There are a few urgent issues affecting Sinkies and Sin City that would make or break the dominance of the PAP. Housing is obviously a major one and Boon Wan has to some extent avoided the fall over the cliff. But he could not do more than what he has done now without turning everything topsy turvy as the problem is now too big and too complex to rewind the damages done. And there is still a big batch of young people caught by the dastard policies and still cannot buy HDB flats cause their incomes have exceeded the stupid income ceiling. They will be forever not allowed to buy HDB flats, like the outcasts or lepers of Roman Empire. They can only curse and swear to vote the govt out for causing the harm and damage to their lives, the ONLY group of Sinkies that cannot buy HDB flats.
I would not bother to deal with the others but just one, ie jobs for Sinkies which is also related to the high presence of foreigners here. To unravel and solve these two issues would put a minister in a position of great admiration by the Sinkies. Chuan Jin is strategically placed to tackle these issues and could make or break his career as a result. He either succeeds or become just one of them, seen as anti Singaporeans. He has all the potential to rise above the heap of mediocrity, to make a real difference to the lives of Sinkies and the future of this island.
What Chuan Jin needs is the confident to go where the heart is and what is right and good for the Sinkies. To do this, he must be prepared to take on the big wigs of his party and the foreigners making outrageous demands on the system. Get the jobs for Sinkies, cut down the unduly huge foreign presence especially in PME positions and even top jobs. It is a bit nationalistic but there is no reason why talented Sinkies cannot replace the foreign imports. We built this City on the back of local talents. The foreigner are here standing on our shoulders, on what we have built. They did not contribute much or anything towards our achievements but being rewarded unashamingly.
Would Chuan Jin have the courage to answer this calling and be prepared to challenge the conventional wisdom of the party, and risk being kicked out from the Party or being called traitor to the party? He has the all wither to go for it.
The only misgiving is what he said about Sinkies preferring contract jobs instead of permanent jobs. I hope he is fed with misinformation and know that this is false. If he really believes that Sinkies wanted short term contract jobs instead of a long term career, then I take back everything I said above. For if he believes that Sinkies are so daft, then I see no hope in what he will do as the premises on which his policies will depend on is misleading. He would thus be pursuing a policy direction that is not attuned to the aspirations of Sinkies, or he could not understand the aspiration of the Sinkies. That means he would be working and walking in a different direction and ending in nowhere, no difference from where he started. Then everything will be in vain.
Whither will Chuan Jin be heading? Would he seize the moment and be the one that makes the difference at a critical time when a maverick is needed? Or would he squander his chances and just crumble and merge into the same heap of mediocrity?
Chua Chin Leng aka redbean
* The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com