A bird's eye view of the plight of indigent pensioners

 "You have served your purpose. What you are getting is enough. We are waiting for you to die" These mortifying words were uttered by none other than the demonic Finance Minister at the time Dr. Richard Hu to the president and vice-president of the Government Pensioners' Association who saw him to seek an increase to the poverty-level pensions of indigent pensioners. This was brought to the notice of the lofty PM Lee Hsien Loong who remained reticent which meant that he endorsed the vicious utterance tacitly.

In another incident I wrote to boggle-minded Lee Hsien Loong on the same subject of an increase to the poverty-level pensions of indigent pensioners. I pointed out that pensioners who retired in the 1970s received poverty-level pensions which have remained stagnant while cost of living has been rising from time to time. Lee Hsien Loong was either inebriated or suffered mental lapses when he talked through his nose, if not his arse, that he was constrained by the Constitution which determined the pension of retired civil servants. Since his father's era the PAP had been amending the Constitution at their whims for their political purpose, the most notorious being the amendment preventing the appeal to the Privy Council which was an authoritarian act to stifle the political opponents. Can't the kind-hearted Lee Hsien Loong do the same to lift the indigent pensioners out of their poverty? They deserve to be remembered for their contributions to the country when they were in service. What I had done for Singapore I don't think any run-of-the-mill ministers can hold a candle to today.

The indigent pensioners are living in poverty whilst the venal PM and ministers are luxuriating in their liivelihood at the people's expense  by legally syphoning millions of dollars from the public coffers to enrich themselves. There are Singaporeans who barely survive on a sbsistence level and many who sleep in the open. Is this what the PAP demagogues call a just and equitable society? The people could not or would not do anything to change the status quo and we may have to leave  to divinity to do it which may take eternity.

Some observation may be appropriate regarding medical benefits for the pensioners. Sometimes items may have to be purchased from government pharmacies because of inavailability in polyclinic pharmacy for which we may claim re-imbursements. Sometimes we may come across perfunctoriness from Pension Office staff  who may reject our claims off-hand and we have to go through the hassle of appealing for redress. We are indigent pensioners and every cent means a lot to us and we hope that Pension Office staff can show more compassion in dealing with our claims.

Inhumane discrimination against the unvaccinated

 The polemic that is catching the attention of the people is the inhumane discrimination of the unvaccinated prohibiting them from eating at hawker stalls and visiting malls among others. There are now about 200,000 unvaxxed and why do the resist vaxxing? The main reason is fear of adverse reaction while some may be disqallified because of medical conditions. Do they have the human right to resist?

That's a million-dollar question and the millionaire prime minister and his equally wealthy ministers do not think so. True to their character they ride rough-shod over these down-trodden unvaxxed  and proceed with their draconian measures. What can the unvaxxed do to seek recourse to their predicament. Fortunately they have divine benevolence on their side.

The TREmeritus pugnacious crusaders, imbued with the spirit of fighting injustice, have emerged to take up the cudgels for the unvaxxed to take Judicial Review Class Action  against the inhumane PAP PM and ministers to rescind the draconian measures. Whether the TRE crusaders can succeed depends on the concrete support of the public to donate generously for the cause. So far it seems that the donations have been rather sluggish and justice-conscious Singaporeans should be more benevolent in giving donations for a  good cause. Without sufficient funds the TRE crusaders will be hampered in their action as the legal counsel has to be paid.

There is another team from the Healing the Divide (HID) which is also taking judicial proceedings against the PAP ministers for the unvaxxed quite independently from the TRE team which does not forebode well for the lack of unity. There was no dearth of sincere effort by the TRE team to get the HID to agree to joint action but the HID, for reason best known to themselves, turned down any joint action. This will mean that the PAP ministers will be facing a split litigation  and it does not augur well for the unvaxxed. Let's  hope that some good sense will come to the HID team to agree to joint action before the Judicial Review is commenced.

The George E Bogaars Story

I read with keen interest the superb production of the tome on The George E Bogaars Story. 

I need to seek the understanding of the renowned author Ms. Bertha Henson to comment on the George E Bogaars book. It is not the intention, not in the least, to detract in any way from the exquisite portrayal of George E Bogaars by the author in her book. GEB had been my benefactor and maybe quite presumptuous of me to think that I have a duty to complement the superlative narrative in Ms Bertha's book.

GEB's venture to helm the Keppel Shipyard was a calamitous disaster. He simply did not have the business acumen and uncanniness of an astute Chinese business to make a significant success of the venture. He should have seen the writing on the wall and made a timely retreat which could have saved him from his extremely miserable destiny and may have even saved him from the three fatal strokes which could have been attributed to his severe stress in Keppel Shipyard.

However his highly Messianic mission as Director of Special Branch to restore the complete tranquility of security to Singapore, which was the most outstanding achievement of his civil service career, has apparently been overlooked in the book. He reported directly to Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew  and had him literally spellbound  with his highly potent  handling of the revolutionay security threat from the Communist United Front considering that he had only administrative experience.

GEB was such a powerful personality that Lee Kuan yew relied heavily on him,not only on security, but sought his advice sometime on Cabinet matters. We used to have morning meetings with with our senior staff and invariably Lee Kuan Yew would call GEB to chat and be briefed on up-to date intelligence. He even called GEB in the night.There was no doubt that GEB wa so high in the regard of LKY that he had become some kind of legend among senior civil servants.

When LKY courted  Malayan Prime MinisterTungku Abdul Rahman for merger with Singapore he had made lull use of GEB's support for his mission. The Malayan PM used to unwind with his senior ministers in convivial gatherings in Cameron Highland and LKY was usually invited and he brought GEB along to perk up his morale and at the same time to enhance his reputation.

After Singapore became independent in August 1965 GEB was promoted to Permanent Secretary of Interior & Defence and soon after LKY created the post of Head Civil Service to honour him. GEB         was really on a roll but somehow at some stage fate took an unfavourable turn and his fortune took a tumble. His last days in life had not been pleasant or comfortable.

George E Bogaars was in every  respect a top national icon to whom a redoubtable Lee Kuan Yew owed his precious life.