From time to time we are regaled with amusing tales to assuage the possible fall-out from any
new measures introduced by the government ostensibly for the benefits of the public, in this
case the ERP increases.
Mr. Lim Swee Say was reported in the Straits Times of 23-6-08 to have drawn laughter from
his audience in his two hour dialogue to his driving experience of getting car beeps four to six
times a day when he passed through ERP gantries on his way to and from work. The audience
would have laughed differently if they had realised that the minister was a person of vast
affluence drawing a whopping salary of over $1 million a year . Anyone with that kind of
affluence can well afford to be generous with not only four to six times car beeps a day but
many times more. The wealthy car-owners are not grousing about the ERP increases
including of course the honourable minister Lim. It is the run-of-the-mill type of car-owners,
the wage earners and the small time businessman, who will feel the pinch.
While Mr. Lim drives merrily through the ERP gantries without a care and hardly a dent on his
vast affluence, the social side effect that could arise out of the ERP ib-ncreases may have escaped his alert mind. In order to avoid the ERP gantries, the ordinary car-owners may
start to leave home early and return late. This may bring about a disruption of their social
lives which may have possible serious consequences to our population policy in that there may
be less tendency to procreate because there is neither the time nor the energy to engage in
such endeavour any more.
Mr. Lim and his fellow ministers should try to put themselves in the shoes of the ordinary
car-owners to empathise with them
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4 comments:
I did not know whether to laugh or be angry when I read that the Minister had drawn laughter from his audience when he recounted his daily experience with the ERP gantries. Why on earth did no one ask how much he is paid and better still whether his ERP charges come from his own pocket or they come from taxpayers.What are dialogue sessions for if not used to raise questions????
Bill Teoh
Mr. Yoong that last comment was actually by Bill Teoh. But for some reason he couldn't get into Google. So I posted using my account. Happy blogging.
Hiyah it is simple why the audience and the minister laughed. Well, the minister is paid a million Dollar salary so a few peeps is nothing to him. A laughable matter right? Of course. The audience of the minister's constituents laughed because they were so shocked they didn't know what else to do. Laughter before the tears lor. Or holding balls so tight tears and some strangled sounds came out and the government controlled media reporters mistook that for mirth.
You flers are fast catching up with our Malaysian ministers in the art of stand-up comedy.
The Minister is actually laughing to the bank. He is not being paid as a comedian by profession.
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