Our nationhood being thrown off balance

Singapore is a small country with limited landspace, and as nature goes, there has to be an equilibrium. When this equilibrium is thrown off balance, that's where trouble brews. When Singapore still has quite a manageable population and a public infrastructure which could still keep pace, this equilibrium was still intact then. But now, with a straining public infrastructure and ballooning population which is artificially inflated by the government, this equilibrium is thrown off balance.

The signs are clear of this loss of equilibrium: rising costs of living, rising urban stress, rising resentment among the people. It's like an overpopulation of goldfish living in a tight fish tank; there'll bound be conflict.

But to the PAP government, this is inconsequential so long as this ground matters do not directly impact them. The MIWs don't have to squeeze in public transportation, their salaries can afford them a lifestyle above the average living standards, such that a public transport fare hike of a few cents is to them, as insignificant as a speck of dirt. Most important to the MIWs are: phenomenal GDP growth that will translate into huge revenues and therefore huge ministerial salaries, and ultimately, the political longevity of PAP in total, unbridled power on this small island state.

While the people are crying out for help, the MIWs have either unconstructive suggestions (such as: we've no choice but to stay competitive, etc) or cold-hearted remarks (such as: you Singaporeans are mollycoddled, etc). They forget that they're paid taxpayers' monies, and they forgot their mission is to serve the people instead of themselves and the party. More irony is the fact that by paying themselves superhuman salaries, they're contented to brush off criticisms against their lacklustre, barely-superhuman or not even average performance. It's like having your cake and eat it, and it's free lunch for them.

There'll continue to be rising living costs for us, because the equilibrium between population and infrastructure capacity has been thrown off balance, artificially. Without artificially ramped up demand in the face of supply shortage, there will not be such ridiculous skyrocketing costs for even the use of public transportation. This is made even more unbearable by the profit-seeking attitude of the duo-poly in public transport sector that has no competition to start with. It'll not just be public transportation that we can expect more fare hikes in the coming years, there'll be other aspects.

Forget about the MIWs' promises before GE2011 and even better, once and for all treat LHL's apologies and even his National Day Rally Speech this year with a huge pinch of salt. Before elections, they claimed everything can be under control and begged us to give them a chance. Now that they're given a free play of 5 more years, they turned about and told us that there's a big deal which can't be helped. Ironically, we're still paying millions of dollars for such lacklustre performance which you can find comparable in other less developed countries.

History shows the danger of loss of equilibrium, by which I mean social compact between government and people. Ancient dynasties in China for instance fell not just due to foreign aggression, but also the loss of faith in the monarch by the people who suffered daily livelihood issues. This same history may be repeated in 2016, and even if not, it'll happen some time in the future.