Feb 8, 2010
I READ with consternation condescending comments by United States ambassador-designate to Singapore David Adelman on his plan to use 'public diplomacy' to promote political and press freedom ('Envoy-designate to Singapore faces panel', last Thursday).
I READ with consternation condescending comments by United States ambassador-designate to Singapore David Adelman on his plan to use 'public diplomacy' to promote political and press freedom ('Envoy-designate to Singapore faces panel', last Thursday).
These are matters for Singaporeans to decide. It is none of Mr Adelman's business to try and propagate the 'ambitions Americans have for democracy'. Singaporeans are accountable for our own destiny and he will be well served minding his country's own busines
The world does not need a United States that goes around teaching people how to live their lives, especially by a representative who has never worked outside his own country. The sky viewed from the bottom of a well looks clear blue.
Johnny Heng
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comments from on-line:
It would be a mistake to be lured into a state of mind of 'my country right or wrong'.It is short-sighted and ill-informed to appear to reject what is obvious. To many thinking Singaporeans, it is not so much that an American, an outsider, is attempting to poke its nose into our business.To many of us, what really matters is whether he makes sense, whether what he says has a RING OF TRUTH about it. And we all know, including the ruling party, that indeed this is the case.If it is so OBNOXIOUS to the govt, it could have very quickly sent a protest note or even straight awaydeclared the next US ambassador as persona non grata. And it has demonstrated in previous cases it is perfectly capable of this. BUT TAKE NOTE OF THE DEAFENING SILENCE FROM THE MFA.The govt proxy barking dogs are merely making up the impression that ordinary citizens are indignant about what the ambassador said on behalf of the govt because it is unable according to its 'internal' calculation, that it shouldn't.
[The "deafening silence" is called diplomacy. Adelman was in a job interview. His interviewers may well have been rabid democracy-exporters. Or believers in the god-given right of the US of A to bring civilisation to the heathen masses. In any case, he was asked, what would he do about this irascible nation much like you might be ask during a job interview if you would be willing to sacrifice a weekend or two for your work. Of course we all say yes. Unless you are incredibly truthful and courageous and don't really need the job.]
Recall what LKY said to Charlie Rose at a recent TV interview. LKYwas provoking the US to stay in the region buy painting a spectra of a looming Chinese BLUE navy. His remarks cause a widespread unhappiness in the PRC. His behaviour marked in out as a 'two headed snake'.Perhaps too that was the ulteriormotive behind all those massive billions of our reserves investments and losses in US banks and investment houses.The US message to LKY is: If you want us to stay around to staunch a perceived Chinese hegemony in the region, then you should be a little more like the American people whose belief and acquiescence the US govt needs to commit its forces and presence in this region.It's no longer LKY's usual 'It's my way or the highway' as far as this matter is concerned. Obama is not Bush. Democrats are not Republican. As an aside, the discerning reader of the ST will notice an unfriendly undertone in the articles of the ST journalist currently covering the US. This is a covert extension of LKY's less than welcoming stance towards Obama's presidency. The Obama bashing is more than a little obvious. Now, compare this to what the ST wrote during George W Bush's 8 years.
[Singapore knows which side the bread is buttered and doesn't engage in US-bashing. We don't practice brinksmanship or oneupmanship or any other kind of cheap ploys for domestic politics. Bash Obama? Most Singaporeans have little interest in news beyond our shores. Sure we like big business Republicans more than domestic-minded Democrats, but we can work with what's available.]
On a historical note, memories are short. If not for the US entering the war in WW2 and the atomic bomb, we would have remained a member of Japan's 'East Asia C-prosperity Sphere' and also not to mention Hitler's Nazi's fortune in Europe. The US is not a perfect nation, but it certainly has a lot the we can learn and adopt from it in the making of our nation. Over the last 40-50 years, we have seen both the pros and cons and strengths and weaknesses when there is only one party in charge. We are now stagnate at a plateau economic development-wise. The PAP has run out of ideas. The IR shows the desperation. Have you heard anything new beyond the IR on the way forward for Singapore?
[If you have any good ideas toss it out. But Singapore is pursuing many roads. Bio-tech, medical, pharmaceuticals, software, design, game development, aerospace. No big guns? No main engine of growth like petrochemical, manufacturing, or wafer-fab? Firstly, depending on just one main engine is highly risky. Second, the world doesn't work that way anymore. At this stage of our development, growth will slow down. Find a first world country with sustainable growth in 2 digits or even in the high single digit. There are none. China can grow so fast because its base is so small. The US financial was booming because it was based on high risk leverage. There's no such thing as get rich quick without high risk and for every one that rakes in the bucks, a hundred or a thousand others lose the shirt off their backs.]
The financial crisis clearly and absolutely shows up the consequence of the govt's inbreeding and monopoly of the political and economic processes, The continual blatant manipulation of the electoral system and process underscores the physical perils and mortal dangers to citizens and the nationhood of Singapore. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. For the love of money is the root of all evils.
[The financial crisis is the making of poor financial regulation and greed from the USA, that bastion of capitalism, free economy, and democracy. To turn the financial crisis around and blame the PAP for it requires mental gymnastics and leaps in logic that clearly puts one in the delusional category.]
Posted by: commentator_sc at Mon Feb 08 13:01:07 SGT 2010
[The "deafening silence" is called diplomacy. Adelman was in a job interview. His interviewers may well have been rabid democracy-exporters. Or believers in the god-given right of the US of A to bring civilisation to the heathen masses. In any case, he was asked, what would he do about this irascible nation much like you might be ask during a job interview if you would be willing to sacrifice a weekend or two for your work. Of course we all say yes. Unless you are incredibly truthful and courageous and don't really need the job.]
Recall what LKY said to Charlie Rose at a recent TV interview. LKYwas provoking the US to stay in the region buy painting a spectra of a looming Chinese BLUE navy. His remarks cause a widespread unhappiness in the PRC. His behaviour marked in out as a 'two headed snake'.Perhaps too that was the ulteriormotive behind all those massive billions of our reserves investments and losses in US banks and investment houses.The US message to LKY is: If you want us to stay around to staunch a perceived Chinese hegemony in the region, then you should be a little more like the American people whose belief and acquiescence the US govt needs to commit its forces and presence in this region.It's no longer LKY's usual 'It's my way or the highway' as far as this matter is concerned. Obama is not Bush. Democrats are not Republican. As an aside, the discerning reader of the ST will notice an unfriendly undertone in the articles of the ST journalist currently covering the US. This is a covert extension of LKY's less than welcoming stance towards Obama's presidency. The Obama bashing is more than a little obvious. Now, compare this to what the ST wrote during George W Bush's 8 years.
[Singapore knows which side the bread is buttered and doesn't engage in US-bashing. We don't practice brinksmanship or oneupmanship or any other kind of cheap ploys for domestic politics. Bash Obama? Most Singaporeans have little interest in news beyond our shores. Sure we like big business Republicans more than domestic-minded Democrats, but we can work with what's available.]
On a historical note, memories are short. If not for the US entering the war in WW2 and the atomic bomb, we would have remained a member of Japan's 'East Asia C-prosperity Sphere' and also not to mention Hitler's Nazi's fortune in Europe. The US is not a perfect nation, but it certainly has a lot the we can learn and adopt from it in the making of our nation. Over the last 40-50 years, we have seen both the pros and cons and strengths and weaknesses when there is only one party in charge. We are now stagnate at a plateau economic development-wise. The PAP has run out of ideas. The IR shows the desperation. Have you heard anything new beyond the IR on the way forward for Singapore?
[If you have any good ideas toss it out. But Singapore is pursuing many roads. Bio-tech, medical, pharmaceuticals, software, design, game development, aerospace. No big guns? No main engine of growth like petrochemical, manufacturing, or wafer-fab? Firstly, depending on just one main engine is highly risky. Second, the world doesn't work that way anymore. At this stage of our development, growth will slow down. Find a first world country with sustainable growth in 2 digits or even in the high single digit. There are none. China can grow so fast because its base is so small. The US financial was booming because it was based on high risk leverage. There's no such thing as get rich quick without high risk and for every one that rakes in the bucks, a hundred or a thousand others lose the shirt off their backs.]
The financial crisis clearly and absolutely shows up the consequence of the govt's inbreeding and monopoly of the political and economic processes, The continual blatant manipulation of the electoral system and process underscores the physical perils and mortal dangers to citizens and the nationhood of Singapore. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. For the love of money is the root of all evils.
[The financial crisis is the making of poor financial regulation and greed from the USA, that bastion of capitalism, free economy, and democracy. To turn the financial crisis around and blame the PAP for it requires mental gymnastics and leaps in logic that clearly puts one in the delusional category.]
Posted by: commentator_sc at Mon Feb 08 13:01:07 SGT 2010
[I do not know what David Adelman stands for. He is described as a progressive Democrat and his electoral wins are clear and decisive. His answers at the hearing for his candidacy for ambassadorship is certainly newsworthy, if not worrying if he means it. But again, it is a "job interview" so one shouldn't read too much into it. Let his action speak for itself. Certainly, Singapore is not an enemy but a strong and strategic ally. It is not in the US interests to bully, undermine, or embarrass their allies. Certainly no one has a clear definition of "public democracy". As opposed to what, "private democracy"? So his replies at the hearing may be no more than diplomatic replies to ensure he secures the ambassadorship.]
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