On the covering page of Today paper is a full page on the COE system
with the question ‘How do you fix the COE system? There are three more
questions following this, ‘Why not make car buyers pay what they bid for
their COE? Or should COE just be balloted? What should COE categories
be based on?
The unhappiness over the COE system has been on going for many years.
Occasionally people would raise their grievances for a while but soon
forgotten. The Govt knows best and this is the best system they could
come up with. The fact that this system is coming up for criticism year
in and year out and for Today to put it in an exclusive page and a TV
programme dedicated to it speak a lot about how good or shitty the
system is.
Why is this system allowed to go on for so long? The answer is obvious.
Or maybe everyone can see the problem but our super talents could not.
Their thoughts are more intelligent and they could see all the merits of
the system but the farmers could not. So, like the clever deaf frogs,
they knew that this is the best way to go and no time to waste listening
to the daft.
Everyone in the street can see the flaws of this system, how is it that
the Govt thinks that this is the best and is willing to overlook the
flaws? Now I am being silly. Where got flaws? Let me tell you the merits
of this system. If I am very rich, I can guarantee myself getting the
COE and paying the least despite bidding for $1m. See, the system is so
good to me, the rich man. And who is the one suggesting that I should
pay the $1m that I bidded? Don’t be stupid can. How can you make me pay
$1m for a COE? I only bid to make sure that I got the certificate with
no intent to pay the million dollar lah. Siao.
As for the Govt, it is so generous to make sure that everyone pays the
lowest successful bid. How can anyone blame the Govt for being so kind?
Imagine paying $1m for a COE and another bidder pays $50 for it? Such
injustice cannot be allowed. The Govt must be fair to all the bidders.
Everyone pays one price, the lowest price. See, fair or not? The people
must be very grateful to such a considerate Govt that thinks for their
own good.
And if everyone were to pay what he bids, it is so complicated and
messy. It will drive everyone nuts to compute the exact amount for every
car during transfer or rebates or whatever. With one price, so easy to
calculate, use fingers also can.
Doesn’t the system encourage everyone to bid as high as possible knowing
that they need only pay the lowest? Doesn’t this in a way lead to the
price to be artificially higher than it should be? Really ah, cannot be
lah. Buyers still only pay for the lowest bid so even if the price is
unusually higher it is okay what. Good for Govt revenue and money can be
used to improve public transportation and roads better. It is a good
thing.
Shouldn’t the bidders pay for the price they bidded since it is their
own free will to bid high? Cannot, not fair for the rich to pay higher
COE and the poorer buyers pay lower COE. The Govt must ensure that there
is fair play for everyone. Have you heard of leveling the playing
field?
This COE system is about as good as it gets. Now who thinks he is
smarter than the super talents and wants to change the system? Every
good idea has been thought through and found to have other problems and
not workable in the long run. Let’s stick to this present system and
move on. No need to waste more time on it. But if it is just to allow
the people to let off some steam, then it is ok to talk about it and let
the people think, for once, that they are smarter than the super
talents and have cleverer ideas to contribute. There is a saying that
the fools may have something wise to learn from ya? Swee boh?
36 comments:
To solve any problem properly, you need to know the root cause.
Or ask a root question.
The root question is not "How to fix the COE system?".
Rather the root question should be "How to fix the political system?"
I am sure every concerned Sinkie agrees that there is a serious problem to be fixed in the political system.
Definitely more serious and important than the problems to fix in the COE system.
Sinkies who don't agree, keechiu(raise hand) please.
No need to fix the coe system as u do not need a car in Singapore to get around.
..... u do not need a car in Singapore to get around.
Anon July 16, 2013 9:56 am
Depends on who are u.
Who say COEs are expensive ???
Please lah............
With COEs at the current levels people still very very willing to pay for the high car prices!
So U tell me COEs/cars are cheap or expensive?
WHAT SAY U ?????????????/
If I am not wrong, my malaysian friend drives in from Johore everyday to work with a Malaysian car. He pays only about $26 a day including all day admissions to the restricted zones. If I am a foriegn talent than I will stay in JB and drive a Malaysian car. Minus the COE, Singapore road tax,the ERP and the expensive houses in Singapore.
Our government really treats foreigners better. They should increase the charges of the foreign cars coming into Singapore to $80 after 4 $20 admissions a year.
Maybe someday people will start to give up Singapore citizenships to become Malaysians to take take advantages of being a foreigner in Singapore.
Don't complain. COEs cannot be expensive at the current levels, otherwise people wont rush to pay for the high car prices...........
In Singapore you don't need a car. This is how successful is the conditioning of the daft Sinkie mind. If this is true, why are there a few hundred thousand cars and people paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for them?
The thing is that the car is a damn convenient and useful thing to have. Only the rich and power will want the poor to think that they don't need a car.
They have also conditioned the Sinkies to think that a half a milion or one million dollar 99 year leasehold flat is value for money and affordable. This conditioning is also extremely successful.
They have also tried to condition the Sinkies to live in mickey mouse flats as good, no effect on their quality of life, while they are living in 10,000 or 50,000 sq ft landed homes.
Soon Sinkies will be blabbing, dog kennel is quality living. No car is good, bicycle is better.
One conditioning is failing. It is normal to pay ministers out of this world salaries.
The COE system is very unique indeed.
1. The certificates themselves are arbitrary creations.
2. The framework in which they are administered purposely creates "false scarcity", which when offered on an "open" (??) market affects the price by reflecting the level of demand or lack thereof.
3. This is the ONLY system in the world that I am aware of where buyers OUTBID each other for the RIGHT TO PAY A HEFTY TAX to the state.
Since it is a system based on tax, to fix it is simple: INCREASE the tax.
I suggest:
1. the govt doubles or triples the tax.
2. Introduce some kind of "lucky draw: -- after 4 years into the COE, some randomly chosen "lucky" people will have their COE REDUCED from 10 to 5 years. These "lucky" patriots will have ONE YEAR to scramble (in year No. 4) for funds to renew their COEs within a year...the COE now being double or triple what it was.
How? My plan can jalan or not?
Vote Opposition and the PAPigs will fix the COE system.
Matilah, you will make an excellent public administrator.
redbean:
Singaporeans can consider themselves lucky I don't have power. If I have power, I will be killing people or making their lives miserable. I'm that kind of a guy.
However, as a lowly educated beach bum, I have no power. So the world is safe.
Be happy. LIFE IS SHORT! Don't be too serious lah.......
No worry. Matilah is never serious except when he is enjoying his hobby.
Redbean,
Thank you for your comment to my comment this morning under another post. ( anon 6.20 am ).
Perhaps one way to tweak the current coe system is to segregate the coe system modelling after the hdb public and private housing system in terms of citizens, PRs and foreigners.
Given the limited coe ( quota ) every month, the quota for citizens, especially the middle class should not be lumped together with the "world cup league of multi-millionaires and even billionaires foreigners."
So we can have 3 broad groups of quotas divided into citizen coe, PR coe and foreign talent coe. These 3 groups can still follow current subcategories A, B, D and E. The commercial category can remain as it is for now to minimise disruptions and unnecessary administration changes.
So technically, the citizens need not have to bid alongside potential billionaires like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Li Ka Shing, Robert Kuok, George Soros, Donald Trump etc.
This foreign talents coe grouping can bid among themselves like the district 09 super prime properties or Sentosa Cove $20 million to $30 plus million type properties. So if they want to bid their coe till $100 million each, willing buyer willing seller. So be it.
In this way, it can bring down to some extent our inflation rate and not feed into elevated prices in our exports prices affecting our trade competitiveness.
The exact quota for these 3 broad groups perhaps the 高人 in RB's blog like MS etc can help to fine tune and brain storm. Didn't you earlier say that MS would make a Super Talent administrator, RB? I meant it as a compliment :)
"Ching chong ching chong eat fish ball."
Ha ha.
Hope my above comment goes down well with parties on both sides of the aisles.
We are crying that COEs are extremely high BUT people still pay.........
Hi anon 11:27,
You made several interesting suggestions. There are many ways to skin a cat. And there will be no shortage of good ideas.
What will eventually be accepted will depend on the vested interests, how much to collect and who to collect from.
The crux of the COE problem is the population and space problem. Just like the ERPs, if the basic causes of the problem are not removed or worst, aggravated, all the solutions are not going to work.
Redbean,
Thank you for your further point of view.
Anyway, there are many other interesting ideas suggested in your blog. I thought Matilah's suggestions also sound quite interesting and refreshing and definitely worth further understanding, comprehension, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Agree?
Regards,
Anon 11:27 am
What talking lah? You people.
PAP IS DOING ALL THEY CAN TO FIX EVERYTHING; be it COE, Ceiling cleaning, Opposition Party or Dissident.
Please see the hardwork they are doing.
Can?
I will like to suggest a COE system
1. Remove the top 20% of the bids
2. Remove the bottom 20% of the bids
3. The average amount of the 60% will be the COE.
4. Anybody who bid above this COE amount will has to pay the full amount he bid for.
5. Allocate only 50% (COE certificates) of the bids which is above the COE amount.
The allocation system forced the consumers to pay the highest tax to LTA for a worthless piece of paper called 'coe'.
Vehicles are a necessity for many people.
Also micro car only cost a few thousands dollars, a Chery QQ only about US$4500 outside Spore. It is the PAP system that made it expensive.
Anything piece of artifacts could fetch astronomical sums price if the there is a bidding war in an auction
house.
Vehicles are invented are for the basic purpose of transporting people around not a piece of rare art to be auctioned.
Bidding is the surest form of pushing up the prices and profits, the price the of a bluefin tuna is pushed up 155.4 millions yens 6 jan 13 because of the bidding war.
The coe bidding is thus the surest way to increase the 'profits' of the Spore Inc which cares little about the people in the streets who rally need the vehicles.
in fact COE has become the vehicle of profits for the govt and banks alike.
The system is flawed and is not robust at all.
See how many Sinkies already saying cars not needed just because some people conned them to think so.
Do you know how good it is to have a car at your disposal anytime you want it to go anywhere you want to go? And this is not talking about people who cannot move around in public transport.
Do you know the feeling of living in a 10,000 sq ft home? Living in a 900 sq ft flat is out of no choice. It is not quality living.
Do not be fooled to think the quality of your life is good in a small little flat and have to move around by public transport.
Alas, Sinkies' stupidity is legendary. They can be made to believe in any craps by anyone in authority.
Sinkies can boast to the Malaysians, mine is a $1m quality living in a 900 sq ft flat.
The Malaysians will say, ya, mine is a 500k ringgit quality living in a 10,000 sq ft piece of landed property. And your Toyota costs $120k, my Proton only 30k ringgit.
Who is the daft one?
Sinkies are simply spineless especially guys. Can even allow a party that implemented coe to get away with it. No wonder this party can do what they want without even considering the people reaction. Never watch top gear?
'Sinkies' stupidity is legendary. They can be made to believe in any craps by anyone in authority.'
- I totally agree. So many of them are so easily brainwashed that I want to cry sometimes. Sad.
Did people forget why we need coe? Is it land scarcity? Then why do we need so many big golf courses, big military bases, big gov building, foreigners? why do we allocate sentosa to foreigners private use? why people cannot see thru those lies?
Do we need to fix the ceo system?
As long as there is no significant increase in the number of coe, you just need to pay and pay. No bargaining! The amount you need to pay for coe under whatever models and systems will never come down! Don't hope. IT IS A REALITY!!!
Look at the present car prices. Are they expensive? If expensive, why people still very willing to pay. WHY WHY WHY ???
'No need to fix the coe system as u do not need a car in Singapore to get around.'
- this is a stupid view. you bread do not appear in the stall shelf overnight, they get transported by some coe vehicles. the costs just passed down to the lower class people. the hardworking toilet cleaner has to pay a higher proportion of her pay to gst than any lazy rich landlords. this is a very sad place.
The best way to fix is to abolish it and increase the income and property tax of rich class and erp.
CAN OUR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONS TAKE THE EXTRA LOAD IF MORE PEOPLE STOP DRIVING AND TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORT.........MORE BREAKDOWNS???
No problem. We have world class public transportations.
'We have world class public transportations.'
- yet another bullshit the gov tried to sell to those 60% daft people. so many daft people around. No wonder destined to live in 99 LH temporary shabby looking flats and squeezed into lousy trains with third world foreigners.
People are still very willing to part with S$110,000.00 for a basic entry level Japanese car.
Thus is cheap or expensive?
U say!
/// Vote Opposition and the PAPigs will fix the COE system.
July 16, 2013 10:34 am ///
No, they will fix you and the Opposition instead.
A 10-way bidding war to a Tampines site has led to a top bid of 289.7M S$ awarded to a developer.
Similarly LTa conducting of the bidding war for that useless piece of paper called c.o.e is just evident that it is concerns more about its profits than the commuters interests. Public transport operations when subject to such bidding war is bound to push up its costs only to be passed to the commuters.
Singaporeans should band together to put a stop to this coe policy that has been milking us for so long. It is just ridiculous to pay them the
out- this-world vehicle prices and taxes for just a basic 660 cc car or even a small commercial van that small businesses so urgently need.
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