what's the dif?

Gordon Brown is taking over the Premiership of UK from Blair. And his top agenda is to transfer power from 10 Downing Street to Parliament in the matter of making war. Parliament will now have the power instead of the Prime Minister to wage war, a move to prevent another PM making a unilateral decision on war. This decision will make a tremendous change to the power of the British Premiership. The Parliamentarians will have a good debate and make the decision. Transfer this to our Parliament, everyone hearing this will give a big yawn. What's the dif? Parliament to decide or PM to decide, is there a difference here? The answer is obvious if we look at the debate in Parliament and how decisions were made. Were decisions made in Parliament or made even before a debate in Parliament? Where do we go into the future? Balji this morning explore the great challenge of a new PM for Singapore. The underlying assumption is that decisions, or the future of Singapore shall be decided by one man, the PM, and not Parliament. I would like to take this further to explore the viability of Singapore in the future. I see dark clouds if we are foolish enough to ignore the dangers we are treading. I see a new diaspora of Singaporeans being displaced in their homeland. And unlike the Chinese or Indian diaspora, the Singaporean diaspora will not last one generation. Too little to mean anything, just like the dying baba culture. I will deal with this more specifically come Sunday morning.

Headhunters are busy

Yes, headhunters in Singapore are really busy. They have been swamped and overwhelmed by the number of hopeful candidates who wanted to make Singapore their home, so that they could have a go at the general election. Many are attracted by the carrots we are hanging for the better talents that we want. We are raising the bar several notches higher and going to a level of talents we have not seen before. We used to go for the $1m talents. Now we are going for the $3 mil or maybe more millions talents the world can offer. And they are all coming to Singapore, the land of opportunities. Headhunters are also recruiting the other way. There are great demands for our talents too. Warren Buffett is looking for someone to replace him to manage his investment company. And he is looking at the right place. And George Bush is vacating his office soon. So is Chen Shui Bian. But these countries must be able to afford our supertalents. They don't come cheap. Who knows, a Singaporean may be headhunted to run for the President of the USA or Taiwan. The ASEAN countries would love to have one of our supertalents. For many years they have privately expressed that they would love to have LKY as their PM. But this is unlikely. They cannot afford the price tag.

A time to rethink citizenship

As a sign of respect to those parents devastated by the air crash in Taiwan and losing their precious sons, I kept quiet for the whole morning after posting 'The Ultimate Sacrifice.' More than 18 years of caring for a son, all of a sudden he was gone. And the parents accepted what happene, and only hanged on to grief their losses. It was duty and honour for the nation. How can the state repay this gratitude and pain of the parents and those who missed them? We have came this far as a nation. We must not erode what we have achieved this far and mess it up with the foreign talent thing. The people, the citizens, is all the nation got in time of need. Not superficial talents that would scoot at the slightest unease. They, the foreign talents, have nothing to hold them here. They are here only for the good time.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Quietly and unceremoniously they packed up and left for a journey to adulthood. More importantly it was a call of duty to serve the country. Young men, bright eyed 18 year olds, were enlisted to be trained as soldiers and other uniformed services the day they finished their secondary schools. For the next two to two an a half years, they belong to the state. The parents reluctantly, hesitantly, and tentatively let them go. But deep inside them they harbour an unspoken fear. Many return to rejoin their families after their National Service Training. Some don't. We have just witnessed another undescribed grief of parents whose precious sons failed to return home, alive. The tragedy of losing someone so precious, someone about to embark on a journey of life as an adult, getting a job, courting a girlfriend, getting married, becoming a father in his own right, all vanished, while answering the call of duty. The pain was suffered in silence. The parents accepted that as any citizens would do so. It is the price of citizenship. The ultimate sacrifice the citizens made for the country. We are the citizens of this island. Are we appreciated or are we just some digits that can be replaced by foreigners with no qualms and conscience? All parents share the grief of these unfortunate parents quietly, in their hearts. The sacrifice to the nation is not only the NS men, but the parents, the siblings and all who knew the fallen men.

building more bridges

Bridge obsession One thing I can say about Malaysian leaders, they are obsessed with building bridges. Penang island has two bridges now. Probably a third is in the pipeline. Singapore has two bridges, and more are expected. Abdullah has said that Malaysia and Singapore should be joined by many bridges. We have, many people to people and business bridges. One other thing that I find it strange is the need to burn or cut bridges to build new ones. The causeway is the most efficient of all the bridges that are built to link two places. Why the need to cut it? If the Malaysians are really interested in improving land transport then a simpler way is to expand the causeway to a 10 or 20 lane land bridge. And if they still want to build more bridges, I know that collecting toll is a very easy and sure profit business, they may want to think of links to the eastern coast of Malaysia and Singapore. A link to Desaru will be more meaningful while the present causeway be enlarged to cater for more users when the IDR takes off. Travellers to the east coast can have a short cut to their destinations, saving travel time and distance. The days of thinking crookedly to built crooked bridges should be thrown away to the dawn of history and a rationally conceived bridge should be built to benefit both sides, cheap and efficient. And not expensive and good to collect higher toll fees.

of law and lawlessness

The two granite executives arrested in Karimum have been let out of their windowless cell where 4 prisoners were cramped in and with one toilet hole to share. But they cannot leave the island, reportedly Batam. Or is it Karimun or Sumatra? The little cell that they were imprisoned may be adequate to the villagers, but to Singaporeans who are used to modern sanitation comfort and cleanliness, this is equivalent to mental bashing. And what had these two executives done? They were mere employees of a company engaging in lawful activities in an Indonesian island. And they were arrested when they voluntarily went there to assist in an investigation on a sabotage and bombing of their company's facilities. And they were kept incommunicado from the world for several weeks, without visitors. The world must take note of such tribal acts and be wary when sending their executives to such a country. The foundation of law in that country is built on lawlessness by the law enforcer. The arrest of the two executives is clearly politically motivated. There is no reason or justification to treat 'assumed' commercial crime violators in that manner. They are innocent until proven guilty. But in this case, they were more than guilty for things they are presumed to have done which everyone knew that they did not do. Compare to how China handled the case of Ching Cheong, the Straits Times journalists, when they had been monitoring him for years and have all the evidence to arrest him. He is being treated more humanely than our executives. And his charge is treason, espionage. He could be jailed for life. When is Indonesian gonna join the civilisation of a new and modern world?

Aspiration of the Young

I want to be a doctor. I want to be a pilot. I want to be a teacher. These were the aspirations of a time not too long ago. The aspirations of the new generation is to become a millionaire or multi millionaire. And children in schools are writing about becoming ministers. To them this is the surest road to becoming instant multi millionaires. I want to be a minister is the new aspirations of the Singapore Young.

Are extraordinary, or are we first world?

We have been looking at economic numbers to support our claim that we have arrived at the corridor of first world nations. If the qualifications are limited to just money, we are quite comfortably in the safe zone of being first world. No one can deny that what we have, and what the people have, generally, is money and material wealth. We are rich, real or on paper, but we are rich. We can afford many creature comfort and have taken them as basic needs, for granted. Let's look at another aspect of whether we are there. One area to look at is the viability and acceptance of the political system and the fate of the political leaders when they step down from office. Would the new govt and leaders continue with the system that they have inherited or would they do a house cleaning and throw out the old and in with the new? And would the political leaders exit the political arena without any hiccups, not charge in courts and thrown into jail or have to escape from paradise? We have seen many countries where there were regime change and new systems were brought in to replace the old system. And political leaders have been thrown into jails or threatened with all kinds of charges, corruption, nepotism, abuse of power etc. All these had happened within the ASEAN countries, in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam etc. The three relatively more settled countries in terms of political system and the fate of their political leaders are Brunei, Malaysia and ourselves. Brunei's ruling royalties are very well regarded and they treat their people very well. That system looks like going to be there forever. Malaysia has proven to be quite stable until Anwar was thrown into jail. But he has been rehabilitated. A small blemish. And Mahathir is still around, happily shooting at anyone at his convenience. In the case of Singapore, we have not have a regime change as yet and things look quite good. The way it goes, our top political leaders would be able to enjoy their retirement from politics gracefully and enjoy their fruits of labour. And the political system will endure and continue in perpetuity. In this sense, we are extraordinary and deserve the first world label. I cannot forsee a new govt coming into power and tear away at all the systems that have been entrenched and legally protected by the Constitution. And neither would our leaders have to flee once they step down from power, like Marcos. And this is first world standard that we can expect.

a new direction needed

The Extradition Treaty and Defence Cooperation Agreement have been signed. The sand ban is still there. Our men are still in their cell, not charged in court and not allowed visitors. A few of the barges have been released but many still detained at the Indonesian's pleasure. Nothing is going to change when the legal systems or the way laws are administered are so different. The signing of the two agreements should be the beginning of disengagement. Singapore shall seriously work out ways to develop other relations and cooperations with other countries that have similar legal systems and mindsets as us. When law is equivalent to lawlessness, we are asking to be slapped in our face every now and then if we continue foolishly to flirt with people of a different dimension. Compare to the Malaysians, with Mahathir out of the way, and if he is not replaced by another psychopath, there are many reasonable men over there. And our history, political and legal systems are very similar. We can expect to be treated more fairly and be able to talk sense when parochial politics is out of the way. Let this be a lesson for Singapore to reassess the situation and strike out on a new direction. We cannot be self sufficient in many things. But we cannot be dependent on unreliable partners.

WYSWYG

SINGAPORE: Police are investigating a theft in Pasir Ris that took place in broad daylight - vandals have taken, of all things, metal railings. Support rails on an access path, specially built for the elderly and disabled, no longer exist at Pasir Ris Drive 6. It is the same at Drive 1 also. Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council says it would take at least three weeks to replace the railings, at a cost of S$20,000. Some residents said they actually saw the suspected vandals at work, but did not realise they were witnessing a crime. "I saw them sawing the railings around 3pm the day before. But I thought they were contractors. There were three workers, and another two men who looked like they were supervisors," says Pasir Ris resident Eliza Khong. - CNA/yy This is what will happen when a country is no longer a country. The citizens no longer think, and do not think anything belongs to them. We are all just passerbys. Citizens or visitors, no difference. No ownership, no responsibility, no care. And the people who cut away the railings know this. It is free for all, take what you like. It is really WYSWYG.

Mums calling the shot

Not enough babies? What is your problem? Forget about all the goodies or flexi hours, incentives etc. Just be real. Just pay us mums $100k each for 5 years for each child we produce. And we assure you that every cent you spent is worth it. The children are the future of this country. Without children means no NS men, no one to look after the country and no one to look after the aged. And also no one to join the work force. See or not? If the baby bust continues, Singapore will be no more. Now that is serious isn't it? And $500k for 5 years or $100k a year, that is cheap. All the mums are waiting.

Problems or Opportunities?

In many forums and blogs, the congestion and ERP rates are a perennial complain by everyone. There is a thread on how raising ERP rates at the CTE is not going to solve anything. Everyone is looking at the congestion as a problem. And it is true, a problem only to the motorists. As a businessman, where making profit is the ultimate goal, the congestion in the CTE is a golden opportunity to make more money. If the govt is going to sell the CTE to a private operator, yes privatise it, I will be the first to bid for it. Then I will sit back and be a genuine toll collector. Where is the problem? It is all opportunities to become rich if you can see it from a different angle.

COE is up again

Looks like everything is up and nothing going down. ERP, GST, property prices, etc. The good thing is that employment is also up and salaries are going shooting to the sky with some probably getting double what they were earnings. For those whose salary increases are more than to offset all the increases, it is a good thing. For those who are getting $50 increases or $100 or $200 increases, would it be a good thing? Would they be celebrating and jumping around like happy monkeys? All these increases seem to be seasonal, we will have our Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter in a 4 year cycle. Spring is the time of promises and looking a head to a glorious future, then Summer and Autumn when the food are harvested. And Winter is a time to feed on the years harvest when it is plenty, or to tighten belt when the harvest is bad. I skip Summer as the seasons of Summer and Autumn, in fact Spring as well, are very shortlived. Of the four years, probably Winter will stretch for 2 to 3 years. The farmers are having their feasts. Not sure about the cows, the horses, the sheeps, the pigs and the rest of the fowls. Or we have gone past this stage and the farmers were gone?

The en bloc battle ensues

Neptune Court residents are also locked at battle over the sale of their estate. And the issue is, yes, the tyranny of the majority versus the tyranny of the minority. The second issue is about the ugly Singaporeans who think that with a little knowledge, a little money, they can go around demanding apologies or threatening to sue one another. The legal provisions for the en bloc sales has stood up as a sore thumb. Its provisions are clear, legalistic but simplistic. It actually provides for the majority to do what they like. And though there were some considerations for the minority, these provisions can only hold under very exceptional conditions. If the majority can command their required 80-90%, technicality the sale will go through. Unless the minority have the resources to fight a long legal battle in court. The other aspect of demanding apologies and threatening legal actions are a reflection of the kind of Singaporeans living among us, their pettiness and shallowness, simplethons in their heads, but think that they can go around threatening and suing everyone. They did not know that to do such silly things they need to have a lot of money to spare. The lawyers would love to have more of them as their clients.

Myth 137

Li Ao is Right Yes he is right. Singaporeans are stupid. This is no longer a myth. After assessing all the debates in the media, it is conclusively proven that Singaporeans in general are stupid. And many Singaporeans will quietly concede to this truth. And those who still refuse to acknowledge this truth are the not stupid one. They are even more stupid than the average Singaporeans. For they still did not know that they are stupid. But I am saying that only the Singaporeans in general are stupid. There is of course a very small group of Singaporeans that are smart like hell. And the smarter this group becomes, the stupidier the rest of the Singaporeans will be. Their smartness is directly proportional to the dumbness of the rest of the Singaporeans. Now, anyone going to disagree with my observation?

a monetary perception

The media flashed a picture of Hsien Loong at the Yahoo HQ flanked by Jerry Yang and David Filo. My immediate impression is S$3m flanked by several hundred million US$. Now that is an extraordinary picture. A head of govt being dwarfed by two young men running an information exchange system in terms of income.

Private sector salary benchmark

The professionals are expecting a revision of their salary. The doctors, except for a few exceptionally well paid specialists, are also staring at their low income vis a vis other professions. In terms of training hours put in, the medical profession is the longest, each spending about 10 years of post secondary education to become a specialist while other professions can make do with 4 to 6 years. They are justified to expect salary in the same level as the accountants and lawyers. And in the medical, engineering or technology fields, the advancement in science and medical knowledge comes in leaps and bounds and it is a strenuous process to keep up with the new knowledge. Not that accountants and the legal professionals are stagnated and have little to keep up with. There are changes and new developments. But the volume of changes is very little compare to the medical and other fields. And the doctors are eyeing the ministerial pay as the benchmark for their salary increment. Knowing the brilliant minds of the doctors, they cannot miss a good thing. The formula is crafted by the top talents of the island and is near to flawless. It is as perfect as it can be. And if one is a beneficiary of the formula, it is almost guaranteed to go one way, up, up and away. The probability of it coming down is at most 0.1%. And this can only happen if there is a world wide depression. Will the doctors get their benchmark? Can they use the same logic and reasonings like they will become corrupt if they cannot get their benchmark? Or can they argue that the medical industry will go to the gutters? Or can they say that the nurses will end up as nurses in neighbouring developing countries earning peanuts? I bet the doctors will be smart enough to come up with more logical justifications that are seen as reasonable. And one reason they can give is that if their salary is not raised, the profession will not be able to attract the top talents into their fold. And many will be poached by top medical facilities around the world.

Myth 136

Just feel like telling a successful Singaporean story. This is about a successful Singaporean's rag to riches story. He was a self made man, building a successful business into a little conglomerate. And at every Annual Dinner and Dance for this employees he would make his happy speech of how he arrived. He told his weird philosophies and his employees clapped and cheered. He shared his distorted logics and reasonings, and they nodded their heads in appreciation. He illustrated his speeches with anecdotes and jokes and they loved them and gave him a standing ovation. But as all good things would come to an end, his business failed and his business was taken over. He was still invited to the company's annual dinner as a very important guest. And the employees took turns to speak on stage. They ridiculed him and joked about his silly wisdom and logics in front of everyone, right in his face. He could not believed what he heard. They all sounded so right during his time of glory, and his employees loved them. Why were they telling him a different thing altogether, and actually telling him that all the time he was talking nonsenses and they were only tolerating him because he was the boss. It is a different story when one is no longer the boss man.

The price of instant population

While everyone is falling asleep, or under severe dosage of feeling good pep pills, that everything will be fine, the problems that new immigrants are going to bring along with them here are beginning to simmer. The fault lines are appearing. These new immigrants are very different from the early immigrants of our forefathers who came here desperate, ignorant and illiterate, and will accept anything that the local authorities threw at them, including curtailment of their basic human rights. The modern immigrants are suave, well educated, affluent and demanding. Couple with a swell headed ego that the govt has bestowed upon them as foreign talents to save us from our impending doom, it is not surprising that they are demanding that the island must adapt to their ways of life and their expectations. They will bring along, other than their wealth and talents, their idiosyncracies and peculiar lifestyles, their religions, language and culture, and everything that means something to them but may be odd or make them look like oddballs to what we have built. And they are going to demand, make demands that we give way to them. They will want their own ministers, their mayors or village chiefs, their schools and language, their culture, to be carved into the main stream of our society. We must not kid ourselves that they are going to be very pleasant and compliant. The latter is a virtue of the locals. They are still new and relatively small in numbers today, but all the signs are there of what the locals can expect of them. And given time and numbers, these foreign talents, more articulate, rich, and thinking too highly of themselves, are going to exert a lot of pressure on their poorer, submissive and less talented locals. If we are not careful, we are sowing the seed of future dissents and discords within our society. If we are going to march ahead, filled with delusions that everything will be well managed and controlled, it is prudent that we set out clear guidelines as to how far we are prepared to bend ourselves to meet the demands of new citizens. We must insist now that new immigrants accept the sacred pillars that we used to build our society and nation, the primacy of the English Language and the three other official languages and that no one is allowed to challenge these basic premises. All new citizens must accept what we are and build their lives around them and not to change what we have taken so long to build. These must be the very first conditions explained to them before they take up citizenship. And if they think this is not what they want, they should go somewhere else. We must not reach a stage when new citizens are arrogant enough and have the audacity to tell the local borns to get lost if they are unhappy with their demands. This should be the right of the citizens to demand from potential citizens. If I don't even believe in Him who had sacrificed his son, why should I believe in any ordinary man?

Tyranny of Majority or Minority?

I have posted several times on the en bloc issue and the tyranny of the majority to force their will on the minority. The law provides for the majority to do what they deem fit in an en bloc sales and this has been taken full advantage of to the detriment of the minority by some unscrupulous majority. The minority are now crying out loud at the abuses of the majority and getting themselves heard in the main stream media. Today there is another letter by a Paul Amstrong in the Today paper trying to get the public and developer to understand the views of the minority. As he explained along the way, I sense that he got himself carried away by making quite ridiculous demands of expecting everything to be what they were before, to the extend of expecting the same view, the same space, design, nooks and corners etc. This is actually what the law makers fear, the tyranny of the minority, the unreasonable minority that will not move for their weird sentimental reasons. The majority may be held captive by the unjustifiable demands of a few crannies and everyone be held at ransom. One must admit that no laws can be crafted to meet all situations. There are limitations and these can only be taken care of by the good sense of reasonableness which is often expressed as the spirit of the law. We do not want people to take advantage of the law to sue someone for a pair of lost pants for US$65 million. When laws are applied strictly to the letters, it makes the people all look so stupid. It reflects on the stupidity of a nation. What is needed in the en bloc dilemma is not more laws but a moderator appointed by the govt to mediate and ensure a reasonable settlement for all parties.

Charity begging on TV

I was watching the Thye Hua Kuan Charity Night on TV last night. It was very successful, bagging another $4 million from the generous and kind hearted people from the public. The public, mostly earning less than $5000 a month, many less than $2000, made almost 500,000 calls during the 3 hour programme and raised about $2.5 million alone. I hope no one is going to laugh and make private jokes about the poor and the paupers trying to skim a few dollars to help their comrades in the shitholes. What is interesting about the programme is the formula being used. The phone calls, foreign and local artistes, the parading of people in trouble, the pathetic pleas etc etc, except that there is no lucky draw. Whoever came out with this idea is simply brilliant. Is it the old NKF, Durai or some programme producer or some PR agency? I am sure they can copyright the programme blueprint and collect royalties from it. This is a formula that can be marketed internationally.

Of race and language

PN Balji raised a very important and sensitive issue of race and language in the Today paper. He forsees the problems of how the Tamil group, being the majority in Singapore, feels threatened by the influx of Northern Indians and the use of Hindi instead of Tamil. And as they feel threatened, there is a discussion going on in cyberspace calling for the greater use of Tamil as well as the appointment of an Indian Affairs Minister. This is a timely call as Singapore starts its massive programme of injecting the population with better foreign talent blood. This infusion of better quality blood would inevitably bring a long some pulls and stresses in our society. The most important of these problems is the diversities of the new talents. And I believe the govt is prepared and have preview to the colourful Singapore that is yet to come and will embrace all kinds and colours in its stride. The call for an Indian Affairs should be taken up seriously. And we need a China Chinese Affairs Minister to go along as the problems of the China Chinese is never the same as indigenious Chinese. Then an Indonesian Affairs Ministers as well. And probably an European Affairs Minister as well. It will perhaps add on another $8 million into the cost of the govt's budget. But it is all worth it to make Singapore more colourful and lively. This should include the use of more languages in Parliament. And all the street signs should have all the languages of as many dialect groups as possible. And we can decorate all the signages beautifully. That will make Singapore not only unique, but very friendly to the world. Oh, I have forgotten about the Japanese, the Vietnamese, the Koreans, Thais, Filipinos, the Myanmars and the Bangladeshis. How about a minister to take care of each of this group? As we bring in more foreign talents, we must be prepared to cater to their demands sensitively. Or else we might one day be like England or France where the immigrants will start to plant bombs everywhere because they were not treated equally or fairly. But being an extraordinary country with extraordinary talents, we shall prevail. Such problems will not affect us. The talks and discussions in the internet are by innocent or naive forumers talking nonsenses and will have no impact to our society.

innovative ways to get donations

Charity organisations are looking for more innovative ways to get donations from the public after the NKF fiasco. Taking the same course of actions like lucky draw prizes, charity shows, soliciting using the pretext of free medical checkups, signing monthly donations etc may draw an unpleasant taste. New and more innovative ways are needed. I can imagine that an opt in/opt out scheme for the money in the Medisave would be an attractive proposition. Just make a ruling that everyone must opt out of the scheme or else the money left after their demise will go to charity. And with so much money left unused, many will likely die without touching their Medisave, this will be a huge source of donation for charity organisations.

of vintage and artifacts

The Sunday Times reported on Lim Swee Say's talk to a group of young and bright eyes unionists. And the reporter, Keith Lin, reported that Swee Say gave them 'an insight in the challenges of governing Singapore.' For his insightful anecdotes, Swee Say was described as 'vintage'. I can imagine all the impressionable young unionists going ga ga with what Swee Say had shared with them. If Swee Say has risen to the level of vintage, and he is only in his early 50s, and bearly 10 years in politics, what would he be appropriately called in another 10 years, artifacts or antiques?

Extraordinary indeed

Hsien Loong was at the White House having a strategic dialogue with George Bush, the President of the world's number one super power. The Prime Minister of an island that has hardly 4 million people and sharing ideas and strategies on world politics with the President of a world empire. And Hsien Loong is giving kind words of encouragement to Bush to stick to his strategies. It must be very comforting for George to have a convert to agree with him openly in a time when all his friends have left him. This is extraordinary. I mean the getting together of these two leaders when size and capabilities, to call them a mismatch, is an understatement. The other thing that is extraordinary is the dominant role played by Pakistanis in the world of terrorism. The latest court case in Britain found that Pakistanis were the main motivators, and Pakistan is the home and factory to world terrorism. Isn't this extraordinary?

Consumers getting the short end of the stick

In the past, when car prices were astronomical, COEs shooting to the sky, a car buyer who bought his car on the 30th day of a month, say April, will be considered as buying the car on 1st April and his use of the car will expire on 31 March. He thus lost the use of the car by one month, due to administrative convenience. That means a lot of money. This has been rectified today and the COE will expire on the respective days when the car is registered. Today, a forumer complained in the Straits Times that banks are using 360 days as a year to compute interest rate for credit cards instead of 365 days. The net effect is that consumers will have to pay more. Another former complained that the debiting and crediting of a bank transfer of funds are not done on the same day in some banks which again is to the disadvantage of the consumers. Why are the consumers, mostly the small people, always receiving the short end of the stick? Are these ethical business practices? Big corporations should not squeeze for every little advantage they can get from the small consumers. And in the case of 360 versus 365 days, this is unacceptable as there can be no justifiable reasons for doing this.

Russians paying Indon leaders to grab Indosat

It is reported in the media that a Russian tycoon, Mikhail Fridman of the Alfa Group, is paying Indonesian leaders to wrestle control of Temasek owned Indosat from Singapore. And the methods used by Altimo, the company owned by Fridman, other than bribery, or they called it gifts, include a smear campaign to tarnish the reputation of ST Telemedia. Project Indosat, as the covert operation is called and reported in Indonesian media, is denied by everyone who has been named to be involved. It is a public secret that even the top Indonesian leaders are alleged to have known of its existence. If it can be proven, that taking money, or bribes or call it corruption in this case, would Singapore be able to use the newly inked Extradition Treaty to bring a few of them to our courts for a trial?

The other side of Singaporeans

Aaron Ho Chien Kwok lamented the constant pursuit of material wealth as the new obsession of Singaporeans at the expense of spiritual or social wellbeing. Aaron was not quoting the bible or other spiritual wisdom but the simple and plain goodness of living, that there is more than just accumulation of material wealth. And he is not alone. In his article to the Today paper, he was concerned at how such ideas of me first have been reinforced daily in all media by all well meaning people. The acquisition of wealth is a good thing as it brings about a more comfortable and luxurious lifestyle, and freedom from want. But the social, moral and spiritual self are equally important. There must be a balance as we live out our lives. Aaron quoted the age old wisdom of 'What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul.' This is very similar to the temptation of Jesus Christ by the devil. The devil offered Jesus all the wealth and kingdoms. Come to the dark side. But Jesus plainly rejected them for higher moral and spiritual well beings. I love hedonism. But I am careful not to be carried away.

An unusual talent

Rajendren Rajamani, 24, more or less single handedly set up three charity organisations, ie the Children of Singapore Foundation, Children's Lukaemia Foundation, and Club Sunshine Ltd, which was previously known as Kids-In-Distress Foundation Ltd. He is seen as a young and passionate man with a lot of dreams, as described by one of his admirers. In order for a young man to be able to register three charities and get donations in several hundred thousands, he is indeed a talent in his own right and could be a role model for our young. In celebration of enterprising young talent. Oops.

Who is watching god?

Several issues in the Today paper point out to two serious misgivings that are getting quite prevalent within our society. The first is conflict of interests as was pointed out in the case of the three charities that were struck off by the Commissioner of Charities. The second is the problem of the watchdog sleeping or transgressing. Then we will have the problem of who is watching over the watchdog. For the three dubious charities to be struck off after existing for so long and collecting so much money without raising an eyebrow or a red flag speaks very loudly of how far down our society has gone. This is a case of getting immune of abuses when abuses are everywhere and found not objectionable. In fact, as in the case of NKF, it was a model that was trumpeted and celebrated as the best thing to have had happened for the Charity scene. It becomes a blanket cover for all charities with similar practices and to get by without being questioned. Shall the watchdog be whacked? What happens if watchdogs also transgress the principles of good corporate governance? The checks and balance system and ancient wisdom of proper conduct are not there for show, and any violation should raise a red flag no matter how good is the intention or the reputation of the transgressor. Once such fundamental rules and principles can be shoved aside, more things will get through in a matter of time. Are there signs of decline or transgression that we are overlooking or refuse to acknowledge?

nice quotes

When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion. - Robert M. Pirsig I like this one also. Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.

ERP hikes to solve congestion problem

CTE toll charges up from $4 to $4.50 per pass for cars. This must be a very difficult decision to make and I doubt any ordinary average Joe can think of such a brilliant solution.

Application Form - Forms versus Substance

Halimah Yaacob is trying to fight discrimination in the employment scene by doing away with some data in the Application Form. Things like sex, marital status, age, religion or race may be a thing of the past. And photos may also be excluded. By removing such items, employers will be limited to choose the candidates for interviews based on other available data. Technically discrimination can be stopped, at least up to the interview stage. But would it lead to the employment of a candidate after the shocking presence during the interview when what the employer needs are totally mismatched? The real discrimination, if any, is at the hiring. What happened in this case is that many will be called up for interviews but find it a big waste of time, money and effort when one does not meet the employer's expectation. Example if the employer wants a female age 30 and below, probably slim and cute, but the candidate turning up is an old grandfather that weighs 100kg, and the interview has to go on, not to make it too embarrassing for the applicants. Curbing job discrimination can hardly be overcame by a mere change of applicant's biodata.

A public hospital driven by passion

While we continue with the spin on Greed as the driving force in our economy, maybe we should try to develop a different formula, a return to the past when life was simpler, when the motivation in life includes things like passion, charity, compassion, service, selflessness etc. Though many have already subscribed and become strong believers in the new virtue of Greed, I believe there will still be people, or a few people, who will not be seduced and would still want to do a little goodness just for goodness sake. And they will also be some who have plenty and would want to give a little to charity in time or in money. There are many public hospitals today, run by volunteers and voluntary organisations. Though some have also subscribed to Greed, many still stand tall as what charity is supposed to be. Perhaps we can experiment with a govt initiated public hospital driven by everything else except Greed. We only need to convert one of the leftover HDB block to start with and the doctors and nurses can come from contract professionals where our dollar value has a comparative advantage. And we can have more young doctors posted there to break them in. And these can be supported by the very successful doctors in private practice who can volunteer a few of days a month to the hospital for free. Yes, they are not green monsters that only think of money. Many are great and generous people who would not mind contributing a little to society. Such a hospital may not have the best of everything, but it will help to protect the life savings of the less able. And no need means testing as the socially conscious would find visiting such a public hospital as a stigma. Only those who really need such a service, or refuse to pay for world class services will be found visiting public hospitals. At least the people will be given a choice. Would there be fear that if such a concept prove too successful that govt hospitals will lose their patients and income? There is a market for every segment of people. Hospitals that find making money important will have their own patients. Public hospitals will have their own patients. Can we provide such an option for the people instead of dictating what is good for the people and what price the people must pay?

Hsien Loong's May Day Message

'We will continue to redesign jobs, reskill workers and upgrade productivity, to enhance wages progressively and sustainably...But to achieve such goals, Singapore needs an "outstanding team of leaders who are capable, competent, committed and dedicated to the country. They must have the right values and the passion to serve Singaporeans and improve your lives... The above is only a small bit of Hsien Loong's full message.

May Day Message

The Govt vows to listen more to the public, instead of predicting what is best for them....In the past, we in the govt used to think about what can be done for the people...This line of questioning is actually wrong, even though it sounds grand. We should instead be asking ourselves what we can achieve together with the people. - Donald Tsang. This is a message from a populist governor. Will it work or will the Singapore way work better?

Means Testing and hospital bills

There were two letters pleading for mercy in the wake of Means Testing and the increasing hospital bills. Doris Ng Hui Choo has a daughter that needs to be hospitalised every now and then for a week and her household income is $3,500. She asked whether this HUGE INCOME of $3,500 is adequate to pay for her daughter's medical bills? And Adeline Koh Kwek Poh commented that even the Medisave accounts of a few siblings may not be enough to pay for hospital bills that come in 6 figures. Can such people be mercifully allowed to opt for C or B2 wards? Would our compassionate and very rich people think a little about the plight of the common folks? I have challenged the notion or perception that a $5000 household income is heavenly when it is the combined income of 4 or 5 adults, each earning about $1k. Their personal expenses will eat up every cent, forget about having spare cash. But would people whose income is in the millions appreciate that life is tough for families with $5000 household income?

Patients can withdraw more from Medisave

With effect from 1 May, patients can now withdraw more from their Medisave to pay their medical bills. What it means is that they need not fork out so much cash. Now is this a good news or bad news? My old illiterate and ignorant mother used to say that going to hospital is free, cause can use CPF to pay. How nice. Does this big news really change anything? Is the medical fee and cost going to go down? Hmmmmm.....can we blame people for not having enough savings in their CPF for retirement?

I expect the Press to whistle blow - Vivian

That was what the Press was told by Vivian Balakrishnan. But according to PN Balji, the local media was taken to task by the foreign media for an obvious lapse in their reporting of the SGX affair. It was Dow Jones and The Asian Wall Street Journal that forced the issue and a change of mind at SGX. The episode is best described by Balji as 'A Fortnight that shouldn't be forgotten.' And Balji's article is in the Today paper. So at least the Today paper is feeling the pinch for the local msm for not playing the role of a watchdog. And it needs the foreign media to do the job. What does all these means? When Taksin was in power, everything was alright. So was the time when Suharto was in power. Their local media just played along with the power. But once power changes hand, all the skeletons came out. That is the powerful role of the press when it acts the role that it knows best.

Myth 135

The easiest job to do Many professional jobs require many years to strenous training and discipline to acquire knowledge and skills before one qualifies to practise. The lawyers, the doctors, the engineers, scientists etc. Even a chef will have to take years of training and practice to learn the rope. If we consider the discipline and years of training required as a guide to how difficult a job is, then politician is the easiest of all jobs. One can be a cook, a driver, a lecturer, an engineer, doctor or lawyer, but without any formal training, tomorrow one can become a politician. And the presumed expertise or ability is dependent on how successful one is in the previous profession. The higher one was paid before, the more able one is supposed to be as a politician. Maybe this part is a little tricky as a qualification. The loan shark or mafia boss or drug lord also earns in multiple of millions and should easily qualify as politicians. That is why in countries like Taiwan, Korea and Japan, the mafias are behind the politicians and with some becoming politicians. In brief, the requirement for a good politician is a clean moral record and be successful in any profession. Definitely much easier than any other professions.

More good years

Recent events centred on the issue of succession for Hsien Loong, less than three years after he became prime minister. It was a subject he himself raised. During the debate over pay and good government, the younger Lee surprised Singaporeans by saying that the search for his successor would start now. He would be ready to name him by 2011 and he should be ready to take over by 2016. If this timetable plays out, he would have served 12 years – two years less than his predecessor Goh Chok Tong. This could mean one thing. Lee Kuan Yew will be around to help decide who will succeed his son to become Singapore’s fourth prime minister. (This was first published in The Star on Apr 28, 2007) The above is an extract of an article by Seah Chiang Nee posted in the Star newspaper. I have only copied the last part of the article. The main article dealt with the bigger role player by LKY in domestic politics recently. Chiang Nee ended by saying that LKY will be around to decide who will succeed Hsien Loong as the next Prime Minister. What is pertinent to the above quote is that the ruling govt is sure that nothing will change in this island and in the next few elections PAP will still be the ruling party. This is how predictable Singapore politics or political system is. We already know who will win the next few general elections. Singaporeans can sleep in peace that there will be more good years.

Little birds busy catching worms

When all little birds are busy catching their worms, all things under heaven will be peaceful. Everyone will be happy making their fortune in their own ways. People will simply be turned into economic animals and be contented in what they are doing and all the merry makings. But things will not be simply wished and the problems will go away. The political animals will have a field day engineering the system to their advantage. And Rip Van Winkle will wake up one day not knowing where he is or what has happened. The world around him would have changed without him knowing, without his input and without his interest.

The Indon Alladdin Lamp

Make a wish, rub it hard enough, and genie will appear to make it happen. Apparently the Extradition Treaty is seen in the same light. With the treaty, all the Indonesian problems of corruption will disappear. There will be no more corruption in Indonesia. What a magic formula. This is cheaper and better than Singapore's solution of making everyone a multi millionaire. Should Singapore test whether the treaty work by asking to extradite those who beat up Singaporeans or illegally detaining the Singapore barges? The first case is obvious as the treaty provided for the extradition of people murdering or hurting citizens of either country. The second should be covered under piracy and terrorism. Detaining of barges on legitimate business and plying the sea lanes is definitely piracy. And setting off bombs in the quarry in Karimum is definitely terrorism. Singapore should start the ball rolling.

Extradition Treaty and DCA

They did it! They signed the Extradition Treaty and Defence Cooperation Agreement in godspeed! Unbelieveable. This has taken all critics from both countries by surprise. Yes it happened, it did not get drag on for another few more years. I too am greatly surprised. I never thought that it is possible, or at least under the present conditions when both political and legal systems are as diverse as day versus night. And our bureau chief in Jakarta, Azhar Ghani, wrote about the shockwaves and disbeliefs in Jakarta. All those who were angry with Singapore for dragging its feet, all those who thought that Yudhoyono was a lame President, have the carpet pulled off under their feet. It is a great piece of work for the Indonesian President to get this inked. Now the critiques will take on another form, that they must have inked a rotten deal and that Singapore is going to benefit more than Jakarta. A very familiar tune ala KL. Would the two countries move forward from this agreement and raise the level of cooperation to another level? Or will the next President tear it into pieces and everything return to square one, with more barges arrested and more bombings? But before that, does the agreement need to be ratify by the Indonesian Parliament and be passed? There will be another round of wayang kulit in Jakarta before this treaty be accepted as a statement of better ties between the two countries.

Many little birds said

I have spoken to many little birds or many little birds have said to me, the same trend of thinking, why waste time posting? We have a great system, a new paradise, make the best out of it. Go out and make all the money that you can and enjoy life, more wine, karaoke, golfs, Batam etc. That's life and living for the successful Singaporeans. Let me qualify. Firstly, that I am not wasting time. My postings are done on my spare time which I can find plenty throughout the day. A little thoughts here and there and ideas pop up. And I am still trying to grab some money as best I can to have a little life the Singaporean way, the Singaporean aspiration. Now, how first world is a country that thinks this way? Read the msm or listen to the bird talks, it is all about the great buys and the big profits from the rising property prices, the killings in the stock exchange, the million dollar salaries. There is a lot of buzz of this kind. But where is the buzz that will see a little renaissance in this first world wannabe extraordinary island? If there are any worthy social or political discussions, very likely they are conducted behind closed doors. Snippets did came through in the msm, probably considered not too harmful. And there is also the official line of discussion by those who can set the agenda. I saw this article in the morning paper talking about what it takes to have more Einsteins. Walter Isaacson's theme is best summarised in this phrase, 'The whole theme of the last century, and of Einstein's life, is about people who fled oppression in order to go places to think and express themselves...he believes that the only way to have creativity and imagination is to nurture free thought - rebellious free thought.' How does this compares to what the little birds thought was best for this little island? Make money and live life! Isaacson was talking about producing great talented people with great minds. And one of the prerequisites is to 'nurture rebellious, imaginative free thinkers, rather than try to control expression.' Actually this is probably the most important message the the msm is trying to put across discreetly through this little article. The absence of alternative or rebellious views on social and political issues is stark. And to some, it is good for everyone. There is only one source of political view and one truth and one superior thought, and we are selling this to the world as the model for the future on how to govern a state. That is how extraordinary we are. Time to talk to the birds and be another little bird. Birds of the same feather flock together. Imagination is more important than knowledge - Einstein

I disagree with Don McKinnon 'Singapore's decision to give hefty pay rises to government ministers is a test case on keeping corruption at bay in a region where it is rampant, the Commonwealth's chief said Thursday. Don McKinnon, secretary-general of the group representing Britain and its 52 current and former territories, said it was premature to say if Singapore's new public compensation model could help Asia shake off its corruption problems.' AP If all the Asian political leaders are paid like our ministers, definitely there will be no more corruption in their countries. I will even think that if they are paid half of what we paid to our ministers they will also become corruption free. Don McKinnon said it is premature to make any conclusion. I also say that the conclusion is obvious. We have proven that it can be done.

indeed we are extraordinary

It is an undeniable fact that this little red dot is an extraordinary country. With a population of slightly more than 3 million and as an independent country for less than 50 years, we are teaching the world a lot of things. It will be a matter of time before all the govts around the world will adopt our model to pay their ministers. And we are even teaching and advising China on it economic development strategy. And China is a country with an uninterrupted history of more than 5000 years and a foreign reserves of more than US$1 trillion dollars. And this is real. So who can deny us this honour of being an extraordinary country?

censorship in a first world country

Loh Chee Kong was not very pleased with the censorship of the film, Zahari's 17 Years. He questioned the necessity to continue to ban a film on Zahari when books on him are available in the shops. Could the film be that different in presenting a different truth or truth from another angle? Or the motions, pictures and sound can have a greater impact on the viewers? What the film is about is the political activities of a man of an era and idealism that are history today. Like communism was once a taboo topic, today it is openly discussed as just another ideology that is no longer relevant to the creating of a new world. Would the life of Zahari be that influential and emotional that exposing it to the interested public would lead to unrest in our society? Have our society and people grown over the years, matured and be able to cope with the drama and issues of the past? Or we are still the naive and impressionable little country bumpkins that must be protected from the influence of the media, that we are still deemed to be unfit to see a different truth? We are first world, man!

Right of reply

After Balji shared his disappointment on the two 'could have been great leaders' but failing to nurture successors, the Today paper did the proper thing by allowing replies by Tan Kin Lian and another forumer to address the issue. Both came out with their facts to prove that the two leaders actually have done very well in developing many successors especially in the case of Philip. And the forumer, Rodney Tan Wee Hong, even have all the names to show what Philip had done. Rodney also made the comment that it is easy to criticise but one must support it with facts and not making sweeping and unsubstantiated statements in the main stream media. What has happened is that it proves that the right of reply is very important to balance out a one sided view. It gives a better and clearer truth.

en bloc angst

This en bloc rule seems to be getting quite a hearing as more minority flat owners are affected. Apparently the majority have been dictating and imposing their goodness to the minority and getting away with it. Now what is the fuss when the minority are also having a beneficiary to it? They should be very thankful to the majority for carving out a deal which they would not be able to get on their own. I say, the minority should just live with the deal and should not be the stumbling block to progress and development. And the minority should not hold the majority at ransom just because one or two wanted a little more. It is just the rule of the game and everyone should play by the rule. In the name of progress and democracy, the en bloc ruling is a good thing and should be upheld until a better or more briliant formula is available.

of people or sheep

I share the views of Nurul Aziah Hussin in her letter to the Straits Times today titled 'Encourage ownership of national issues.' I quote, 'Public response to issues such as the recent debate on the ministerial pay hike, is more than an expression of "emotion" - it is the expression of citizens taking ownership of these issues, and asing our Govt to rise to the challenge of accountability and justification beyond performance legitimacy.' Basically what she said is that the people must change gear, move up, play a bigger role, take more interest in national affairs. If the people are just sheep, contend to grazing their little patches of grass and oblivious to all things around them, then what good are we as a nation...of sheep?

Power relationship between the ruler and the being ruled

In a totalitarian, authoritarian or dictatorial system, the power relationship is very simple. The ruler has absolute power and owns everything, including power of course. And they act in such a way that power will be theirs forever. This in many instances lead to the wielding of power without any restraint, and abuses are unavoidable. But the rulers have no fear as the ruled are unlikely to do anything, nor can they do anything to the rulers. Unfortunately, history has proven that this is not true as in the case of Saddam Hussein and his family. Also happened in ASEAN countries. But during the reign of these rulers, the ruled will accept whatever that they have to take. It was a defeatist attitude, a hopeless situation. The sheep and the shepherd. The people were owned by the rulers and their lives were meaningless except just to exist, but at the mercy of the rulers. In the western democracy model, the US and Europe, the rulers understand that their power is temporal, transcient. They are elected only for a number of terms. And it is only a matter of time before they become common folks, walking side by side with the people in the market or laughing together in the football stadium. Such rulers tend to be less dismissive and arrogant. For they will fall flat on their face when power is not there. And the people knew the formula. So the people are freer in their thoughts. They speak up when they need to. They need not fear that the rulers will fix them up nicely. And if the rulers do that, they have ways to answer back. Perhaps this is the strength of the western model, when power is not perpetuated as if it will always be there and those who assumed power can do what they want. The probability of abuses is that much lower as all good things will come to an end very rapidly. Where are we? Why did so many people that I talked to, even my friends, all have this undisclosed fear? Didn't they know that the bugger could be his kampong kid or the boy in the next HDB flat, but once in power, he becomes something different, someone to fear? Would they feel the same if they know that the bugger will in a matter of time become being ruled rather than the ruler?

myth 134

Intelligence not linked to wealth I can't help but to quote this amazing truth that was confirmed by a US study. "People don't become rich because they are smart.' Jay Zagorsky, a research scientist at Ohio State University. He added that IQ has really no relationship to a person's wealth. So for those who wanted to acquire more wealth to prove that they are smart, or afraid that they will look stupid to the stupid guy who is richer than them because of money, have no fear. If you are smart, you are smart. If you are stupid you are stupid. And for those who still want to pursue more wealth to look smart, then it is a case of plain stupidity. But if you can, you should grab more. Nothing wrong with having more money even if one is stupid. Hope this will take away some pressure for some people: )

En bloc Rules

Why are people crying foul of the en bloc rulings? In a democracy or democratic system where the majority rules, this is what it should be or must be. The majority, even if 51%, assumes all the power of the rest. And this en bloc ruling is even more stringent, demanding that 80% majority only can the group impose their wills on the 20% who disagree. Yes, the 80% can sell off your property against your will. And that is what the minority must accept. This is the beauty of a democratic system. I think when the rules were first mooted, it was a way to prevent a small unreasonable minority from going against the good sense of the majority. Now the table is turned against the minority by the tyranny of the majority. They knew that the law is on their side and they just lumped it to the minority. And they even ignored the minority completely by not informing them. I am impressed with such intelligent people. Play by the rule and take full advantage of the rule that favours you.

Taking on a bigger role

After spending time at the St James Station partying with the young PAPs and explaining the ministerial hike to the Press, LKY came out to address the fear of the Indon Extradition Treaty. It will not affect our property prices and the Indonesian rich will not be running away. That is about the gist of what he said. There is fear of how this treaty will impact our large pool of rich Indonesians who have been staying here and investing in our properties and businesses. And the fear is genuine as the main reason that has been floated all these while is to deal with the 'corrupt' rich Indonesians that are here. You can't blame the rich Indonesians for having second thoughts about their well beings. And one can't dissuade the property speculators that this will not have any impact on the property markets. There will be some who will have to change their investment plans and sell off some of their holdings. The rich are mobile and when there is uncertainty, the best option is to disappear to safer ground. No point and no need to put themselves to risk. Now we watch and see how this extradition treaty will play up or down our property market.

council of elders - redundant talks

Not that a council of elders will be in the cards. Not that it will matter whether there is or there isn't a council of elders to make any material change. I am continuing this discussion simply for discussion's sake as a follow up to an interesting point raised by Chua Soo Kiat in his article in the Today paper on the same topic. Though Soo Kiat was advocating that more women are needed rather than oldies, he pointed out that paying a council of elders a token sum is a problem. How's that? Affordability is one problem, but a minor one. It is the moral authority of a council of elders that will be perceived by the public to be higher than those that work just purely for money. So the more one gets paid, the lesser is the moral authority, and vice versa. If this is going to be how the people will look at our political leaders, then the whole exercise of multi million dollar ministerial pay may erode and undermine their authority as we march towards the next general election. Money now seems to be the foremost factor in the minds of Singaporeans. Though I say that a council of elders may not be of interest to anyone now, but if we consider paying every one elected into the council a million or so, maybe it will revive some interest to have such a council. After all, money talks and many will be interested especially when millions are available for the taking. The more posts and positions created, the more people will stand to benefit. And no one has to come out from their pockets. Just pay from the public coffers.

Two wrong timing good leaders

According to PN Balji, Philip Yeo and Tan Kin Lian could have been great leaders but missed the boat. His misgiving for these two guys is that they left without a successor in place. In my view, they are great leaders, with their warts as all humans possessed, for all their achievements. And I can't blame them as both were young men with many years to go. Compare to all the octogenarians still strutting their stuff around, one cannot possibly expect these two young men in their prime to think of retiring. Philip has a lot more to do to see his baby grow. Kin Lian may be in a different league and may be waiting for a MNC offer. But both are doing extremely well. Then Balji quoted Nelson Mandela who quitted after one term as a great example of great leaders who never over stay their welcome. Now what does that mean? In our little island, dearth of talents, we cannot simply afford great leaders to warm their seats for one term and quit. If that is the game, soon we will be asking FTs to take over all the important leadership positions. We understand our problems and is doing everything we can to attract and retain leaders for a life time as long as they can contribute and still kicking.

Landmark deals with Indonesia

So the extradition treaty and defence cooperation agreement are going to be sealed while our barges are still being detained on hazy charges. And bombs exploded in a Singaporean company in Karimum. And instead of investigating and dealing with the saboteurs, the management of the company are detained for more hazy charges. The public may not know what the deals were and what have been resolved, but coming at a time like this is a bit stinking. And we clapped to trumpet the good relations with Jakarta. Let's hope more sands and reasons will prevail.

The muted silent corner

While the debate and airing of the ministerial pay hike were furious, both in the MSM and cyberspace, the battle line is quite clear. The ruling party is obviously fully behind it, with a few exceptions, and there were Ministers and MPs standing up to defend the position. The opposition's view is as good as anyone can expect. And so are the views of the public. So far I have yet to hear anyone having a good thing to say about the issue. And they are all being polite and circumscribe. What about the opinion makers and those luminaries with a view? The academics, the retired or elder statesmen and civil servants, the professionals and the newsmakers? These are people that must have a view. They cannot be clueless or opinionless. So far there is an almost total silence. Where are the voices of the elite of this Little Red Dot? Their silence could mean two things. For or against. These densely opinionated elite cannot be fence sitters. Perhaps they are all for the pay hike so nothing more to add. Or they are against it but have taken the cue or sense that it is better to shut up. That would be a shame for a first world nation or a little country boasting of being first world when opinions and views that matter were found wanting. The overwhelming presence of LKY and his intense support for the pay hike may be a suffocating factor. Just my opinion. I think not many would want to take the other corner to take on such a heavy weight that holds no punches. Now which is the case? Where are the elite or is this the proof that we need, that Singapore is sorely in need of talents or alternative political leadership?

IN THE PAST, WHEN YOU WERE CHIEF MINISTER, YOUTHS PLAYED A POLITICALLY-ACTIVE ROLE. HOW HAS THE ROLE OF YOUTHS CHANGED AS COMPARED TO THE PAST? The role of youths! Ha! In my time, I tried to educate our people in an understanding of the dignity of human life and their right as fellow human beings, and youth was not only interested but excited about what I consider things that matter. Things of the spirit; the development of a human being to his true potential in accordance with his own personal genius in the context of equal rights of others. Today, youth is interested in getting paper qualification and, as soon as possible, shoveling gold into their bank accounts. It’s a different world, even the law. I am a consultant here [Drew & Napier]. When I left in ’78, there were three partners – it was supposed to be a big firm; two assistants – we were a big firm; 17 staff. This office has four floors. They think that it is a waste of time to use the lift so we have an internal staircase. We have more than 90 lawyers, more than 200 secretaries and I don’t know how many staff. The law is no longer a vocation, it is a business. Everything is geared to business! Of course, there is this pragmatic development of our country. Ah, our rising expectations of a pragmatic character! It is a fantastic and almost a miraculous development in my lifetime. When I was Chief Minister, there were men dying of starvation and because of ‘beri-beri’. I took my PA [personal assistant] and an Inspector of Police for night at midnight. For two hours, we toured Singapore and we estimated there were two ten thousand men sleeping on the pavements. No homes. Today - no unemployment, no homeless. I started this business of building homes for our people. Compare the puny work I achieved and the fantastic HDB homes that are available today for our people. I am deeply impressed and I take off my hat to this very able honest government. Dedicated! But I am seen as a critic and I am a critic. I am frankly terrified by this massive control of the mass media, the press, the radio, television, antennae, [and] public meetings. You can’t write a letter to the Straits Times; if there is a shadow of criticism, it’s not published. And the Chinese press follows suit. It’s a very dangerous position because experience proves that no one group of human beings has got all the wisdom in the world. I mean… well, two of you are Chinese and one Indian [Ed: actually, the interviewers were one Chinese, one Jew and one Indian]. I don’t know much about Indian history but look at China. You had Confucian authoritarianism for more than 2500 years. What happened to China? She was a fossil. She had to reinvigorate herself with the Western ideology of communism. Another authoritarian ideology! And what was the result? There must have been a million decent people who were transformed into vipers, vicious obscene vipers. I’m afraid of this control of the mass media. And are youths the miasma of apathetic subservience to authority? But you say to yourselves, “Well, you know, what do we seek in life? We seek a rice bowl, full!” It is full and overflowing, in fact. They serve you your rice in a jade bowl with golden chopsticks; not that it makes much difference to the taste of the rice. But you’re empty! You’ve got technocratic skills and you are seeking more but internally you are empty. Money is your acid test of success. I’ve got nothing against money. I’d like to have money myself! I’d like to have a house and a garden and dogs and a car and a chauffeur but, look, I’ve got a flat. I’ve got a swimming pool attached to the flat. I’ve not even got a car but I use taxis. I have a dignified way of life without being wealthy. I don’t see the necessity of owning a Mercedes-Benz and a swimming pool and a couple of mistresses. I think we’ve got our values all wrong. You know $96,000 a month for a Prime Minister and $60,000 a month for a minister. What the hell do you do with all that money? You can’t eat it! What do you do with it? Your children don’t need all that money. My children have had the best of education. In fact, I’m very proud of them. One of them is a senior registrar to two major hospitals in Oxford. Another of them is a consultant in European law to the Securities and Investment Board in the United Kingdom. They’ve had their education. There are no complaints. I never earned $60,000 a month or $90,000 a month. When I was Chief Minister, I earned $8,000 a month. Look, what is happening today is we are encouraged to and are becoming worshippers of the Golden Calf. We have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service, helping our fellow men. The joy and excitement of seeking and understanding of the joy of the miracle of the living the duty and the grandeur. We have lost taste for heroic action in the service of our people. We have become good bourgeois seeking comfort, security. It’s like seeking a crystal coffin and being fed by intravenous injections through pipes in the crystal coffin; crystal coffins stuck with certificates of your pragmatic abilities. What has changed? The self-confidence of our people has grown immensely, and that is good to see. Our pragmatic abilities have grown magnificently, and that is good to see. Very good to see! You are very able. You’re ambitious, and the government has heroic plans for the future. It hasn’t finished. I take off my hat to the pragmatic ability of our government but there is no soul in our conduct. It is a difficult thing to speak of because it is difficult to put in a computer, and the youth of Singapore is accustomed to computer fault. There is no longer the intellectual ferment, the passionate argument for a better civilisation. The emphasis on the rice bowl! Tell me I’m wrong, come on. THE PAP GOVERNMENT HAS INDEED DONE A GREAT DEAL FOR SINGAPORE. HOWEVER, THERE IS AN INCREASING DEGREE OF DISCONTENT GROWING AMONGST OUR YOUTHS AGAINST THEM. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS HAPPENING? Our lives are empty. The above is an extract of an interview with David Marshall posted at http://thinkhappiness.blogspot.com/2006/08/meeting-david-marshall-in-1994.html. Have we cheapen public service and the passion to serve our nation and people? Or Singaporeans are all a bunch of money grabbers and nothing else?

Can you leave with a clear conscience?

Those were the words of LKY. He added, 'If we lose our top talent, then we will decline as a nation.' While we are calling for the retention of our talent, we are encouraging many to leave, to work overseas, and in their place, filled with foreign talent. Or did our talent left because they were unwanted, not appreciated in their own home? The prophets are not welcomed in their own towns. The risks and consequences of this craziness is like a blood transfusion for no reasons. Remove our own blood and replaced it by alien blood. How would it affect our system? What if the alien blood contains aids or some other viruses? What if the alien blood is green? If we don't value our own talent at home, we surely will have a new Singapore, more vibrant, but not the Singaporeans that were here before. The talents that left our shore will return to find themselves as aliens. And they may not even be welcomed.

A council of elders

Dharmendra Yadav wrote about the need for a council of elders to act as a check to Parliament amidst the controversial ministerial pay rise. The thought behind this call is simple, there is a need to check Parliament when controversial or untenable bills or issues are raised and passed. The need for a neutral and counterbalancing voice is obviously felt by many except the govt. This is natural as the govt would think that it is the best and, being voted to power by the people, is supreme and has the mandate to do what it thinks is right. And it will not submit to another group to check on its power and actions. Such a call is at best a mental exercise as it will never be implemented by any party in power. Who would want to share power or have their hands tied? Which party will be brave enough, generous enough, to want to do this knowing that it is for the good of the future of the country?

Who is there to stop a rogue govt?

So much have been said about how vulnerable we are as a little island that we cannot afford any mistake. And the worst case scenario is a rogue govt that went about helping itself in state of helping the people. Without good men in leadership we are doomed. This scenario assumes that we have a dud administrative service and a submissive army and police that would allow a rogue govt to go on a rampage, unrestraint. It also assumes that the running of the country is only by the political leaders while the civil servants and uniformed groups will just simply take orders, unthinking and unminding. Would we reach a day when Ah Kow and his gang be elected as the next govt and went about paying themselves $5 mil or $10 mil per head and the civil servants and uniformed services just quietly stood by without lifting a finger? Or would the civil servants and the uniformed groups just join in the party and help themselves as well? Such a scenario is possible when the people are unthinking, or seasoned not to think and rather be sheep and hoping to be led, and hope against hope that good leaders would be picked and chosen. I find this position very dangerous. We need a thinking people in all walks of life to think that the future of the country is theirs to make. And that they must have a say in how the country is being run. And when they think the country is not properly run, they must stand up and step forward to help run the country. This can only come true if we have a system that will facilitate or be conducive for leaders to step forward themselves rather than be chosen. A leader is a leader in his own right, not waiting to be picked. A picked leader is anything but a leader. It is at best an employee, fit the bill of the selection board and put into his proper place. We need to question whether the present formula is the only formula for our continued well being or if there are better formula. One thing is for sure. If we think this is it, this is the only way, I think we are doomed. All empires thought that theirs was the only way. And all failed eventually. Our current system is too dependent on a few good men. And if the next few good men turned out to be rogues, we are in deep trouble when the system is not tuned to react and change for the better but only to take orders.6

Cursing and swearing are in us.

That is perhaps what Janadas Devan was trying to say about how our ancestors acquired this gift from nature. And he has the internet to support his case with plenty of lurid examples, some carved to such refinement that they should be collected in a book and would probably become a best seller. And for those who find it impossible to quit, like smoking, fear not. And also do not despair. Just blame it on nature.

Myth 133

'How Much?' No no, I am not talking about minister's pay again. Practically all the things that need to be said other than the obvious have been spoken. It is time to forget and move on. I am referring to the big bucks in sports. It was horrifying to know that our dream for the World Cup Final is tainted with game fixing. Is this the reason why we will never make it to the World Cup? But if money is an issue, then our World Cup dream can easily be realised. Money is what we have. In our squeaky clean environment, it is incomprehensible to think that bribery or game fixing happens in our super league. I can expect such things to happen in other big leagues, but definitely not here. After all we are all super clean and if not, we just pay them well and the problem will simply go away. We better set up a task force to study the pay of professional footballers. And if they are not competitive enough, surely they deserve a pay rise to keep them clean. But if the problem is small enough, and we have our fame anti corruption agencies to handle them, then perhaps, no payrise is necessary. Of course the football talents would disagree. If there is no huge payrise, then more such cases will appear in the papers.

Is it so difficult to run a command economy?

Yes, it is very difficult when there is no absolute power, when there are many powerful interest groups with strong support bases, when the rule of law and constitutions are supreme, like the USA. In the most recent case of the unmasking of a secret agent by a top govt official, only in the USA that the culprit can be brought to task. There is not only a separation of power, but the opposition is equally strong to prevent abuse by the top national executives. Then life is not so easy. George Bush is now facing opposition in his war in Iraq. He needs to convince the people's representatives that what he is doing is right and for the good of the nation. As long as others are not convince, he cannot do as he wishes. But when there is hardly any opposition, hardly any strong interest groups to challenge the govt, everything goes. And running a command economy is about the easiest thing to do. All essential services are a monopoly in every way. The supplier dictates the service, the quality of service, the price to be paid, without competition and opposition. How difficult is such a task? And to lose money in a monopoly is criminal. Yes there are airlines, steel mills, etc that gone bust despite being monopolies and with govt backings, all because of corruption and incompetence. In a functional govt when there is rule of law, when there is transparency, when there are watchdog agencies, incompetence and corruption will be nipped in the bud. Unless everyone is walking with eyes closed. Compare to the private sector that operates by demand, when the customer is king, life is not so easy. Any goods or service providers thinking of raising his price should be wary of losing his customers and market share. And they cannot dictate to the customer what is good for the customer. The customer decides what is good for him and what price he is willing to pay. There are alternatives and substitutions from competitive suppliers and service providers. So, which economy demands greater skills and greater talents? (Matilah, your favourite thesis)

revisiting means testing

Revisiting Means Testing Of the many reasons behind means testing is the assumption that family is the core and all family units are functional. In the Singapore of today, when many are trying to make ends meet, the family unit that is intact is probably the parent and small children. The parents will often sacrifice for their children, paying and giving without asking for anything in return. Unfortunately this only holds true when the family is young. When the children have grown, it becomes to each his own. An extended family or a bigger family may look good on paper, with household income of $5k a month, but 5 or more mouths to feed. And bet you, this is not a large sum and a lot of tightening is still required. And when it comes to a big lump sum to be paid, many do not have the spare capacity to do so. A $10k or $20k hospital bill is going to turn their lives upside down. The premise that children must pay for their parents, when children have children to pay for, is stretching the ability a little too far. But of course, when children are earning a million a year, filial piety is a given. For there are a lot of spare cash flowing around. Thinkings of people earning millions are definitely different from those earning a couple of thousands a month. Even husband and wife may not be on speaking terms or on the verge of a divorce. So would a cash rich husband or wife be forced to pay for a spouse that they would not want to see for the rest of their lives? We may have laws to enforce such payments. But if the paying party just refuse to oblige, the problem is still with the patient. What can the law do? Or can the hospital says, your husband or wife or children must pay. Otherwise the bill is still your problem? How I wish all the Singaporeans are all earning a million dollars and their family units are functional. The reality is far from it. And paying hospital bills can break up family ties and strain relations.

one people, one country

Great People, great country A country can only be great when its people are great. The people can only be great when their hearts are one, thinking only of country. The ruler should rule wisely, and the people should be thinking people and obey wisely. To borrow from Confucius, The ruler must be ruler, the people be people, the father be father and friends be friends. The relationship of these four groups forms the basis of a good and strong nation. When the relationship is wrong, when ruler does not rule wisely, when people do not think wisely, when father does not behave like father and when friends are less than friends, the country will be disunited. Are our ruler and people having the same dream? Are our people thinking people or blind sheep?

a little bit of history

During the days of the Japanese Occupation, life was tough. And the worst of human traits were allowed to be given full play. Everyone was fighting for his own survival. There was no more righteousness, no more loyalty, no pride, no shame. Many locals sold their souls to the dark side. They became informers for the Kempeitai and reported on their friends, neighbours and even relatives. Many were killed or savagely tortured by the Japanese, all because of these informers. When the Japanese surrendered, many of these informers were identified by their neighbours and beaten to death on the streets. Do not be tempted by the dark side and lose your souls.

NKF everywhere

Reading the newspapers daily, one cannot be helped but to find that NKF is everywhere, but in different shades and shapes. The blatant violation of good corporate governance, the violation of fundamental principles of propriety and management principles, and the tolerance to such violations seems so convenient when people just refused to call a spade a spade. Do we need the same kind of exposure of another NKF to see more red faces? Our standard of right and wrong, of good practices, fair play etc are being eroded away right below our noses. And the party continues.

A higher calling

Singapore is a very good place to live and to make a fortune. And there are many who have taken full advantage of the conducive environment to make the best of their lives. Many have become multi millionaires and billionaires. We have a little paradise here. And I mean it. While many have made it in life and been very successful, the next thing that comes to mind is the higher calling. What next when you have everything? Some have answered to God's calling. Some have taken on social causes in fighting poverty or saving animals or the environment. They have done these as a cause, not for the money, but for a higher calling. A few have stepped into politics to serve the people and nation. But far too few. This has created a problem, it seems. And some, whose only meaning in life is to accumulated more money and more money, thinks that the only way to attract such good and talented people into politics, to serve the people, is to give them more money. Money will solve every problem. Just throw the money at them. Just because someone is only motivated by money, it does not mean that others will equally be motivated by money. Human beings are made differently. Some will easily succumbed to greed and other failings of human weaknesses. Some will be steadfast and will not compromise themselves and their values at any cost. The rest are in between. Take a look around us and it is very easy to find at least a couple of hundreds of very good and decent people who have all the money they need in life, lasting for a few generations, that would be as good at those in the govt. Why are these good men and women not coming forward to serve? Serving the nation and people is another higher calling that many will do it just for peanuts. Does anyone know the reasons? Does anyone know? While we are pondering the reasons, let's not insult the whole population by thinking that everyone is moneyminded and thinking selfishly of themselves. And that we can throw money at people to join politics. If these people come forward because of money, then they are not the right people to attract.

organisations can suffer from stroke

Staunching the legal bleed. Lawyers are running to join the private sector. 6.55% attrition rate. Horrors. It is good that a 10% salary hike is on the way. Maybe more with the next adjustment end of the year. With the Civil Service facing a 4.8% to 5.7% attrition rate, some departments going as high as 25%, it is necessary to do a quick fix. I would think a 20% or 30% increment would do the job nicely. Departments or Ministries with high attrition rate should accordingly be adjusted with higher pay hikes. Those with lower attrition rates should naturally get lower pay hike. According to the MSM, the attrition rate of banks is 20-25%. And the banks said it is normal. Probably not proactive enough. And for engineers, they reckoned 10% is the norm. A HR consultant commented that 20% is healthy as it provides room for renewal. I think this is a matter of opinion. I will be more comfortable with a 10% renewal rate. 20% is a little on the high side and certain industries, too high a turnover may not be healthy. But it is also very unhealthy to have too low a turnover. It is actually bad when the organisation is paying so well or so comfortable that no one wants to leave. Then a lot of inbreeding and old habits and old thinking will be perpetuated to preserve the system and the incumbents. And the top all got clogged up leaving little room for the new blood to move up. I have experienced with certain organisations where senior managers were kicked upstair or somewhere to do sweet nothing and all refused to leave because they were still being paid very handsomely. Some turnover is healthy, definitely. And anything less than 10% is nothing to panic about.

comparing the non talents

There is a letter by Alvin Tan Sheng Hui disputing the numbers of Muchamed Elfian Harun that $207 a month for the Public Assistance cases is sufficient, and some can save from it also. Alvin put up some figures to say that this sum is definitely inaccurate and not enough. I can understand Alvins's point. But to put the argument from another perspective, one must have a reference point or something to compare with. In the first place these are non talentsor not talented people. And you can only compare them with the same group which has very low market value. If there are other organisations paying such people more money, then there will be reasons to give them a hefty increase. And they can't possibly quit to go to another agency to give them more allowances. It is all about comparison and supply and demand, and also talent.

as more numbers are out

As more numbers are being churned out. As the lower level employees were told that their pay hike is between 3% to 8%, and when they compare them to those of the ministers, some as high as 25% or 30%, the position will be more untenable. The pay hike at the ministerial level is not only huge in absolute term but also in percentage term. I think the ministers have their jobs cut out for them, to defend this pay hike till the next general election.

MoneyMind

When ex cheat is rewarded for dishonesty This is the headline of a letter by Yap Guat Hoon. Yap was appalled by the publicity splashed across the media and questioned the value we are passing to the young or to the masses. 'As parents, we must be watchful of subtle messages that permeate our minds and that of our children. The media, too, must be on guard as it weighs the opportunity to inform and its power to influence.' Yap Guat Hoon Is there a difference between this kind of cheats and those cheating public donations? At one time, when poverty was the order of the day in China, cheating, robbery, con men, etc all became a profession, a way of life. And we too have HK movies glorifying such professionals. Gangsterism as well, with their own honour and loyalty codes. We got to be careful and be thinking, and not be misled by the glorification of tinsel towns. Or we already have accepted such values and that our mindsets have changed to become MoneyMind.

the end is near

When $1 is enough and $1 mil is not enough. When 80 people can decide to sell your property or the roof over your head. When reasons failed to convince, just use threats. When other people earn more than you, then you deserve to earn more. When your money is no longer your money. When cheats are glorified and highly applauded simply because they cheated, oops, they earned a lot of money by other than the accepted means. When frauds in the millions cannot be brought to justice. When the passion to serve the nation and people is lesser than the passion to make millions. When everything is measured in terms of dollars. The end is near.

Have ministers lost their moral authority to lead?

This is a thread in the YPAP forum. And my answer is NO. They have explained very clearly that it is not the money, it is not for them. The pay hike is for the future, to attract future talents. And Hsien Loong is even going to donate his pay hike to charity to prove that it is not the money. And what about the rest? They will do it quietly, not ostentatiously. And since the pay hike is not for them, they did not lose their moral authority to lead. period. Can't the people understand and accept the explanation and move on? What do the people want now?

Two ends of paradise

Singaporeans are truly lucky lots. They are living in paradise without knowing. On one end it is a land of opportunities. Money is everywhere for grabs. Depending on how talented one is, everyone is so happy grabbing everything for themselves. And there are plenty to go around. On the other end of paradise, when all the work is done, one can retire without a worry. Providing a roof over their heads is not a problem. And meals will even be delivered to the homes. There will also be volunteers to help clean the flats. And pocket money will be provided, all $290 a month! Wow, wow, when the body is unwilling, when one cannot eat, barely can move, barely can do anything, $290 is alot of money. Some may not know what to do with this kind of money. Too much money and nowhere to go, nowhere to spend. Singaporeans are so lucky.

$207 is a lot of money

'With around $207 at his disposal each month, a prudent Public Assistance recipient may be able to save for future expenses.' Muchamed Elfian Harun. I fully agree with Muchamed. If my roof and 3 meals are taken care off, $207 will become my disposable income. I don't smoke nor drink. Wow, that is a lot of money to spend. And I don't even have to leave my house. Sometimes I wonder what am I living for? Not much different from a zombie, huh? And Mr Wang had also came to the conclusion that the maids are richer than many Singaporeans with their $300 disposable income when food and shelter have been out of the way. Compare this to a Singaporean who earns $1000. After deducting CPF, transportation, food and lodging, there is hardly any money left as disposable income. Yes a maid with $300 is richer than a Singaporean earning $1000 a month.

nkf story - no wrongdoings

Matilda Chua is in court to answer criminal charges but nothing to do with NKF. This time she was charged under the Securities Industry Act for share tradings and manipulating the accounts of GNR. Looks like they really have not done anything criminal in the NKF fiasco.

Something gotta give

The pay hike in the public sector will push the private sector to follow suit. The only limiting factor will be the bottom line. In the private sector, pay hike can only be sustainable when the organisation is making money and not because someone else is paying more. Then we have the rise in rental in commercial and residential properties. And we have our famous GST increase plus all the increases. Suddenly no one is asking whether we can be competitive when everything is going up. Can we compete with China and India with our rising cost? Or we have a magic formula that says cost is no longer an issue and we can continue to raise our operating cost and remain competitive? I can only see foreign workers and FTs playing a greater role in our economy and at the expense of our citizens. Something gotta give. The investors have voted with their feet in the past. And they will do so again. And if Malaysia plays its cards right with the IDR, more companies will relocate. The slack may be taken up to some extent by the IRs. Would we face the same predicaments when job losses were the order of the day? Or would the pay hike brings about more talented solutions to our past problems when the world economy swings the wrong way?

Car Parking going up

Brace up for higher parking charges in the town areas. The rich people said parking in these areas are cheap even when one is sure to find a lot in the Orchard Road area. And they cannot understand why parking lots are always available. Normally charges will go up when demand is so high that you cannot find a lot to park. Or in the case of the expressways when the roads are jammed. Now the reason is because it is cheap. Cheap according to who? To people who earn hundreds of thousands a month? My goodness, another case of 'how much is enough.' And for the heartlanders, don't worry, their turn will come when they compare the price difference and conclude that parking in the heartland is real cheap.

Front Page News

The front page of a newspaper is always reserved for the most important news of the day. Today, the most important news in Singapore are: 1. JI and terrorism. 2. Young superstar, boy won top film awards 3. Measures to cut children drowning 4. How to make strong coffee. These are the things that Singaporeans are worried or concerned about.

A sickening feeling

Does anyone know how it feels to work your shit out for one whole bloody month to take home $1000 and hear that other people earn $100,000 in one day? How would such lowly people think and feel? Don't blame them for begrudging. They do not know how to begrudge. They are just going bonkers! It just reinforces their sense of helplessness and unworthiness in living. Looks like it is time for the arsehole to just shut up.

myth 132

It's not about money I am very disappointed with the Singaporeans. How can they ever think that the Ministers are only thinking of the pay hike for themselves? These are able and honourable men handpicked by a proven system that would have checked them through and through. And one of the things they would have carefully assessed is greed. These are leaders who have stepped forward and sacrificed their huge private sector pay to serve the people. As Dr Yaacob had said. 'Really it's not about me, it's not about the Cabinet...' It is all about the future, the well being of the nation and people. The pay hike is for future leaders to come forward to serve the country. And future leaders can only be attracted by at least $2 million, maybe more. This is only the beginning. I hope the people really think carefully and support the pay hike. The fact that the current ministers are getting paid now is only incidental. See, Hsien Loong has even donated the pay hike to charity. And you can expect more of them to do so. And don't accuse them of ostentatious generosity. It is all about you, the Singaporeans, who are going to benefit from this pay hike.

My Sunday morning fantasy

I have a dream team that will turn Singapore into a Utopia. But you must have faith in my dream team. The Utopia will come in about 30 years time. As for the price of my dream team, $30 million each, or roughly $1 mil a month plus bonus. We will deliver as promise.

When a country is no longer a country

I have been pondering over the erosion of the concept of statehood. This use to come with a lot of pre conditions and obligations from the ruler and the ruled. At the rate we are going, soon statehood or nationhood will be a thing of the past. Yes Singapore Inc. Everything will be run in a businesslike manner. No obligations other than contractual. No ownership, no emotional attachment. Everything is in the price. Everything has a price. And for those who are against National Service, the day will come when private agencies will recruit their own military men to offer their services at a price. It has started. The national security of a nation can be farmed out to non citizens to run roughshod over citizens. Sorry, no more citizens but production digits. The Americans are also recruiting non citizens to fight in Iraq. It is time to change the titles of the head of state and govt. The private sector has taken the lead. Every organisation has their presidents and vice presidents. The state should also change and have Chairmans and Managing Directors and Directors.