PMs National Day message calls for Singaporeans to prepare for life for the next twenty years. He concluded that we should strive to be a shining red dot 20 years from now. His message helps pave the way to getting to our shining destination. Let us examine it closer for it will affect everyone of us.
As with every PAP message that has a subliminal undertone, the message opens with the gloom and doom around us. Nothing beats this basic strategy of using a gloomy backdrop and then painting how fortunate we are to be under the care of a government that is able to manage the gloomy climate. So we hear that the world is unsettled. That Europe and US face SERIOUS economic problems. That China and India are slowing down. Only tiny Singapore is doing well. Please keep this in mind, for there is an underlying reason why we are doing well.
Today Singapore is a success story the next two decades will be very different Singapore will encounter many challenges and opportunities; Pinky says. We must ask ourselves some fundamental questions like what future do we see for Singapore, what kind of home do we want for our children. Well, did you guys notice how he had phrased his questions? What future do we see for Singapore. He did not use Singaporeans but Singapore. Thats because when he refers to Singapore, it may not necessary include the Singaporean. Or else, why would he ask in the same breath what kind of home we hope for our children. Singaporeans already know what kind of home their children would have. It is the new foreigner who does not know.
Next he said Singapore must always offer hope for a better future we must always be a fair and just society which CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL this is the way TO ROOT able and enterprising Singaporeans here
Listen to the message again. He wants Singapore to be a place that creates opportunity for all. ALL, it means the global citizen. How do we conclude as such? Well, he followed that comment by saying that it is the way to root Singaporeans. Does a local born Singaporean need to be told that his root is here? Who was he addressing the message to other than the foreigner who must decide whether to set their roots here?
And to placate the foreigner, to help him decide for Singapore, he went on to say that we uphold meritocracy as if to tell the foreigner that they are most welcome if they have the merit. He said we uphold meritocracy, to motivate everyone to try their best. Well, he didnt tell them that in Singapore, meritocracy is not meant to motivate, it is a KPI.
The next part of his speech was to tell the foreigner how affordable it is to live in Singapore. Health care is affordable (forgetting the backlash that Mabok Tan had received), everyone has a stake in Singapore, and the various schemes that go into helping the Singaporean live a dignified life. He wants to tell the world how inclusive Singapore is. He wants every Singaporean to do their part to create an inclusive society. Again the message was directed at the foreigner to do what they have to do to acclimatise themselves to the local norms and habits. He told them to make the effort to integrate themselves into our local community; to acquire our social values, adopt our social norms and commit their loyalty to Singapore. He didnt offer any glimpse as to how the foreigner can do this.
Finally, to be the shining red dot that he calls us to be, Pinky tells is that we need to review our policies more broadly we must rethink our approaches and reinvent ourselves. Its as good as telling Singaporeans to adopt a new mindset. A mindset that places the foreigner above us because they are the taent that will sustain us and provide for us. He said we have to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead as if we do not have any other choices.
To put the message across so that there is no lingering doubt to where he was coming from, he mentioned Heng Swee Keat. Remember that HSK was tasked to handle youth matters and integration? That was two days old news. He wants Heng Swee Keat to build a BROAD CONSENSUS which can only mean the inclusion of the foreigner. And if we are looking toward a twenty year period, it can only mean the children of the foreigners in our midst today who will be in their twenties and thirties in twenty years time.
We will then have to remember Pinkys word that Singapore is a shared home. The young foreigner of today will be our masters in 20 years time.
Happy National Day 20 years in advance.
.
Gem SG
Analysing PM Lee’s National Day Message « Opinion « TR EMERITUS
As with every PAP message that has a subliminal undertone, the message opens with the gloom and doom around us. Nothing beats this basic strategy of using a gloomy backdrop and then painting how fortunate we are to be under the care of a government that is able to manage the gloomy climate. So we hear that the world is unsettled. That Europe and US face SERIOUS economic problems. That China and India are slowing down. Only tiny Singapore is doing well. Please keep this in mind, for there is an underlying reason why we are doing well.
Today Singapore is a success story the next two decades will be very different Singapore will encounter many challenges and opportunities; Pinky says. We must ask ourselves some fundamental questions like what future do we see for Singapore, what kind of home do we want for our children. Well, did you guys notice how he had phrased his questions? What future do we see for Singapore. He did not use Singaporeans but Singapore. Thats because when he refers to Singapore, it may not necessary include the Singaporean. Or else, why would he ask in the same breath what kind of home we hope for our children. Singaporeans already know what kind of home their children would have. It is the new foreigner who does not know.
Next he said Singapore must always offer hope for a better future we must always be a fair and just society which CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL this is the way TO ROOT able and enterprising Singaporeans here
Listen to the message again. He wants Singapore to be a place that creates opportunity for all. ALL, it means the global citizen. How do we conclude as such? Well, he followed that comment by saying that it is the way to root Singaporeans. Does a local born Singaporean need to be told that his root is here? Who was he addressing the message to other than the foreigner who must decide whether to set their roots here?
And to placate the foreigner, to help him decide for Singapore, he went on to say that we uphold meritocracy as if to tell the foreigner that they are most welcome if they have the merit. He said we uphold meritocracy, to motivate everyone to try their best. Well, he didnt tell them that in Singapore, meritocracy is not meant to motivate, it is a KPI.
The next part of his speech was to tell the foreigner how affordable it is to live in Singapore. Health care is affordable (forgetting the backlash that Mabok Tan had received), everyone has a stake in Singapore, and the various schemes that go into helping the Singaporean live a dignified life. He wants to tell the world how inclusive Singapore is. He wants every Singaporean to do their part to create an inclusive society. Again the message was directed at the foreigner to do what they have to do to acclimatise themselves to the local norms and habits. He told them to make the effort to integrate themselves into our local community; to acquire our social values, adopt our social norms and commit their loyalty to Singapore. He didnt offer any glimpse as to how the foreigner can do this.
Finally, to be the shining red dot that he calls us to be, Pinky tells is that we need to review our policies more broadly we must rethink our approaches and reinvent ourselves. Its as good as telling Singaporeans to adopt a new mindset. A mindset that places the foreigner above us because they are the taent that will sustain us and provide for us. He said we have to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead as if we do not have any other choices.
To put the message across so that there is no lingering doubt to where he was coming from, he mentioned Heng Swee Keat. Remember that HSK was tasked to handle youth matters and integration? That was two days old news. He wants Heng Swee Keat to build a BROAD CONSENSUS which can only mean the inclusion of the foreigner. And if we are looking toward a twenty year period, it can only mean the children of the foreigners in our midst today who will be in their twenties and thirties in twenty years time.
We will then have to remember Pinkys word that Singapore is a shared home. The young foreigner of today will be our masters in 20 years time.
Happy National Day 20 years in advance.
.
Gem SG
Analysing PM Lee’s National Day Message « Opinion « TR EMERITUS