opinion

lifted off Temesek Review ( I thought its an interesting read):

"After much discussion and debate on the Budget lately, only one MP dared to point out the glaring mistakes made by the PAP in the last few years and ironically, he is a PAP MP: its “instant tree” mentality.

“Crowded shopping malls, congested MRT trains and rising HDB prices – these are some of the problems caused by an ‘error of judgment’ by policymakers….The rapid intake of immigrants, coupled with breakneck growth, were both signs of Singapore’s ‘instant tree mentality,” said Mr Inderjit Singh during a recent parliamentary session.

He posed a question which we have been repeating ad nauseum on this site: the need to increase Singapore’s population at such a massive rate by one million within just five years and why infrastructure, especially public housing, has not been beefed up in advance.

In 2003, when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced his ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people, nobody dared to express a dissenting view.

The floodgates were opened suddenly without warning and too many foreigners were allowed to enter Singapore within too short a period of time such that it is almost impossible to integrate them right now.

As a result of its mistake, a $10-million dollar Community Integration Fund has to be spent to “integrate” the newcomers, an uphill task given the fact that immigrants tend to congregate within their own community.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal, the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore has depressed the wages of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living, especially that of public housing, decreased labor productivity and led to an overall decline in the standards of living.

It is too late now to reverse the policy and Singaporeans are already feeling its negative impact in their everyday lives.

This oversight on the part of the PAP is nothing new – it is endemic in any political systems dominated by a single person or party with little checks and balances.

The PAP’s “instant tree” mentality leads to intellectual sclerosis, group-think and one-dimensional thinking which is potential disaster in the making since there is no way a credible alternative can emerge to challenge it right now.

Its classic modus operandi encapsulates three attributes:

1. Paternalism: an ingrained view that only it “knows best” of what is good for Singapore and only it has the “divine right” to lead the nation

2. Stubbornness: inability and unwillingness to listen to feedback from the ground and persists in doing things its own way even though it is wrong

3. Arrogance: refusal to accept responsibility for its mistakes made and covering them up with the help of the state media.

Many Singaporeans including even some PAP MPs had questioned the PAP’s “growth at all cost” policies in the past to no avail.

The key policymakers belong to a small group within the PAP and once the decision is made, e.g. to open two casinos in Singapore, nobody can change their minds.

The state media will be tasked to sell their ideas to Singaporeans and force them down their throats whether they like it or not. It is a recurring theme we see again and again.

As late as last year, the media has been parroting the PAP’s official stance that foreigners are needed in Singapore and now it has made almost a 360 degrees U-turn and focus on productivity again."

what do you think?