We have an effective government

Reading thru Bruce Sterling's comments about Singapore and it reminded me on just how effective our government is. It certainly is good to read about someone else praising our country :) But this still does not make not having a Presidential election ok. Shall talk about that later.

First, I'm damn proud to be a Singaporean, always had been.. why?? coz we have a clean place to stay in, clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, safe to walk on the streets in the middle of the night, most of what we need right in the neighbourhood..

Life is good in Singapore, you wouldn't starve if you have the decency to work.. There's always work out there, it's jus a matter of whether anyone wants to do it..

I really love my home.. been to other countries and yet the place that's most charming to me is Singapore. Ok, it might get somewhat boring at times.. but that means you've been going to the same places too often.. go off your normal route, take an alternate turn and you'll find and see things you have never seen before. It's a matter of prespective.

About governments, they are darn effective.. from a nothing to something on the world map, that's not something everyone can do.. and look at the SARS period and see how we handled the whole situation?? everything was handled professionally and with such speed and efficiency.. when the push comes to shove, we have the means to handle it. And that is really thanks to our government. So thank you PAP for doing such a great job.

But sometimes being in power for too long is not good.. ideas get stagnant, people become complacent.. it's human nature, nothing to do with the people involved.. now that sounds contradicting but who cares.. You need to inject fresh blood, inject some opposition, in order to grow..

I really hope to see more quality opposition in the political scene, not talking about those rambling folks who rant and rave about pap but not showing any concrete moves against them.. I want to see someone intelligent, can hold his head up and argue with the people in power.

Talkin about the presidential election, I was watching the talkshow on channel u on friday and this guy brought up something which I found a very good idea.. that is, even if there is only one candidate running for presidency, we should still be allowed to vote.. the voting results will show just how popular the candidate is, and how worthy we think he is.

He's gonna be our president, we should have a say in deciding if he should stay there or not. Else why make voting complusory? If one does not want to hear our voices, why make voting a must?

The president should be about competency and not popularity. That is true.. we dun wan to see this serious matter to turn into a Singapore idol like event, but the president is supposed to represent Singapore, how can we have someone we dun even like or respect?? (I'm not talking against anyone here.. it's a hypothetical statement)

haiz.. sometimes it's hard to be a Singaporean, on one hand we have everything, on the other we have none.