If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one writes a library.
It tells the story of the political elite glorifying themselves in ever larger-than-life images while they see not the toil of little Singaporeans.
The National Day billboard, placed strategically at the busiest junctions in Toa Payoh, symbolises all that is decadent about Singapore. While Mr Wong Kan Seng and colleagues live lives cocooned in their own opulent world, ordinary Singaporeans grind out an existence devoid of hope and security.
Yet, in cruel mockery, these rulers beckon tired and desperate souls to join them in “celebrating the Singapore Spirit.”
The story is always about them, never the people. The PAP takes front and centre in everything Singaporean with the lumpen masses, to use the words of our Minister Mentor, filling up the backdrop.
Notice how on the billboard ordinary folks are packed into the little corner on the bottom left while Mr Wong and colleagues beam in resplendent colour. In fact, the poor guy with the beard just about manages to squeeze into the picture (photo, below left).
Meanwhile in the faded, little corner…
Notice also how the colour for these people is faded. But of course. We can’t have them stand out and draw attention away from their rulers, can we? And just to be doubly sure, the pictures of the MPs are placed in front of the backdrop so that their images standout even more (see photo, bottom right).
How much more of the people’s money (yes, including that of the bedraggled man pushing the cart) was spent in this vanity campaign?
Happy National Day? Thanks, but no thanks. We’re not in the mood. Not when the occasion is hijacked by the few in the ruling party.
Tellingly, Singaporeans are not bothered to fly the national flag. The few flags that are see fluttering are, more often than not, put up by Residents Committee members.
What sort of nation have we become when our youths have no loyalty and our talented are leaving by the thousands?
Propping them up
Yes, the system has grown rich. But whom has that wealth benefited? Our elderly cannot retire, a 15-year-old boy commits suicide after the police stops him from begging, a man, out of financial desperation, jumps in front of an oncoming MRT train, and a mother is forced to live with her daughter on the void-deck because she cannot afford HDB’s rent.
In the meantime Mr Wong Kan Seng rakes in $10,000 a day as salary. This amount is, of course, independent of portfolio foul-ups.
And how have our riches come about? We let in foreign “talent” that fill the lorongs of Geylang (and are creeping into the housing estates), we make our banking laws so secret that we’ve become a money-laundering hub, we open our doors to notorious dictators for shopping and medical treatment, and we build casinos to attract yet more cash, clean or otherwise.
This is a Government that has lost its moral compass. It is a Government that has betrayed the people of Singapore. Singaporeans fought for an independent and free nation. What we’ve ended up with is a money-laundering, vice-promoting political joke.
Singaporeans, let us stop the rot.
Let us not continue to look the other way for our children will inherit our negligence.
Let us accept our duty and responsibility as citizens of this country.
Let us do something meaningful this National Day.
Shake off your apathy and fear. Do something. Do anything. Just don’t look away any longer.
We will be at Toa Payoh Central on August 9 for a walkabout and to distribute Tak Boleh Tahan! flyers. It’s the perfect opportunity for you to do something for our society. Won’t you join us? We’ll keep a TBT t-shirt for you.
Happy National Day? Yes, one day in the not-too-distant future we will celebrate. In the meantime soldier on with us. There is a battle to be won.
Date: National Day, Saturday
Time: 12 noon – 3 pm
Place: Toa Payoh Central, Blk 190 (outside the KFC restaurant)
Activity: Distributing flyers and walkabout
Dress: Tak Boleh Tahan! t-shirt
