MINDEF, PM's Son & Politics
Somehow, these 3 always link together. Afterall, the PM himself went into politics after his brief stint withe SAF.http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/287836/1/.html
SINGAPORE: The Defence Ministry has formally charged and
reprimanded a full-time National Service officer after he contravened orders by
broadcasting a letter of complaint to other servicemen.Second Lieutenant Li Hongyi, who is a son of Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had apparently sent an email to the Defence
Minister to lodge a complaint against another serviceman.2LT Li is believed to have copied the email to other
servicemen who are not directly under his command and are not in an official
capacity to deal with the matter.
Now that some soon-to-ORD kiddo down the street's willing to whack the system upside down, think of how much popularity he'll gain in the process.
Especially when the chances of him going into politics is not nil.
Then to quote some other views as proposed by the barflies:
"Well at least he likes to challenge leadership.... still got hope" - by CB (we all know NSFs are like DOGS, ie no human rights.)
"His heart is right but his approach could have been better.Shotgun blasting everyone into orbit isn't the way to go. You have to take one down at a time as you work your way up. It is a tedious process but given the grave importance of the matter as you escalate (imagine even Chief of Signals also part of the cover up), there is no short cut to this." - JW
"u want the tooth? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TOOTH!!!!" - DF
But the best of all?
"It's just a minor incident - after all, there've been worse offences committed by officers in the SAF - but it speaks of a larger, darker, and insiduous problem." - HungOnline
I guess it's pretty much a case of "Right motives, Wrong actions". Afterall, whistleblowing in a way that shakens the entire military's chain of command only seeks to weaken its image.
(Then again, we know the army's full of shit.)
Eventually, one has to question the lack of transparency in the public sector, especially in MINDEF where things are often of double-standards. Also, the lack of protection and mechanism for whistleblowing is a major concern. No doubt the military seeks to foster a unified fighting unit of troops where everyone's united and thus doesn't encourage 'ratting' on others, but if one's truly in the wrong, I believe there shouldn't be any form of cover-up.
Not to mention, any underlying motives for doing so, be it to gain the popularity of future voters or whatsoever. (it might look gd on his resume?)
Afterall, corp. may perceive him to be whistle-blowing for the right reason?
More views on this whole saga can be read up at the following links:
http://tomorrow.sg/archives/2007/07/11/pms_sons_army_gaffe_and_why_we_h.html
http://rockson.blogspot.com/2007/07/pm-son-shoot-email-complain-saf.html (includes the whole email)
CoW g0eS Mo0 m0o~! Mo0eD @ 11:33 am
0 MoOeD~!!
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