Our government is fond of making grand gestures. For example the banning of chewing gum. A better and more meaningful gesture would have been a ban on tobacco products.
Then we have the ban on the keeping of poultry by residents living on Pulau Ubin. This in response to the bird flu scare. All their poultry had to be culled. I believe at one stage, even the culling of the birds at Jurong Bird Park was under
serious consideration!
Post 9-11, the line of rain trees outside the American Embassy were stripped bare of their ferns. Apparently the authorities were afraid that terrorists might be using them as cover.
Then, there's the culling of wild boars. Someone's pet dog was killed by one. I wonder how many dogs were put down by the SPCA? Of the about 100 or so wild boars in the Lower Pierce area, at least 90 are being targeted to be culled. If only the authorities were as determined and efficient in 'culling' the inflow of foreign workers. A reduction of a mere thousand (32 000 to 31 000) was considered as a 'drastic' reduction!
A likely cornered boar that 'attacked' a boy and a security guard resulting in at most a few scratches moved a minister to voice his intention of 'protecting our babies' and further moved our dear PM LHL to say (at an international
conference no less) "better do something about it. Finally, we have to do something about it." Meanwhile a recklessly driven Ferrari actually KILLED at least 3 people. Nothing was said by ANY minister about limiting the speed or banning the use of such vehicles on our roads. Instead, the F1 races was extended for another 5 years at considerable taxpayers expense!
Then, there's the 'gift' of granting paternity leave to fathers. Unless the fathers are expected to take over the role of the confinement nanny, such leave is about as useful as his nipples.
These gestures while largely laudable on the surface, does leave one wondering as to their motivations. Dig a little deeper and one can find a common thread running through them all. What do you think that is?
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