lundi, mars 14, 2011 Stuck between a Rock, surrounded with Water, and a Railway While I'm no pro-LKY lackey (he's definitely a hard-headed son of a gun), I respect the guy for putting in so much effort into the idea of Singapore. Historically, we've definitely got a ways to go, and honestly speaking, most of us are so comfortable and take things for granted that I doubt there will be another strong push for patriotism and the idea of Singapore - unless something comes along to threaten it. Could the other MM be it? His recently published memoirs sound a little ... illogical, to the extent of being incoherent. Let's take the excerpt from the Sunday Times today for a test-drive: On Water: "Why should Malaysia have to subsidise the Singapore Government? And it really is the Government that we are subsidising, not the people of Singapore who are paying $17 (well over RM40) for 1,000 gallons of treated water. "  I say kudos to smart Singaporean patriots who looked ahead to our future, securing a long-term contract for themselves, their children, and their children's children. I'm sorry that Malaysians didn't have good negotiators, but I count myself blessed to have hard-nosed negotiators who are looking out for my welfare when dealing with international negotiations. For national security purposes (in Malaysia's pov), a smart move would be to reduce Malaysia's reliance on imported treated water through R&D. Though honestly I think they'd probably turn around and complain that Hyflux owns all the patents to water treatment/desalination. But I hardly think it's fair that you blame us from investing in R&D - and thus getting ahead of the race. It was always there for you to run, and again, I'm blessed to be living in a country with these thinkers. This is Rail-ly annoying  "The status of the POA is now murky, with Singapore demanding that we move our Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities to Woodlands, which is near the Singapore end of the Causeway. Meanwhile, Singapore began to claim that the land to compensate Malaysia for Tanjong Pagar and the railway line was not to be developed by us alone, but jointly." This just degenerated in to a "he said/she said" situation. Given Singapore's penchant for paperwork, I highly doubt we changed anything. Plus the Pulau Batu Puteh principles (see below), and you have a strong case of suspecting that Malaysia may have shifted the goalposts somewhere. Standing on the Rock
1. Why was it administered from Singapore? (if Msia wanted it so much, why didn't its negotiators insist on administration in Sg?) 2. MM also said that "The decision to go to the ICJ was made while I was still prime minister" - so the decision to move away from "subtleties" to the "books of rule" was overseen by him. 3. Are "books of rule" different from "how the world works"? I thought the world works based on these books of rule. 4. Why is this even linked with an ethnicity issue? Stuck "At one stage, we had agreed that all our unresolved issues be settled together as a package. But because Singapore would never agree to a revision of the price of water, all other issues could not be resolved, making a package solution impossible." Haiz. Another "he said/she said" situation, since we were told by our authorities that the Msians were the one who kept dragging the water issue in. As a patriot, and as someone who looks at the track record of governments and how they function longitudinally, I read this statement, then I take a look at the news caricature in bad taste - ultraman outrunning a tsunami ... and I think - it's a little of "no contest" for logical thought and human decency actually. Libellés : humanitarian, singapore, thinking [Stuck between a Rock, surrounded with Water, and a Railway] |
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