Malaysian Boleh

Photo credit : OXYMANUS

The mobile phone or cell phone or hand phone or by whatever name you called it; must have been the century's most ingenious invention of all times due to its almost ever changing innovations and utility functions.
Many people have benefited from its features as well as the cost of having it. Companies have gained so much profits from it and likewise ventured into multi million dollar R & D studies to improve its performance day by day. Similarly telcos are fast riding on a high level of business trading opportunities in the supplementary services that comes along with it for the end-users. Wow !, what a canny investment !

With the advent of the telecommunications industry's mobile telephone services, the world is now closer to one another and news and conversations are gathered into our homes even much faster and clearer.The shapes and sizes of that phenomena is unimaginably outrageous and it has outgrown that old heavy machines of yesteryears. Today handphones are so commonly seen and its importance has exceeded other things which were long regarded more special before and that every household now would have almost 2 to 3 of such units, encompassing users like young children and old pensioners irrespective of their age and income.

Call me an old fashioned gentleman; but i think i have just woken up from my long years of slumber in modern Malaysia. Malaysia has indeed "progressed in leaps and bounds " to my shocking awe. Ever since my first encounter with a mobile phone ( ATUR) here in this country, i.e. when a visitor carried it into one of Kuala Lumpur's once popular hill resort situated in Gombak, it took me quite a while to realise it as a sure necessity or truly appreciate it to reward me with one, someday. The gadget's price and design could have been one of the main factors that took me off my interest until 1993, when i was convinced to buy my first mobile apparatus from a friend for RM 1,000. Called it daylight robbery but i was too naive about the situation at that time not even to mention about its gadgety operations system.
At that time, It would also make me one of the first people in my office to actually use a mobile and people would stare at you as if you want to emulate or imitate the CEO of your own company as it is considered a status symbol or somebody you must be in order to use one.

Yesterday, 14 May 2008, a Malay tabloid in its frontpage headline screaming to announce that there are more than 3,000 websites in the internet that featured Malay based/ supported pornography sites. And surf i did just to find out how much truth it prevailed. Sure enough, within a click seconds, i was already whisked to such fantasexual streaming of personal delight.
There were lots of them but as i tried to evaluate their origins and purpose, i realise that many people who had posted them would have done it for the value of money . To some, what might have started as a hobby to shoot people's faces and scenes would eventually take on a more creative hobby by engaging in a more adventurous film making" stunts" and brusque editing, quite amateurishly i might describe. Well you can't blame technology can u ? There are now Ipods, GPS ,web cams, alarm security systems, digital cameras, plasmas,DVD's, PDAs and of course the commonly ubiquitous mobile phones. An array of techies( ??) indeed for future living !

The mobile phone i believe could trigger as the most powerful instrument of all times. You can get rich by it, get toppled from your ranks by it, get slandered by it, make scandals out of it, get happy birthday messages across the miles in an instant by it, listen to music from it, watch your stocks tumble in it and also see your favorite football matches from it.
What i also realised is that many future generations minds are going to be "damaged" and possessed" by it too unless any government or even the inventors do something to prevent it from happening. Not even "control" or "restraint" would stop anything. The mobile phone has reached its identity as an instrument of "ingenuity and creativity" as far as the owner's conquest of communications freedom is concerned. From sex , i was transported to politics,travelled from one area to another region and alas !, to another country bit by bit by means of its clicking processes eventually and rather endlessly.

The political scenes of Malaysia in its run up to the last elections was by far the most shameful and embarrassing moments to watch. Malaysians too ( those involved in the uploading of such materials into the internet) for public viewing ought to be labeled as one of the lowest class citizens ever to have lived on this planet. Much substances are build upon to destroy another person's image and dignity. Others are just plain stupid to blatantly broadcast publicly their" sexual tinted projects" purposely or unknowingly through friends and foes, which was taken by sex hungry paparazzi reporters or sheer thrill seekers and money hungry mobile phone slinging sex crusaders who wanted to earn "something big ." out of "something small" - i'm refering to the small camera lens that penetrates the vision . Many uneducated people also finds this equipment amusing as it looks using it with lack of sensitivities while the educated ones manipulate its characteristics pretty wittingly with sinful intentions.

There is absolutely no glory in those outright obscene material offerings ( depending on how it is being categorise or exemplified by the uploaders ) except shame and guilt feelings of those who were featured in them and for those who had photographed / shot. The photograhers at large, who shot the scenes would have to pay heavily in hell when they leave this Godly world. I am not preaching ethics or spiritual knowledge here but the consequences upon society on those bawdy visual chapters are just another sick person's anxiety of lack of self- reputation morality and if i may put it very "subtly" , a very low standard "pariah" work of art ????!! . Who won and who loses, in the final destination, will only explain the type of society Malaysians wants to be associated with . No wonder in certain countries, internet regulatory controls are strongly monitored and autocratically imposed.

Pornography is so readily available 24/7 if you have a reliable internet connection but what it might do to any person is also up to the own individual's perception of what was seen. (As it is sometimes watching too much of cartoon on TV is also bad for the child.) It's not a DIY sex education programme channel.

Surfing into these explicit sites is like opening a chaotic treasure full of unfit and unsound goods for the full of it or for the lack of it ( as in a cliff hanger video that leaves the viewer to imagine the next step of action or erection.) Imagine a mind full of sexual hunger and sexual desires and when a sex related criminal case takes place, another life is in danger forever and then someone wants to try to press the panic button. I suppose this is the price to pay for technology, no pain no gain and that necessity is the Mother of Invention . But again, the pain is in everyone's ass. Ask your neighbors with children.

Oh No , Not another Headache & Heart ( Hard) " Brake" ???

Photo credit : OXYMANUS

While returning from Bangi after visiting my mom this afternoon, i took the usual Seremban - Sungai Besi Highway towards KL. Surprisingly the traffic movement was not too congested as i would have expected. Incidentally, i was visiting a client in Puchong earlier after lunch, briefing them about their forthcoming Kuching trip next month. Once over and done with, i made a beeline to my intended rendezvous i.e the Bangi Golf Resort.

Where i almost reached the Tun Razak Road going through the underpass opposite the Indonesian Embassy, there was suddenly an impromptu traffic police halt right just at the end of the tunnel. It was a kind of dangerous blockade i would realise later that would do more harm than good if such operations are practised at peak hours, all in a matter of a split second. The VIP entourage was seen making its way home and mobilised by the relevant traffic authorities, resulting in the other public vehicles having to station or simply reduce their speed to heed the law when such VIP cars criss cross our public roads. Somehow, certain impolite and selfish drivers who were impatient about making a temporary interruption of their journey, suddenly swerved to the right lane trying to avoid the traffic policeman(often with their big bikes parked at eased temporarily on the road.) As i was driving rather swiftly along the outer fast lane on the extreme right side, i suddenly applied my brakes to avoid an approaching car that has encroach into the right lane of my passing car. I was helplessly shocked and angry. Suddenly i realised that by swerving to avoid that idiotic son of a gun driver's car, i had no choice whatsoever but to force my car to move to the already limited void area which is the kerb structure of the road divider. I thought my car would have flung over the other side of the road when i realised my tyre grips were dysfunctioning, ( as unhumorous as i want to be, my tyre threads we quite "bald" so to speak and i must admit that i have not replace them for quite a while - and i was pretty guilty about it nonetheless .)My superior point in raising this note is that i simply cannot tolerate what the other driver was doing to me.As you can see, the maximum limit imposed on that particular stretch is around 60 - 70 kms which is clearly portrayed on the traffic signage, if i can strongly remember since i am a regular user of this road, which is a very long trunk road by itself and formerly known as Jalan Pekeliling in those post Merdeka days. I also believe this must be the longest road in KL as far as my school days map reading memory is concerned. I even find out that it was once called Circular Road due to its circumbulation plan.

But what the other driver has done by going into my lane obtrusively for that split second moment , was tantamount to endangering my life as well as the destruction of my car, had i been unlucky or undefensive at that time. The screeching sounds was loud enough to make me shock and wonder what will happen next and the scent of burnt rubber that was emitted for a while due to the friction on the road surface could have made any person nauseate. I was trusting my car will be fine but the fact that i was more concerned for my car's well being rather than for my life was far more important. I suppose i had some other fixations or replacements on my car parts made just a few days ago and i would like to connect this event to the the dry cell battery problem which i had experienced a few days earlier.

After seeing the damage on my tyres, i decided to drive into Eaton Road and locate a temporary car park to further examine the extent of my car's damage. There was scratches / little dents on the right hand side of the car near where the tyres are; adding more physical "facelifts" to some existing scarred surfaces . I cannot help but wonder why such a predicament has befallen on me again and frowned in dismay. I made a call to the tyre shop manager and manage to speak to him at his land line after a failed call to his mobile was transferred to his voice mail. It was so frustrating indeed and while i was talking to him relieving him of my situation, my mobile battery was fizzled off. Oh that was really too much. I blamed that he yakked unnecessarily that i could not get my message across perfectly to him of only he had listen to my grouses.

Damn it i said to myself, and i just prayed that i can still start the car and drove instantly to Setapak to his motor workshop. At the same time, it was the rush hour traffic where drivers are driving home after work. I just hope that nothing high risk or unfortunate will turn out later or it will surely make me so desperately distressed.
I managed to pass through the extremely busy roads of Tun Razak and Jalan Pahang and finally made it around almost 7.20 pm at the motor workshop. The rest of the story will be continued ...........



What happened at that time was that while i was about to perform the ignition, i heard a rather slight explosion that came from underneath my car bonnet whose sounds likened to a minor cracker blast and i could watch some people who were sipping their afternoon "teh- tarik" ( pulled tea beverage) by the side of it, displayed faces of wonder and a little stirred up by the commotion of sound they have just heard. I prayed in my heart that my car did not really "explode" or physically damaged or otherwise i will have a big problem ahead of me wondering what has actually happened as it literally exploded the wits out of me. Probably i was not a technical person or anyone that specialises in the know how or tips to discover mechanical faults related to an automobile.

In my usual fancy, i came out of the vehicle and decided to go home unashamedly and without guilt, just abandon my car just like that for the night. The consolation was that it was parked so perfectly well adjacent to the 7-11 store and opposite a motorcar workshop of all buildings !. It was well parked and did not caused any obstruction whatsoever.

The following day, i came back to the spot to salvage my poor car. While i was in the cab chatting with this particular driver, a Pakistani immigrant married to a local i seek solace in discussing with him about my car problem which i had encountered the day before. He explained to me that he too had a similar sounding problem and asked me if i had use a dry cell for my car and that i was just worried not to even anticipate any other words he might utter again , should the problem had nothing to do with the dry cell.
In my mind, I was praying hard that the only problem would really be the "dry cell" and nothing else. Later, upon reaching my destination, i confidently walked to the tyre shop to seek the necessary technical assistance.

Obama Story

By : ILAN CHAIM - former chief copy editor of Jerusalem Post

A great deal has been reported - and misreported - about the religious affiliation of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama. He has been described in the media as both a Muslim and a Christian.

His alleged Islamic affiliation derives from his middle name, Hussein, which certain sleazy pundits and bigots are quick to associate by innuendo with terrorism. In fact, Hussein is a popular Arab and Islamic name. It means "good," "proper" or "handsome."

Just because there was once an Iraqi dictator with the same name doesn't mean that all Husseins are questionable. A great ally of the United States, for example, was the late King Hussein of Jordan. And for that matter, are all Josephs to be associated with Joseph Stalin?

"If I were a Muslim I would let you know," Obama has told reporters. In fact, he is a practicing Christian, a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. But although he is not now a Muslim, he was born to a Muslim father and spent four impressionable years of his childhood in the world's most populous Muslim country, Indonesia.

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In a meeting with voters last December at a coffee shop in Oskaloosa, Iowa, MSNBC reported, Obama described his Muslim background in simple terms:

"My father was from Kenya, and a lot of people in his village were Muslim. He didn't practice Islam. Truth is he wasn't very religious. He met my mother. My mother was a Christian from Kansas, and they married and then divorced. I was raised by my mother. So, I've always been a Christian. The only connection I've had to Islam is that my grandfather on my father's side came from that country. But I've never practiced Islam.

"For a while, I lived in Indonesia because my mother was teaching there. And that's a Muslim country. And I went to school. But I didn't practice. But what I do think it does is it gives me insight into how these folks think, and part of how I think we can create a better relationship with the Middle East and that would help make us safer is if we can understand how they think about issues."

HOWEVER, OBAMA's Muslim background - besides gaining him "insight into how these folks think" - might also give "these folks" reason to kill him.

All versions of Obama's biography agree on certain basic facts. He was born in 1961 in Honolulu to a non-practicing Muslim Kenyan father and a Christian American mother and spent his early childhood in Hawaii. After his parents divorced, he lived from age six to 10 in Jakarta with his mother and Indonesian stepfather, a non-practicing Muslim described by neighbors as someone who hung prayer beads over his bed but enjoyed eating bacon - anathema to Islam.

He returned to Honolulu to live with his Christian maternal grandparents while attending school there from the fifth grade until his graduation in 1979.

In Jakarta from 1967 to 1971, from first through fourth grade, Obama's religious upbringing depended more on the practices of the schools he attended than on any decision by his non-practicing Christian mother or his non-practicing Muslim stepfather. While enrolled at a Catholic school, Fransiskus Strada Asisia, for three years, the Chicago Tribune reported, Obama was required to pray as a Catholic - four times a day.

When he attended a public school, Sekolah Dasar Nasional Menteng No. 1, as a fourth grader during his last year in Indonesia, he learned about Islam for a compulsory two hours a week. This was because he was registered, by law, under his step-father's name as a Muslim. Whatever Islamic instruction he managed to absorb as a nine-year-old, he did so for only two hours a week - plus occasionally accompanying his step-father on a rare visit to a mosque.

It should also be pointed out that Obama's school was not the fundamentalist Islamic madrassa depicted in media reports, but a public school progressive enough for its women teachers to be allowed to wear miniskirts and ecumenical enough for pupils to be encouraged to celebrate Christmas.

So why all the concern about a candidate who really had little formal religious upbringing from either the Muslim or Christian side of his family, and who was baptized as an adult in 1988 when he embraced Christianity and became an enthusiastic churchgoer? The real concern is not over how Obama views his conversion, but how the Islamic world will deal with it.

WHETHER OR not his father was a devout Muslim, under Islamic law (Shari'a) Obama was born into Islam, which follows patrilineal descent. "I've always been a Christian," Obama tells the public - apparently meaning "always as an adult" and disregarding his lack of connection to Islam as a child. To believers, however, once a Muslim always a Muslim.

Obama's conversion to Christianity makes him what is called a murtadd, an apostate, under Islamic law. Strictly fundamentalist Islamic regimes, like that of Saudi Arabia, might have difficulty dealing with an American president whose abandonment of Islam they consider punishable by death.

(The writer is a former chief copy editor of The Jerusalem Post.)

Money Politics of An Important Gentleman

Very migrainic,compulsive articles in our political websites indeed.

Everybody wants a piece of life to themselves. But only wealth and more wealth.
In other words, wealth is the question of the day.

Money talks and everyone wants to talk the same language i.e. money.

The crux of the matter is money and the root of all evil is money.
People are disunited because of the colour of money.
Money faced, no money no honey, money penny, money money makes the world goes round. Its not about race, religion . Its about the money.
Power is money. Its all about the money no matter what creed and colour you are.

Malaysian Erection of A New Nation

SCENE IN A KL LRT - MULTIRACIAL PASSENGERS - PHOTO CREDIT : OXYMANUS

A similar case of so called racial discontentment was reported 1 day later after the Malaysian election results were announced through the foreign news wires. They mentioned about the inequality and discrimination in jobs, education, as well as freedom of speech, not to mention racial abuse and impartiality. Obviously and sadly Malaysians themselves are feeding the foreign journalists with such facts and information and now they they say that it isn't so.
Phew !!! Never knew Malaysia is a damn good country to live in. I bet we all sleep on a bed of nails everynight here in Malaysia yet unscathed of any prickling injury when we wake up in the morning.

National Service Ala Malaysia

I have just heard some news report over TV3 a little while ago about a new regulation which the authorities are going to implement regarding new recruits for the Program Khidmat Negara or National Service in English. To me the whole thing is a wrongly perceptive idea, so much so that even till today, problems after problems persists and exists and continues to do so much to the chagrin of the those people who are involved in it or even introduced it.
According to my information, the Malaysian National Service is a kind of program to provide youths with an opportunity to settle in for a few months to learn about national integration along with adding some sporting activities during the day and of course this comes with provision of meals and uniforms to top it off.
What they ( the authorities ) did not see or do was to find out the right ways and means to implement such a program to make it very successful and worthwhile in achieving the true objectives of such a progamme.

Before, such things came to lift off, i have heard about business people rushing to get involved in the business of becoming a supplier to such projects /programmes that cater to the needs of this huge business project, (see how certain people look at this opportunity to enrich their business venture and to monopolise them for their vested interests) since national service training camps exists in most parts of the states in the country. Everyone was so cooped up with how much money they would make and none the least ever thought about what good does it do in terms of what the National Service program is all about. Business thoughts come first in everybody's mind who has links with the so called government or government bodies to be able to grab whatever perks that could be salvage for being a "supplier and provider" for such services although many prefer to deny it . Imagine its profitability due to its longterm compulsory programme which is very much a national undertaking.

Coming back to my related comment about the TV3 news report, it was mentioned that the government is seriously looking at the health checks requirements need to be imposed on the recruits who are conscripted into the programme. I really look at it as a big joke of the people who themselves implemented the whole programme from the very beginning.
Malaysians are good copycats on things they thought they would be proud off to tell other people that they can do whatever they want with their Malaysia Boleh campaign or motto.
In the first place, Malaysia's National Service programme is very very much unlike the other programes of the other countries e.g. Singapore ( the nearest neighbour ) , Taiwan, Israel, Turkey, Russia and Cyprus. It is an altogether a locally made programme that has many loose planning from even from the start and until today.

Of course, the initial stages of implementation had a lot of teething problems. Parents were not happy about it, the potential recruits were far from enthusiastic or proud or even dare to participate in such a programme. There was none of the strong foundation of course to be learned or to expect. Abstention for registration was rampant but it was not even taken seriously. It was a matter of an announcement but without much of an enforcement on the part of the authorities. ( Enforcement in Malaysia if stressed openly, leaves too much to be desired. )
As i read the newspapers too, i have seen all kinds of amusing stories about how the national service programmes are being run and managed. In a plural society like Malaysia, anything or everything that is carried out that involves the public are governed by the sensitivities of its people which not only concern racial issues but also its political element that divides much of its population.

If the authorities failed in its mission in doing what it should be doing, they should only be blamed for such mistakes as National Service is not a summer camp vacation of sorts.

There are many aspects being argued about how the management of national services be carried out. Some complained about the racial breakdown of the facilitators / trainers involved while others complained about the food menus that recruits received, infrastructure facilities etc etc.
All these matters should have been avoided if proper surveys / planning are being done by the authorities. At the same time, there are always things which are not adequate or suitable or just plain acceptable for one particular race. Many Malaysians must think of a one Malaysian mentality and identity but sad to say after so many years of independence, Malysians like to talk things "racist".

About the realisation of the health condition of recruits, it is the duty of the authorities to spend some money on the health screening of all candidates. The Malaysian student population is a far more intergrated and prolific segment of the country. There are drug users, bullies, truant players, plenty of under aged smokers, promiscuous youths etc.etc As much as this is true, many people think that it was the problems of the individuals themselves or due to lack of parental upbringing or the school disciplinary system. If the foundations of such matters are lacking at the school level, the problems would be more difficult to tolerate at the next level of admission, ie national service.
Hence health problems resurface. If the school through the education system had impose health checks through annual compulsory routines as part of its curriculum, many health risks problems could be detected or prevented. One example of such exercise will be a simple urine test which could actually determine many things. Therefore when the authorities allowed students to be drafted into national service, it was also the duty of their department to supervise and provide the necessary health checks. It is definitely wrong to just rely on the statements and declarations made by the recruits themselves.
As one big loophole and total disregard for such an important component of its implementation at entry level, the authorities definitely have to be blamed for such infringement. When fatalities exists ( and it will continue to do so) the authorities will always be blamed as a black sheep for its causes. What is the use of making statements defending and making lame excuses about such occurrences of fatalities if the authorities could not even lay out a simple indemnity agreement about national service. Anywhere in this world, the state of fatalities are common in national service activities. The proponents of such a programme must and should have studied the legal matters and procedures more seriously rather than showcased it as a retreat or holiday programme for drop-outs or troubled youths. The inculcation of an extended school like- system must be taught but that again it could not be guaranteed that such a programme will be achieved. At the end of the day, a strong school system at grass roots level will only determine whether a youth will be successful or not. They say the youths of today are the leaders of tomorrow but with so many uncountable bad youths around the country , it is going to be definitely unsafe and a far cry of making the country a healthy place to live in too.

JOB VACANCY IN SINGAPORE

Where Are the Potential Prime Ministers?

Posted by admin on April 17, 2008

Written by Dr Wong Wee Nam
16 April 2008

The Malaysian General Elections has just ended and Abdullah Badawi has continued as the Prime Minister. But he is now having problems keeping the job. This is because there are many who want to take over. Even Anwar Ibrahim, who is not even an elected Member of Parliament, is eyeing the job. Just as there are many who had vied for the posts of Menteri Besar in the State governments, there is no lack of candidates for the post of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

In the United Kingdom, when a schoolboy visits 10 Downing Street, he invariably likes to pose in front of the official residence of the Prime Minister of Great Britain for a picture. In other words, it is a schoolboy’s dream to become the Prime Minister of Britain. It is not that the job of the Prime Minister in Great Britain pays very well. It does not.

Compare to footballers like Christiano Ronaldo or David Beckham, the Prime Minister’s job is a lowly-paid one. Even by Singapore’s standards, it is an extremely lowly-paid job. The pay is only a fraction of the salary of a similar position in Singapore.

Yet Great Britain, like Malaysia, does not lack candidates for the position of Prime Minister. In fact, there is even no lack of candidates for the position of a shadow Prime Minister on the opposition bench.

No country in the world has difficulty finding people willing to become Prime Minister or running for Presidency. No country except Singapore, that is. The Straits Times of 2nd April 2008 reads : “PM still looking for his successor”.

Uniquely Singapore

We must be in a very unique situation in the world. With a job that is the highest paid in the world, it is a wonder we are still looking for a successor. This must be the only country in the world where people are very reluctant to be office-holders. Something must be very, very wrong – either with the country or with the quality of our people.

Has our gene pool become so depleted that we do not now have capable people to run the country? This cannot be so. Every year there are hundreds of students who graduate from our colleges with straight A’s and S-papers. Competition for scholarships and places in the universities is very keen. In world competitions, our students still come up top in Mathematics and Science. Our students regularly win the Angus Ross Prize for Literature and the Jessup Cup for mooting. So the quality of our gene pool is still very good.

The Failed Graduate Mother’s Scheme

The problem of a depleted good gene pool was raised a long time ago. Herbert Spencer and Francis Galton, the two famous social Darwinists, had told the world that having more intelligent people and less stupid people around would benefit society tremendously Many years ago, to enrich the gene pool and solve this problem of talent shortage, we tried to encourage the better-educated and our graduate mothers with a lot of incentives to reproduce more. Naturally the policy did not work because our womenfolk are not farm animals which will breed just because the farmer decides it should be done.

Even if our graduate mothers had consented to breed, the policy would still have failed to achieve its objective. Any breeder of racehorses, cows and pigs for speed, milk and bacon respectively will tell you that the success rate is very low even though there is only one attribute to aim for. What more then with human beings where there are more attributes to consider? The problem with breeding human beings is we would not know what attribute to aim for. A leader is not just someone who can produce good results in examinations. He must have the right temperament, the ability to communicate, creative thinking, compassion, courage and be decisive and possess a certain charisma to lead. Can these be bred?

True, a few of our students had broken scholarship bonds and some who went overseas to study have decided not to return. Still, this should not affect the number of people who are qualified to fill the post of the Prime Minister or any other ministerial post. After all, in Singapore, a person usually holds office for about fifteen years and this means you only need to find one replacement every fifteen or twenty years.

Reason for the Problem

So what is the problem? Why is it so difficult to find someone to become a Prime Minister in Singapore? It is not because Singapore is not ripe for revolution or that our people are so well-taken care off that we like to leave governing to others that we are faced with this problem. If revolution and economic dissatisfaction are the reasons for people wanting to become Prime Minister, then all the well-to-do stable democracies in the world would have difficulty looking for leaders.

The reason for the problem is in our culture. In Singapore nobody is taught from young to covet the job. The political climate here does not allow anyone to covet the job. Politics is not a profession that parents encourage their children to pursue. Therefore, a child in school will write about his or her ambition to become a doctor, lawyer, accountant, an engineer, an artist, a teacher or a writer but none will write about becoming a Prime Minister.

Furthermore, over the years, the general public has been primed to believe that a Prime Minister will only come through the PAP selection process. This is why Singapore will not be able to produce someone like Barack Obama, a first-term Senator trying to be leader of the world’s biggest democracy and the richest country in the world, vying for a job that would pay him only a fraction of what he could earn as a lawyer.

Without political contention, it is not surprising that Singaporeans have become so apathetic that even the PAP itself has difficulty finding good people.

If we want to have good flowers, then we need to allow many types of flowers to bloom and many nurseries to grow them. If we only inbreed a few species of flowers in one nursery and nip the rest in the bud, then the choice will be limited. Even if we add in a lot of fertilizers, the quality will still suffer from inbreeding and chemical poisoning.

Not only plants suffer from a lot of fertilizers. Psychologists have shown through experiments that even rats don’t work as hard when given too much rewards. Those given too much food lose their motivation to run on the treadmill than those who are rewarded with small increments. Similarly with human beings, psychologists have also found that people with intrinsic motivation perform better than those who are driven by extrinsic motivation to do the job.

It can therefore be concluded that with the exorbitant salaries paid to our office-holders, we will one day be bound to attract mainly extrinsically- motivated people to public office. When that time comes, it would indeed be a sad day for Singapore. A politician who is not intrinsically-motivated will serve himself first and cannot provide the servant leadership to serve the people. When that day comes, it would be even more difficult to find a really good person to fill the post of Prime Minister. A politician led by reward to work cannot be better than one motivated by altruism to serve.

Posted under Current Affairs, Dr Wong Wee Nam, Political Discussions

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