TR EMERITUS

Yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with a new friend and our small talks somehow drifted to our national politics and the pap government. He conceded that although life in Singapore is definitely getting harder and harder under the pap government, we still have a job and food to eat etc. Given what he has said, I take it that he will still vote for the pap government. After listening to him carefully and what he said to me were really nothing new, at least to me, I simply replied that when we cast our votes, we do not only think for ourselves but more importantly, we vote for our children and their future. He kept quiet after listening to me. We are at the sunset phase of our lives whereas the younger ones are at the sunrise phase of their lives and if we are alearly feeling acutely that the current government policies be it public housing, car ownership or job opportunities etc are steeper and steeper mountains to climb, so to speak, what about them? I remember when I bought my first 1,600cc brand new car, the COE then was about $10,000 and my first flat, a 5 room HDB flat of about 110 sq metres was a little over $100,000. Between then and now of about 3 decades, I know too well that the real wages of too many different types of jobs that native Singaporeans are doing have not increased by much, never mind how the pap government blows it, spins it or sugarcoats it. I worry for our younger generations. I hope that my new friend understands better now that when we cast our sacred votes, how we vote shouldn't only be determined by just 'because we still have a job and food to eat lalala...' but much more importantly, we cast in consideration of our younger generations because our children and our young people are not just the extension of our personal hopes and aspirations but our collective national hope and future too. Given the current pap government's policies, greed, their unimpressive calibre despite many of them being graduates of ivy league universities and some even holding very senior military ranks, our challenges, their lack of true ability, incompetence and trajectories etc, younger Singaporeans' lives in Singapore will be much tougher and more uncertain than their parents' generation. Think.   Simon Lim      Read More →

Dr Tan Cheng Bock came within a whisker of winning the presidency but now he can’t even qualify to run because of the updated criteria. Lee Hsien Yang should qualify, but we can count him out for 2023 as well – he has already said he’s been “made a fugitive by my own country.” The last election in 2017 was controversially reserved, and only one candidate was certified fit to contest, so a President was elected without a vote. Nothing compares to the elected presidency in this country. The next presidential election must be held by September. Just prior to that, in July, ministers’ controversial occupation of Ridout estates will be discussed and debated in Parliament. Coming so close to each other, how will the election be played out? However, we could always have a repeat of 2017 – an election without a vote. Or they could field two People’s Action Party (PAP) friendly candidates to appease the voters, if no non-establishment candidate qualifies, so it’s a guaranteed win. Let’s not forget that the bar is set so high that very few non-establishment candidates qualify to run for President in this country. And of those who qualify – such as industry leaders and business titans – will any step forward to challenge a PAP-backed candidate, in a country ranked so high on crony capitalism? Although the role of the President is largely ceremonial, under the constitution, the President has powers of approval over the unlocking of the country’s reserves, the appointment of key office holders like the Attorney General, and any investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). In any case, President Halimah has announced she is not seeking re-election. When we think of the six years of her presidency, what do we think of? Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat has thanked President Halimah for her “decisive support and leadership” during the Covid-19 pandemic – which essentially meant that she gave her approval each time the government sought her approval for drawing on the country’s past reserves for assistance packages. That was perhaps the most notable thing she did as President. Those who expected more from President Halimah were always going to be let down. Like President S R Nathan, like President Tony Tan, she was never going to be the one to stir the pot and make the headlines. We know what happened to President Ong Teng Cheong when he tried to do more. He got caught up in a festering dispute with the government, a dispute which started when he ordered a report on the national reserves. He was met with a stone wall, the government declaring that it would take 56 man-years to produce a dollar and cents value of its assets. As President Ong would later recount: “I had a job to do, whether the government liked it or not… You see, if you ask me to protect the reserves, then you’ve got to tell me what I’m supposed to protect. So I had to ask.” Since then, the establishment’s choice of President has been careful and calibrated. Sticking to the script is paramount – read any speech that’s prepared, wave at crowds at the National Day parade, send condolences and congratulations as and when required, give consent when consent is sought. If the coming presidential election is another walkover, it might as well be dubbed the nominated presidency. Or walk-in presidency.   Augustine Low      Read More →

OK, it wasn’t my idea (since I had just flown in from Singapore) but since my American stepdad was hungry for Malaysian and Singaporean food, we decided to go grab a mean at the C&R Café and Restaurant, which is located in London’s Chinatown. In the three years of being in university in London, I avoided going for Singapore food for a simple reason. I didn’t see a great need to pay several pounds for a dish that I could get back home for a third of the price (this being back when the exchange rate was three Singapore dollars to the pound and six Malaysian ringgit for the pound.) However, my experience at C&R today got me questioning one of the issues that many of us face today, which is the issue of moving to different places. Like it or not, we live in a world where many of the opportunities that are available to us, are quite often in different parts of the world. Staying in the home market is more often than not a limiting factor to career growth, especially if you work for a multinational. Key buzzwords for career building are “multinational,” and “multicultural.” However, despite all the chatter about the need to be “multi” this and that, many people, particularly in Asia, are hesitant to move abroad, even if its for a few years. One of my father’s friends who was a Vice-President at Citibank in the 1990s made the point that although he probably could get a “multinational” job, he wasn’t going to do it because he’d have no idea when he would get to come home. So, here’s the question – what defines home? Governments around the world love telling you that the country you were born in is your home. To an extent they are not wrong. Chances are, the place where you were born is the place where you’ve lived in the longest. It’s the place where your family and school friends happen to be. It’s the place where the sights, sounds and smells are familiar to you and therefore comfortable. The question that is put to many people when they think of locating elsewhere is why do you want to leave a place which is so familiar and comfortable. In culinary terms for Malaysians and Singaporeans is “Why do you want to go to a place where you can’t get your laksa?” The experience at C&R today, however, showed that many of the experiences of “home” can, in fact be replicated elsewhere. C&R’s story is about that. The place was started by someone from Johor who got homesick for home food. So, the restaurant was formed to create the flavours of home for Malaysians and Singaporean living in London. Sure, prices are not what they are in Malaysia or Singapore. However, you can’t expect someone operating in London to sell at Malaysian and Singaporean prices when they’re operating in London. However, what you can get is that little flavour of home and if you look at the what C&R is offering, you’ll notice that its fairly extensive (my stepsister made the point that she had never seen a menu with so many pages). While the prices may be significantly more than in Malaysia or Singapore, they also offer pretty generous portions and their flavours are “authentic.” One of the surprisingly good dishes was the rotti cannai/prata (given that the place is operated by Malaysian Chinese). It was crispy and the curry was decent. How did they get the right ingredients? The answer is simple. Across the road from them is stall that specially imports stuff from Malaysia into London – including stuff with musang durian (which given the aversion that most Caucasians have to durian, means the shop is expecting Malaysians and Singaporeans to be their main customers). Moving to another place does require compromise. I lived in the UK for seven-years at a boarding school. At no time, did I ever insist on getting Chinese New Year as an official Public Holiday. My right to celebrate privately was respected (which involved enough time to go to a public phone to call relatives) but the compromise was that I could not even think of imposing a public holiday on the majority. However, as long as you are willing to compromise on certain things in the public sphere, you can always recreate many of the elements of “home” elsewhere. Food is one of the best examples. We can enjoy the flavours of home wherever we are and we can share the beauty of our culture with other people. The Westerners have done it for years. They have travelled overseas and brought their flavours of home with them. The Westerners have brought “flavours of home” with them rather than allowing the “concept of home” from stopping them from chasing opportunities beyond their shores – so why can’t we do the same?   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able to meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.      Read More →