Jan 31st, 2008
Using a sledgehammer on a thumbtack
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The recent Comprain Complain choir hoo-ha has been the subject of many online discussions. It seems to me that my government appears to have a penchant for using a sledgehammer on a thumbtack. The last time they used a sledgehammer on a thumbtack wasn’t too long ago.
I seriously don’t understand why there’s a need for the police to even look into the issue. The Complain choir is just for entertainment purposes. Does it matter if it’s foreigners or locals singing? Will foreigners singing result in any serious social unrest? I don’t think so. In fact, I think there’s greater unrest and unhappiness over the ban. If there’s one thing that I think seriously annoys me about how my government works, it has to be extreme rigidity in adhering to procedures to the point that the ability to reason completely disappears.
Sometimes, I just wish that my government loosen up a little and stop assuming that Singaporeans are mindless zombies that will absorb anything and everything that other people have to say. Have some faith in our world class education system. Or perhaps the “world class education system” we have been so proudly telling other countries is but a sham?
I just read this article calling for reform to our electoral system. Actually, I think that before we can reform our electoral system, we should really be able to discuss issues and laugh at ourselves. If our government can get so worked up over a small, humourous performance, I have little hope that something as big as a electoral reform along the lines of the American system is actually possible.
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Aaron: Sometimes, I just wish that my government loosen up a little and stop assuming that Singaporeans are mindless zombies that will absorb anything and everything that other people have to say.
Well the fact that the PAP government DO or ABLE TO get away with this kind of actions, not just once, without so much as any robust protest from any sizeable portion of the populace proof conclusively that Singaporean are zombies. By robust I do not necessarily mean the Chee Soon Juan style — which is probably needed but let’s not go there — but something more active than just blogging. Say, a mass petition for reinstatement of the performance, something that can tangibly and collective bring about some of kind of voice of disapproval (robust but gentle)?
Besides despite knowing full well that you have a PAP government, and supported tacitly by a somewhat PAP leaning state institutions, treats Singaporean like zombies, and Singaporean still so willing vote and adopt a blind eyed attitude towards these kind of government actions, one can only conclude that it is Singaporeans themselves do accept that they are zombies.
So maybe Aaron, you ought to be directing you blog to the populace at large rather than appeal to the PAP government, who quite possibly think that Singaporean are and wants to remain so. After all, if I were in the PAP camp, I see very little in the Singaporean mindset to convinced me that Singaporeans wants to be anything other being a zombie — albeit a materially fulfilled one!
Aaron: Have some faith in our world class education system. Or perhaps the “world class education system” we have been so proudly telling other countries is but a sham?
Er do we have an “education system” in Singapore or just a “training system”?
Personally, I think the so-call “education system” in Singapore is more a social “classification system”. Education it is not.
Aaron,
If the whole narrative is still calling for the government to do something, rather than having citizen-driven action, then it is a catch-22.
Perhaps we just never really cared, beyond those who are affected. Singaporeans by and large are individualistic consumerist people.
If it affects their material well-being, you can be sure that most of the sheep will begin to baa, or maybe even collective head-butt the locked gate in the grazing field.
Ah Kow and Celluloid Reality,
This entry is actually not meant to advocate a top down change but rather, I am expressing my frustration with the thinking of the leaders. I honestly don’t think our leaders or senior civil servants are stupid. But why are they doing something which, in my opinion, is so illogical and stupid? If they can exercise so much intellect in policy making, why can’t they exercise a wee bit of it in deciding whether it is appropriate to execute a policy or law?
Thinking about it now, I only have one answer, and that answer is found in the conclusions of Animal Farm. Sigh. I think I am growing more and more cynical by the day.
IMO if you take tax from people then you cannot stop them from complaining. If you do not want them to complain then dont take tax from them. I am sure they will be more than agreeable.
complain is the sister of protest if they don’t take kindly to protest, what makes you think complain will be any different?
the first thing to go is an honest people. because politicking trickles from top down, relationship is governed by what you can get out of someone else or how someone else can promote your overall growth - like in any business transaction.
everyone therefore seeks the path of least resistance. ‘divorce is easier than working at a marriage’ becomes the prevalent value.
at the end of the day, nothing matters, least of all truth, human dignity or conscience
you then die lonely even hundreds to thousands may turn up at your funeral to pay tribute.
or rot till you are discovered by your neighbors
no difference really!
Our education system is not education per se, it is a manufacturing line - even though i intend to go into education for awhile, i doubt i will stay very long…time for me to move on to academia then. Education is means to progress, like i said earlier.
And it may also be because the people in the middle are drones so fearful of losing their jobs that anything with complain, protest or what, = ban. Soon pah one lah, even if Gahmen REALLY has opened up.
Don’t forget, foreigners are welcome as long as they bring in progress!
The nail that sticks out get hammered down! LOL maybe it is civil servants trying to second guess and score points by being more draconian than the original draconian.
Deep down I want to think that it is some disgruntled civil servant having a perverse delight in making the Powers look bad by banning this and that with feigned wide-open innocent eyes.
…Nah, I think the asskissing second guessing is the better explanation..
Ah, TVD, the sleepers in the system. How nice. The invisible NEOs?
Haa….I didn’t know about the “Action Heros” and the “4 Ang Chias” until I read your blog! What a story! Very Sinagporean indeed.