forum - surprise

received a call from a lady friday, "hello, this is from straights times, to inform you that your letter to forum has been considered for publish."

he's anxious when he woke up this morning, looked into the forum page, first thing he did.

no letter.

he was already suspicious after the call, how could they publish his letter? even if the editor did appreciate what he wrote, the gahmen machinery on the press would not let it happen.

was surprised they called to say the letter was considered for publish, not at all surprised they did not do so.

Dear Editor,
The news article "Motorsports fans upset as Changi hub plan stalls " worries me a lot for our future. Mr Lee's worry is whether the nation can unite in facing national issues, but mine rather whether we are insistent in the actual practice of meritocracy we have so much boasted about as our core strength. The failure of completion of this project reminds me of the delay of the national stadium that put severe constraints on the international football competition held here. We had to constrain ourselves in the tiny, artificial-grass Jalan Besar Stadium. It also reminds me of the slow and complacent mentality in tackling issues like HDB supplies/pricing, flood issues, shortage of hospital beds, security bridge issue, and the transportation jamming/crowding issues. Most of these issues have been there many years ago, and till now, no comprehensive and effective solution yet. if our million-$ ministers cannot fix these problems, which are complex indeed, but still tractable if enough planning and foresight were there, how do you expect them to deal with issues, like population aging issue, foreign talent issues, low fertility issues, leadership succession issues..... which are more complex?

And where are these ministers now, who are supposed to be FULLY responsible for the projects under them?

Some retired, but many still around, some put in charge of other ministries. Are we really practicing meritocracy? Or are we so lack of ministerial talents that we have to resort to job rotation as a form of reprimand for doing a bad job? If so, then I really have another very big worry. Worry about the quality of the leaders we have now, and going to have if we continue with this type of one-party-rule-all system.