Attention Singaporeans! Time To Wake Up!
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I happen to come across this article, read it, and yeah it make sense. So copied here and share with my fellow Singaporeans.
1. SingaporeÂ’s economic growth miracle of the 1960s-90s came mostly from added inputs, not from growth in productivity.
Hong Kong Singapore
Average growth p.a., 1960-85 6% 6%
Worker productivity increase, 1970-90 150% 100%
Savings rate 1970-90 20% 40%
Change in output per unit of capital, 1970-90 0% -50% source
In other words, Singapore had to invest twice as much as HK to produce the same level of output. To compensate for the poor productivity and diminishing returns of investments directed by the state, its people had to save twice as much as Hongkongers, and consume less. Pathetic.
2. The Singaporean people do not really have the fundamental right to make their own investments. The Singapore government forces people to hand over up to 40% of their net income, and it invests most of it as it sees fit. The government “allows” people to individually direct only a small part of these forced savings (mainly into non-voting shares in state-owned enterprises). The government tells Singaporeans how lucky they are to be “allowed” to choose to use their savings for education, home purchase, medical coverage, etc – as if the money weren’t theirs in the first place. Pathetic.
3. This is therefore a planned economy, in which civil servants attempt to pick winners. As well as (mis)managing its people’s savings, Singapore’s government also arranges subsidies to encourage favoured industries. Needless to say, these subsidies are at the expense of other industries. For example, the rest of the economy has subsidized forex traders and fund managers (the last people who need a subsidy) in order to push Singapore higher up the list of international forex trading and fund management centers. The government sells this to its people as a “success”. Meanwhile, the government is ordering its state-owned business to expand beyond the little city state. In their desperation to become regional players, they are paying over the odds for assets of doubtful quality. Pathetic.
4. One big mistake made by the controllers of the Singaporean economy was to maintain a large manufacturing sector long after factories would otherwise have been moved to lower-cost sites (as they did in Hong Kong in the 1980s-90s). They have put their peopleÂ’s wealth into direct investment into local manufacturers, or into tax breaks and other subsidies for inward manufacturing investment. It is therefore left with a large and increasingly unviable manufacturing base in such loser industries as semiconductors. Pathetic.
5. Faced with such mismanagement, most people would complain. Not Singaporeans. Their government effectively controls the media and runs a highly effective PR campaign aimed at convincing the people the government is wonderful. Many sincerely believe it. Those who donÂ’t fall for it keep quiet, or wish they had. The few people who dare to speak out suffer reduced career prospects or even spurious legal action. Unlike Hongkongers, Singaporeans have no right, in practice, to walk down the street handing out anti-government leaflets and shouting anti-government slogans. It is a crime to speak in public without a permit. Pathetic.
6. Democracy is impossible without free speech. Singapore is therefore no more a democracy than Hong Kong (where the government is appointed by Beijing). However, Hong Kong at least allows an opposition to exist openly, and to present its views in independent media, without fear of persecution or harassment. In Singapore, opposition politicians who ask awkward questions can be (and have been) sued for libel by ruling politicians and convicted (and bankrupted) by a judiciary that mysteriously consistently sides with the government. Neighbourhoods that vote in low numbers for the ruling party receive lower government funding for public facilities in retaliation for their lack of gratitude – in flagrant violation of the basic democratic principle that the government is accountable to all its people, not just its voters. Pathetic.
7. Singapore’s ‘father figure” is Lee Kuan Yew. One of his interests is eugenics. He believes that a more-intelligent population can be achieved through selective breeding, and at one stage Singapore encouraged people with high educational levels to marry each other, and it offered financial incentives for them to have children. (After hearing his ideas during a state visit, Britain’s Princess Anne said, “Well, Mr Lee, it doesn’t work with horses.”) Social engineering continues today, with the government, which used to go to great lengths to encourage people to have fewer babies, begging them to have more “if they can afford it”. This means “unless you’re Malay”. Singapore’s schools systematically leave Malays disadvantaged and stuck in low-paying jobs. They have also tried to attract more (Chinese) immigrants from Hong Kong. Don’t all rush. Pathetic.
8. Singapore is famous for not being corrupt. It is true that if you are Lee Kuan Yew’s eldest son you can become brigadier general after just five years in the army, and six months later you can become a member of parliament, and soon after that you can become deputy prime minister. And then become the PM!!! And if you are the eldest son’s wife, you can be put in charge of the state holding company (it holds key interests in 40% of the stock market by market cap). And if you’re Lee’s number-two son, you can run the main Telecoms company. But that’s not corruption, or nepotism. That’s “meritocracy”. (No, that's pathetic.)
9. Cosmopolitan magazine
is banned. Pathetic. -
Crap! This is old news!
Tell us something we don't already know!
...better still, how we can all kick them out!! -
So?? Wat can WE do??
We r as good as a slave and nothing else. -
it's rude not to cite sources..
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It's rude not to contribute anything to a topic but to point out a minor technicalityOriginally posted by the Bear:it's rude not to cite sources..
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The source is your own brain. You mean you don't already know any of the points raised?Originally posted by the Bear:it's rude not to cite sources.. -
Bear---> PAP dog strike again!
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Wonder if Dr Goh Poh Seng shares your 'pathetic' feelings
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Yawn..... what's new
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yup. what's new? Most Singaporeans know all these already.
However, we must give credit when due. PAP does have many achievements. -
can someone please summarize in 10 words or less wtf he just said.
oh and...
http://www.smouch.net/lol/ -
The PEOPLE have given the mandate and that says it all.Originally posted by HyperFocal:Crap! This is old news!
Tell us something we don't already know!
...better still, how we can all kick them out!!
The largest employer.
pay hikes.
I also can. -
I too would like to see where that article came from.
The Bear doesn't give a hoot about your abuse, but lay it off. It doesn't speak well of you. It seems you haven't read his posts about the PM's husband, transport and population issues, for instance, because they don't parrot the gov't stand.
On the topic of Malays and schooling, the former aren't exactly blame-free. Just ask Fudgester. -
Lest you guys didn't know.....
http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=296307
A certain noisy lion got slugged pretty good in this abovementioned thread for not quoting his sources initially. -
yes most singaporeans know this, understand this, have gotten used to this and have convinced themselves that they can't do anything about this. why is freedom of choice so undervalued that its not worth fighting for?
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is like that de larh.
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The need to make a living is greater in each S'porean mind....Originally posted by joshua182:yes most singaporeans know this, understand this, have gotten used to this and have convinced themselves that they can't do anything about this. why is freedom of choice so undervalued that its not worth fighting for?
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Lets not forget the singaporean workers who made it happen too.Originally posted by Spartans:yup. what's new? Most Singaporeans know all these already.
However, we must give credit when due. PAP does have many achievements.
I can say, do this or make this. Its those who did the thing and made the thing that made it all happen. -
btw.. i was being gentle..
not citing your sources can open you up to legal action...
if you insist on not citing your source, it's your call.. and that is YOUR FREEDOM TO do something... which may remove YOUR FREEDOM FROM being sued..
and you idiots seem to see people as pro or anti-MIW..
i'm neither.. i'm pro-good sense..
when the MIW makes sense i'll say it.. if the opposition makes sense, i'll say it..
however, if the MIW screws around, i'll say it too.. and if the opposition screws up, i will too..
i have no loyalties to any party.. my only loyalty is to my country..
political parties are not the country.. and it's high time you semi-sentient idiots infecting SC learn that...
and it's high time you people learn that the country is much more important than petty things like party loyalty... -
you can talk ah?Originally posted by the Bear:btw.. i was being gentle..
not citing your sources can open you up to legal action...
if you insist on not citing your source, it's your call.. and that is YOUR FREEDOM TO do something... which may remove YOUR FREEDOM FROM being sued..
and you idiots seem to see people as pro or anti-MIW..
i'm neither.. i'm pro-good sense..
when the MIW makes sense i'll say it.. if the opposition makes sense, i'll say it..
however, if the MIW screws around, i'll say it too.. and if the opposition screws up, i will too..
i have no loyalties to any party.. my only loyalty is to my country..
political parties are not the country.. and it's high time you semi-sentient idiots infecting SC learn that...
and it's high time you people learn that the country is much more important than petty things like party loyalty...
like this lah, i also talk like you lah :
i'm pro-good sense of humor..
when the mercs makes sense i'll say it.. if the opposities makes sense, i'll say it..
however, if the mercs screws around, i'll say it too.. and if the opposities screws up, i will too..
i have no loyalties to any foam party.. my only loyalty is to my money..
foam parties are not the money.. and it's high time you semi-semi idots infecting CS learn that...
Talk is easy.
You cannot talk and hope that people's impression of you will change.
You are a clone. -
i rest my case...
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As far as how much truth is in the article, it's still dangerous not to cite your source.
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you're a neutral!
that makes you a MIW spy!
that aside, notice how a non-partisan, neutral and friendly piece of advice is to them a MIW conspiracy?
with people like that, i regret to say that the MIW has won...
damn..
Originally posted by Agenda:As far as how much truth is in the article, it's still dangerous not to cite your source. -
If I were to form the next government. My party's uniform colour would be greyish-blue and we would salute each other using an entire arm.
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political parties are not the country.. and it's high time you semi-sentient idiots infecting SC learn that...
So you don't vote?