Maybe it is not, just a confirmation that it is real. After a few days of discussion on the housing issues, it comes out very clearly that the average Singaporeans either refuse to think, or simply cannot think, or too frighten to think.
When faced with problems, they said, look at the third world countries, we are so much better. Or, it could be worst. They would not compare with the best or would not think that it can be better. The status quo is the best and the only way. Even after May 6, with a trickle of change coming up, they are still not convinced that they could make the change for the better in a bigger way.
They simply accept the raison d’tre of the authority. If people don’t sign up to buy flats, the govt will not build. The govt will only build when there is solid demand with applicants putting their money out front and signing on the dotted line. So what if it takes 3 to 4 years to build a flat? Even if it is 10 years, that’s the way it should be. They should be grateful that they got such a good flat. Other countries, many do not have such good housing.
May 6 did change a little on this great thinking and policy. Without May 6, the housing programme still will be as before, build only when there is demand and be grateful to get a flat in 3 or 4 years. That was the normal and the best thing can be.
The other great logic, the higher income Singaporeans are competing with the lower income Singaporeans for public flats. And if they are allowed to buy public flats, they will deprive the chances of lower income applicants. What a great logic. So it is ok for the slightly higher income citizens to compete with the richer foreigners in buying private flats and emptying their savings plus a big big mortgage.
No, the average Singaporeans could not see the flaw in this logic. They could not see anything further than their noses. I am too tired to repeat the explanation on how nonsensical is this reasoning. For those who can understand, good, for those who can’t, good.
And many Singaporeans are barred from buying a public flat for all kinds of reasons while foreigners/new citizens who did not contribute anything to the country, not even defending the country, are allowed to buy public flats. I just saw this quote in the Today paper and I just modify the last word from bonus to housing. ‘Consider that we trust military and homeland security personnel with our lives, yet we don’t’ give them lavish ‘homes’. The author Nassim Nicholas Taleb was referring to the lavish bonuses of the bankers in America.
There are many weird logics and reasonings that the average Singaporeans will just accept blindly. Cheng Hu kong so must believe, must follow, must accept, cannot argue. Would they ever believe that an alternative govt of better people can be better than the present govt? No, it could be worst. This is the best. There are no better people than those already in the govt.
It is quite frightening really, to think of a people raised in the best education system and failed badly in trying to use their brains to think deeper and not accepting superficial explanations. It would not hurt the brain to make it work a little bit more. Keeping it in pristine condition is a bad thing. The more one works the brain, the shinier it will be.
I may be wrong. And there is still hope that those who are not thinking and see this place as a Shangrila, flawless, are new citizens or PRs who came from a lower base. That could also be the reason why they are asking critical and cynical Singaporeans to get lost so that they can bring in their families here. This is indeed a place made in heaven if you know where they are coming from.
By the same token, families with $10k household income should not eat at hawker centres, take public transport and go to polyclinics.
ReplyDelete@ ANON 11.39am
ReplyDeleteSingapore Joke - Book Titles I'd Like to See.
"Too Few Good Men - PAP in the Later Years" by Lee Hsien Loong
Those who live in private properties should be barred from govt hospitals, and yes, eating in hawker centres and food courts and taking public transport.
ReplyDeleteThey should dine in restaurants only.
"The great masses of the people…will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one."
ReplyDelete- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1933
"Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession – their ignorance."
- Hendrik Van Loon
"The trouble with most folks isn’t so much their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain’t so."
- Josh Billings
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/quotable-quotes/752
Hahaha....
ReplyDeleteSingaporeans are given opportunity to make money from housings and yet so many are making noise.
Take the cue from foreigners, they know how to make big bucks from Sin.
There is a difference. Both Singaporeans are making big bucks from housing prices. Singaporeans are also making good money from their other incomes.
ReplyDeleteThe difference is more fightening. When the foreigners are making big money, they got to keep them, and can really become very rich. Heard of the maid that lived in a big landed property in the Phillipines and the many PRs buying big land and properties in India and China?
As for Sinkies, while they are busy making big money, they forgot that other people are busy spending them on their behalf. It is all computed, how much they earn and how much they have to spend. The balance goes to CPF/Medisave minimum sum accounts.
Hehe...
ReplyDeleteSingaporeans are slave to Sin, You mean?
But, be informed, they are happy slaves, at least a majority of 60%
are.
Don't despair, the slaves know what they are doing.
" The critical habit of thought, if usual in society, will pervade all its mores, because it is a way of taking up the problems of life.
ReplyDeleteMen educated in it cannot be stampeded by stump orators ... They are slow to believe. They can hold things as possible or probable in all degrees, without certainty and without pain.
They can wait for evidence and weigh evidence, uninfluenced by the emphasis or confidence with which assertions are made on one side or the other.
They can resist appeals to their dearest prejudices and all kinds of cajolery.
Education in the critical faculty is the only education of which it can be truly said that it makes good citizens."
William Graham Sumner, 1906
Some points:
ReplyDelete1 One reason for wealth inequality is because some people are just better than others when it comes to creating value, acquiring a capital and nurturing that capital over long periods.
2 Everyone goes though hard times sooner or later. Being broke and fucked up is the DEFAULT STATE of human existence. Naturally, the majority of us are 'motivated ' to extricate ourselves from the default.
3 All authority is mostly bullshit. If you do not have or will not use your own intellect to critically evaluate your situation and the environment you happen to exist in...your genes will probably be removed from the 'system' :-)
Having and using critical faculties doesn't guarantee 'error free' evaluations. Everyone makes errors. Some learn, correct and innovate, others – those who choose to get swept up in their emotions -- become “entertainment” for everyone else. :-))
4 The world is a MERITOCRACY, every one is different, no one is so “special” they cannot be replaced, individuals are unequal, and every human life is PROBABLISTIC more than it is DETERMINISTIC i.e. 'lucky guesses' notwithstanding, no one can actually predict the future and any degree of certainty. Life and existence at the fundamental level is a gamble, and value is created by ACTION. So get busy ASAP.
5 Just because a person has 'bad luck' or is 'financially challenged' doesn't give that person an AUTOMATIC CLAIM to the property or lives of others.
No one is “obliged” to help another human being, which make charity and generosity true virtues because they are done WITHOUT FORCE or coercion thru guilt or “duty” (another bullshit idea) or “custom” or edict from the government.
6 Everyone acts in what they perceive to be their own self interest. i.e. WII-FM...the longest running radio station which has existed well before the invention of radio, and is and has been listened to by every human being. WII-FM ==> “What's In It For Me?”
Therefore you are A FOOL (aka a fucking idiot) if you don't look after yourself. Is having a place to live important to you? If is is, you had better get one...oh, you'll need money. Make sure you have some.
7 Since the “housing problem” is a constant bitch fest about prices, sooner or later the blinders have to come off and call it for what it really is: A MONEY PROBLEM.
Since money problems are PERSONAL in nature, how is it “the government's problem” if some people simply consider getting a place to live “too expensive”?? Get fucking real folks. Remember meritocracy. Fair is fair.
8 The Sheeple get the government they deserve
9 You can't cheat an honest man
10 No one can make you feel lousy without your permission... i.e. you create your own emotions through your thoughts, so fuck you, bia-tches !! :-))
@ Matilah Singapura
ReplyDelete- falsafah anda ada sedikit salah
Your philosophy (point 7) is valid if it's a free market like America.
In Singapore, the ownership and land supply is completely under government control. It's not a money problem. It's a government problem.
Understand your battlefield first.
Then choose the appropriate philosophical response.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@Anon 1009
ReplyDeleteSuffice it to say that government is ALWAYS a problem. (Ronald Reagan: Government is not the answer, and it is the problem).Or it can also be said that life is full of constant problems -- government is just once such constant problem.
I'll BET YOU MY Testicles that if you have enough money to buy the property you like in Singapore or anywhere else, you thus have one less problem in your life. Free market or not, if you have the dough and there is SOME supply, you can get your "needs" satisfied. Never mind what your needs are: sex, drugs, forbidden fruit, banned books, cars, watches, social life, medicine, leisure, entertainment, security, Housing. Since the government doesn't supply THE Majority of individual needs, don't you think it's butt-fuck insane to expect the government to supply housing... And when it does not expect it (the government) to FUCK THINGS UP BIG TIME?
Most things people bitch about have to do with 2 to things: 1. Other people 2. Money -- other people have too much, you never seem to have enough :-$
Stop wanking on the internet about "philosophy " and get real sex...that is if you have the social skills to get your willy wet -- without paying a hooker :-) Fuck philosophy -- fancy word, and mostly useless in reality, where being 'streetwise' and 'game on' is key.
Use your common sense dude.
Philosophy? Fucking useless shite!!
Dear Matilah Singapura
ReplyDeleteYou may not realize it. But both your postings is philosophy.
" Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy
A problem needs to be understood before it can be solved.
Why do you think Singapore government still has an on-going 30 year "fertility" problem even though it's got money, brains, doctors, determination, desire and etc. to "solve" the problem?
Money is not the solution, if the lack of money is not the problem.
Story
-----
A young bull and old bull were eating grass on a hill. The young bull looks down the valley and sees a whole herd of young cows down in the valley below.
"Hey old man!" cries the young bull. Let's charge down the valley and screw ONE of those young cows.
The old bull looks at the herd of young cows and says, "Son, let's WALK down the valley and screw them ALL."
Activity is not the same as action.
My Singapore News is getting livelier and more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteYep, with Professor Matilah around, you can expect anything from him. Just bear with his style.
ReplyDeleteWarning: Some of his posts may be discomforting to some readers. Just skip if it is not bearable: )
So so many post delete by author? Because they said the true??""This post has been removed by the Author.""
ReplyDelete@anon 910
ReplyDeleteFat fingers, low light, mabok, late night, not wearing my spectacles, and futile attempts at typing on the soft keyboard of an Android tablet with god-awful predictive text. That equates to many deleted posts, from too many mistakes.
Tablets and iPads are only good for watching porn. Hopeless for typing!