite a big mass of grumblings.
If you know of the numbers of foriegners granted (NOT PR but) citizenship to counter these disillusionment and angry / disgruntled, people you may Haiz louder.
Originally posted by 4sg:If you know of the numbers of foriegners granted (NOT PR but) citizenship to counter these disillusionment and angry / disgruntled, people you may Haiz louder.
They will never let out official numbers to the public.
But everybody knows what is happening.
Singapore does not feel like Singapore anymore.
Haiz.
Quite true, they import all these new citizens to win votes for the next election, expecting these newly converted citizens to show support for the government that gave them their citizenship.
Originally posted by 4sg:If you know of the numbers of foriegners granted (NOT PR but) citizenship to counter these disillusionment and angry / disgruntled, people you may Haiz louder.
One point I do know is that these new citizens are not as docile as locally borned Singaporeans, having come from countries and cultures which are way different than Singapore's.
Enough said.
Originally posted by deepak.c:
Quite true, they import all these new citizens to win votes for the next election, expecting these newly converted citizens to show support for the government that gave them their citizenship.
They might support them for a while.
Until they realise and experience in another generation why the locals are grumbling so much right now about everything - NS, housing, jobs, health care, GST, ERP etc.
Originally posted by charlize:
One point I do know is that these new citizens are not as docile as locally borned Singaporeans, having come from countries and cultures which are way different than Singapore's.
Enough said.
True. But these new citizens are carefully selected.
Between gratefulness and being aggressive, I would hand down gratefulness anytime. The attribute, gratefulness is not in conflict with aggressiveness (the opp of docileness) ayway.
I know of foreign post-graduate classmates who are aggressive by nature (can beat and curse the silliness out of any Singaporean but praise PAP to the sky high). He has moved from a third world to a first - what to complain?
Enough said.
Originally posted by charlize:
They might support them for a while.
Until they realise and experience in another generation why the locals are grumbling so much right now about everything - NS, housing, jobs, health care, GST, ERP etc.
That would be at least 1-2 elections into the future, before they see through their disguises.
silence is golden - paid in gold to be silence
If Singaporeans can be bought by gold, then they shouldn't complain between election years when their lives are made crap by the party that doles out the golden calf. Singaporeans have not realised what is given pales in comparison with what is taken from them through the various taxes and policies of CPF etc. Are Singaporeans choosing to turn a blind eye or are they happy to have their pockets lined once every 4-5 years (albeit the holes in the pockets where money falls right through back into the PAP's coffers)?
Kind of reminds me of this pledge I saw in one of the SAF shooting range.
We the oppressed, led by the incompetent, to do the unnecessary for the ungrateful.
Can't remember the full version, but it's something like this.
Singaporeans are too busy being wage slaves to even care about such issues. That and the conditioning that anything that falls outside the ordinary events of their lives is irrelevant, has made Singaporean society reek of apathy.
Originally posted by 4sg:
True. But these new citizens are carefully selected.
Between gratefulness and being aggressive, I would hand down gratefulness anytime. The attribute, gratefulness is not in conflict with aggressiveness (the opp of docileness) ayway.
I know of foreign post-graduate classmates who are aggressive by nature (can beat and curse the silliness out of any Singaporean but praise PAP to the sky high). He has moved from a third world to a first - what to complain?
Enough said.
and he would still be moving to the United States.
Originally posted by Arapahoe:and he would still be moving to the United States.
Funny, 25 of my foreign classmates said they staying.
US got no huge Indian and Chinese diasporas like Singapore and besides not every Asian can get used or like the Western lifestyle.
Originally posted by 4sg:
Funny, 25 of my foreign classmates said they staying.
US got no huge Indian and Chinese diasporas like Singapore and besides not every Asian can get used or like the Western lifestyle.
Saying is different from doing. How many of em hav taken up Sg citizenship ?
Figures released by the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) showed that in 2006, over 13,209 foreigners were granted Singapore citizenship - about 300 more than in 2005.
The number of permanent residents also jumped, from 52,300 in 2005 to 57,300 in 2006.
Originally posted by 4sg:Singapore. More foreigners taking up Singapore citizenship?
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore state controlled newspaper the Straits Times reports on August 15, 2007 that "More foreigners are taking up Singapore citizenship". As with any report put out by any government controlled newspaper anywhere in the world, keeping in mind that all newspapers in Singapore are entirely government owned and controlled; one is likely to ask whether this is really fact or is it just propaganda? Simply just another false report to glorify the real or imaginary achievements, as the case may be, of a country in decline?
As is usually the case in totalitarian dictatorships like Singapore, which is one; anyone who knows Singapore in any degree of depth, will immediately know that this report too is a total fabrication; another of their daily attempts in desperation; to put on a smiling face to cover the real challenges faced by this administration, in this instance, the loss of human talent to emigration.
The real fact is that Singapore, despite Lee Kuan Yew having imposed happiness on it's people by building various amusement parks arbours and shopping malls, the population of Singapore is declining in more ways than one, namely, massive brain drain to Western countries; a serious decline in childbirth figures which has now come to the non replacement level of the population; and their inability to attract immigration from educated people abroad who see Singapore as nothing more than an absolute dictatorship; a country which whips and hangs their citizens.
In the newspaper article referred to, they mention merely 2 individuals, one a Mr. Larry Medina, an accountant, who is referred to as an American with an Indonesian wife who for some unknown reason had decided to give up his American citizenship and decide to live in Singapore instead. But we are not told why this man, an accountant would have wanted to act in such a bizarre manner, leaving a democracy to live instead in a dictatorship!
There could be a multitude of reasons both wholesome or sinister in this man's odd behaviour. It could even be that he is running away from the law in United States and is taking refuge in Singapore, just as the millionaire Indonesian money launderers are doing. We will never know.
The report states that he is doing so because he believes that the economies of Asia and Singapore are booming and he wanted to take advantage of that. Yet if he is indeed an accountant with an education commensurate with this profession, he would have known that Singapore is no better than Burma in their human rights record; surely a reason for him not to bring up his children in such a politically stifling controlled repressive atmosphere!
Yet on the other hand he may have some other reason which we do not know.
Then the report refers to a Burmese project engineer who came to live in Singapore. In his case, there is no mention why he decided to come to Singapore instead; unlike the majority of his Burmese countrymen who prefer to emigrate to Western countries such as Australia and the USA. Does he also have something to hide? Or has he applied to go to the West but has been unsuccessful and accepted Singapore as a second choice. And will he in the future decide to pack and leave for Australia if they finally accept him? These are questions for which we do not have answers.
We should tell Julia Ng, the Straits Times reporter who wrote this article that people no longer believe the tales put out by her government owned and controlled paper. Her report is simply false. One piece of evidence to prove my charge is the fact that they managed, of the thousands, which is a small number anyway, who they claim to have made Singapore their home; they could report on just 2 individuals, this accountant Larry Medina and the Burman project engineer Maung; who moreover are not prepared to go into any detail as why they chose chose the dictatorship of Singapore.
Now let us look at the real facts, which is that yet again, like all the other projects conceived in the minds of the million dollar ministers, this attempt at attracting foreign talent to Singapore has failed miserably. And this report is an example of the desperation that Lee Kuan Yew and his friends are facing from a dwindling population resulting from the bad image that Singapore has abroad, a dictatorship under the grip of one man Lee Kuan Yew, intolerant of dissent; a country which has the highest rate of executions in the world and which despite it's claim that it is a first world country, whips it's citizens for criminal infractions.
Lee Kuan Yew knows that Singapore has a bad name in the world. It is not a country where able educated men and women would prefer to live. And he knows that.
Here are the facts. Reproduction has declined almost to zero. The population is unable to replace itself.
There is massive brain drain of the educated from Singapore to the West. Singapore is losing it's best and talented citizens.
The type of immigration they are attracting into Singapore is at best mediocre. Only second rate persons unable to emigrate to their most favoured countries such as Australia for lacking requisite qualifications are picked up by Singapore. Such migrants are not the ones who can propel Singapore to become a great city of education knowledge culture and innovation. In fact many reports consistently state that most of those coming into Singapore are unskilled workers and workers with very little skills, even if they had any.
The educated who are leaving Singapore in droves are not being replaced by skilled immigrants from abroad. As a result, the government is constantly having problems trying to recruit sufficiently educated Singaporeans to join the work force. Instead their desire is to leave Singapore permanently. In fact in a survey recently conducted, and reported in the Singapore press, as much as 47% of young people said, when asked, that if given a chance, they would emigrate.
The Singapore government does not, even up till now, understand that as the good proverb said, "Man does not live by bread alone". He needs to be able have some control over his destiny and the way he lives. In other words he desires self determination, which is denied him in fascist Singapore. As Singapore does not permit any healthy debate as long as the debate is not to the liking of the government, people who wish to live in a society where there is a clash of ideas and thoughtful debate will continue to leave the shores of Singapore.
And instead Singapore will attract the likes of Mr. Larry Medina and the Burmese Maung, who may have had more reasons than what meets the eye to choose Singapore to live, out of all other real countries in the world.
And of course Singapore will successfully attract the second rate partly skilled and unskilled immigrants who would make up the statistics for the Singapore bureaucrat in the Singapore Ministry of Manpower trying to please Lee Kuan Yew with the necessary figures.
Thank you
Gopalan Nair
Got money, Singapore is indeed a nice place to live mah. Larry is not a stupid guy lah. His is obviously a strategic move. Tax, regional access, is a plus.
He got money, can afford to provide social insulation for his family.
His children are SG citizens or foreign passport holders ? Which school system they going ?
Why make such a big deal about his forgoing US citizenship ? Can always reapply again wat. His birthcert is still USA mah.
Originally posted by 4sg:Figures released by the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) showed that in 2006, over 13,209 foreigners were granted Singapore citizenship - about 300 more than in 2005.
The number of permanent residents also jumped, from 52,300 in 2005 to 57,300 in 2006.
These figures are still not enough for them to fill up padang or a new stadium in the near future to celebrate National Day.
Need to get more..
Originally posted by jojobeach:Got money, Singapore is indeed a nice place to live mah. Larry is not a stupid guy lah. His is obviously a strategic move. Tax, regional access, is a plus.
He got money, can afford to provide social insulation for his family.
His children are SG citizens or foreign passport holders ? Which school system they going ?
Why make such a big deal about his forgoing US citizenship ? Can always reapply again wat. His birthcert is still USA mah.
no money also nice place to live mah, why only for those got money, no money can at least ride abit on those got money one mah. If whole country no money one, then very cham lor.
Me no money can work can cheat those got money one mah. So it is also a good place for those no money one to live.
U talking abt Larry king or Harry Lee?
Originally posted by angel7030:
no money also nice place to live mah, why only for those got money, no money can at least ride abit on those got money one mah. If whole country no money one, then very cham lor.
Me no money can work can cheat those got money one mah. So it is also a good place for those no money one to live.
U talking abt Larry king or Harry Lee?
Larry Medina <--- click.
People got money , they won't giv you so easily lor. At least you got cheating skill, if not you go collect cans liao.