Was I just ranting here yesterday in my "NUS is pricey says Forbes" that the PM assured us that nobody who is academically able will be denied a place in our universities or polytechnics. I knew I didn't need to wait very long for newspaper story to prove the converse, but I didn't reckon that it would be so soon.
In the electric New Paper today, they have this story, "No money, so girl, 6, misses 3 weeks of school " If you cannot afford even pre-school you will never qualify for tertiary education.
I am not sure if I should miss the old days when his father was PM. At that time, my dad and uncles told me we could take Lee Kuan Yew at his word. These days, they have "PRed" everything. I tell them, it is wisdom to be respected than to be loved or popular.
I am living down that PR crap here from my government even when I am far away from them in Dubai. Overall it is still a good government but the drift to becoming like a government anywhere is discernible but without some unintended pluses other systems offer. Now the story I want to tell is too sensitive for this forum. I have been threatened with the short end of the stick no less if I dare try.
Living in Dubai under a very different jurisdiction has helped me by contrast to miss or dismiss governance and life under the present Singapore way. I think we trade off far too much in Singapore. We shall pay with more than tears for it. I shall only share the details offline. Maybe I can leave you with a hint - Unless you belong to the elite, Singapore has an animal view of humanity. This can only be cured with a change of heart, by learning from the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
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I just came back and saw that this story of the 6 year old missing school for three weeks has been given prominence on AsiaOne. Readers' comments were understandable. Read them for yourself at http://forums.asiaone.com/showthread.php?t=17829.
Let me quote two of them.
"Really feel angry with these bunch of people. So what if one child could not pay for her fee. Is it going to hurt them in any way. Where is the compassion that our dear leader keep emphasising. All these bunch of people know is money and money and money."
And a more humorous one,
"this family must be under the 'nobody' category, because there is this infamous saying by some politician somewhere, he said 'nobody will be left behind'. this family is obviously not in the 'somebody' league because they are nobodys and they are left behind now."
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