GLC Employee AL: What do we do with a government that operates on failures?
February 28th, 2010 | 
Author: OPINION
The Singapore government preaches about materialism and performance under all odds.
Like in all cases, performance relies on morale. How does the PAP, expects us to go the extra mile, to work harder, to excel when we’re being paid crap? When the cost of living is not manageable, when most of us are at the “Hand to Mouth” state? When our minds are not at peace thinking about our future, or are we machines to work relentlessly without feelings?
Our bread and butter being threatened by so many issues, being afraid we might be left with just breadcrumbs to deal with. In the battlefield, if you shatter the enemies’ morale, the battle is as good as won. Morale is a catalyst for productivity, and let no one tell you otherwise.
The value of materialism which the government upholds with such valor has not been helping anyone at all. It separates us, each man fighting for his place among the top 5% of Singapore which is “physically and mentally endowed”.
This “fighting” does not create growth, but merely a social gap between citizens and an income gap which rewards only the “elites”. The growth of a few individuals, acts only as a morale destroyer for those hanging in the lower rungs of society.
Materialism makes those up there, want to stay there and go higher, and the only way to do that is to keep pushing those already low, lower.
We all know that the Singapore government has a system in place, which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. How can there be true growth and productivity in this system? This is not a classic case of wanting more for less, but wanting gold for copper.
The government has made a system, preached ideals and has expectations which all contradict each other, an epic failure. It’s like wanting a person to move left, right and back all at once. Have they done anything to fix it? I don’t think so. That means a failure every day they don’t. How long has this been going for? Years, that means 365 failures X the number of years. A government that operates on failures.
“Applause please”
Its pretty annoying when we’re overworked, underpaid, fatigued and frustrated, and some “PAPimp” ministers who don’t even have a clue about wha thet majority of Singaporeans are going through, comes along yapping about how we should live our lives and do our jobs.
Actually we should be the ones teaching them how to do their jobs, and deciding how much they get paid. Technically speaking they are serving the public, that makes us their bosses right?
So if we’re bosses and our staff are not performing as promised what should we do? What must we do, if even after all these decades, their PERFORMANCE is not only not up to standard, but actually deteriorating? What if they’ve made too many human errors in their years of service? What should we do, when our staff orders us around, when they arrogantly tell us how to run the business after all these failures? Are we still going to keep them in our payroll?
There are 82 PAP MPs in parliament now and seriously, who knows what they’re there for? Maybe we should cut the amount of manpower we have in the government and give them the wages majority of us get.
The rationale, “Oh! I know! Lets make Singapore attractive for Singaporeans who have migrated elsewhere! And to make this country to keep in pace with other countries where THE GOVERNMENT IS AFRAID OF ITS PEOPLE AND NOT THE PEOPLE AFRAID OF THE GOVERNMENT!”.
I would love to see the looks on their faces when these cowards look at each other with the phrase “overworked and underpaid” grabbing them by their nuts. When we, the people of this country start showing them who’s boss, and the time is coming soon.
The math is pretty simple: The lower the wages and the higher the cost of living, the lower the morale. The lower the morale, the lower the level of productivity. Not, rocket science at all. If the government still can’t figure it out they don’t deserve their salaries and positions. We should just fire them.
This is a quote from a 62 year old man I’d like to share with you guys and finish up this piece:
“How to retire, you tell me? Need to work until die la, some more cut my pay but need to work the same. Never mind! You cut my pay $300, I work $300 less. Mai Chup Siow!”
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27 Responses to “GLC Employee AL: What do we do with a government that operates on failures?”
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>>“How to retire, you tell me? Need to work until die la, some more cut my pay but need to work the same. Never mind! You cut my pay $300, I work $300 less. Mai Chup Siow!”
You work $300 less, I replace you with foreign “talent”.
Use your vote wisely in the coming election because you won’t get another chance to vote out PAP because PAP will dilute true-blue S’poreans with hundreds of thousands of new citizens from China, India, Myammar and what have you
I do agree with the 62 yr old man’s saying.
nowsaday companys are askign for multi-tasking employee.. even if the company don’t cut your pay. but your works has been double-up or even triple.
When we couldn’t crop-up with the work anymore, there comes the lower wages foreigners and companies just go around hiring them & kicking off singaporeans…
Talking about retirement… here is my own 2cts:
1st amount of saving from 18yo-28yo: goes to marriage package
2nd amount of saving from 28yo-32yo: goes to housing loan
3rd amount of saving from 32yo onwards: goes to installment of housing loan, child’s education, bills….so on & so for…
by the time we are 62yo: how to expect to retire with that very little money we saved up while inflation rates are going sky rocket?
I just came back from a short business trip from the UK. they have a minimum wage ruling of about 5puound per hour and a social safety net for the jobless.
From the employers’ viewpoint, this is PRESSURE to ensure that their businesses use the most modern high-tech and high productivity methods while tight immigration rules prevent the simple way out of hiring poorly paid FTs.
From the Govt’s viewpoint, this is a high goal set by the electorate for the elected government to work towards the goals of its electorates. A better society for its citizens.
Very relevant piece in the light of Temasek’s move into investing like a hedge fund.
“Maybe Temasek thinks that a Soros or John Paulson can appear from one of these scholars, SAF generals, or FTs from top biz schools, though based on the exit from BoA (that bought ML), “Dream on baby”. John Paulson was buying as Temasek was selling.”
http://atans1.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/temasek-the-significance-of-seatown/
If we stage a Tiananmen 1989 like protest in Hong Lim Park, I bet the message will get through the daft skulls of the government.
This 62 years old man is most probably still paying his HDB installment and supporting his children who might be upgrading by studying PHD due to no job avialble or mid carrer switch . HA HA HA
LIFE IS SINGAPORE STINKS . HE AND THE REST OF THE 70% LOCAL CITIZENS WILL USE THEIR POWER DURING VOTING . PAPAYAS JUST CANNOT CREAT QUALITY JOBS FOR LOCAL CITIZENS FOR LAST 10 YEARS . INFLUX OF FTs HAVE MADE IT ZERO CHANCE TO GET A JOB .
PROMISED OF 10,000 JOBS IS NOW CONFIRMED A BULLSHIT BY PAPAYAS . THEY WAYANG FOR SO LONG SO ITS TIME TO CHANGE THE PARTY .
I think it is better to cool down and not take too drastic a measure. A sudden total change of the make-up of the government is not healthy.
The opposition is not ripe enough to take over the reins of government yet.
Start voting out the ones who make the most atrocious mistakes, whom the people lose the most trust in, and replace them with opposition figures that the public has absolute faith in.
Then gradually, change all that needs to be changed/moderated, for example, the ministers’ ridiculous salaries, the imposition of a minimum wage, privatisation of TH and GIC, equal distribution of part of the investment gain for the last 10 years to all native Singapore citizens who are citizens for the last 10 years, pro-rated increased housing subsidy to people who bought resale HDB flats this last 2 years, apology to wrongly-detained personnels, etc.
We need rationality with a heart. The mark of true leadership will always be gain for all, wth a righteous heart and with compassion for the commoners.
@transparent: agree totally. Singapore should have this system to avoid a ‘race to the bottom’; otherwise our wages will never increase. those in charge should know there is a lot of wrath amongst those who earnings simply cant keep pace with housing price inflation. and importing more rubbish low end foreign workers wont work.
Life in Singapore is like living in a comfortable prison.
All PAP wants to do is to gain some more GDP growth at whatever the cost, so it can boast. And fleece Singaporeans along the way.
LOL, James Lai! A Tiananmen episode staged at Hong Lim Park will have no impact lah! Organise it at padang! Let the tourists stare in awe!
What to do with this PAP when they failed to protect the interest of Singaporean?
Vote them in again so that they can give themselves a big raise la. What else? We claimed to be smart and intelligent but in reality, it’s those PAP buggers who have the last laugh.
what if fail to overthrow them?what if PAP still reign?
what next?
how abt putting a petition on facebook on how to better use the millions of $$ use to pay the MPs to be our social safety net?
i mean,they gonna earn $58 million right,why not put it to good use?
Interviewer : What do you do with a gahmen that operates on failures?
pinky loong : Give them a pay raise!
No minimum wages combined with the influx of cheap foreign “talents” is a recipe of catastrophic proportions, don’t you reckon?
Why a small country need so many ministers and mps?
I say cut the number of seats and cut the number of employees on the pay roll. Have less GRCs and SMCs. Have bigger SMCs and smaller GRCs.
Savings go to help citizens.
I bet those daft arses will order the firing at innocent civillians and the image will be telecasted arcoss the world. Let the whole world see what kind of government we have!
These difference, many employees work whatever company throw to them out of fear and not out of respect, genuine feedback is minimal because of fear as well and thereby productivity drops as a result.
Guys..here the PAP budget for productivity
” nowsaday companys are askign for multi-tasking employee.. and even cut your pay. but your works has been double-up or even triple..if you can not accept the cut pay..cheap worker will replaced you lah ” Singaporean become suckers in your own Country.
PRODUCTIVITY is a nice word for “exploitation” by the rich and powerful in so-called democratic countries!
I think on this score,unless bosses reward workers as FAIRLY and “productively” as themselves,forcing workers to work more for less,relatively speaking,is humanely unethical!
We are not much better than the feudal lords,really!
As Singaporeans, we should not undercut each other in terms of wages. However, with the influx of cheap FTs, labour in Singapore is so cheap regardless whether you’re a true blue collar or a PhD. Yet the cost of living is disproportionate to our wages. There’s little surprises why many of us left this country when opportunities and life is so unfair.
It is true, after 50 years of PAP rule and the domination of every aspect of Singapore society, there is no immediate alternative to them. The bulk of the population know no other political party in Singapore except the PAP. Many Singaporeans are just concerned with earning a living, putting food on the table, scrimping and saving for the children’s education. Even at 60 years old, retirement is a long way from their minds.
Singaporeans have bought the PAP story, hook, line and sinker. No bait was attached. The bait was a dream. A dream of unlocked value in their flats or the dream of a coming golden age. A dream that by the slimmest chance one of their kids would make if as an SAF scholar or President Scholar, study a nonsensical subject at an Ivy League university overseas and come back to run a government linked company, a government ministry or invest billions in GIC or TH and get paid millions along the way. Another escape route would be to toil in the various PAP linked organizations, prove their loyalty and be selected to be an MP or eventually a minister. A job for which they have to surgically sew up their mouths and remove their brains and testicles. Another dream, and one that is cleverly exploited by the government, is that of an escape from this hellhole called Singapore through instant wealth by winning the Big Sweep or Toto. Now with a casino, no two casinos, the lure is disguised as an integrated resort or a resorts world.
The image of the boiling frog is so appropriate for Singapore. How long before the frog decides to make a break for it? Or does the frog boil to death because it knows no other solution?
Whether someone will turn off the heat as in the PAP making a change is doubtful. As long as LKY is in power, Singaporeans are considered as habitual malingers, complacent and mentally deficient (read daft). Instead he has created a state machinery ripe for authoritarian control. Added to it, he has made it possible for the ruling elite to collect millions in payoffs legally. With state control of the mainstream media, the general population so totally preoccupied with making a living, the people are none the wiser. With all the ruling elite, past and present, suitably fed and rewarded, all past mistakes, cock ups and skeletons are well covered up. After all, who would have imagined an ISD director making $5 million dollars as the country’s president?
How does an ordinary Singaporean like me read the situation? Either the PAP has
a. no clue to what is happening at ground level
b they know what is happening and couldn’t give a damn
c. they have totally run out of ideas on how to solve this colossal mess that they have created or
d. they have gone into reverse gear and recycled the old slogans like productivity (a lesson that they need to apply to the bloated cabinet), painting the old dreams again (golden years, Singapore sending an ice hockey team to the next winter Olympics sounds so like Singapore sending a soccer team to the 2010 World cup)
Either way you choose the outlook is grim for Singapore. This is the result of 50 years of allowing one person to dominate the political scene, obliterate all opposition and manipulating basic human instincts (money, power, security, family, patriotism, xenophobia) for his own personal ends.
My life would be complete if I would be around to stamp on his grave for the curse that he has place on all subsequent generations in Singapore.
-They fail to control car population by not building enough roads while increasing car population; so they increase ERP rates.
-They fail to build more flats inspite of allowing more PRs and new citizens to come in; so HDB prices go up and property tax goes up
-They lose billions through GIC and Temasek; so we need to pay more GST, etc
-This government is overall a total failure having failed to improve the income of the people while inflation goes up; so they increase their pay 8.8% even though our PM’s salary alone is more than the total of the US cabinet!
The largest employer of Foreign Trash are GLC and Crony companies….
Yes, TR !!!! You are very right !
We have been living like hell and those half-human enjoying life with their family and elites.
The time is about to come to show them who is the BOSS !!!!!!!!!!
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx304/junxian1/topsalary.jpg
Good work AL, whoever you are. If only more GLC workers and civil servants like you come forward, there are so many of them..