How I hoped I could be a Greek.
What I'm trying to say is that Greece is prepared to let its people decide through a referendum whether to accept the EU rescue plan.
I never knew something like this could be decided through a referendum!
Just like in a family, the father has borrowed a massive sum of money from the bank not for productive purposes but to go on a shopping spree to please his own material wants.
The father has defaulted in payment despite the repeated calls from bank. The bank knows this family is very tough to deal with.
Counting its own bad luck, the bank pleads in submission: "Boss, we understand you have big expenses and limited income. Make it this way: for all you've owed to the bank, can you please just pay back half of it?
"Another thing. We have a humble request. We have designed a bailout plan for you, and we hope you'll cooperate with us.
"In the future, could you please just confine your dinners to only three dishes, absolutely no shark fin? Also, you have to trade your Mercedes for a Saga; and move into a link house from your posh seaside villa. What do you say?"
The father replied, "Well, I need to talk this over with my family."
So he goes back and tells the family, "The bank allows us to pay back half the sum, but we have to tighten our belts this moment on. I don't want to make the decision myself. Why don't we vote for it?"
His wife is thinking: "If we accept the offer, I will have no more designer handbags in the future."
The son thinks: "If we accept, then I can't hang out in the pubs any more."
The daughter ponders: "If we accept, I won't be able to travel overseas every year!"
The entire family shares a common understanding: it is just impossible to settle for a humbler living. It's not hard to imagine that the family will eventually decide to say "No" to the bank.
OK, just a metaphor, but let me tell you I have not exaggerated over the real situation.
Seeing that the expiry of Greece's debts is drawing nigh whereas the treasury is largely emptied, EU leaders anxiously hold one after another meeting, cracking their heads and going all out to prevent an imminent collapse of the Greek economy.
In the end, the EU states have struck an accord with the creditors to slash the debts owed by Greece by half, on top of another 130 billion euros forked out by the EU on condition that Greece accepts EU's bailout plan and goes on a strict austerity drive.
Greek prime minister George Papandreou knows very well his people won't be happy if he succumbs to the bailout package, and his hopes of re-election will be instantly killed.
So, the government leaves the decision to the public.
A referendum will not work for this kind of thing. Imagine if our government allows Malaysians to decide whether or not to raise the fuel prices, and everyone wants it free.
It is within everyone's expectation that the Greeks will reject the plan for their own near-term benefits.
While he is trying to please the people by calling a referendum on this landmark deal, Papandreou also struggles to put pressure on the EU to ask for more favourable terms.
By calling a referendum, Greece has sent the EU bailout plan as well as global financial markets crumbling. Papandreou's design has not only put his country in great jeopardy, but the world in general.
Sin Chew Daily
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