NTD4PREZ2005

He said no

2005-08-07T18:34:00.000+08:00

And I fear our work here is done.

Thanks for listening, folks. May the best man win.

Bloggercon dot SG

2005-07-14T10:53:00.000+08:00

Good luck, folks. And have fun.

NKF fiasco

2005-07-13T10:30:00.000+08:00

Here's a thought: TT Durai possibly qualifies to run for President.
1900-chew-on-it

Singapore President Nathan running for second term

2005-07-12T15:06:00.000+08:00

And our hopes of a contest, and of putting the electoral mechanisms through a proper run, just dimmed by several notches. This is not to take anything away from the President, but the system does need to be exposed to the rigours of election, methinks.
NTD, your call.

NTD-speak

2005-06-25T10:56:00.000+08:00

"Our government and political leadership have to learn to accept alternative views on public policies and resist the temptation to rule uncomfortable questions out of order.

"I would say that having 'OB markers' is to put a cap on thinking, with one crucial caveat: In a multiracial, multilingual and multi-religious Singapore, there will have to be OB markers on matters of race, language and religion. Not to place OB markers on race, language and religion is to invite disaster.

"Beyond this caveat, there will be no creative Singapore without the freedom to think. Only a free contest of ideas can give rise to the effervescence of creativity. Without creative thinking, Singapore would have lost in the competition between cities.

"The competition between cities differs from competition between countries in one crucial aspect. Cities compete on ideas, and ideas spring from the minds of individuals. More than in any other society, in Singapore, the individual counts. The individual makes the difference."

--- Temasek Club. August 11, 2004

How not to want a guy like that to be your President?

dates

2005-06-25T10:52:00.000+08:00

ST report today reminds me there's one more date to think of: Nomination Day.

tap tap tap some more

2005-06-24T18:32:00.000+08:00

We blame the media (mainstream kind) for many things around these parts, but one thing we shouldn't fault them on is their lack of coverage in the coming presidential election (or not, depending on who you believe) here in sunny Sing-sing-land, and the resultant general lack of interest. I mean, this has been going on for quite a while and nothing has really been happening for a few weeks now. How to sustain interest like that? Even the best of the scribes will be stuck for fresh angles and story ideas. Perhaps all the buzz started too early (as these things almost always do).
Dear PRESS PEOPLE: Next time please try to refrain from talking about any aspect of any kind of elections (guessing dates, candidates, electoral boundaries etc) until absolutely necessary. Otherwise you find the people who call the shots reacting too early, then get faced with sustained inactivity during which everyone just stops caring.
Having said that, and whether we have a contest or not, it is about time now to start thinking about (or at least gasak a bit) dates. I think we all should just sit and give this a bit of thought. 2 to think about: when the writ of election will be issued, and when the election will be.
At least this way we have something to look forward to.

Few things to keep in mind:
PM making 2 trips in the next few weeks.
IOC meeting - don't want international (read: Western) press to have opportunity to question our brand of democracy? Let them try. We'll all gang up to embarrass them.
National Day
National Day Rally

You want to remember that the IOC and National Day events generally calls for large scale deployment of resources - just like any election would, so will also have pragmatic concerns in the mix.

Mr Ngiam, please note: I can still make that trip to Prinsep Street to collect a form, if you're so inclined.

A reporter asked me recently, how come I'm so interested in these things. I'm Singaporean, if I don't then who would? If all of us don't give a rat's arse (cannot stand the word apathy), we're just all gonna give the holier-than-you western media more opportunities to tell us we deserve it.

tap tap tap...

2005-06-19T21:01:00.000+08:00

no posts recently cos nothing's happening. and i've been stuck in deadline hell for 2 weeks.
for those who've dropped by: thanks.
there are still faint echoes of hope for an ntd presidency.

sgblogconspiracy 6-steps to the Istana

2005-06-03T18:01:00.000+08:00

Seeing as nothing's happening this side of Prinsep Street, here goes our addition to the sgblogconspiracy :

1) Use mainstream media to hint that we want our own guy to stay in his job.
2) Masquerade as a fan-blog.
3) Use fan-blog to campaign for a guy we don't want to see in the highest office of the land (with veto powers and all that).
4) Make a boring job of it.
5) Be of NO INTEREST to anybody.
6) Our guy gets elected.

Today is May 31

2005-05-31T10:45:00.000+08:00

The gates open today. Will be keeping track of the situation.

Mr Ngiam, if you're reading this, please at least make an application for the Certificate of Eligibility.

From today...

2005-05-27T12:37:00.000+08:00

I knew it!!

"mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website that has been documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He intends to teach his son The Ways of the Doing Housework Jedi, and school him in the ways of the Jedi Broom-saber and Mop-saber."

mb's article HERE

By the way, the way, l'infantile terrible has l'infant jr. on the way. He's already got 2 balancing the force in his little empire.

Congrats, mr brown! Now, will you consider running for president?

ST today play SM leh

2005-05-23T11:09:00.000+08:00

If President Nathan decides to run, advantage to him. Everyone else will probably defer to incumbency and stay away.

But questions remain: is it fair to subject an 80 year-old man to the stresses of 6 more years of high office?

And worse: is it even right to put him through the rigours and demands of a political campaign (which has never been a part of his career experience) should someone decide to run against him?

Should there be no competition, the mechanics of this particular aspect of our electoral system would have been put to test only once.
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Other than the incumbent, here are the papabili:

NTD, 68 (no response....yet)
Dr Tony Tan, 65 (no response)
CJ Yong Pung How, 79 (no response)
Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, 61 ("I'd rather not add anything to the discussion of this topic")

The nation as conclave

2005-05-22T12:33:00.000+08:00

Notice also that the two most keenly watched papabili are the ones we heard nothing from. Yet.

Key word in the coming weeks: speculation.

A busy day for Singapore bloggers in the mainstream media today

2005-05-22T12:14:00.000+08:00

While Tomorrow.sg and the much-anticipated Singapore Bloggers’ Convention were busy reeling in much-desrved media attention on page 38, during which Cowboy Caleb found his carefully constructed web-identity Robbed (we have a feeling the name is real, but wouldn’t really put money on it), FaithT , President of Modor , also found herself Hot Blogged at the foot of the same page.

Meanwhile, Mr Miyagi is casting blood-shot eyes despite his back-page spread because the toast of Cannes didn’t get his blog address right (it’s “glob”!).

Our little piece of work here also got a mention early on by Jeremy Au Yong. Not too shabby for a 5-day old baby. This publicity is all good, but our work is far from done yet.

Bits:

“…Among them are Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan, 65; Chief Justice Yong Pung How, 79; and Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Tarmugi, who turns 61 in August. One blogger has even set up a fan site, asking people to consider former top civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow for the post.

NTD-fan, set up ntd4prez2005.blogspot.com last Tuesday. He wants to urge 'like-minded Singaporeans' to ask Mr Ngiam to consider running.

He said: 'The last time we picked a president, there wasn't a lot of discussion at ground level. Hopefully, something like this can get more people talking about it. It doesn't matter if they agree with my choice or not.'

NTD-fan said he had been following Mr Ngiam's speeches, reprinted in the newspapers, over the years. He picked the outspoken former Housing Board chairman because 'he is eloquent about the things he wants to talk about' and has a unique perspective. After having spent his entire career as a civil servant, he is brave enough to come out and say what he thinks may or may not work in the long run, he said.

Over a career spanning nearly four decades, Mr Ngiam has served as the permanent secretary in five different government ministries and the Prime Minister's Office. He has also been chairman of the HDB, DBS Bank and the Central Provident Fund Board. He turns 68 this year and is currently the chairman of HDB Corporation.

In a controversial speech in January last year, Mr Ngiam questioned in turn government policies on land, tax, transport, housing, currency and the Central Provident Fund.

So, would he consider running? The Sunday Times posed the question through his personal assistant but he did not respond by press time.

….

Dr Tan said: 'Some of the choices seem motivated by those who feel that their choices have a non-party perspective to things. In this case, people like Dr Lim and Mr Ngiam.

'I guess they want a president to act as a check and balance for the role of government. Never mind that we don't have an election but let's pick someone more garang,' he said, using the Malay word for gung-ho or fierce.”
(from The Sunday Times, 22 May 2005, pg 9)

Tomorrow'ed again

2005-05-22T11:43:00.000+08:00

Shameless flamebaiting worked a bit.

“Ask god.”

2005-05-21T13:33:00.000+08:00

So it’s all still hanging in the air regarding the President’s retirement. The ST exclusive today gave some insight into the day-to-day aspects of his term. The most crucial aspect of the 2-pager is of course the one question which he does not want to reply: “I won’t go into speculation because I’ve got three more months in office.

“At the age of 80, tomorrow is uncertain. Besides, I have aches and pains.”

During his recent trip to Malaysia, Mr Nathan had said: “Everybody is speculating. I'm not speculating. I'm hoping to look into retirement.”

OUR speculation is this: if Mr Nathan decides to run, will NTD want to run against him? They, of course , have known each other for a very long time.

Mr Nathan was Seamen’s Welfare Officer at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry when NTD was still a student at the University of Malaya:

"(The writer) is also very grateful to Mr Nathan, who in spite of heavy official duties, very skillfully and tolerantly guided the writer in his first steps as a field research worker, though on a modest scale. Mr Nathan was mainly responsible for introducing the writer to ‘contacts’ in the tongkang industry, without whose co-operation the writing of this exercise would have been nearly impossible.”
(from the preface of NTD’s 1958 Honours dissertation)

Could be an interesting match-up.

Why Singapore bloggers cannot become President

2005-05-20T18:00:00.000+08:00

Cowboy Caleb: He die die won’t give face to anybody.

Mr Brown : Too busy keeping the blogging universe together. Plus must go jogging. Plus, NTD-fan thinks he’s secretly training his two kids to be Jedi masters.

Mr Miyagi : Too busy holding his private ~~erectio~~ election with his harem of chio-bu’s. Plus, the Istana probably doesn’t have enough walls to hang all their pictures.

Agooga : Too cheem.

Adri : ADCs won’t let her travel by budget .

Kenny Sia : Must get citizenship first, then maybe got chance .

Xiaxue : Will want to paint the the Istana gates pink, and fill the lawn with lorises, and build a DJ console .

SillyCelly : No smoking allowed inside the Istana.

(Anyway, Xiaxue and SillyCelly will probably want to hold ZoukOut at the Istana.)

The Tomorrow Editors : Because Singapore is not ruled by junta .

Antrix : Because you’re not Aung San Suu Kyi.

Of course, if they want to defend their candidacy, they’re most welcome to make like Cowboy and Molly Meek and post their own manifestos. NTD-fan shamelessly promises to link them from here.

Possible valediction

2005-05-20T17:13:00.000+08:00

ST exclusive with President S.R. Nathan tomorrow (21 May 2005). Could have interesting stuff in.

We were sort of Cowboy'ed yesterday....

2005-05-20T09:49:00.000+08:00

LINK HERE

Now, suddenly everyone wants to be president.

Coming soon: why Singapore Bloggers cannot become President.

Here’s why…

2005-05-19T21:00:00.000+08:00

As promised, here’s a little post on the why’s and wherefore’s surrounding this little blog.

This is not a political manifesto.

Why this blog?

Short of admitting to being lured by the seductions of the blogging bandwagon, it is an outlet for this particular blogger to find his voice in expressing his ideas (or think he is) about issues that may be important. In this case, the focus is on an aspect of our political environment that does not appear to have been addressed by the blogosphere, namely the Singapore Presidential Elections.

Which is a surprise, considering the recent surge in interest in the Office of the President. This is the result of three recent events: the outpouring of grief following the death the late former President Wee Kim Wee; the news that President S.R. Nathan is considering retirement at the end of his current term in office; and the government’s announcement about applications for Certificates of Eligibility for presidential hopefuls and the impending issuing of Writ for the Presidential Elections.

Seeing how important a role blogs played in last year’s US presidential elections and how they put the mainstream media to shame , this blogger thought that it is time for something equally fun in the Singapore blogosphere – minus the mud and blood, of course. Hopefully, what can be achieved here is the raising of the profile of our own Presidential Election.

This blog does not intend to be a campaign website (which will probably be illegal anyway), but rather a kind of fan-site that serves as a depository for NTD-related stuff, including, but not limited to, issues surrounding a possible NTD presidential campaign. Which, with the right kind of exposure, will raise NTD’s recognisability and hopefully the viability of his candidacy.

Which brings us to….

Why NTD?

Simple. NTD-fan is a great fan of NTD’s work in recent years. Who wouldn’t be? Just look at the kind of speeches he has made and articles he has written in the press since his retirement. Everyone of them is thought-provoking and shows enough heart. Here is a man who spent his entire career in public service. Nobody does that who does not love his country and his fellow citizens. And those speeches and articles are just further evidence of that.

Granted, many of the issues he has raised are controversial and not palatable to conventional bureaucratic sensibilities, but they are grounded in first-hand experience. And what experience that is! Afterall, this is the man to whom the government entrusted the leadership of the HDB, EDB and CPF Board, among other postings during a 40-year career that largely ran alongside the country’s economic growth.

If the office of the presidency is designed to encompass more than the merely ceremonial, to act as check and balance to various governmental decisions such as budget, national reserves, and public office appointments, then a candidate with a close working familiarity with the mechanics of public administration, and who will not shy away from asking crucial and pointed questions must surely be an ideal, even natural, choice.

Oh and what delightful exchanges there will be in an NTD presidency. It will certainly put the administrative bureaucracy, on notice and on its toes. And since the dignity of the office must surely dictate a largely non-confrontational public stance be adopted, it will probably mean that presidential queries and suggestions will be listened to more intently on the quiet.

All this is pure speculation, of course. No one even knows for sure if NTD has ever thought of running for office. But just imagine the good that all those years of experience, and the sharp mind and stout heart on the man, can do for this country and its people.

Old school tales

2005-05-19T19:05:00.000+08:00

Here's a short extract from NTD's Honours dissertation, Chinese Labour and Tongkang Trade in Singapore: 1958. by Ngiam Tong Dow. A Graduation Exercise submitted as part requirement for the Degree of bachelor of Arts with Honours in Economics, Faculty of Arts, University of Malaya, Session 1958-1959.

"Owing to the disparity in earnings between the average monthly earnings of seamen and the earnings of shore workers, very few youngsters join the tongkang labour force. The majority of tongkang seamen are middle-aged. There is little movement out of the labour force in spite of the earnings disparity. Men who have spent a greater portion of their life sailing, find it difficult to change, because they are used to sea life, and lack the skills for shore occupations." (pg 26)

NTD-fan: How's that for old school? But change a few key words here and there and you realise many things are not all that different all this years later.

"Men who have spent a greater portion of their life _______, find it difficult to change, because they are used to _____ life, and lack the skills for __________."

The birds

2005-05-19T18:33:00.000+08:00

A little bird tells NTD-fan that a little bird has told NTD about this blog. Wonder if it's true. Wonder what NTD thinks.

why blog NTD

2005-05-18T19:14:00.000+08:00

Someone just wrote to NTD-fan to say that, in order to make this thing work, something more concrete needs to be laid out about why this blog was started and why considering NTD as a candidate for high office is a such a brilliant idea. It shall be done. Very Soon.

courage, strength, and OTC

2005-05-18T18:13:00.000+08:00

"In dealing with the issues, both sides have been conscious that we are elaborating and evolving the rules as we go along, and are setting precedents for future governments and presidents. It has been an educational experience for all of us, the President, government, MPs and the people. Singaporeans now know better how our system of a President with custodial powers works, and how decisions and actions have to be publicly justified whenever questioned. Mr President, you have discharged your responsibilities well and fully. You have upheld the standing and prestige of the presidency."

- Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister, in a farewell tribute to Mr Ong Teng Chong, 30 August 1999

NTD-fan: Service to the people calls for courage. Some have it. Some have it thrust upon them.

If don't use Singrisssh, then how to describe?

2005-05-18T11:12:00.000+08:00

Did you know that as an undergraduate (1958) in the the University of Malaya, NTD wrote a mini-dissertation entitled: "Chinese labour and tongkang trade in Singapore"?
TONGKANG leh....

Anyway, NTD-fan hopes to get an excerpt up here soon. Watch out for it.

Old news, but what the heck

2005-05-18T10:44:00.000+08:00

Contrary to popular rumours (mostly mine), Steve "Vegas, baby" Wynn and NTD are not the same person. Although lines like: "Don't issue thunderbolts of wisdom from the top of Mount Olympus. Ultimately, this is not between me and the government, it's between me and the public." do have an NTD-esque quality to them.

Steve Wynn addendum HERE

addendum to addendum: comment from MB's SNE 107:

"now we don't even have to go very far to find a suitable theme-parkish name: MOUNT OLYMPUS!
got so many possibilities for themed attractions: high-speed memo reading, extreme form-filling, rope-hanging (choice of dangling by the legs, torso, or neck), the world-famous Petir Thunderbolt light show (must attend in all-white outfits).
some more got ready camera brand to sponsor/rip us off those magic-moment photos on the roller-coaster rides."

the saka MB post

2005-05-18T09:30:00.000+08:00

"you don't get browned until you brown brown."

from the infantile terrible's latest in the Singapore National Education series

Excerpt:
"That it is unparliamentary to use words like "shit" and "rubbish" in parliament. And also asterisk-asterisk-asterisk-asterisk.

So how do MPs discuss the budget for cleaning up the er, unwanted items thrown by Singaporeans?"

Unparliamentary indeed. Nothing the man who built a thousand HDB flats with rubbish chutes couldn't fix.

SNE LINK

One day old...

2005-05-18T09:12:00.000+08:00

...and we've been Tomorrow'ed

Little dots and little specks

2005-05-17T16:24:00.000+08:00

Picked THIS off google.

First rule at journo school: Never start a story with a quote. But I guess this still works.

Opening gambit:
"I'm not saying I'm right all the time. But neither am I wrong at the time. I just want to raise the level of informed debate"

a STAR of his own

2005-05-17T15:44:00.000+08:00

They even like him UP NORTH

excerpts:
"Ngiam is among the few top bureaucrats who had grown up and bonded well with Malaysia’s first generation of senior civil servants in the early days of the break-up, despite tense bilateral ties. Others include JYM Pillai, Sim Kee Boon, Howe Yoon Chong and Philip Yeo."

As CPF chairman

2005-05-17T15:24:00.000+08:00

He said THIS.

Staying Rooted: an AlumNUS spotlight

2005-05-17T15:19:00.000+08:00

AlumNUS has an NTD spotlight HERE

excerpts:
"His insights are indeed compelling. They get even more so when he lends his years of public service experience to some big picture analysis of the roles of our top leaders in Singapore’s development. If Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew is the political Moses, then Dr Goh Keng Swee as the economic architect is, as he sees it, the martial Joshua, who scouted the promised land."

NTD-related articles in ST

2005-05-17T14:41:00.000+08:00

If you or your organisation subscribes to news archives and databases such as Lexis or Newslink, you may wish to run searches on these NTD-related articles from ST.

Speeches, articles and Forum letters by NTD:

May 11, 2005 Wednesday, Review, Chronic Worrier; Of minds and mindsets: The civil servant and the businessman

October 27, 2004 Wednesday, Review, Embrace diversity; Holistic education system can help S'pore compete and forge durable nation

October 21, 2004 Thursday, ST Forum, Why Singapore should never have a casino

October 11, 2004 Monday, Commentary, On marriage, mergers and the dangers facing the PAP

October 9, 2004 Saturday, Commentary, Lessons from the Japanese elite

August 14, 2004 Saturday, Commentary, S'pore must not alienate its brightest

July 3, 2004 Saturday, Commentary, State entrepreneur Temasek's role...

February 28, 2004 Saturday, Commentary, Mr Ngiam Tong Dow speaks again; ("It was another blast from the past at the JTC Alumni dialogue last night as the retired permanent secretary spoke of the unintended consequences of land pricing policy and the intellectual paucity behind gleaming buildings.")

January 21, 2004 Wednesday, Commentary, Go for quality, not just numbers

April 9, 2002 Tuesday, ANALYSIS,, Knowledge application the new competitive edge

Headliners:

September 28, 2003 Sunday, Think, S'pore 'bigger than PAP'; Time to get off the autopilot, says a former civil servant

October 5, 2003 Sunday, Think, Stop dancing to the tune of the gorilla; Part Two of the much-talked-about interview with ex-civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow

January 16, 2004 Friday, Singapore, Ex-top civil servant speaks up on policy 'misses'; Some of them: population, immigration, tax schemes

January 17, 2004 Saturday, Singapore, You're wrong on some things

January 19, 2004 Monday, Singapore, 'No right or wrong answers' ("He's a retired, very senior civil servant, so he feels he has latitude to express his views with less restraint than he's been accustomed to earlier, so good for him," said DPM Lee.)

January 20, 2004 Tuesday, Commentary, Good to cast a critical eye on public policies (by Vikram Khanna, Business Times)

October 16, 2004 Saturday, Singapore, Retired, not tired - let's hear from them too,

NGIAM TONG DOW FANCLUB

2005-05-17T12:50:00.000+08:00

This blog has been created as a tribute to former senior civil servant, Mr Ngiam Tong Dow, with a view of urging like-minded Singaporeans to push for the possibility of the good man to consider a run for high office.
NOTE: this is NOT meant to be a campaign website.

Suggestions are welcome as to how best to run a site like that without infringing on electioneering laws.

Readers are also welcome to pen their thoughts and impressions of NTD, and what kind of Singapore we'd have IF he had been a politician.

Does anyone have photos of NTD that we can put up here?

Anyway, I'll begin with a few choice quotes from the man himself and see where we go from here.

Thanks
NTD-fan

With a small population and a narrow talent base, we have to take care not to alienate our best and brightest. They are the most mobile in today's knowledge-based world. As a society, Singapore should never quit on anyone, and neither should Singaporeans quit on Singapore.
- writing in The Straits Times, August 14, 2004 Saturday

Most civil servants hide behind the instruction manuals (IMs) as an excuse for not having to think. If you do not decide or exercise your discretion, then you are not thinking. You have to think even when you say 'No'. Otherwise, you are just flying on auto-pilot.
- JTC Alumni dialogue, February 27, 2004

...the nation of Singapore will be larger than the country of Singapore. The little red dot will grow into a centre of world civilisation and not fade away into history.
- speech at the Economic Society luncheon, January 2004