Now, this is bad, really bad

If you read the Straits Times’ reports on the three new faces unveiled by the People’s Action Party today (22 March), you would be as depressed as I am.

The PAP, in the lead-up to the General Election, has made two proclamations:

1. Singapore’s fourth Prime Minister is among its new slate of candidates.

2. This new slate is touted as the “4th Generation leadership”, or 4G if you like a soundbite.

Looking at the three newbies just unclothed, the abovementioned two proclamations sound hollow indeed.

We have Ong Ye Kung. An NTUC men who hopes to join the other 10 NTUC MPs in Parliament. What is shocking is that Ong says, when asked if he preferred contesting a GRC or an SMC, :”We can’t… go and challenge the masters.” And of course he says he prefers the GRC. No prizes for guessing why. After all, GRCs were created to “give some assurance to new candidates that they will win their elections”, in the words of one SM Goh.

But the question is: Is Ong the type of 4th generation leaders we want – or that Singapore needs? It sounds to me that he is more of a follower, a conformist, than any leader.

Then there is Janil Puthucheary. His father was locked up for 10 months during the 60s when Operation Coldstore happened. Yet this person, who is a new citizen of 3-years, says he is “not at all” angry about what happened to his father. “It was something that… happened in the long history that we were told about,” he tried to explain.

Told about? Didn’t his father go through it?

Amazing stuff – what one would do in order to wear white.

Lastly, there’s Desmond Choo. He’s slated to contest Hougang SMC. My take? Low Thia Khiang will have him for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and supper. The man is so bland he makes a whitewashed wall look exciting.

So, these are three of the first who are supposed to be part of this “4G leadership”.

A conformist. A man who dismisses sufferings. And a toufu – tasteless and bland.

So yes, it is quite clear that the PAP had been scraping the bottom of the barrel in its search for new faces. It makes one wonder: we were told that some 2,000 potential candidates were screened by the PAP.

And this is what they come up with?

Man, the bottom must be quite dry.

And yes, this is bad.

Really bad.

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Here’s the Straits Times playing along, like a well-trained doggy, trying to draw readers’ sympathy.

“His eyes reddened….”