Singapore General Election 2015: Gilbert Goh and Why I Will Never Vote for Him

Gilbert Goh has finally thrown his hat into the ring and will be contesting in the AMK GRC under the banner of the Reform Party. Nothing surprising as he has been a strong advocate of the down-trodden in Singapore. So why will I not vote for Gilbert? Simple.

#1: No Integrity. Gilbert likes to post pictures on Facebook of down trodden Singaporeans. He puts pictures of homeless people and accuses the Government of not helping. While it may be true that these few are homeless, what Gilbert fails to do is to tell the full story. As any social worker can tell you, solving the homeless problem often goes far beyond providing a physical home. It often goes into issues like family circumstances. In fact, many social workers will tell you that these homeless choose not to take-up the Government’s offer of shelter and help. It can be an issue of pride. Whatever it is, one cannot accuse the Government of not helping. So, the number one reason I will not vote for Gilbert Goh is because he tells half-truths for his personal agenda. Do we need an opposition like that in Parliament? I think not.

#2:  Irresponsible. As part of his activism, Gilbert Goh runs the website www.transitioning.org. Often, Gilbert will repost letters from PMETs claiming discrimination with examples that are blatantly false. Instead of making the effort to verify the information, or to edit these letters out, Gilbert will run these letters to stir anti-foreigner sentiments. I am not against activism, but I want responsible activism. Singapore is a multi-racial country and like it or not, we need to be extra careful when it comes to race and religion. We cannot have a Member of Parliament (MP) who irresponsibly uses race to stir the sentiments of Singaporeans. The number two reason I will not vote for Gilbert Goh is because he is irresponsible and he may destroy the racial harmony of Singapore.

#3: Poor Judgement. There is this saying that you are the average of the 5 people that you spend your time with. In the case of Gilbert, he chooses to spend his time with people like Roy Ngerng, Han Hui Hui, Amos Yee and Alex Tan. These people are out to destroy Singapore for no other reason than because they do not agree with the Government’s policies. If these are the friends that Gilbert chooses to associate with, I can only imagine what Gilbert will do if he wins a seat in Parliament. Thus while I cannot dictate who Gilbert Goh chooses as his friends, the number three reason I will not vote for Gilbert Goh is because I doubt that he can put the nation’s good before his personal agenda.

I therefore appeal to the residents of Ang Mo Kio GRC to vote wisely. Keep Gilbert Goh (and the likes of him) out of Parliament for the good of Singapore.

Singapore General Election 2016: Dangers of Populist Policies

Craig Kelly, an Australian federal politician (member of the Australian House of Representatives), shared the following comments about the dangers of adopting populist policies.

The Singapore electorate would do well to heed the consequences of voting with their emotions at the next General Election. Many opposition parties like the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), Reform Party (RP), Singapore First (SingFirst) and the National Solidarity Party (NSP) are "buying votes" with the offer of free money. As the failure of the Greek economy proves, this is unsustainable in the long term.

THE GREEK TRAGEDY: MASSIVE SOCIALIST FAILURE

Make no mistake, the classic failure of Socialism is playing out in Greece right now. Put simply, Greece’s problem is that it has run out of "other people's money"....

No nation can continue to operate when almost 80% of the Government's budget goes to pay pensions and state wages - and where 10% of the nation’s entire economic output comprises pensions alone.

For too long Greece has headed down a ruinous political path of anti-market, collectivist and socialist policies - that have only guaranteed today's impoverishment; all based on the nonsensical premise that there is such a thing as a "free lunch" and the delusion that Keynesian stimulus will save the day.

And with the poison of Socialism having taken hold, and the economy falling into a fiscal abyss, has resulted in a spiral of decline - whereby the public elects more and more extreme politicians, so it was no surprise that at the last election in Greece, 52% voted for either Communists or neo-Nazis.

And the danger is that Greece, with a 25% unemployment rate, a third of its people living below the poverty line, 300,000 with no electricity, ATM’s running out money, and limits placed on what people can withdraw from banks - could likely respond to the failure of extreme-left Syriza Party by electing an even more extreme government.

The only way this Greek tragedy can be addressed is firstly by identifying socialism as the culprit in this massive public failure.

Secondly, there must be a condemnation of socialism and the failed politicians who made the sweeping promises to dishout "free stuff" they could not afford - all while they peddled the proven failed system of socialism.

Thirdly, a recognition that by recently electing an even more leftist and socialist government, that such a vote has only sped up the path to collapse.

There is no painless way out.

But rather than just kicking the can down the road, it might be best for the Greeks to go back to their old currency, with all the hardship that will involve - and rediscover the virtues of sound money, balanced budgets and implement a regulatory system that attracts foreign capital and encourages domestic enterprise – and they produce and export themselves out of this mess.

For everyday they delay, it will only result in a much more painful remedy being foisted upon all down the track.

But ultimately, the real threat of this Greek tragedy is to the global economy, in that we squander yet another valuable lesson from someone else's massive Socialist failure - and that other nations and politicians currently pushing socialist agenda's, promising more "free stuff" paid for by "other people's money" (including Australia’s Labor Party) will not be deterred or even slowed in the slightest by Greece's collapse.

Jeyaretnam has no faith in his own Reform Party

In a recent blog post dated 13 April 2015, leader of The Reform Party, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, was arguing why a by-election had to be called for the parliamentary seat vacated by the death of Singapore's founding Prime Minister - Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

It is enlightening to note that Kenneth Jeyaretnam ended his article by calling for "Opposition parties to come together and agree to field a joint 'A' team against the PAP."  It is enlightening because this is a clear indication that Kenneth Jeyaretnam knows that he is unable to win and needs to ride on the popularity of other opposition figures like Low Thia Khiang.

While the other opposition parties have not responded, we can certain that established parties like the Worker's Party will not agree. After all, why should they allow someone like Kenneth Jeyaretnam to ride on their success to a seat in Parliament.

We have never given much credibility to The Reform Party. However, after this appeal but its leader, which is a personal admission that The Reform Party lacks a pool of credible candidates, we are certain that The Reform Party is dead in the water.

P.S. Why would someone mock his own father by naming his site "Son of a Dud"? In fact, if it were not for his father JBJ, no one would know who Kenneth Jeyaretnam is. A man who cannot respect his own father, deserves no respect.

Singapore Reform Party: A broken record ...

SINGAPORE. On 31 January 2015, Kenneth Jeyaretnam of the Reform Party, posted an article on his blog Sonofadud giving his perspective on the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recent decision to loosen its monetary policy.

Kenneth started out his article logically by explaining why he thought the move was "bad for Singaporeans" using Keynesian economics. While Keynesian economics served as the standard economic model for developed nations during the later part of the Great Depression, World War II, and the post-war economic expansion (1945–1973), it has however since lost its influence over leading economists following the oil shock and resulting stagflation of the 1970s. We however cannot fault Kenneth Jeyaretnam for his outdated thinking.

What we however found disappointing, is that towards the end of his article, Kenneth Jeyaretnam digressed and claimed that the real reason for the loosening of Singapore's monetary policy was to allow PM Lee and his wife Ho Ching to reap bigger bonuses. According to Kenneth, a weakening of the Singapore dollar would raise the book value of GIC and Temasek overseas assets, which would in return justify them being paid higher performance bonuses.

At SG General Election, we believe that people will always see what they want to see. Hence, given Kenneth's bias towards anything PAP, we doubt that his thoughts are objective and thus cannot be given any credence. This is a pity, as Kenneth Jeyaretnam seems like an intelligent man.

Tan Pin Pin’s To Singapore with Love?

The saga over Media Development Authority Singapore’s (MDA) decision to classify Tan Pin Pin’s To Singapore with Love as Not Allowed for All Ratings (NAR) as it "undermine national security" continues.

 

Jim Sleeper, a lecturer in political science at Yale University, continues to criticize Singapore’s lack of respect for civil and political rights and called for Yale College (and by extension the United States) to pressure “stand up and pressure Singapore as a lone filmmaker cannot”. While Jim Sleeper may not have said it in as many words, Jim Sleeper is alluding to a US intervention in Singapore similar to that of past regime changes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

What is however disappointing is that Singaporean Kenneth Jeyaretnam (of the Reform Party), agrees with Jim Sleeper that this should not be a debate for Singaporeans only, and that without outside assistance there will be little hope for change. Kenneth Jeyaretnam is essentially making a call for the United States to be involved in and assist in the overthrow of the People’s Action Party (PAP).

 

Coming from a well-known member of an opposition party, such calls can only be liken to how fifth elements working with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) assisted in regime changes in places like Iraq and Libya. While Singapore may have our faults, we are nowhere near the likes of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya or Tunisia, and asking for a Foreign Government to topple our elected government is treasonous.

 

As Singaporeans, we need to be wary of the likes of Kenneth Jeyaretnam. While he claims to be building on his father’s legacy and wants democracy, his the ends justifies the means approach will destroy Singapore and our way of life. Just look at Iraq and Afghanistan. Regime change has given them “freedom of speech”. But they worry on a daily basis about basic living necessities (like food and water) and they are constantly living in fear.