I had the following conversation with a friend. The conversation revolved around the need for Singapore to open up in a knowledge economy in an interconnected world, and how the conversation among Singaporeans will evolve. 

Sam: (I have been) following the news. After all their pm conversation and stuff. They seem to just arrive at ‘yes we have organised a conversation. We have heard new views. But the ‘silent majority’…. still feels. …. Then calling for the invisible ‘silent majority’ so speak up. Wad a load of bull

Me: I think they need to learn how to engage more sincerely, yes. And if they don’t, we are only going to do it on our own. One way or another they will learn to do so.

Sam: And they do it in a smart way which actually kinda disgust me. So rather than the pm coming out to make the statements himself. The edu minister the new guys doing all the statement making. So it kinda makes the pm look like the liberal benevolent patriarch open to conversation and debAte hinting at an future of possibilities. To think I actually bought into that guy’s suggestion last election. Makes me just wanna lay back and wait for 2016

Me: I personally think the people he has identified to lead the conversation are people who are sincere about engagement. But it backfired because they didn’t dare to truly consult. The idea is there but they need to be sincere – that’s the key I think. And right now try fear engaging people, so that need to learn to be sincere

Sam: Yeah. It’s just this resistance to change and sudden turn on the opposite voice. “Stand up against …” before u know it they ll start controlling media and initiate a witch hunt. I’ve always followed yahoo news. But now they r publishing a lot less. They used to be critical of the govt. And they came under fire for it.

Me: The government already control the media and already conduct witch hunts. But they have learnt they can’t just keep doing that. The online news is very good at putting out another perspective. So they know they have to try to balance themselves. I think we are reaching an equilibrium in how we are trying to find a way around the issues, for the government to be sincere and the people to voice out their beliefs and thoughts.

Sam: I guess we can always applaud that he hasn’t gone as far as his dad

Me: Actually, his dad had made some right decisions for Singapore. The controlling over people’s speech wasn’t right. But Lee Hsien Loong is only more open because he needs to. The current economic climate where we want to move into a knowledge economy requires that the people are intelligent and able to hold critical discussions. And that is why even as much as the government would want to control the people, it can’t. It needs to open up and allow for discussion – otherwise it will breed a people who are not able to compete effectively in the knowledge economy.

This is also coupled by the opening up of the Internet and people’s ability to make use of it in a way that dramatically overcomes the government’s control. The government has also heavily underestimated the potential of the Internet. At the same time, the knowledge economy necessarily thrives on the Internet, as such, even if the government wants to control, the focus on moving into a knowledge economy and the reliance of the knowledge economy necessarily forces the government to allow for alternative voices, which hopefully will evolve into a conversation which is constructive, as it moves Singapore forward.

Sam: Haha was about to be touched that u typed so much for me. Guess not haha. Hmmm but then u think the govt can’t do wad the Chinese govt does? Block sites and certain word searches?

Me: Well the government won’t do that – block the Internet. Singapore needs the Internet to survive because we need to be interconnected into the global world. And Singaporeans have to thank their lucky stars that Singapore is such a small country and because of necessity, the government cannot control the Internet because it will necessarily compromise on our economic functions and growth. The government is caught in a conundrum by, ironically, nature – that we are so small. If we are as big as China, or even just Malaysia – the government would easily be able to control the Internet because we would have enough natural resources and people to contain the economic fallout (of being a small country which is restricted).

Sam: Well China’s still being connected to the wider world rnt they?

Me: No. You cannot compare Singapore with China. China does not need to be connected to the world. If it closes its economy, it can still operate. Even South Korea can. These countries have enough land i.e. natural resources to produce whatever they want and feed their people with whatever they have, even when their boundaries are closed. And when they do that, they have enough domestic demand – they have enough people to buy whatever they produce. In fact, if they want to control their countries fully, they can be like North Korea. And they can still survive like North Korea. They just need to control the amount of food that the people eat and make sure they work.

Can we do that in singapore? Once you close up our borders – can you make Singaporeans work like North Korea and still have a closed border to survive? You can. Within a month, we would have no food to feed ourselves. We cannot grow the food on this land – there is not enough land for the people. And other countries won’t import their food to us. Where’s the exchange if we close ourselves up? Within two months, people will revolt. And if the government still closes Singapore up, within three months, at least half the population will be decimated because of infighting. The government will be eradicated by the people. By then whoever is around would want to open Singapore up. We do not have enough land to allow ourselves to grow enough to survive or to have enough people to buy enough of whatever we have here to survive.

Sure, if we want to close Singapore up and rely just on ourselves, we can. But Singapore will only be able to support 100,000 or maybe 300,000 people, in the most optimistic scenario, if we want to grow enough for Singaporeans in Singapore. Is this a Singapore that we want? Do we want to live in a primarily rural environment? We are interconnected. We have no choice. And we should actually be quite thankful that the government has no choice too. They have developed Singapore to such an extent that if we close up, many of our industries and sectors would close in a snap.

Singaporeans will lose out. The world can find another oyster. Singapore can’t.

Sam: In sg. I think ppl are econ driven. As long as they have cash. U would see a serious revolt.

Me: Yes, Singaporeans are money-motivated. But this is already starting to change. In fact it can already be seen at the previous elections. As with other elections, the government had thrown money at the people. But did they bite? No. PAP scored the lowest win since independence. Money only works up to a certain extent. Money only works when the people haven’t achieved a standard of living yet. And when have done so, they would naturally want to pursue other things in life and enrich themselves in other areas. They would want a quality of life that respects their mental and social well being.

The people haven’t realise this. We think we are angry with te government. However, it’s bigger than that. What we are unhappy about is how our quality of life doesn’t seem to be improving with the amount of money that’s being thrown to us. But the government has realised this. That’s why they have started talking about values in school, that’s why they have started talking about compassion etc. To the people, this is rubbish because they haven’t understood their unhappiness fully – they blame it on traditional sources of anger without having a deeper understanding of their anger. But the government has. Yet the government doesn’t know what to do with it. So they start telling us that we should be happy, we should be compassionate etc. But they need to go beyond that by removing or amending policies which prevent this. The government hasn’t realised this next step, or perhaps they do and are planning for it.

The reason why they have also created the National Conversation is to also encourage a rethinking. But as we have seen, there is flawed implementation because they are scared that if they open up too much, they won’t be able to handle it – they might not have at least some amount of control. So the government needs to learn to trust the people and be sincere in opening up. They have to learn to trust that at some point, the people can work together with the government, to come out with solutions for the country. The government wants us to learn to trust them. But the government, as well as the people, need to understand that we need to learn to start trusting each other and it’s a mutual process.

Sam: If there’s space for them to make noise. They would. If there isn’t. They won’t wanna endanger themelsves(isd) or their jobs

Me: But Singaporeans have already learnt to make noise – they have taken onto the Internet to very effectively slam the government for everything. But I was speaking to someone on one of my articles – what we are doing now is part of an evolution of our ability to regain free speech.

At this point, Singaporeans are beginning to find their voice, so they are just starting to let it out because of the years of repressed voices. And the government needs to learn how to manage that. The government has to recognise that they had created this very situation where the people’s voices have been constrained and only now have the people learn to express and without knowing how to do so in the past, they have learnt to be uncontrolled about it.

Coupled with the Internet and a sense that they need not be responsible about what they say because of the informality of the Internet, there is thus an unleashing of unrestrained thoughts on the Internet.

But this will change. As people learn to voice their thoughts, they will learn to find a way to speak up in a way that will allow them to be heard better. We are undergoing part of an evolution. We are learning to find a way to better express ourselves to eventually learn to provide solutions, and to then work towards constructively speaking up for Singapore.

Sam: Haha true.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=185334388268734&set=a.185334331602073.45944.185331834935656&type=1&relevant_count=1

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=185334334935406&set=a.185334331602073.45944.185331834935656&type=1&relevant_count=1

I had posted this comment on a post that I had written here.

Please let me explain why I write this article. Like many of you, I am not happy with the government. Like many of you, I think more can be done. Like many of you, I want to do something on my part to try to change things. I think that this is the crux – how can we change things?

But, like some of you, I appreciate the government for bringing us to where we are. The simple truth is if the government had not done what they had done in the early years of Singapore, our standard of living won’t be that much off from our neighbours. And we won’t have much to complain about, because we will be worrying more about making ends meet. But, like many of you, I agree that the current government needs to take a serious look at themselves, and to be less fearful, and be bold to do the right thing. They have to move on with us.

I had started this blog because I had initially saw how the government has contorted some truths to purport an agenda that supports their growth plans. This unnecessarily distorts the reality of Singapore, and thus sidelines the urgent need for the government to do more for Singapore. I thus started writing articles because I want to be able to present contrasting facts, to help us be more objective in our understanding.

As I write, I realise that there are also many Singaporeans who have also started to write. And they provide very good arguments as well. As the months went by, I realise how many of us have started going online to voice our anger and resentment towards the government. We are obviously very upset with the government and feel slighted. And soon, the government joined in the fray as well. This got me very upset. Because, if we are both antagonising one another, when will an end come to this?

冤冤相报何时了?

Of course, there are some who find the current circumstance favourable. If people are complaining, they say that then the conversations will move us forward. Perhaps it’s true. But, at the same time, if this is indeed so, I am upset that the debate so far has veered towards us venting our frustrations and the government fearing backlash, and thus their self-protection. And what will come out of it?

I do not have a stake in either sides. I do not want to help Singaporeans complain and be angry. Neither do I want to help the government to look good – I am not the PR company that they should have changed long ago. But I do have a stake in Singapore. I do have a stake in this little island which is so beautiful for what it can be, which we have forgotten to know how to appreciate, because we are so caught up in our anger, our stresses and our fears. We forget to see how beautiful our country is. We forget to realise that this is a wonderful place – AND if we are not happy with how some of it is, then we will do something – we will say how this place can be better.

I am very disappointed as I read the discussions on this post. The mudslinging continues. We are no different from the government, which we think is corrupt. We are no different because if we think of ourselves as better than them, we are not. We are as despicable in our crude remarks and snide attacks at others, and our constant disparage at groups which we identify and discriminate against – and this goes for those who are both pro-PAP and anti-PAP. See, I thank those who have made comments on this posting which have been comforting. I do get hurt when I see people make comments which are directed at me – for the record, I am not a gay Malaysian. I am a gay Singaporean.

But, see, we are none the better if we act like the government we think they are. And now, because of our ongoing deluge of inflammatory comments, we have invited the government to do the same as well. How long more to we want to go on like this – both pro-PAP and anti-PAP supporters? How long more do we want to be like angry relatives in a family that tear each other’s houses apart? We make fun of siblings from a rich family fighting over their dead father’s will. Other countries are similarly laughing at us now.

I do not take sides in this. What I want is very simple. I want to live a life that I can be happy about, where I can pursue what I believe in and live a life that is free, and that I can be passionate about. This is all I want. This is all I care about. And that is why I write these articles. I am not an economist, not a scientist, and definitely not a prophet. I cannot imagine what Singapore will be like in 2083. But I can dream up many, many stories. I can even dream of a land where there will no more government, and we will be able to rule ourselves to eternity.

What I want is this – how can we come together, learn to understand one another, and find a way to move forward together. The government might not be fantastic. So, we help them. We either give them solutions, or if they don’t take them, we break them. Otherwise, any smart government will do the right thing and balance the people’s real needs and broader issues, to implement things that will achieve the greater good for its people and the country.

I am sorry, everyone. I am sorry if I have hurt you, because what I say might not be something which you agree with. I am very sorry if I am writing things which you might find offensive. But look beyond what I say. Please look at what I hope for – it is the same as what you want. We want to live our lives, respected and free, to be able to be ourselves and do what we want. This is what we want.

I make this plea again to my government – please do the right thing, only because you know what is right, and please respect us and work with us to make things work.

And my fellow Singaporeans, we need to really now have the maturity to be able to think broadly and deeply on issues, and not think superficially about how they can affect our lives. We cannot let anger be own main and primary response to any issue that the government brings out. PAP is the government, whether we like it or not. We can choose to stay angry for the next 4 years before the next elections, or we can choose to come out with solutions and lock them in with the government. You have 4 years to push them to do things, or you have 4 years to be stuck in the rut. And, when you have done all you can to help them improve, and they won’t, then you must remember that if you are capable, you stand up, you go run for the elections, and you make sure you fix our country’s issues when you become the government. And if you continue to vote for PAP in the next election even if you are unhappy, then you have to reflect on yourself and why you did it.

Why was it, when you were at the ballot box, you voted for PAP, and then went on being angry with them again? No, don’t tell me it’s because the opposition isn’t good enough. If you can’t get your ass off to stand for elections, or if you cannot develop solutions to help make Singapore a better place, no – you cannot complain, and get everyone angry with you together, so that you feel good that everyone is angry with you – yay, everyone feels like me. I feel vindicated.

Then what? So, what if we are happy that everyone is angry like us? Then, what’s next? What’s next, Singaporeans?

What can we do to move Singapore into the next era? What can we do to help the country that we live, that we belong to and we work and toil ourselves for? Are we going to wait for the government to give us another handout? Are we hoping to complain until the cows come home, and wait for the government to do something, and be as unreactive as are now? What do we want to do? What do you want to do?

You have a choice. I do not take a stand. What do I know? I am only a boy who wants to live a life that I am be who I am with, and that I am happy with. And because of that, I will write. And I will say what I need to say – be it towards the government, or towards you. I will do what I believe in, and what I know is right, because that’s all I know. I want to find a way to live the life that I want.

What will you do?

The below is an edited version of the 1987 National Day song, We are Singapore. You can see the actual lyrics after the edited version.

There was a time when people said
That Singapore won’t make it, but we did
There was a time when troubles seemed too much
For you to take, so you repress
You built a nation, it’s not really free, clamping down on us together
Just to make money

This is my country, why I am flagged?
Where is my future, where is my life?
I want higher salary, lower my rents
Please don’t inundate us with more of your beliefs

Singapore our homeland, why can’t we get along?
All of us feel slighted, one people complaining on
All we want is to be respected, to live our destiny
PAP please remember, our yearning to be free

You want to make money, you want to be rich
You want to have security, in case we fail
But we don’t believe you, we think we’ve been fooled
Can you do something, to make us trust you soon?

We the citizens of Singapore
Hope the government will return us some of our money
Especially for health, housing and education
To live in a more relaxed society
Based on respecting our sanity
So as to really live with happiness
More affordability and sensitivity for our circumstances

You can still fix this, with sincerity
Put your fears aside and join us in parity
We can still make peace, with trust and honesty
Treat us with decency and we’ll help you with productivity

We can still believe, to hope for unity
We can think positive and constructively
We can create possibilities, when we share a common dream
With passion and compassion, we’ll own our destiny

You have to be daring, to do what’s right
We have to be open, to know your stance
You have to be sincere, so we can trust
We can start anew, to find out happiness

We are Singapore, Singaporeans

*****

There was a time when people said
That Singapore won’t make it, but we did
There was a time when troubles seemed too much
For us to take, but we did
We built a nation, strong and free, reaching out together
For peace and harmony

This is my country, this is my flag
This is my future, this is my life
This is my family, these are my friends
We are Singapore, Singaporeans

Singapore our homeland, it’s here that we belong
All of us united, one people marching on
We’ve come so far together, our common destiny
Singapore forever, a nation strong and free

This is my country, this is my flag
This is my future, this is my life
This is my family, these are my friends
We are Singapore, Singaporeans

We the citizens of Singapore
Pledge ourselves as one united people
Regardless of race, language or religion
To build a democratic society
Based on justice and equality
So as to achieve happiness
Prosperity and progress for our nation

We are Singapore, we are Singapore
We will stand together, hear the lion roar
We are Singapore, we are Singapore
We’re a nation strong and free forevermore

We are Singapore, we are Singapore
We will stand together, hear the lion roar
We are Singapore, we are Singapore
We’re a nation strong and free forevermore

This is my country, this is my flag
This is my future, this is my life
This is my family, these are my friends
We are Singapore, Singaporeans

We are Singapore, Singaporeans

PAP’s PR Company: Eh, Lawrence, it’s your turn now. We’ve written this posting. Go put it up on your Facebook.

Sim Ann: (whispers to Lawrence) Good luck to you. I got flak last week for doing it. Now it’s your turn.

Lawrence: But why me?

PAP’s PR Company: Because you are not Shanmugam. When you become the senior, then we will give you nicer things to put on your Facebook page.

Lawrence: But why not Chuan Jin?

Chuan Jin: Stand down, soldier. I am an army officer. Don’t pray pray with me.

PAP’s PR Company: Chuan Jin cannot. We have created his image to complement Boon Wan. The MND tag team.

Lawrence: F*** man. Sure will kana scolding. Then if I kana scolding how?

PAP’s PR Company: Don’t worry. We have everything planned.

(Lawrence rolls his eyes and asks his ka-gia to put the posting on his Facebook page.)

*****

After all the flak…

Lawrence: How now? I told you people will shoot me liao. You think what they do to Sim Ann fake one ah?

PAP’s PR Company: Told you not to worry already. We have solution. Ser Luck!

Ser Luck: Huh? What now.

PAP’s PR Company: Go post this on your Facebook. Tell them PAP still calls the shot.

Ser Luck: Are you crazy? They are so angry and you want me to piss them off further?

PAP’s PR Company: Why else do you think we got you and these boys in? When people get angry, and they see all your faces, they will smile. You are here for a purpose – to look pretty!

Ser Luck: (protests) But you saw already. It didn’t work!

PAP’s PR Company: Eh…

Ser Luck: Some more I am semi-senior! I am from the 2008 batch!

PAP’s PR Company: Ah, that is why. Just like in the army, the officer takes all the credit. The recruit do everything. If anything goes wrong, the sergeant takes the flak. Get it?

Chun Sing: Wah someone down on his luck. No luck ah, Ser Luck?

PAP’s PR Company: Eh, Sing, don’t laugh. You are next.

Chun Sing: Huh? Me also have?

PAP’s PR Company: You will help us provide some comic relief. Remember? Kee Chiu?

Chun Sing: But wait, why do you get to make all the decisions?

PAP’s PR Company: Lan lan lor. Your PM hired us.

Chun Sing: Yam Keng, must be you right?

Yam Keng: Wait, I’m the good looking guy too!

*****

Moral of the story: PAP, why you no change your PR Company? 

Singapore, How Can We Reconcile?

I am sad. What has happened to Singapore? What has happened to the Asian miracle? Years of success and this is where we are. People, angry at the government, at one another, at ourselves. We are really quite laughable.

I am sad. The turn of events has been upsetting. It doesn’t have to be this way, Singapore. But why are we so angry? By now, the government should realise that after years of educating people to become engineers, doctors and scientists, and neglecting the softer skills, this is what you get – a people so deep in the numbers and being so calculative that there’s very little to spare in terms of introspection and awareness. Years of drilling rationality into people have created a pragmatic society – yes, a society useful for the economy, but where is the heart? Just as well, our government leaders are a byproduct of this education and they’ve themselves lost that heart, empathy and understanding for people.

I hope by now, the government realizes how this sole drive towards creating workers for the economy has resulted in a people who think only about money and rationalise in terms of money. You can throw more money at people, but when they are angry, they will burn your factory down. Here, in the Singapore factory, you can’t retrench us all and employ new workers because like it or not, our lives our intertwined, because even though we are your workers, we happen to be citizens as well. Just that you forgot.

And what do we do now? What do we with people who are so angry and whom we cannot do away with? We bring in all these other people, but they don’t come in quick enough and they cannot replace these angry people. And somehow, these angry people are starting to realise what we are doing and that’s why they are angry – we are trying to replace the workers. And only now, are we starting to realise – shit, they are our citizens too.

Where can we go from here? PM Lee, I appeal to you to do something drastic now. It’s time for the government to be bold, to do the right thing. Now, we have become an example for other countries to look at where they know that they cannot have a singular focus towards developing the workers without developing their hearts. And that’s why you are now working with China to try to jointly develop solutions to social issues. But Singapore is not China. The problems that we now face are very different from them.

Actually, you know what needs to be done. But this is the time you need to have the courage to do something. PM Lee, please, I am appealing to you. Please do something now. Everyday, I see Singaporeans get angry. And now our ministers are joining in the fray. They are saying things to protect themselves too. Everyone is protecting themselves. I started this blog initially to provide alternative truths of the government. But as I dug out more things, I also begin to realise why the government do certain things. You have your reasons. But I also realise that you don’t do certain things which you need to. I wanted to stop writing but everyday, there’s something else. And I want to write so that I can help Singaporeans understand. I want to help to understand why the government do certain things so that I can help explain it to Singaporeans. But how far can I go with this?

There are many things that we don’t know. We don’t know why the government do so many things, why you are taking our money and keeping it. Then why some of you are getting richer. Why some people are getting richer while the rest of us get poorer. Yes, it is about money. But it’s about something else. People feel that they are not respected. Why are you doing something without asking me? Why are you taking away my money and then telling me that there’s not enough for me? Why can you not give me more money when you want me to help you produce more workers? Why are you not giving me enough time to rest but making me work like crazy? Why? Why must I sweat and toil for you and your economy? What’s in it for me? I see you getting better. Your GDP per capita has increased to being the first in the world. But my pockets aren’t any better. Why?

It’s about respect. PM Lee, all people want is respect. They are angry because they feel that they are not respected. You won’t know how it feels because you are doing so well. But for the rest of us, we are worried.

PM Lee, people just want respect. Can you please do something to fix this? Please, you need to. It pains me to see Singaporeans angry. It pains me, when we have everything in Singapore, but we feel we don’t.

PM Lee, PAP, please, you have to do the right thing. You have to do what is right. And you have to be bold. I know you believe in doing things in measured tones so we don’t suddenly shake things up. But this is not the time for that. Not when day in, day out, people are so angry. Not when it feels like we are a time bomb waiting to explode.

You know what the people need. You know what you can do to respect the people and make things right. PM Lee, PAP, please, find ways to give people their money back. Find ways to let them pay less for healthcare out of their own pockets. Let the poor earn more faster now. Let families have more time off and pay more for their childcare needs. Let it be cheaper for young people to want to study university. Please, I am appealing to your better senses. Please, please, do the right thing. 

Please PM Lee, PAP. Please find ways to help people find happiness. Please find ways to create more shows, more carnivals, which are all about good old fun and enjoyment. Please just let it be simply about being fun, relaxing and being yourself. Please, you need to give people this. People need to be themselves. They need to be free and to enjoy. 

Please, PM Lee, PAP, you need to do the right thing. You need to do what is right. You need to respect the people, as human beings, who actually do really want to enjoy their lives. Who want to love, to be free, to be themselves. And then, when they are all these, they will work, they will make their lives worthwhile, they will do their best in what they do because they believe. Because we want to come together to make Singapore the best that it can be.

Please, PM Lee, PAP, please do the right thing. I had some hope when I saw the government did some right things in the past few months. You were trying. In the face of all that anger, you had hope. You were smiling. You believed. And then you try to make things work. But people continued to be angry. And I’m sorry. They still do not feel respected. They still feel hurt. So they continue hurting you. And now you feel their hurt, and now you feel hurt as well. And now you want to tell them to stop it, because you can get hurt too.

PM Lee, PAP, I am sorry. I am sorry that you are hurt. But I am sorry that we are hurt too. I’m sorry because what has Singapore become? I am sorry because who have we become? What have you become? I am so sorry … But you must continue to hope. You have to continue to believe. PM Lee, PAP, please help us, please help yourself. You need to continue to hope. You need to do the right thing. And you need to be bold. You know what needs to be done. Please do it. Please do it now. To the right thing. Save the people. Save my country. Save our country. You really need to do this. Because we can be so much more, if only we come together and make it happen. Please.

Aiyoh, Singapolean ah, the ministers say something, then you not happy, then you scold them, complain about them, then you start to cry mother, cry father, until you think the ministers will be scared ah?

Eh, please lah hor, our ministers also very keh kiang one lor. You think after you cry mother, cry father, they will feel hurt ah? No lor – they will just go Bintan and relax, shake leg, lim kopi (since soon, they will no longer have Tiger Beer).

Don’t see our ministers teh gong, like blur blur, don’t know what our concerns are. They are actually very sneaky one OK. They just say a bit, a bit to make you angry. Ah then, wah, when you sibeh angry ah, you also damn one kind one lah. You also very funny lah – you forget everything. Suddenly there is no sun and no moon. There is only THE minister.

So yesterday PAP send Lawrence to post something damn kee siao one then wah, you all like never see ghosts like that, start to cry mother, cry father. I tell you ah, at the way you are crying all our forefathers and foremothers will all jump up from their graves and go to ZoukOut qiong ah. No need to think about whether to protect Bidadari Cemetery already.

So, yesterday, while you got distracted, URA told the big guys at Haji Lane, “Eh deh, we don’t like your graffiti. We want pastel colour. Pastel, get it or not?” Then lan lan, they have no choice. They keep quiet. Why? Because all you clowns you go and focus your attention on Lawrence. Eh, Lawrence more important or Haji Lane more important? You scold until your saliva no more, Lawrence will still be ok. He can go to Bintan relax, shake leg, lim kopi. But Haji Lane will be pastel colour! Get it or not, Singapolean? Haji Lane will be pastel colour?!

Which is more important, you tell me? Lawrence shoot one thing then go lim kopi? Or we go Haji Lane then after that can still shoot something else? Please lah, Singapolean, get your brain straight can or not? You want cry mother, cry father, can, by all means, cry until Chang E fly down from the moon. But when you cry father, cry mother at our ministers and forget that there are still larger issues to think about, wah then something damn wrong with your head, like scully got lorry langa your brain cannot think like that.

You want to get angry with PAP, can. But if you just keep thinking about who to get angry at, don’t blame them if your favorite place become like Chinatown. That time they clean until that place got town no more China, then now got China no more town, but still call Chinatown. Then next time Haji Lane no more Haji Lane, become Pastel Lane. And then, you will really cry mother, cry father. That time even Chang E will sit on the moon relax, shake leg, lim kopi.

So, wake up your f***ing idea lah, Singapolean. Want cry mother, cry father, don’t cry at the wrong people. Remember, what will they do? They will go to Bintan lim kopi. So you cry already then what? You want cry, you cry at the right thing. So either you cry father, cry mother that yours is too short cannot stand, or you cry to the kopi company tell them don’t sell kopi to the ministers. Otherwise, you jolly well remember that you still have a life to protect, and when you want to cry, you remember to cry about these things.

If not, then you better learn how to multitask! If you want to cry at our minister, make sure you also remember to cry to URA. Unless you want to live in Pastel Lane. Then you might as well go watch Care Bears.

It is the Year 2083. Singapore is now the 8th largest city in Malaysia, and has been renamed Pulau Selatan, or Southern Island. After years of infighting, Singapore was unable to catch up in the new economic world system and had to ask Malaysia to buy off its fortune. Iskandar is now the largest port in Southeast Asia. Bintan now rivals Iskandar as the regional hub, after the Indonesian government poured in millions to develop the Riau Islands in the late 2030s.

There are now about 500,000 people living in Singapore, not bad for a country which once was the shining beacon of Southeast Asia, where at its heyday when it had nearly 6.5 million people on the island. Most ex-Singaporeans had migrated to Kuala Lumpur, Iskandar and Penang to work in the service sectors there, after Singapore underwent waves of recession and collapsed. Most of the MRT lines built in the early part of the century had gone into disuse and had to be closed down. They provide refuge for the many homeless people who are now allowed to roam free on the island.

Things weren’t always like this. If you speak to an elderly sleeping in one of the disused MRT tunnels, he would tell you that in its days of glory, Singapore was the richest country in the world. It’s GDP per capita was the highest in the world in the 2020s, for at least over a decade. However, he also remembered how the income inequality was so high that it got people very angry. The government wasn’t able to appease the people and had turned to a strategy of chastising the people for not appreciating the government. This only got the people even angrier and the squabble just went downhill.

The government had turned back on its policy of welcoming foreigners into Singapore in the early 2010s, as a result of its people’s demands. By the late 2010s, there were only less than 10,000 people accepted as Singaporeans and PRs annually. Singaporeans had mostly cheered but what also happened was that industries in Singapore starting facing a shortage of labour and started to move their investments to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Instead of improving the work-life conditions of its people and increasing funding for fertility programmes, the government refused to do so but made a sudden U-turn instead, as it had done in 2005, to allow for an influx of foreigners without a well thought-through policy. It got the people angry once again as once again, incomes in the lower wage groups became depressed and Singaporeans felt slighted.

By the 2030s, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia were prospering with the investments that were leaving Singapore. It would be another two decades when their GDP per capita outgrew Singapore’s. Meanwhile, Singaporeans continued to go online to complain about the government and the government continued to fight back with self-appreciating remarks, not realizing that their outdated PR strategy wasn’t working for them anymore. No one had any solutions. Mass demonstrations were legalized in the late 2020s. But as Singaporeans were new to the concept, they took to the streets and continued their avalanche of complaints. The years of controlling Singapore had now created Singaporeans who knew nothing about critical social and political thinking and could only degenerate themselves into loudmouths who had nothing useful to say but with anger spewing out in every direction.

By then, the “silent majority” started to speak up. They tried to mediate among the angry people and the government. But even then, it was too late. There was very little trust between the people and the government and nothing the “silent majority” tried could bridge the differences. They started offering solutions and taking things into their own hands to fix things. But they continued to face the wrath of the angry Singaporeans, who turned onto them, thinking that they were the government’s lackey.

In the general elections of the 2040s, PAP finally lost power to the opposition. The people were overjoyed and finally, for once, we thought that things were going to get better. The people might actually work with the government to change things! But as it is, the angry people continued to be angry. Only then were we starting to realise that they were angry because they simply were. Sure, it was the PAP government which they were initially angry with but it snowballed and they couldn’t hold back. By then, a newly minted opposition-led party tried to introduce policies which appeased the people, but these policies were less effective than what they would have been if they could be hard-hitting and did what was necessary. In the next few elections, new governments were voted in and as they continued to try to appease Singaporeans, and rendered the government useless.

By the late 2070s, Singapore was long forgotten in the world economy. It ranked in the nineties in terms of GDP per capita. Malaysia’s GDP was several times higher than Singapore’s. Many Singaporeans had started leaving Singapore from the 2050s – at least for those who could still afford to do so. By the early 2080s, the government started negotiating with Malaysia for a buy-back deal, where Malaysia would take Singapore back, in exchange for cheaper labour for Malaysia’s service industries. The deal was finalised by the late 2080s and Singapore started sending its first batch of workers to mainland Malaysia.

When the elderly man who was sleeping in the train tunnel was asked why he didn’t have a home to go to, he said that when the government had proposed to build a nursing home next to where he had lived, he had petitioned against it. Now that he was in his 90s, not only does he have a home to go to, the nursing home which would have benefited him wasn’t even built. He regretted his decision for being self-centred and to have thought only of himself. But it didn’t matter anymore then since Singapore was in the down in the dumps anyway.