I watched many of the speeches made today by politicians from both party, and I was shocked at how ungracious the opposition parties supporters are. I have always wanted to view opposition party supporters as logical, rational people that choose to adopt a certain view. But recent videos have just shown how immature and ungracious the opposition supporters at rallies are.
There is nothing wrong with holding a different point of view and I am fully aware of that. You may not like whoever is on stage, but to boo and jeer? I am open to discourse and well reasoned arguments, but to chant "Kate Spade or YOG" while others are speaking? It changes nothing at all, yet it reflects badly on your upbringing.
Have our parents and schools not taught us manners? Are we civilized and educated people? In chinese, we call these people (没有修养), people who lack manners and graciousness.
The opposition has some great MPs this year, but they really do not deserve these kind of unruly supporters.
Wednesday 27 April 2011
Thursday 14 April 2011
Regarding Vincent Wijeysingha’s appeal for clemency for Yong Vui Kong
The story of Yong Vui Kong is an unfortunate one. His life in poverty, bad company and an incomplete family has led him to act as a drug mule for $2000. However, all of us have gone through hardships and have managed to turn out differently. In my grandmother’s village (Alostair,Malaysia), there are people that have not seen a chicken for the whole year. To them, chicken is cuisine. An occasional fish would be heaven to them.
Yes, they are poor. Yet they live proudly knowing that they have done nothing wrong. They scrimp and save. They eat sweet potatoes planted in their small backyard farm. The mother works 2 jobs while the children help out by washing clothes for their neighbors. Their textbooks are all hand me downs. They study in a small corner of the floor not covered by clothes to be washed. Many a times I have attempted to give them some money, but they refuse. They are poor, but they live with pride.
In the case of Yong, one may blame his unfortunate circumstances. One may blame his 大哥 or (Big Brother) that convinced him to traffic drugs into Singapore. He might not have even known the penalties that accompanied his wrong doing. Many say that he was not mature enough at 19. I fully agree that he is a victim of circumstances, but remember that he has a choice.
All of us have the choice to live by the law or break it. I am sure that he was not forced at gunpoint to traffic drugs. He chose to do so to support poor family, but he still made that choice. The choice he made happens to be a bad one, and a very bad one in fact.
Many people dismiss the seriousness of drug trafficking. They say that the drug abusers should be the one punished, not the traffickers. After all, they are the ones that choose to ruin their lives. But these are the people that import these pills of misery into Singapore. You point to the sob story of parents bowing in front of the Istana. But you never mention the so many broken families that Yong’s 47.25g of drug creates. Your standard dose of heroin is 5-20mg, and the package he trafficked is enough for ~2300 doses. Heroin is one of the most destructive drugs that is almost impossible to withdraw from without help.
Vincent, I respect your empathy for Yong. You make a speech for his family that suffers when he is caught. But who speaks for the families that have their husband, son, wife or daughter destroyed by that 47.25g of powder?
There is a theory called the “Broken Windows Theory”. Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.
The window here is the law. If the president breaks the window and makes an appeal to court, it shows traffickers that they can use young people like Yong as mules without incurring the death penalty. Suddenly drug trafficking becomes a much less risky offence (nothing is as bad as a death sentence). We defied the US government’s pleas and gave Michael P Fay 4 strokes of the cane. Our laws are solid and not negotiable. Break them once, and all the effort put into them will be wasted.
Yong made a choice, and he has to take responsibility for it.
Yes, they are poor. Yet they live proudly knowing that they have done nothing wrong. They scrimp and save. They eat sweet potatoes planted in their small backyard farm. The mother works 2 jobs while the children help out by washing clothes for their neighbors. Their textbooks are all hand me downs. They study in a small corner of the floor not covered by clothes to be washed. Many a times I have attempted to give them some money, but they refuse. They are poor, but they live with pride.
In the case of Yong, one may blame his unfortunate circumstances. One may blame his 大哥 or (Big Brother) that convinced him to traffic drugs into Singapore. He might not have even known the penalties that accompanied his wrong doing. Many say that he was not mature enough at 19. I fully agree that he is a victim of circumstances, but remember that he has a choice.
All of us have the choice to live by the law or break it. I am sure that he was not forced at gunpoint to traffic drugs. He chose to do so to support poor family, but he still made that choice. The choice he made happens to be a bad one, and a very bad one in fact.
Many people dismiss the seriousness of drug trafficking. They say that the drug abusers should be the one punished, not the traffickers. After all, they are the ones that choose to ruin their lives. But these are the people that import these pills of misery into Singapore. You point to the sob story of parents bowing in front of the Istana. But you never mention the so many broken families that Yong’s 47.25g of drug creates. Your standard dose of heroin is 5-20mg, and the package he trafficked is enough for ~2300 doses. Heroin is one of the most destructive drugs that is almost impossible to withdraw from without help.
Vincent, I respect your empathy for Yong. You make a speech for his family that suffers when he is caught. But who speaks for the families that have their husband, son, wife or daughter destroyed by that 47.25g of powder?
There is a theory called the “Broken Windows Theory”. Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.
The window here is the law. If the president breaks the window and makes an appeal to court, it shows traffickers that they can use young people like Yong as mules without incurring the death penalty. Suddenly drug trafficking becomes a much less risky offence (nothing is as bad as a death sentence). We defied the US government’s pleas and gave Michael P Fay 4 strokes of the cane. Our laws are solid and not negotiable. Break them once, and all the effort put into them will be wasted.
Yong made a choice, and he has to take responsibility for it.
Wednesday 13 April 2011
Singapore is a meritocractic society
It used to be the case when we knew how to take responsibility. When I came home from school with a less than satisfactory grade on my test paper, I would be punished by my parents. I accepted it, because I knew that I was the reason why I failed, and I had to take the blame. The fact that other people could do well, while I could not meant that the problem lay with me. However, the Singaporeans, and many other people around the world seem to have forgotten what the word responsibility means.
When students fail their tests now, soft-hearted parents who listen to their child's excuses go to school and complain that the exams are too hard. We see this every year with the PSLE, where parents complain about the difficulty of one question in the forum. Yet, the top scores rise every year. From an observer's point of view, I would say that the parents are sore and the PSLE is either getting easier or kids are getting smarter.
The same thing applies in Singapore today, where we seem to have forgotten that we are the only ones responsible for their future and that the government has never, and should never interfere in our future.
People point to income inequality as the fault of the government, and this is true to a certain extent. But often we get emotional and forget that at the root of the problem is us. We are expecting to be paid more than what the market is willing to pay for, and they end up blaming the government who often has little to do with the current market prices. Look in the mirror, and justify why you choose the cheaper brand whenever you shop, but companies cannot choose the cheaper and better worker?
When you work in the office and get paid $y a year. After many years, you only get $500 more, but inflation has made that almost worthless. Who do you blame? Most netizens point the finger at the government, but they should take a mirror out instead. As an employee, you are only producing $y worth of work a month. When your pay rises, it means that your work is valued more. A bonus is to reward you for your work. So if your pay doesn't rise to meet inflation, it means that your value hasn't risen as much as the value of other things has risen. So take responsibility and acknowledge that your work has not grown in value over the years, and you will have to buckup, work harder and smarter. Maybe then you will get your promotion and not complain over the cost of living.
People whine about foreign workers. You say that they don't need to serve national service, go for reservist or feed a family here in Singapore. You say that they take our subsidies, then leave when they are about to retire. But that is not looking at the problem. You were educated under a world class education system and live in a society that is actually capitalist and meritocratic. Yet you lose to someone that had to grow up in a much tougher environment and you complain. Are you so lousy that 2 weeks of extra, partially compensated leave and CPF contributions (~13% more) make you less viable than a foreigner that probably doesn't speak English as a native language? If he is equally qualified, then you should improve yourself.explain
Yes, the government can come in and regulate, set a minimum wage, but the problem remains the same. As of today, Singaporeans (by Singaporeans, I mean the people who hire these workers) feel that cleaners should be paid only $xxx a month, and that every dollar more spent on cleaning means less profits and subsequently less money for the office staff. Would you as an employee of the company, like to donate $100 of your pay so that the cleaner in your office gets paid $100 higher? If yes, then be my guest and donate it to him/her. But just because you are willing to do so doesn't mean our coworkers are willing to do so. When the government sets a minimum wage and prices for basic services rise, that money will most likely come out of your bonus.
The opposition promises to restrict immigration. They say this is to wean companies off cheap labour. I fully support their stand. Companies need to learn how to do more with less in order to grow, and that means the quality of workers (us) should improve. But history has shown that we are lazier, dumber and more demanding than the foreigners. If we do not take responsibility and solve this problem, then restricting foreigners is not going to give you a job.
Reality is often colder, harsher and more cruel that the utopia that we imagine. I admit that there are many people out there that are so poor that they are literally penniless. SDP's website has taken the pain to compile many sob stories for us. Go read and empathize with them. These are the people that the MPs and charity organizations try to help. If you are kind and have values, please donate your money to them. But don't expect me to pay for the poor from my pocket (taxes). I want to choose how much and who to donate to (it helps so much better this way). I dont’ want a government to take my money and spend it inefficiently in helping the poor.
The government has never been a social institution. Those that tried have failed horribly (the US 14.66 trillion dollars, UK 23billion pounds budget deficits). I work long and hard, but at least I am proud to say that I am worth my salary, not some artificial amount dictated by the government.
Vote for the government that gives you the most choices and the best opportunities, not for governments that waste your money on things that should never be compulsory.(i.e. Charity, YOG)
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