Monday, November 5, 2012

S'pore Vision in the Past

Mr S Rajaratnam was S'pore first Minister for Foreign Affairs from 9 Aug 1965 to 31 May 1980. He was also one of the core leaders and architects of independent and modern S'pore. Below are some quotes from his statement to the General Assembly on 21 Sep 1965, on the occasion of S'pore admission to the United Nations.

1) "Under British colonialism S'pore was developed not only as the commercial hub of South-East Asia but also as a military base for consolidating Western imperialism."  He went on to say that S'pore will never allow the base to be used for aggression.

2) "Singapore feels that money spent on weapons of war and armies is money wasted." His reason was we can never adequately secure our defence and that ultimately our defence and security must be secured through the collective and effective strength of the United Nations and peace keeping effectiveness.

3) "We seek a welfare state and not a warfare state. If independence and freedom are not to be empty slogans then we must continue to spend as much as our resources as we can fighting the only war that matters to the people - the war against poverty, ignorance, diseases, bad housing, unemployment and against anything and everything which deny dignity and freedom to our fellow men."

So we have confirmed once again S'pore is NOT a backward fishing village when PAP took over. This is what LKY claimed in order to inflate his own ego.

Then we also realised PAP policies have gone off tangent over the years and their vision becomes clouded due to their hunger for greater power and greed. S'pore beats all our neighbouring countries in defence spending, though they know in their heart that it is money down the drain. All these latest war 'toys' are only good in boasting their ego of what they can 'afford' to buy with $$.

During the initial years, the vision was cleared as welfare of citizens used to be top priority. Now PAP has became a self serving party interested in jacking up their bonus, on top of their excessive pay through all their extractive policies.

- Our income gap is the one of the greatest amongst developed countries. It is a common sight to see our elderly working  in physically demanding jobs which are unsuitable for their age.

- They do NOT like us to be well informed. What they want is to keep us ignorance if possible by controlling of MSM and press freedom.

- Our healthcare spending as a percentage of our GDP is amongst the lowest even when compare to developing countries. What a SHAME ! A few weeks in hospital can end up with a bill over $130K. This is almost the current CPF minimum sum for retirement.  How to retire then ?  They have the cheek to boast that they are very kind to allow interest free payment stretching over 42 years !  Cannot ever fall sick again if not the 2nd or even the 3rd generation have to pick up the hospital bill.

- Public housing has become million $ affair. Loan period stretch over our life time till almost 'grave' time.

- Our wages suppress due to cheap and abundant influx of foreign labour. Foreign 'talents' have infiltrated into all job areas ...you name it, they are in it. Our PMET end up jobless at 40+ and we have the most educated taxi drivers in the region. Not only do we have plenty of degree holders, we also have Phd driving taxi.

- Our Seniors could not enjoy their twilight years in dignity but are seen searching through rubbish bins for drink cans and cardboards to sell as they don't have enough for retirement even after working throughout their lives.

- Freedom ? What freedom do we have when a gathering of 3 is deem illegal !  There is only one miserable corner at Hong Lim Park where we can apply for permit for public gathering and open speeches which is subjected to approval.

Where is the clear vision of PAP ? It is all in the PAST.

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