Wednesday, May 02, 2007
the MUST-READ of the year
i had to read several chapters from his book for my political science module this sem. and i am definitely going to do all i can to lay my hands on this book after exams. i give it 4 and a half Stars. :P
well, this guy wins the mega-ultra-super-uber-duper Long Service Award for having been in the Civil Service for 40 Years. Thumbs up eh? so, he's Ngiam Tong Dow, and i happen to respect him quite alot. he's rather amazing.
but, there are definitely incentives to read this book even if you're a non-political science student!
- for the guys who have something against Goh Keng Swee and his nation-building plans of building a civilian army, you will like reading Ngiam's thoughts. Lots of subtle criticisms against Goh, whom we've all held in high regard for. very brave attempt!
- Ngiam Tong Dow is a moderate radical (irony-cause he believes he isn't a radical). He's very very very very funny.
so here are some excerpts from my readings, and i'll show you the best of the best just so i won't violate the copyright rules. haha. if it's interesting enough for you, go to the library or the bookstore to get it. It's freshly out of the oven-published just last year. :P
In his words:
- Mr Yamashita's deeper point to me is that an education system should not be totally dedicated to producing imperial scholars. it is better for the country to achieve high national averages. He preferred massive plateaus to high solitary peaks.
- For Singapore to survive, we should release half our talent, our President and Overseas Merit Scholars to the private sector. When ten scholars come home, five should turn to the right and join the public sector; the other five should turn to the left and join the private sector.
- Each year, the PSLE creams off all the top boys and girls and despatches them to only 2 schools, RI and RGS. However good these schools are and however brilliant their teachers are, the problem is that you are educating your elite in only two institutions, with only two set of mentors.
- It should go back to what was originally promised: " That you shall be given the best education, whether it is academic or vocational, according to your maximum potential."
- And there should be no judgement whether an engineer is better than a doctor or a chef.
- I venture to suggest that the average level of education of Singaporeans should be at least A or polytechnic levels...
- An educated 4 million population can endure...The "Little Red Dot" will grow into a centre of world civilisation, and not fade away into history.
- The MAS under Dr Goh has pegged the Singapore Dollar exchange rate to a weighted basket of currencies...But in the real world, nearly everyone trades in US Dollars.
- So long as we stick to the straight and narrow road of balanced budgets and do not induce our CPF savers to participate in stock markets, the Singapore Dollar will always be fully convertible, a sine qua non of competing in a global knowledge-based economy.
- One of the main causes of Singapore's loss of competitiveness in recent years is our perverse land pricing policy.
- The EDB found the jobs, and the HDB built flats at the rate of one flat every 36 minutes. it was a winning combination underpinning the electoral success of the PAP at every General Election since.
- Mr Howe Yoon Chong once startled his ministerial colleagues by proposing that we close down the HDB..... But old habits, particularly success, die hard, and the HDB was not shut down.
- The greatest danger is we are flying on auto-pilot. What was once a great policy, we just carry on with more of the same, until reality intervenes.
- There is also a particular brand of Singapore elite arrogance creeping in. Some civil servants behave like they have a mandate from the emperor. We think we are little Lee Kuan Yews.
- I don't understand the urgency of raising the GST which effectively increases the tax on the lower income people. Why tax the lower income, and then return it to them in an aid package? It demeans human dignity and creates a growing supplicant class who habitually hold out their palms. (i totally agree!!)
Famous Last Words:
- I would end by paraphrasing Lord Keynes, who said that even the wisest statesman is often the slave of some defunct philosopher. In plain English, the politician is often misled by the economist. So, for those of us who profess to be professional economists, heavy is our responsibility. In this spirit, I would urge my fellow economists in government to accept that sometimes we can be grievously wrong.
TAH-DAH! Great Stuff isn't it? :)
TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS
8:23 AM
