Once upon a time,
in nineteen sixty-nine.
HDB were not only subsidized,
but standard of living also very nice.
One spouse working, all can survive,
children are children all running around so nice.
Fast forward 40 years, it is the dreaded two thousand nine,
HDB flats had all became smaller in size.
Now termed "market subsidized,
their prices are not so kind.
Cost of living had grown so high,
now both spouses have to work nine to nine.
We all have to work like mice,
just so we can get some rice.
While ministers all sitting on cloud-nine,
busy scheming for our every dime.
PAP MPs, all pretending to sign,
but in reality, have no minds.
Terrorist escaped, no need to resign,
fixed the oppositions also never mind.
Children from two, are getting up-sized,
before they even recognize, whatever is life.
Their minds are filled, with all sort of lies,
that Lee Kuan Yew is the only one who ever sacrificed.
Golden age came and went, in a flash of an eye,
economy chewed to death, by rodents and mice.
The government is simply, not so nice,
hinting us to send our elderly, far off to die.
Asking to explain, they are not kind,
"Lesser mortals" we became, while they walk high.
Is this the end? We can't resign.
This sad story of Singaporeans is our life.
(I orginally posted a version of this at REACH forum and had made some minor modifications since. Inspired by Baby Boomer.)
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"An uneducated old man who thinks too much while trying hard not to think too much" is one awesome poet!
ReplyDeleteMy sincere appreciation for your reminder of the good old '69! Days of 'stand by bed', 'change parade', 'blanket party' and 'AWOL'!
Call me sentimental, but I'd rather have my "fishing village" than the hyped-up 1st world shit (the real thing and the bull) that we are getting now!
With the sham, drudgery and hypocrisy we get from the greedy shameless rulers, life is what we make of it. The least that we fogeys can do is write some, get it off our chest and teach the young ones the Singapore truths that's been suppressed.
feedmetothefish
So Who's to take responsibilities for what had become? I will take a quick shot at it and here is the answer -
ReplyDeleteThe people. Why? During elections whom did you vote?
great stuff, written from the "heart"..This is yr way of communicating with singaporeans..pse keep on..look forward to yr next one
ReplyDeletejeffgoh
How sad to read this and get it from a Singaporian friend. From my days living in Singapore in early 1980th, the life for Singaporean was not bad at all. When I visited in 2008 indeed what a change and not for the better. Too many unnecessary overpasses and highways with little traffic. Too small apartments now being build, and just the fun and greatness of Singapore gone. Some times OLD people should indeed retire and fade away, as General MacArthur so correctly said. What happended to the high standard used in the 1980th by LKY, who demanded that a HDB chief who had become corrupt, do the right thing and commit sepukku.
ReplyDeleteHokkien lang say ..hor leow ah Btw...are you a fan of Herman Hermit?
ReplyDeleteHi. Do you mean 'sigh' in line 5 of the 3rd stanza?
ReplyDelete@feedmetothefish:
ReplyDeleteNo doubt the old days were a whole lot better. When we take a good hard look at the "progresses" that PAP had claimed that we made, there is serious need to ponder whether it is real progression or disguised regression. As far as I can see, the citizens' lives had been regressing instead of progressing. So is there real progress? Or progess only for a certain group of people at the expense of the rest of the people?
@anonymous March 24, 2009 1:13 PM
You are right. Ultimately, the old truism holds true, that "the people gets the government they deserve". What little we can do, is our part to open the eyes of those who are still blinded in hope that they'd wake up sooner than later.
@jeffgoh
Thank you. Will post when I am inspired again since it all depends on the phase of the moon and the side of the bed I got up from.
@PG Jacobsen
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. People change, moralilty change, priority change. As far as I am concern, Lee Kuan Yew and his band of cronies are now leechers, nothing more.
@anonymous March 25, 2009 10:33 AM
Thank you. I am not a fan of Herman Hermit.
@anonymous March 25, 2009 6:25 PM
'sigh' is appropriate too, though I don't really see many of them sighing over our problems, instead, we have one labelling us as 'lesser mortals'. My original thoughts were that they are pretending to sign the policies in the citizens best interests, but in reality, they cannot vote against the party line. At the end of the day, in whose interests are they working for and in what capacities are they working as when 37 out of 82 of them did not receive even a single vote of endorsement from the people?
Ya agree, not as wonderful as before but 还可以 la....if we compare with other places in the world. Life can get pretty crazy... like the Zimbabwe currency with 2 dozen zeros behind the 1, becoming worse than the Chinese "hell notes".
ReplyDelete=) you do what you have to do to make it work. it isn't 1969.
ReplyDeleteand this is coffeeshop talk made up pretty. nothing new or eye-opening.
discourse is always good though.
It is very meaningful - this poem! Well done, Hermit!
ReplyDeleteNot that I want to steal your thunder, I like to share one satirical poem of mine that laments what 'modern advancement' is doing to the natives in our kind of society when true values are eroded for 'progress'. See Cast Your Dice at http://www.eart-h.com/text/castdice.htm
cheers,
Joe
Hi, well done. Not sure if those who are involved up there have a chance to read it and reflect upon themselves, or may be they already know, but not one eye closed, but both.
ReplyDelete