Wednesday, August 24, 2016

A poignant tribute to ex-President Ong Teng Cheong

In the midst of all these flattering adulations on the ex-President SR Nathan following his demise on 22 August, perhaps it has not occurred to the mesmerised PM Lee Hsien Loong and his equally hypnotised Cabinet colleagues that there is still considerable anger among a significant section of Singaporeans on the disgraceful act of the PAP leaders in not according a State Funeral to ex-president Ong Teng Cheong upon his death. To add to the insult the PAP demagogues did not even have the decency to give a satisfactory explanation for the omission except from time to time they issued nonsensical statements that the Prime Minister and his spineless Cabinet colleagues have the final say on such matters. There is no quarrel about according a State Funeral to SR Nathan but that the wife of former PM Lee Kuan Yew (the mother of PM Lee Hsien Loong) was given a State Funeral upon her death is in the mind of discerning Singaporeans the extreme case of the abuse of political power. What locus standi could Mrs Lee Kuan Yew have to deserve such state honour? And how could she have been more qualified than ex-President Ong Teng Cheong for a State
Funeral?

Ex-President Ong Teng Cheong was known as the People's President during his tenure, a title which our ex-President SR Nathan would have like to be bestowed with but which had eluded him. This was the measure of the popularity of ex-President Ong Teng Cheong, especially among the Chinese. He incurred the displeasure of the PAP demagogues, especially ex-PM Lee Kuan Yew, for being too honest and straightforward in wanting to know about Singapore Reserves to the discomfort of the PAP wallahs. How the PAP demagogues could have felt so panicky about disclosing Singapore Reserves to the President may be enigmatic to the public but that they could have turned inimical to the President over this could be a million-dollar question to know. To take it further, they even showed their vindictive strain by not giving ex-President Ong Teng Cheong a State Funeral which he greatly deserved, at least more than Mrs. Lee Kuan Yew, to the dismay of Singaporeans who watched the comic opera with abated breath.

Ex-President Ong Teng Cheong had brought immense progress to Singapore even before he became President as a PAP lawmaker and Minister. He was instrumental in making the mass rapid transit a reality in Singapore which has benefitted immensely the commuters. The question of the withholding of his State Funeral upon his death will not go away from the people's mind and will resurface from time to time to the discomfort of the PAP wallahs, especially PM Lee Hsien Loong.

It's quite in order to accord ex-President SR Nathan a fitting narrative to his memory but quite a lot of the adulations are repetitious and some of his so-called achievements were really given a bit of cosmetic treatment. In any case, may the soul of eminent SR Nathan rest in peace.


Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Looking at Joseph Schooling's Gold Medal in perspective

The fantastic achievement of Joseph Schooling in winning a Gold Medal in the 100 metre butterfly swimming event at the Rio Olympics has brought a supreme reputation and prestige to Singapore in the history of the Olympics. Singapore, especially PM Lee Hsien Loong and his ministers, have shown superb gratitude in according Joseph Schooling the supreme honour that has never been given to any athlete or artist in the past. The whole of Singapore is in ecstatic celebration in his honour  and Joseph Schooling could not have been oblivious to all the adulations that have been poured on him. In all these frenzied exuberances would it not be prudent that a rational thought be given to the sensitivity of Joseph Schooling in having to face the future? He has been lifted so high on the pedestal of fame that we may be overdoing it so that there would be no consolation, but devastation, if he could not win any gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Of course, in the midst of all these celebrations, it could not have occurred in his mind.

True to their character, the PAP leaders are never slow in their haste to claim credit for the global honour  to Singapore that Joseph Schooling has brought. Apart from granting Joseph Schooling a deferment for national service to enable him to train for the Olympics, it was left entirely to the parents of Schooling to finance his training, especially his mother May Schooling.They had spent more than a million dollars for his training and the Singapore Government is not known to have made any financial contribution to it. In fact the people who should claim credit for Schooling's gold medal achievement should be his wonderful parents, his equally wonderful American trainers and the American Government.

Joseph Schooling is a genuine local born swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal for Singapore, unlike the mercenary women paddlers from China that the somnolent PAP Government brought in at great expense to the taxpayers with the hope that they would win gold medals for Singapore at the Olympics. They were all second-rate players trained by China who were only too happy to foist them on Singapore so that they could have an affluent livelihood with the easy money they get from the Singapore Government. It should not surprise the PAP leaders if they could not win any Olympic gold medal for they were more interested in acquiring wealth. Due to the PAP's lax policy, they became permanent residents (PR) over time and became eligible to purchase HDB flats which they sold in the lucrative re-sale market at great profits when they returned to China. With the exchange rate in China, they became affluent overnight.

The latest antic is the shameful defeat of the mercenary Singapore paddlers by an unflattering Japanese team at the Rio Olympics for a bronze medal. Do Singaporeans feel that they have been shortchanged by the PAP leaders?