要你卑躬屈膝的民主

民主当前，人人平等；女皇当前，陛下与庶民高低分明。英国的民主制与君主制就如此矛盾地共存下来。原属平民阶层的女子一朝嫁入皇室，平民身份自动瓦解，顿时与百姓区分开来。

就算是英国首相，也属于女皇的子民。女皇，即使在政权下放到民主制度当前，仍掌控着对英国首相去留的权力。

当然，那种掌控庶民生死的皇权已不复在。面对皇室，除了在称谓上要把自己矮下去外，庶民已不必卑躬屈膝了。反对君主制的英国人可以发声，不必申请说话准证。

在君主制度下属于女皇子民，又同时拥有通过投票来表达政权发言权的英国人，处于绝对权力与人民权力之间。

多年前，一位狮城老翁对着当时第二任总理下跪求助。那视觉画面和意识的震撼非常大。自独立以来就奉行民主制的狮城，子民仍然残留着对掌权者卑躬屈膝的心态。为何有这样卑微的庶民观念存在？

是庶民本身的观念，还是当权者长久以来对人民的态度，以致民主制度下的一些人民就此误以为自己如同皇权下的庶民般那么卑微？

另一边厢，某个领救济金生活的英国人却理直气壮地致信斥责当时的首相缩减救济金的政策。体现的是人民与首相同等地位的心态。身处君主制，英国选民的权力却比一些亚洲纯民主制度的子民还高。既不畏惧政权，持不同政见的人也不会遭莫名的诽谤罪名而被灭口。

相反的，活在单一民主制度下的狮城岛民，反而必须对政权毕恭毕敬，甚至是对掌权者卑躬屈膝。这种心态，绝对是外在的制度所形成的。

记得落选的狮城政客杨荣文就曾经严厉地警戒过子民，谈政治时，要认清自己子民的身份。那是一种当政者在上，子民在下的不平等观念。

贪恋权力是人性。要把手中的政权下放到群众手中不是容易的事。因此，狮城的民主仍处于君主制的意识形态里，间接或是直接地迫使人民对政权、当政者卑躬屈膝。为的只是巩固当政者的权力而已。

见不得光

近日狮城一些事，如牧师滥用公款被提控、狮城博客批评司法而被指藐视法庭、有律师代表草民阻止政府借贷巨额给国际组织，让我想起数年前英国议员公报项目公诸于世之事。这事件让我有非常深刻的体会。

当时，英国议员以个人隐私权为由，不肯公开自己申报公账的资料。议员要纳税人买单，却不许纳税人过问。

民主，究竟是人民做主，还是替人民做主？

英国议员企图替公众决定该知道什么，不该知道什么，便费尽吃奶的力不让公账见光，为的只是捍卫议员本身的利益。公账公开后，议员中的败絮一览无遗。媒体对议员也不手下留情。连女性卫生棉都申报公账，纳税人终于见证了议员滥用公款的程度，也同时看到了廉洁的议员。

有钱力和权力的人，总会利用权势来保护自己。这是事实。从英国到非洲到高薪养廉的国度都不会有例外。当真相对自己不利时，只有钱势和权势才能避免真相见光。

于是，那位指牧师滥用款项的狮城教徒被迫而公开道歉。九年后，牧师才被提控。有律师代表狮城草民阻止政府国际货币基金的贷款，律师公会代表、心理医生也像英国议员那样费尽吃奶的力，一个一个跳出来阻止真相的公布。

任何制度，不管是政治、宗教、社会还是企业，都免不了利用实况来图利的人性。只有透明度，让阳光直射制度，才能让人性中的黑暗无以遁形。

让英国政府无奈地公开公账数据的是一介草民。凭着一条赋予公众知情权的法令。草民向法院申请。加上独立的司法制和尊重事实的媒体，草民才能免遭诽谤之罪。一个草民拥有如此的力量，让我这个狮城岛民感动涕零。

不许见光的事，往往是因为其见不得光。很多时候是为了保护少数人的利益。喜欢替人民做决定的政权便是如此守牢自己的权力。

Brompton bikes versus primitive cleaning equipment

The photos above depict the type of cleaning equipment used by the cleaners in my estate. Dustpans made from discarded tins and plastic containers and a broomstick made from husk. The sight of these brought me back to the era of the 70s where such were a common sight. But we no longer live in the 70s but have moved on to the 21^st century.

Something tugged at me whenever I see our cleaners working with such equipment. Something was not quite right to see town council cleaners, entrusted with the mammoth task of maintaining the cleanliness of our estates on a daily basis to be given primitive equipment to work with.

Until the Brompton bike saga surfaced. As these ill-equipped cleaners work for none other but Sembawang-Nee Soon GRC which is helmed by the same minister who justified NParks’ Brompton bike premium purchase for improved productivity and durability. Compare the high-end bikes with these makeshift dustpans and broomstick used daily by my estate cleaners.

Using the same logic applied by Mr Khaw Boon Wan on his support for the Brompton bikes purchase, premium cleaning equipment which is durable and requires less maintenance has to be acquired for our town council cleaners to raise staff productivity too. Although our town council cleaners do not cover 30 – 40 km of work area daily, nevertheless, they are the very people who have a direct impact of the state of cleanliness of our estates; they are the ones who ensure the hygiene level and thus, the quality of our environment in our estates where 85% of us, the HDB dwellers, live in; they are the people who contribute directly towards Singapore’s reputation of a clean city.

Are these town council employees, of any lesser importance than the employees of NParks? To be honest, our cleaners are equally important, if not, more important. We could at least survive in a clean but treeless environment but imagine our island beautified by trees but piled up with rubbish.

Mr Khaw might reason with the fact that the cleaning equipment, made from recycled materials and cheap materials, are environmentally friendly. However, they look embarrassingly primitive and cheap in a first world country where massive funds were channelled to the building of the Supertrees by the bay for conservation and where Herman miller designer chairs were purchased for the long term welfare of the employees of a certain ministry.

My indignation caused by the episode of Brompton bike is that it espouses none other than the mindset where employees at a higher level of the hierarchy commands more worth than the ones at the bottom and thus the justification for the former to deserve premium materials that should be rightfully borne by all taxpayers.

Hougang's Story: Upgrading abode but downgrading quality of life

In the recent by-election episode, Hougang residents highlighted a paradox of our quality of life.

Upgrading our public flats, provisions of sheltered walkways, lift access to each level of our abode bring about an improvement of our quality of life no doubt, at least from the day-to-day aspect.

Such provisions of hardware are invariably associated to our political choice in our unique political climate. In simple words, we have to sell our votes during election in return for these hardware even though some of them, such as lift access and sheltered walkways will never be part of our personal possessions but the public. 

As such,  do we then gaze beyond the facade and usefulness of these hardware and think of some other aspects that impact the quality of our life deeper and wider?

Such as the persistent inflation, meaning high cost of living including medical care and education which form an essential part of living, especially to young couples for family planning and care for their parents.

When we enjoy the shade of the walkways on our way to the nearest bus stop or train station, have we given up on the reliability of our public transport which was once our pride; is the possibility of a price hike by the transport operator always at the back of our minds? Can the shade of the walkways shelter us from the ominous dark clouds of cheaper foreign influx that loom above our heads as these immigrants will replace us imminently?And when that unfortunate day does come, will there be  re-employment opportunities of the same pay and benefits for us? If not, how do we invest in our young and support our old?

While admiring the refurbished look of our public flats and estates, do we not feel the stress of the increasing cost of goods and services that seep into all aspects of our lives? In education, in medical care, in transport and in retirement. That will eventually erode our retirement funds, if we still have any left for retirement after combating the rising cost of living with our existing salaries, and on the assumption that we could still hold on to our jobs till our retirement.

I love modern and convenient hardware like any other residents. However, I cannot overlook the harsh reality on the grounds that will ultimately eliminate the meagre, short-lived benefits that come with the refurbishment. In fact, these votes-exchanged hardware provisions will invite more nightmares to our lives in the long run as our endorsement at the ballot box endorsed the direction which the current ruling party is bringing our nation to.

The sheltered walkways offer no comfort when I am thrust with a big medical bill of my parents that will inevitably eat into my retirement funds. I'd rather shelter myself with an umbrella in exchange for a more affordable medical care. I'd rather have a less pleasing looking estate in exchange for the current price of my food and services. The inflation rate for April is 5.4% (Here) and this is the rate that is here to stay for years. Can you imagine the price of my rice in twenty year's time when I retire based on the current pace of inflation?

Voters do have the ultimate right in deciding the kind of quality that they would like for their lives.

However, Hougang residents value their quality of life over the longer term than superficial hardware benefits. At the ballot box, they manifested their objections to the policies formulated by the current political party that inflict long term pain and stress on our citizens--young, mature and old alike. The Hougang residents saw through deficiencies of the current policies.


The Hougang residents opened my eyes to the hidden price tag of the hardware provisions that will be ultimately borne by all the people of this nation.

Ferrari Crash—An epitome of Singapore’s future

Sit tight. Fasten your seat belt. We are going for a rough ride from here. And the seat belt could no longer warrant your safety. And I am not talking about road safety over here but the future of this island-state-nation for our citizens.  

Last weekend, a Ferrari beating red lights crashed into a taxi at a junction at 4am in the morning. The accident claimed three lives, including the Ferrari driver and injured two others (thank goodness the motorcyclist survived despite being the most unprotected vehicle user). The irresponsible act of one driver, a super rich Chinese national, to cause irreparable loss to two families. Especially saddened by the demise of the taxi driver who was working night shift on that fateful night as the sole breadwinner of his family of five. He was declared brain dead on the same day but hung on for 39 hours before succumbing to his injuries.

I couldn’t help but to see this accident as the future of Singapore and thus, feel even more disheartened by this mishap.

In this accident, 5 casualties were involved. The Ferrari driver and the passenger are Chinese nationals; the taxi passenger who was killed was a Japanese; and the taxi driver and the motorcyclist are both Singaporeans. Of the 5 people on the road at a random time at a random place, only two are Singaporeans. This is the growing reality of Singapore nowadays. Just this year alone of road-related fatalities, more foreign nationals than Singaporeans are involved : a Chinese national hijacked a taxi and ran down a Malaysian cleaner; a Chinese national bus driver killed a Malaysian pedestrian; a Malaysian bus driver killed a pedestrian….Yes, the situation where the proportion of foreign nationals is overtaking the natives could only get worse, judging from the recent series of justifications of more foreign nationals needed, determined by our pedestal leaders who possess more wisdom than mundane creatures like us.  

Foreign nationals overtaking natives in numbers is already happening now and there is no reversal to this situation. But this is not the only phenomena that the Ferrari crash presents.

Of the two Singaporeans in the wee hours of the night, one Singaporean was working—the taxi driver. The purpose of the motorcyclist out at this hour was unknown. All the other foreign nationals were most probably having a Friday night chill out. Driving taxi for long hours is tiring and it is an occupation with zero benefits: no paid or sick leave, no bonuses or medical benefits. But this is a common option left for people who were retrenched in their mid careers who could no longer find employment in their previous industries despite their experience, given the unfair competition which some foreign nationals have with their cheaper labour and their presence in every industry.

The disheartening fact which this unfortunate accident highlighted, is that the helpless average working Singaporeans, in this case, the taxi driver, will be run over by the super rich, represented by the Ferrari driver. Pun intended. We are already run by the super rich for the last two decades. In the future, average Singaporeans will be run over by even more super rich, locals and foreign nationals alike. Ran over and crushed. Similar to what the Ferrari driver did to the taxi driver. Although in a different circumstance.

Singapore’s playground for the rich is growing bigger and faster. Look at the number of sports car growing on our roads and luxurious bungalows springing everywhere in the last decade. Luxurious malls for the super rich are mushrooming. Foreign nationals are lured to this growing pool of wealth too.

Undeniably, their wealth allows the rich to game the current system which for a start is pro-rich. Given their wealth, natives or foreign nationals alike, they can afford to flout all rules and regulations. Like that Ferrari driver.

This pool of wealth boosts real estate, businesses and landlords. And they can afford to grow wealth from their ready wealth. Salaried employees benefit little from that influx of wealth. In fact, they have to pay for the rising cost of living in consequence of that. No, I don’t buy into Tharman’s logic that inflation only affects those who will be buying houses and cars only.  On the facade, prices of housing and cars contribute substantially to inflation.

But inflation affects everyone. When prices of cars and housing are soaring high, the cost of transport and the high rental charge for businesses and retails will be eventually passed on to the consumers in the form of other commodities. And inflation is increasing from year to year. If we add up each year’s inflation, despite not buying houses and cars each year, the inflation for commodities, utilities, transport fare, medical and education costs are very, very real.  On the other spectrum, wages are not rising faster than inflation. In some unfortunate cases, wages actually fall or became stagnant. In short, salaried employees who do not possess any property to flip or to rent out, are fighting an eminent losing battle against the rich. The super rich feel little pinch from the inflation and profit more from the inflation via real estate.

Back to the Ferrari crash analogy, there is only that number of working hours a taxi driver could work per day. And the cost of running his taxi will definitely increase—have you ever seen fuel costs or rental for taxis coming down? His real income will be wiped off by the rate of inflation eventually and there will come a time where his income will not be able to cope with the living cost, no matter how prudent he chooses to be.

Inflation comes crashing on average Singaporeans fast and furious. Won’t be long before that crushes us to crumbs.

Policy-makers, the Ferrari driver in disguise, crush working Singaporeans in two ways: (1) allowing cheaper immigrant influx to control the rise of local wages for the benefits of the rich; (2) allowing super rich influx to sustain the current “economy” to benefit the super rich. 

Either way, average Singaporeans will be crushed.