The manipulation of the CPF system has fixed the PAP in power and reduced citizens to economic digits. It has enabled the PAP to safeguard its longevity and keep us, the voters, in a constant state of subjection. This is the reason for Lee Hsien Loong’s sensitivity to criticism, because even a cursory glance at it suddenly shows the PAP to have benefitted from it far more than we have. When ministers defend the CPF, they defend themselves, not us. Ultimately, the CPF has come to denote the relationship of the PAP to Singapore. Not to the people of Singapore, but to Singapore Incorporated, the tremendous money-making machine we citizens service at the expense of our elderly, our sick, our children, our disabled. Our dignity. Ultimately, Roy Ngerng is not the slanderer of his neighbour’s injured reputation. That someone, who has been an MP for 30 years and Prime Minister for a decade of a party in power for 55 years, should be so aggrieved by a single internet article, says more for the policy than the man defending it or the man undermining it. Roy Ngerng is the casualty of a regime that depends for its endurance on silence. He asks questions that, if answered, would unravel the lie at the heart of the claim that the PAP cares for us citizens. Its claim to be the best leaders we could ever have. Because leaders stand on their policy outcomes, not in the libel courts. Roy Ngerng has told the emperor he has no clothes. And the emperor or, in Singapore’s case, the crown prince since the emperor is still alive, although he is retired, has begun to panic. It is panic we have seen from the PAP these three weeks. Cry if you must that Roy’s data wasn’t complete or his words intemperate. But we, citizens, if we are to be citizens, cannot pretend that the crown prince isn’t naked. That Roy has gathered such stunning support - I think I am correct in saying that $90,000 is one of the largest amounts ever given to an opponent of the PAP - is not an indication of his popularity or the quality of his data. It is simply that we are tired of being bullied. We are a people beginning to see the mirage that is the PAP’s claim to good governance. And the closer you come to that imagined oasis, the clearer it becomes an illusion. Let’s not allow this moment dissipate. Let’s not allow it to become a footnote in the legal textbooks. Let’s not allow the PM to silence those who speak for us, the ordinary citizens. These causes that make the PM and his friends so nervous need resources to continue their valuable work. The police have told Roy that he cannot put out donation boxes today. But as I understand it, a private appeal for donations among friends is not against the law. And since you are all my friends, I am making a private appeal, although I use a microphone to do it because I have so many friends. Give to Empowering Singaporeans and to the many causes that are working to improve our country. As much as you can: your money, your time, your commitment. But most of all, your citizenship. Do not let the state define your citizenship any more. We will define it ourselves.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 11:50:03 +0000
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