Mr. Tang

It is not my custom to quote passages from a piece of prose penned by another, but today I will make the rare exception. In a feature article published at www.thinkcentre.org, James Gomez writes candidly about his interview with Mr. Tang Liang Hong, a member of the opposition who contested most controversially in Cheng San GRC during the 1997 General Elections. Keeping in touch with Singapore after his unceremonious retreat to the regions Down Under, Mr. Tang asks questions that are germane and central to the issue of political freedom in our island state.

"...He also poked fun at the culture of Singaporeans as bequeathed by the ruling party. Presently Singaporeans have a mentality that every thing is "si bay ho" (Hokkien for "very good"). But a literal translation of this Hokkien phrase
approximately means "That when father dies it is good". It eludes [sic] that when someone's father dies, it is a sign of good fortune as the family wealth then passes on to the waiting children. It subconsciously implies that children are wishing their parents dead so that they can come into some wealth effortlessly....This effortless dependency by children on wealth generated by the parents, he said, was unhealthy for Singapore. This is precisely why a risk taking culture is absent while ironically celebrating the situation as "si bay ho". He laid the blame squarely on the PAP for this outcome."

Now, have you ever heard the likes of that?