“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)
“He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.”(Proverbs 19:17)
The post-GE political tsunami effects taking place in the last 2 weeks after the GE2011 have been unprecedented so far, even to those who are hard-core opposition supporters. Never have Singaporeans anticipated the power of voting in a democratic system. We now have the most youthful cabinet line up in history which promises to approach issues differently, and the government is willing to listen and engage more with its people. The new cabinet line-up also looks leaner, with 15 members as compared to 21 previously.
The post-GE political tsunami effects taking place in the last 2 weeks after the GE2011 have been unprecedented so far, even to those who are hard-core opposition supporters. Never have Singaporeans anticipated the power of voting in a democratic system. We now have the most youthful cabinet line up in history which promises to approach issues differently, and the government is willing to listen and engage more with its people. The new cabinet line-up also looks leaner, with 15 members as compared to 21 previously.
Every Singaporean should be proud and welcome such changes which will be good for the country going forward. There are just too many political appointments in the past and it has become very costly to run a government here. In countries like US, it only as 17 full ministers. Here we have the secretary of state, minister of state, senior minister of state, acting minister, and minister.
The government has promised to review ministerial pay as well. Should a government run like a business entity, with salaries pegged to top income earners in private sector? Should performance bonuses determined purely by economic indicator like economic growth rate? I read that entry level for a minister is about $1.4m per year. When the opposition MP questioned this issue some years ago in the parliament: “didn’t the Cabinet feel‘a tinge of discomfort in drawing taxpayers’ money at such a rate?”, the reply she got was, if we are unwilling to pay for top talent, it might lead to “your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is. Your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people’s countries.” Despite that, most Singaporeans find it hard to accept the widening of income gap.
The Straits Times runs a real story on 20th May that an elderly woman (who had her right leg amputated) selling tissue packs in a wheelchair in Ang Mo Kio. She has five children and none of them is supporting her. During the recent election campaign when she met the MPs in the course of selling her tissue packs, all she asked from them was that the many summonses she received be waved (apparently for carrying out illegal hawkering). It looks like we still have a long way to go to become a more compassionate and fair country despite our huge and run-away economic success story.
Just yesterday, I was at TTSH near the traffic crossing, I saw two police officers summoning a tissue paper hawker. I was thinking it was uncompassionate and a waste of time to summon these poor people who is trying to make a living. But on the other hand, I knew the police officers are acting because someone has make a complaint. So this is the situation in spore. If you do, you are uncompassionate; you don't, the complains keep coming in.
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