I picked up on this controversy in a local forum:
http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1434846
I find her comments uncalled for. Worse thing is that her father is a Member Of Parliament. Details are in the link above. However, the main post in the original blog has unfortunately been deleted and closed down. I think its in fear of repercussions. Sometimes people just don't think when they post on their blogs.
Here are some of my comments to this controversy. I posted them at different places but decided to put it in a single post of my blog, just to share my thoughts.
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Though this blog was closed/shutdown/deleted/compromised/exposed and removed, the comments that the 18 year old with a superior complex will live on forever in the Internet.
I don't really think very highly of her attitude towards the "less elite" community who has to work just that bit harder to get the kind of opportunities that she has from her background.
Sad to say, if this is what some of the more privileged people in Singapore have in mind (irregardless of age), I fear a separatist elite will appear one fine day, thinking that only the "superior" shall rule and "losers" can go be sales assistants. For one, sales assistants drive the economy. Everyone has a value and adds to society.
Whoever you are, RJC girl, I hope you did not do any damage to your father's reputation. And if Mr Wee happens to be reading this, I hope you can knock some sense into your daughter. She created an unnecessary mess by speaking out in such a manner.
Everyone has their views on life, but not everyone has the right to condemn and insult others. Unless one has gone through many trials and tribulations, only wise people have wise things to say. What our Ms RJC has said in her blog is definitely unwise.
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Also, in relation to the current and will always stay current issue of how the poor can be helped by the goverment:
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http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?p=20768281#post20768281
As far as I can tell, the PAP is keeping our cost of living in parallel with our increasing standards of living and earning potential.
However, there will ALWAYS be people who can't keep up and that is where the problem is. How is the government going to take care of these people without making them fully dependent on it.
Can you feed a man for life? If you can, you will find more men looking for you to feed them for life. Do you have the means to feed EVERYONE for life?
Imagine the poor in Singapore as the poor in India, and the Government as You, Mr Rich Tourist. If you hand out one piece of bread to one of the beggars, you will find 10 more coming. When the 10 more come, another 100 will follow. Then the whole community will grab hold of you for one piece of bread.
Do you think that it is wise to carry 1,000,000 pieces of bread in a community of 10,000,000? Unless you have 100,000,000 pieces of bread and you walk into a community of 100, then maybe you can help them for life. Otherwise, I believe its better to show them how to make bread and let them find their flour.
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Well, I'm not against charity and being charitable. I do my fair share of contributions to charity. But I'm just trying to put across what I think is the government's point of view and their policy. I may be wrong, I may be right, but as I don't work for the government, I don't represent them and my views are of my own. Just to expand on my post in the forum, I believe that being on the dole and waiting for welfare while looking for jobs can be a double-edged sword. Its only good for the society at large if everyone tries to be productive in anyway possible. If you just try, you may just succeed. If you don't, you can only dream but you will only get nightmares.
I'm lucky enough to be in a position where I can help people instead of looking for help and I will never forget the stories my father told me about my grandfather, the life of poverty that they had to go through during their early years. I'm grateful for all that has happened to me and I am very lucky to be born in Singapore, to have such a government and to have such a supportive family in my life. Meritocracy works. There will be people left behind in every race, it all depends on how they intend to run or walk or crawl till the end...or give up. Help is always welcomed by those who need it but those who seek it should try their very best when they are given it.
Do not wait to be carried to the finish line...if people see you trying, they will push you till you reach your destination. If people see you giving up, they will try to encourage you. But if people see that you have gave up, its hard to do anything anymore.
2 comments:
Hi there, thought I share with you my life experiences since you come across as a matured level headed young man
:) Found you via that fake WSM blog. Anyway here goes:
Pardon the ramblings of a lao jiao who's a 38-year old graduate but the realities of life in Singapore is such that once you hit the age of 35 - like Derek Wee - REGARDLESS you were a graduate or not, never even think that you'd get a job, not even a hourly-rated "menial" job like McDonald's. Now, I appreciate the comments made by some who are still students such that their maturity amazes me whereas some like a certain Ms Wee - let's say, she ought to be careful of her safety now that she's become infamous.
Do you know it's like to be told by your employer that your place in the organisation is no longer sustainable, thus you and your colleagues were to be retrenched? And then only for you to find out months later that your ex-employer had replaced your and your colleagues' positions WITH cut-price FOREIGN TALENTS?? See the word cut-price. Now, such a scenario is repeated many times all over Singapore.
Or perhaps start a conversation with that taxi uncle the next time you take one. You may be surprised with his rather fluent English and educated view, but only to find out he's one of the several who was retrenched due to his company cutting costs. He's no average white collar worker, rather someone from upper management. He couldn't find any job elsewhere EVEN THOUGH he didn't mind taking lower pay ones. BUT THEN again, his age worked against him as he's on the wrong side of 30. If you all think this is fiction, I worked in the recruitment industry before and I tell you I couldn't help but cry each time I hear such stories ad nauseum. Why? How are they going to support their children or rather pay for the children's school fees. I'm sure some of you out there know what Poly and Uni fees are like. Or stat boards like the PUB threatening to cut off water and electricity supplies if you don't pay up your bills in time. Or even the Town Council threatening lawyer's letter if you don't pay up your Conservancy Charges second month arrears.
So, I can't blame anyone for the DISPROPORTIONATE response to what that certain Ms Wee had ranted in THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT. But let me say this, Singapore will not be what it is like 5 years down the road.
I once met a taxi driver who is about 60 years old now. He was retrenched during one of those bad economic recessions and was about 45, with a managerial post. However, no matter how hard he tried to find a job, he was ALWAYS TOO OLD or OVERQUALIFIED.
He then had no choice but to drive a taxi and till today, he is still a taxi driver.
Taxi drivers in Singapore are increasing in educational quality and experience. Its not a good thing. Its a waste of LOCAL TALENT.
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