[sgbuffett]

I have read the book LKY : The man and his ideas several times. This book was written by author Han Fook Kwang through a series of interviews.

Epiphany  came after watching American astronauts navigate a seemingly hopeless situation when the Apollo 13 had  faulty rockets. The astronauts had to use their guts and wits to survive. They managed to slingshot the capsule around the moon's gravity to land on earth. The remarkable feat was believed to be the result of the astronauts  selection process that picked men with the mental fortitude for the task.

Below is an extract showing Lee's thoughts:
 


This  coupled with his fascination with ancient imperial examination system resulted in the scholar'elite system we have today. If you look at our cabinet almost everyone is a scholar taken a path through SAF or civil service. Heng Swee Keat the previous PM designate was a scholar who went to Cambridge after his A levels. Chan Chun Seng a top A levels student and received the prestigious SAF scholarship to study in Cambridge. They like to identify people early co-opt them into the system and allocate them with both educational and career opportunities to further select from this small pool.

From all my reading and understanding of human development such as system will eventually lead to deterioration and will not serve us well at all.

1. Eventually the people that move up are yes men. Because they have to be agreeable to the top to get selected and  move up in such a system.  The leadership gets weaker with successive generations.
.
2. The sure sign of weakening leadership is lack of disagreement on critical issues. They are just group thinkers or keep debate hidden from populace leading to disengagement. Decision making is all internal - they never bother to consult us on CECA or anything. Only when challenged by opposition we get some debate ( though of poor qualiy) - shouldn't that be done before we sign?

3. The ability of the ruling elites to engage the people has declined year after year. These days we don't even bother as they push through bills like POFMA, anti foreign interference laws...laws that seem to favor their rule and are never supported by the people.

4. Over time the interests of the elites and ordinary citizens will diverge especially for a govt with so many close links to business where elites move in their own circle. Politicians move seamlessly to and from GLCs companies they sometimes have to regulate. The closed network does not automatically inspire trust of the ordinary people as  natural collusion among the power elite takes place.

What is the evidence that all this is turning bad.....it shows up in income gap .(highest among developed countries)...the stark difference at how the man on the street looks at the world vs the elites. The clearly declining leadership quality. The rising dissonance will over time engulf our society.

[forum456]

[forum456]

loud squawker crossword

[Ola]

Let me put this bluntly.

PAP hire academically successful individuals, NOT people who can work.

Full of theories, so what if it cannot be used effectively??

[ArielCasper]

Time has changed. In LKY's time, he is a lawyer by profession, while our father and father's father are in general lesser educated or not educated. This make our fathers placed trust in LKY and LKY to a large extent did not betray their trust.

Fast forward now, most of us now had at least a tertiary education while the ministers at most are PHD. The education gap between the 2 are much narrower now and we are able to put our education in use and reason out if policies make sense.

Of course, the ministers are doing a poorer job as compared to LKY's era..

[WhatDoYouThink?]

they're all sent to the same top schools where they learned about the same things, either Harvard stanford, cambridge Oxford, cornell imperial, ... inbreeding problem?

[Blasterlord2]

While I'm a strong opponent of the scholarship system I have to admit that it sounds logical. And why not? Groom the clever ones, give them opportunities so that they can take up heavy responsibilities. Observe them so that the devious ones will be sieved out. It had worked at certain periods of imperial China so why wouldn't it work?

The problem is human nature. Just like what Ngiam had mentioned, even if the ministers, the MPs and the civil servants wish to speak out against the leaders, their wives will stop them. Hence, giving them an obscene salary will ALWAYS make them groveling servants. When it comes to deciding the good of the nation and their own, if they can choose one, they'll choose their own interests over the nation. Only a very small number will choose otherwise. Of course, the fault cannot lie completely with them because this is human nature.

The better system is a balance. Give them a good salary that is a certain number of times the poorest, a certain number of times the middle-class. If they can make others' lives better then they deserve their salaries. And make it such that their bonus is given over a number of years and can be crawled back, to guard against leaders who give grand ideas but turn out to be highfalutin ones.

[[[ForeverAlone]]]

While I'm a strong opponent of the scholarship system I have to admit that it sounds logical. And why not? Groom the clever ones, give them opportunities so that they can take up heavy responsibilities. Observe them so that the devious ones will be sieved out. It had worked at certain periods of imperial China so why wouldn't it work?

The problem is human nature. Just like what Ngiam had mentioned, even if the ministers, the MPs and the civil servants wish to speak out against the leaders, their wives will stop them. Hence, giving them an obscene salary will ALWAYS make them groveling servants. When it comes to deciding the good of the nation and their own, if they can choose one, they'll choose their own interests over the nation. Only a very small number will choose otherwise. Of course, the fault cannot lie completely with them because this is human nature.

The better system is a balance. Give them a good salary that is a certain number of times the poorest, a certain number of times the middle-class. If they can make others' lives better then they deserve their salaries. And make it such that their bonus is given over a number of years and can be crawled back, to guard against leaders who give grand ideas but turn out to be highfalutin ones.

So call Smart nowadays is very complex.
This is why people like to compare, Street Smart vs " bookworm " so call smart.

SG education System actually is memorise and memorise Come Exam.
Why many flop due to distraction social life, friends. etc

These bookworm don't have much social life. Don't believe me? go dare to ask any current MP, minister what and how their childhood like. Yes they have but not much like you and me average joe out there. Some of them are born with gold spoon , family background already link there. Just like some Minister, MP their father is Ex PAP MP too etc top civil servants.

LKY days , give high salary to curb corruption. Yes workable BUT it is not workable now. Look , under LHL, despite all top civil servant been highly pay down to Director in Ministries, Town council manager. Look refresh back how many corruption case involve ex civil servants. EPIC PM lee GRC , Ex Town council manager into corruption somemore. Remember? been sentence? He still got the cheek wanna appeal but of course never win in the end.

look recently LTA Director. too.

Do their pay so low? NOPE, is very Reasonable NOT bad and high as Civil servants.
What more they want to ask for ? Work life balance, welfare as civil servants, beside wages reasonable there.
EVEN the world economics down, they WILL never face any retrenchment so call , cut man power Unlike in Private sector.

Just look recently , How many private sector give Bonus ? So far Seng Song due to profit from Covi19 as people hoarding foods etc.
and some if managed to earn.

Whereas most companies in private sector even big corporation cut man power, retrenchment.
Whereas Civil servant just got their usual July Mid year bonus, Soon Year end coming.

Now I shall say Human Greed is NO limit now. You give a person millions, he/she don't even feel enough.

Now people are hungry for more , Billions, Trillions.

[Cmpunk]

Because many scared to loss their rice bowl that why keep quiet and move on after all salary pay every month

[p1acebo]

[Migrant]

Do that.?
Prepare to eat shit...

[abc123]

I only know if you are kiasi and lazy, you will be a loser in any system.

[Blasterlord2]

So call Smart nowadays is very complex.
This is why people like to compare, Street Smart vs " bookworm " so call smart.

SG education System actually is memorise and memorise Come Exam.
Why many flop due to distraction social life, friends. etc

These bookworm don't have much social life. Don't believe me? go dare to ask any current MP, minister what and how their childhood like. Yes they have but not much like you and me average joe out there. Some of them are born with gold spoon , family background already link there. Just like some Minister, MP their father is Ex PAP MP too etc top civil servants.

LKY days , give high salary to curb corruption. Yes workable BUT it is not workable now. Look , under LHL, despite all top civil servant been highly pay down to Director in Ministries, Town council manager. Look refresh back how many corruption case involve ex civil servants.  EPIC PM lee GRC , Ex Town council manager into corruption somemore. Remember? been sentence? He still got the cheek wanna appeal but of course never win in the end.

look recently LTA Director. too.

Do their pay so low? NOPE, is very Reasonable NOT bad and high as Civil servants.
What more they want to ask for ? Work life balance, welfare as civil servants, beside wages reasonable there.
EVEN the world economics down, they WILL never face any retrenchment so call , cut man power Unlike in Private sector.

Just look recently , How many private sector give Bonus ? So far Seng Song due to profit from Covi19 as people hoarding foods etc.
and some if managed to earn.

Whereas most companies in private sector even big corporation cut man power, retrenchment.
Whereas Civil servant just got their usual July Mid year bonus, Soon Year end coming.

Now I shall say Human Greed is NO limit now. You give a person millions, he/she don't even feel enough.

Now people are hungry for more , Billions, Trillions.

I can answer you with a high degree of confidence that many of the clever ones are not just good at memorizing but are truly more intelligent than others. 

If you also believe that they're merely bookworms then that's a wrong understanding as well. Many of them excelled in sports and other activities.

Of course, I don't deny that there're many others who do well just on the account of being more studious than others but we cannot generalize.

Since you talked about the LTA director, I knew him quite well, going back to more than 20 years ago. He was not a scholar and don't stand out as being particularly intelligent. But he worked hard and exudes a charm, being a sports man with a 6-pack body and suave looks. The thing that did him in is his gambling habit.

[Symmetry]

Thousands of years ago, those who study are the rich people. So the high seats are often reserved for their own family.

Now, why must we reserved it for them?

[[[ForeverAlone]]]

I can answer you with a high degree of confidence that many of the clever ones are not just good at memorizing but are truly more intelligent than others. 

If you also believe that they're merely bookworms then that's a wrong understanding as well. Many of them excelled in sports and other activities.

Of course, I don't deny that there're many others who do well just on the account of being more studious than others but we cannot generalize.

Since you talked about the LTA director, I knew him quite well, going back to more than 20 years ago. He was not a scholar and don't stand out as being particularly intelligent. But he worked hard and exudes a charm, being a sports man with a 6-pack body and suave looks. The thing that did him in is his gambling habit.

I only feel sad is , he is disgracing The Hainanese Clan. He is Hainanese and me too.

[Blin]

District 10 postage code 26 , where?.

[Gstalk]

[RiseofAsia]

The problem is lack of accountability and harsh punishment.
Nobody needs to hara kiri even serious mistake made.
没有问责制度。

If the elite cannot perform, immediately kick him down from the seat.

[Ola]

And those bunch of Army Generals are merely toy soldiers.

PAP is mad to make different Army Generals to be trained annually to organise NDP by wasting millions on electricity bills.

Just being given development does not mean that it is justified to hire them when they lack the skills and qualifications.

[FangFang]

Anime of 3 men is so cute and clear,, Lols

[RiseofAsia]

The country must be run by the best talented people.
This is no doubt but.....
Not all elites are meritocrats, sometimes the elites will sway to elitistism, it is where the problem arises.  The ruler needs to step in to stop elitistic behaviour. The ruler must always stand on the same line with the ppl. But I dont see it at all from Current Team.

[Blasterlord2]

Singapore's failures also come as a result of its successes. LKY is well-known for taking it hard on subordinates who make mistakes. This in turn creates a culture of fear in the civil service that no mistakes can be tolerated, no matter how small it is.

Every mistake in the civil service is being amplified and made as though the country will crumble because of it. Hence, civil servants' first aim is ALWAYS to cover backside, without any regard for the logicality of the decisions made. The 'healthy no need to wear mask' message is one of them. The govt will attribute this to WHO who made this decision but did the govt exercise any common sense?

The ministers and MPs' first reaction will also always be to push the blame to others so that they look flawless, because a flawed person will never be given a second chance. Also, ministry will never dare to take bold but necessary solutions because who will dare to stick his head out? Better to play it safe and cruise along (wayang) so that they can get their promotions.

In a nutshell, LKY's way to success also sets the stage for the country's decline. We need to change the way the country is run.

[talky]

spore law on coruption is not sever enough.
look at Xi in china 
convicted whole fortune confiscated,spore shld learn fr the man who has gone through real hardhardship.
these scholars n elites many born w golden spoons elevated to high positions not becos of working hard n smart to deserve the present high post n insane pay.

[Ola]

Double Standard of PAP.

Local SMEs cannot attract locals to work for them, while PAP OVER-pay Ministers to work for them.

Local SMEs reserve Top jobs for their Familee, while PAP reserve Top jobs for their SAF Army Generals.

Local SMEs want to hire FWs but punished with levies, while PAP allow Unfettered access of FTs to punish local employees.