Lim Swee Say - The Frog

From: "truth"
Subject: Fuckup papist nincompoops - Lim Swee Say

truth comment: with people like this as cabinet nincompoops,
singapore is doom.

(Lim Swee Say the storyteller, compared Pap Ministers and MPs to the Frogs. With their long and swift tongues to suck money from the people.)

After being embarrassed in Parliament by WP MP Low Thia Kiang's demolition
of the labor movement's ineptitude to help lower wage workers in Singapore,
one would expect Minister Lim Swee Say and NTUC Secretary-General to come up
with a robust argument to counter him.

Instead, he used an unheard fable about a "kingdom of frogs" to brush aside
Mr Low's criticisms.

"The story goes that in a kingdom of frogs, the tallest tower in the world
is built for an annual competition. And when the event is held, many aim to
become the champion by making it to the top, but fail as they are
discouraged by the audience, who warn that the climb is too dangerous. All
except one frog who did reach the top. And when asked afterwards why he
ignored the crowd, the frog said: 'I'm deaf. I can't hear them'", he said.

The gist of Mr Lim's message: Despite criticisms from Mr Low, the labour
movement will continue to address problems faced by low-income Singaoreans.

"We never give up. We are like the little frog. We are deaf to all these
criticisms. So instead of telling us that low-wage workers are having
problems, why not be part of the solution?," he was quoted as saying in the
Straits Times.

As expected, the Straits Times tried to portray Mr Lim as the "victim" and
pinning the blame on Mr Low for criticizing without offering solutions.

Being paid almost $2 million dollars a year, Mr Lim ought to realize that it
is the duty of MPs to ask questions and criticize if necessary in Parliament
as in all modern democracies in the world. If he cannot stand the heat in
the kitchen, he should get out of it!

The onus is on Mr Lim to answer the questions posed by Mr Low and not to
counter-challenge him to be "part of the solution". The key role of the
opposition is to check on the ruling party and to hold it accountable for
its words and actions and not to do offer solutions for it to govern the
nation.

If Mr Lim wants Mr Low to offer solutions, then he should be prepared to
give Mr Low a job in NTUC or other government committees and pay him a
salary commensurate with his services.

Mr Lim also reminded Mr Low that "the government always paid special
attention to low-income earners and had introduced programmes like Workfare
to supplement their income", but the fact remains that low wage Singaporeans
are still struggling due to direct competition from cheaper foreign workers.

Furthermore, Mr Low did offer a solution to scrap the foreign worker levy
and to refine the dependency ratio to moderate the inflow of foreign
workers.

Mr Lim's attitude epitomizes a wider problem pervading the entire PAP - the
inability to listen to others and accept feedback and criticisms in good
faith.

As the recent parliamentary sessions had shown, the PAP MPs are completely
out of touch with the ground. It will be apt to describe them as a "kingdom
of frogs" living in their own wells.