I REFER to Mr Jonathan Quek's letter last Friday, 'Anti-government grouses on Internet sometimes too much'.

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similarly we can also say anti-govt grousers' point proven by sycophants - a half-full or half-empty glass syndrome.
Joel claims 'the vast majority were critical, cynical and captious, displaying the typical facileness complainers are won't to indulge in'- but do they have valid points?
"cacophony of malcontent whingeing"? - Joel prefers a harmony of yes chorus and blind uncritical gushing over-exuberant praise for "a national leadership comprising uncommon men with unconventional wisdom"
To rub it in Joel feels thats common fools like us with limited foresight cannot truly appreciate them.

A corollary to Joel's wisdom that 'A cynic is one who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing' - let's tyr this "an unthinking foolish apple-polisher knows nothing about the true value of those he worships on a pedestal but is an expert on everything about the fine art of echoing".

I love the part about Joel gushing that it is our great fortune to have uncommon men and with unconventional wisdom. Plans which we common folks cannot even deign to begin to comprehend one iota of them.

Yo, Mr Joel, and I will be one of the many proving your point too. By the way, just because you are secure and benefiting from the system, does not make the system good or great. I really want to read your letter as a satire but alas, I don't think you meant it as one.

Hey Joel,national is over la. Have you got that medal?

Anyone who believes that any system is flawless and not above criticism is not worth listening too.

It is easy to praise and easy to criticise. It is harder to look for flaws and try to improve it. It is even more difficult to see the dangers of a "good" system that will bring danger in the future and find ways to change or evolve.

We used to be proud of our No.1 status for our airports, shipping ports, green city...now what do we have to be proud of?

We used to scorn at the thought of fueling our economy with gambling dollars, now what is happening?

We thot that our public transport system is one of the best in the world (probably still is), but a little change to our residential population has thrown it off track. Resorting to old methods like ERPs to solve it. Keeping the bus monopolies...etc

Must we as a nation have to depend on PAST successes (80s) to feel good about our future?

It is sad that we now have to resort to comparing ourselves to 3rd world countries to feel better.

It is sad that we have to feel better for ourselves by receiving bias 3rd party (Foreign Talent) praises.

What our country needs is not praises or criticism. What we all need is to face it that Singapore is no longer the Singapore in the past. All of us need to work harder and smarter for the future. We all have a part to play.

Our government is one of the best in the world, shortcomings and all.

Our people are one of the most passive in the world, which has its good and bad.

Hand in hand, it is dangerous for the government to think it has all the answers and more dangerous for the people to think the government has all the answers!

I hope people can see that although our machinery is still working, the machine is getting obsolete. Just look at your Pentium II PC and know what I mean.

Anyone who believes that any system is flawless and not above criticism is not worth listening too.

It is easy to praise and easy to criticise. It is harder to look for flaws and try to improve it. It is even more difficult to see the dangers of a "good" system that will bring danger in the future and find ways to change or evolve.

We used to be proud of our No.1 status for our airports, shipping ports, green city...now what do we have to be proud of?

We used to scorn at the thought of fueling our economy with gambling dollars, now what is happening?

We thot that our public transport system is one of the best in the world (probably still is), but a little change to our residential population has thrown it off track. Resorting to old methods like ERPs to solve it. Keeping the bus monopolies...etc

Must we as a nation have to depend on PAST successes (80s) to feel good about our future?

It is sad that we now have to resort to comparing ourselves to 3rd world countries to feel better.

It is sad that we have to feel better for ourselves by receiving bias 3rd party (Foreign Talent) praises.

What our country needs is not praises or criticism. What we all need is to face it that Singapore is no longer the Singapore in the past. All of us need to work harder and smarter for the future. We all have a part to play.

Our government is one of the best in the world, shortcomings and all.

Our people are one of the most passive in the world, which has its good and bad.

Hand in hand, it is dangerous for the government to think it has all the answers and more dangerous for the people to think the government has all the answers!

I hope people can see that although our machinery is still working, the machine is getting obsolete. Just look at your Pentium II PC and know what I mean.

sorry for the double post.

Well said, your3rdi ! I could not have put it better.
To all the Joels and Jons in Sin, you have to open your eyes a bit bigger and socialise a bit more in the inner circle to understand more. Let me cite an eg. - was at our popular govn hospital, Tan Tock Seng and the shop assistant told me that the hospital just increased the rent to a whopping $16k a month !!! That's incredible ! Where will the cost increase be passed to - of course, us the consumers ! No wonder our PM says the govn has not made a big show of it - they are at the heart of it all. Thats why the heart land is slowly becoming the hardland. If you look at the ERP, it has never solved any of the traffic issues - so if this has been decided by the cabinet, then I am thoroughly worried about Singapore's future decided by a bunch of people who have eyes but no vision.

The letter writer says that the very complainers who find reason to decry our leaders for every policy that does not benefit them immediately, individually and directly, would not have the presence of mind to do so had their other needs and living requirements not already been provided for by the very hand they are biting.

I am puzzled by this reasoning. Does it mean that complainers around the world that complain and protest against the rising oil prices and food would not have the presence of mind to do so, had their other needs and living requirements not already been provided for by their own governments?

Try telling it to the poor amongst the protesters in the Phillippines or Indonesia.

By the way, many like me, are not a bit concerned about whether we got the Gold medal last night. And it is sad that the PM used that as a means to justify the bringing in of Foreign Talents into Singapore. Sad because these are totally 2 different issues. If you look at Hong Kong and Taiwan, do they depend on the China brigade to bring in the medals ? They fight for their own independence and pride and dignity. While we have to bring in Team B China and always stand 2nd best. Why don't we just revel in the pride of being Chinese and that China has shown the world what we Chinese can achieve. Please do not use the achievements of China born talents to say that we need FTs. Look, even Tao Li is from China, sad to say. It's time we stand on our own two tiny little red dot feet.