PAP spin dr Chua Mui Hoong tries to take the heat off her po
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PAP spin doctor Chua Mui Hoong tries to take the heat off her political masters by portraying them as “gentlemen”
Written by Our Correspondent
Embarrassed by its own ineptitude, incompetence, and impotence during the last few years, PAP spin doctor Chua Mui Hoong has been called upon again to whitewash the disastrous performance of the PAP during the recent parliamentary”debates” on the Budget which is all “sound and fury”, but nothing of substance to show of.
In other democracies, the lawmakers will debate first before the Budget is finalized and put to a vote. In Singapore, it is the other way round – the Budget is announced and then the MPs pretend to “debate” on it. Isn’t this a “wayang”?
Even with literally no opposition to speak of in Parliament, the PAP ministers and MPs appear to be completely clueless and out of touch with public sentiments on the ground.
In a lengthy commentary titled “Gently, gently does it with political opponents” published in the Straits Times today, Chua Mui Hoong tried desperately to sugarcoat the PAP MPs’ juvenile mistakes by portraying them as “gentlemen” to take the heat off them. (Source)
If you haven’t realized, this is part of a well-thought, comprehensive strategy over the years to shift the style of political engagement in Singapore from a “confrontational” to a “constructive” one for the simple reason that the present PAP MPs cannot stand up to scrutiny and will be demolished flat by eloquent speakers like the late J.B. Jeyaretnam and Dr Chee Soon Juan in Parliament thereby piercing through their fake aura of invincibility forever in the eyes of the people.
Remember that one old man kept reminding Singaporeans that his ministers and MPs are the best talents in Singapore and therefore deserving of the highest pay in the world? How can they justify that when they can’t even deal with an opposition MP in Parliament?
Chua’s article is no more than PAP propaganda to paint a positive picture of them as “gentlemanly” politicians and to further reinforce the erroneous public impression that politics must be conducted in a civil manner minus the confrontation.
Take for example the following choice of words used by her:
1. Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam is a gentleman.
2. Instead, it was gently, gently does it when he sipped his water, walked to the lectern and began his speech at 1.52pm. When he sat down an hour later, the House applauded. Even MPs most critical of the policy – Mr Low and the PAP’s Inderjit Singh – were smiling.
3, Ministerial responses to the opposition have been remarkably benign this debate. Mr Lim Swee Say for example did not react to Mr Low’s obvious dig that the labour movement was squeezing workers to be ‘cheaper, better, faster’. Instead, he coolly explained the pressures caused by global competition…..
4. Less patronising, less heat, more light. Gentle rebuttals based on facts, without giving ground on fundamental values. Old wine in new bottles? But specially packaged to appeal to a young generation.
Ms Chua should cut that crap – she does not speak for the younger generation of Singaporeans who yearn for a genuine debate and not half-baked “wayangs” as such.
For the past five decades, the PAP has been using only repressive measures to destroy their political opponents such as the use of ISA to detain them without trial, use of ruinous defamation lawsuits to bankrupt them and laws to prevent them from reaching out to Singaporeans.
Let us recall some infamous quotes made by its paramount leader Lee Kuan Yew, courtesy of leewatch:
“Anybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle-dusters. If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try. There is no way you can govern a Chinese society.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man and His Ideas, 1997
“If we had considered them serious political figures, we would not have kept them politically alive for so long. We could have bankrupt them earlier.”
- Lee Kuan Yew referring to opposition MPs Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Kiang, Straits Times, Sept 14 2003
“I will make him crawl on his bended knees, and beg for mercy.”
- Lee Kuan Yew on J. B. Jeyaretnam, as reported by Devan Nair, 1981
And let us not forget the mother of all quotes by his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong:
“Right now we have Low Thia Khiang, Chiam See Tong, Steve Chia. We can deal with them. Suppose you had 10, 15, 20 opposition members in Parliament. Instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for Singapore, I’m going to spend all my time thinking what’s the right way to fix them, to buy my supporters votes, how can I solve this week’s problem and forget about next year’s challenges?”
- Lee Hsien Loong during a pre-election speech, 2006
With due respect to the three opposition MPs in Parliament, they are hardly good orators or formidable political opponents to begin with and even then, the PAP ministers can still “gabra” and screw up big time like multi-millionaire Minister Lim Swee Say using a lame fable of a “frog” to counter Mr Low Thia Kiang’s criticisms of the labor movement:
“We never give up……. We are deaf to all these criticisms…..So instead of telling us that low-wage workers are having problems, why not be part of the solution?”
Does Ms Chua really consider this type of answer a “gentle rebuttal”? Mr Lim would have been crowned as the clown of the year had he made those remarks in the United States or United Kingdom.
Politics is all about passion, committment and confrontation. That is the way it is in the rest of the world. If the PAP MPs cannot take the heat, then they should get out of the kitchen!
The PAP ministers are the highest paid politicians in the world! Surely they should be able to articulate themselves well and hold their ground when challenged by the opposition?
Ms Chua should seriously go and watch the parliamentary debates of the U.K., Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Hong Kong on Youtube and see how the opposition lawmakers take the ruling party to task.
Watch how DAP MP Tony Pua grilled Malaysian PM Najib over his plan to introduce GST, the Hong Kong legislators heckling Chief Executive Donald Tsang for not helping the poor or Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou being jeered and taunted by DPP MPs over his inept handling of the Typhoon Morakot disaster.
Only in Singapore do we see such gross ineptitude being labelled, repackaged and spun as “gentle rebuttals” by the Singapore media, described as a “trusted” source of information by Minister Lui Tuck Yew
- Temasek Review March 5, 2010
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She is expected to speak up for her master.
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would she say that all policies has no flaws?
which policies have flaws? have she ever mentioned or elaborated ?
If so, i like to read it.
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Aiya, who dunno, frogs from the same well are sure to croak the same way mah. Like this also want to post...haiz! This is call team spirit and team work ya.
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Originally posted by angel7030:
Aiya, who dunno, frogs from the same well are sure to croak the same way mah. Like this also want to post...haiz! This is call team spirit and team work ya.
Aiyo, why you call all of them frogs?
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you may not know, when they hold meeting, they address us as tapoles.
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Originally posted by angel7030:
you may not know, when they hold meeting, they address us as tapoles.
Not surprising.
They already call people sheep.
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Well, be realistic, they told us, we must change, so from sheep to tapole, i hope it is not a big change. Next, we may become mosquitos for frog to eat...
, u ar, real joker also...hahaha... -
Originally posted by angel7030:
Well, be realistic, they told us, we must change, so from sheep to tapole, i hope it is not a big change. Next, we may become mosquitos for frog to eat...
, u
ar, real joker also...hahaha...Haiz.
Even when insulting us, the animals become smaller and more insignificant.
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chua should receive pbm for her long service to the nation. so touched. just add up all the good work she has done for so many many many years. So many many citizens read her good work. such a big service to the nation, and not just her boss.