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Dr Chee Soon Juan will speak at the Public Forum to be held on 13 Apr 07, Friday, at the Sheraton Towers Hotel (see below). He will address comments Mr Lee Kuan Yew made in yesterday's Parliament session, defending the pay increase for ministers.
The Minister Mentor said that Singapore's external trade is 3 1/2 times that of our GDP, surpassing that of even Hong Kong. Because of this, he says, the Prime Minister must be paid $3.1 million and the Ministers $1.9 million annually.
On Friday, Dr Chee will debunk this simplistic statistic and show how misplaced Mr Lee's observations are. Dr Chee will present the complete picture of Singapore's economic performance in recent years and show how bleak Singapore's future will be if we continue down the PAP's path.
In other words, not only are the ministers not indispensable as they would have Singaporeans believe, their inability to tear themselves away from groupthink will lead Singapore down the road to ruin.
It is stunningly disingenuous for the PAP to claim that its economic policies are working and, worse, use them to justify the outrageous pay increments for their ministers.
In addition, MM Lee again made some rather unsavoury remarks about certain governments, in particular, those of Denmark, Switzerland, and Finland. Europe also came in for mention.
With the delegation of European Parliamentarians speaking at the Forum, come and hear for yourselves what the speakers have to say, in particular, Mr Anders Samuelsen, who is an MEP from Denmark.
Do the Europeans need to pay their ministers million-dollar salaries in order for them to lead their countries? Is it true that Denmark can fail and yet be saved by other European nations?
What about Luxembourg? A landlocked country with a population of only half-a-million, the GDP income per capita of that nation is the highest in the world! Did Lydie Polfer, former deputy prime minister of Luxembourg, make the PAP argument that she had to be paid $3 million a year? How did the tiny nation in Western Europe prosper without the type of PAP-dictatorial system?
Don't miss this opportunity to see and hear firsthand what politicians from (genuinely) First World countries think and how they practice democratic politics to achieve prosperity for their peoples, not just for themselves.
So pass the word around and encourage your family and friends to come. Admission is free. See you on Friday!
Public Forum
Development of Democracy in Europe and Asia
Date
13 Apr 07, Friday
7:00 pm
Venue
Venue: Sheraton Towers, Scotts Road
Opal Ballroom
(Newton MRT Station)
Admission
Free
Speakers
Dina Abad
Fiona Hall
Ignasi Cambo Guardans
Eugenijus Gentvilas
Lydie Polfer
Graham Watson
Chee Soon Juan
The parliamentary visit is part of the annual meetings held by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and Council of Asian Liberal and Democrats (CALD) to discuss the promotion of democracy as well as to foster greater cooperation between parliamentarians and democratic parties in Asia and Europe.
Make a date with the speakers. Come and express your views.
All are welcome.
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