Top 5 reasons why we should retain the GRC system

The Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system was established in 1988 “to ensure the representation in Parliament of Members from the Malay, Indian and other minority communities,” according to Article 8A of the Parliamentary Elections Act.

The GRC system has been much criticized by the Opposition over the years since its implementation. However, I would argue that the GRC system still has its relevance in today’s context. In this article, I shall outline the reasons why Singapore benefits from the GRC system and why we should retain it.

Read more at http://www.youngpap.org.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=158:thought-of-the-month-top-5-reasons-why-we-should-retain-the-grc-system&catid=41:politics&Itemid=34

The Legacy of Veteran Opposition Politician JB Jeyaretnam

When I received an email stating that JBJ had passed away, I dismissed it as political rumours of bad taste. It was a while later that I did a search online and verified the claim, did I come to terms with it.

It doesn't matter whether one supports JBJ's political stance or the way he carried it out. His strong determination has been witnessed by all. Numerous lawsuits and a bankruptcy later, he founded the Reform Party. He persevered till the end.

I once read his book and was inspired by his quotes:

"I have taken the view always, that nothing outside the person can destroy the person. That no force outside can destroy a person. That the human spirit is indomitable."

It is this strong belief in himself that help him through all odds. MM Lee Kuan Yew once made the following quotes:

"I think I am slowly convincing my colleagues that the only way to get a skunk is to skin him and nail his skin."
"Every government ministry and department is under our control. And in the infighting, he will go down for the count every time."
"I will make him crawl on his bended knees, and beg for mercy."

Rest in peace, Mr JB Jeyaretnam...

Former Opposition MP JB Jeyaretnam Dies of Heart Failure
Lee Foong Ming,
Channel NewsAsia

Former opposition MP and former Secretary-General of the Workers' Party, Mr JB Jeyaretnam, died of heart failure early Tuesday.

He was 82-years-old.

His son Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam told Channel NewsAsia that Mr Jeyaretnam, who had a pre-existing heart condition, had complained of breathing difficulties at about 1.30am on Tuesday.

He was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital but doctors were unable to revive him.

He died of heart failure with both his sons, Kenneth and Philip, by his side.

A lawyer, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam was the first opposition member to win a Parliamentary seat in 15 years when he defeated the People's Action Party's (PAP) Pang Kim Hin and the United People's Front's Harbans Singh in the Anson By-Election in 1981.

He retained the seat in the 1984 General Election, but had to vacate it in 1986 after he was convicted on charges of mis-stating his party's accounts.

Barred subsequently from standing for office, Mr Jeyaretnam returned to Parliament following the 1997 General Election.

That year, he was part of a 5-member team from the Workers' Party who contested in Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (GRC), and garnered 45.18 per cent of the votes against the PAP's 54.82 per cent.

A Non-Constituency MP seat was offered to the Workers' Party for turning in the highest votes by an opposition party, and this was taken up by Mr Jeyaretnam.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, the fiery opposition member faced several defamation lawsuits brought against him by PAP leaders, among them Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

In 2001, Mr Jeyeratnam was declared a bankrupt and disbarred as a lawyer.

As a bankrupt, he was also barred from taking part in the General Election held that year.

Later, in October 2001 he left the Workers' Party he had led since 1971.

After he was discharged as a bankrupt in 2008, a new political party, the Reform Party was formed in July by the 82 year old.

Mr Jeyaretnam leaves behind two sons.

The family later said in a statement that the family is overwhelmed with grief and will make further announcements after the necessary arrangements have been made.

According to the statment from both his sons, Mr Jeyaretnam had spent his last hours at the Evelyn Road apartment of his son Kenneth.

"Earlier this evening he and I had enjoyed a light dinner and chatted and then he sat out on the balcony for a while before retiring."

The statement went on to say that the family was woken up at about 1:30am by Mr Jeyaretnam who was "obviously in distress" and was rushed to hospital.

"But unfortunately the medical team working on him were unable to revive him despite their lengthy and strenuous attempts. My brother Philip joined me at the hospital and we were then informed by the doctor in charge of his care that he had passed away" said the family in their statment which also gave thanks the medical team."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/379303/1/.html

A Troubled World?

Lately the East and the West seemed to be in troubling times.

In the East, soon after the magnificent display by China in the Beijing Olympics 2008, the melamine-tainted milk powder now becomes the next hot issue. There has been several incidents regarding the quality of edible products from China and this time round, it's going to stay for a while. Importers of China's food and beverage would be more cautious.

In the West, the sub-prime crisis has evolved into a scary state of big banks going into insolvency. The Treasury of the U.S. is intending to use billions of taxpayers money to ease the situation but has ran into hurdles.

It is comforting to read that China is willing to help the U.S. with its trillion-dollar worth of sovereign wealth funds. It reminds us of the saying that it is only at times of distress, that one can see one's true friends.

NUS University Scholar's Programme Essay

The following is my essay for admission to University Scholar's Programme of National University of Singapore. It got me into the interview.

The topic was to write about a topic or concept that intrigues you and how it can be related to you...

I have been intrigued by the concept of “The Third Way”, also termed “Centrism”. It is a political philosophy of governance that strikes a balance between the leftist and the rightist. Some classify it as “neo-liberalism with a social touch”. I first encountered this concept from Bill Clinton’s biography My Life. It struck a chord with me as I always believe that a development that appeals to the majority will be sustainable and positive. When I was reading My Life, I was particularly captivated by the centrist policies and their effectiveness. While some may criticize “The Third Way” as a philosophy with no clear directions, to me, it should not be seen as a way of policy-making, but as a philosophy that directs policy-making in a flexible and adaptable fashion. I later discovered that it is also adopted by our PAP government, a socially democratic government. It can be related to me in some ways.

As a class chairman and a club chairman in my secondary school and junior college, I gathered some experience, and developed my personal way of management. One thing I have learnt is how to manage interpersonal relationships, especially the top-down relationships. Club members usually have different agendas, and these differing voices from people who want to keep the status quo and those who want changes, usually lead to disputes. The solution is always to strike a balance, allowing a compromise to be made, and advancing to a common goal.

Many activities that we perform daily require moderation. We lead a healthy lifestyle by sleeping, eating, drinking, playing in moderation. Machines are put into working for an optimum period, without causing damage. I always believe in maintaining an equilibrium – not too much, not too less. This again points to striking a balance.

“The Third Way” has broadened my thinking.

Prior to my exposure to “The Third Way”, I had only heard of the left and right. This categorized my ideas into the two groups, resulting in a certain degree of rigidity and ambiguity. “The Third Way” provided an additional category for ideas, and brought flexibility and the smooth-flow of idea-making and problem solving. This is because it gave me a new approach and angle to look at problems.

I have also transformed this political philosophy into a process of thinking – analysis of the issues of the left and right, formulating a more acceptable solution, and finally evaluating it. By going through this process, one could have a clear choice of options to adopt. I would liken the left and right to be on the extreme ends of FM frequency. Selection of options would be like turning the tuning knob to the radio channel that one wants to tune in to. Hence, this Centrist process of thinking can also be employed by leftists and rightists.

In conclusion, there is more for me to learn of the political philosophy of “The Third Way” to be able to engage in in-depth discussions and to apply in the realms of the economy, other than politics. There are also many more political philosophies that I am reading about and am interested in. But “The Third Way” has indeed intrigued me more than anything else, as of what I have known for now.

Death Note :: Is it right to take things on your own hand?

If you hadn't known what Death Note is, allow me to briefly explain it to you. Death Note originated from a comic, which then became a movie. The story is about a man named Light (Kira, his other identity) who received a death note book. When the name of someone he had seen before is recorded in the book, the person will die from heart seizure within minutes. The public is splitted into 2 groups - 1 supporting Kira as he kills the bad crooks, while the other argued that he is actually committing a crime with his act and that killing the bad guys did nothing to remove this fact.

So now, the question now -- Is it right to take things on your own hand? In this case, Justice?

When US President George Bush decided to go ahead on Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was just like Kira, using the power that he got to achieve a certain aim. Throughout the world, there was support and there was protests.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is just a recent example. In the history of mankind, we have seen numerous powerful figures that utilise their power to make changes through violent means, wars. Even at the personal level, we see people abusing power and commit themselves in activities that violate the law for good clause.

Laws are made by man. There are bound to have loopholes present in the judiciary system. And the law can never be just to everyone. Can it then be justified that people take it in their own hands to improve society by going against the law.

In my personal opinion, the world will be peaceful only if everyone acts according to a perfectly drafted law. However, law can never be perfectly drafted. And not everyone will act according to law. It is inevitable that certain heroes need to create a positive change such as good revolutions.

I do not agree to Kira's acts. Taking away lives can never be correctly justified.

And in case you are wondering what happened to Kira, he eventually died and the crime rate increased back to the original level.

Engaging Foreign Talents

A graying population will generally adopt policies in attracting foreign talents. Despite protests from various communities or groups of people, countries will still have to accept a fact. Either attract foreign talents to join you, or compete with these foreign talents being drawn to other states.

While it is easy to use incentives and tax reliefs for foreign migration into the country, it is not as easy to retain them and keep them within the country for long term. Immigrants might take advantage of the citizenship of the host country as a stepping stone to migrate to other countries.

To retain the talents that step into the country, there needs to be a long term engagement of these new citizens. This can take place in the form of community involvement, providing a forum for these minorities, assimilating their culture into that of the country.

New citizens might face rejection by the community initially. Grassroots leaders and volunteers should arrange more interaction programmes and activities to reduce this to a minimum.

Taxing the masses to aid the lower-income

Singapore Prime Minister has announced that the goods and services tax (GST) will be increased to 7% from 5%. This increase, he says, is needed to support the lower-income group. I am rather skeptical on this move. Defence minister defended the move as saying that the wage increase over the years offsets the GST increase. I have other opinions.

First of all, the GST will affect the whole population, impacting the lower-income group the most. Even though the tax increase is dedicated for the group, it is never able to provide total coverage to every low-income person. The uneducated, older folks, or people that do not keep in time with government policies may not notice that there are packages for them. They will miss the packages, and at the same time get hit by the GST spike. Hence, it can't be said that the entire group can be aided by a GST increase.

The rise in tax will create a burden to the middle-class, especially the bottom end of it. Wage increase over the years should not be an indication that a GST increase should be okay for this group. Rising transport costs, high living costs, etc have cancelled off the wage increase over the years.

The middle-class in Singapore is a significant group. This tax hike will certainly be used as a political tool by the opposition to prove that the ruling party has yet again chose to increase taxes after election, accompanied by election goodies.

The fund needed should be generated from other source than the tax of the whole population. My personal view is that such a fund should arise from a pool of cash coming in from different sources. For example (really just example), 10% can come from COEs, 20% from cigarettes tax, etc. Just a personal view.