mollymeek

I read with alarm Dr. Robert Kiltgaard's claim that Singapore will be hit by a new wave of corruption. His claim contains certain baseless assumptions that our government needs to robustly refute.

Firstly, the idea of a "new" wave of corruption means that there was an "old wave", so to speak, of corruption. This is totally untrue for we know that Singapore is virtually corruption free. The people who are most likely to be corrupt are paid so well that they won't be corrupt.

Secondly, Dr. Kiltgaard's definition of corruption is baffling. He said, "There's a kind of post-modern corruption coming with property rights problems – copying; you take my design when it was me who invented it. I think Singapore is going to be challenged as we are in America by this new way of corruption." This is ridiculous. It sounds like intellectual theft to me and intellectual theft is intellectual theft. What's so postmodern and corrupt about it?

In any case, copying may not be a bad thing. Look at what the Chinese did with Suzhou Industrial Park.

Furthermore, Dr. Kiltgaard's suggestion that there is a need to reduce monopoly by enhancing competition simply does not work for Singapore. In Singapore, monopolies or virtual monopolies are necessary so that enterprises can make money at the expense of disgruntled whiners.

To prevent corruption, we should use tried and tested methods, including paying the potentially corrupt a high salaries. For the potentially corrupt but non-elite who don't deserve high salaries, we can also come up with a corruption tax, i.e. all those who enter positions or situations in which they could possibly perform a corrupt act will have to pay a price. These steps will ensure that Singapore will remain virtually corruption free.

Finally, if we make certain practices that might be considered corruption legal, then these practices will no longer be corrupt practices. We should deal with postmodern corruption in a postmodern way. For instance, we could make all original ideas public property so that the copying of ideas would not be illegal or corrupt. It's all a matter of definition.

I hope Dr. Kiltgaard understands that Singapore is a small and unique country that will not pander to Western notions of democracy, free expression, corruption, etc.

Lee See Nao

Because Molly is boh liao. Please help me send the following letter to the ST, someone.

The Tough Gets Going 

I salute the AVA for its campaign to promote frozen meat over fresh meat, bringing fresh meaning to the stale cliche that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. The AVA has proven to the cynical public that it is not afraid of promoting alternative lifestyles when the need arises.

Credit must certainly be given to the person who first saw that people are indulging on fresh meat even though their spending power is declining despite all the good news we are hearing about the economy. As an MP once said, we should buy fish when chicken is too expensive. When fresh meat is too expensive, we should buy frozen meat. The AVA personnel who first observed the people's lack of common sense and the need to spend advertising dollars on a campaign to lower our standard cost of living

We know that prices must go up when the economy is good because we cannot afford to wait until there is a recession. In other words, people must become poorer when the economy is good because they cannot wait till the economy is bad to become poorer. Although it is inevitable and good for prices to go up, it is unfortunate that people are ignorant enough not to want to switch to frozen meat. In fact, such ignorance must have caused lucrative fast food chains like MacDonalds  to lose millions of dollars every year. It is thus timely for the AVA to educate people on how they could save money.

Many ministries can learn from the AVA. For instance, people are complaining that bus fares are getting higher and higher. This must be due to the fact that they are taking Express buses and premium bus services instead of normal buses. The LTA and the PTC could launch a campaign to encourage people to take normal buses. Actually, they are not all that different. You can still arrive at your destination at the same time if you leave home two hours earlier.

Singaporeans should be thankful that during such difficult times, we have a competent government that will not hesitate to teach the citizens how to deal with rising costs. Their wisdom is exceptional especially if we consider the fact that our ministers do not even have first-hand experience when it comes to declining spending power.

Molly Meek (Ms)

I am extremely saddened to read in the news that people have been making fun of the Home Team despite the fact that they are putting in their best effort to catch Mas Selamat. Surely the Home Team has not kept Singapore safe and secure all these years only to be jeered at.

I hope that the morale of the Home Team does not get affected by insensitive bloggers and other people who call themselves netizens. To be sure, the Home Team has proven itself to be efficient and resilient. It has also proven itself to be capable of maintaining law and order in Singapore. This is clearly seen in the way they arrested the protestors outside the Parliament House on Saturday, thus preventing a violent riot that would have caused Singapore's economy to collapse.

The story of how a courageous woman risked being bitten by a rabid Chee Siok Chin proves that the police force is the trump card of the Singapore government when it comes to maintaining the extremely fragile social fabric. It is able to effectively trump the violence of the opposition out to destroy Singapore.

The success of the mission to clamp down on potential rioters should serve to boost the morale of the Home Team. The Home Team should see how brave, professional and principled the Home Team is, having rejected the application for permission to stage a protest and standing by the right decision.

Mr. Lee See Nao