Stop giving excuses for the low calibre of the opposition

 STOP giving excuses for the low calibre of Opposition in Singapore.

The field is very level. In fact, the field is tilted AGAINST the incumbent PAP Government. Voters hold the PAP to the highest standard and threaten to vote them out at the slightest unhappiness, even if the unhappiness is not caused by government policies.

On the other hand, voters - opposition supporters - will find every excuse for the opposition's failures.

From town council mismanagement to lying and then blatantly lying to cover up lies, voters have found excuses for the WP. It's all the PAP's fault. It's incredible. They even rewarded the WP for their failures with a higher share of votes.

The lack of calibre and integrity in the opposition lies squarely on the shoulders of their supporters who are simply getting what they deserve.

They do not expect accountability, so they get no accountability. When Daniel Goh tried to hold his own party to accountability, he found himself at the wrong end of the stick.

Supporters hold the opposition to zero standard, so they get a low standard opposition. They rewarded lying politicians with more votes, so they get more lying politicians.

The PAP has been more than generous to the Opposition, providing them with training, exposure and experience to help build a credible opposition.

The Office of the Leader of the Opposition was created to help develop the opposition in Singapore in view of Singaporeans' desire for an opposition. The Leader of the Opposition is given an office in Parliament, staff support and resources, and additional allowance. But the WP is not rising to the occasion.

On the website of the LOO, one feature stands out : Donate to WP. Makes you wonder why because clearly, it is 'Office of the Leader of the Opposition' and not Leader of the Opposition WP'.

The PAP Government is inclusive, including Opposition MPs and even NCMP Leong Mun Wai in the 7 standing select committees.

Speaker of the House Tan Chuan Jin also includes the opposition in his delegation when he goes on parliamentary exchanges with foreign parliaments.

The PAP Government does their part in helping to develop a credible Opposition. But one must not expect the PAP Government to go all the way and help the opposition to win elections as well. That will be ludicrous, ridiculous, preposterous, madness, unreasonable. No political party anywhere in the world does that. 

K Shanmugam on our drug laws

How can our laws change when it comes under pressure from a foreign country or government, right?

Our laws apply equally to everyone, regardless of whether you are a foreigner or Singaporean.

Minister Shanmugam said:

If we had a policy where we said that there will be no execution if a country campaigned, the policy won’t work, and the only people who would be executed would be Singaporeans. No country can apply its laws in that way. So, we make it absolutely clear to everyone that lobbying and pressure does not work with the Singapore Government. The law applies equally whether you are rich or poor, or whether you are a foreigner or local. The law applies, and that is the only way that it can work.

Activists against the death penalty love to use the argument that we are catching only the small fries and not the drug lords.

One thing is certain. Kingpins are deterred by the death penalty. Imagine the quantity of drugs that would be brought in if kingpins will come in themselves because of no threat?

The death penalty has reduced the quantities of drugs smuggled in because small fries do their calculations to ensure they do not exceed the amount that would kick in the death penalty. This act of calculation in itself, reduces the quantities of drugs smuggled in.

Some still choose to take the risk and exceed the amount. They will have to face the music with the same gut with which they made their deliberate choice to smuggle more drugs that destroy whole families.

Everyone is fixated on the death penalty. But no one takes about the violence and organised crimes brought about by the drug trade, the victims of the drug trade, or the millions who die from drug abuse each year, or the suffering of families of drug addicts.

If the EU has a better solution, Singapore will listen, says Minister Shanmugam.

Yup! That's right. Singapore decides on our own drug laws in the best interest of Singaporeans.

Recently, in a Facebook post, Minister Shanmugam said that there is a small group of anti-death penalty activists here who take foreign money to campaign against the death penalty. The minister didn't name them. Who could they be?

In many countries, popular culture has taken over scientific truths. Many now think little of the use of Cannabis, for example. The latest UN Drug Report 2021 says that cannabis potency in cannabis products has increased by 4 times making them riskier than ever. YET, the perception of young people is that cannabis is harmless. There is a big gap between perception and reality.

Hopefully, young people in Singapore are more sensible and not easily influence by popular culture.

In Singapore too, Wake Up Singapore campaigns fiercely against the death penalty, each time working overdrive to paint a drug trafficker due to hang as a victim, someone's honourable son etc. In various posts in the past, they had also promoted the use of drugs like Cannabis. This makes you wonder. Why do they do that? What will they do if there is no death penalty?

Will lenient drug laws help the poor?

 

Hey folks, local activists campaigning against the death penalty claim that the correct approach is to be compassionate towards drug traffickers and deal with the problem of poverty they face that drive them to traffic illegal drugs.

Really? Look at Latin America. There are many poor people there living in poverty. And drug laws are lenient. What are the results? Did the lenient drug laws help the poor?

No, they did not. Instead, organised crimes flourish, the drug trade grows and grows. And violence? You know.

An explosion that blew the front off two modest houses, killing at least five people. Two bodies left hanging from a bridge over a busy road. At least 187 inmates murdered, some decapitated, in two prison massacres.

This trail of blood would not be unusual in Mexico or Colombia, scarred by drug violence for decades. Yet it was unleashed over the past year in Guayaquil, the biggest city of once-tranquil Ecuador.

In Uruguay, often described as the “Switzerland of Latin America”, 14 bodies appeared over a 10-day period this year. Three had been burnt and one dismembered.

Behind this alarming spread of violent crime into Latin America’s smaller and formerly more peaceful countries lies the booming cocaine trade. Ever hungry to expand, cartel bosses are devising new routes to reach new markets. - Financial Times

Folks, this is why Singapore must take a very strong stance against drug trafficking and abuse in order to be compassionate and help the poor. Do you want to see organised crimes here?

The way to help people out of poverty is to keep crime rate low so that there is a stable society where people can make an honest living without living in fear, create pathways for people of different talents to develop themselves and flourish.

Louis Chuan cannot decide if he wants home renting or home ownership

From home renting to home ownership for millennials. A year ago, the case was that millennials needed financial freedom to save money. A year later, millennials have achieved financial footing to buy their own BTO. In fact, Mr Louis Chua is so sure of their financial footing that he proposed a tiered housing grant that gives less to the 28-year-old and more to the 35-year-old.

Meanwhile, teammates Dennis Tan and He Tingru are concerned with deforestation and had spoken up on the need to preserve forests.

When put together, WP's ideas and policies lack consistency and coherence. How does something that lacks coherence sound like?

Getting the best talents onboard with OnePass

In One Pass, we are not just talking about foreign talents. We are talking about the best among the best of foreign talents.

If 10 top talents are willing to come here and help build our economy, it's silly to say we have a quota of 5, the other 5 can go elsewhere and compete against us.

The whole world is competing for talents from the same pool. We can never have enough of top talent to be on our side, to compete with - and not against - us on the same team.