Whine, whine, whine. The noise is intensifying by the week. All my 5 readers will know that I used to lambaste our politicians. I did not mince my words and went for the jugular each time. They would have notice I have never done so since GE2015. While I still criticise policies and quotable quotes of politicians, I mention no names. It isn't because I am afraid of getting sued. I never worry about such things because I do not make unverified claims from my delusions. I call a spade a spade every time. No one is going to get sued for calling a dumbass stupid. The reason why I stop pin pointing Singapore politicians is not because I support them. I have never voted for any of them and I doubt I ever will. I stopped lashing out at them because I realised none of them is at fault.
Incidentally, just about everyone I know who complains about Singapore politicians is someone who actually voted for them. They whine the loudest, tell everyone how the politicians suck and are out of touch with the people. Well, where do my dear friends think the sucky Ministers or MPs they cannot resonate with come from? They do not emerge from a portal of hell during the lunar 7th month. They are not plant mutants migrated from Pulau Ubin or some shadow phantasms carried over by the yearly haze from the south. They .... well, at least most ... are born and bred Singaporeans. They live among us as some of your classmates in secondary school, your platoon mates in the army and your university soccer team comrades. This is what our system produces and we endorse it. Simply as.
"No, I didn't vote for them," so claimed everyone I asked.
So, the PAP summoned ghosts to cast votes? No. You fucking did. 70% of you. Don't lie. This is the first reflection of the PAP on the Singaporean people. We will never admit we are wrong. We honestly feel that despite the flaws of the PAP, they are still the right people to lead the country. The opposition sucks but let's keep a few around for the sake of it. Likewise, the PAP makes mistakes. Tons of mistake but they will never admit to a single one. No mistakes, no accountability. Will the PAP voters ever take accountability for their votes? Nah.
Singapore prides itself as a multi-racial, multi-cultural tolerant country behind the veil of Racial Harmony Days. In truth, we are racist assholes. The problem is, we are so racist that we don't even realise it. Most Singaporeans have no qualms referring to people of respective nationalities by the pet name they come up with. We are perfectly comfortable in talking about that Chao Ah Tiong, Si Ah Neh, Annoy Pinoy among ourselves. In the construction sites, we have supervisors calling workers by their nationalities. "Oi, Thailand come." Meanwhile, Singapore will be having a new Malay President soon. We already know what race he or she will be before the election. Amazing. Of course, Singaporeans will find that amusing and move on after a laugh, the same way as how we accepted the GRC as a "meritocratic" system and deem it perfectly fine.
We holler at people because we are paying customers. We have young parents holding hands strolling across shopping centres while their maid is carrying and soothing their 3 month old baby. We pay them peanuts, expect them to live-in, grudgingly give them a day off a week and think it is perfectly okay for voting for bigot bullies as the government that suppress wages, limit human rights and the freedom of speech. We are nasty travelers or migrants, bring our bigotry with us everywhere we go. I received a comment in my blog this morning that goes, "Some of the worst people I have met in Australia are Singaporeans." Believe it, he wouldn't be alone with that opinion.
Because people fear taking risks. It's a reflex that's been drilled into our subconscious since young. The constant message that we are too small to fail, and mistakes are gravely frowned upon. I have a friend who is a primary school teacher friend and he confessed to voting for the pap only because he wasn't sure the opposition would do a good job. They've never been tested. If the teachers of our future generations think this way, then I have no doubt his students will grow up with the same mindset. The behaviour of our pap leaders is probably a by product of that system. We prefer to conform than to innovate , nobody dares to rock the boat. Even pinky himself would think twice about going against the formula that had always worked in the past. In my view, this pervasive fear of failure is a self perpetuating institution. And it is unfortunate that fear is the hardest condition to reverse. I am afraid you are right. We will soon be an extinct bunch. I just feel so sorry for my parents who had worked so hard only to be betrayed in their golden years. They were a generation mercilessly sacrificed.
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