Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble
If I were to join politics…
I want to be an independent. I want to be able to say what I think and feel, and more importantly, I want to be able to cast my vote as I see fit, and not to be told to toe some party line. It doesn’t matter if it’s the PAP, SDP, WP, NSP or any other party. I want to be able to speak with an independent mind.
Some might ask, “Why not be an NMP instead?” No disrespect to any former and present NMP, but I think that a true member of parliament should go through the election’s baptism of fire. It might be an idealist notion, but nonetheless, I would want to be an MP that’s chosen by the people to speak on their behalf.
Of course, all these talk is way premature. I’m now just a young punk struggling to complete his honours thesis. In anycase, it has been donkey years since an independent last won a seat in Parliament. And, given the current political situation, it’s probably going to be another donkey years before an independent candidate will get a chance to be voted into Parliament.
Unless 5 or 6 independents can get together to contest a GRC. That would be interesting.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Aaron Ng on 19/03/2007 at 11:05 pm, and is filed under Ramblings. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 4 years ago
Wouldnt it be nice if all the independents were bloggers?
about 4 years ago
Agree.
____________________
a true member of parliament should go through the election’s baptism of fire.
about 4 years ago
An interesting article regarding the impending elections in the Philippines
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/264970/1/.html
about 4 years ago
Quote: “a true member of parliament should go through the election’s baptism of fire.”
Right on the point:) Many PAP members should hear this.
about 4 years ago
Yuez,
Sometimes, lack of competition isn’t a choice.
about 4 years ago
baptism o f fire!!!! I really dont think so, besides the really smart and capable ppl dont even want to be politicians, they just know its a con job
about 4 years ago
Oh come on….Singaporeans are smarter than that…you Aaron can never make it!!!
Can you promise the covered walkways, gardens and landscaping, the feller from the party starting with P promised me?
Can you hip-hop?
Can you make so sincere that put the tears in your consituents eyes …for example: “where else in the world would anyone find a Budget so full of love and compassion”
Can you win the hearts and minds of Straits Times reporters like Chua Mui Hoong so they would eulogise your socialist heart?
Are you able to explain govt policy in a way that will make your voters happy?
Do you understand the word defamation well?
Aaron, Aaron, Aaron….keep blogging…its much safer.
“
about 4 years ago
Hi Aaron
Not a bad idea. You can form a new party together with like-minded bloggers. If your concern is funding, I believe it is something you do not have to worry about.
Just stand up for the right reason(s) and not oppose PAP for the sake of opposing. There are still a great number of oversea singaporean talents who are keen to make (directly or indirectly) Singapore a politically better place
about 4 years ago
Hmm… Yup, I agree that independent candidates will find it quite difficult to get themselves elected. They lack the funding, manpower and support base but, that said, starting out as an independent is perhaps a good place to start one’s political career, one will just need a lot of stamina and not be just a flash in a pan independent candidate. I mean, if I’m not wrong, Mr. Chiam See Tong started out as an independent candidate in 1976 before he formed the SDP later on.
And, if I am not wrong, there was a ex-NMP and later independent candidate by the name of Mr. Chia Shi Teck who tried to contest a GRC together with other independent candidates but, in the end, his plan failed at the last minute…
about 4 years ago
“Agree.
____________________
a true member of parliament should go through the election’s baptism of fire.”
haha Mr. Yeo
You just whacked the PAP MPs who got into parliament uncontested.
about 4 years ago
Seriously, if you are true to the people the people will have the eyes to see. Actually what the opposition lack of is the true passion, but instead sometimes oppose for the sake of opposing. It hard to find ppl with passion with politics these days. Hope to see with the passion and maybe one day we could work together
about 4 years ago
To Raymond,
Actually, I disagree that the notion that the opposition lack true passion and oppose for the sake of opposing.
Given the dismal success of getting elected, most, if not all of the non-elected opposition members are involved in politics not for the money. With attacks of character credibility and legal lawsuits lurking potentially in the background, there is a high barrier cost that is erected up by the current system.
So I personally unable to comprehend why the comment that opposition members lack “true passion”. Maybe it would help to elaborate on what you mean by “true passion”?
And the statement “oppose for the sake of opposing” is quite a loaded one. I admit that my knowledge of the history of politics is limited to a large extent, but could I propose that Lee Kuan Yew himself has also been guilty of opposing the opposition for the sake of opposing?
MM Lee has made it clear that he has a personal vendetta against opposition politicians such as Chee Soon Juan, JB Jeyaretnam and Tang Liang Hong (to name a few…) Just google it or search in newspaper archives and we can find a myriad of quotes (or threats :p) dished out by our dear MM Lee on them.
Would this even be more alarming?
On the contrary, Low Thia Kiang has dared to commend the newly implemented Workfare system in the recent Budget “Debate”. He could have chosen to slam the whole scheme as a farce but he did not.
about 4 years ago
Amen.
______________________________
inspir3d AUSTRALIA // Mar 20, 2007 at 6:33 pm
“Agree.
____________________
a true member of parliament should go through the election’s baptism of fire.â€
haha Mr. Yeo
You just whacked the PAP MPs who got into parliament uncontested.
about 4 years ago
Lucky Tan seems to done his homework on this career path.
Hilarious! Elements of truth.
________________
Lucky Tan SINGAPORE // Mar 20, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Oh come on….Singaporeans are smarter than that…you Aaron can never make it!!!
Can you promise the covered walkways, gardens and landscaping, the feller from the party starting with P promised me?
Can you hip-hop?
Can you make so sincere that put the tears in your consituents eyes …for example: “where else in the world would anyone find a Budget so full of love and compassionâ€
Can you win the hearts and minds of Straits Times reporters like Chua Mui Hoong so they would eulogise your socialist heart?
Are you able to explain govt policy in a way that will make your voters happy?
Do you understand the word defamation well?
about 4 years ago
more importantly, do you understand ridicule well? And yes, a baptism of fire is vital. Agreed, mr. yeo.
about 4 years ago
There is no character, regardless how good and fine, that cannot be destroyed by Ridicule, even that which is poor and witless. Mark Twain.
about 4 years ago
I don’t consider myself hilarious. It is more hilarious if the guy who calls himself Philip Yeo is THE Philip Yeo, architect of our Biomedical strategy.
Talking about the great biomedical debate. I guess it is a pretty pointless exercise to try to point fingers and all that. Philip Yeo was given a job, a budget, the authority and he worked hard on it. He can’t be wrong – he was only doing his job. Well, I just heard PM Lee coming out to say its the right path lets go on it we foster innovation, creativity etc etc.
Let me tell you this story and you will understand that the big picture needs to be changed. I’m an individual investor. I’m a meticulous investor, a voracious reader and I took a liking to all the developments in the Biotech sector. I love risk and love the return that high risk investments give. Many moons ago I invested in a stock called GENTA, a company with a promising cure for cancer. I read all the research papers, and was convinced. The company bombed when a statistician in the FDA found a ‘flaw’ in their analysis, it is not a glaring flaw but one of those subtle things. Overnight, I lost the equivalent of 3 months of my hardearned income. There was pain, there was agony, and alot of looking back wondering if I could have done my analysis better and be even more meticulous. Of course for a wage earner like myself the total lost is not large but I learned fast not to repeat the same mistake.
You see there is a great difference when you have a govt servant, give him a few hundred millions and tell him his job is to allocate this money to “various promising” research areas. He suffers no pain for any mistakes, he main attitude towards all this is to spend all this money in a manner that looks smart to the “higher authority” at that moment in time. None of his decisions will boomerang back and hit him on the face. After he spends this years money, he starts working on spending next years money and so on. His conscience is clear, he did nothing wrong. But what is wrong is this whole picture. We cannot ever hope to allocate capital to research top down in an efficient manner through administrators and civil servants – nothing will come out of it. Money invested best done through private hands – people who invest their own money, learn painful lessons, etc. Governments cannot try to jump start this whole thing….Singaporeans have to discover their own comparative advantages in this world and grow their competencies.
Wouldn’t we wait forever if govt does not make the first move? …If the people are not motivated, if they can’t elevate themselves, I guess there is nothing much you can do – you can examine the root causes, revamp the education system (maybe eliminate exams!!!) …but you can’t pour tax payers money down and ever hope to get good results.
about 4 years ago
Politics is not an arena of morals, but an arena of interests. It is not for people who want to make radical changes because ninety percent of the time, they get knived. If you want to make small changes bit by bit, politics might be a good option.
To be realistic, it is difficult for independents to contest for any election, because of the lack of party machinery to go door to door and solicit votes. That is why lately most independents in Singapore have now joined the political parties.
about 4 years ago
So it is not a laughing matter when a govt pours down funds in attempts to pick winners.
It has nothing to do with conscience just as it has nothing to do corruptibility. Tax payers money spent without money corruption is not an issue to the conscience.
By the time, we read about any promising idea or area, the game is probably over … who would know better to make a bet then the ones who have been seriously and adventurously, without fear or favour, pursuing that idea or area for some time?
But for these people, if they do exist and are not into “beating the system” or “beating each other up”, where then are the elements of incentives and rewards, ownership and responsibility, credibility and authenticity, freedom and accountability, creditability and reputability etc that can characterize a vibrant and dignified community?
All of the idyllic above are however irrelevant if market and economic outcomes are the only real objectives when a government takes the lead e.g. believing that interactive digital media ought to be an economic driver that demands “R&D” dollars input and corresponding industry investments that would generate or “win” so many jobs etc and position the nation in one way or another.
In other words, as people and folks, just take part and follow but don’t take the lead. Show what we can do but if we want to succeed, circumstances and conditions are not exactly conducive, as the other side of the equation isn’t quite solvable for people to keep the fire burning from start to finish. It should be said that good research takes a longer time like good wine to mature, but when the underlying issues and underpinning factors are not respectively well examined or supportive (like good weather, good soil, good attention and care), it will really take a very long time to get things right.
about 4 years ago
Hi Aaron:
In a nutshell- depending on what you hope to achieve by joining politics:
1.if u want to change Sg so that there is a vibrant multi-party democracy ala UK(in foreseeable future)—> Not possible unless you are Lee’s inner circle ( not just cabinet) and after becoming PM (haha), change the system from within. Maybe not in someone’s lifetime.
2.if u want to improve Sg on Macro scale- eg education/ business environ/vibrant culture—> have to be in the Cabinet ( MP’s are just sideshow)
3.if you are an idealists ( like some of us) and want to test the “market†—> join WP or some other party and wait for the PAP to “give chance†or until someone leaves the scene. Or blog away like us and see if they are really as tolerant as they say they are
4. if you want to help out in the micro-level and at the same time do good for your CV and perhaps ensure that you are financially stable ( not connotation of corruption)–> join the PAP as MP.
Sorry for cynicism!
Dr.Huang
about 4 years ago
Dr Huang,
Thanks for your recommendations. Ideally, I would prefer a combination of option 3 and 4. Doing good for others is something that strikes a chord with me, be it at the micro or macro level. However, if at all possible, I would want to try and be as bipartisan as possible, which means being independent. Also, it’s probably more acceptable for the current powers there be for alternative politicians to be independent rather than be partisan (i.e. of another party). As for the big goal of vibrant multi-party democracy, that’s a quite far off, but doesn’t mean that a first step in that direction can’t be taken.
about 4 years ago
Hi aaron,
the system is biased against independents and I think THEY expect independent-minded ppl to go in as NMP’s ( I am also against notwithstanding the good performance of Siew Kum Hong).
We need to get the GRC system rescinded as it is not good for Sg’s politics.
1. MP’s ( even PAP ones) are not tested and poor quality ones can sneak in on ministers’ coattails
2.Baptism of fire is good for the soul and confirms the presence or absence of testicular fortitude.
3.single seat MP’s are voted in by electorate fair and square but who are you voting for in the GRC system?
4.winning and losing is part of life.. so system should not be obscenely stacked in the incumbent’s favour.
5. Also single seats allow good independents like you have a decent go at it.
Dr.Huang
about 4 years ago
Yes, those who aspire to be political leaders have to go through the baptism of fire. Disappointingly, as pointed out by SM Goh, the GRC system is set up because some of the candidates are afraid to go through the process of election; they want guaranteed victory before they sign up. Compare two candidates. One only step forward because he knows he cannot lose, while the other knows that he will almost certainly lose, not only the election but maybe his job, yet bravely stood up to provide an alternative. Who deserves it more? That is why i have nothing but admiration for people like sylvia lim. If you are not confident of winning an election even when the entire well-oiled machinery is behind you, against opponents who are lacking in both qualification and resource, what kind of a ‘talent’ are you?
about 4 years ago
Dr Huang,
I agree that the GRC system is a cunning system which entrenches the ruling party’s position. However the issue of racial composition during elections is also valid. Perhaps a short term solution, reducing the size of GRCs, can be implemented. Maybe we should find out more about other country’s systems such as switzerland, sweden, finland etc. Maybe we can also check how the USA system works, since they even have an afro-american who is running for the presidency.
about 4 years ago
To Kelvin,
Apologize for the late reply
I wanna elaborate more on why they don’t have true passion. I don’t see opposition doing anything active over the last 5 years only when the election comes they go around asking ppl to vote for them. Will you vote for someone who don’t even know and only pops out only at election. Maybe you would but I definitely won’t do that. I’m not talking about the Hougang, the Potong pasir MP and some other good opposition who are in the 70s and 80s that lack of true passion. Sorry that I did not explain clearly on that. I don’t think Chee Soon Juan is fit to be a politician. Someone who will even cheat a taxi fare. Someone who all say he gone on hunger strike but was spotted in the coffee shop. I think politician need something call integrity. Seriously I think politician need to sacrificed in the community to make people respect them rather then just during election everyone try to dig everyone dark secret, and sometimes even worse defaming others without evidence. Upon saying all these that doesn’t mean i support the PAP also. I don’t like the fact that they abuse public fund in the way that “You vote for me, I give you the goodies” Are you tell me that the public money belong to the PAP and not our parents or us we work our ass of to pay the taxes. Our forefather also contribute to the building of these nation. Seriously I really hope one day there will be people do show the really spirit of serving the country and people.
about 4 years ago
Hi nedstark,
The racial composition is not difficult to solve.
Just as our NCMP (Non-const. MP) has a mechanism that puts the best loser ( amongst non-PAP candidates) in if the number is less than X, we can propose that, eg
we need let’s say at least 20 Malay MP’s. If on election night, only 18 Malay MP’s were elected—> the best 2 Malay losing candidates ( of whatever party) will then also get in. Details are not difficult to formulate. The same goes for Indian MP’s or Eurasians etc.
So we can still have all single seat constituencies and yet get a representative MP’s representing all major racial groups.
about 4 years ago
A “great” story indeed!
You are So smart!
Or really so STUPID to put all your money in one stock. >:-}
____________________________________________________
Lucky Tan SINGAPORE // Mar 21, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Let me tell you this story and you will understand that the big picture needs to be changed. I’m an individual investor. I’m a meticulous investor, a voracious reader and I took a liking to all the developments in the Biotech sector. I love risk and love the return that high risk investments give. Many moons ago I invested in a stock called GENTA, a company with a promising cure for cancer. I read all the research papers, and was convinced. The company bombed when a statistician in the FDA found a ‘flaw’ in their analysis, it is not a glaring flaw but one of those subtle things. Overnight, I lost the equivalent of 3 months of my hardearned income. There was pain, there was agony, and alot of looking back wondering if I could have done my analysis better and be even more meticulous. Of course for a wage earner like myself the total lost is not large but I learned fast not to repeat the same mistake.
about 4 years ago
I didn’t put ALL my money in one stock. I said I invested in this stock. I’m definitely not smart I may NEVER BE ….may be if I get punished many rounds for stupidity, stupidity will go away. I’m doing better now after the traumatic GENTA incident.
So is mankind on the verge of a cure for cancer? Will there be more drugs like Gleevac…are cancer cure merely compounds plugging defects in our genetic make up.
Please would really like to hear from our biotech scholars.
about 4 years ago
Dr Huang,
If constituents vote along racial line (the official reason for GRC), then your solution will mean no minority real MPs elected. A simpler way would be to assign certain single seat constituencies as ‘minority only’ wards. eg. only malay candidates can contest in Hongkah or something like that.
about 4 years ago
Hi yh,
Ideally we should just let the demographics of a constituency naturally throw up its own MP , ie Geylang Serai would have had Malay candidates automatically in the old days, as large proportion of residents are Malay.
However after the gahmen tweaked the natural racial mix with the housing racial ratios, all constituencies now have majority Chinese and we end up with our present problem of no areas with majority of Malay/Indians etc.
I think not having minority enclaves is not natural but is actually healthy for racial harmony ( but some may disagree).
Your suggestion of only allowing minority candidates to contest certain single seats may ruffle some feathers as some Chinese may want a Chinese to represent them ( to put it crudely).
It may work as residents often search out MP’s other than their own anyway when they have problems.
But I still feel that getting the best losing minority candidates may not be a bad idea so long as we not think of them as being not “REAL” as you put it.
New ideas demand new terms- we should avoid negative terms like “best losing candidates” or “not real” etc. Ha ha ( but English has such limited vocab.
Dr.Huang
about 4 years ago
Dr Huang,
you made a valid point. But the potential problem you brought up is not one that does not already exist. Individual wards within a GRC are assigned their MPs after the GRC is won and some of these MPs are of minority race.
about 4 years ago
More than 150 new cancer mutations found
Study suggests the human body contains a surprising number of mutations that play a role in the disease
[Published 7th March 2007 06:12 PM GMT]
A survey of a single human gene family has revealed more than 150 new mutations that can help trigger cancer, according to a study led by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute that appears today (March 7) in Nature.
The team sequenced all known protein kinase genes in 210 cancer samples, yielding a total of 1,000 mutations, then used statistical analyses to identify 158 cancer-promoting mutations in 119 genes, most of which had never before linked to cancer, said last author Mike Stratton, leader of the Sanger Institute’s Cancer Genome Project, during a conference call with reporters this week. The cancer research community has identified a total of about 350 cancer genes, not including the genes discovered in this study, he said.
The results far exceeded the authors’ predictions, Andrew Futreal, a senior author of the paper and a researcher at the Cancer Genome Project, said during the call. “The number we expected, particularly in the kinases … I would have guessed would have been no more than tens” of cancer-triggering mutations.
Kinases have become a popular area of research in the cancer community, due to their ability to “switch” pathways on and off, their involvement in several cancer types, and the effectiveness of several new kinase-targeting drugs, such as Gleevec, which treats chronic myeloid leukemia.
After sequencing all 518 kinases in their cancer samples, the researchers vetted variations against the NIH’s Single Nucleotide Polymorphism database and normal DNA from the same donor of each sample.
The team pinpointed a set of 921 single-base changes. Of these, probably only a minority assisted the growth and development of tumor cells, while most were ” neutral” mutations, which simply accumulated as the cells multiplied.
Using statistical analyses to distill how many of the identified mutations are involved in cancer, the investigators estimated that the whole set of 921 mutations likely carried around 158 mutations that help cancer grow and survive, and 763 neutral mutations. They did not identify which specific genes are involved in the disease.
Futreal and Stratton were unavailable for interviews with The Scientist.
“The authors did an exceptional job [of comprehensive kinase] sequencing and analysis of complex data, including calculations of significance for mutations identified” as cancer-promoting or neutral, Daniel Haber, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, told The Scientist in an Email. However, without functional assays, it’s too soon to tell if a specific kinase mutation is truly significant, added Haber, who wrote an article accompanying the study.
The study “was a huge effort,” noted Haber, but it is “a trial run or pilot” for the NIH’s Cancer Genome Atlas, currently in a pilot phase, which would involve “orders of magnitude more sequencing.”
“The ultimate validation of all of these would be biochemical studies,” said William Pao, an assistant member of the human oncology and pathogenesis program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who was not involved in the research. “I think we’re still at an early stage in terms of interpreting all the [cancer sequencing] findings coming out.”
And since the authors analyzed only a small number of tumors, they may have missed some relatively rare mutations, added Pao. “The task now is to see if these are truly critical for the survival of the specific cancers, and if that’s the case, then we can find drugs to target them,” said Pao.
Chris Womack
mail@the-scientist.com
Links in this article
C. Greenman, et al. “Patterns of Somatic Mutation in human Cancer Genomes,” Nature vol 446, 153-158.
http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
http://www.sanger.ac.uk/
L. Harris, “Kinase screening services probe signaling pathways,” The Scientist, May 9, 2005.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/15457/
The Single Nucleotide Polymorphism database
‘http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/SNP/
C. Choi, “‘Silent’ mutations are not always silent,” The Scientist, Dec., 21 2006.
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/38329/
D. Haber and J. Settleman, “Drivers and passengers,” Nature, Mar. 7, 2007.
http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html
The Cancer Genome Atlas
http://cancergenome.nih.gov
________________________________
Lucky Tan SINGAPORE // Mar 22, 2007 at 1:42 pm
So is mankind on the verge of a cure for cancer? Will there be more drugs like Gleevac…are cancer cure merely compounds plugging defects in our genetic make up.
about 4 years ago
Aaron,
Ooops! Double comments!
Better delete one. Thanks!
philip
about 3 years ago
w95rmkycczcqe76l