TR EMERITUS

A Singaporean by the name of Kevin Kwek has written to the Straits Times Forum today to express his dissatisfaction at the nonchalant way in which PAP sports minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has dismissed the YOG bursting its initial budget by more than three times in Parliament lately. The embattled Dr Vivian has come under increasingly pressure of late from disgrunted Singaporeans for his reckless spending on the YOG which has turned out to be miserable flop of epic proportions, epitomized by the unfortunate arrest of a young man for criticizing him on Facebook and making Singapore an international laughing stock. Despite question marks hanging over his managerial competence, Dr Vivian put up a straight face in Parliament and continued to insist that the YOG was "value for money" and he would still splurge on it even at the  present astronomical cost of nearly $400 million dollars. Out of desperation, Dr Vivian tried to use the Beijing Olympics as a yardstick to justify the amount of money Singapore taxpayers have to fork out to host his "mickey mouse" Olympics. According to international market research firm Nielsen, the Beijing Olympics attracted 4.7 billion TV viewers worldwide. The figure, based on data from 37 viewing markets from August 8-24, surpassed the 3.9 billion who watched the 2004 Athens Games and the 3.6 billion of the 2000 Sydney Games, Nielsen said. For the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony alone, Nielsen estimated that almost one-third of the world’s population, or about 2 billion people, watched the event. His lame comparison is not accepted by many Singaporeans including Mr Kwek who wrote: "Other than the comparison with the Beijing Olympics, there are not many other ways to assess if spending $387 million was worth it. What I am appalled at was the way the overspending was swept aside. It remains a fact that we spent three times more of taxpayers' money than anticipated. We might well have still decided to go ahead if we knew in advance. Comparisons to London and Beijing - given the scale, nature and history of the traditional Olympics - are like comparing apples and jackfruit." If Dr Vivian is in the private sector, he might be sacked a long time ago. Fortunately for him, he is a PAP minister who does not have to account for their mistakes no matter how badly they screw up.     Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →

Singapore's ties with Malaysia has come under unnecessary strain again as a result of another of Lee Kuan Yew's uncalled for remarks on Malaysia. During a recent interview with the New York Times, the octagenarian Lee criticized Malaysia for its “racist” politics and claimed that the PAP would have improved inter-racial relations had Singapore remained a part of Malaysia. “I think if the Tunku (Malaysia’s first prime minister) had kept us together, what we did in Singapore – had Malaysia accepted a multiracial base for their society – much of what we’ve achieved in Singapore would have been achieved in Malaysia. But not as much, because it’s a much broader base. We would have improved inter-racial relations and an improved holistic situation,” he said. [Source: New York Times, 9 Sep 2010] He also described Malaysia to be in a most "unhappy" situation and that inter-racial relations there have plummeted to a new low. His statement polarized public opinion in Malaysia with the Malay newspapers such as Utusan Melayu lampooning him for harboring a secret agenda to divide Malaysia and the Chinese papers calling on the government to reflect what Lee had said. Utusan Melayu made use of Lee's words to issue a veiled threat that the Malaysia and Singapore may re-merge if the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) and its allies form the government: "Reading Mr Lee’s interview with The New York Times, we are not sure what his motives are by talking about his sadness over the separation of Malaysia and Singapore. Everyone knows he is a great strategist. The question is, does he harbour ambitions of seeing Malaysia and Singapore reunited? This is not impossible. If the DAP and its allies gain control of Malaysia, the two countries could re-merge." [Source: Utusan Melayu, 15 Sep 2010] DAP is an offshoot of the PAP during its disastrous foray into Malaysia politics in the 1964 general election where it won only one single parliamentary seat in Bangsar, held by the late Devan Nair. After Singapore was ejected from Malaysia, the Malaysian branch of the PAP regrouped to form the DAP, led by lawyer Lim Kit Siang. DAP currently held 29 seats in the Malaysian parliament and governed the state of Penang together with its opposition allies. Lee's statements was not welcomed by the Malaysian leaders as well with many speaking out against him including President of the Malaysian Chinese Association Dr Chua Soi Lek. Being a minister in the cabinet, Lee should be more careful with what he said as his views may be misconstrued to represent that of the Singapore government. Malaysia and Singapore are now two separate sovereign states and we have absolutely no business in commenting on the internal affairs of our neighbors. Lee has the penchant, or rather unhealthy fetish for courting controversies with his most untimely and unwelcomed comments on Malaysian politics which remains a thorn in bilateral ties between the two countries.   Related articles: >> Dr Mahathir: Racism a result of S’pore’s stint in Malaysia >> Dr Mahathir: PAP won elections on Chinese votes >> Malaysian newspapers respond to MM Lee   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →

I curse them every day!!! I lost my job, my girlfriend, my chance to buy a flat because these bastards want to import millions of foreigners, hike GDP, and boost their own salaries. Each day, thousands of foreigners are coming in. These foreign trash are the PAP’s whips against us, the common man. We are scarred and bleeding, but they continue to be deaf and blind and whip us more. “Election is coming, I will whip you less” I hear…”Election is over, then I whip you more” is what they don’t say but always do. Are we a state of Malaysia? Are we a province of China? I am confused. I am a ghost, an alien, a stranger in this land ruled by tyrants. The land is so packed with foreigners that it is truly a mongrel country. Something goes wrong, Singaporeans are at fault. Something goes right, it is PAP’s merit. So if we die protecting our country, war lose means our fault; war win is PAP’s credit?? Thick-skin shameless scum! People have no loyalty to the island anymore. Soldiers don’t want to defend the country no more. No jobs. No children. No heart. No home. No country. No Singapore… LKY is dying and he is taking the whole country with him!   Lucas Chan  Read More →