Why We Have A Bad Rubbish President?

By: 永久浪客/Forever Vagabond

It was reported that at an SDP public forum last Saturday (16 Jul), one of the panelists, Mr Tay Kheng Soon. told the audience that because his brother, the late Dr Tay Eng Soon, stood up to then Education Minister Tony Tan instead of becoming a “yes” man, his brother’s career was “truncated” by the PAP.

At the time, Dr Tay was the Minister of State for Education, reporting to Tony Tan. Tony Tan was the Minister for Education from 1985 to 1991.

Mr Tay said about his brother (http://theindependent.sg/ite-and-poly-education-is-bad-rubbish-did-tony-tan-say-that), “As you all know my brother, the late Tay Eng Soon, was the Minister of State for Education, he fought for ten years within the cabinet to increase the funding for the ITEs and Polytechnics, and his career prospect within the party was actually truncated by it.”

“The reason was – he never told me what actually happened, loyalty to the party, right? After he died, his wife told me the real story. All the time, Tony Tan, that’s why I have no respect for Tony Tan at all. Tony Tan said to him all the time, all through the ten years, ‘Why do you want to throw good money after bad rubbish?’ I cannot stand this. This is the inherent elitism. You have to break that.”

So, according to Dr Tay Eng Soon’s brother, Mr Tay, who heard it from Dr Tay’s wife, Tony Tan then as the Education Minister was of the view that ITEs and Polytechnics are “bad rubbish”.

Just to add that, LKY another Baba, or Peranakan, had also believe that the Baba's are truly the elite Chinese from China, sent by the then Despotic Emperor Yong Le of the Ming Dynasty, to settle in South-east Asia, and eventually to colonise the area.

The rest of the Chinese and Indians who came after the 18th century, were refugees and mainly made up of coolies and fishermen from Southern China and South-east India. To the PAP Elites, these are the rubbish that have to deal with.

This is the concept held by LKY, and hence the PAP, perhaps forever. And this is the main reason why policies are tailored towards talented Foreigners, who are given special privilege when come to jobs, education and citizenship applications.

Some of the feedback of Singaporeans on this issue cannot be ignored, and like to share them here:

Cj Leo
Tony Tan, while being Chairman of SPH bought TWO penthouses build by SPH at special price for staff. If this is not greed, what is.

Suchada Leong
I met Dr. Tay E.S. once at our local provision shop at Spottiswoode. After he left the owner commented "a good man can move freely without any need for bodyguards" . He was then the Education minister....friendly and humble.