If I see one more blog called "Coffee and cigarettes"... I'm just going to scream!

[spiderpig]

But otherwise, here's an extremely thoughtful and well written piece.

From this blog
A government for all its intelligence, is nothing if it lacks empathy.
October 30th, 2006
Mr. Ngiam Tong Dow in his recent speech to the Oxbridge Society, brought up the examples of the Plato Republic and the concept of the philosopher-king, whereby one exceptional and capable person would be groomed to lead society. He would be the wise man, the most intelligent of the intelligent, but he would also be one that was loved by the people, and one who loved the people in return. Mr. Ngiam spoke of the imperial meritocratic system in China, whereby in the early days scholars would be chosen from the people and examined on policy issues pertaining to governance, as they rose through the ranks of the administration. The system began to crack only when these scholars began to be tested mainly on poetry and the regurgitation of the classics, because these scholars could not really relate to the people. Closer to home, he mentioned that in the early days of Singapore’s history, Parliament was made up of people including a carpenter and a barber. People chosen from the masses. Now, you will at least need a univerisity degree to be an MP, and you have to do very well in your field of specialisation. Of course, camaderie with the masses is not a necessary requirement.

Another person died today. Another MRT suicide. This time, it happened at Clementi MRT Station.We don’t yet know who the person is, where he (or she) is from, how old he is, whether he has any family, whether he is unemployed or not, etc. But I have a strong feeling that he will probably fit the profile of a middle-aged person, probably unemployed, with huge financial difficulties, and with a family to feed. And, after seeing that Mr. Tan Jee Suan’s actions could bring his family $500, 00, this person probably hopes that his actions will confer a similar benefit to his dependents.

Practically speaking, I honestly don’t think that he’s going to get a lot of money. Definitely not $500, 000. He might get a bit of money, but I don’t think the public is going to be as sympathetic or as charitable. This might seem too easy a way to get money, to most people. In fact, if you’d read the New Paper on Sunday, you’d already know that Madam Lian (Mr. Tan’s widow) is already getting a lot of flak for the money that she has received. Besides people asking her for her husband’s death cert numbers so that they can go buy 4D, and people continually pointing at her and gossiping about her “sudden windfall” every time she goes out, a lot of people have also questioned her about her money and what she intends to do with it. Charity has turned to jealousy and envy, and the results are blatantly ugly. Nope. I don’t think the public is going to be as sympathetic now; they might feel duped, especially if they believe that more of such suicides will occur in future.

In fact, just last week, someone did voice this fear to me. That although Mr. Tan’s suicide was a sad thing, the fear was that it would spawn a spate of copycat suicides. Although Mr. Tan jumped out of sheer desperation and depression, he did not expect any windfall or any form of charity. However, most people will speculate that today’s suicide probably hoped for some kind of monetary benefit for his family. I’m sure that he must have been equally desperate, equally depressed and at the end of his line. You honestly don’t just kill yourself, not when you have a family to feed, a family that cares, and a family that will grieve for you and be in pain for you, long after you die. There is a kind of irresponsibility about killing yourself and about giving up, just like that. However, if you think that you might be able to get a monetary gain out of it… Maybe it makes it easier to take that step and to make that jump. That is worrying. Who knows how many more people may eventually resort to this in the future?

continued on the aforementioned blog

So, that's a snippet. Go to the blog link above to read the whole article.

For one, I do largely agree with what Kitana says.

Then again, do we middle-income proletariats-of-sorts also acknowledge the state of the poor? It's a Singaporean concept we're talking about here, that's been drilled into our head.

Now, I'm being really jumpy and throwing out random thoughts and ideas here, forgive me for the complete lack of coherence.

Still, I get bristly everytime people call Singaporeans 'leeches'. I might be sounding a little pompous here, but hello Singaporeans? Give yourselves a well-deserved pat on the back and stop calling yourselves 'dependants on the government'. Do you even realize that what the government generally does is to just give us a blazing ready-made framework of the CPF and Medisave etc etc (AND I MEAN, ETC ETC!!!) and then whatever comes next is our own damn effort.

So shut the fuck up and stop saying that the majority of us are leeches. If we find that the CPF and all those other policies aren't enough to cover our own welfare, who is to blame then? The government for not forseeing this, or the people? No seriously. Think about that.

I need to think about it too.

ARGH THE BIGOT! Oh my god, what is happening to all the young 'uns in Singapore? AND wtf, if you are so 'elite', spot the fallacies in your argument dude!

Comments

RESponse

[(Anonymous)]

Hey ali. I agree with you absolutely.. I hate it when people over-generalize and throw all of us Singaporeans into the cesspool of " leeches" as you call it. Anyway, I really hope you become some sort of political journalist in the future! Yr brillant aq passage speaks volumes of the kind of articles that I can expect from you next time! Cheers and keep it up k? Love, Michelle =)