Our system is one where a bigot has decided to use big-banner
assumptions to run the whole country irrespective of right or wrong or
consequences such big-banner assumptions of dubious effect might
produce just to get by.
No one for the past 40 plus years have quite succeeded in questioning
or nailing down the biases of all these big-banner assumptions, like
talents, leadership, meritocracy, pragmatism, rule-of-law,
foreign-talents-create-jobs which were all looking good as big banner
but on closer examination produce more problems for the citizens.
How to choose a talent? Is he a talent because he befits the criteria
of the selector. What are in those list of criteria. Loyalty,
conformity, education, relevance, independence of thought, creativity,
entrepreneurship, morality, sense of duty, etc etc.
Meritocracy has been used as a way to allow leaders too to select
people of their own choice without reference to certain objective
criteria acceptable to citizens in both determination of criteria and
manner of implementation.
Foreign talent sounds good as the name suggests. But when it comes to
implementation, the cheapest unskilled worker of certain undefined
values or objective measured against government's social and economic
and moral duty to citizens are completely excluded in implementation
for expediency or pragmatism another big banner without meaning in
relation to goodness of government to original principle.
Yet sad to say despite the good-looking big banner assumptions of
goodness of policies many of the policies adopted for years have been
misunded to suit the convenience of leaders and government to serve
their own narrow purposes of handing up a self-glorifying report card
for themselves without deep-down benefits to citizens.
Will such leaders last long and get away with all claims of success? So
far none including Dr. Catherine Lim, Ngiam Tong Dow, JBJ, CSJ, LTK,
Gopalan have been able to challenge of validity or assumed rightness of
such big banner assumptions. Only time will tell perhaps.