The Serf State

Why Singapore Inc. will never be a home
from Coffee & Cigarettes

“Singapore Inc.” was a buzzword that the Gahmen came up with a few years back in one of the many efforts to rebrand Singapore. Corporations are profit-driven. They only have a profit-motive. Corporations have no heart, no sense of charity. Their only objective is to make more money.

Singapore Inc is like another corporation. The average Singapore citizen is like an employee of this company. As with all corporations, the employees will be exploited, naturally. They will need jobs, and their job will depend on the corporation. In a world where there are no unions, no legislation; and where there is only 1 corporation, the employees are entirely at its mercy. It can pay them as much or as little as it deems fit, it can choose not to give them any benefits, or to restrict those benefits. The employees are dependent, almost to the point of being beholden - they have no choice, they need to eat, they need to feed their children, they need this job - and thus, they accept. Singapore, the country, is a lot like Singapore Inc. It exists for a profit-motive - to power the economy. So that it can plough back the profits into itself and perpetuate its existence.

Singapore is like an office. A citizen is like a minion; working to power the economy. We are an IC number, and a statistic. We have no influence at all. We cannot speak out. If we gather in a group of more than 5, we constitute an unlawful assembly. If we organise a peace march, we constitute an illegal procession. If we speak out on the internet, there is a possibility that we bring prejudice to the maintenance of harmony. We have no say in how our country is run, no say in how our money will be used, no say in anything at all. We cannot do much; we have been handicapped.

I wonder why our government can tell us with one voice to stop complaining and whining and to accept policies which are all for the good of the economy, and on the other hand to tell us not to leave and to quit and to stay and that this is our home. A corporation and a home are mutually exclusive concepts. No one willingly stays after work any longer than he has to unless he is being compensated for it; there is absolutely no reason to. A corporation is cold, distant and sterile; it does not care for you at all; you are but another worker ant working for a distant queen.

From cradle to grave, the stoic Singaporean takes what is given and gives back what he can give. He asks for nothing and utters not. Ridiculed by the children of those he put in power. Betrayed by those he put in power. He works on and on, then he dies. He performs his role. He sees not the vision. He sees not his place in the cogwheel of the great Singapore Masterplan, the Singapore Dream. He works so as to be able to live. Driven only to live and not to dream.

His life cut constantly, cut infinimestially. Just enough to breathe, just enough to live. Bleeding but never dried. Breaking but never broken. That priceless stoic Singaporean worker. Living to live and dying without a dream.

And this is why Singapore Inc. will never be a home.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan spoke about why its better for voluntary welfare organisation (VWO) to play the larger role in helping the poor and disadvantaged in Singapore: “You want commitment, you want passion, you want dedication, you want people whose hearts and minds are truly resonating in sync with the people they are trying to help. Hearts and minds like that cannot be bought, cannot be employed.”

This is LKY talking about how difficult it is to get leaders to stay in Gahmen for the long haul: “It is not possible to hire a foreign talent to run this country. You must have the passion, you must have the commitment, you must share the dreams of your people.”

You must have noticed both leaders talking about similiar attributes required for leaders and voluntary welfare workers - that is, commitment and passion and the ability to connect with the people you’re serving. LKY believes the similiarly “committed and passionate leaders” of our country needs to be paid million dollar salaries in order to make it worth their while to sacrifice their careers and fat paychecks for the good of the country while really committed and passionate welfare workers are paid pittance...

Funny how things works in this country - and you wonder why I have such contempt for the “elites” that run this country.