Singapore a Democratic Society? Huh? Wrong Channel la

We pride ourselves as a democracy, but maybe it's time the government picked up a dictionary and check what democracy means.. coz I strongly believed that they had totally forgotten its meaning. Dun have a dictionary at home? then go on to dictionary.com, dun tell me the Singapore government dun have an Internet connection. We're one of the most wired-nation in the world leh.

Well in case some pple really cannot go find out the meaning of "democracy", here's what I got from dictionary.com

de·moc·ra·cy ( P ) Pronunciation Key (d-mkr-s)n. pl. de·moc·ra·cies

1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
2. A political or social unit that has such a government.
3. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
4. Majority rule.
5. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.

They even teach you how to pronounce the word.

Look at the first meaning, government by the people.. elected representative. so let's see, President Nathan, elected? no! won by default, coz no one else was deemed qualified. First time round, I'm fine with it, give this man 6 years and we see what he can do. 6 years down the road, the same thing happened again?!? This time round, I'm not FINE WITH IT. Why should someone who hardly did anything deserve a second term? (my opinion only of course. I mean, what had he really done that had contributed to Singapore's well-being? I can only think of the President Star Charity. In term of politics and foreign affairs, maybe I'm not well-versed enough to know, but all I see are SM, MM, PM and other Ministers doing the job, President? Please leave comments if you can tell me what concrete work he did.)

Clinton deserved a second term, he did wonders for the States. Greorge Bush Jr, oh let's not go into that.. he's a joke, the ha-ha-i'm trying-so-hard-to-laugh kinda joke.

Another 6 years.. haiz.. True a president is a mainly ceremonial role in Singapore, he does not have to do much except perform ceremonial functions.. but still.. If the government decided to let the Singapore people elect our own President, then let us vote for goodness sake! It should be a show consisting of the whole of Singapore and the Presidential candidates, not a one-man show by the government. Maybe they're doing it to let the newspapers have something to report about, and let bloggers have a topic to buzz about :p hmmm.. maybe..

Electoral system in the States is dumb, a candidate can win the popular vote and lose the electorial votes. Al Gore lost coz of that, and look at America now, true its economy is growing, but look at the defense budget.. Haiz.. Al Gore would had been a good president, but i digress..

Andrew Kuan may not be the best person that had came out but we should applaud him for his courage. Courage to stand out, to face the criticism of the various figures of the government, the press and even his ex companies.

To me, this whole thing is like a farce, a show to tell people how good Nathan is, the theory of contrast works both ways. Without the dark, you cannot see the light. So they asked Andrew Kuan to come out and then make him into a fool, giving all those negative feedback and comments about him. Only this way, can they make Nathan seem like he had something going on. That he was honest (by telling pple his medical report was good.. duh) and such. What's the use of an honest President who does not have the power or will to rule against the parliment?

Like always, my argument is messy, coz I write whatever that comes to my mind. My lecturers commented that I have a good arguement, just that I lack organizational skills, so I'm sorry if you're reading this and going huh? But I have to go on.. so so so pissed right now..

With all those negative reports, even if Andrew Kuan gets to run for Presidency, he might not win, so why not give it a go? Worried that we are stupid and cannot think on our own? To think about it, all those that ran for Presidency are virtual unknowns, with the exception of ex-President Ong. Maybe they are worried we'll be fooled by these virtual unknowns that we vote for the wrong person. But then again, who are they to decide what's right or wrong?

There's the reserves of $161 billion in reserves that the President have to take care of.. erm.. I read somewhere that even President Ong mentioned that he did not know the full runnings of the committe controlling our reserves. So why worry? having someone as outspoken as Andrew Kuan would upset the process? (outspoken compared to President Nathan, I dun see or hear him much).

Kuan is really a victim of the political game.. all plumped up then sent for the kill.. all the negative reports about him.. I wonder if that will affect his future. and according to today's Today, he's gonna quit PAP. isn't that a loss to us? And here the government are complaining that we're apathetic, that we don't do enough community work, that we are not involved in grassroots work. But when someone steps up, they crush him. It's scary, I really wanted to go into politics when I was young, have dreams of being the first female president of Singapore. Now I know, it's HA.. Politics is about knowing the right people and having the right background. My ah gong knows the right people, he knows quite a few of the old political power.. but my background is not that strong. If I stayed in the temple, maybe got chance. But by that time, I'm jaded already.. politics are so crude and dirty.. there's no way I'm going into it. I prefer to stand in the sidelines and criticise :p hee..

eh, at least i bother to comment hor.. I'm not that apathetic. Maybe should join some protest or something, now that will be fun. Since I dun have any political ambition, and I dun intend to really climb in my career (what for? the problem with the rat race is that whether u win or don't, at the end of the day, u're still a rat.), I should have time to indulge in something more interesting and meaningful huh? hee.. see how, I like Goh Meng Seng of Worker's Party :p

Back to the presidential election. At the end of the day, I can really only shake my head and sigh. and help to publise this petition: Support for Andrew Kuan as Singapore's President

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