Friday, March 6, 2015

I am sickly sad of the comments made in Yahoo News pertaining to Lee Kuan Yew

For those who hated Lee Kuan Yew for whatever reason they might possibly have, I felt sorry for these people who have written hateful, insensitive, and wicked comments on Yahoo News, especially when LKY is severely ill.
-
I don't understand... the hate.
-
They griped about many things that LKY did wrongly; but when something good was done to Singapore, these people have no qualm to say that it was all because of the government's machinery/people that made the good things happen AND NOT LKY. Isn't that "shooting your own foot"? Do these people mean that bad things happened solely because of LKY's planning and execution, but when good thing happens, it is due to the government's (or people on payroll) planning and execution (and NOT LKY)? I just can't accept such argument.
-
For those who hates LKY. Please hate him for the right reasons.
-
Almost all of Singapore's (or government's) decisions, whether GOOD or BAD, are not LKY's doing alone. FYI, Singapore has plenty of "EXPERTS/CONSULTANTS" (be it foreign or local talents) working with the government. Also, the government machinery is not composed solely of PAP supporters, but also pro-opposition's as well (bear in mind that almost 40% of populace is pro-opposition and they are bound to be on the payroll in government sectors). So, how the heck can a person like LKY be able to solely plan, execute and implement all decisions in Singapore (to the "detriment of the populace")?
-
Similar to human (to err), government plans and executes policies to see if they work (like a gamble but more like an "educated gamble"). If certain policies are unfavorable to the populace/circumstances, the government will have no choice but to remove/retract them. If the policies worked, they are maintained until circumstances rendered it useless/obsolete or requiring re-tweaking. How can Singapore be successful if people are not willing to "gamble" on policy? Do we follow footsteps of nations who succeeded in certain policy, e.g. be copycats (is there even a country similar to Singapore in the world to copy)? Or do we dare to take the risk and venture out in spite of the criticisms (as nothing ventured nothing gained)?
-
For government policies to fail or being unfavorable are natural.
-
Now, in a democratic society, what must a leader do if 40% of populace disagrees while 60% agrees to a policy? What is the right thing to do as a leader of a democratic society, especially after exhausting all the persuasion and deliberation?
-
Imagine that you are the head of family and decided to go Sydney for vacation. However, half of your family members wanted to go to Taiwan instead. Do you make the right decision by splitting your family into two and send one part off to Taiwan while the other half to Sydney? Or do you go along with the majority or with the aged-and-wise (e.g. grandparent)? Or do you put the vacation on hold until you can get a 100% agreement?
-
(Touch wood) Imagine if you are the eldest in the family and your siblings are arguing with you on whether to proceed with chemotherapy on your single parent 3rd stage cancer. Half agreed to it while the other half preferred not to. Your mum had earlier gave you the mandate (as of a democratic leader) to decide on her behalf, what say you?
-
Well, that is how leaders such as LKY has to deal with implementing policies daily. There is no pleasing of everyone in Singapore and the chances of a democratic leader stepping on someone's toe is inevitably frequent. Although I accept that not everyone will like LKY, but I can't accept the hurtful and insensitive comments hurling in cyberspace cursing someone who is severely ill. If you can't respect LKY, just keep your peace. Is that difficult to do?
-
Imagine if your boss hates you so much that when you ask him to write a reference/recommendation letter, he wrote a hateful and unflattering letter to your prospective boss. Can you deal with that? If not, then do as what responsible bosses (in the above circumstances) should do, i.e. decline to write the reference/recommendation letter. That is the most civil thing to do!

-
Sigh, something is seriously wrong in Sg Yahoo News readers, which is sad because it also goes to show how unhappy they are currently. That could be a reason for them to harbour the need to "hurt someone" (with hurtful comments), which in return could make their daily pain more bearable.
-
In order for me not to be tangled into this web of despair and hate, I have decided that I will try to skip Yahoo News comment even more. FYI, the reason I browsed the Yahoo comment section (which I rarely do, except today) was to read about Singaporeans wishing the bests for our ex-PM. Alas, I was disappointed.
-
It also reminded me of the time when I was attached briefly in the US and I was also reading Yahoo News then. It was very identical to what is seen in Singapore Yahoo News. However, the number of hateful and angry comments outnumbered Singapore's comments by tens of thousands instead of hundreds.
-
The issue mainly involved Terrorists, Chinese taking away the economy (it used to be the Japanese not long ago as depicted in Michael Crichton Rising Sun), foreigners taking away jobs, US corporations shifting operation overseas and deprive locals of jobs, tax evasion by corporate bodies working in foreign lands, foreign made product populating local stores out-competing locally produced items, bright foreign students over-taking US universities, anti-Walmart sentiments for supporting Chinese made goods, etc.
-
My only hope is that, the less than 200 comments (equivalent to unhappy Singaporeans) in Yahoo comment will not grow any bigger. At least that will indicate to me that there are Singaporeans who are successful and happy in life (be it job, partner, and family).
-
Peace.

No comments:

Post a Comment