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28-03-2015, 03:04 PM | #61 | |
Arofanatic
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 119
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LHL keeps extolling about building a better life and future for Singapore and his vision is having 6.9 million population, higher GDP etc. There has been hardly been any change from the time he took over as PM until today, and in fact it became worse for many. We are being squeezed physically and mentally as every increase in income is negated by higher living costs and we are squeezed out from all public amenities(transport, recreational spaces, educational institutions, hospitals, polyclinics, housing, personal transport, etc). Like the proverbial frog, these changes to our everyday lives and increased spending have not struck our minds that it is due to the influx of new citizens and FTs. What is the price Singaporeans have to pay(i don't mean money as we are paying a darn lot already), to have a better future, envisioned by LHL and his team? A big question here... What do you all think can make our lives in future better than it is today? For me if we can go back in time to the 1980's that will be best. Life was so much better back than. |
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28-03-2015, 03:27 PM | #62 | |
Dragon
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,631
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28-03-2015, 03:40 PM | #63 |
seeginna
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,328
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It's crying heavily for mr Lky now
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28-03-2015, 03:56 PM | #64 | |
Senior Dragon
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,495
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28-03-2015, 04:06 PM | #65 |
Dragon
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 1,319
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as politicians, they need to be with the people in order to rally them to support you.
how to be with the people when you are earning million $$ salary while the people on the ground are trying to cope living costs..... |
28-03-2015, 04:08 PM | #66 |
Dragon
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 1,918
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I don't mean to be disrespectful, but lsl can never hold a candle to his dad. Lsl is just your average politician
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28-03-2015, 04:14 PM | #67 |
Arofanatic
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 465
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I totally agree
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28-03-2015, 04:44 PM | #68 |
Arofanatic
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 119
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Lee Hsien Loong's 10 years as PM: Many decisions still top-down, says Associate Professor Reuben Wong
Published on Aug 12, 2014 11:00 AM Associate Professor Reuben Wong, National University of Singapore Department of Political Science. -- PHOTO: ST FILE SPH Q: How would you characterise Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s 10 years at the helm, in a word or a phrase? A: Well-intentioned. A lot of what he’s done and is doing is very far-sighted, but on the negative side it is also rather technocratic and very development-centred. It makes one feel that the ends of development justify everything else, the casino is one such case. Singaporeans are getting more sophisticated and development and growth are not the only things they’re looking for. They also want a sense of identify and belonging, these soft issues need better attention. Q: Of all the things that have happened in the past decade, what do you consider PM's three greatest achievements? A: PM Lee succeeded spectacularly in making Singapore’s economy even more sophisticated than it was, and making Singapore an even more global city than 10 years ago. Around the world, Singapore is viewed as one of the most internationally welcoming, most attractive places to live in. It is not just in Asia, but also on the world level. That’s why you have a lot more millionaires and billionaires who come and live here. This is a spectacular achievement, that a country that was a British colony right up to the 1960s is now considered like a Switzerland of Asia. Most people think of Singapore as a very stable and serious state, so they continue investing here and people want to live here. Q: What about his three greatest disappointments? A: Some of the promises that were made, whether implicit or explicit, in 2004 - that we become more consultative, that every Singaporean counts and will have a say in the running of Singapore - are not so evident 10 years on. For example, a lot of decisions are still very top-down. Some of the biggest indicators of this are the decisions about the casinos and growing of Singapore’s population to 6.9 million. When you make a decision top down this way, and you try to sell it afterwards, it is very hard. If you had instead started the process earlier and gotten the citizens involved, gotten their buy-in, policy making and implementation would be easier. I think PM Lee is very sincere, but there are just a lot of standard operating procedures and government reflexes that are hard to change. The ministries don’t have it in their DNA to consult and they don’t know how to package policies in a way that will go down well with the public. It makes the job of the politician so much harder. Q: What do you see as challenges for the PM in the next 5 to 10 years? A: One of the biggest challenges would be what is Singapore’s direction in the next five to 10 years, especially in its political economy. What type of growth are we looking for and what does that growth depend on? I think the model we’ve had so far has been very dependent on external growth and on foreign talent - all manner of foreign talent from the top to the bottom levels, from Employment Pass through S-Pass to Work Permits. I think we’ve come to a stage where many people feel this is not sustainable. So one of the important challenges is going forward, what will be a sustainable economic-political system for Singapore. The political and economic systems have to be complementary. If you want to continue to have a globalised economy with lots of foreigners coming in and going out, the political system must also accommodate that by being more plural, allowing more debates. We will have people coming from everywhere and their concerns and needs will have to be met, you’re not only meeting the needs of Singaporeans who have the vote, but also of foreigners who don’t have the vote but have significant input to Singapore’s continued prosperity and welfare. This is also what sets us apart from other small, rich states. Scandinavian countries and New Zealand, for example, are not as dependent on foreign talent. - See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-....uaacmXrX.dpuf Not very flattering indeed and published by the Straits Times. We become too dependent on foreigners for our well-being and not on ourselves. Without these foreigners, we are kaput. That is now our dilemma with LKY gone. Can Singapore survive without LKY? When Singapore was left on it's own after the split from Malaysia, LKY and his team rally the people and together they slogged and made Singapore a thriving nation. Goh Chok Tong and his grandiose ideas (Swiss standard of living, a gracious society and Singapore soccer team play in finals of the world cup) never got off the ground. How does one transform a corporate CEO into a leader of a country? Now we have the scion of the first PM to lead the country, someone born with a golden spoon leading a sheltered life and out of touch with the common people. The idea he has on how to improved the lives of the people is mainly business-centric but the reality on the ground being a more stressed and unhappy country. The signs are there, shortage of bed spaces in hospitals, the long queues at polyclinics, the transport system is breaking down, shortage of basic housing at times because the man running the show was also another money-making machine for the government. I envisage there will be changes not for the better but for the worse for Singapore. I hope it will not be too drastic but the future does not really look particularly rosy for Singapore at this time, not with this team of money-worshiping administrators (I will not call them leaders). |
28-03-2015, 04:59 PM | #69 |
Dragon
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,457
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As my daughter is a student and only Sat. can only see the doc at polyclinic as other days back from sch too late. Called up for appt. on Sat, now the queue is up to mid July. OMG worst than last time.
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28-03-2015, 05:07 PM | #70 |
Arofanatic
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 213
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