Happy National Day Singapore! The 51st birthday of my country, my home. May the leaders and the people continue to work on the areas where we are not 1st world yet besides material wealth!
Another year has passed since we last celebrated the 50th birthday of Singapore with one of the biggest bash all year round. A year where the ruling PAP won back its 70% popular votes after a disastrous, by their standard, GE2011 where some unpopular policies, which turned out to be legitimate gripes of the voters then, so irked the voters that they voted in the opposition in a GRC thereby sending 2 ministers and 1 potential speaker of parliament out!
The world has changed quite a bit since the high! The oil price slump has put pressure on one of the brightest industries in Singapore, the oil & gas industry, with a one-time darling of the market, Swiber filing for a shock judicial management motion, after withdrawing an even more drastic initial action of filing for liquidation winding up!
The terrorist threats are increasing around the world and more importantly, closer to home in Indonesia (though not the 1st time) and Malaysia (where the 1st successful terrorist attack supposedly happened last than a month ago!). The most recent foiled terrorist plot against Singapore was the arrest of 6 members of a IS-linked group plotting to launch a rocket attack from Batam (a mere 15km from Singapore) targeting the iconic MBS building! A rocket!! How ridiculous can it be if not for the deadly effect the rocket can actually cause! Not to mention the psychological scars it can leave behind a nation whose people are so used to peace and harmony so that they can go about making prosperity!
PM Lee has touched on the 3 key immediate challenges for Singapore as it moves into the 52nd year of nationhood. Much work have to be done. The National Day Parade (NDP) has seen beefed by security measures. People, time, efforts and resources will be allocated for such preventive and, in time of real attack, responsive measures. There is no escaping these!
For me, we simply have to:
1. continue to believe and behave as our national pledge conjured us to do:
"We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation."
2. to have one united people, we will have to respect each other race, language or religion. Justice has to be seen and perceived to had been served for all and not skewed by the social status, money and power of the person. Regardless of race, language or religion too for sure!
3. in order to achieve happiness in an urbane and commercialised modern society, people will need to have work to make a living. Hopefully making enough, though money is never enough if one has insatiable desires, to own a public flat, raise a 3-kid family and have a balance and healthy lifestyle! So, creating jobs or in the face of lack of jobs, how do we keep the people, assuming they are able and willing to work for less in a given situation, happy?
It has to do with the mind-set and the national norm!
In our society, our ethos is: no one owes anyone a living. Yet, if one is fallen into adversity despite giving the best efforts, help will be rendered. No one will be abandoned just because he or she is poor in monetary term!
The 'Less if more' philosophy may have to be promoted more where for those above 55 years old, the meaning of life can be doing meaningful work for 'less pay than one would had otherwise command with the many years of experience and expertise accumulated'! Less consumption is more for this group too where quality of foods instead of quantity of foods count!
Would less overall consumption be good for the economy? probably not if we go by the 'traditional' economics theories. Can we be different? Should housing prices be sky high for us to claim that we are 1st world? should all be paid 6-figure salaries in some 'charm' industries like banking (traders included), lawyers, doctors, accountants, etc. be the NORM? can they accept 'less is more'?
We will see...
Another year has passed since we last celebrated the 50th birthday of Singapore with one of the biggest bash all year round. A year where the ruling PAP won back its 70% popular votes after a disastrous, by their standard, GE2011 where some unpopular policies, which turned out to be legitimate gripes of the voters then, so irked the voters that they voted in the opposition in a GRC thereby sending 2 ministers and 1 potential speaker of parliament out!
The world has changed quite a bit since the high! The oil price slump has put pressure on one of the brightest industries in Singapore, the oil & gas industry, with a one-time darling of the market, Swiber filing for a shock judicial management motion, after withdrawing an even more drastic initial action of filing for liquidation winding up!
The terrorist threats are increasing around the world and more importantly, closer to home in Indonesia (though not the 1st time) and Malaysia (where the 1st successful terrorist attack supposedly happened last than a month ago!). The most recent foiled terrorist plot against Singapore was the arrest of 6 members of a IS-linked group plotting to launch a rocket attack from Batam (a mere 15km from Singapore) targeting the iconic MBS building! A rocket!! How ridiculous can it be if not for the deadly effect the rocket can actually cause! Not to mention the psychological scars it can leave behind a nation whose people are so used to peace and harmony so that they can go about making prosperity!
PM Lee has touched on the 3 key immediate challenges for Singapore as it moves into the 52nd year of nationhood. Much work have to be done. The National Day Parade (NDP) has seen beefed by security measures. People, time, efforts and resources will be allocated for such preventive and, in time of real attack, responsive measures. There is no escaping these!
For me, we simply have to:
1. continue to believe and behave as our national pledge conjured us to do:
"We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation."
2. to have one united people, we will have to respect each other race, language or religion. Justice has to be seen and perceived to had been served for all and not skewed by the social status, money and power of the person. Regardless of race, language or religion too for sure!
3. in order to achieve happiness in an urbane and commercialised modern society, people will need to have work to make a living. Hopefully making enough, though money is never enough if one has insatiable desires, to own a public flat, raise a 3-kid family and have a balance and healthy lifestyle! So, creating jobs or in the face of lack of jobs, how do we keep the people, assuming they are able and willing to work for less in a given situation, happy?
It has to do with the mind-set and the national norm!
In our society, our ethos is: no one owes anyone a living. Yet, if one is fallen into adversity despite giving the best efforts, help will be rendered. No one will be abandoned just because he or she is poor in monetary term!
The 'Less if more' philosophy may have to be promoted more where for those above 55 years old, the meaning of life can be doing meaningful work for 'less pay than one would had otherwise command with the many years of experience and expertise accumulated'! Less consumption is more for this group too where quality of foods instead of quantity of foods count!
Would less overall consumption be good for the economy? probably not if we go by the 'traditional' economics theories. Can we be different? Should housing prices be sky high for us to claim that we are 1st world? should all be paid 6-figure salaries in some 'charm' industries like banking (traders included), lawyers, doctors, accountants, etc. be the NORM? can they accept 'less is more'?
We will see...
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