Dialogue with MM

Since the faithful TV forum last week, the media has been pouring tonnes of reports on the responses of the youth during the discussion. I caught the show on its first repeat telecast and was taken back by the fury of the talk. Though i did read about the tense moments in the papers earlier, i could not envision the type of debate MM was put through based on the reference PM dialogue which i caught at the beginning of the month. MM remained a powerful speaker and whoever thought age has crippled his critical mind must have been blinded by the urban myth. The father of Singapore was sharp and is still as capable as the man famous for his "curry puff" hairdo rallying the many immigrants back in 1965 to stand together, to throw away the racial differences, to stop the riots, to create and build a nation that belongs to ourselves.

To be honest, I have never been politically inclined person and i wonder if i will develop into one considering the comfotable environment the prevailing government has created for me (and the rest of my countrymen). In fact, I was always cynical about the motives of the whites, thinking that they strange and suffocate the local with seemingly harmful benefits while threatening to strike anyone who speaks against them with the famous red lightning. Some youths (or most) on the show were emphasising on the lack of fair playing grounds for the opposition and claimed that the whites have inequitably dominated the Pseats. If you had polled me before the talk, I would have easily agreed without giving it much talk since that has been the general feeling and belief on the ground. Yet as simple as it is, MM easily put it straight by tilting my perspectives slightly. Which political party, in the right state of mind, would want to put itself out of job by creating a favourable (or even that with an advantage) environment for its opposition? It is not a matter about feeling insecure of losing or that the whites are not confident of winning but rather the simple rule of "survival of the fittest". In a similar fashion, many complains have been received regarding the lack of upgrading benefits to certain constituencies belonging to the opposition. It is a simple rule of rewarding the supporters and in MM's own words "taking care of those who voted for us" that these "grievances" seemed unjustified. I do not think that we can accuse the whites of not taking care of them as they have been promptly rescheduled to the end of the queue. Think about it, at least they are in the queue.

Granted that the youth in the forum was not representative of the future generation, many thoughts (though overlapping) from the ground were conveyed and some surfacing to the papers for the first time in forty years. Bold questions asking for the justification of MM's presence and whether MM was puppeting the two PMs who succeeded him. Numerous letters must have reached the editors of various forums, screaming out to the nation regarding the rudeness of the younger ones. I too, was one of the letter hopefuls, but the letter was only conceived in my head due to pure laziness. Tempted as i was, i refuse to use a "howler" (think Harry Potter) on any of the participants even when i strongly agree against the use of harsh, rude tones on the most respected man in Singapore. I tried keeping count the times MM had to brush off interruptions politely by saying "let me finish first" but alas! God only graced me with ten fingers and ten toes that I lost count shortly into the program. If i were ever put in such a situation, I would have volunteerily asked for a straight jacket in view of the coming elections, else I might end up with a crimminal record which is worse than that of beating the red light.

Love to continue writing but having physics on sat and the lack of preparation of bug my handicapped mind. Pardon the language if you do read this entry (or for that matter, all the entries on this blog) and bear in mind that the above mentioned are not politically intended.