The future for our country

A met a nurse at a wake. I said that the current government had done a lot of good for the people and the country during the first 30 years after independence. During the next 15 years, the policies have been bad for the people, as they led to high cost of living, stagnant wages and wide disparity of income. The government leaders are not working for the welfare of the people and appear to be looking after the intrest of big business and their own interest.

Most people have been quite unfair in judging the "poor quality" of the opposition politicians, as their main source of information is the mainstream media.

I know many of these politicians personally and appreciate their personal sacrifices in being willing to take a stand against the ruling party. Many of them are quite well educated and decent people, quite moderate in their thinking and feel strongly for Singapore.  Some people think that they only appear at election time. This is not true. They do spend time on the ground work, but are not reported in the  media. We must remember that they have to make a living and have to face difficulty in the business or at work.

She was surprised at my frankness. She started to express her own feelings of doubt about the future of our country and the direction that it is heading. She lamented that many Singaporeans are not able to think about what is good for the country and are afraid to think differently from what has been told to them in the media.

Tan Kin Lian