Oct 21st, 2006
The Wee Shu-min Cyber-drama
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I followed the entire “drama” with interest because of the fact that Shu-min is probably a near perfect embodiment of a child from the elite strata of Singapore society.
I did not graduate from the Rafflesian lineage, but nonetheless, I attended institutions that are of comparative quality to Raffles. My observation is that Shu-min is more of an aberration, rather than the norm. To this day, I never cease to be amazed at how humble and un-stuckup (there’s no such word, it’s my invention) some of my peers were, even though they came from extremely wealthy and well-connected backgrounds. They treated everyone the same, regardless of their background.
If Shu-min had been my peer, I would most probably have been tossed into the trash can. My dad was a blue-collar worker, and my mum’s a housewife. By some stroke of miracle, I was granted access to good schools and received a good education. However, to her, she probably thinks that it is her right to enter a good school and receive top education. Her worldview is different because that’s the kind of world she knows.
Reading the various forums that had an active discussion on the issue, it appears that most of the blame has been placed on her. Granted that she’s 18 years of age and is no longer a juvenile (although I have doubts on whether she can be classified as an adult), I don’t think that bulk of the blame should be placed on her. I think that what should really be examined is what led her to develop such a high and mighty attitude.
As the chinese saying goes, 上æ¢ä¸æ£ä¸‹æ¢æª (translation: if the upper support column of a building is not straight, the lower column will be crooked. Means that if the person in charge or in power is substandard, the subordinate or underlings will similarly be substandard). I have seen for myself that some of those born with a silver spoon are nowhere like Shu-min in terms of mentality. In fact, they are polar opposites. My conclusion is that parental influence is probably the deciding factor.
I don’t think that there is much that can be done now that Shu-min already has such a stuck up attitude. The only path for her own salvation is to experience the life of the people she has so casually dismissed. She would do well to learn from the British judge who went to serve a ’sentence’ so that he can understand how it feels like to be handed a sentence. Before one decides to be high and mighty, it would certain be good to understand the facts first.
Update (22nd October 2006): I’ve added a related post to this issue here.
Update (24 October 2006): Read what some smart-ass Canadians have to say here.
Eh…
Isn’t Wei Kiat who runs The Wicked the same person who insulted Agagooga as an idiot “cute liitle bastard” who lacks “moral integrity”?
http://gssq.blogspot.com/2006/03/author-of-wicked-has-requested-that-i.html
I don’t know man. I didn’t follow that one. You might want to check with Agagooga.
I was digusted when I read the link you gave. It’s quite obvious that people are not focusing the issue but just generating personal attacks about her mole and her chest.
Well, people are bound to get personal. It’s not that surprising, really. Why do you think tabloids are so popular? Not everyone is interested in intellectualism.
come on lah she is just a young girl. Cut her some slack lah. I am sure she is quite a nice person in real life and all of you are just grinding her down a bit to much.
It’s like those crazies called the brotherhood. I used to hate them like hell. But one day many years ago when I posted I was out of job in a IRC.
A recruiter called me from the blue and recommende to this electronic factory and guess what did the hiring engineer say to me after giving me the job.
He said long live the brotherhood!
So the moral of story is if those crazies can be good guys, I think this young girl still has a chance.
It does bother me somewhat that someone who has been through the best education our society has to offer actually behaves like that. I do hope that the young lady takes away some invaluable lessons via this episode that she would never have received in school.
Kuehlapisdude,
I think you are missing the whole point here, this girl is trying to put others down bc she claims to have a better education. That just shows she lacks simple basic values of humanity.
I happen to be a scholar myself not all of us share her misaligned sentiments towards those who are less educated than us.
By the way I feel very moved by your story kuehlapisman do you have any idea what has happened to the brotherhood recently?
Where are they?
Low/middle-class write kpkb letter about life to the press.
Elite gal slams low/middle-class’s kpkb letter.
Other low/middle-class on net forum slams Elite gal’s kpkb response.
Elite or non-elite, all kpkb birds of a feather.
Haha, you have an interesting take on the matter. However, I see the uproar as a good thing. Who said Singaporeans are apathetic? They do care.
Yes, the uproar is a good thing. It clearly shows us the truths about the people whose is for and against her actions. We are now seeing how people is reacting with all their years of Singapore style education. From here, we can see what is the result of our carefully planned (or ever-changing)educational system. We need to observe the behaviors of the contributors, bear in the mind that they are educated here initially but may or may not carried their school attitudes over to their working lives. We need to see whose still live in the towers and whose walk the ground after seeing the real world out here.
Education is a double edged sword. You just reminded me of something that I’ve yet to put down into words regarding education and the PAP. Stay tuned, I’ll probably get it out in a few day’s time.
[...] I cannot help but think about the entire Wee Shu-min cyber-drama all over again. While in Singapore we don’t have such extreme cases, but it is a fact that many people are suffering an uncertain future, not knowing whether they can have the next meal. Yet, those in comfort display such condescending and uncaring attitudes. [...]
eh, i came from the raffles schools and most of them are not stuck up.
i’m the aberration.
anyway, a little honesty like what she displayes should be encouraged. anger, or hate, beside love, is one of the most honest emotion out there.
let there be commotion.
which school did you come from again? not that it matter, but my curiosity cat is purring.
I was from The Chinese High School, and subsequently, Hwa Chong Junior College.
I think the honesty is fine. What is not fine is the condescending attitude, and the worse thing is that the attitude stems from a lack of knowledge of the poorer part of society because she is from the upper class of society.
I don’t think she has the right to pass judgement on someone whom she has no understanding of.
Haha let anger, hate and all emotions of sorts be displayed? Do you really want to open a can of worms?
Haha, Aaron from Chinese High and Hwa Chong? That’s quite elite to me (=p kidding.)
I also wore shorts in my sec sch days and i wore philips factory worker uniforms in my JC days. I wasn’t a fantastic student i admit, but I i feel that the whole argument about the GEP generation leading Singapore to its doom is abit unfair.
I have a friend who is so smart, he got maximum grades for A levels (including Spapers). He is a product of the GEP program. However, he’s a son to a lorry driver and a minimart cashier. He definately doesn’t think like an elite and I think Ms Wee’s lack of character comes down to an overpriviledged upbringing and lack of parental guidance.
Well, the key problem is the in terms of probability, GEP students are more likely to become future leaders of Singapore because of the way our system is structured. That being the case, we should certainly be more alert to dysfunctional mindsets.
And yes, we need honesty because if everyone is hypocritical, how are we going to improve? What is more important after honesty is open-mindedness. We need to bring out all these things into the public domain, have a rigourous debate and then come to an informed conclusion.
Ms Wee is most certainly misinformed, and worse, she chose to run away rather than stand by her word and defend herself. Maybe she is stil young, but that at best is a mitigating factor, not an exonerating factor. She certainly needs alot more real life learning, and not textbook learning.
Yeah, thats why they got rid of the stupid GEP program, which develops superiority complexes and segregates GEP students from proper social interaction.
Well, what can i say about Ms. Wee that hasn’t already been said. Anyway, I don’t really expect much out of 18 year-olds. Her solutions to all our problems are utterly useless, its like a non-smoker trying to convince a smoker that quitting is easy. No one is gg to listen.
Anyway, I’m not really one for personal attacks and although I was tempted to lead a crusade against our dear little elitegirl, my personal vendettas take up too much energy and I have to save energy to drag myself out of bed every morning and go to the office.
As a father of a young daughter who I hope will grow up to help and contribute to society, I feel most sorry for her parents. At the age that she is, I do not think she will change her views notwithstanding her apologies, unless something happens that will drastically change her life.
She may be academically intelligent and have the best education that our system can give, but I fear her parents had failed to educate her in some of the most fundamental lessons of life, one of which is to understand that many people are not born as fortunate as she was. She is simply a product of our society. I feel sorry for her. Her parents failed her.
Hi Chris,
Maybe she really doesn’t know better; we were once 18 and how much did we know then?
However, to use another Chinese saying, 养儿ä¸æ•™ï¼Œçˆ¶ä¹‹è¿‡ (translated: To raise a child and not to teach the child, the father is in the wrong). I really wonder what her parents have been teaching her all these years for her to have such a mentality. I’m sure RGS and RJC doesn’t teach such things.
Rey:
Make sure you teach your kid well.
Yeah, I’m sure we were all quite uninformed at 18 years of age. We all did dumb stuff but i suppose we all have been forgiven, taking into the account the brashness of youth.
Anyway side tracking, do you think what she’s done is going to affect her dad’s public image? Think Mr George Yeo visits intelligentsingaporean too.haha.
You think anything will happen? Sorry man, but you should know this Chinese saying called 官官相护 (translated: government officials will always help shield each other).
Paris Hilton is not a unique phenomenon…
Seems to me that some of those born with a silver spoon are not only detached from reality, they also show a distinct lack of humility and empathy for fellow human beings.
Take Wee Shu Min for example. Like a typical academic elitist, Ms Wee is ou…..
[...] Details here and here. [...]
[...] I received a trackback on the Wee Shu-min cyber-drama entry I posted a couple of days ago. [...]
She may have shut down her blog, but from the looks of it, she’s remains unapologetic and as elitist as before….think has to do with the family values ..
But don’t we love her honesty and guts? maybe we should not beat her down? We need more open straight-talking indivduals rather of machivellian ones.. Its ok to express opiions as long we approach it objectively and not over-react..
She’s not sorry. Don’t kid yourself.
It doesn’t matter whether she was ranting or whether she expected her blog to be read. She’s indicative of a certain mind-set that dominates in government and in the class that it actually serves (upper-middle and upper class).
The Gini index is an index that measures the extent to which the distribution of income within a country deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A value of 0 represents perfect equality, a value of 100 perfect inequality. Sweden has a Gini index of 25, Japan 24.9 (surprise, surprise!).
Singapore has a Gini index of 42.5. (Surprise, surprise! We’re worse than Poland, 34.1; Azerbaijan 36.5; Turkmenistan, 40.8 and Tanzania 38.2)
See — http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/indicators.cfm?x=148&y=1&z=1
This girl for all her intelligence isn’t capable of understanding that she is non-neutral, self-interested party in this discussion. She and those of her ilk have a vested interest in the Gini index remaining this way. Her father’s job in a top government-linked company, the resources thrown at the GEP, at RJC, the awards she wins for excelling in narrowly-defined measures of intelligence. (See Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence - just google) Her remarks are a self-interested attack on Derek’s claim on the public purse, because she herself has claims on the public purse too! (i.e. status quo conservatism in which nothing changes and the Gini index remains the same). She attacks Derek’s sense of entitlement because her own sense of entitlement is under threat by the likes of him. Why spend government money on him when you can spend it on me! (i.e. scholarships etc, followed by cushy jobs in Singapore inc.)
The most revealing thing she says is this: “it’s so sad when people like old derek lament the kind of world that singapore will be if we make it so uncertain. go be friggin communist, if uncertainty of success offends you so muchâ€
She uses vulgarity with the term “communist†because any kind of social-democratic inclinations threatens her goodies. E.g. Sharing the pie in an equal manner, looking after the poor and the underprivileged, safety-nets.
Oh - BTW - Don’t expect to read this in the Straits Times
For someone under the Humanities Scholarship scheme, she showed amazing ignorance about the history of communism. The common folks by and large acquiesced to communism not so much due to ideological fervour but as a result of their desperate economic straits.
[...] Wah shiok! Just when we thought the Wee Shu Min Cyber Drama dying down… suddenly this Ken Kwek person from the Straits Times decides that hell! It’s time to make it known to the rest of the Singaporeans outside our tightly knit blogosphere, and open up discussion for their well-being. Teen blogger counselled for her elitist remarks [...]
i am not a regular blogger so only read about the whole saga this morning in Straits Times. I was outraged by the report.
was the language used in her blog merely insensitive and stronger than most people can take? to me it was rude, bad taste, show no respect to other’s feelings. it reflects her social behaviour. she has no right to call herself the elite and should change her surname so as not to embarassed the wee’s clan!
how can anyone think her basic point was understandable? it shows her upbringing, one that only look after themselve and lack compassion and social responsibility. she has been moulded for 18 years, i feel sorry for our next generation.
Chinese 三å—ç» (sanzijing) or 3-characters book start by saying:
人之åˆï¼Œæ€§æœ¬å–„ï¼Œæ€§ç›¸è¿‘ï¼Œä¹ ç›¸è¿œ
(in the beginning, everyone has a same good character, but our learning process make us apart….)
our schools must take steps to install moral and social value in out students.
Hi William,
It’s alright to be honest and express your views. That’s what freedom of speech is about. However, she does not have the courage to stand up and defend her views. If you want to speak your mind, be prepared to get shot and be prepared to defend your views.
By shutting down the blog, she shows that she’s a coward, and along with the cowardice, she probably isn’t open-minded at all. Some people are out to get her by being personal, but I think the vast majority of us, while ruffled, are not like that. We just want to set the record straight.
Too bad she doesn’t want to set the record straight. For all her brains, looks like she won’t survive in a true democracy.
Dear Benjamin,
I’m completely with you. Those people up there have a good reason for making the policies the way they are doing it. It’s always at a maco level, crunching statistics and numbers. You must achieve xx% of growth, have xx% of the population as graduates, have xx% birthrate and so on. If the numbers don’t match up, it doesn’t matter; just squeeze those at the bottom.
I think we need to stop making these macro level policy. We need to go down to the micro level. I said in another reply that human beings are not numbers. Everyone has their own difficulties and stories and their problems cannot be solved with armchair economists and politicians.
Well, I’ve stopped read SPH, unless I need a laugh at how biased they can get. My professor told me the Chief Ed of ST’s interested to offer some of the journalism students in NUS an internship. I told my prof straight that I don’t want to work for propaganda paper. I think I rather write on my blog and get it posted on tomorrow and intelligentsingaporean.
Dear Iowe,
I guess she has some preconceived notion about communism up in her mind. Did she even understand why people embraced communism? What were the social and economic circumstances? Why were people disillusioned with their system of governance? Why did they so readily accept communism?
See the parallel yet? Did she understand what Derek Wee was going through? Did she understand what drove Derek to write that? Why was Derek disillusioned with the system he was brought to believe in?
It’s ironic that WEE SHU MIN is a Humanities Scholar.
The term “Humanities” comes from the word Human or Humane or the study of the Human condition.
With such an arrogant attitude, I truly wonder how she was permitted into the “Humanities” Scholarship.
It probably comes down to upbringing. Wee SHU’s dad appears to have a slight smirk on his face in the papers today. By the way, he has the typical china-man fat face and haircut.
Come to think about it, WEE SHU isn’t the daughter of a tycoon, and many children whose grandparents are tycoons don’t behave half as oddly as she does.
Oh by the way, check out Wee Shu Min’s PICS here:
http://xialanxue.blogspot.com/2006/10/wee-shu-mins-bikini-pictures-dug-up-by.html
http://xialanxue.blogspot.com/2006/10/rjc-girl-wee-shu-min-gets-slammed-by.html
She’s got a giant mole with TEETH beneath one of her eyes and probably puts others down to make herself feel better about the giant mole with TEETH on her face.
Now we can see where she gets her good looks from.
[...] I’m sure we have all heard about the Wee Shu Min Scandal, and Strict Times had an article on it, highlighting the fact that her father is a MP. [...]
[...] This means that the PAP has to keep on top of the game. It is unfortunate that among the PAP ranks exist members who are not on top of the game. Take the Wee Shu-min incident for example. Her father, a Member of Parliament in Ang Mo Kio GRCÂ came out to defend her remarks, claiming that his daughter was insensitive, but the basic point was valid that “a well-educated university graduate who works for a multinational company should not be bemoaning about the Government and get on with the challenges in life.” [...]
Ultimately, her looks don’t matter. Aside from being mean, that’s discriminatory.
As someone who also went through rgs and rjc education, i’d like to point out something that’s essential to understand in this whole wham-bang drama.
Look, Shumin no doubt has some pretty strong views which are thoroughly unpopular (as can be seen simply from the thread above), she speaks of the handful of Singaporeans who “whine” about not having this or that and asks why life has dealt them such a tough hand. She distinguishes them from the other non-elite but hard-working Singaporeans willing to take on “decent sales assistant jobs” in her criticism of “leeches”.
I may be much more fortunate than the majority out there, but i’ve chucked in a great deal of effort to get to where i am now. Having rich parents may be convenient, but if you don’t give a shit about your studies no amount of donations to raffles schools would ever let you sneak your way in. And anyway, it’s not like my parents are rich either.
As the popular saying goes, ‘Lord help those who help themselves.’ If you want to succeed in life and not face dire future prospects, get off your ass and start working hard and harder. And in you do not eventually end up in the so-called ‘land of the elitist’, at least you can blast those who say you’re a leech in singaporean society and make them eat their words.
But if you’re one of those who skive during work and never put your heart down to achieving something, seriously, stop whining.
“my future isn’t certain but i guess right now it’s a lot brighter than most people’s”
I’m not too sure about that, Miss Wee, if you put forth such strong, uncaring, inhuman sentiments. I worry for you.
I am, however, heartened by the big hooha her post has created. It seems that the majority, “elites” and all, see the flaws in her thinking. Singaporeans do care, afterall.
I find it funny that someone who has been through RGS and RJC can’t even leave a proper name for me to address. Wee Shu-min closed down her blog, and now you don’t identify yourself. Is this what the Raffles schools teach?
That aside, I shall take your points. You say that Shu-min distinguishes people like Derek from other non-elite but hardworking Singaporeans. Let me quote that exact line:
“i should think not. dear derek is one of many wretched, undermotivated, overassuming leeches in our country, and in this world. one of those who would prefer to be unemployed and wax lyrical about how his myriad talents are being abandoned for the foreigner’s, instead of earning a decent, stable living as a sales assistant.”
Nowhere in Derek’s letter did Derek mention about prefering to be unemployed. In fact, he said he was willing to take a pay cut. I’m not sure if I’m reading you right, but such a person is a “leech” to society?
I too hail from schools that can be considered elite, and so I think I am qualified to talk to you at the same level. If you have at least some sense of Rafflesian in you, reply the following question, put your name by it and stand by what you say.
If you were Derek and facing the same set of circumstances he faced, would you be willing to be a shop assistant or taxi driver at age 40, where you are a degree holder who was previously a senior manager in an MNC?
I certainly hope it’s not a trend that Rafflesians these days like to either run away or cloak themselves under the guise of anonymity and not dare stand by their convictions.
The Rafflesians that I know from 7 years back were not like that.
Aaron,
When I posted my comments on Shu Min earlier, I was under the impression that she was just some privileged rich kid. Now I learn from the papers that her father is a PAP MP! I am even more disturbed to read that he simply thinks that the way she expressed her opinions was insensitive, saying that some people cannot take the brutal truth. He said his failing as a parent was that he did not inculcate the appropriate level of sensitivity.
I am most concerned that he does not see anything wrong with her way of thinking. Coming from someone of his position, I am flummoxed by his statements. Does this mean that if she had been taught to disguise the condescending and arrogant manner of her views when writing her article, its contents would have been acceptable? I wonder if there are more who share his views in private.
So much for the “Moving Ahead, Staying Together” chant.
Rey
Well, I remember reading Bernard Leong’s article about the two Singapores. It’s a compelling read. Check it out.
I am inclined to agree with Bernard that there’s a gulf seperating the haves and have-nots in Singapore. Those up there simply have no understanding of the problems of those down there.
There’s no problem in Singapore that a full-scale revolution won’t fix. When Singaporeans finally have had enough of being downtrodden by the powers that be for God knows how long, they know who to hunt down and crucify first.
I totally agree with Rey. I was too surprised (NOT pleasantly) by Mr Wee Siew Kim’s comments on her daughter’s rant. He stated that “some people cannot take the brutal truth”, and no where in his comments did he mention that his daughter was wrong in calling Derek “stupid” and a “leech”. So I assume, he agrees with his daughter that Derek is “stupid” and a “leech”?
Hi Phantom,
I’m not in favour of violence. A full scale revolution along the likes of the French revolution is the last thing we want. Violence and extremism does no one any good.
I think that it is better to use the vote to change things. A democratic process too can “hunt down and crucify”, provided there is a lawful reason to do so.
Ultimately, I would like to think that Singaporeans are pretty civilised and that we resort to the pen rather than the sword.
Hi Ernest,
If I were PM Lee, I would have given Wee Siew Kim a good scolding. Basically, WSK shot the PAP in the foot by implying that what his daughter said was right. It totally flies in the face of their election manifesto. The same words will come back to haunt WSK next GE. And if WSK remains in Ang Mo Kio GRC for the next GE, I wonder how many more votes the “suicide” WP team will get.
Hi Aaron:
I am not into blogging, though I enjoy reading interesting blogs such as yours. But I am wondering, as stated by WSK, her daughter “wrote in a private blog and I feel that her privacy has been violated”, is there such thing as a private blog? I thought when a person starts a blog, it is to share his or her thought and opinions with anyone who cares to read them.
If in WSK’s opinion, her daughter’s privacy has been violated, what of Derek’s? As Ms Wee wrote in her first sentence, “mom’s friend sent her some blog post by some bleeding stupid 40-year old singaporean…”, apparently a family friend sent Derek’s blog to mom and mom showed it to daughter, but no privacy has been violated in this case???
Well, as a student of communication and new media, I will tell you straight up that there is nothing on the blog that is private. To say that the blog is private illustrates a very mistaken view.
On the Internet, there are things called robots, which are essentially software that crawls through the billions/trillions of web pages that exist on line, archiving their content. These robots are usually employed by search engines.
There are two ways to stop this. One is to have a file that instructs robots not to crawl the site. However, because it’s an instruction, not an order, some robots will ignore. The other way is to password protect the website or pages.
As an analogy, think of Shu-min’s case as a diary of private thoughts that was left on a table in school. Anyone that stumbles by can take a look at it, even though the intention of the author was for his/her own eyes, or for those that the author deemed eligible to read.
If the diary was really meant to be private, it should have been kept in the school locker, and padlocked away.
And yes, you pointed out another contradiction. I didn’t really think much of that myself. Looks like WSK shot himself in the foot more than once.
Well hello. This time i bothered to leave a comment since the author does respond to them. This is what i like too, a nice healthy debate/discussion where we get to share views.
I attribute the outrage to her overly offensive views, i myself initially thought so. However, as i read more comments, i find that her points are valid. It’s just expressed in the most unhealthy way, especially when you dad’s a minister. Moreover such an attitude to insult a stranger has to be questioned. I, too blame that on upbringing. What i’m worried about is how her dad really is.
I myself have been to a [i wouldn't consider that elite, but such things start from young] good primary school, Nanyang in fact. However, i did pretty badly, and i went to what you would call a neighbourhood school at that time. It was initially a humbling experience, but i find that elitists and ‘commoners’ do have significant differences. One major thing i find lacking in elitist schools is compassion. They play the ’survival of the fittest’ game, [yeah and it's an accurate reflection of the true world] but they just lack humility. Hence you can see i have much more friends from my secondary school as compared to my primary school.
Just my 2 cents.
Since you are a responsive guy, i would like to ask what is the most worring problem after this incident has taken place.
Hi Anonymous,
How about a pseudonym at least? It makes it easier for me to remember who I responded to. I try and make it a point to respond to the best of my ability. And yes, I am for free debate and discussion. I believe that it makes everyone wiser.
I have to disagree that her “basic point” is valid. Well, I concede that there may be some lazy bums around (it happens everywhere), but as far as I read from the original wording, Derek is not one who is a “leech” to society. He qualifies his assertion with examples. Does that not make you wonder if there is indeed something that is going on?
I wouldn’t have been so uptight if Shu-min had written some semblance of acknowledgement that as an 18 year old with little knowledge of society, she cannot be completely sure if her stand is true. I’ll be totally fine with letting her stand her ground, even with her obnoxious way of expression. What really cheesed me was she appeared all high and mighty, adopting such a condescending attitude when throughout her entire life, she has had a bed of roses.
While the fact that she came from the Raffles line of school makes it all the better to ‘bash’ her with, I don’t think it’s the school. I know my share of Rafflesians and I’ve yet to see one half as obnoxious. This is why I suspect that something is not right with the way she was brought up.
As for the most worrying problem, for me, I was wondering how many of our government leaders are like WSK? He has gone through the PAP’s selection process, which I would imagine to be quite stringent. However, he turned out to hold ideas that educated people shouldn’t bemoan the government. You mean to say that educated people don’t have problems? That’s a very simplistic way of thinking, not to mention a very convenient way of sweeping the matter under the carpet and consider it settled.
I think that an MP should have better sense than that. As the chinese saying goes, æ— é£Žä¸èµ·æµª (translated: there can be no waves without the wind. The Chinese equivalent of there can be no smoke without fire). Instead of dismissing it so quickly, I would have expected him to go check things out first. And if he did, he would have realised that 2 months ago, two other MPs have raised this issue as a concern.
Hi Anonymous,
You asked ‘what is the most worrying problem after this incident has taken place’.
If I may venture a response, it would be that the powers that be shall assume that this present controversy is a mere storm in a teacup. After possible some mild censure, I am almost willing to bet my last dollar that these famous last words will again be uttered : “Let’s Move On!”
Sigh
Rey
Anonymous from before.
Well, it’s rather interesting to see the words “Let’s Move On!”. Let’s see how it progresses, i think the way the goverment handles this [so far it has been disappointing] would tell me how strong they really are in times of internal conflict. Would LKY let WSK get away with this ? Or will he slam Mr Wee like what he does to his opposition ?
As to Aaron, i used to respect Mps as people who upload their values, are what we call role-models. Till now, i have yet to see that from Mp Wee himself. Perhaps they are unable to lay down their pride to apologise to Derek ? I have totally no idea.
Chap.
Dear Chap,
Somehow, apology seems to be something taboo in the Singapore political circuit. Even LKY’s ‘apology’ for his remarks on the plight of Malaysian chinese is not an apology at all. Have you seen Kenny Sia’s take on that? His picture just hits the nail on the head.
Anyway, I seriously doubt the PAP want to do anything to WSK now. It’s classic of them not to do anything. I presume the reason is not to show that the party is fragmented. It’s always a united front.
I wish our PAP politicians will lose a little of their pride sometimes. They can’t take jokes, can’t apologise properly. Another reason not to vote them.
You do seem to study alot on PAP. I, on the other hand, have just stepped onto the scene, which was around 3 months ago. During this period, i admit i haven’t been following up on quite a few things [especially when it deals with PAP. Could say it's due to my schoolwork but that's just another excuse] but i do recall some insenstitive comments made my LKY. I’ll google for the information before i comment further.
A united front they maybe, but i wonder how do they handle such affairs internally. I wonder what they would do, ignore him, pretend nothing actually happened to just advise him on the issue at hand.
Well i can certainly see Lee Hsien Loong taking an effort to make jokes, [Remember Mee Siam Mai Hum ? I didn't know Mee Siam had Hum. A new national dish perhaps ? =P] However i might note that most, if not all ministers are ‘model’ students. Counsellors, best grades, acheived almost everything possible. A teacher’s dream student. Apart from trying to excel academically as well as in other areas, they fail to socialise. Also, it would be unnatural for them to even commit mistakes, let alone apologise.
I still wonder, through all this shortcomings, are they still fit to be our goverment ? This i have no say, but certainly, they have done a fine job with Singapore. Unparalled security [You don't fear robbers here, they fear you] as well as a clean city for all to live in.
I would certainly like to have a minister who gone though the ranks, growing up not in a plesant community, but one where he suffered hardship, learnt valuable lessons on top of many other things. I have to admit some of the older generation ministers fall into this category, but their influence is growing weak as they age and get replaced by the new generation.
I wonder how Singapore would be in the future.
I’m no scholar on the PAP. I derive my views based on reports and discussions. If you are “new”, my advice would be to read widely. Whatever you read, be critical. Don’t accept it at first look. Ask yourself what’s the other side of the story.
As you apply critical reading more and more, you will naturally come to your own conclusion. I may hold certain notions, but let that not affect you. You are an individual with your own thinking ability. Don’t let others try and convince you; you should be the one convincing yourself.
With regards to the rest of your post, yes, I agree that PM Lee is trying to portray an image that’s more tolerant. However, if you follow through time, you will notice it’s a case of two steps forward, then one step backwards. It appears to me that the PAP is not comfortable enough to fully loosen up.
Well, yes, I agree that the PAP had done a fantastic job. Notice I used the word ‘had’. Whether it is the case now, it’s up to you to judge. Read up newspaper reports and alternative media online. Compare and contrast, then decide what you want to believe in.
Aaron I’m so sad, i think they shut down my blog. Thats so low..
Chris, I could still access it. I think you’re joking, right?
What else is new? There’ll always be the ruled and the rulers. More often than not the ruled will get the short end of the stick. It is a fact of life but that does not mean it should be so or that we do not attempt to change it. Rather we should fight with all our lives to correct it and not to sit back and be content when we aren’t in that same segment of society and pride ourselves on our overwhelmingly superior intellect. On the other hand, perhaps she should consider carefully how it’ll feel when she belongs to the Mr Wee’s socio-economic strata. It’s things like these that makes one wonder if her parents do really subscribe to the same views. After all, the apple never falls far from the tree. She obviously is out of touch with reality. Sure, she may write brilliant essays and be more intellectually capable than any of us but it’s a real world out there. A world where intellect may not count for anything and such an attitude will only earn you a cold shoulder if you aren’t on the higher rungs of the hierarchy and maybe a revolution if you were. I’d advice her that it’s not enough to apologise. She needs to seriously rethink her outlook on life. Don’t be sorry. Be different. One more bit regarding my ‘ruled-ruler’ point. The Bible does say that ‘the poor we will always have with us’. It’s inherent in all types of government or political ideologies. Whatever the case is, we must fight this trend with our lives if need be. Here’s to more of us being a Humanity scholar and not just a ‘humanities’ scholar.
Wee Siew Kim should resign! Now! He must resign as MP!
A freind told me a RI boy, now in army, fuck his maids when he was in JC1 & JC2. His mother caught him without his pants in the maid’s room, later sacked the maid, change to a new maid, and he keep fucking them until the mother change to an old and urgly one than the fucking stop. The mum is a VP in some big org.
No.. she’s not sorry. She just apologised because she had to not because she meant it. Her original post to Derek Wee proves it, she’s a *pardon the language* whale of a bitch fathered by someone equally distended in both mental and physical.
Her age excuse is lame, her Dad actually backs her argument, and he’s someone who holds power in the Govt. She puts up an Apology Blog whereby comments are not allowed? So is that really considered? She’s doing the “Okay! I apologised. Don’t say anymore!”
While I am impressed with her vocabulary, alas it was used mostly with abandon and irrationality. Halfway through the blog, you can just feel that she’s throwing out all the ‘chim’ words in a bid to overwhelm and assure herself of her ‘elite’ upbringing and ‘intelligence’.
And well, yea, Ms. Paunchy does seem to do the job by making more ppl hate her and the Party her Papa’s in so, KUDOS to you Ms. Paunchy! You did it! Now everyone will be more disillusioned and disconnected with ppl of your ‘crass’…
She and Papa Paunchy reminds me of 2 sayings we so often hear:
1. Empty vessels make the most noise
2. 丑女多åšæ€ª
上æ¢ä¸æ£ï¼Œä¸‹æ¢æªã€€is of course a given lar… but then again, they seem pretty thickset to be a supporting pillar to me…
Hi Witherspoon,
I do hope that more people will think like you do in that it doesn’t mean because it has been like that before, it will always have to be like that. I fail to see the logic in such arguments, just like how the PAP likes to say that in other countries, those in power make rules that are advantageous to themselves. It’s a common practice.
Then it’s a common practice in many countries to have ballot papers without serial numbers, mass media that is free to criticise or praise and social security for the old and under-privileged. If you want to compare, don’t be selective. It only makes you seem shallow.
Back to topic, while there is little that can be done for now, I think that the citizens of Singapore can dig in for the long haul by educating other citizens to be more politically aware. Maybe 10 years down the road, the complacent PAP guys will suddenly find themselves out of power.
Hi Arthur,
If you don’t mind, can you clarify your point on the RI boy? I’m not very sure what you are getting at, aside from highlighting what I think is an anomaly.
Hi baabaa,
I not going to criticise her looks, because that’s not something we can control, and I don’t think there’s a causal link between looks and actions.
As the issue develops, the way I see it is that the both father and daughter came from privileged backgrounds, thus having a naive view of the society. When their views become public, they don’t know how to handle it because they think that their views is what everyone else thinks. This probably explains the scramble for damage control, and as a result, lousy damage control as evident from the first ST article.
I’ll like to offer one more Chinese saying to complement your 2 sayings: æ¶æœ‰æ¶æŠ¥ï¼Œå–„有善报。若是ä¸æŠ¥ï¼Œæ—¶è¾°æœªåˆ°ï¼(translated: evil will be repaid with evil, kindness will be repaid with kindness. If it appears that there’s no repayment, that’s because the time is not yet ripe for repayment.)
The brotherhood feels he should resign. The issue here is simply this, where did all this hatred and righteousness come from?
We cannot blame the the 18 yr old, her memory banks are zero, so this puts the spot light on her parents.
The onus falls on them and they have not done a decent job of raising up a morally upright person.
He needs to go. We will give him 14 days after that the brotherhood will simply have to move against him in our under hand way.
We have zero tolerance for this sort of nonsense.
Wow, your brotherhood seems to trump the ISD. I look forward to your success. :p
i hope this is not a reflection of the type of students Raffles is producing these days. I came across this blog page by chance:
http://shadowbamf.blogspot.com/
of another raffles person sharing WSM views.
That person is so dead. Prime fodder for a second round of bashing.
You go after her, we will go after you - the brotherhood believes in fair play.
We dont go after women and children.
We never do this!
We will go for the parents - they fucked up, we blame them - we want you to see the influence of the brotherhood - this man is finished, he has to be finished, our leader darkness has spoken.
He simply said, he is a failed parent and a lousy politician - what he meant we will never know, but that is enough for us to move against him.
He has 14 days.
Well, he has apologised a second time. Is the brotherhood appeased?
Hey John
Thanks for sharing the blog of another Raflesian. I went through some of the stuff he wrote…wahlau…he is so full of himself…what arrogance!!! Another target for the Brotherhood?
Any coincidence that they are all from RJC? He thinks just because he has good grades means he’s an elite? What a snob. I’ll tell you who have the right to be called elites.
Oei Hong Leong. Sim Wong Hoo. These people didn’t even go to university. However, they have enough millions to buy a few RJCs. Now, that’s elite.
We target NO one per se. You confuse us with either the Yakuza, Mafia, Opus Die or Curry powder gang in Serangoon rd.
ALL our means of registering our disagreement, moving or finishing off leeches like him is in conformance with the laws of Singapore and the commonwealth.
All this is class divide is bad for business.
Thoroughly disappointed with that 2nd article. Scarsm it might be, but i have lost respect for them. Initially i looked up to them as people with brains and no character, but now, it’s all gone.
Aaron, as you mentioned Oei Hong Leong and Sim Wong Hoo, even if you consider them elite, i do not even detect that sort of elitism around them, much less any arrogance. They do well, they get televised but they are [not suprisingly] humble in every sense.
I don’t give a damn about the ‘best’ school any more. Now we know where the bad ones come from. That school some how is able to inculcate arrogance into everyone’s character.
And Rafflesians. I know there are some of you that aren’t that bad. So what ? Covering for yourself ? Saying that these 2 are anomalies ? I don’t really care about who or what you are trying to defend. I’ve enough crap out of those people.
Chap.
From some earlier discussion above, many felt that we are too harsh on a 18 yr old gal and should forgive and forget. The problem is, one fine day, this 18 yr old may be a prominent figure in our society cause of the kind of link that she enjoys. This is the same attitude that breeds the infamous T.T. Durai of old NKF, who thinks the world or only Singaporeans owe him an exorbitant lifestyle and the same cahoots that support the equally infamous “600k is peanuts” statement. A 600k per yr earning is in the higher strata of the top 10% earners in Singapore and if that is peanuts, maybe everybody want to wait till our innocent WSM to slap us in the face again by saying “600k is not peanuts, it’s is only a damn bloody sesame seed for elites like us.”
Let me tell you this webmaster, there are some ninkumpoops here who are trying to steer this discussion to give us the impression the root cause of the problem lies in our schools.
These people have an agenda of turning this discussion into another class war by stirring up an “us†and “them†divide.
They want all of you here to chase your own tails no end and come across as an illogical bunch of idiots – then they will fold their elite arms and say, see cyberspace is a free for all. I told you there is no point in rationalizing with them.
We know their methods of disinformation and mind control very well.
Fortunately you have the brotherhood to counter these elements.
Blaming schools is like saying a playground, sauna or swimming pool murdered someone. It doesn’t make any sense. We all know schools can influence children, but we also know parents must ultimately bear the responsibility of mentoring and inculcating values into their children.
So again the fault lies squarely on this MP. Like I said, at age 18 we cannot blame his daughter – she has shit for brains.
Intelligence cannot be sole criteria of a being a politician either – politics is serious business. Intelligence without humanity is dangerous.
He is missing a big chunk of the jig saw and that throws doubt into his overall competency. At this stage you need to all ask yourself, does this man even have the “right stuff†to lead? Does he have any credibility? Will he be able to influence his peers and subordinates?
Let us look at his trek record – he cannot even successfully manage his daughter – he cannot even put out a fire in blogosphere without making the fire bigger – he cannot even do it right the first time without having to rework it by issuing another apology and another will probably follow and another and another and another, so at the end of the day, what kind of man are we dealing with here?
I will leave that to you.
His parliamentary colleagues should ask him to do the honorable thing. Let him prove his mettle in the business world. Go out there in the big blue sea, then you will realise how small you really are.
Then maybe you will learn to hold your tongue and perhaps even learn to be a better father and a less arrogant person.
Don’t say we never gave him a chance bfr we decided to hantam him – we have stayed neutral for 2 weeks on this matter, hoping that he will do the right thing, but it appears to be getting worse – this is very bad for business.
My advice to PAP in choosing its potential MP candidate in the future is, be careful. I know those new MPs like Mr Teo SL and Mr Lee YS, are not poeple oriented MP, they tend to be arrogant when meeting people below their “status” and they got into politic and governmental position so easily. That’s worrying.
[...] I really didn’t want to talk about the whole Wee Shu-min saga. Everyone and their grandmother has already had their say and honestly there is nothing new to add. [...]
@ The Brotherhood.
I think it’s both factors that primarily caused this attitude in them. After all, being an MP and holding a high ranking job does take up alot of time, plus considering the fact that she might not have that might time with her family,i guess school life, particularly the clique she hangs out with in school, is also responsible.
Most of the time it’s just her. She gets to choose what she do, and she happened to do the wrong thing.
Chap.
Hey, flying low,
If you don’t want to talk about it, why tell us??? Aren’t you talking about it by telling us you “didn’t want to talk about it”??
Hey Ernest, that’s a pingback. You should read the content of his post. And, Marcus Oh, like Wee Shu-min, closed down the blog too.
Geez, what’s wrong with the RJC people?
Hi brotherhood,
I totally agree with you that the school isn’t at fault. In fact, I made it clear in my blog entry that my belief is that the parents are the problem, not the school. It’s just that coincidentally, I found another example of Wee Shu-min in the form of Marcus Oh, yet another RJC student.
Is there a correlation somewhere?
[...] I read this blog yesterday written by this person called Moca, who is a JC1 student in RJC. His blog entry, which I reproduce below is in essence a clone of Wee Shu-min’s infamous post. [...]
He has to go. I cannot elaborate on this, but one of the things that has made our leader darkness a great man is, he was once a drunkard, bankrupt and a failed scientist and he was very honest abt it.
In the brotherhood we drawn strenght from men like this - they know what it is to fall and rise again - so they know what life is all abt. This is why we look up to them - they are real, the opposite of fake.
These ppl don’t even know what life is all abt - really I dont bluff you these ppl really cannot - cannot means cannot.
“Is there a correlation somewhere?”
Is there a correlation between gun sales and murder cases? Is there a correlation between highways and accidents? Is there a correlation between wet floors and slipped disc?
Statistics is self selecting - u can choose to read it any way you wish.
Haha, I never said there was. I only wondered if there is. Of course, to establish this observation as a fact, there needs to be a more indepth study. It’s just interesting to note that students from other premier schools have not produced “elites” of this kind. Or maybe, they have not been uncovered.
Firstly, elitism in this modern age has morphed from somewhat aristrocratic roots to somewhat meritocratic ones.
As such, please do not start drawing presumptuous links all over and make generalizations about Rafflesians. We’ve got to where we are not just based on intellect, but through sheer hard work too. Like what the other unidentified Rafflesian mentioned, no amount of gold bars donated to the Raffles Family will buy one an admission ticket into Raffles.
If we were to stop being bigots for just a moment and think through what Shumin (and Marcus) had penned down, perhaps we would arrive at a conclusion that they merely thought of laziness and sloth as deplorable.
I admit I’m not a 100% sure if my intepretation’s accurate, but it would seem as if Mr Derrek Wee belongs to the loosely generalized faction of our society that constitutes members who are not as driven nor competitive (as compared to an average - not elite, mind you, Singaporean) and fear the worst. I believe, many of us are familiarly acquainted with the resultant complaining, whining and shifting of the blame to foreign workers, the government, and everything else that one can conceivable shift the blame to. I’m not sure if other people find it annoying, but I certainly do. And I’m pretty certain it was this annoyance/ frustration that Shumin & Marcus felt that compelled them to vent all the negativity out through the art of writing. The deprecatory tone Shumin laced her post with was, in all likelihood, a result of those emotions she had been experiencing then.
Communication is widely accepted to compromise of the tone and the content. One’s rational and the other’s emotional. Clearly, tone would be what’s emotional and the content would be what’s rational.
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for leaving your name. I reiterate that I did not make presumptions about Rafflesians. It so happened that Shu-min and both Marcus and Rafflesians, and thus it was interesting for me why students of other institutions did not express such sentiments.
I came from ‘elite’ institutions, and therefore I understand that there is no place for unmotivated and lazy individuals. The environment that we were in taught us the importance of being competitive and driven in order to achieve what we want. Unfortunately, not everyone is as fortunate as we are to receive such an education.
If you understand what the normal distribution is, you will know what I am talking about. People like us are on the upper tails of the curve, but we are the minority. Most people are average, explaining why the curve bulges in the centre. For people outside of our league, they either do not have the capability or opportunity to make it to the very top. Does that mean that we should leave them to die?
And pray tell, what’s the point of having a government? If a society is full of elites who knows how to take care of themselves, who needs a government? A huge responsibility of the government is to look after those who are not as adept in taking care of themselves. That’s why we have the CPF system, or in other countries, the social security or state welfare system.
Ultimately, our views are in the minority. We may be that bit more ‘enlightened’ but that doesn’t mean that it gives us the right to look down on others. We may be too ‘enlightened’ until we develop groupthink and are unable to see beyond our current lenses that’s colouring our preception of the world.
The KTM is impressed by the number of comments that have been left on this blog. But sheer numbers is not a big deal. It is comforting to see that the majority of the netizens leaving comments here are actually thinking people and not trolls.
In any case, be careful what you say about dunno what your league, her league. So what the big deal about going to some “elite” school? When you grow up and get a job, you will find that there will be many people not quite as elite as you but who will make more money and drive bigger cars. These people are the ones who are opening shops at VivoCity even though they dun have a degree and could never smell a scholarship.
Interesting that you say stuff like, “For people outside of our league, they either do not have the capability or opportunity to make it to the very top”. So you think you can rise to the top? Top of what? You wanna be PM some day? Good luck to you if you should ever get that job. The KTM thinks it’s a really nasty job.
What’s the point of a government you asked? The KTM thinks that the government should just be taking out the trash and making sure the buses and trains run on time.
Note that most countries do not have functional governments and the people still get by and survive (and they know that if they wait for their governments to save them, they might as well kill themselves to save the wait). Why should Singapore be any different?
The government should do less and less and the people learn to wipe their own behinds. If the day should come where the government is irrelevant, then they can safely vote out the PAP and replace them with the cheaper monkeys that they seem to be whining for.
How about the poor and disadvantaged you say? Is the government the only solution to all problems? Why can’t some VWO or NGO deal with the problem? If people care enough about the poor and disenfranchised, why can’t these people get together and do something instead of whining for the government to do something — and you know what’s the best part? They have no idea what the government should do either.
In any case, your disdain towards the Rafflesians is obvious from your tone.
Dear KTM,
Thanks for dropping by, and I really appreciate your candid and frank responses.
I’m just glad that the people who comment on my blog do so for the sake of advancing everyone’s knowledge. I try my best to stimulate discussion in a rational manner so that everyone can benefit from it.
I would like to clarify your point about the “league” part you mentioned. I only used the term to respond to Michelle because it appears to me that she thinks of herself as being in a different faction of society compared to people like Mr Derek Wee. She tried to qualify her statement by discounting Mr Wee as not being comparable to the average Singaporean, but as I have always pointed out, Mr Wee has stated that he’s willing to continue working in his current capacity, even if it means taking a pay cut. In what way is Mr Derek Wee not as driven and as competitive as the ‘average’ Singaporean?
It is precisely because I sense a slightly condescending attitude that I choose to bring my own credentials out on the table and respond to her. Without laying down my credentials, she might just decide to lump me as, in her own words, “the loosely generalized faction of our society that constitutes members who are not as driven nor competitive (as compared to an average - not elite, mind you, Singaporean)”.
It is in this context that my reply to Michelle should be read. Different people require different ways of getting the point across and I simply tailored my way of responding according to her worldview.
I completely disagree with you that the role of the government is to take out thrash and ensure buses and trains run on time. That is something that needs no government to ensure. If you are willing to pay, thrash will be taken out, trains and buses will be on the dot. The point here is that, how many people are able to pay that price in a system that runs completely on economics? I hold the belief that the government’s existence is to regulate the system such that the poor and disenfranchised are not left at the mercy of the invisible hand.
I do not recall claiming that the governent is the only solution. I only made my case on what I think is one of the main roles of any government. No organisation is perfect. There will always be people who slip through the safety nets provided by the government. That’s when other organisations come in to plug the gap. I agree with you that VWOs and NGOs can help deal with the problem. Howver, that does not absolve the government of its duty.
It doesn’t make sense for everyone to try and do things by themselves. You will just end up with another Iraq, where different factions get together for their own purposes and start fighting with other factions. A government is meant to regulate all the competing demands to prevent anarchy. I do not understand what do you mean when you say why don’t “these people” get together and do something. And, the government is made up by people of a country who get together (or so they say during elections) to serve other people. The voters trust them and vote them to serve on their behalf. Now, what’s wrong with demanding someone whom you allowed to represent and serve you to do something?
Lastly, I have no disdain towards Rafflesians. I only make my points based on the interactions with Rafflesians who drop by my blog. It just seem so coincidental that the few current Rafflesians that I’ve seen like to bolt instead standing their ground. It’s a conclusion derived from current observation and I fail to see in what way could that be considered disdain.
I certainly look forward to a reply from you, and may we have a nice exchange of ideas to better our limited understanding of this world.
Aiyah, the KTM is not trying to pick on you, but some of your remarks were somewhat condescending.
Dun repeat the KTM’s mistake. Even if you are irritated, you have to try to maintain your cool. ;-P
Clearly a country cannot run on the basis of “survival-of-the-fittest” economics. It’s all a question of degree. In any case, the KTM did not expect you to agree with him. It is perfectly fine for different people to have different expectations of the Govt. The KTM was simply sharing with you what he thinks is good for the country.
Gist of it is that the current attitude of the people where the Govt is expected to come in solve their problems is likely to be detrimental to the national in the long term. We have no hope of shedding this image of a nanny state if this continues. Actually, it’s not an image. It’s a fact.
I disagree with your Iraq analogy. We’re talking about doing good here. You think you will find loads of Singaporeans killing each other over who to help the Mr Tan’s of Singapore?
The way the KTM sees it, the problem we have is that it’s NATO at EVERY level of society and not only at the highest levels. Talk is cheap what. Help Mr Tan and his family. Wey Garmen, you’re not doing enough.
Yes, it’s very heartening that Singaporeans will contribute $500K to the family — but there are MANY MANY more Mr Tan’s around. There are many who are in an even worst state than Mr Tan and his family.
How many Singapores are willing contribute $200 each month to help the poor? The KTM estimates that this amount is approximately what each Singaporean will have cough up to ensure that everyone can live in a non-bug infested place and have enough decent meals to eat. It’s not $200 once off. It’s $200 every month. Perhaps go and talk to the Opposition MPs and get them to put up a “poverty tax” bill. After passing the bill, everyone pays an extra $200 a month in addition to income tax. You think you can get popular support for such a bill? And this is only the problem of the truly destitude.
Then you have the Derek Wee problem. 40-year-old Singaporean gets axed from his job as a manager in an MNC. Cannot find job. So how? Govt give him a job in the Civil Service? Can. He’s willing to be a clerk and earn $1,000 a month? But even then, how many more clerks can the Civil Service take? Put up dunno what job register. Do we seriously think that MNCs will hire? Re-training? Re-training to do what? IR card dealer? He wants?
Should this fella be given unemployment benefits so that he doesn’t suffer a degradation of life style? Can. We amend the “Poverty Tax” bill and everyone cough up an extra $100 a month to pay for it loh. Wah sei, the KTM has just solved all of our nation’s problems (everyone just kwai kwai cough up $300 a month if you are not recepients of the welfare)!
Stirring up emotions is easy. Solving problems is hard.
Hi KTM,
I was just responding to the fact that you didn’t do me justice by quoting me out of context. It was one reply out of the many I have replied, and if you followed my replies carefully, you will understand the context which I made the statement. Of course, to go through this entire list of comments is definitely daunting. I just want to set the record straight la.
I do respect your opinions, although I do not necessary agree with all of them. Indeed, to talk is easy and to implement is hard. However, my concern is that just because implementation is hard, it will become a convenient excuse not to even do anything. I don’t think that it is impossible for the government to set aside money to help poorer Singaporeans. If $2.6 billion can be taken out to give progress package, why can’t 10 percent of that amount be set aside specially to help less well off Singaporeans? Most of the people who were given the progress package don’t really need the money. Is this proper national budgeting?
I don’t think that your poverty tax solution is the only way to solve problems. For what reasons do we have the GIC and GLCs? Why do we invest our budget surplus to generate even more money? What’s the point of keeping so much money? Money is only useful if it is used to exchange for a good or service. I honestly think that a small proportion of the returns generated by government investment will help improve the quality of life for many people.
Having said this, it is of course important to decide to what extent should the poor and needy be helped? To me, the government should draw the line at the basic level of subsistence, which I define by having a proper roof over the head and being able to ensure that kids, if any, get minimum education. I don’t think that the government needs to do anything more than this for the needy folks. What is necessary is enough to ensure that the poor don’t have to worry about the bare necessities and can concentrate on working the other aspects of their life out.
Don’t get the KTM started on the Progress Package. The KTM thinks it’s a criminal waste of tax payers’ monies.
Some of the poorer folks who got the cash will however disagree. Again, this highlights the disconnect between prudent policies and the mentality of the masses.
Note that the Progress Package is not something that we can afford every year. They save up five years worth and dish it out at the most opportune moment. If you divide 2.6 billion by 5, you get about $500 million a year, which seems like a lot, but it’s not.
In any case, the “Poverty Tax” the KTM suggested was completely in jest. Neither of us can truly say anything about how to solve the problem basically because we do not have access to the numbers. How many poor people are there? How much do they really need?
Please stop this typical Singaporean thinking of wanting to raid the reserves. We’re (supposedly) saving for a rainy day and we know that the day will come when we will have no choice but spend it. Will that day come? Most definitely. Has that day come? The Garmen certainly thinks no — and the KTM? He tends to agree with that perception.
While there are indeed hard luck cases, it is not clear that existing safeguards are not sufficient to help them. Perhaps it’s just some kinks in the delivery process and the help is not getting to the people who need it, even though the help is available. Do you know the real situation? The KTM most certainly doesn’t. And as you mentioned, the fact that we can give out the Progress Package means that there should be excess fat in the Budget to do more (without raiding the reserves).
You write well, but do avoid writing pieces that stir up emotions and focus on logic and rationality, and most importantly, the search for solutions. Just my two cents.
Regards.
Well, I’m sure you are not the only one who has something to say about the progress package.
I don’t think I said anything about raiding the reserves. It’s definitely good to have save for a rainy day. My point is that we are saving, and we are generating good returns on the savings. I’m sure a small proportion of the returns can be channeled for the good of the public. There’s a difference between taking out the principal sum and taking out the returns on the principal sum.
Yes, I do agree that there are possibly kinks in the delivery chain. This is something that can only be solved through cutting of red tape and a change in mindset of our government leaders. As I mentioned in another entry, we should not stigmatise the act of asking for help. While I do not believe in a complete welfare state, I don’t agree with the current government rhetoric that we should always help ourselves and not seek help from the government. People in trouble have pride too. Emphasizing that it’s not ok to seek help will only drive such people, out of pride, to do irrational things such as jumping on train tracks.
I humbly accept your compliments about my writing, and I’m glad to be given a chance to discuss such important issues with you. As for writing pieces that stir up emotions versus logic and rationality pieces, I think that it is an act of balance. Not everyone responds to logic, and not everyone responds to emotions. My humble opinion is that the art of writing requires a skillful incorporation of both elements.
My view on stirring up emotions versus logical persuasion: it is TRIVIAL to win others (or at least the masses) to your point of view by stirring up emotions. It is much harder to win people over with logic and good sense. You have rightly pointed out that not everyone responds to logic.
At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself why you write.
There’s this little analogy that the KTM would like to share with you. Suppose you meet this really beautiful girl and you want to convince her to marry you? Would you say sweet nothings and have her agree before the girl is all swept up and cannot think? Or would you show her warts and all and hope that she will still marry you even though you are not perfect.
Analogy is far from perfect, but somewhat illustrates the point that I’m trying to make.
Hold on to your idealism and keep writing.
Regards.
Thank you for your enouragement KTM. I will keep my idealism fire burning.
As for your analogy, this would be by course of action. I’ll show her warts and all, but I’ll sweet talk her still. That was how I won my wife-to-be.
We have heard Wee Shu Min, Wee Siew Kim. An apology that wasn’t.
Now what has Lee Hsien Loong to say in this episode?
FIX WEE SIEW KIM or FIX RGS?
Say something Mr. LHL.
fuck her lah…
it is easy to act humble when you are rich andcome from a “high class” background. I have seen students of ACS and RI and their affiliates.
all snobbish people with their nose up thier ass
Hi Gpaddington,
I know quite a few who are not snobbish at all, even though they are rich and come from “elite” backgrounds. The problem here really is the kind of values that their parents inculcate in them. A chip of the old block, if you like.
yo geasers out there, or rather this geaser out there, whoever this smart-ass-i-think-i’m-so-f***ing-smart guy who uses rigid structures that pass off as sentences and who thinks he knows the tenets of meritocracy so well is. in fact he knows shit about human nature. and communication, especially over a medium like the internet. no disrespect whatsoever, but he sounds like a rule-abiding, the-textbook-is-my-master sort.”not from the raffles lineage but from” blah blah blah.give me a break.this dude needs to draw upon his goody school background to gain some goddamn credibility! well, doesnt that speak volumes about him? of course, i wont need to reveal my school, be it raffles or ite, cos it aint the issue here, i’m not one of those, pardon my french, f***ing geekheads who need the superficial education system to prove my worth and intelligence.ok enough of criticising this geaser,since he, or she, is but an overgrown baby who assumes that he or she has the maturity of thought just by attending a god-knows-what school.on to the main issue now.wee shu min.i hope i spelled correctly.well well well.you people just gotta give that young lady a break.we know she’s gep and rjc and blah blah blah.damn it, her roots are so different from most of us.and yet you geasers dont f***ing understand her prose, her blog.it’s not malicious.it is,if anything, a running commentary with plenty of her perception of justice(well obviously some stupid geekhead probably cant see the link) and of course stylistic writing, which if someone in this universe doesnt understand, is full of irony and metophors.oh and did i forget, the tone of a person’s message is so often corrupted by the wireless technology that links our computers(whoops! i just made an elistist remark by assuming that everyone has wireless broadband.Persecute me!) just to make it clear i’m not her husband or anything.i’m one person who sees the joke in how you people are reacting to the issue.puerile.but really it aint such a big deal.oh yes, and did i mention sympathy? sanctimonious assholes in my opinion. or perhaps they just havent installed the mirrors in their homes.they go on and on about it, indulging even in coffee shop philosophy(of course they’d think they’re being philosophical about it) about sympathy.yet they do not even have the capacity for sympathy for this young lady of eighteen, who is so gifted in many areas, and who yet is perhaps less blessed than others in public relation skills. curse it people, curse it.you talk about pitying those who have had no chance of being educated in the goddamned education system;but you dont pity one who has had no chance of being educated by a middle-income family. i guess i pity you myopic people more.in case i sound condescending, im not.i just feel strongly about my opinion.please, dont be judgmental.
Dear pseudoessence,
I applaud you for your attempt at writing in Ms Wee’s infamous style. Unfortunately, your content is nothing more than a childish rant to me. For all the uproar that Ms Wee caused, at least she had a point. Your entry amounts to at best a personal attack, and at worst, senseless rambling.
You can say all that you want. I won’t censor or delete your comments because I believe in free speech. The more you write however, the more likely you are going to be seen as a crackpot and soon, no one will pay heed to you.
If you like, I’m willing to get you express entry into the Institute of Mental Health. You seem quite distressed and perhaps a visit to the shrink would do you some good.
By the way, pardon my condescending tone. I practise the saying, “An eye for an eye”.