Matt 5: 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Attended the "Return Our CPF Funds" rally at the Hong Lim Park speakers corner on 07 June 14, where the blogger Roy Ngerng spoke passionately against the current CPF regime in Singapore. It was a simple setup with quite a low end sound system and a small speaking stage. I was expecting a far bigger crowd rather than the 1500 to 2500.

There were two senior ladies at the peripheral who said loudly that all the claims by Roy were nonsense which may well be the case. But seldom is a person so passionate for a wrong cause especially since he may have nothing to gain since his CPF may be very modest.

Roy, the main speaker was a person with nothing to loose. As a gay person, what rights do we have! Our rights to exist and to love is denied. If he was from a different background, I wonder whether he would be there at the stage speaking with so much passion, intellect and angst. He was appealing to the mob with simple logic and serious accusations for complex issues appealing to popular discontent.

Is his own suffering and denial of basic rights being personified in his wider crusade and angst against the Government? Our sufferings construct our outlook and sometimes we have nothing to loose because we have nothing. I dare say, perhaps not much CPF for Roy. He is a humble person - no doctor, university lecturer, or lawyer which makes him representative.

As a Christian, what would Jesus do? If Jesus was there and proclaimed "Blessed are the poor .....", perhaps he would have been stoned! In the Beautitudes, Jesus was facing a very poor and desperate lot, yet not once He mentioned their poverty nor blaimed it on the Roman Rulers or their local Jewish cronies.

Jesus took it higher, away from the immediate worries, and declared in Matt 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in the spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God". We may be poor physically, but are we poor spiritually towards God? If we poor in the Spirit realising that by our works, and righteousness we are poor indeed and could not justify ourselves spiritually, then we can receive wealth from the Kingdom of heaven above.

The poor of course were mourning in  Mat 5:4 but Jesus exalt them that they will be comforted by God.... and despite their circumstances they are to be meek, seeking righteousness, merciful, pure, peacemakers, and persecuted for righteousness sake, ie for the ministry of Christ!. It's our character that counts in spite of our circumstances! Jesus didn't arouse the mob for a change in Government ie Herod and his cronies, or to come against the Romans. His message was to look upwards.

As I was reflecting on Matt 5:43-48, we are all in the same boat! Just as the land is exposed to the same sun and rain whether the people are good or evil, if the economy and Finance goes south, the boat will sink very quickly. It is a small boat with lots of people, our Noah's Ark. It's not a big cruise ship like Japan or UK but a 120 foot yatch! We could really feel all the storms and rain.

What amazed me was the seniors coming up to take picture with Roy whilsts giving him a small donation.

The rally did have a atmosphere of a small mega church of 2,000 rallying the die heart supporters. But these weren't exhuberent youths wanting to change the world, but senior folks who feel somehow the system had failed them.

How could the church help the poor and the downtrodden? can or should we alleviate their pain and suffering? we can't build a kingdom on earth, but we can be salt.

The heart cry of Roy was for higher rates of returns and for CPF to be returned at 55 years of age. The amazing landscape at the rally was the narrow population range and backgrounds. Walking around the park, there was less than 100 under 35 years of age. It was not like CHC will full of young people under 25, nor was it like New Creation with working people under 45.

The majority was above 55 which would make sense since they would have wanted their CPF back. What suprises me was the low attendance. Near to 3.40 pm, there was hardly 800 in attendance with only the tent area filled with the people moving to the rather small make shift stage.

The final attendance would be between 1,500 to 2,500 and definately less than the 6,000 claimed by the organisers. If they could exagerate the numbers so drastically, are they any different?

All the attendees weren't there to support Roy. There were back benchers in the outer peripherals who appeared to be neutral, which was hinted by one of the speakers. Since there is no aerial photos like the pink dot, they could claim anything!

Perhaps, they fell into a narrow view to compare Singapore with Malaysia, the high interest for their EPF. Singapore have a very small physical foot print, and very poor viability as a City State. There is no precedence for survival. It is subjected to the financial and ecnomical influences.

Even a small wave could sink a small ship. Hence, the ship needs to be much bigger, not physically perhaps but virtually. In a changing world, it is hard to survive.   Somehow, the Sinkies may not have comprehended how small their ship is physically and may have taken things for granted.

In order to survive, a virtual footprint is created with a far larger economy, financial assets, foreign reserves than comparable population.  The die hearts at rally has a very local view when Singapore is in the world scene full of rather big sharks. Indeed, Singapore is at risk of any downturn far beyond her economy as it acts as South East Asia's Financial centre.

The interest rate in Singapore is low seemingly tied to the US and their endless quantative easing. It's not the CPF rates but how SG is benchmarked and our monetary policies to make us competitive and to minimise any large swings against the US dollar. The Singapore ship is facing very rough seas of a risk for an economic and housing bubble fueled by the low US interest rates.

What is the produce of Singapore? where do our water, food, building materials, oil, gas, minerals, cars, clothing, comes from? where do we buy Singaporean!

Being not competitive, we fall back to being a trading port, a tourist hub, a world class financial centre, shopping hub and a place where people meet for conventions and have fun at the two casinos.

The mega rich come here to park their money, to live, to play, to eat and drink and be merry at our casinos, restaurants, shopping centres, and night life areas. They have lots of alternatives to spend their money, but chose Singapore which shows how blessed Singapore is from their perspectives.

Singapore is a blessed country. If one goes across the border, there is a very high crime rate, poverty, and corruption. Somehow in the midst of criticism, we offer demands but no alternatives and no thanksgiving.

Singapore is blessed by God. There is a mega kind of Christianity which is impacting Asia. The nations are coming to Singapore, but the church is too busy to proclaim the Gospel for they are occupied at becoming the moral defenders to hunt down gays. God is not calling Christians to rise up as Red Dots, but to be salt and light to Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. 

A storm is coming. It was clear skies at the "Return our CPF" rally, but very dark clouds are coming which makes their protests seems child play. A new financial crisis and bubles are building up in the West and East. I am reminded by the song, with Christ in the vessel I can smile at the storm...

With Christ in the Vessel With Christ in the vessel
We can smile at the storm Smile at the storm

With Christ in the vessel We can smile at the storm As we go sailing home

Sailing, sailing home

Smooth sailing, Sinkie land, the home of Merlions. May God bless you and keep you safe.