Political Poetry

I was browsing through my very neglected IHS notes during a little rust-wipe exercise when I came across a set containing a long excerpt of our dear Catherine Lim's contentious compositions. To my absolute delight, she had compiled a series of political poetry not very dissimilar to her reputation. I like.:D

[...that is, keeping the basic elements that allow Singapore to be a legitimate member of the free world, and throwing out all the messy bits.

Here's a light-hearted poem on the subject:

Say out the four-letter word.
The Devil at once shouts
"Pope",
The Pope frowns and says
"Hell",
The pessimist mutters "Hope".
"Porn", growls the puritan,
"Bush", scream the Iranians,
"Cops", grumbles the hooker,
"Jews", roar the Palestinians.
For Donald Trump, it is "Poor",
And for the poor, it is "Limo",
The PAP says, "We have two,

They are 'Oppo' and 'Demo'."

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.

.

.

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...The government knows that it must deal carefully and sensitively with this group of Singaporeans. The prospect of bright, highly-skilled young professionals emigrating to countries that can afford them, in their own words, "more voice, more space", is very worrisome.

Here's a verse that could easily have come from one of these bright, outspoken Singaporeans:

World reports and surveys

Are impressed by Singapore;

They note its glowing charts

And watch its economy soar.

An A for sound investments,

An A for rule of law;

An A-plus for governance.

Each is a perfect score.

But it is a dismaying D

For freedom of the press,

Political debate and dissent

Get a grade that's even less.

Since we have turned global

We need the world's regard,

So let's correct the imbalance

And improve our report card.

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.

.

.

.

...a little poem about how easily the government can manage a people who have become overdependent and hence politically naïve:

"We do have freedom,"

say Singaporeans,

"As is clear from our presentstatus,

Since we are free to do everything

That the PAP government

lets us!"]

~©ACS(I) IHS Dept.

and Catherine Lim of course

Sigh, it's a pity local writers find no ground in our "science and technology and PAP is the best!!!" island. How??

May God save my blog too!:D