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Alice, child with dreaming eyes, Noting things that come to pass Turvey-wise in Wonderland Backwards through a Looking-Glass. ♠ Saki, The Westminster Alice ♣ |  |
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[ 100428 ] nocturne, King Pear – Alexandra Cabot reappeared in L&O: SVU, so I wiki'd >> Casey Novak >> Diane Neal, whose entry specifically states "She is a redhead." // Though I'm sure Amy was in my subconscious. 28 Aries 10 07:07 [ 100428 ] Ian, the Blue Berry Timothy – Did Amy trigger this? 28 Aries 10 06:47 [ 091026 ] andrew – thx 11 Aquarius 10 21:09 [ 080711 ] anon – i read your text. I'm not your friend. And i fell in here because i was looking for Pania Rose pictures. // Ah i'm also a male, so your tactic kinda worked. 25 Capricorn 10 11:45 [ 091107 ] nocturne – I'm sorry, I have no clue what you mean. Please try again. 08 Scorpio 2k9 10:15 …more…  |
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The story goes, as I recall, that TT Durai really wanted to join the PAP. I can’t recall the details, but he had a burning desire to ascend in the ranks of the Men in White. For years and years, he tried and tried. He simply couldn’t. Perhaps they saw what turned out to be true, that, in spite of what he has achieved (and the scandal should not overly diminish what he has done), that there is a fundamental flaw in his character. There’s another story of a Minister of State. He was plucked out via tea session from a good life in the private sector. After a few years, the PM told him that he will never be a full Minister. Ever. This is as far as you go. He said, fine, if this is as far as I go, then this is where I stay. I will serve my country. The PAP doesn’t recruit from the PAP. The potential Ministers do not ascend the ranks, they are hand-picked. They are courted. They are guilt-tripped into serving a higher purpose. The entire future of this country is dictated by a group of maybe twenty people (there’s an -archy term for it). Everything else of the PAP, from the MPs sitting in Parliament, to the grassroots groups, to the people cutpasting the red tape, it’s all a giant feedback unit to tell the PAP what needs fixing, and to convince the people that the PAP’s fixes are the right ones.  Such is the way it has been, such is the way it will be. There’s a saying that the flaw in American politics is that “anyone who wants to be President enough to do the things that it takes to be President, doesn’t deserve to be President”. Anwar Ibrahim is a very charismatic man. PM Lee is less charismatic than Ibrahim or PM Abdullah Badawi (though PM Lee has improved recently, some still consider him somewhat unexciting). Even so, Singapore does not have the perception of corruption that Malaysia does. Singapore does not have enough of the confluence of factors that led to the BN’s trashing. To be inspired by Malaysia’s example is simply naive. Also, Anwar Ibrahim was a former DPM. He has experience. In Singapore, even if Sun Yet Sun himself were to come and lead the opposition… Actually, even if Gandhi or Jesus were to do it, he simply will not get very far. Maybe he’ll win a few seats for his party. But he will never be able to topple the PAP. It’s called the Mandate of Heaven, and the PAP has it. The PAP has done some things that a lot of people dislike. The same way our parents do things that we dislike. But, ultimately, they still deliver where it counts – roof over our heads, food on the table. The only thing that can destroy the Mandate of Heaven is widespread discontent. That will never happen here. And let’s talk infrastructure. You cannot make a nuclear bomb in your home. It doesn’t matter if you know how. You don’t have the parts, you don’t have the money, you don’t have the people. If I recall correctly, Chiam See Tong’s staff is made out of the grand total of one assistant.  An Opposition Party; Yes, every last member and their tin of Milo. Our ministers have entire ministries, staffed by scholars in bondage.  The Prime Minister’s Office, Annual Picnic. A tiny cog in the PAP machine. It doesn’t matter if you have the will, it doesn’t matter if you have the potential. The reality is that the political climate is a nuclear winter, and the only greenhouse has a giant PAP stamped on it. It doesn’t matter if you’re an acorn or a taoge, you simply cannot take root and grow in the barren soil outside. Of course, even in the most barren landscape, a few plants grow. Those plants are named Chiam and Low. They survive because they understand where they stand, and they do not overreach. This does not mean they do not want to, merely that they know that if they try, they will fail. Even so, they show that it can be done, that the PAP can be beaten in an unfair election. Can there ever be a credible opposition? It would take a magnetic personality, a person of obscene calibre. Such people end up in the PAP. Say he doesn’t. Say, in spite of being such a person, he lacks the reasoning to see that the PAP does more for the country than any alternative is in a position to, say he doesn’t think he can change the system from the inside, say, he believes that a watchdog for the PAP is more important than the real lives of Singaporeans. Or, in JBJ’s case, the PAP simply hates his flaming guts. So he sets up his own party. Without funding, without a bureaucracy, without the tools, the required data, how is he ever able to come up with any alternative solutions? Remove ERP? How? Does he have road usage data? The people to analyse such data? Population projections? Projected car usage? Does he have the power to change immigration policy to reduce population to reduce the stress on the transport system? If he could, should he? How does one come up with a plan, without enough information, without the power to know what can or should be done? If he were a minister, on the other hand... He would have scholars to come up with the plans for him; he just has to decide which way to go, knowing that the lives of millions of people (and some cats) depend on whatever the Hell he decides.  Say our mythical opposition guy comes up with a plan to fix a national problem. Through funding from disgruntled citizens, through help from think tanks, he comes up with a plan, a silver bullet. Will the people vote him in? Give him a chance to put his plan into action? Of course not. Mandate of Heaven. Change is bad. Better the devil you know. Try and remember, to get Barack Obama, you must pay eight years of GW. Four years of GW only gets you more GW. The people will vote in someone who will make their towns better, they will never risk voting in someone who can rock the big boat. Why won’t we have more credible opposition? Because those that want change realise that the opposition has as much a chance of effecting real change as I do. Pretty close to absolutely zero. The only change that can be effected are small ones, tiny tweaks to the existing system. And you’re probably in a better position to do that wherever you are currently standing then in a political party. I don’t know if this is true, but it seems to me that Eunice Olsen has done more for the real lives of Singaporeans than Dr. Chee. She has raised issues that could realistically be changed, she has seen those changes effected. Dr. Chee can’t even afford to drink Milo.  Dr. Chee vs the PAP – in Dr. Chee’s Head  Dr. Chee vs the PAP – in Real Life Pedantic Crossover Continuity Note: The last picture is a The Force Unleashed screenshot, and the bowing dude is, techinically, Sith. If you care.
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Because my duty was always to beauty, and that was my crime…
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Things that fall contrariwise, Difficult to understand Darkly through a Looking-Glass Turvey-wise in Wonderland ♠ Saki, The Westminster Alice ♣ | |
