A Most Pragmatic Response.
“As a responsible government, we have to examine the considerations and priorities when deciding how much and what type of assistance Singapore can provide after each disaster. Singapore is not in the league of major donor countries, nor do we aspire to be one. Among other things, we have to consider the nature of our relations with the affected country and whether we can provide aid which will add value to the relief efforts when deciding what to contribute, as we have limited resources and cannot respond to every disaster in the same way.” Sudesh Maniar, Director, Public Affairs, MFA
Long story short- essentially what our gahmen is saying is we only help those who can do something for us or do something to us.
In the case of China- we help because they can do something for us, like continue to provide an unlimited supply of cheap labour to pump up our GDP. Or in the case of Indonesia- we help because they can do something to us, like not sell us sand, natural gas or burn more forests to pollute our air.
For the Haitians, I guess its just too bad. Too far away to do something to us, too poor to do something for us.
Lets vote PAP for more pragmatism.
Ermmm, unless, you are poor, uneducated, old, handicapped or generally don’t provide much economic value because then our gahmen probably won’t give too much of a fuck about you.
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