The Mahathir Syndrome

When Mahathir was in power, everything he said and or wanted to do would be done. All his cronies who enjoyed all the perks would just joined the bandwagon, got fed and became fatter, without a single word of criticism or guilt. Now that Mahathir is out of favour, he is now free to crusade against all the wrong things done during his time. His former cronies too were doing the same. Suddenly everything seems so wrong. But when they were in positions of power, they cannot see anything wrong. What takes them so long to realise the wrongdoings? Why didn't they say anything or do anything when they were in a position to do so? Is it because they are no longer being fed, so nothing to lose now?

Move on and be forgotten

Imagine if there is no internet and blogs, every embarrassing episode will be forgotten and the people would have moved on. No more reminders of NKF and peanuts, no more high salaries to haunt anyone while the poor were asked to tighten their belts and eat potatoes, who is Mas Selamat or Selamat what? People have short memories and have many things to take care of. The internet will now be the mother of all memories, be there constantly, to remind people of embarrassing things, 24/7, 365 days a year. There will be no such things as move ons. The msm may not want to talk about some issues and events because of space contraints and the need to move on to new news. News have to be news, fresh and of current interests. In cyberspace, what is important is not currency but relevance and continuity. Things that are really important to the citizens, things that the citizens hold dearly and care about. And for some things, they will not move on but cling on.

Horrifying news

I read in the weekend papers of people commenting that they need a $1000 or $1200 pm income in order to get married. What were this people thinking? Still living in the 60s when a 4 figure salary is a big deal? Even if both are earning $1200 pm, it is a big drag. They will barely get by on their own. No more free school fees, free medical, free tuition, etc. Correct me if I am wrong on these. Some may be getting a lot of freebies from Community Welfare Funds, and there are plenty of them if they are qualified. If not they could appear in TV Charity Shows to help to raise fund for themselves. Yesterday I posted about the guy with a $600 pm single income and two kids. He is brave enough to bring two innocent lives into this paradise when nothing is free. I do not know whether it is foolhardy or idiotic, whether he is doing a meritorious act to help in the birth of two human bean, or he is setting up for two tragedies to happen? With the high cost of living, a minimum combined income of $3000 may barely get by with one kid. People need a lot of education on the cost of living here and how much is needed to start a family. Long gone were the days where families lived off the land with 10 or more children, each with one pair of shorts and a singlet to live by. And where food can be found in the forests or hunted. Or where fire is free from fallen tree trunks and water free from the well. This is a big city and all facilities are world class with world class price tags. Want to have more world class facilities? Want to pay more?

The Dictation Culture

Over the years, this Dictation Culture, where people in position of authority will dictate to the people in the name of 'for the good of the people' has been part of the Singaporean psyche. Singaporeans grow up thinking that dictating to the people is an acceptable form of behaviour. And when in position to do so, they too will do it. And those at the receiving end will just accept it. Our CPF money is subjected to this Dictation Culture. We often hear people suggesting that Singaporeans should be subject to compulsory donation of their money to charities or special self help funds as if the money is there for the taking, and the owners have no right to them. Recently, the NTUC Income is in the news for 'arbitrary changing its bonus payout structure' to policy holders. This change was decided and done by NTUC Income and it then informed the customers of the change. Though the customers bought the policies under a set of agreed terms and conditions, this change came as a surprise to many, including former Income Chief, Tan Kin Lian himself. But all the protests will be useless if there is provision for Income to change the terms as it likes. The changing of the CPF withdrawal age and terms over the years, the compulsory Medisave Account, the CPF Life etc were all new terms that were decided and shafted it to the people. No choice. Compulsory and for the good fo the people. And since there were no public protest, it is settled, that the people approved of them.

Planting Trees

There is a Chinese saying that the present generation plant trees and the future generations will reap its benefits. What the govt is doing, in investing for the future is similar to planting trees and is a laudable initiative. A more short sighted govt would have used the money now and make many people happy and win many popular votes as well. The worst govt is to spend the future earnings now, like what the American govt is doing. They are bankrupting themselves into the future. We have seen a lot of our money, billions, being invested for the long term, and recently the buying of big foreign banks. The timing, a golden opportunity, also presents risks. The immediate short term losses have naturally invited a lot of criticisms. With hindsights, some were saying that it would be better if the decisions were delayed a little. And people would expect the professionals to do their sums right. In this case, it is easy to say we were a bit hasty. The loss is no small change. The other angle of unhappiness is that while we have so much money to invest for the future, we are seeing immediate pains and suffering affecting some of our less able citizens. It is a question of how much to invest and how much to share with the people. Admittedly it is very subjective and what one sees as right another will see it as wrong. While planting trees for the future is definitely a prudent move, it should not end up as an obsession as the present needs to be taken care of too. Many of the owners of this national reserves will not be around in the future to reap the fruits of long term investments. And when we have more than enough, a little more generosity for the present is most welcomed.

Msm and political parties

The Malaysian system allows for political parties to have their own mouth piece in the form of commercial papers. PKR is going to have its own paper to be sold to the public with a political view that is PKR's. Umno of course has its own papers. With political parties owning their own newspapers, it is normal and acceptable to have such papers towing the party lines and saying good things about the party and defending the party. What is the status of our msm? Are they owned by political parties or are they strictly private organisations? My understanding is that our msm are commercial and privately owned enterprises, not owned by political parties. Not even own by the govt, not a statutory board, or is it? I read somewhere that the local msm's stance is to be pro govt. So whichever party comes to power, they will have the support of the msm. Is this support unquestionable or unconditional, under all circumstances?

No subsidised petrol

There is no difference in the definition of subsidy between what we know here and what it is known in Malaysia. Both subsidises by making the buyer pays less from the market price. The Malaysians subsidise their petrol and we subsidise our flats and hospital bills. The difference is that the Malaysian petrol subsidy also allows foreigners like Singaporeans to take advantage of them. (We don't regard PRs as foreigners.) Now the Malaysian govt is thinking of abolishing this ruling. And foreigners buying petrol in Malaysia will have to pay non subsidised prices. That will make the petrol buying trips to JB unnecessary. It will also put an end to the Uniquely Singaporean 3/4 tank rule. So no one can continue to joke about it anymore. The best thing is that the jams at the causeway will be a thing of the past. It may be a little tough to the shopkeepers and restaurants that benefitted from the Singaporeans going over for petrol and at the same time enjoying the cheaper food and groceries. When the incentive of cheaper petrol is over, the hustle and the little savings may not be attractive enough anymore. Only genuine visitors going for holidays will be seen crossing the Johore Straits.

Living on bread alone

A family of 4, with two young children, survives on bread for lunch and inner. Didn't know what they take for breakfast. Maybe skip breakfast too. And compare their plight to the destitutes in charity homes with 3 proper meals, I think the homes are a luxury. His income is $600 pm. Unbelieveable, but it happens. He probably earns less than a foreign worker or cleaners in the food courts. Some may want to throw the brutal truth at them, that they are to be blamed for being useless and unable to earn a decent living in paradise. With cost of living skyrocketing, life for those in this category is going to be tough.

Next Parliament sitting

The last sitting was overshadowed by the escape. Even the high cost of living were not touch on, or was it skimmed through? With the Mas Selamat issue as water under the bridge, and with everyone moving on, we can expect more outstanding issues to be tabled. Many ministers were significantly 'absent' or unheard of in the last sitting, all taking a backseat and quietly watching the spectacle of Kan Seng under the spotlight. Raymond would surely be in the picture with his seat belts buckled tightly. Boon Heng may do an update of his oldies ministerial portfolio. Eng Hen could continue to take a break after solving the annuities for the oldies problem for Boon Heng. Now where is Mah Bow Tan? I think he can relax a little with all the backlog HDB flats sold or nearly sold and with HDB prices going to seventh heaven due to rising demands. Good job done. And Boon Yang, is he in Trade and Industry? Tharman should be a happy minister with so much money in hand and happily giving them away. Hopefully Chiam See Tong would not tell him not to kill the goose and only giveaway the drumstick will do. Bloggers should be waiting in anticipation of what new laws will come out from Shanmugam. Oh, Boon Wan has solved the high medical fees problems. Everyone now can afford to pay their medical fees to the 80s. Looks like the only major thing in the next sitting is not even ERPs or high profits of privatised public transport system but seat belts for school children.

Happy news for retirees

HDB rental market remains strong with high demands from foreigners. The median rents for 2 rm is $1,000 pm and 3 rm is $1,400. Now, that will take care of my retirement surely. No need CPF Life or buy back schemes. If people can start a family with a $1,200 income, $1,400 will be too much for a retiree who is happy with instant noodles and 3 in 1s. And for the bigger flats, 4 rm can fetch $1,600 while 5 rm can get $1,800. Singaporeans who own a HDB have it made. No more worries. Just pray hard that more foreigners will come to our shore and continue to drive up rental demands. Now I am fully convinced that we need more foreign workers, foreign talents or anything, as long as they are foreigners and can afford to pay more for renting HDB flats.

MP pushing for new laws

Finally there is an issue grave enough for the MPs to speak up strongly in Parliament. The high cost of living, minister's pay, and the Mas Selamat escape were not able to kinder the fire in the belly of the MPs. It is reported in the front page of the Sunday Times that several MPs would lobby for new laws to make seat belts in school buses mandatory. Enough is enough and they want it implemented immediately. They would even question Raymond Lim 'What's next?' since he has not spoken a word on this earth shattering issue. There will be sparks in Parliament on May 26. Just wondering, is Raymond running out of favour?

Compare prices and save

'Consumers can save money if they shopped around, Case said, noting that there were variations in prices across supermarkets, even for the same item.' And when I study the price comparison table carefully, I am fully convinced. And I am going to put this great saving idea into practice today. I will buy canned luncheon meat and eggs from NTUC Fairprice, canned sardines and baked beans from Shengsiong, condensed milk and toothpaste from Giant, shampoo and soap from Shop N Save, dishwashing detergent from Prime, and bread from Jasons. Wow, I am starting to count my savings from buying the cheapest from all these supermarkets. And don't worry about my petrol and time. I have plenty of spare time, and I can walk.

A pathetic existence of a life gone drastically wrong

I truly admire, and even envious, the old hags that sit in the board of directors or even as chairman of huge conglormerates and actively employed even in their 70s or feeble 80s. These are the men and women who have a good life. After toiling for half a life time, they ended in a job that demands them to attend a few board meetings and being paid in the millions or at least a few peanuts. And in between board meetings, maybe once a month, and a few corporate functions to grace the occasions, the rest of their time is for their own enjoyment. They can go travelling or spending quality time with friends, girlfriends, boyfriends or grandchildren. It is a life worth 'working' and living for. Anyone in such a privilege position will want to 'work' till death makes them part.With plenty of money and plenty of free time at their own disposal, 'working' for a life time makes a lot of sense when 'working' is once a month to attend board meetings. 'Working' really makes sense to these privileged individuals but not to those who have messed up their lives, wittingly or through a spate of misfortunes. No judgement here as many got into their predicaments through many reasons, self inflicted, environmental or circumstantials. It is a very sad state of affair to see a different set of old hags wiping tables and clearing plates in kopitiams or high end food courts. These octogenarians are a frail presence of their exuberance youth. Now their presence in stark contrast to a new generation of affluent young that have everything that they did not have in their life time. And the new young are enjoying every minute of their time in luxury while these old hags are told to value and treasure their economic independence and dignity, to earn a living at a time when they should be lying beside the boxes and waiting to be carried them home. Is this what life should be in a rich beyond belief first world paradise? That the oldies must toil to the last day of their pathetic existence? That this is called dignity and pride of living? Strongly encouraged by the state! I think this is the most shameful thing to see, and to believe that it is good. Don't we have any better options, a new thinking on what life should be for the oldies? A little tropical paradise as suggested by Boon Wan is not a bad idea as a choice, no compulsion and with true subsidies, to allow the oldies to retire in grace, comfort, stress free and with dignity. Walking the aisles of kopitiams and foodcourts can never be something to be proud of or to look forward to in one's twilight years.

And now I understand

I happened to step into Robinson last week and, to my amazement, the store was so crowded. I didn't know there was a sale on. I picked up a couple of items and headed for the cashier. I almost dropped what I was holding. There were something like 50 people in the queue. I looked around for other cashiers and the same picture struck me again. It might be a big sale. But hey, that's Robinson, and every item there is not cheap ok. And the customers were just grabbing, each with a few items in the hands and under their arms. Easily every customer would be hanging on to a couple of hundred bucks of items. Now this is also a part of paradise. While in the NTUC Fairprice the same crowd was there. But you could notice that price checking seems like a past time. The customers were checking and rechecking the prices and comparing similar items. If one patronises stores like Robinson, it is very excusable to exclaim that the good times are here. What is a few hundred bucks? It is good time and spending is a good distraction to the boring life. What a different world! Please forgive me if I don't have the same world view as you.

Different style

Below article was posted by a blogger in Tan Kin Lian's blog. It presented a different style on the issue of responsibility and accountability. I am not making any value judgement here as it is not a matter of right or wrong. It is just a style, and people do it differently. (Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum , Philadelphia , March 22,2008) Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, leaders should manage failure? Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India 's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India 's 'Rohini' satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space.... By 1979 ...I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal . It was a big failure. That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference....Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization. ...in July 1980, ... and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, 'You conduct the press conference today.' I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team....

The new battle on foreign workers

We have discussed this many times over. Though some were more against foreigner workers, many narrow down to foreign talents that are not really talents but cheap white collar workers. And the gripe is that they are taking away these jobs from Singaporeans who are just as well qualified. Reading the msm today, a new battle is being fought between the govt and the opposition parties even to the extent of ridiculous challenge asking Worker's Party to just hire Singaporeans. This is the same kind of challenge asking Singaporeans to come up with alternative solutions when it cannot happen simply because the one being challenged is not in a position to carry them out. Ya, hogwash. So now we have the trade unions and the govt strongly for foreign workers. On the other corner, the natural opponents, the opposition parties. As far as workers are concerned, it is now an established fact that many jobs are shunned by Singaporeans and only foreigners are willing to accept them. So there should be no question as to whether the employers should or should not employ foreign workers for these jobs. What is needed is in jobs that Singaporeans want and are qualified to do. If these jobs are lost to Singaporeans, with so many things stacked against them, we are going to see many educated, qualified and angry Singaporeans hogging the net and kpkb.

Mahathir into blogging

Mahathir has joined the blogging world to say his piece. And this is a world that he had no special liking for when he was in power. For then, the msm was his mouth piece, saying and printing what he liked and his fancy. Things have changed when he lost power. He lost his voice in the msm. They no longer say or print what he likes. And knowing that he has no other choice by cyberspace, he accepts what he thinks is best. Now he has cyberspace to thank for in giving him a voice. Whether people listen to him is another thing. But at least he is talking again He is using his pen name of Che Det. Welcome to the world of talking nonsense, or saying what you feel, Che Det. No one is going to censor your free speech now.

Don't worry, we have plenty of rice stockpile

This is a very comforting message. And then there is NTUC Fairprice advising people to switch to housebrands that are cheaper or go for special discount promotions. And the govt has assured the people that they will help those who need help, directly. A Lily Cheong wrote to the ST complaining, yes, complaining that 'A 10kg bag of rice rose from $17.50 or $18.50 to $20.80 one week ago. On Tuesday, the price rose to $26.80.' Using the $17.50 as base, this is more than 50% increase in slightly more than a week. She added that for low price cooking oil, 'For a 2kg bottle, the price rose from $2.35 to $5.25 or $5.35 a week ago. On Tuesday, the price spiked again to $5.90...for cooking oil sold under Fairprice's house brand, labbeld a low price item.' Total increase is more than 150% from $2.35. At the rate this is going, the people better be afraid. Be very afraid. There will be plenty of rice and basic essentials available. But money will not be enough.

The fascinating world of internet

Blogs and forums are sprouting out daily in cyberspace. There must be several thousands of local blogs and forums out there, from students talking about their school and social lives to hobbyists, food and gourmets, pornography and social political sites. It is blossoming with each day passing. There must be plenty of interesting and exciting things said or happening in cyberspace. OK, I shall not deliberately avoid mentioning Stomp, CNA, P65s and other sites that are being promoted by the msm. All of them are competing for readership. With such a vibrant community existing in cyberspace, the strange thing is that there is no interest in the msm to cover this ground. All we get to hear occasionally is a brief mention of Mr Brown, Yawning Bread, Mr Wang and maybe TOC and no more. Oh, maybe about someone selling food or comics. And if there is any article on internet and cyberspace, it is about something that not many people will not bother, or about blogs existing in Siberia or Timbuctoo perhaps. I read something in the ST talking about starving a dog in Nicaragua and Bonsai Kitten where kittens are stuffed in bottles by Tan Shzr Ee. To be fair, she was skirting around to talk about the meaning internet rants and kpkb. She said people argued that internet activism is ineffective because it was easy and cheap, and would be ignored. She disagreed. She said 'internet furores create a sense of greater awareness, or at least an opportunity for one to find out more.' Views in cyberspace are intentionally and deliberately ignored for obvious reasons. They present a serious challenge to not only the approved truths, but also posed as a serious challenger for readership with the msm. No business enterprise will promote the interests of their competitors or give credits to them. That is expected. Will msm give greater coverage of cyberspace one day, devote a page or a column for it? Not much of a chance if they can help it.

SMRT profit soars to $150 mil

Full year profit soared despite higher fuel and operating cost. Profit rose by 10.7% due to higher ridership and other incomes. So will fare price come down? I don't think so looking at oil prices. I think more increases are likely if the mindset and past precedence are to go by. And the reasons of the past can always be pushed out again and again. And don't forget that they are answerable to the shareholders to bring in ever increasing profits.