Han Fook Kwang's awakening and his damning assessment of PM Lee's ten years of leadership ...
The managing editor of The Straits Times must be getting very hot under the collar for some reasons. For those who are sharp enough, recent comments from some quarters, including ministers like Khaw Boon Wan, and even mentor ministers like former PM Goh Chok Tong, have given us some hints to what these individuals are thinking about the leadership of PM Lee.
(Readers may notice that i am not using the usual names i reserve for ST and the PM. This is to reciprocate in kind, that when you write in fairness, we will react in fairness).
Mr Han provided some very telling data of salary increments from 1975 to now. For the large part of our economic growth, Singaporean workers' salaries had doubled in every decade, up till 2000. He quickly added that, "...but from 2000 to 2010, median salaries moved much more slowly, increasing by only 2.5% a year. If inflation was taken into account, the increase amounted to only 1.3% a year." He wanted to know what happened?
Well, if a top press man like him, with full support from the government, does not know what had happened, who would? Fortunately for him, Blogs and Facebook were able to help him out with his question. Realizing the dire situation we are in, he had no choice but to finally listen to what Netizens have been saying all this while.
First point is this. The sudden stagnation of median salary started after PM Lee took over from ESM Goh. It came at a time just after the Financial Crisis of 2008. Many economies were rebuilding themselves, Singapore included - after we received the shocking revelation of the losses incurred by Temasek Holdings and our Group of Investment Companies. It didn't help that ESM Goh's premiership had seen Singapore making huge economic strides toward First World stature. PM Lee had his work cut out for him, to better the performance of ESM Goh.
The floodgates to welcome the so-called foreign talent were opened. The target was the cheaper global worker. GDP became the tool of measurement to determine the performance of the government. Inevitably, the Singaporean workers' wages became the compromising item. The big economic picture superseded the smaller picture of wage increase. We remember how were constantly bombarded by Mr Han's papers, that we needed to bring our expectations down to help with the economic recovery.
Today, it must surely surprise many to hear him ask "what happened". Singaporeans online, have been calling on him and his papers to be less parroty, all in vain. How much different things would be today if Mr Han's papers had asked ten years ago, "What is going to happen". Alas, as with the behavior of dogs, they obey, they never question.
Yet today, he wants to know "what accounted for the DRAMATIC slowdown in median wage increases despite a growing economy?". Isn't the answer not yet clear to you Mr Han? There is only one word to that question of yours. Please spell that word with me - L.I.E.S. Thank you.
Lies, lies and more lies are what we have been fed with. And your papers, Mr Han, have been supporting the lies of these monstrous liars so much so that you yourself are in too deep into the forest of lies. Fortunately for you, there is salvation. Salvation comes to you from the bright colorful lights of Cyberspace.
The few points you mentioned happened to be stale news. Firstly, productivity, even with all the campaigns and wasteful spendings, came to nought; not because Singaporeans were not productive at work, but because there was a governmental shift in national vision, from manufacturing to financial. This effectively killed off two generations of our population. The older generation, being low skilled and aging, are now very productive cardboard and tin cans collectors. The second generation is preparing to follow suit if all the measures for upgrading the self fail.
PM Lee's governmental agenda have no solutions for this group of Singaporeans. In fact, PM Lee's legacy is heading towards one fraught with low productivity, death of local talents (snapped up as premier workers globally), and failed schemes and incentives. So you know, Mr Han, that when things are not working out, a new thought process must be opened with a new model in mind. Glad you brought up that point. However, I can sense that you stopped short of asking whether PM Lee is the right person for new ideas and the new model. In fact, i can help you go a little further by suggesting that you also ask yourself whether the PAP is that Party with new ideas and a new economic model for Singapore.
Finally, we can understand and we share your frustrations for the small wage increase these past ten years. There is no need to show your frustration, lest you be termed in the same vein as 'xenophobic'. But between you and me, i just love how you ended your column, telling the PM, "It's still the economy, stupid".
Thank you for speaking our minds, at last.
The Alternative View
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=535909329803737&set=a.360220640705941.85354.358759327518739&type=1&theater