Q: Are you anti-Singapore, anti-PAP?

ANSWER: Please read this carefully. Are these the thoughts
(and words, published in 1990) of someone
who is anti-Singapore or anti-PAP? You be the judge.

 From secure present to exciting future

Two simple questions. Do the phones work? Do the trains run on time? That used to be a fairly reliable way to tell whether a country had arrived in the 20th Century.

      Now, just how many countries have NOT made it so far will come as no surprise to Singaporeans who watch TV or have travelled widely.

      We are poised to enter the 21st Century, and the signs are everywhere that we have not just done well, but very well.

      We hardly give a second thought these days to our mobile phones, pa­gers, fax machines and personal computers, our ATMs and shopping com­plexes, our comfortable homes and public parks, our MRT, our Changi Airport and our container port.

      On this 25th anniver­sary of nationhood, as on earlier anniversaries, we have many blessings to count. We have many reasons to look back with pride — tempered only by the realisation that we have a stake in a society that works so well that we may be in danger of taking what we have for granted.

      Celebrations are again in order. But birthdays celebrated without a care in the world are only for the very young. Mature people tend to pause, on such occasions, for moments of quiet contemplation of how far they have come — and where they are going.

      This maturity is reflected in this special commemorative issue of  PETIR. You will find articles on our battles for survival, recollections of old warhorses on the early struggles (and the lessons history can teach us). There are articles dealing with problems identified and solutions found (and new problems looming, and solutions offered for discussion).

Our success stories have already been told contempora­neously in the newspapers and on TV — each time we were rated No.1, in global competition, for our national airline, our airport and container port.

In this issue are recorded, without chest thumping, these and other achievements of the past 25 years.

To shelter, clothe and feed a nation as well as Singapore has done is no mean feat, considering that there were not enough jobs or houses 25 years ago. Now we have a labour shortage!

From the first hesitant step in 1965 to the purposeful stride of a nation with a global outlook, we have come a long way. So let's celebrate! Then let's set course confidently from a secure and comfortable present to an exciting future.

       Every human being has cherished dreams. One begins by being a visionary, looking ahead and setting targets. Then comes the realisation of these dreams which demands nothing less than sustained and determined effort.

This nation's citizens were invited in 1984 to share a national dream — a vision of a City of Excellence and a Society of Distinction. The realisation of this national dream requires of all of us a commitment to pursue ex­cellence..

The targets of Vision 1999 have been identified. One of them is graphically depicted on our co­ver, a per capita income for Singa­poreans by 1999 of US$15,000 a year – equal to the Swiss level of 1984, the year that target was set.

Few will now doubt that this target is achievable. Some would even suggest that it will be achieved ahead of time. But all Singaporeans would do well to remember the Prime Minister's words in his message on Page 4:

"What we have built in the past 25 years was not achieved by ordinary efforts. We have made extraordinary efforts … The danger now is that many believe that we have arrived and can therefore relax."

Consider Mr Goh Chok Tong's words in his message on Page 6: "A new team of leaders is taking over ... it is as determined as the Old Guard to take Singapore to the top. If the people are just as determined, we can make it."

      Singapore's progress will continue to depend on strong, visionary leadership coupled with a fierce, collective will among our people to succeed, whatever the odds.

Together, we will remain on the Right Track for More Good Years. Majulah Singapura!

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  Published in Petir Aug 1990 -- Consultant editor: Ambrose Khaw

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Oct 22, 2009: I am posting this Foreword that I wrote for the PAP's magazine Petir as a public record to dispel any notions that I am a malcontent bent on doing in the PAP or Mr Lee Kuan Yew. I was invited by Mr Mah Bow Tan, chairman of this 25th anniversary commemorative issue's Editorial Committee, to edit this special issue. My name is there in print as "Design consultant."

As Editor, in complete control, I chose this low-key title, although the entire issue has my imprint on every page right from the cover, which I commissioned at a cost of $350 or thereabouts. I myself was paid, perhaps with hindsight, I think I was underpaid at $9,000 for the job -- rated at about a month's work, which was my regular fee at the time. 

I am rightly proud of my work on this Petir issue and if you can lay your hands on it and compare it with other issues of Petir, I am confident you will understand why I am proud to be associated so intimately with this work.

Now to the thoughts and words that went into the Foreword, which I could have signed.  In print, Mr Mah is listed as the signatory of the Foreword. What I did was to explain to him that a Foreword was expected to be signed by the editorial committee's chairman as a matter of course. I then acted as his scriptwriter. There was no subterfuge. He was happy with my thoughts and choice of words, which he endorsed enthusiastically.

For getting a friend and ex-colleague, Mr Ee Boon Lee, editor of NTUC News, to persuade me to take on the Petir job, I was grateful to Mr Mah, who first got to know of my work as the Singapore Monitor's consultant editor. He himself was top honcho there after the departure of the first MD, Mr Tom Lennon, a signal failure of an appointment recommended by Dr Goh Keng Swee, no less, and probably endorsed by LKY.

You now know that these eminent personalities were capable of making costly mistakes. Indeed, the Singapore Monitor was another signal failure from the word "Go!" It cost three astute Singapore bankers something in excess of $20million to take part in this venture as a result of some high-level arm twisting by LKY. 

In passing, I should add that at a postmortem meeting after the untimely demise of this paper, someone who was at this meeting told me that LKY mused audibly: "Who could have made this work? Perhaps Francis Wong!" However, after silencing the Singapore Herald in 1971, he had no more cards to play to persuade Francis to run a new paper with LKY looking over his shoulder. The image beggars description. I shudder at the very thought of this ...

By the way, LKY went public with this. He acknowledged in print that he was responsible for getting the Monitor launched. He didn't have to close it down. Market forces did the job for him. How ironic?