Singaporeans will have to choose carefully when they vote for the President. If they want a quiet President, there are at least two possible candidates to choose from. If they want a President who can speak for the people, they can choose me. You can read my statements in www.tkl2011.com. The speaking can be done constructively and not in a quarrelsome way.
Have the courage to make a change. Do not worry that this approach will cause problems .... it will not. If the President brings important issues to the attention of the government, the government will have to pay attention to these views. The President does not need to be another center of power, but he can be the light of brightness to focus attention on these issues.
When problems are denied, they cannot be solved.
When problems are identified and agreed, it is more likely that better solutions can be found. We need to apply the values of honesty, fairness, positive attitude, courage and public service ... to find better solutions.
Have the courage to make a change. Do not worry that this approach will cause problems .... it will not. If the President brings important issues to the attention of the government, the government will have to pay attention to these views. The President does not need to be another center of power, but he can be the light of brightness to focus attention on these issues.
When problems are denied, they cannot be solved.
When problems are identified and agreed, it is more likely that better solutions can be found. We need to apply the values of honesty, fairness, positive attitude, courage and public service ... to find better solutions.
Dear Mr Tan
ReplyDeleteI heartily support this viewpoint.
The qualifying criteria for a presidential candidate is very high.
Singapore is already short of talents.
So why lose the inputs of another talent just because he happens to be the Singapore President.
Yes, that's what we want the President to do. Speak for the people.
ReplyDeletePM Lee is a brilliant mathematician, but he's managing people, not numbers, it's not a number game of 1 + 1 = 2, it's not a simple factor of opening 2 casinos = 25,000
jobs to be created as a way to increase GDP growth, there are other softer factors to consider than cold hard figures. He can't treat human beings like numbers in maths. Maths is a logical but dead science, people are living creatures with emotions and weaknesses to temptations.
We need someone to speak out to counteract cold, callous management of a country based simply on Maths.
Many people argued that people should have the capacity to differentiate right from wrong. Nobody forces gamblers to enter the casinos to gamble. If people could so easily control themselves, then the Govt has no moral grounds to "hint" that citizens need CPF to "force people" to save for old age, that the Board need to withhold the minimun sum so that people won't squander their savings at one crazy go. If people have the ability to self manage their moneys, why should we need CPF to do the job for us.
The same argument could apply to the gamblers ability to self manage their gambling emotions at the tables. Practically all the time, the flesh is willing, but the spirit is weak. Human beings are very weak creatures, can't resist temptations at such easy reach- casinos on shore where they could spend nights in a row gambling like living zombies.
Quite a few Ministers or ex Ministers are Christians like us, do these people really sleep well at night, we continue to wonder.
Folks, choose your President carefully, can't choose one who also believes in the Maths formula to assist in managing a country.
"Don't be just a spectator". Take action , it's all in your own hands.
People don't seem to realize 2 things concerning transport fare increase.
ReplyDeleteFirst, only 2 Companies relating to the Govt are permitted to monopolize an essential service, for total control purposes. Imagine if this important service is opened to wide competition, there would be chaos should strikes occur like in the fifties and sixties, which this Govt dread to see. So like the newsprint media, they want absolute total control. So we can forget about allowing private minibuses of Hongkong type to operate freely here, so read behind what the Transport Minister said about higher fares would rise if liberation of this industry is allowed. Strikes mean giving way to higher pay demanded by transport employers.
Two, taxi services are allowed wider competition, in fact the more the merrier, as if one Company's taxi is on strike, they are plenty more to operate as usual.And we think Govt is sincere liberalizing competition in taxi operation.
So, folks, get real, the Govt won't loosen control over bus and rail services. Anticipate fare increase periodically, bo bian. It's all in the hands of the Govt, even to manipulating the fare structure furtively behind the face of the PTC.
You could cry buckets till the cows come home, all they could say is "It can't be helped", on the same line as "It's an honest mistake. Let's move on."
All our Govt wants is full total control, they don't want chaos to add to their burden in Governance.