Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Sian, AIM-gate

"Sian" would be the word to describe how I felt when I saw this early this morning while waiting for the kids to get ready for school.

Unwelcome privilege succeeded "sian" soon after. If we want to become more participative in our democracy, this is what we have to do. The days we could just leave it to the government to take care of most things are over. Those days aren't returning except in a dystopia. I hope not.

My impression before reading all these and hearing radio reports in the car is that PAP gets -1 and WP 0. I don't just hear the latest from Khaw BW but also remember what had led us to this point. Both PAP and WP lost. Worse for PAP because of hypocrisy and also baiting WP into this with the Town Council performance report, without which the transfer of control would be as quiet as Potong Pasir.

Politicians must of course politic. It is the how, what and why which matter. Do it professionally and with dignity.

Politicians must be shrewd. They must not be perfect and good like the impossible good Christian you might hear your pastor preached over and over again in church. That's not real. Even Jesus couldn't get out of tight situations without the art of the shrewd.

I think in democratic politics the gold standard of shrewd is the example of Abraham Lincoln. My daughter has read, 'Team of Rivals' (more than once I think) and saw the Lincoln movie countless times. She has interested mommy and I to read the book too.

Update: 12:50pm

See an excellent blog post by Lucky Tan, "Sylvia Lim drops the bombshell on AIM issue!" This guy probably has gone to the heart of the issue. Much easier and faster to read than ST. I agree with him, which is infrequent except for the last paragraph which I feel he has not yet worked out the consequences.

We are faced with many unpleasant and risky choices. Our founding leaders were a phenomenal stroke of luck.

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