So what’s new? SM Jayakumar is retiring from politics. Joo Chiat’s MP Chan Soo Sen is retired at 54, only to be replaced by Charles Chong, age 57. Generals have been roped in to fight a new kind of battle.
Also recruited, are 27-year-old lawyers who love shopping for branded goods and stamp their feet when they have nothing to say … all that seem to promise us an interesting election campaign. Provided you know where to get your “news”.
Meanwhile, celebrity blogger Mr Brown announced that he was running for elections on April Fool’s Day. I don’t think anyone was fooled, and toothfully, I was more entertained by his Tin Pei Ling pose. Oh! I almost forgot. Associate Prof Koo Tsai Kee is also retiring. Wait a minute. Koo what? Toothfully, being the humble and ignorant heartlander that I am, I’ve never heard that name before. And I must really feel ashamed of myself because AP Koo has been an MP for 20 years! Not only that, he was actually Minister of State for Defence. Alamak! Now, I’m really malu to the core. So I decided to do some research on the internet. Mostly vague stuff coming from the official media, but then, I spotted some interesting quotes from the good prof:
“The SAF, despite its manpower constraints, has been able to face up to a widening range of security threats in recent years under Defence Minister Teo….And I am not saying this because he’s my boss … We have made good progress in the past in our productivity drive and that is why we have been able to move our economy forward and have good jobs for many Singaporeans. But this is a constant effort and we have to renew and re-double our efforts.”
OK, but I can’t help feeling that the good prof is more than a bit overqualified to make such statements. Gosh, even Yours Toothfully can do that if you pay me $1M a year. That’s why so many people envy and admire Prof Koo Tsai Kee. I want to be part of a GRC too. But oops, wrong skin colour. Not cute enough. Can’t make those “koo” statements. Guess I’ll have to go back to the daily grind.
