Can Tan Jee Say win?

A crowd of about 20,000 turned up yesterday at Toa Payoh Stadium to support Tan Jee Say.
Whether or not it is reflective of how the votes will go, its anybody's guess.

In my opinion, Tony Tan started as the front runner, implicitly backed by the PAP machinery.
A few weeks later, Dr. Tan is just about clinging onto the lead and this shift in momentum is largely due to the fairly rapid rise of the obscure dark horse Tan Jee Say.

I think many neutrals have been turned off by Dr Tan's wishy washy statements, his son's unprecedented 12 year deferment from National Service and his new starring role as the "Interruptor".

So PAP, and credit to them for always having "plan B", realises this. If you've been reading between the lines in State Media these past few days, they've thrown more weight behind Tan Cheng Bok. The man whom many in the current establishment saw as the party pooper may actually be PAP's best hope if Dr. Tan's popularity continues to dip.

To any rational citizen, the President must be independent, not just independent-minded, but independent of the ruling party.
Most of us have fond memories of our schooldays. 20, 30 years after leaving school, many of us still hold a sense of pride and loyalty to our Alma Mater, whether or not we've been actively involved in alumni activities.
I still reminisce my first job about a decade ago. Ten years later, I still hold a degree of attachment to that company and from time to time turn to them for certain services I require in my current capacity.

The point I'm trying to make is that we are all human beings and one of the things that makes us unique among living creatures is memory and nostalgia.
Last I checked, all four Presidential candidates are human beings.
Now do you seriously believe that Tony Tan, Tan Cheng Bok and Tan Kin Lian, each with 2-3 decades of ties and service to the PAP, can suddenly erase all the emotional and nostalgic attachment to the regime?

As Tan Jee Say puts it, "there may be constitutional constraints in what the President can or cannot do but there is no limit to what I can do as a Singaporean for Singaporeans".
A President that has cultivated decades of ties to the PAP is very likely to be alot more limited in what he can do for Singaporeans.
And that is bad for us because the PAP will continue to shove unpopular policies like immigration, unrestrained investments by GIC and Temasek and CPF withdrawal age/sum down our throats without aa moral authority to protect Singaporeans.

The power of independence and alternative views cannot be taken for granted.
Many Singaporeans are appalled by the People's Association move to ban Workers' Party MPs from attending grassroot events in their own Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.
The move is obviously politically motivated and serves to diminish the WP's outreach effectiveness.
But today, State Media reported that the PAP has sort of retracted this probably in response to public anger which may hurt its candidates chance in the Elections.
The four candidates had also come out to question the move by PA and HDB (some from the heart, others to score voter points) Is this an "exercise" of moral pressure?
I think it's clear that if used courageously and wisely, the President has significant influence over day-to-day operations of the PAP.

It will be a close fight down to the wire but I feel that Tan Jee Say has a genuine chance of winning this.
1) He has some sort of machinery behind him. His campaign posters are suddenly everywhere. His merchandise also pretty deccent. Presence = votes
2) We don't know how PAP candidates Tony Tan and Tan Cheng Bok will split the votes. We do know they will
3) I don't think Tan Kin Lian will have as big an effect on Jee Say's votes. I admire what he tried to do for minibond investors but I just don't think he has the machinery or aura for this job
4) Public anger over the WP v PA incident, transport fare increase, SMRT vandalism, weak economy etc etc could sway swing voters toward the alternative vote
5) His rag to riches story- washerwoman mother and poor childhood to successful civil servant and investment banker and now, running for the highest office in the land

In the meanwhile, coming to a polling booth near you, I present the blockbuster "The Interruptor".

PAP needs a dose of morality check

Despite opposition from various parts of society and numerous petitions sent to President S R Nathan, PM Lee Hsien Loong and his totally dominant party decided in 2005 that two casinos will be built in Singapore.
They even came up with an ingenious plan to charge Singaporeans $100 for each entry while foreigners walk in free.
The only other thing more ludicrous was when PM Lee said he was raising GST to help the poor!

Well you can argue that the casinos have contributed to GDP. They obviously fattened the pockets of Malaysia's Genting and the once nearly bankrupt American Las Vegas Sands Group.
While it may too early to measure the social cost of gambling, it is widely documented,  unsurprisingly, that the casinos have attracted more than its fair share of patrons, including prostitutes and petty thieves.
And accordingly to a study, Singaporeans have been losing big.

Has the PAP government taken on the right bet?

Did S.R Nathan play any part in all this? Now hold on. Before you start accusing him of doing nothing, think again. On the contrary, our President contributed in a massive way.
By keeping silent and counter-signing a blank cheque, he effectively sanctioned the casinos.

Could the President have stopped it? Nobody knows for sure. But if we had an independent President who cared for the people, he could have raised moral objections and increased public scrutiny of casinos.
Maybe we would have just gotten one, not two casinos. Maybe none.

This is why the elected Presidency is crucial to the future survival of the country. Paying another puppet $3 million dollars just to grace a couple of annual charity programmes, recite poems and cut ribbons is just gambling our future away.

We need a President who can return some moral authority to a government who has lost its moral compass. And a candidate that carries all that emotional baggage and cozy ties with Lee Kuan Yew and his merrymen is simply not cut out for this role.
And a candidate who presided over a staggering $59 billion loss in our reserves, monies, call it what you like, is certainly unsuitable.

The good news for Singaporeans is that there is one candidate who has an alternative vision for Singapore, one that creates better jobs for citizens, returns accountability to the government and importantly, puts Singaporeans at the heart of policy making.
Fortunately, this vision can be found here.

Vote for the President who is most PRO SINGAPOREAN

The PAP will not lose power even if its poster boy Dr Tony Tan doesn't win.
Their 2/3 majority in Parliament stands for the next five years.
This means that Lee Hsien Loong and his government can and will still get to pass most if not all of its motions legislatively.
So why should the President matter? Is there a need to vote wisely?

Although largely ceremonial, the President is the highest moral authority in the country.
While the PAP has the ultimate say in the day-to-day operations, an independent President can inject moral conscience and objection into each decision the PAP makes so it becomes that much harder to force policies that are not pro-Singaporean.

Pro Singaporean. This is how we should judge the four candidates. Who among the four is the most pro Singaporean?

For sure, Tony Tan is not. For the sake of these Elections, he has tried to camouflage his pro-foreigner policy by using ambiguous phrases like ‘Singaporeans first’ is different from saying ‘Singaporeans only’.
So please don't believe all the smoke-screen this PAP endorsed man is throwing at you.
He's extremely cozy with the Lee family evidenced by the apparent special treatment his son received during National Service.

While Tan Cheng Bok and Tan Kin Lian both are good candidates, there is no one more pro Singaporean than Investment Advisor and former principal private secretary of Goh Chok Tong, Mr. Tan Jee Say.

He is undoubtedly, the pro Singaporean choice, the right Singaporean choice.

Eat That Peanut

Couple of days after I'd written about Singapore Airlines (SIA) losing market share, the company shocked the business world today by reporting that Q1 profit dived 82% from a year ago.
I don't like to say this but hey... I told you so!

As usual, they said fuel prices were to blame. Which airline isn't affected by it?
And seeing that they, together with subsidiary Tiger Airways, have been appointing "foreign talents" to head up operations, we would expect them to do better.
Instead, competitors like Emirates and Cathay Pacific have been steadily chipping away at SIA's market share.

Former Straits Times journalist Rodney King's book "The Singapore Miracle - Myth and Reality" threw doubts on the PAP's claims of "cutting-edge efficiency, global competitiveness, economic freedom and transparency."
A must read for anyone concerned about our future sustainability as an economic success. While it may not be as ubiquitous as a certain other politician's books, you should be able to find it at Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City and Select Books at Tanglin Shopping Centre. And there's always Amazon.com.

When ex-SDP candidate and current Presidential hopeful Tan Jee Say introduced his S$60 billion National Regeneration Plan (NRP) during the lead up to the May Elections, many PAP Ministers including his former employer Goh Chok Tong rushed to shoot it down.
The reason is simple.
This plan benefits Singaporeans, not PAP.
Part of it involves training another 30,000 teachers and building 300 more schools. The aim is to bring down class room size which has remained the same (40) since I was in primary education in the early 80s!
It will also save Singaporean parents the unnecessary grief of the daunting balloting for primary school places.

Another part of it advocates a regeneration of our manufacturing industries and move towards higher productive and higher valued service-related industries. Currently, the MNCs and Government Linked Companies are enjoying huge amounts of tax breaks, rental subsidies etc but are creating lower quality jobs for Singaporeans. Many MNCs are also guilty of exploiting the lax foreign labour laws and hiring foreigners to occupy the better positions.

Why is the PAP so apprehensive of the NRP? Afterall, it is endorsed by a former British Head of Civil Service. (The British incidentally were responsible for many of our institutions, including our Civil Service)

- MNCs might start to pack up and leave. This reduces demand for foreign workers and affects population growth. GDP is hit and Ministers lose some of their bonuses.
- GLCs may be dismantled much like what happened to the Chaebol. With so many of the party's fraternity related to these GLCs, it's anathema.
- They will have to start spending more on healthcare, education and social services. Which leaves little for Temasek and GIC to play with.

In 2008, a political storm swept across Malaysia resulting in Barisan Nasional's worst electoral showing ever.
And to this day, the storm hasn't let up.
This minor democratic success served as a wake up call to the country's ruling elite culminating in the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

Call it funny, creative, cheesy or anything else, its exactly what Singapore needs. Malaysians may already have surpassed our quality of life. The ETP should help them race ahead one day.

GRC Dream Team 2016

Rally action- May 1st

Tan Jee Say---- our future Minister of Trade & Industry!