8/26/2008

Learning from Hongkong?

There are many things we can learn from Hongkong. But there is one thing which I think we have done far better than Hongkong and should be proud of this achievement. Don't look at me like that can? I am talking about public housing. I heard that we are sending a team to study how Hongkong manage their public housing problems. We used to have the best public housing programme. But with all the tweakings, we are sliding down. Maybe a few years more, we can learn from Hongkong as we forget the main objectives of public housing. The other perplexing thing is that with the quality of our supertalents, at least that is what we claimed, couldn't we work out our problems ourselves? Anyway, anything happening here is unique to us, Uniquely Singaporean. What is happening in Hongkong or Japan is peculiar to them. A better alternative is to pay for some international consultants to study our system and tell us our problems. Just hand them our watch and let them read the time for us. That will be simpler. If we do not know our own problems, cannot understand our own problems, something is amiss.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

When it comes to rewards they are the best and most talented. But when it comes to managing housing issues they have still to learn from Hongkong, for aging issues they still have to learn from Japan and I heard they even went to Vietnam to learn something.

Does that strike you as absurd and ridiculous? Something is truly amiss.

Mockingbird said...

i thought Singapore's public housing system is better than that of Hong Kong? Are not our public pigeon-holes more heavily "subsidised" than those in Hong Kong?

Property prices in Hong Kong are much higher than they are in Singapore. Most Hongkees don't own but rent their apartments.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

don't frighten me by saying that most hongkongers are renting their flats. it may be our turn to do so. it is just such a bad reminder.

what happens if this is adopted here? back to the 50s and 60s.