What did Wikileaks reveal about top secret Singapore?

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What did Wikileaks reveal? Dunno lah! You want me to go to jail is it? Coming to think of it, Whenever I ask why there is so much secrecy in Singapore – most people just shrug their shoulders – what’s the actual financial spread of Temasek and GIC? The answer: Hey go fish Darkness! Your guess is as good as mine…better still go pick a number…any number.

You could even say; most of us have been subliminally conditioned to accept a blank space in the social narrative – it doesn’t bother us any longer (and that’s the really scary part) – like fire extinguishers, hidden speakers and fire escapes; these things rarely pierce the bubble of our everyday reality.  

Nevertheless I think it pays to take a step back and understand the reason behind our Government’s seemingly overbearing secrecy. The main reason for the cult of silence seems to be some sort of first defense against some unseen malevolent force. Granted there will always be risk and threats in this world. Just as they will always be plenty of opportunities and endless way to get on top of a threat. So to me this whole idea of maintaining a veil of inscrutability as a defensive strategy is not only passe but in the long run, it will work again us. Some people may say this attitude of secrecy is emblematic of the patriarchal system of governance in Singapore – my response is so what?

Just because a group in some attic covered with spider webs believe that certain customs should be maintained and even promoted at every cost doesn’t make it right or even effective – for practices to be relevant they need to be synched with what’s happening in the world – that’s at least what the government keeps preaching: we are already marinated in the globalized world. If that’s the really the status quo ante shouldn’t we jettison the whole idea of maintain the veil of secrecy for whatever reason – firstly, using secrecy as a defensive or pre-emptive financial strategy doesn’t work as quantitative easing has shown –secondly, whenever we maintain such moribund practices it can only make it harder for any Singaporean outfit to seek out strategic alliances with foreign western firms. And thirdly, whenever there is a blank space in the social narrative; who do you think steps in and writes the rest of the story? Charlatans, hucksters, bent pastors….the rest of this essay has been withdrawn from general circulation due to measured response)