Opinions

The PAP has set the stage for the distribution of goodies to some half a million people from the Merdeka Generation. This generation comprise of Singapore citizens who were born in the 1950s, as well as those born in 1949 or earlier but had obtained citizenship by 1996. While details will be revealed in due course, the package is expected to provide support or relief for medical and insurance payments.

Whatever the package may be, the generation deserves the goodies that come their way. They have more than earned it for themselves. Throughout the years, they have showed incredible gumption and resilience to come out from various crises virtually unscathed.

What we the younger generation in Singapore hope for is that they continue to display the same gumption and resilience for the future of the country.

In the past, these goodies have been closely tied to votes for the PAP. It is not surprising because Singaporeans then had real bread-and-butter issues to contend with. 

The issue here is that such problems persist, even though they voted for the PAP.

A change is needed. 

The Merdeka Generation cannot be sentimental with their votes. The Merdeka Generation should not feel indebted to the PAP. In fact, it is the PAP who should feel indebted to the Merdeka Generation for helping to build Singapore.

PAP was good for Singapore in the past but not anymore. 

The next elections will be a key one for the future of Singapore. It is not just about the youths.

It is also for the Merdeka Generation to tell the PAP what they really feel of how the PAP has changed and how out of touch the PAP is. To the Merdeka Generation, do not feel guilty about voting for the opposition because you are voting wisely for the future of the country.

The writer, Kelvin, doesn't mind getting goodies from the PAP.

The son, Ben Goi, of billionaire, Sam Goi, died from a heart attack at the age of 43 on 3 February 2019. The 151 media reported many PAP ministers visiting the wake, held at Mr Goi's house in Bukit Timah. The ministers and ex ministers seen there include Josephine Teo, Heng Swee Keat, Vivian Balakrishnan, Masagos Zulkifli, Teo Ser Luck and George Yeo. 

While we mourn for his death, we are also questioning why our PAP ministers did not visit Aloysius Pang's funeral. Especially our prime minister who was at Wisma Geylang Serai celebrating the launch of Singapore Bicentennial, which was just down the road from the funeral.

Aloysius Pang died due to a training accident while on reservist. He was doing a service for the nation yet our ministers could only provide lip service by sending their condolences through Facebook and other social media. Why did they not make an effort to visit a Singaporean son who died while in service for our country? Is a billionaire's son more important than a Singaporean son?

For those who do not know, according to Forbes, Sam Goi is ranked 14th richest person in Singapore with a net worth of US$1.8 Billion. He has also been a long time member of PAP. He received the Long Service Award from PAP in 2015. 

Were our ministers too busy to attend the funeral of a Singapore son?

Since September 2017, there have been four deaths involving three NSFs and an NSman. Safety timeouts were instituted after each incident to allow the units to review their safety practices and to look into potential blindspots in their safety SOPs. Nevertheless, this did not stop further accidents from happening.

In the latest incident, a COI has been convened to investigate the factors leading to the death of Aloysius Pang.

It beggars believe that yesterday, Mindef issued a statement highlighting that the late Aloysius Pang was the first instance of a death or injury involving the Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer (SSPH) since it was first commissioned in 2003.

So what? What was Mindef's objective in letting the public know that fact?

Regardless of whether it was the first or one of many such instances, a life has still been lost. This fact does not alleviate the grief and lost that the family must surely be feeling.

The COI needs to be allowed to investigate the incident thoroughly. If there are any systemic lapses, faults with the design of the SSPH, or human errors, they need to be identified with certainty. Only then can clear and proper solutions be implemented.

Until that happens, public confidence in the ability of Mindef and the SAF to keep their sons and daughters safe, will continue to be eroded. These sons and daughters of Singapore are fulfilling their obligations as citizens of the country. They are acutely aware that in times of war, they may have to put their lives on the line, for the country.

In times of peace, it is a different matter. 

For now, Mindef needs to rebuild the trust and goodwill between the citizens, the organisation, and the institution of national service. It can begin by ensuring that its units improve their safety culture and practices, and not put itself in a situation where it can be accused of victim-blaming.

The writer, Kelvin, is in a reflective mood.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen will be delivering a ministerial statement to address the recent spate of National Service training deaths in Parliament on February 11. Meanwhile, MINDEF has also announced that they have appointed a 5 member panel of COI to investigate the death of NS man and local celebrity Aloysius Pang. 

The COI was convened last Friday, and it will be chaired by judge nominated by the State Courts. All five members of the COI work with MINDEF or are SAF Regulars. Minister Ng have been quiet in the wake of Pang's death and did not even turn up when a serviceman under his watch was given a Military Funeral, having died serving the nation. So much for being a Defence Minister.

You could say the Defence Minister went MIA. 

On a Facebook post on Monday, a netizen named as Shu Ting Bay highlighted an incident she saw at what appeared to be an MRT station. A mon and her kid was walking along when the kid accidentally dropped a glass bottle on the floor.

Naturally, the glass bottle broke into pieces. But, instead of trying to clear up the mess, the mom led her kid away from the broken glass and just walked away, without care or thought for others. However, the next moment, a stranger appeared, having apparently saw the incident while standing at the side. He came forward and started picking up the broken glass, and threw them away in rubbish bin. 

The netizen came forward and started talking to the kind stranger. She found out that his name was Hakim, and he came from either Bangladesh or India (she cannot remember where exactly). His reason for doing this? He was simply just afraid that other people might step on it and hurt themselves. Shame on the mom for teaching the wrong moral values to her kid. 

Netizens are up in arms over the latest NS related death, more so now that it involves a young local celebrity, actor Aloysius Pang. His death makes it 7 NSFs and 1 NSman dead in the past 16 months – 3 suicides, 1 hazing ritual gone wrong, 1 heat injury and 3 training accidents.

Netizens also slammed MINDEF for their alleged lack of care towards soldier, when that is one of the core values. On their FB page that announced the death of Pang, while netizens send their condolences to the fallen NS man, others also called out MINDEF for their useless training safety, where lives of those serving keeps getting lost with regularity over the past one year and a half. Some also slammed MINDEF for their useless COIs, always convened after a death, but yet nothing changed. This latest training exercise death further reiterated the point that MINDEF never learn from their mistakes, and that soldiers keep dying no matter what findings and recommendations were put forth by the COI.

To make things worse, there was even accusations online that the MINDEF FB admin keep deleting posts that does not shed good light on MINDEF on this issue. It seems that MINDEF are fighting hard to maintain a good reputation, when Singaporeans know that they are quite useless and hopeless in preventing trainee deaths.