Remaking Singapore again?! No problem, listen only mah.

My friend who is married to the Internet said his wife told him that one Hammer Party MP recently got hammered by some netizens on that IPO-price-$38-got-hammered-to-$18-company website. I thought that should be quite interesting stuff so I went to take a look.

Basically that MP guy, who married a beautiful Singaporean performing artist whom I heard is quite famous in India by the way, claims that the Government is not willing to change whatever shit it is doing and the National Conversation which is happening now is just some wayang show to let people know they are looking into some issues... Yes, just looking into.... Then he said we already got this stuff before, such as the Remaking Singapore Wayang Show in 2002.

Hmmm.... Sounds interesting to me.... So even though I am damn busy with my business plus chasing chiobus all over Singapore, I decided to find out more about Remaking Singapore 2002 report as I know there is a super kwailan website which likes to hammer the Hammer Party. So if I find out that the Government actually improved and made some changes from that report, then I can provide ammo for that psycho website to hammer that party jialat jialat.

Luckily I got the Remaking Singapore report below just by typing a few words into a search engine:
http://was.nl.sg/wayback/20070115030104/http://www.remakingsingapore.gov.sg/Full%20Version%20of%20Remake%20Sg.pdf 

Alamak! The report is damn long, more than 100 pages! Guess have to be long-winded, since it claims it sought opinions from more than 10,000 Singaporeans leh. So I just browsed but still managed to pick up some interesting stuff....

Page 30: Talking about foreigners and new citizens...... Hmmm....Very interesting stuff as that was in 2002, when foreigners were still quite manageable in terms of numbers and yet to overload the nation’s basic infrastructure and transport systems! It says Singaporeans are concerned in 2 areas - economic insecurity due to their presence and adverse impact on our nascent (to ah bengs/ah lians: this angmoh word means beginning or newly formed) national identity! Then this fantastic statement appears: Singaporeans’ worries are not necessarily due to a failure to understand rational arguments and reasons, but could stem from more visceral causes.

(Visceral means characterized by or proceeding from instinct rather than intellect: eg.a visceral reaction)

This is actually a very good observation or feedback which I suppose the committee agreed without a doubt! So we Singaporeans are rational and reasonable people, maybe just worried due to survival instincts. But the sad thing is, 10 years later, PM Lee starts to use the expression “one-eyed dragon” on those who seem to be too disturbed by foreigners. I really wonder what were the expressions on Vivian Balakrishnan’s and Khaw Boon Wan’s faces when they heard PM Lee uttered this?! These were the 2 leaders in charge of the Remaking Singapore committee who thought Singaporeans were rational and reasonable!

Even if the truth is as stated by PM Lee, we should investigate what could have transformed rational and reasonable beings into dragons in 10 years' time right? The cause (be it immigration policy or you-die-your-business attitude or whatever) might turn out to be something more terrible than dragons.

[Side track to PM Lee: My friend laughed like siao when PM Lee said don’t be a one-eyed dragon on TV. I asked him why and he said what a funny nickname PM Lee gave to himself. Oh, then I realised his last Chinese character means dragon... LOL....]

Page 35: Talking about early childhood and pre-school education issues. That time PM Goh Chok Tong didn’t think that area was important, so kena rejected. But now, 10 years later, PM Lee thinks it is important liao and is setting up a pre-school statutory board to look into the various concerns raised then:

http://www.pmo.gov.sg/content/pmosite/mediacentre/inthenews/primeminister/2012/August/pre-school_stat_boardtobesetup.html

Wow, it took 10 years for feedback to be finally accepted by the Government but at least PAP government is starting to be really good friends with young parents now... Good start, right? Though I wonder what suggestions will be accepted in another 10 years time....

Page ? (Sorry I forgot liao. Please tell me if you have time to search): Talks about newspaper simi lanjiao printing act and that the Government should allow more competition and accept private players into the market. But the proposal was kena rejected because the PAP kaki-lang (own people) committee thought otherwise.

Page ? (Sorry I forgot liao. Please tell me if you have time to search): Talks about re-drawing of electoral boundaries and why this practice should end! Wow, this one is a very bold suggestion put up by dunno which goondus. As usual of elitist I-scratch-your-backside-you-scratch-my-backside thinking, the committee wrote that the election rules were not as important as voting a prudent party to be in government. Hmmm....Sounds logical right?

My general feel after a quick browsing of the 2002 report seems to be that it is reflective of the will of most Singaporeans not only then, but in 2012 too. But my personal view is that the Hammer MP is correct to point out that nothing major has changed till now, although most civil servants now work 5-day weeks and no Primary 3 streaming leh... as well as emergence of 2 casinos and more vice-related activities/crimes. But I still hope someone from that highly secretive PAP Internet Brigade (which I heard is headed by a Gen. Baey Yam Keng) can educate me on how much Singapore has improved though.

Ok I have written enough.... Please read the entire report yourself if you are really keen to take part in the National Conversation 2012 as you can just ask the government how come this or that suggestion is not yet implemented. I believe 90% or all that can be said to the government in 2012 can also be found in 2002.

Lastly, feel free to comment if you have any ammo for me to send to that psycho website to hammer the Hammer Party. :P