We have noticed that of late, government ministers & officials, and People’s Action Party members have been criticizing Singaporeans and their attitudes towards a myriad of issues – from employment to public housing.
We thus would like to collate all of these into a single thread here.
Our hope is that the government will see for itself the callous, unfair and condescending attitude it and its members have adopted towards Singaporeans and do some soul-searching. Singaporeans work hard, very hard, and gives the PAP government its vote of confidence at every election since independence.
Are such remarks towards Singaporeans justified?
If you come across any such Singaporeans-bashing remarks, please do email them to us at: [email protected].
Please read also: Bashing Singaporeans – PAP gets in on the act.
We begin with Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean’s remarks in the Straits Times on 8 April 2010:
INADEQUATE
“Employees must not conveniently use the excuse of perceived discriminatory work practices to cover up their own work inadequacies.”
DPM TEO CHEE HEAN (Straits Times, 8 April 2010, Page A6)
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MOLLYCODDLED
“A boy who is mollycoddled is a very different person from the one who is physically tough and takes spills without fear and whining.”
MP FOR MARINE PARADE GRC, SAM TAN (Straits Times, 25 May 2009)
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SLOW
“I think the spurs are not stuck on your hinds. They are part of the herd, why-go-faster?”
MM LEE KUAN YEW (National Geographic, Jan 2010)
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LESSER MORTALS
“Mr Tan didn’t “brag” about how expensive the trip was in the article. Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a bit boastful.”
MP FOR PASIR-RIS-PUNGGOL CHARLES CHONG (Jan 2009)
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UNREALISTIC
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NO SELF-CONFIDENCE
“How can this be? People are coming to learn from us, see how we teach, why we are successful. Yet our teachers don’t have self-confidence.”
DPM TEO CHEE HEAN (Straits Times, April 2010)
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IRRATIONAL
“THE Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday acknowledged Singaporeans’ concern over immigration issues, but urged them to avoid ‘developing irrational fears’ towards new immigrants.’
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SENSITIVE
“People are sensitive.”
DPM TEO CHEE HEAN (CNA, April 2010)
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COMPLACENT
“Complacency sets in when a people have not suffered any shock or setback for a long time, as in Singapore without jihadist terror attacks… [Singaporeans] are being complacent when they believe that the Government will take care of all security matters.”
MM LEE KUAN YEW (March 2008)
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DEPENDENCY MENTALITY
“This has bred a dependency mentality in our population who will blame the civil service and Government if any of their needs are not met.”
MP FOR SEMBAWANG GRC, LIM WEE KIAK (March 2008)
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IMMATURE, WHINY
“I don’t want whining Singapore boys. They are not mature even though they have done national service and are over 22 years old when they take up undergraduate studies.”
PHILIP YEO, EX-CHAIRMAN, A-STAR (Straits Times, 2005)
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BEMOANING
“[A] well-educated university graduate who works for a multinational company should not be bemoaning about the Government and get on with the challenges in life.”
MP FOR ANG MO KIO GRC, WEE SIEW KIM (Straits Times, 2005)
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DOGS
“If you can select a population and they’re educated and they’re properly brought up, then you don’t have to use too much of the stick because they would already have been trained. It’s like with dogs. You train it in a proper way from small. It will know that it’s got to leave, go outside to pee and to defecate. No, we are not that kind of society. We had to train adult dogs who even today deliberately urinate in the lifts.”
MM LEE KUAN YEW (“The Man And His Ideas”, 1997)
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CHAMPION GRUMBLERS
“Singaporeans are champion grumblers.”
MM LEE KUAN YEW, (National Geographic, Jan 2010)
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PROTESTING TOO MUCH, VOLUNTARILY UNEMPLOYED
“SINGAPOREANS who complain about foreigners taking away their jobs may be protesting too much… [Some Singaporeans] are voluntarily unemployed.”
TAN KHEE GIAP, Associate Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Straits Times, Mar 2010)
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BANKRUPT
“A SEGMENT of the Malay community has been likened to bankrupt English soccer club Portsmouth by Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Education) Masagos Zulkifli.”
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LAZY AND TOO OLD
“I know of one family who complain the cleaners in their precinct are lazy and too old. They don’t want local workers who are old, they want young foreign workers. To satisfy the demand, I changed the local workers to foreign workers.”
ONG AH HENG, MP FOR NEE SOON CENTRAL (Straits Times, Mar 2010)
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CHOOSY
“The problem of choosy workers is still with us.”
THEN-MINISTER OF STATE FOR MANPOWER, NG ENG HEN (MOM, 2003)
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MAIDS
“Your asset values will disappear, your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people’s countries, foreign workers.”
MM LEE KUAN YEW (Straits Times, 5 April 2007)
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“DAFT”
“It adds to their wealth and this is asset-enhancing policy Mr Lee believes citizens should not find fault with. If they do, they must be ‘daft’, he said…”
MM LEE KUAN YEW (CNA, January 2010)
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“IRRESPONSIBLE”, “SPREADING FALSEHOODS”
Dr Balakrishnan also berated “irresponsible websites” for circulating the clip. “Now that the facts are out, let’s see whether these people who’ve been propagating falsehoods have the courage and honesty to set the facts right,” he said.
VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN, (Straits Times, April 2010)
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“SMALL-MINDED”, “UNFAIR”, “VERY, VERY SELFISH”, “UNSPORTSMENLIKE”
“To deny them [new citizens sportsmen] to call themselves Singaporeans is very, very selfish. It’s very unsportsmenlike…”
VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN (Straits Times, 23 June 2010)
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CROWDED TRAINS – SINGAPOREANS’ FAULT
“People can board the train – it is whether they choose to.”
SAW PHAIK HWA, SMRT CEO (Straits Times, 27 June 2010)
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IGNORANT
“The Taiwanese are ruthless, Hong Kongers are shameless and Singaporeans are ignorant.”
LEE KUAN YEW, (Today, 14 July 2010)
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“GRIPE”… “VUVUZELAS”
“This is far healthier than to live the Singapore Gripe and drone on like vuvuzelas.”
GOH CHOK TONG (7 August 2010)
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SINGAPOREANS COMPLAINING TOO MUCH
SENIOR Minister Goh Chok Tong has chided Singaporeans for complaining too much about overcrowded trains and the lack of carpark spaces and public housing.
GOH CHOK TONG, Straits Times (4 Sept 2010)
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[We’ll update this page on a regular basis.]
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