PAP, the rubbish maker.

The PAP is the rubbish maker in Singapore, physically and spiritually. It is not only the physical rubbish maker but also a creator of a mind garbage. In computer science, we have garbage in and garbage out.  And garbage collection is a form of automatic memory management. If Singapore is full of rubbish, then the ‘garbage in’ has to come from the PAP.  It cannot blame ‘garbage out’ to the people.

The psychological, cultural, philosophical, and mindset garbage, that the PAP government created

in SG50, has made Singaporeans less creative, less patient, more demanding and more stressful due to the automatic garbage collection.  

There is no point criticizing people when the root of all the rubbish problems are caused by the PAP. In Confucian teaching, as the PAP always claimed, the leaders or the government must always suffer first and enjoy last(先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐). According to PM Lee’s analogy, garbage problem is not the government problem. The PAP government must be the first to enjoy a clean environment (as it provides a clean environment and throws no rubbish)  and the last to suffer for the clean up work.   

However, rubbish or garbage is a surface problem. When we look into the details, one will ask what kind of education that the government has provided to the people besides fines and punishment. It seems people either forget the fines or ignore punishment warning. Wow! Singaporeans are very daring now and fail to listen to the government. PM Lee needs to ask himself why?

Is it a failed education of SG50? PM Lee is proud of his education achievement in the past ten years. ESM Goh had once aimed high to make Singapore a gracious society. But looking at the garbage problem, both are failing their duty  to ‘enjoy last, suffer first’ under the Confucianism. They pretend there is no garbage in garbage out problems.

Not long ago, I saw this notice at a condominium office. Some guests are not so ordinary and look aggressive in engaging physical or verbal abuse. However, the management is equal aggressive in engaging legal action.

Dear Value Guest, We  value our staff and committed to server you. Mutual respect and understanding will help us to serve you better. The Management Corporation reserves its right to protect its staff/agent from any physical or verbal abuse and may take legal action against the persons involved.

Even a middle class cluster housing can experience bad behaviour, like abusing staff. Nevertheless, the management’s reply is equally aggressive. Perhaps, they are learning from the PAP government. I am not sure whether HDB or Town Council offices dare to put up this kind of notice. Or, implicitly, they know the garbage collection problems but just ignore them.  

The garbage problem is a mindset problem. It is not a stand alone issue. Some recent events indicate the seriousness of the problem.   

1. The greatest rubbish: In the past 50 years, the education given to Singaporeans is PAP=government=NTUC. Some may even add justice in the equation. So much so we can not run away the image of one-party state.

2. Misleading rubbish: The PAP believes in money politics and high pay to attract talents. It misleads people in believing talents must be highly paid. It misleads voters high GNP growth will benefit all. It believes money can solve the rubbish problem by employing more workers.

3. Full of rubbish: The issue of Sengkang West columbarium and the government’s replies are full of rubbish. The analogy of ‘Butterfly lovers’ has dirtied the beautiful love story.  It shows a weak and low appreciation of arts and culture for the PAP.

4. Uncleared garbage: The alcohol ban is just another unsolved garbage. It further reinforces the concept of ‘rich’ is better. If you have money, just go to the bar, nightclubs, restaurants and hotels, there is no ban there.

5. Unsolved rubbish: CPF and its recommendations on withdrawal, MediShield  are unsolved rubbish problems. The PAP government has yet to clear up the rubbish. 
6. Rubbish generator: PM Lee’s Q & A on Facebook generates even more rubbish than he wanted to collect. He could manage to answer only a few questions but there are a lot of outstanding ‘rubbish’, some even unpublished or uncollected.    

The only way to get rid of the rubbish is to get rid of the PAP. Otherwise, the problem of garbage in garbage out will always be there.