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"NO HOPE"
- The nation-builder press, April 3, 2004.
+ + + + +
THE CRUCIBLE ACCORDING TO CAPT. GOH
BY X’HO
There are so many cracks on the nation-building pavement that, of late, the
pulp press has foregone some subtlety to go shameless in propping up agendas
to help Remake $ingapore like it’s on Desperation Blvd. Take for instance,
The Sunday Times’ report "Why the casino rethink’ (Mar.14, ’04).
I don’t need to read it in full to know. Let’s see, good for the tourist
industry, the economy and no one’s objecting to the Govt’s decision
(not that anyone can or bothers to anymore; Capt Ryan Goh of the pilots’
union… anyone?).
Still, there was, of course,
a very valid reason for casinos to spring up in $ingapore now, we are told.
"Industry players say huge revenue generated is too good to pass up"
is the official reason. Don’t gasp, we all know about implications; not
that we care to voice them. Capt Ryan Goh!
Ironic that
below the casino report was one about why the Govt draws the line on some theatre-group’s
desire to stage a gay-forum, citing the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church
and the Hindu community’s support of the prohibitive stand. I guess the
Catholic Church, the Methodist Church and the Hindu community are cool with
all the licensed gay saunas in our midst now — on OUR VERY SHORES - housing
Sodom & Gomorrah free-sex; cos they’re not heard objecting to those
depraved haunts. Nor are they cited to object to building casinos in $ingapore.
So it’s probably not a burning issue, shall we say, when it comes
to the moral ethics of gambling. Don’t have to say, we already know. When
push comes to a hard-shoved economy’s thrust, we just have to go pelvis-Elvis
and sing Wooden Heart (now, is that a good enough pop-culture excuse for you,
Big Brother?).
I certainly am not complaining.
I’m a ‘historian’ to save amnesiacs. The juicier the details,
the better for me. Here’s crack no.2…
"Don’t impose
mother tongue as second language" — the top story in Commentary/ Analysis
from Straits Times’ Political Desk on Mar.6, ’04. (Not that mother-tongue
wasn’t already imposed in the first place!) This comes some 30 pages after
another top story (on page three) about a college-grad rejoicing that admission
to local university does not require a second-language admission-pass anymore.
"No need to go overseas now" is what she says. That, of course, is
the point of the story. That and its positioning as a prelude to the essay from
the Political Desk to convince everyone that nothing is just the Govt.’s
decision. (Capt Ryan Goh?)
Crack no.3…
"Why $ingaporeans return:
they simply miss home" (ST, Mar.7, ’04). Don’t laugh. The quote
highlighted in that report was - "Always an outsider… you’re
not one of them and never will be, no matter how hard you try." Now,
shall we inform the thousands of recent Chinese immigrants on our soil about
this too? How about rubbing it in on Capt Goh? Let’s just move
on to crack no.4, shall we? Ironies have hit a mind-boggling level of mass hypnosis
for us to really bother about anymore.
=====
RELIGIOUS GROUPS
DON'T OBJECT TO CASINO MEH?
"Ironic that below the casino report was one about why the Govt draws the
line on some theatre-group’s desire to stage a gay-forum, citing the Catholic
Church, the Methodist Church and the Hindu community’s support of the prohibitive
stand. I guess the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church and the Hindu community
are cool with all the licensed gay saunas in our midst now — on OUR VERY
SHORES - housing Sodom & Gomorrah free-sex..."
=====
Wait… There’s something we have to acknowledge - the hip-&-funky
new look of Ms. Chua Mui Hoong as seen in the picture for her column Reflect.
Hence, the retro-swinging specs and the slightly unkempt hair. Oooh, how ratty.
Gone is her previous serious administrator look to speak for the moral majority.
Since we know now that the older moral majority are so successfully boxed in,
there’s really no need to work on them that much. Therefore, like those
Satanists who rally: We have (now) come for your children (!), it’s their
little maturing mindsets we have to set our eyes on for now (hence, the Heeren
glasses!). Of course, it takes the "no longer young but more daring ones"
(quote from The New Paper, Mar.7, ’04) to activate the mind-buzz. I should
know. So, ‘media whore’? Yes, congrats to Ms. Chua, for success is
just that hint of cleavage revealed.
Back to crack no.4 (and
it’s not her top!) …
‘Twas she who announced
with her new makeover look on Mar.7, ’04: "Oh baby, baby, it’s
a harsh world" in relation to the nation’s falling birth-rate that
needs to be rectified. In conclusion, she added that she was merely giving "suggestions…
in the spirit of encouraging a no-holds-barred debate on the baby-making issue".
What a triple-whammy crack — babies, subtlety and no-holds-barred! Not
quite the old paternalistic argument we’re used to then. In other words,
Father may have thought he knew best but Father couldn’t fix everything,
could he? In that case, know best for what? I also know best, what. Just
that I couldn’t bear to have a ‘wooden heart’ for everyone’s
good and for the sake of…yes, ‘industrial-peace’. God bless
the glasses… with Ryan Goh in tow!
Truly. And listen to this
other Ms. Chua argument— "Why use my tax dollars to persuade couples
to have kids?" (she wrote on that very same day!). Don’t gasp. No-holds-barred
open-society tactic with unkempt hair, may I remind you! Exactly. That’s
sort of like — Big Sister as foil to show Father up but still gets him
what he wants. A tad obvious, isn’t it? Well, that takes care of not only
crack 4 but 5 and 6 as well.
Besides, since when have
we persisted in asking what’s done with our tax-dollars? That’s why
Ms. Chua to do the honors, lor. Now you know why it’s imperative
to have at least me as ‘historian’, otherwise old truths will get
wound like endless circles pointing in Big Brother’s favor and it would
be for your own good. See, I know the tune real well.
Crack 7— "Baby
talk dominated the seven-hour Budget debate, an issue dubbed a national imperative
by leaders" (ST, Mar. 9,’04). Lest you’ve forgotten, they did
say a long- long time ago, I can still remember, how that music was played to
the tune of "we’ll cross the bridge when we get to it". So cracks?
Just another long series of bridges, luv. Bottom of the bridge — NO future
leaders, darl. But wait, that’s not their fault! Since, we elect
our leaders, of course it’s our problem. Let me be Big Sister then
and say, in that case, case closed… on 4, 5, 6 and 7, cos they’re
oh-so justified.
Ah… but the specter
of Ryan Goh suddenly appears just when you thought you’ve tackled the no-holds-barred
open-ness with all the baby-cradling subtlety to nurse your frazzled and fried
minds. "It’s your ‘duty’ to procreate," an MP was reported
saying with great alarm on Mar.10,’04 in the Straits Times! (Never mind
that he qualified that statement later). It’s all Ryan’s fault, isn’t
it? He of superfluous ‘unions’.
Nine months ago in July
’03, I had reported in these Files that a certain bespectacled servant
of Big Brother had called for artistes in Singapore to be ‘civil society
actors’. I’d also warned that they be careful not to end up being
civil society puppets. Well, look what that same ‘servant’
wrote with regard to what he called "the near-blanket media coverage of
the Great Baby Debate"— "Do the math, fall in love"! (ST,
Mar.14,’04). Maybe Mr. Glasses is being a Joan of Arc for all his fellow
thespians so that they’ll be spared of falling into our new no-holds-barred
open-ness and committing that same Ryan Goh-‘heresy’.
You never know. We’re about cunning cleavages these days, as in - Sex And The Baby, with the Catholic Church subtly in tow. Desperate is as desperate does, babe.
+ + + + +
The nation-builder press,
Mar 21, 2004.
12 SONGS TO SING AS YOU LEAVE YOUR FAVOURITE HOTEL
§°§ DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALL RIGHT - Bob Dylan, Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, 1963 §°§
§°§ DOWN UNDER - Men At Work, Business As Usual, released 1982 §°§
§°§ HELLO GOODBYE - The Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour, released 1967 §°§
§°§ LOVE IN VAIN - The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed, 1969 §°§
§°§ I'M LEAVING - Elvis Presley, single released August 1971 §°§
§°§ LEAVING THIS TOWN - The Beach Boys, Holland, 1972 §°§
§°§ LEAVING ON A JET PLANE - Peter, Paul & Mary, Album 1700, released 1967 §°§
§°§ A NEW CAREER IN A NEW TOWN - David Bowie, Low, released 1977 §°§
§°§ CALIFORNIA DREAMING - The Mamas and the Papas, single released 1966 §°§
§°§ BY & BYE - Lesley Duncan, Earth Mother, 1972 §°§
§°§ CALIFORNIA BOUND - Frank Black & The Catholics, Black Letter Days, 2002 §°§
§°§ GOODBYE -
Mary Hopkin, Those Were The Days, released
1995 §°§
Captain Ryan Goh
PAP, YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
SDP blasts Govt on pilot’s
PR revocation
Mar 10, 2004
The revocation of Captain Ryan Goh's permanent residence status brings the PAP's infamy for vindictiveness and pettiness to a new low. The pilot was well within his rights as a member of the Alpa-S to do whatever he could to influence the decision-making process of the union.
Whether he is a Singaporean or not, has a house in Perth or not, or has sold his HDB flat for a profit or not is no business of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his ministers. What matters is whether Mr Ryan Goh acted within the parameters of his role as a member of the pilots' union.
Will the Government tell Singaporeans whether Captain Goh has trespassed any law in Singapore or was his offence merely one in which he crossed the Senior Minister? What are the deeds or misdeeds of Mr Goh that led the Government to say that he is an "undesirable immigrant"?
Should the mere fact that he is only a Singaporean PR but having a say on issues affecting Singaporeans matter? If it does, then what about the foreigners (who may not even have PR status) who sit on the board of the National Wages Council to determine the wage levels of workers in Singapore? Does the hypocrisy even occur in the mind of the Government or has PAP become so callous through all these years of having no opposition to challenge its unjust ways?
Not only have the authorities not have the guts to tell Singaporeans the real facts but it now absurdly asserts that the pilot's "(PR) status does not have anything to do with his role in last year's ouster of the pilot union's executive committee." Singaporeans may have been silenced. But they are not dumb. The day will come when the voices of the people will be heard and the PAP will have much to account for.
It is inconceivable that in this present time when Singaporeans need to think independently (and yes, this includes disagreeing with the PAP Government) and act on one's belief, the Government remains so pig-headed and resorts to petty nit-picking and personal vendettas. This will no doubt intimidate Singaporeans even more, if that is possible, and give the PAP yet more control but it will drive another nail into the coffin that carries the entrepreneurial can-do spirit of the country.
The PAP would do well to remember the old adage: You reap what you sow.
Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic
Party
