The politics of non-accountability in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic

Is this the face of a selfless politician masquerading in the dedication of service to the people? Hard to convince when they enrich themselves by paying themselves millions of dollars from taxpayers' money. What is jangling the people's mind right now is how much the prime minister's wife is getting for helming the Temasek Holdings as CEO. Her appointment had actually raised some eyebrow as many people could not believe that she could qualifiy for the job if she were not the prime minister's wife. It will be a million dollar question if a candid answer could come from her selectors. It looked like a fait accompli foisted on the people which could only leave them flabbergasted. But a more sinister surprise awaited the public and they could not be more flabbergasted than the concealment of the arcane salary by the run-of-the-mill PAP government that would be the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

The people have never been so vociferous in their outcry for justice in demanding the government of the drollish PM Lee Hsien Loong to be upfront in disclosing the arcane salary of his wife Ho Ching. They could be under the initial miscalculation that this demand could fizzle out in time but I think that the intensity of the vocal demand has rattled them and put them in a very untenable position which can continue indefinitely until there is a goodwill response from the government. With the general election on the horizon maybe it may have an auspicious effect of leveraging the political myopia of the government to give a welcome acquiescence to the people's demand. I think this will enhance the political standing of the PAP and is this really a great price to pay? The PAP leaders must show that they really have the interests of the people at heart.

It may not be out of place to give some adulation to the PAP Multi-Ministerial Task Force for showing some creditable imagination in their handling of the coronavirus pandemic with the circuit breaker measures notwithstanding the flaks that came from certain quarters. I think it s not an accident that Taiwan is showered with accolades for their exemplary handling of the coronavirus pandemic and it would not be a lack of humilty to take a leaf out of Taiwan's book.

The world is changing and is changing rapidly and it would be  matter of great regret if Singapore could not take the advantage of benefitting from the change.

The PAP's comic opera on Ho Ching's salary

It might have given Singaporeans and citizens of other countries in the East and West that the issue of Ho Ching's salary was a matter of monumental concern that affects the destiny of the rise and fall of Singapore. It really boggles the mind of Singaporeans and foreigners the ferocious tenacity that PM Lee Hsien Loong and his venal ministers have put up to resist very persistent vocal demand by the public to know how Ho Ching's salary could be such a national secret that it could not be disclosed to the public. The only impression that the public can draw is that it is of such an enormous nature that it will cause a gigantic public uproar that may be intractable and defy any civilised explanation.

On 5 May 2020 Workers' Party MP Leon Perera very skilfully raised a question in Parliament whether or not giving the real figure after POFMA directives are issued against allegedly false figure will really meet the objective of reinforcing trust in those institutions. You can easily knock someone down with a feather by the way the PAP Minister Indranee Rajah replied that the matter is before the court which is an independent tribunal and it will  decide on the specific question of public trust. Don't you think she should be given a gold medal for her ingenuity or the lack of it? I have said before that PAP politicians are simply money-minded charlatans and I think I have to be proved wrong. It does not take more than a dolt to remind them that all it takes to solve the prickly problem is to disclose the real figure instead of concealing behind a rigmarole.

PM Lee Hsien Loong cannot beguile the public for eternity and there must come a time when he has to show some conscience in relenting. This may not adversely affect his election prospects but he has at some time or rather to show that he has a whit of conscience to heed the public plaintive cry for justice. I think it will be more to his interest to calm the public's mind on the salary status of his beloved wife as continued fermentation of the issue is not going to reflect kindly on his wife in particular and on himself in general.

The egregious saga of Ho Ching

The name Ho Ching represents clear, pure and lucid. But it is anything but pure and lucid judging from the voluminous amount of vitriolic critiques by Singaporeans on the esoteric concealment of her so-called obscenely astronomical salary Singaporeans and citizens of other democratic countries are simply mind-boggled how a democratic government like Singapore could be so insouciant in unheeding the demand of its citizens to seek the truth of the enormity of the salary of the spouse of the prime minister who has been, whether equitably of not, foisted as a Chief Executive Officer of a government sovereign corporation, the Temasek Holdings.The appointment has indeed raised the ire of discerning Singaporeans since its beginning not excluding the possibility of nepotism but it is the secrecy of Ho Ching's salary that has raised the hackles of Singaporeans. And the continued trepidations of the PAP government to conceal it has not helped in any way to restore the confidence of Singaporeans in the PAP government.

It titillates the imagination to watch how long the PAP government can beguile the citizens with their intransigence. They may get away with it with some of the more guillible Singaporeans and may be encouraged to persist in their shenanigan but I think there must come a time for them to relent. Singaporeans will have to be very patient to wait for that fateful day because it is like the mountain won't come to Mohammad.

Ho Ching may be tempted to emulate the the radical feminism of Jiang Qing (江青), the notorious wife of the late Chairman Mao Tze Tong of China in fllaunting her prowess but whether she will be able to achieve that will depend on how long her joker husband can remain as prime minister. But in the meantime we may be able to be amused by some stand-up comedians in their antics. Both husband and wife are filthy rich and may have assests in the region of $100 million which can see them through their luxrious living for several generations to come. The irony is that whilst PM Lee Hsien Loong and his venal ministers are pocketing millions of dollars from taxpayers' money, the hmanitarian or inhumantarian Lee Hsien Loong showed his ugly feature in his downright refusal to raise the poverty level pensions of civil servants who retired more than thirty years ago and receiving the same pension whilst the cost of living is rising from time to time. If he can be described as humanitarian then the epithet should be changed to something more suitable to his sadistic character. He is as humnanitarian as his infamous father.

May God bless him.