TR EMERITUS

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has lashed out at PAP strongman Lee Kuan Yew for "distorting" history. 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. Dr Mahathir refuted Lee's arguments and counter-accused Singapore of perpetuating "racism" in Malaysia during its two year stint in the Federation. "Before Singapore joined the Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia, there was less racial politics in the Federation of Malaysia.....'Of course the slogan was 'Malaysian Malaysia', which implied that the Chinese were not having equal rights with the Malays. If this appeal to Chinese sentiments against the Malays was not racial, I do not know what is racial,'" he wrote on his blog. He also took a pot shot at Singapore politics which has been completely dominated by the PAP for the last fifty years or so. "Whether the PAP admits it or not, the party has always been led and dominated by ethnic Chinese, and has won elections principally because of Chinese votes. The others are not even icing on the cake," he said. Dr Mahathir added that if Singapore is a part of Malaysia, the ethnic Chinese in both countries will dominate and control Malaysian politics: "No dissent would be allowed and certainly no one would dare say anything about who really runs the country." It is a shame that there is not a single soul in Singapore right now who dares to rebuke Lee and Singaporeans need a former Malaysian Prime Minister to speak up for them.   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 →

As expected, PAP Sports Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan did not bother to account for his reckless spending spree on the much maligned Youth Olympic Games in the PAP rubber-stamped Parliament today and chose to rehash what he said earlier in an interview with BBC News that he would still bid for the YOG at the present cost as it is "value for money" without substanting his claims. PAP MP Zaqy Mohamad had earlier sent his "questions" on the YOG to Dr Vivian for the latter to prepare a well-crafted answer to be "recited" in Parliament today. Unlike the parliamentarians of other first world countries, PAP MPs and ministers are not capable of engaging in a live debate in Parliament and have to depend on pre-screened questions and prepared answers to save themselves the embarrassment on TV. Dr Vivian then used the example of the Beijing Olympic Games to "smoke" Singaporeans again. "The YOG was about one-third the scale of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games 2008, which featured 11,000 athletes. But our projected spending was about 10 per cent that of Beijing's expenditure of S$3.9 billion, which excluded capital expenditure. In fact, the YOG featured more athletes than the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games 2010 (did), but we would (be) likely (to) spend less than 20 per cent of Vancouver's (expenditure, which was ) S$2.26 billion." How a "mickey mouse" Olympics which is hardly heard elsewhere in the world can be compared to the well established Olympic Games is anybody's guess. Despite the large amount of money poured in to publicize the YOG, it received scanty attention from the international media, prompting International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to admit that tacitly it has been a failure. Though 88 percent of Singaporeans indicated that they are "not interested" in the YOG at all, Dr Vivian is adamant that the much maligned event which hit the international headlines for the arrest of a YOG critic, was a "success". "At the end of the day, Singapore delivered an inaugural YOG that received high praise from the International Olympic Committee, the International Federations, athletes and guests , and most importantly, Singapore citizens were proud of the collective achievement," he boasted. Instead of giving Singaporeans an exact breakdown of the costs incurred in the YOG and explain why the budget was bursted by more than three times, Dr Vivian chose to skirt the issue and use half-baked arguments to cover up his own utter incompetence and ineptitude. To put things in perspective, the Taiwan Flora Expo which will be held in November will last for 170 days costing SGD 450 million and will attract 8 million visitors (SGD 0.50 per visitor ratio to overall cost). Our YOG cost SGD 387million lasted only 12 days attracted 50,000 visitors (SGD 7740 per visitor ration to overall cost). (courtesy of TR reader Mark Tan) As the YOG fracas has shown, it is impossible for Singaporeans to expect any form of accountability and transparency from the PAP regime unless genuine opposition MPs are voted into Parliament. (Not "wayang" WP MPs whose voices have not heard for a very long time)   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 →

Senior diplomat Professor Tommy Koh has lent support to the minimum wage amidst a debate in the Straits Times two weeks ago between two professors from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Associate Professor Hui Weng Tat and Professor Lim Chin who took opposing views on whether Singapore should implement a minimum wage. In response, PAP MP Lee Yi-Shyan wrote on his blog saying that "the Government's approach was to let market forces decide wages, while helping to lift the earning power of poorer workers." Prof Koh disagreed with Lee's argument and felt that there is a role for the state to play in the event the market fails: "However, is it not true that the market is not infallible? Is it not true that, when there is a market failure, the state should intervene in order to make the world a fairer one?" he was quoted as saying in Straits Times. The wages of Singapore's lower-income workers have declined over the years due to the relentless influx of cheap foreign workers. Singapore's income-gap is now the highest among developed economies after Hong Kong which has recently introduced a minimum wage as well. According to Prof Koh, "every advanced economy, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, has a minimum wage." "We need not follow the practices of others. However, it is incumbent upon us to innovate and to deliver better governance and inclusiveness," he added. Back then in 2001, the Singapore Democratic Party has already called on the PAP regime to introduce minimum wage for low income workers in its election manifesto. The minimum wage is also one of the 19 policy pledges of the Reform Party which is led by Cambridge-educated economist Kenneth Jeyeratnam. (read more here)   Related articles: >> PAP MP Lee Yi-Shyan opposed minimum wage >> Time for Singapore to consider minimum wage   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 →