A creepy silence

Two days have passed without any incidents. The silence of Khairy and Hishammuddin and their likes is quiet creepy. Let's hope they take the decision of the people in their stride and reflect on why UMNO lost. They have contributed a great part to this debacle. They got corrupted with power in their head. Mahathir is happily blaming Abdullah for his ineffectiveness. Actually the person that needs to be blamed, the one who seeded all the nonsense in Malaysian politics is Mahathir himself. He orchestrated everything and set the tone for what was Malaysian politics during his reign. He allowed all kinds of excesses to run wild, and this is the result of his bad management. The politicians have had a ball of a time lining their pockets. The judiciary was in his pocket and beholden to him. The whole govt machinery were run by UMNO for the interests of the politicians. Corruption was rampant but accepted as the way of things. The irony now is that the stone he cast away, will now be seen as the possible saviour of Malaysia. In Anwar Ibrahim there is hope that there will be a new Malaysia for all Malaysians. No, it was not Abdullah's fault. He inherited the mess and all the cronies. UMNO is doomed and need to be cut down to size, minus the opportunists of course. Are we going to see a run on UMNO, MIC, MCA and Gerakan? Will the defection becomes a runaway avalanche? The party is over for UMNO.

The Bigger Test

Mas Selamat is a good test of our security system and Total Defence. Every element of the govt machinery and people were put into action without a hitch. They forgot to test the island wide siren though. But that might not be necessary by the nature of things. The bigger test is the test of leadership, or absence of leadership. We were, to borrow the analogy of an orchestra, without a conductor, without the lead violinist and without the manager. The orchestra kept on playing for 12 days with perfect coordination. The same score was played over and over again in different venues to the approval of the spectators. After 12 gruelling days, the tune sounded a bit jaded. But it was a good score and approval was given for the orchestra to continue playing. And we passed the bigger test, that we can continue to function normally in the absence of leadership. We were on auto pilot for 12 crisis days and everything went on smoothly. That is what we called an effective system managed by an effective team. With or without leadership, the system keeps on grinding. We survive the test.

Why so many charities and help schemes?

We are doing very very well economically. Full employment, huge national reserves, money pasting everywhere, money throwing everywhere, our banks have so much money that they have problems lending them out. Then our favourite past time is charity, setting up charitable organisations, organising charity events to raise funds, begging on the streets, setting up public help shemes and schemes and organisations. And officially hundreds of millions are spent to help the poor, if there is any, and unofficially millions and millions were collected from the public, also to help the poor. Why should a super rich little island with only 3 million citizens so obsessed about helping the poor? It is a strange phenomenon indeed. Where are the poor, 3,000 of them I heard, or where are the money? Oops, better clarify on this point. Are the money reaching the poor? Or if there are so few poor, why the need for so much money? Really what is causing the hardship to those who are struggling?

Selamat fooled his captors?

Did Selamat fool his captors? Or are his captors so easily fooled? Under normal circumstances we can laugh it off as another kopitiam talk. If our people in authority are so easily fooled, my god, what else can happen? Come to think of it, this is nothing new in the little red dot. Are the people being fooled everyday, I mean look at the money they have been giving away to hot shot charities? A little gimmicks here and there, a little promotion, a few luminaries sit in the board of directors or acting as chairpersons, and all the guards becomes non existence. We are easily fooled, that is a fact.

A higher level of political maturity

A glance at the winners in yesterday's election quickly reminds one of the numerous political prisoners among them. Lim Kit Siang, Lim Eng Guan, Tian Chua, and the currently in prison M Manoharan who won while in captivity. Then the indestructible Anwar Ibrahim, so corruption and sodomy stuck on his face, stood triumphantly on the rostrum with his wife and daughter, both convincingly won their wards. And there were many other ex political detainees who were and are going into Parliament. What does all these say to the Malaysian political system or to the credibility of drum up charges of political detainees? The people were simply pissed off by such wild accusations, even if some are true, and chose to denounce the regime in power and their excesses to abuse power. Political criminals are no criminals. Fictitious political crimes are no crimes. The Malaysian political system is much more mature than ours. The Malaysian electorate are much more mature than ours. The Malaysian ruling party, on this occasion, is also more mature than ours. At least they did not say their electorate is stupid to vote for the opposition. I will retract this if they start to kiss the kris and threaten violence.

2008 GE in Malaysia

The results say it all. The Malaysians are not going to be dragged along by a corrupt coalition that is sinking deeper into cronyism and racism. In brief these are what the voters have said. 1. No more corruption 2. Down with race politics 3. Down with threats and violations of minority rights 4. Down with Barisan National 5. Return of Anwar Ibrahim 6. A new justice and a new Malaysia Losing 5 states to the opposition is a big defeat of the BN. The Malays, Chinese and Indians have started to abandon a sinking BN that is bankrupt of ideas. They have lost faith in what BN can bring to the people and to bring Malaysia forward to the next century. Would anyone be kissing his kris again? Would there be more war cries in UMNO convention? The toll of bullying the component parties of BN and threats of blood letting is for all to see. UMNO has not only discreditted their component parties but also lost credibility among the Malays. The BN coalition is habis. Gerakan, MCA, MIC and the east Malaysian parties may reflect on their role and value to the people and may find it best to leave the Barisan. It has long been a UMNO Barisan than a Barisan National. Staying on will further erode their support from the electorate. They have been totally ineffective, and humiliated by their inaction or fear of UMNO that they have been living in shame in recent years. Would we see a mass defection of these parties to a New Barisan led by Kedilan and DAP? What would happen if the MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other component candidates just defect to join the New Barisan, if that is possible? Or they could resign and stand for the opposition in by elections. If that be the case, the next by election, with Anwar standing, will be a mini general election. And the death nail in the UMNO/BN will be complete if more UMNO candidates also join the cause and defect to the opposition parties. Having said all these, the Malaysians should give a standing ovation to Pak Lah for allowing democracy to flourish and run its own course, for allowing the people the freedom to choose their national leaders. Abdullah has allowed a more freer Malaysia to take place, more breathing space for the opposition and has also laid the foundation of a new era for Malaysia and Malaysians. There is hope that Malaysia will become truly Malaysia under the current ethos and political climate. There is hope that the judiciary, the civil service and uniformed services will be allowed to act independently and professionally, to serve the people than the interests of a few individual politicians. Well done Malaysia! Well done Pak Lah. And good wishes to all the opposition parties.

We are the centre of the Universe

We have for several years been meddling, or they called it innovating, with our education system. We introduced an Integrated Programme, a 6-year through train where students need not sit for the 'O' level examination. We also introduced the more intellectually challenged subject, Knowledge and Inquiry, to our A level students. After six years, the first batch of IP students are applying for university places overseas. Also the students taking KI in place of GP are also doing the same. And they came to a road block. The overseas universities are not ready to accept the changes. Probably some may not even heard of our IP programme. We are ahead of our time in education creativity. Those moribund universities in the US and UK have been sleeping and failed to keep up with us. They are still so backward that they are not going to admit our aced students without an O level result or without the GP. So far the msm has reported that Imperial College, King's College London, Cambridge and Oxford have affirmed their recognition of our advanced and higher standard of education. London School of Economics don't and so are many others. Our students are now in a bind. Their choice for overseas universities may now be very limited. To avoid such problems we should can our IP and KI options for now until we notify all the backward universities that they have to keep up with our changes or else. A good thing to ponder at is to look more than 2 steps ahead before making such innovative changes. It is difficult for the whole world to keep up with the pace of our change.

The most incredible story ever told

After more than a week of msm reporting, the official version of Mas Selamat Kastari's escape is still by walking through the toilet and presumably walking out of the detention centre free from any obtructions, checks or guards. It makes the detention centre looks like a shopping centre. Well we have to believe that this is the story, the most incredible story ever told in the City of Possibilities.

What kind of tooth?

It is a fact that msm have limited space and have to be very selective on what to print, including forum letters. They is also the editor's choice or agenda. Thus many issues seem to die off after a few days of reporting. This gives the impression that no one is interested in them any more. And some jokers conveniently may conclude that it is all over, issue accepted and even supported by the people. So if the msm stop printing criticisms about an issue, the issue is now acceptable or supported by the people. Is that truth or tooth? The good thing about cyberspace is that issues can be repeated and continued, postings over and over again to keep them alive.

Get rid of Samy Vellu

After getting rid of Anwar Ibrahim, after calling the people to get rid of Abdullah Badawi, now it is Samy Vellu's turn. Mathathir has spoken. Strange, all three were his choice ministers. Anwar supposely his successor until the sodomy charge. Abdullah, his choice as the current PM. And Samy was his right hand man, the man to lead MIC. Now all three are not worthy when left alone. Probably they are only worthy working under Mahathir and he could teach or lead them to do the right things.

Mean Testing: The human touch

This is the heading of Tan Hui Leng's article in the Today paper. Her position is that mean testing is necessary to make the rich pay more. What she hopes for is for the system or the administrator to show a little human touch. Can this happen? The idea or thought of mean testing has already lost that human touch. Like it or not, it is subjecting another human bean to testing his means, asking him/her how much he has in his pocket and whether to let him through. To test another human bean is to embarrass the bean. Only those who know that they would not be subject to such testings will come out with such an idea. The embarrassment is on the other party. They are safe. They even think that it is cute. Forget about being human or the human touch once one accepts the principle of mean testing. Oh, Hui Leng also mentioned that nowadays people no longer kpkb about meant testing. So perhaps some may even say that the idea is now acceptable.

Which is worst?

Corruption is a clear cut case of wrong doing. Those who benefitted from corruption, no matter who well off, still walk around with a sense of guilt or guilt hanging over their head. They is shame, immorality, fear that justice will catch up with them. What about those who are collect largesses legally through proper or legitimate appointments to high offices, and collecting millions? In such cases there is no guilt and no sense of wrong doings. There is even a false sense of pride and self serving logics. Some may even demand to be paid more even when they know that they are doing sweet nothing or doing things that rightfully should only be paid a fraction of what they are getting. And the people superficially accept the above two forms at face value. One despised and the other with dignity. Which is worst? The tooth or the truth?

We are the best

The best students in our schools are placed on the through train Integrated Programme(IP). And the very best took the new subject Knowledge and Inquiry(KI) in place of their GP. This KI is of a higher level and more difficult. So is the IP programme which is designed to prepare students for tough university education. How can those overseas universities refused to accept our best students that have IP and KI? Those universities who don't are going to lose out as they will not have our best with them. Tell them good riddance. We will find places for our best and brightest students in other universities that are willing to accept them. And I also heard that some universities insist that our best students must also have 'O' level results. Why? Can they accept that our students without 'O' level results are actually our cream? Maybe our MOE can issue a testimonial to these students to vouch that they are great academic material. Would these overseas institutions still ignore their top grades and insist on their 'O' level? We are first world country, not third world where the grades can be manufactured. We have good quality control system and very strict professional standards. In the meantime, for those students who may not gain a place in these foreign universities, don't worry, we will find a way. Just pray that everything will be alright.

Notable quotes by LKY

"To be the prime minister, you don't have to know every instrument, but you got to recognise, ah, he's a good violinist, he'll be the first violinist, he'll be the double bass. He will play the viola, he will have the trumpet, he will do the drums. Then you coordinate them and then you have great music. And if you already have a great orchestra, you can put a dummy there and you still got great music." Lee Kuan Yew

Aga aga can liao

Literally translated, it means guess work also can do. Gone were the days when we pride ourselves to do things correctly, accurately, professionally and anything that is hapzardly done is frown upon. We are the best and we will not accept slipshod work. What has mean testing becoming to? Get some simple data so that it is easy to handle, not accurate never mind, aga aga also can. Too detail, too tedious, too complicate, too problematical. Wah lan eh. Like that also can.

Caregivers getting notice in Parliament

The issue of caregivers getting some recognisation was discussed in Parliament. Boon Heng would need more time to study the implications before deciding on how to deal with them. Caregivers now only refer to those looking after the sick and aged. What about the young? There are many obvious cases of working couples with young children that need someone to look after. At the same time all the housewives are encouraged to rejoin the industry. The logical choice is to hire a maid. A better and more reliable choice is to get the grandmas, grandpas, sisters or brothers to look after the children. It is more pro family values to depend on relatives than to hire a maid. No doubt this role of mending the young is part and parcel of family life, the alternatives are there for the caregivers of the young to seek a more rewarding jobs than to stay at home. In this materialistic world, the more we need to look at those who choose to stay at home to look after the young and their love ones. This is not an issue for the minister looking after the aged. He has his hands full. Maybe another minister can take a look at it.

Mas Selamat Kastari can survive for a long time

Survival experts claimed that Mas Selamat could survive a long time in our forest reserves on fruits and small animals. That's not very comforting. It is almost one week. Think he might find the wild fruits and wildlife taste pretty jerlat by now. A pot of hot lemak curry and fried chicken might be heavenly to him. It might be a good idea to place a nice food spread on the fringe of the forest. Anyone know what is his favourite food? Easier than searching for him in the thick forests. : ) I got this funny feeling that while the commotion is all in the nature reserves and parks, he could be watching television somewhere in the comfort of civilisation.

Never mind rising rentals...

Singapore voted best city to live in for expats inspite of complains by locals of rising costs and housing. Looks like the increasing cost is not a problem to the foreign talents. Time to raise rentals higher as the foreigners don't mind. I think the foreign students also won't mind. After all Singapore is still cheaper than other western countries and these students are probably quite rich. And for those who aren't, they are probably recipients of scholarships. High prices good. High rentals must also be good. They are paying for quality.

Returning some petrol tax dollars to consumers

If I am not mistaken the petrol tax is based on a fixed percentage of the petrol price. The price has gone up from around $1.80 or less to above $2.00 on average recently. This means that petrol tax collected will proportionally increase by about 10%. Would be nice if the tax can be adjusted downwards just a little to keep petrol price from running away. Transportation cost for all goods and services will go up accordingly if petrol price is allowed to go up unchecked. The repercussion is very pervasive. I already hear people saying 'Fat Hope' that petrol tax will be reduced. Don't ever dream of it. High petrol price is due to external factors beyond our control.

Hong Lim Speakers Corner

There were new calls to revive and promote the Speakers Corner. It is obvious that the corner is dying like the bubble tea shops. It was a flash in the pan excitement. So some people are trying to make this corner a lively place for talking cock again. I believe that the Speakers Corner should be left as it is, as the Symbol of Free Speech that is uniquely Singapore. A speaker's stand should be erected in the park, like the one Stamford Raffles is standing on. And on the stand should be inscribed the history of free speech in Singapore. It can start something like this. Long long ago, freedom of speech was very important in Singapore. And the govt contributed this park for the citizens to express themselves freely. This speaker's stand was also erected to allow the speakers to stand above the crowd to speak. Long queue of speakers took turns to speak to a park packed with spirited Singaporeans. Over the years the people got richer and more contented with their lives and found speaking in the Speakers Corner a waste of time. Slowly they abandoned the park. They have more important things to do, like making more money, than wasting time here. Today, the Speakers Corner is a monument and symbol of the history of freedom of speech given to the people. At the bottom it may include a postscript saying Singaporeans choose to stay at home as transportation cost is too high to get to the Speakers Corner. And on the reverse side of the speaker's stand the whole procedure on application for a permit to speak in the Speakers Corner can also be inscribed. This will make it easy for anyone to know how to go about applying for a permit. The place can then be promoted as a tourist attraction.

Looking for signs of progress?

After so many signs of decline, including the latest spectacle that made us infamous the world over, I am hoping for some signs of progress. Catching Mas Selamat is not one. He must be caught. I am looking at all the great works done by Boon Wan and Eng Hen on providing something for the Singaporeans when the grow old or get seriously ill. The effort is tremendous. The execution poor and the result unpromising. It would be a very different picture if what they have proposed and recommended are explained and offered to the people. Lay everything on the table and tell them, we have done our homework, these are the options available, and everyone feel free to make their own choice. The people are not stupid or stubborn or mad. They will analyse all the options and alternatives and many will make wise decisions for themselves. And they will say thank you to the two gentlemen for telling them the problems in advance and offering them alternative solutions. Their hard work and effort will be much appreciated. And both gentlemen will be seen as good ministers who are toiling for the people. Would they still insist that the people must be compelled to do what they think best and, instead of praise, receive brickbats in return? Why the stubborness to dictate to the people and not to talk to the people and treat the people as reasonable thinking people? Offering the people options and choices is the way forward, the signs of progress of a nation and its people. We have to depart from the ways of old. Those were days when the people were mostly illiterates. We need to believe in the new people of today, that they are capable of making logical choices that are good for themselves.

Questioning the local msm

www.littlespeck.com posted an article by Cherian George questioning a lapse in the reporting of local msm on the Great Escape from Paradise. To Cherian's horror, he discovered that there were no reports or questions asked on how Mas Selamat Kastari escape. In Cherian's opinion, this is something basic that all readers would want to know. He was disappointed of course. But he must understand. Professional journalists and reporters have to be professional and accurate in their reportings. They must gather the data, scrutinise them carefully before putting them on print. This takes time. The bloggers and cyberspace warriors can just point and shoot. So everyone is shooting in all directions. Some hit, some miss. The msm cannot anyhow shoot and miss. Very malu ok. So got to be patient and wait. Maybe when the report from the independent inquiry board comes out, we will have 6 pages of articles on how the escape took place in the msm. In the mean time create your own news and fantasies and enjoy. The internet is one up definitely. The internet is here to stay.

Universities pursuing students

We want you! This is the message going out to all students. The universities are rolling out a full marketing and promotion plan to attract students to their faculties with clever PR and promotion material. I wonder how much it costs to do all these? And the question is, 'Is it necessary?' Are the universities recruiting employees to run a factory or business? Why the aggressive promotion to enlist students? Income? Revenue? Are the universities commercial institutions, running a business? One can expect the private schools to do such things as every student means money to them. For state universities, whose roles are to teach and produce trained graduates, why behaving like MacDonald or Bugger King? The employers need to recruit the best and compete for the best. And there are only 3 of them to choose from. Universities need to do that as well? Why can't the universities just do their job in education and let their products speak for them? They are their own monuments of excellence, together with their alumi. The students should be running to them because they are good. It is another thing to run after students to tell them that they are good. When you have to do that, you have lost. Education shall not fall prey to marketing gimmicks. Education is serious stuff. Education as a business is another animal altogether. They exist to make money. Education and quality of education are incidental. They may even compromise to bring in revenue. Does RI or Hwa Chong need to go chasing for good students? Or are they thinking of doing so?

3 flawed concepts as policies

3 obviously flawed concepts are now national policies. The Longetivity Annuities/CPF Life and Mean Testing both go against the grain of thrift and private properties. They were conceived with your money in mind and to compel the people to spend them against their will. They also go against the principle of letting the people be more self reliance and be responsible for their own lives. Longetivity Annuities, now repacked as CPF Life, are based on the assumptions that people will live to 85 and more and have no money or means to look after themselves. The result is an insurance scheme that only helps those who may not need to be helped and left out those that need to be help. Mean Testing if not properly executed is better not done at all. Everyone, every individual, has his own peculiar problems. It cuts through religious, social and cultural values. You can't tell someone that his $10k income is good enough and his 10 wives and 20 children are his problem. Doing a proper mean testing requires a lot of time and resources. To oversimplify it is a waste of time and effort as all the errors and exceptions will creep in. Is the effort worth it to do a half baked job to catch a few prudent individuals who may have some money but not millions that cannot be spent away? The assumptions that people earning $4k, $5k or $6k, can afford to pay more is grossly flawed. How many people with this kind of income are able to pay a $50k hospital bill? More subsidies are provided in the budget. So? The subsidies to be collected back by the hospitals as income and even profit and the medical fees keep going up. Lack of doctors and overworked doctors! Whose fault? What kind of planning has caused us to reach such a pathetic state? We also have shortage of lawyers. Why? What is the third flawed concept? Medisave. It is a scheme that guarantees one thing. Many people will die without touching the money. Some may use a little and a small group will deplete it. Then people will laugh, 'What is $30K? What's the big deal?' Yes, it is not even near a peanut. But to many, this is a money that is their life fortune. Money that they can use to live a bit more decently and even pampered themselves a little. Alas, they are not going to touch it in their life time. Is it cruel to deprive these hard life buggers from their little nest eggs in the name of 'It is for their own good?' We will not micro manage the people's life. Is this the tooth?

The burden of high salaries

All the hype about paying high salaries to supertalents is now taking a knock. There have been many strong views and attacks on Kan Seng since the disappearing of the Jedi or JI. And if one looks at the reasonings behind it, it is all linked to the high ministerial salaries. They are demanding for greater accountability and responsibility commensurate with the high salaries. Would these people be less harsh on Kan Seng if he is not getting this kind of salary? When high salaries are equated with high talent and ability, the expectation becomes very high as well. You said you are damn good and deserve that high salary, then you better peform and prove that you are worth the money. And when you fumbled, the people is going to come after you. Indeed the high salary, high talent, high expectation formula is becoming a double edged sword. I think the people will be much more kinder and forgiving if the salary is not tagged to high talent and ability. Are these people justified in their expectation and can demand for the axe to fall if it is not met?

It's an exercise...Want to know more?

Let me speculate on this theory with more clues that I have gathered from the msm. Don't take it seriously. This is an exercise too, for those who want to see it this way. And those who want to see it from another perspective can also try to collect their own evidence to support their case. 1. We are famous for being professional and meticulous to the point that nothing can go wrong. And for a highly dangerous prisoner, fat hope that he can fly out from the detention centre. 2. There is a physical breach! Ridiculous suggestion. It is as good as saying our men are sleeping on the job. Unikely. 3. They took 4 hours to release the news. Another sign that there is no need to hurry. 4. The information were in drips and draps and not very accurate. Execise material. 5. Kan Seng was seen on TV smiling. A big giveaway. 6. Search was only on one part of the island around Whitley area. Why only one part and the MacRitchie part not touched on the first day? A bit of artificiality here. 7. Sniffer dogs are now in use, after several days. Why not the first day? 8. Interpol was informed also after a couple of days. Probably no need to tell them but on second thought. 9. After so many days, still searching from one park to another, assuming that he can only hide in parks. Why not HDB or housing estate as the first day? Going into housing estates will be troublesome as it will get the people all excited and difficult to coordinate. In the parks and reserves, like exercise grounds. 10. More information are given after a few days, like computer games. As one advances into the game, more information will be provided to lead the players along. 11. No need to put up monetary rewards for a Most Wanted Man. 12. No condemnation from the US or our neighbours. Now this part is very interesting. I am exhausting my possible clues. 13. Hsien Loong hasn't spoken on this I think. No need to make him comment on an exercise I think these should be enough to build a case that it is an exercise.

The most realistic exercise

Let me just speculate a little on this great escape. At the end of the day it could be the most realistic exercise any country could have conducted. Given the fact that he is a little lame, tagged, and in a small and high tech island where cctv and satellite technology are being harnassed to the fullest, even a mosquito can be tracked and monitored. He will be caught of course. The rewards, the whole system being tested to the fullest. The people becoming fully aware of the threat of terrorism and would not take it for granted. Civil Defence and people's participation and involvement also tested. It is a very worthwhile exercise with everything being controlled and closely monitored while Mas Selamat Kastari thought he was on the run. And they may even be rewarded with all the attempts and contacts that Mas tried in the wilderness. Who would have the last laugh? Don't take things at face value in the city of possibilities. And they don't have to admit it publicly that it was afterall a well coordinated exercise.

He's still here!

This is the most positive and assuring statement coming out from the police. They even confirmed that he was not limping as was previously reported. The limp is only noticeable when he runs. And he could jump start cars easily. Hope he could find a car in the jungle. Hi elle, there have been many conspiracy theories around this escape. It is something that no one believe will happen here. In our neighbouring countries such escapes are expected and occurred quite frequently. Not in the red dot. Now that they are so sure that he is here, you can bet on it that he will be captured. Unless this 'he's still here' is just another guess.

Calling Kan Seng to resign

I have read many postings in cyberspace and msm calling for Kan Sing to take the rap and to resign. That may be tough as we have limited talents and we cannot afford to lose a good minister like him. I am sure that he will gain from the experience and make sure that such things will not happen again. Things could be worst without him. Every talent, especially supertalents, must be treasured. We have been kind to those talents in NKF saga, so we can be kind to those in this case. The people must be gracious and support those who are working very hard to keep this paradise safe and sound. Oops, many are not going to agree with me. That's normal. : )

Favourite wallpaper in mobile phones

Linkin Park, Beckham, F5, Sun Yanzi? Or is it Rain or Jacky Cheung? Who's face would be loaded in the mobile phones of thousands or millions of subscribers? Who is the most recognisable face in paradise and even the world today? Step aside George Bush or Barack Obama. No fight. Today we have a new celebrity, an instant fame. Infamous to be exact. For the PR and commercial organisations, an instanty recognisable face will sell anything. Even aunties and uncles will recognise this face, more famous than the male lead in Winter Sonata. I think he needs a manager right now, or many people are looking for him to be his manager. If Edison Chen is welcomed in Hollywood, Mas Selamat Kastari would be in Hollywood with a bigger appearance fee, and Bollywood, Hongkong Movie Town, and an instant hit in the Middle East. If he is smart enough he should walk out from his hideout somewhere in Caldecott Hill, probably disguising and lookinng like one of the newsreaders, say thank you for all the publicity, denounced whatever he was thought to be, and live the life of a celebrity, rich and famous.

$2000 Reward for lost poodle

The owner was distraught after losing her pet poodle. The poodle was so important to her that she is losing sleep and not eating well. She has combed every corner of her neighbourhood but still no sign of her dear poodle. Finally she decided to cough up $2000 as a reward to anyone who finds the poodle. She knew that there is no free lunch. Why would people run around looking for her poodle for free? I am planning to visit nature today. I have Sungei Buloh, Pierce Reservoir, MacRitchie and Bukit Timah nature reserves in mind. Maybe Labrador Park as well. And I will be on the look out for the poodle. I may chance upon seeing it and pocket $2000. That would save to pay for my petrol and time. Money sure is a great motivator especially for something so valuable and important. And I am planning to go to Ubin and Sentosa next week for a try. Maybe the zoo and birdpark as well. Now why would I want to go to the zoo and the birdpark to search for a poodle, and the islands as well? The monetary reward of course.

The Great Escape from Paradise

Jack Neo better find this fella fast before Steven Spielberg finds him and spiel the beans. Mas Kastari's story is going to be worth millions in Hollywood. He can retire in riches for life. No need to go back to lead the life as a terrorist or fugitive. This story sure beats that of Tok the child murderer or Tan Wah Piow's escape.

All govt fees and charges frozen

Did I read somewhere that all govt fees and charges are frozen at least till the end of the year? What is this that development charges for properties are being raised, as high as 38.9% for hospitals and hotels? Would these not add on to the self inflicted inflation and high cost of living? Would the increases not pass to the consumers eventually? And were these increases caused by external factors beyond our control? Private sector has been told not to increase cost unnecessarily. Now what kind of wayang is this?

One man, one slip and a lot of red faces

No words can describe the Mas Selamat Kastari's escape. No amount of criticism or public outcry nor superlatives will be adequate for such a fiasco. No need to say anything more. There are now many theories about how it could have happened in cyberspace, in msm, in emails and sms and cocktail circuits. Wayang, planned for him to go for some conspiracy reasons, security lapse, a highly coordinated and clever escape plan with internal help, Hollywood style, or he was already dead, etc etc. Everyone's imagination is going into fantasy gear. In my view, walking out of that place is a near impossibility. And according to reports in msm, the guards are all gurkhas, professional soldiers with an impeccable reputation of incorruptibility. Unlikely to be sympathisers or part of any JI movements. So, even if it is an inside job, how could they go pass the gurkhas? For whatever reasons or theories, the damage to our professional and efficient image will take a collosal hit even if he is caught eventually. This is too big a credibility cost to stomach for our reputation and the pride of the men in uniform or our supertalents in govt. Thinking that it is a wayang is too high a price to pay. I was trying to imagine how could a person walk out of the camp and out of the surrounding little jungle without notice. It will take hours to leave the place on foot even if it is possible to walk out of the gate. I rule this out completely. A detailed and well thought out plan by some masterminds and executed by a team of professionals is just as ludicrous. Neither would it be possible for him to dig a tunnel or find a drainage tunnel to slip out from below. The most possible reason is that he has mastered some spiritual power that allowed him to walk out, unseen and unknown to anyone. Hmmm, the logical and objective options were out, and this must be the reason. While everyone is second guessing, thousands of men and women are combing the ground working non stop to track this one man down, all because of a security lapse. The resources and cost put into this exercise is simply unimaginable. And he could still be sleeping inside the detention camp.

The ultimate weapon

After two days, no one has come out with a sound idea of nabbing Kastari quick and fast. It is time to use the ultimate weapon...Money. Offer a $1m reward for his capture, Dead or Alive, as the bounty hunters like to call it. I think many people will be motivated to do the chasing for the money.

Upgrading the quality of education

According to an article in MyPaper today, a parent sent an email to them talking about Sec One students in Maris Stella High are now expected to purchase a $2k MacBook for their personal use. The school has this motto, 'One student, one computer, one great way to learn.' The laptop actually cost between $2277 for a basic model and $2,672 for an upgraded model. The students will definitely be more computer literate and can access to all the websites in cyberspace. It is a bit heavy for a Sec One student to lug along though, and a bit of money to lay hand to one.

Possibility of satellite technology

While so much effort and resources have been invested in satellite technology to track cars on the road, car speed and cars going through ERP gantry points or causing jams, now there is a better use of such leading edge technology. Instead of wasting such resources to become more efficient in collecting tolls, I would suggest that we use it to tag prisoners. Then we can keep track of their every movement. We would definitely know if they are in the toilet if they said they are going to the toilet. And if they escape, if will be a piece of cake to track them down. Satellite technology must have some better use than tracking cars on the road.

Mood was tense but generally inconsequential

The mood in parliament was tense. You could see that on the grim faces and uncomfortable composure of the MPs. Other than that, the issues raised were either irrelevant or of non consequences. I heard about loan sharks and how to make borrowing from them illegal. I heard about trying to meddle with Myanmar's internal affairs, that Myanmar violates human rights, put their opposition leaders in prison, corruption in high places and that sort of things. Actually talking about Myanmar is the safest and most correct thing to do. It was a non event. No more scoring own goals.

Open your hearts to foreigners

This statement alone is flawed and misleading. It is a misconception that Singaporeans are hostile to foreigners. Nay, all foreigners are welcomed here. There may be a few personal and individual incidents of unhappiness or irritations, but on the whole we do not exhibit xenophobic behaviour to our guests. Most fit in very well. Some even go around beating up Singaporeans and insulting them for being stupid. And the Singaporeans take in with a big smile. Some even offer the other cheek. Last year alone we have 63,600 PRs and 17,300 new citizens, nearly 81,000. Our birth rate probably produces 35,000 to 40,000 newborns. With such a huge influx into a small pool of 3 million citizens annually, and to get away with it is a near miracle. But how long can it last? How long can relations and peaceful co existence be maintained? How long can the economy continue to grow to absorb all the people? Shall we stop at 5.5m or 6.5m or 10m? Whatever number, the number game must come to a stop. I still find it very dangerous to think that our lifestyle and environment will not be affected if we keep on stuffing more people here. We will soon be like goldfishes gulping for air on the surface of an aquariam. We should stop this foolish thought that we can go on and on with the help of creativity and technology. Just the roads and transportation will kill us. We are entering a stage when people will not leave their little flats as it is very costly. Driving a car to town, petrol, parking and ERPs will easily add up to $30 or $50. For those taking trains and MRT, a return trip is $3 to $5. Hey, these are money that not everyone can spare. And all the little frills of green lungs and space for a little escape from the rat race will be gone. We may have no place to train our NS men or camps for them to stay. Yes we can keep building higher and higher. We can build more and more roads and MRTs. For what? For who? For what kind of life and what quality of life? At what cost?

What happy mistake?

Whoever thought that the $6.4b surplus was a mistake was being too presumptious. How could it be when all the detailed planning and calculations were churned in the computers and simulators for so many rounds? And the ending of the budget debate was as predictable as the sun will rise from the east. OK everyone had been given a chance to kpkb, and all the criticisms were flawed. Period. I was also presumptious to think that some measures that I thought had gone overboard would be reined back. Alas, I was as wrong as everyone who were calling it a happy mistake. It was an outcome that was likely to be well conceived and expected.

More Parliament gems

Judy Mitchell must be told the brutal truth. If cannot afford to stay in 5 rm, downgrade lah. Go for 4 rm, 3rm or even rental flats. Live within your means and affordability. Simple. Now who is going to tell her that? Who is good at telling brutal truth? I am only good at talking about compassion, kindness, help the needy etc etc. But these are only rhetorics in cyberspace. Just talk cock only. Can't do anything for them. What, I don't have that kind of money, and that's the truth. And Lily Neo is fighting for the lower income group again. She is appealing for more help for them. She said we can't keep telling these untalented people to keep running faster. We need to train them and help them to upgrade. That's true. If they can, they would not need help anymore. But what do they expect, to become managers, CEOs or Ministers? Just kidding.

MPs scoring own goals

Unbelieveable, but the MPs are doing just that, questioning policies and happy mistakes in Parliament. At the rate it is going, we don't really need an opposition. They are definitely doing a better job than the opposition, or is there an opposition? Inderjit Singh looks more like the leader of the opposition bench. If they continue to do such a fine job, next GE everyone may be voting just for PAP. Now when will the Whip crack? When will someone stand up and say don't score your own goals? Actually it will be interesting for all the govt MPs to say aye and shut up and see what the opposition will say. It is likely that Parliament will be over in two hours. And everyone can go back to work and make more money. Don't have to waste time saying the obvious. But the obvious have to be spoken for two reasons. If they are raised and forgotten, like the housewives, then people will say, see, I don't hear any objections any more. The people are all happy and support the policies. After a few days everything will be forgotten. I also forgot who spoke for the housewives vehemently in the last Parliament session. Now everyone will not want to know about the housewives anymore. Correction, Amy Khor did mentioned about them again. Anyone else? Issues must be repeatedly raised and spoken to keep them alive or else face the fate of becoming non issues and passe. The second reason is that though they are obvious to many, to the decision makers, they may not be that obvious. Or they would not agree to the policies and decisions and schemes. That's how happy mistakes are made and why MPs got so many goals to score. And then there is the group that will say everything is affordable. I am going to stick up a column to quote the comments whenever someone said something is affordable from now on. That will be good for posterity. Then we can start counting the affordables and aggregate them up.

When bonuses are tied to profits

Where would these lead to? Essential services, transport companies, hospitals, schools and universities, etc, when the bonuses of their top executives, including staff, are tied to profits made, what would be the organisations' objectives and policies? Would the fees or prices of their goods and services ever come down? Coming down means lesser or no bonuses. So what? Profit for profit sake without looking at other intangibles or objectives can be very destructive. Just like managing a country for economic and monetary rewards and ignoring other values or the people's general well being, can lead to one certainty.

A $6.4b happy mistake

Some said it was pleasantly embarrassing, while some said it was an astonishing surplus. Some even praised it as commendable, far sightedness and prudence. Really? Ask those who have been squeezed out of their few dollars which could buy them another meal. To those who have contributed tens of thousands to this $6.4b happy mistake, they would simply brush it aside as a non event. For those who are adversely affected by it, would they take it as a joke and laugh it off? Inderjit Singh was pointed in saying that all the affordable increases have contributed to a projected $.07b budget deficit to a $6.4b surplus. But some offered that it was all because of the adjustment of the value of housing. It seems that it is very difficult to understand how a little affordable increases here and there when added up can become a little mountain. Is it that difficult to understand or too tedious to understand? Or is it that such little irritating problems do not deserve to be looked at as they are very time consuming? Better to spend time assessing the benefits of buying a 80ft yacht or a 100ft yacht. Now that is a pleasant problem to spend time on. For those who still fails to see how a few affordable increases can bring hardship to the people and lead to a happy mistake, they should be punished to watch 100 hours of Moses Lim and Jack Neo's comic sketches on throwing a few bits of litter now and then. The moral of these comic sketches is that a little bit here and there will soon add up to become a big big mountain of rubbish. Whether it is a happy mistake or a pleasant embarrassment, the high cost of living is not going away, the GST increase is not coming down, all the affordable increases will remain and the poor will continue to be squeezed. Must be very pleasant experience, like sitting in an Osim chair.

Huang Lizhen's hospital bill

The MOH has put up an advertisement on the hospital bill of Huang Lizhen in the paper. It started with the first paragraph as follows: 'For the past seven years, Ms Huang Lizhen has been in and out of hospital, chalking up medical bills that have since wiped out her widowed mother's Medisave savings.' Medisave wiped out! Later her case was referred to 'medical social workers, who helped her apply for Medifund assistance.' The Medifund covered 100% of her bill after subsidy. And they were grateful even though the mother's Medisave was already empty. For 79 days in a C ward in Tan Tock Seng Hospital for Systemic lupus erythematosus, the bill came to $52,000! Govt subsidy was 80% or $42,000. After subsidy, balance $10k was fully paid by Medifund. They paid nothing. Or they will be in deep shit since her Medisave was already wiped out. How many people can afford a $52k bill? And this is C ward rate. It could be higher if in better wards. It is more than $500 a day. That's what it costs for world class medical treatment. Please don't get admitted to C ward if you can afford it. Huang Lizhen and mother are so lucky. For those who are not as desperate as them, please make sure you have money, and plenty of money, to pay your hospital bills.

Time to bring back the discards

With life expectancy going to 100 and with good medical care, it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that healthy Singaporeans can work till past 80, and still doing very well. The old practice of retiring people at 55 and the discards because of that policy should be looked at and those still in good health and able, should be brought back to the main stream of economic life. We are wasting a lot of talents and experience that these senior professionals have accummulated throughout their lives. Sad to see them ended up as taxi drivers and foodcourt cleaners or wasting their time in clubs drinking and merry making aimlessly. They have another 10 to 20 years of productive life to live.

A wonderful educational experience

As we get more influence and have more money to spare, we become more creative and innovative with what money can offer. Schools are increasinly organising overseas trips for their students as a badge of honour, as a wonderful educational experience for the children. We are seeing trips not only to neighbouring countries, but to the US, Europe, China and Japan. At the university level we have exchange programmes with other universities all over the world. Such experience will definitely make our students smarter and brighter. They will definitely be better than third world students who can't even afford a trip to town. Money sure can buy quality education. The more expensive the education fee, the better will be the education.

$100,000 mouth!

Singapore has developed a new mini tooth implant that could save the patients a lot of money. It was reported that the sum could come to $70k for a full mouth job. That could possibly put the cost of a full job to well over $100k using the old technology. Imagine putting $100k inside a mouth. The $6m bionic man is now a reality with so many parts to change and upgrade.

A case for selective comparison

Many Singaporeans have taken issue with the length of NS that our young men have to serve and lost 2 years of their precious youth. Some are suggesting that the 2 years are still too long and can be shortened. I am not going to agree or disagree with that kind of thought. Ok, let's adopt our favourite past time and practice and do some selective comparisons. I think Taiwan and South Korea both have nationals service and the duration is about one and a half to two years. Israel probably the same or more. How about about nearest neighbour, Malaysia? They can do their national service in 3 months or 6 months. And only a few are selected to do NS. Maybe we can have something in between. Something in between is also a good thing.

Myth 173 - No talents in paradise

In the 70s, when HDB started to build 5rm point block flats, there used to be this remark that the talents in a block of 5rm flat, 96 units, are enough to run a country like Malaysia or Singapore. For in each block there will be enough engineers, doctors, lawyers, professionals, senior executives, civil servants, with enough experience and talents to run a country. And several of our senior ministers too came from 5 rm flats too. Till then, only 3% of each cohort went to university. But we have talents, great talents that brought us here today. We now have 30% or more of each cohort of students going on to tertiary education. Some gone further to do post graduate degrees with MBAs and doctorates a common certificate to flash around. And every year, we proudly declared the thousands of straight A's students graduating from O and A levels. There used to be one or two such students per year per cohort in the past. And today we are living in a myth that we have no talents. How so? The Hokiens will exclaim, 'Oo Yia Boh?' Literary it means got shadow or not? Got shadow means human. No shadow means inhuman. Actually it means true or not. But I digress. Why is there no talents when talents are everywhere? Or are we looking at the wrong place or at the wrong things. Today's talent means you must be able to prove that you are a million dollar earner. Many Ah Longs will qualify, including pimps. But many of these are only interested in chasing money. They have perfected their skills in their chosen fields and set their minds to make millions. That is their reason in life, not serving the people and earning peanuts. We do not need exceptional talents to run a country. We need the heart to be in the right place. For we have all the best talents, the super talents in the civil service and the stats boards to provide the brains and do the real works. We need a heart man to lead, to tell these talents what is good for the people and not what is good for their own pockets. In a way, we need people with a little bit of idealism, selflessness and a little bit silly, to think of others and not of self. These kinds of silliness are now laughed at as naive idealism. What is being promoted and championed are hardcore materialism and what is in it for me. We have ended up like the animal farm when the wrong pegs were fitted into the wrong holes. Wrong kinds of talents to do the wrong kinds of work. And the objectives, goals and policies manifest the thinking and values behind them. We will have solid and high growth rate but for who and for what? In the meantime the people were made to believe in the myth that there is no talent, maybe one, or two, or at the most five. The rest are not talented or good enough. When one block of 5 rm flat was deemed enough, now we have one third of the population that are far well read and schooled, and we can't find the talents. Oo Yia Boh?

When the music stops?

We are in the golden years. Full employment, high salaries. People have a lot of money to spend. Property owners can afford to sell at high prices or charge high rentals. Everyone take the opportunity to jack up their prices of goods and services. But after a few grumblings, life goes on. Taxi fares go up, ERP rates go up, GST goes up. No sweat. KPKB for a while. People will get use to the high cost. Conservancy rates go up, PUB rates go up. Never mind, got rebates. And for those who are struggling, there are the annual handouts from the govt. The budget goodies. Now, what will happen when we price ourselves out of the market system? Or if the world economy goes on a tailspin? No jobs, no fat salaries, no budget surpluses to handout, and all the rebates and subsidies expire? Can we see prices coming down? Can property prices come down, rental comes down, food and essential services come down, transport fares come down? Some can but many can't. Can the goodies, handouts, rebates, subsidies go on and on and the people keep stretching their hands out and expecting to get them? The high cost of living is likely to stay even when times are bad. Anyone heard of transport fares coming down? Conservancy fees or PUB bills coming down? Or foodcourt prices coming down? Many are committed to a higher lifestyle, higher property prices and rentals. When jobs are gone, or salaries cut, just like in the late 90s, the noose will tighten. This time even faster and tighter. It was a lesson that we never learn. There was euphoria before the bust.

Notable quotes by Leong Sze Hian

'Are there any countries in the world which have national pension schemes that exclude the bottom 25 per cent of the population?' Leong Sze Hian My answer is yes, in paradise. Leong Sze Hian was responding to the CPF Life annuities scheme that excluded those who have less than $40,000 in their Minimum Sum. And this is exactly the group that needs help. So what will happen to them when they are old and have no money and not in the scheme? Search me, I do not want to know. Not my pasar.

A positive and welcome move by Singapore

Singapore's initiative to bring economic growth into North Korea and lead the communist state into the world community is the most positive and effective way to engage North Korea. An economically strong Korea fully engaged in the world system, economics, trade and industry, and all things, will bring prosperity to its people and harmony in east Asia. North Korea could be like China and Vietnam, communist in political system but capitalist in economic development and trading with the world as another responsible nation. Such a concept is totally in contrast with the wicked and destructive scheme of the US, branding it with all kinds of hostile terms, axis of evil, arms exporter, threatening world peace, supporting terrorism, violation of human rights etc etc. Such outdated methodology was only workable in the past when the Asians were weak and ignorant or under the total domination of the western powers. Today, the picture has changed. There is no SEATO or CENTO and no colonial states. The last two semi colonies of the US, Japan and South Korea, are also trying to break free from the American control. The Asian countries must find their own reasons and meaning of existence in the new world and not be told by the Americans who is good and who is bad. The Singapore initiative is commendable but risked being derailed by the Americans. The Americans will not support it and will get its semi colonies to tow the line. Fortunately Howard has been kicked out and hopefully Kevin Rudd will not dance to the American tune. Maybe Asean can come in to give it more weight. Engaging and welcoming North Korea into trade and industry is better than telling the North Koreans to sign some scrips of paper on intangible and meaningless stuff like Treaty of Cooperation and Amity.

President Wee Kim Wee

I read a post in Sammyboy forum praising Wee Kim Wee as the humble and down to earth president that Singaporean loved. And another forumer saying that no one could get his name wrong as you could read it forward and backward and still got it right. With all due respect to President Wee, let's hope no reporter or msm is going to print his name in the western format with his family name behind his name. Fry the bugger if it is in the local press.

Charity begins at home

'Amid calls by some US lawmakers for wealthy universities to lower tuition costs, officials at Stanford University have said they will no longer charge tuition to students from families earning less than US$100K (S$140K) a year. For students whose families earn less than US$60K a year, Stanford will not charge for either tuition or room and board.... Stanford is now among a small string of top tier schools, including Harvard, Yale and Pomona College, that have taken steps in recent months to help middle class families and, in some cases, households with incomes ovr US$150K.... "We will continue to evaluate international applications on a case by case basis."....' Reuters, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Straits Times. How would these compare to our policies on education? Oops cannot compare apple with oranges.

Wrong place to look for role models

Edison Chen said he was not a good role model. His girlfriends in the videos admitted that they were naive. Why would children all look up to these bad role models and naive girls as role models? There are many good role models in many other professions. The last place to look for role models, you know where. The most naive group of people coming out from this episode are those people who look at them as role models.

ERP, pay according to usage

Thomas Koshy has some great suggestions in his article on ERP rates in Today. The principle he relies on is that the more one crosses the gantry, the more one pays. And for those who cross more, the rate will also be higher. At the other end, I like this best, is infrequent users will be given a kind of waiver for the first time they cross a gantry. The fees not collected is compensated from the high users. As for those in the transport business and need to transport goods and people, try to use buses and MRT to save on paying more ERP charges. And for those unfortunate poor buggers whose travel patterns require them to cross ERP frequently, or have an ERP outside their homes, maybe they can introduce something like a frequent travellers or mileage rewards like what the airlines are doing. Very interesting suggestions, the same principle as using water. The lesser water people used the better. The lesser people use the roads, the better. Why do we need to build roads and rails?

High property prices

How to help Singaporeans when property prices are destined to go higher? I dreamt of a good scheme to ensure that all Singaporeans will have money to buy their dream flats. I mean HDB flat. The private sector high end flat is a different kind of dream. So how does this work out? My premise is that all the young men and women at the age of 25 must have at least $100k in their CPF accounts. This money can come from a CPF insurance scheme paid by their parents on the day of their birth. For a start, the day a baby is registered, $30k of one of the parent's CPF accounts should be deducted and set aside for a Housing Endowment Fund. This fund will simply grow and by the time the child is 25, it should be around $100k or more. If the parents have two or more children, the equivalent amount should be set a side for the respective children. With such a scheme, no young people will have problem paying for a HDB flat in the future. Not bad idea huh.

Money to bail out sick banks.

Below is an extract from an email that came to me. It shows how much money we have to invest in sick banks which I agree is a great opportunity given to us and a risk worth taking. But I also share the author's sentiment about why we were so desperate to need to raise GST by another 2% to help the poor when we actually have so much money to bail out sick banks. (I have omitted copying the cynical and naughty parts of the arguments as I am not sure of the source of this article.) In the past year alone, the Singapore government ¡V through its investment arms of Temasek and GIC - invested a whopping $34, 560, 000, 000.00 in various investments worldwide. That's $34.56 billion. GIC: UBS - $14 billion British Land - $388 million Citigroup - $9.8 billion US Hedge Fund - $429 million Temasek: British Bank Barclays - $4.3 billion Merrill Lynch - $5 billion Standard Chartered - $643 million And if you think the government is stretching itself too thin, no worries. GIC deputy chairman and executive director Tony Tan says the GIC has capacity to bail out another bank. (AFP) Now, government investments are not a bad thing, to be sure. Of course there are questions of transparency and accountability which some people have brought up. Be that as it may, what is even more troubling is another issue. This is the constant lament of the government about not having enough money or financial resources to deal with Singapore 's ageing population, helping the poor, providing subsidized healthcare and so on. Thus, the government has introduced the GST hike to 7% ("to help the poor"), and is introducing the Compulsory Longevity Insurance (for our ageing population), and Means Testing (for healthcare). All of these are paid for by Singaporeans, in some way or another. In raising the GST to 7%, Channel NewsAsia reported PM Lee as saying: "Mr Lee explained that the hike was necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets, needed to help the lower income group.." (CNA) The extra 2% will give the government a further $1.5 billion to finance "the enhanced social safety nets, needed to help the lower income group". Now, if the GIC and Temasek Holdings have $34 billion to bail out ailing foreign banks, why does the government not have the money ( a mere $1.5b) to help poorer Singaporeans, which it says it needs? Why does the government not have enough money to spend more on the aged and healthcare? Contrast the obscene spending by the GIC and Temasek with the pathetic excuse given by MCYS minister Vivian Balakrishnan about giving those on public assistance a further $23 increase, which some MPs have asked for: "The government is reviewing the S$290 monthly public assistance (PA) allowance for needy Singaporeans to see if it should be increased. It is also conducting a separate review on the qualifying income limit for assistance, which currently stands at S$1,500 a month. The review is expected to be completed later this year." (CNA) (TOC) Why does the government need to have months of "review" to ascertain whether giving another $23 to those most in need is justified? If this is not the height of hilarity, then I don't know what is. It would be funny if it weren't so sad ¡V that our government would not blink an eye in spending billions bailing out foreign banks in risky undertakings while being so hardfisted about giving a mere $23 to its most vulnerable and needy citizens. Something is just not right. How did the government suddenly make $34.5 billion appear out of thin air when they were just lamenting, not too long ago, that they didn't even have $1.5 billion to help the poor? Now, the next time I hear the government says it does not have enough money and need to raise this and raise that to fund certain "programmes" to "help the poor", I will tell them: "Please stop....."

Bee tang ah! Huat ah!

Gabriel Chen wrote in the ST about this guy whose net worth is about $6m and after some computation found that he has an angpow of $200k! Wow, what about those with $20m or $200m net worth? Huat ah, huat ah : ) Thanks to the Good Year Ang Pow Budget. And Singaporeans still complaining not enough?

Oil price hitting US$100 a barrel

Looks like the future of oil prices is only up and will be above US$100, maybe US$200 or more. We need to prepare our people for high oil prices and get use to paying for them at high prices. More importantly we must educate our people to cut down and save on wasting power and electricity, like going green. The situation of oil prices is like water. Oil is precious like water. We must do what we did for water. We have taken many measures to save water and educate the people from wasting water. I find all those measures very effective and should be adopted in the same way. To prevent people from wasting electricity unnecessarily, to teach them to switch off lights when not needed, we need to double the price of electricity. And we can include an electricity surcharge tax of 30% just like we tax for over usage of water. These measures will guarantee to be effective as it hurts the people where it hurts most, the pocket. People will then be more careful in the use of electricity and will not anyhow waste them. The other go green measures can come in. Don't get me wrong, raising electricity rates is only one of many measures to save on fuel cost. Now I am getting green conscious. I am going to save the world. I might even be awarded with a Save Mother Earth Medal like Al Gore.

Frightening but good for the people

A new bill is being tabled to protect 'patients who are detained or forced to be admitted to psychiatric institutions' in Parliament. To even think of people being detained or forced to be admitted into psychiatric institutions in paradise is really frightening. There is no such thing in paradise, cannot be. Such things only happened in communist regimes of the past or in some dictatorships. But of course it is good to have such a law just in case such things did happened and there is some protection for the people being wrong. Under the current procedure, according to Tan Hui Leng, 'a person can be admitted or detained for treatment if he is suffering from a mental disorder that warrants such an action, and if it is in the interests of the person or to protect others.' Hmmm, what do you think? Can bloggers be deemed to be suffering from some disorder and needs to be detained in the interests of the blogger or to protect others? My imagination is getting wild. But in the future, if paradise is taken over by a dictator, a bad dictator, this is a frightening possibility. So this new bill is good for the people and the victims. It is a proactive bill.

Same floor flat different price

Brother wanted to buy a 4 rm flat next to another brother but found price increased by $84k. It was $280k a year ago when his brother bought it from HDB. It is now $364k from HDB. This is reported in the New Paper. The price has gone up as it is marked according to market resale value of flats in the area. And this brother is unhappy. He found it unreasonable as the costs of building the two flats were the same. But he forgot. When his brother bought the flat at $280k, it was already subsidised. Now if he is going to pay at the same price, the subsidy will be whatever plus $84k! Now that is a very huge market subsidy. Further, the $364k is also cheaper than market price. I think he is expecting too much. Too unreasonable. $364k, good price, fair price. Cheaper than market price, and subsidised some more. What more does he want?

In praise of smelliness

Jayandran Sandra Alison posed an interesting perspective about giving Jalan Kayu a clean makeover and 'why smelly Jalan Kayu' should not be clean up like Chinatown. Chinatown has lost its charm and authenticity as the residents are moving out and all that was retained or came in to replace them were commercial outlets and business people. Chinatown will not be the same again. It will be clean, not smelly, and not very real. Should Jalan Kayu be retained for its smelliness and chaotic nature? One thing for sure, the tourists would want to see an old dilapidated Chinatown, with all its squatters and squalors than a clean and modern one.

No Estate Duties

This is a good piece of news for all Singaporeans, including the HDB dwellers. With the world's rich and infamous coming here to park their money and buy up the properties, anyone holding on to one will be seeing its value double or triple. This is better than the asset enhancement scheme. While the rich foreigners are buying up the high end properties, and some locals cashing out and downgrading, they will be a filtering down effect to HDB flats as well. How about a 3 room flat costing a million bucks? If such a price can be attained, who needs Long Life Annuity Schemes? Practically everyone will become a millionaire, in strong Sing dollars of course. While all the rich who are holding on to their properties and counting the gains, some thoughts must go to the new flat buyers, the young people starting out to buy their first HDB flat. How are they going to earn enough money to buy a 3 rm flat which by then the prices will outstrip their income? We can't be sitting on our fat arses and waiting for things to happen and say it is due to external forces, nothing can be done.

Anti Competition Practices

Two articles in Today were on anti competition practices and abuses here. It is good that more people speak out on this issue and those who were victims take up legal suits against the perpetrators of such practices. Organisations that allowed such practices to continue should be made to own up and face 'the consequent loss of reputation and goodwill' as stated by Lim Bee Khim from the Ministry of Trade and Industry. So far all is talk and no action despite the prevalence of such abuses and unethical practices.

Celebrating Singaporean - Lily Neo

MP Lily Neo As an MP she may not be given enormous projects to tackle, so nothing too visible. But in her own ways she has contributed very significantly to the downtrodden and otherwise taken for granted group of desperate people in paradise. Without her challenging their cause, these people may still be getting $250 a month to get by. Now, not only that they are getting $290, they are going to get $330 soon! And people now realised how pathetic and difficult it is to live with that kind of money. Maybe some people may think that for such people, the money will be too much for 3 packs of maggie mee a day. Now don't ever think that this is an easy thing to do. For raising it in Parliament, she was embarrassed. She took it quitely. She is a true champion for the poor and deprived, with a real heart. She is sincere in what she is doing. Don't be surprised that one day she will be honoured as the new Goddess of Mercy of Paradise.

Charity in Paradise

For a small little island we have thousands of charitable organisations, all thriving and collecting millions and millions of dollars annually from the generous and kind populace. But this is not all. The govt gives out $1.8b of handouts this year, and has been doing it for many years. We are indeed a very generous country with many generous donors, many people in need of charity, and many people enjoying running charitable organisations. Soon setting up charitable organisations, running and managing them, collecting donations and receiving donations will be a way of life in paradise. And this is only natural. Paradise is where all the good people with good hearts are found. Paradise is synonymous with charity.

Ungrateful Singaporeans

What, what, I can't believe my ears. Singaporeans not happy with the Golden Year Ang Pow budget! With the govt giving away $1.8b from the $6.4b surplus, Singaporeans are saying not enough, that this is not atm budget, that the govt is not playing Santa Claus, and they are disappointed! And some families are getting a few thousand bucks, like striking 4D, still not happy. What are the Singaporeans expecting? These are money from heaven, no need to work for it and they are disappointed. Unbelieveable.

Windy Cool Words

There is a Chinese saying, something like speaking windy cool words, or fen liang hua. It doesn't require much skill though. Anyone with a few million bucks should be in a position to do it. Even the Ah Longs are quite adept at such phrases. A frequent encounter between an Ah Long and his debtor can go like this, after the beating up and paying up of course. 'I advise you huh, got no money don't try to gamble or live like a rich man ah. And don't borrow money from Ah Long. Live within your means. Got money eat more, no money eat less. Then your life will be better, no need beating from Ah Long. See. Then every year got angpow from the govt some more, then can go for a short holiday in Malaysia. With a roof on your head, with enough food to eat, even house brand never mind, what more is there to be unhappy about. Live a simple and happy life.

The upper crust

Both SICC and SIA were in the news, two law suits involving the cream of our society, the privilege class. It was interesting to read the petty details of the cases, especially when the masses always look at this distinguished class of people from a distance with great admiration and envy. Face it, money is just a facade to give some signs of impeccability and dignity. Beneath that, human beans are human beans and they all eat and shit just like everyone else. What astonished me is to read this statement in the paper, 'All we did was to capitalise on it.' Capitalise on people's private life, little silly mistakes or indiscretion, blowing up in the msm, seems a normal game in paradise. If this kind of things becomes an acceptable norm of social behaviour, we can forget about gracefulness. We are just as good as anyone in any little corners of the world. We are just petty human beans in disguise. Let's not breathe a word about being ethical and on moral high grounds. In paradise, things are more precarious as everyone seems to know everyone or hear something from everyone. And if everyone is going to capitalise on such information, we will have a very exciting and colourful society.

Short sighted policies

We think we can keep on raising prices. We think we can keep on raising salaries. We think we can keep on having full employment and budget surpluses. We think our people can all be turned into geniuses by having the best education with the best facilities and best lecturers. We forgot that water will always find the lowest level. Gravity will bring everything down to earth. The US thought the world owes them a living and they have been living it up for a couple of centuries. But time is catching up with them. They are at the brink of a total collapse of their economic system based on high expenditure and borrowed money or printing money and high salaries. They think they can continue to pay their workers the best salaries only to see jobs fleeing to cheaper places. When we over pay our workers, jobs will flee too. When we overprice our services, properties, rentals, they too will look for cheaper places to go. This is a fundamental economic truth. Any exception is shortlived.

Imported inflation or inflating prices?

Our secret of fighting inflation is to let the price hikes flow down to all levels. Then we pump in the money, raise salaries or give handouts to the people. This theory seems to be sold and have been accepted by our leaders. So price control is out of question. Let all the prices to rise. Don't worry, there will be handouts every year. Two points to note. Are the price hike really imported and beyond our control or they are self manufactured by profiteers for some obscene reasons? The second point is that inflation will always come first and the handouts one year later. And while handouts are being given, one year late, inflation continues to rise. Giving handouts are reactive and never enough. Many basic necessities like rice, water and food, need not rise so much given our strong dollar and cheap imported water. The reason and the extra taxes placed on the price of water is obscene. And we are inflating the cost of education by throwing money after the so called best lecturers or most expensive lecturers. Do we really need to buy the best from the world? Can we have second or third best or only a few really good ones? Not only that we cannot afford world class prices, Ah Meng's children will still come out as orang utangs even if they are taught by the best brains. The failure of Haw Par Villa, Tang Dynasty and Sentosa was evidence that Singaporeans were not or could not pay outrageous prices. Are we serious in wanting a world class transport system with world class prices? Looking at the profits of transport companies, they can do well with lower prices if profit is not the only reason for their existence. Instead of privatise, return them to the govt as essential services to serve the people's interest instead of a few shareholders. Then ERP, imported inflation? Rentals and property prices, pressured by external factors to go up? Medical fees, really must go up so high? Many of these high cost items are self created and self inflicted. And the poorer people have to bear the brunt of the pain. And comes budget time, we give them a few pieces of 'koyok' or a bill few good pills and all thinks everything is ok. For things that are really caused by external factors beyond our control, fair enough, we have to find ways to live with it. For high cost of things that we have full control and consciously pushed it to the people, we can do more to avoid them. Not everything is due to imported inflation but we inflate the prices ourselves.

Oo la la, Good Year Ang Pow

$1.8b of GYAP coming our way. Where on earth can one find an ATM that gives this kind of money to the people? It would be unreasonable for anyone to find fault with the budget. It is too good to be true. Money pouring into everyone's pocket. But criticism there will be, on the details perhaps. There will sure be some reasons for people to nickpick. Let me start with one. In the last debate, it was a good one too, but after some criticisms and afterthoughts, several MPs stood up to defend their mothers and grandmothers. They felt that the housewives who stayed at home to look after the children and spare the working mothers and fathers from having a demonic maid at home, deserve something more. They are playing a very vital role in supporting the family and growing the children. Well, Tharman has forgotten his mother and the housewives again. Not a word was mentioned. Let's see if the MPs remember and kick up a scene in Parliament. Nothing will be done after that anyway. But a little wayang will be good if they want the votes of the housewives. Or at least it gives them something to throw at Tharman. The other point that people tend to miss out when there is a goodies galore is how the goodies were made possible. There is a budget surplus of more than $6b. And this is the result of a policy of taxing and getting as much money from the people in all ways. Then after emptying the people's pocket, just give a few handouts in return. And as usual, the sheeples will respond in a most predictable manner. Very happy and grateful for the goodies. They have forgotten about the GST, ERP, the fees and fare hikes, the causes of the high inflation. The latter were blamed as the result of external factors beyond our control. If policies were to tax a little lesser, there may be lesser need to give handouts. Or there will be lesser to give. Wonder which is better. Collect like hell to give a little more, or collect less to give less?

We are not short of talents

How can we be short of talents when we can easily create more? Ah Meng could be a great talent if we pay her more than peanuts and bananas. As such, Ah Meng would probably be remembered as a peanut and banana talent. Imagine if Ah Meng is paid $1m! He will instantly be a million dollar talent. Creating talent in paradise is so easier. Just pour money onto the person.

NUS Law fees up 20%

I nearly missed out on this. 20% hike for NUS Law students. But that is fair given the amount of money they can make on graduation. After all all the parents interviewed believed in quality and don't mind paying for them. So with the message that the higher the fees, the better the quality, I think all the parents would soon be demanding that the fees be raised higher. Then they can go around telling people how much they paid for quality education.

Prepare people to die

I believe it is kinder to prepare people to die or to accept death once they have past 70 years than to prepare them to live forever. The later could be more pain and suffering, loneliness and a life of physical deprivation. Only the very rich, with all the filial children around them could enjoy life forever. Death is a certainty. Once 70 is reached, biologically we are gone. All the parts needs to be changed or we will look worst than scrap cars in the junk yard. Face it, old people will be a problem to themselves, their families and society unless they are physically able to live life on their own. We should prepare and educate people to accept that the time will come to depart. The fantasy of living past 80 and forever is not a good thing to many. It can be very tragic even with $600 pm. What for? Live a glorious life. Let the end be fast and swift, with little pain.

What we need is respect for the citizens

We need to respect our humble citizens. We need to respect their rights as individuals, their pride, their rights to be masters of their own money. We cannot keep telling our citizens that they are inept, irresponsible, cannot be trusted to look after themselves and their money, dictate to them how to live their lives, how much money to take from them, how to spend their money, when they can get back their money. We cannot tell them that for their standard and quality of life, they should be contented with being squeezed like sardines in trains and buses. We cannot tell them elementary logics that even Ah Long can think of. We cannot keep treating them like mindless and unthinking masses and on the other hand telling them that they are products of world class education system.

Quality of tertiary education going up in 2008

The quality of tertiary education will go up between 4-10% in 2008. To be more specific, NUS and NTU's quality will be up by 4% and SMU up by 10%. This is if you are convinced that quality can be measured by money. The more money the better the quality. At the rate we are going, we will soon be world best, better than Harvard and Stanford. All we need to do is to buy over all their top professors. And if we put Ah Meng's children in expensive universities with expensive professors, they will turn out more talented than cheaper universities. Our graduates should rightly be paid a premium and be in hot demand around the world. We will have solved our lack of talent problems forever.

People exempted from TALIS

1. Those with less than $40k in Retirement Accounts at 55. 2. Those with serious medical conditions. 3. Those on pensions. 4. Those with private annuities. What about those millionaires or half a millionaires? What about those with properties worth half a million or more? PS: TALIS is short for The Amazing Lifelong Insurance Scheme

Why my coke is 80c?

Ah Pek was seen arguing with the mama shop why his can of coke is now 80c and not 60c. Ah Pek said he read in the paper that the prices of common household goods increased only by 4.3%. Now his coke of 60c increased by 20c or 33%! How can? Profiteering huh!

The Amazing Lifelong Insurance Scheme(TALIS)

It's so amazing. Simply brilliant. Foreign workers used to return to their villages to tell stories about paradise, where people can walk to a machine in the wall to take money when they need money. Now the citizens of paradise will have a $600 payout for life. No govt in the world can promise their citizens such a scheme. If we sell this scheme to the world, we can have 20 million people queueing to be citizens. Just a few questions. Who is paying who? A life time payout, or forever? How many more years can one live after 80, 85, or 90? One good thing coming from the review is that it is now not compulsory. The people will have 12 flexible schemes to choose from. For those who are going to live forever, this is like paradise. I am going there to prepare mansions for all of you who believe in me.

Long Life Insurance

Same assumptions and reasoning. People will live longer, no money, go to meet the people session to ask for help. How many of these people really need help at the end of the day? Why don't we have another set of assumptions. Some people will live longer. They will make provisions for themselves personally or through their families. They don't need govt's charity. Is this group more than those in the former group? Assuming that 70% live till 65. So 70% will may need the Long Life Insurance. Assuming 50% of those reaching 65 will live till 85. So half of the 70% or 35% may need the insurance. Take this at the half way mark this will give 17.5% who would need the insurance. The assuming that half of this 17.5% have been responsible and have savings, then only 8.75% will need the insurance. And assuming that half of this have families to take care of them, the final figure will be 4.375% that really need the insurance. For the sake of 4.375% who for some reasons cannot look after themselves in old age, 100% of the population will have to be forced to buy Long Life Insurance. Actually this figure is a bit inflated as many who cannot afford to live that long would have die naturally. Those who can afford to live to the ripe old age would have some means to do so. What the Govt can do is to issue a Certificate of Proof of voluntary rejection of the Long Life Insurance and allow people to opt out of the scheme. And at the end of the day, if these people come for handouts, just give them the $290 pm and nothing more. The COP will make them ineligible for more govt handouts. I think this will be fair. The people will take responsibility for their own actions and life. And the govt would not be blamed if they mess up their lives. And given the benevolent Long Life Insurance Scheme in place, not many will be left in the lurch. Is it really so hard to let people have the option to opt out? Why so adamant about making it compulsory? Let people be responsible for their own actions. Trust the people. If the govt cannot trust the people, why should the people trust the govt?

What makes a great PM

I was reading P N Balji's comment on the barriers of age, gender and race. And he mentioned that LKY was a PM at 35, Chok Tong at 49 and Hsien Loong at 52. For this, he suggested that the future PM could be older, maybe in the 60s. This is natural as our population, including the supertalents will live to 100. And if they are not fruitfully employed after 60s, then they will be rotting somewhere and will be a waste of their talents. But it would be better if we can find younger PM, say below 35. From the above statistics it is proven that the younger the PM, the better will be his contribution and achievements. And this is only logical. For if a young man in his 30s can shine and be seen as good enough to be a PM, then he is truly an exceptional talent. And he will grow in his job. An older PM will just slow down with time and age. So, an older PM is not the best choice.

It would be more palatable

If only public policies were made not with the people's saving but with public funds from taxes or revenue. It would be better if the urge to provide world class services comes with a public announcement that it will cost so much from the users' pockets. It would be better to provide world class services but at the same time offer those who cannot afford it an alternative service to pay for a cheaper service, and without mean testing of course.

Notable quotes - Lionel De Souza

'The relevant authorities should take the necessary action to criminalise anti competitive practices before they become prevalent.' Lionel De Souza. Before they become prevalent? I support Lionel's call, but wake up, it is prevalent and blatantly practised in many industries by supposely professional and respectable top management staff. They are rightfully called criminals and need to be punished for not only the crime but immoral and unethical practices. It is a poor reflection of the high moral standards that these individuals eschewed and blared out loudly in public speeches. It is hypocrisy in the highest level of corporate management.

New NKF - Spartan but safe

This is the headline in Today on the new NKF. The new CEO, Eunice Tay, has gone in for about a year and has changed the image from a lavish setup of a business and profit oriented organisation to one that looks more like a charity organisation, emphasing on the well being of its patients and on thrift. She cut, reduce, reuse and recycle, and even manages to remove more than 10 vehicles and freeing 5 floors of its HQ office space for rentals! How could so much space and vehicles be made available or not made available by the previous regime? The surprising result is that patients that were unmotivated, depressed and suicidal are now happier. And so were staff morale and a lower turnover. All the little empires and bickering of office politics were gone, including the lavish office of the CEO and the golden tap. I think the new NKF will gradually regain the confidence and trust of its donors, supporters and patients. Other public service organisations could learn a thing or two from the concept of 'Spartan but safe' and discard the golden tap philosophy to benefit the customers they are serving. No need to have first class or world class dreams if the customers cannot afford them.

Myth 172

Saving that is not Technically Singaporeans are among the greatest savers, saving at least 38% of their income directly into the CPF and more for those who can afford to in their private personal accounts. But Singaporeans will never have enough for their old age. How so? Because the saving is not savings. The savings will be spent along the way and by the time they retire, they will be shock to know that there is hardly anything left. Savings of Singaporeans is a myth. Where would all these big savings go to? Housing will take a huge proportion over 30 or 40 years. This is perhaps the biggest item to be taken out from the saving. Then there is the Medisave that will be spent in world class hospitals charging world class rates. And if this is not spent, it will be kept out of reach of the Singaporean till he passes away. Then there will be the fees for education, the premiums to be paid for medical insurance and life long insurance. And Singaporeans can count on more schemes in the future to help them spend their savings in the CPF, and probably even compulsory spending. So whatever the Singaporeans saved in the CPF, they will spent it, in one way or another, in advance.

Indigenous population growth

We are getting 37,000 new births last year, slightly better than the year before but still not good enough. It is still not enough to replace the attrition rate. We need more babies. Go forth and multiply. It is easier said than done. How much does it take to bring up a child to adulthood? $250k, $500k? We have many pro family policies to encourage parents to have more children. The question is that how many can afford to bring up children to go through our expensive web of life? Everything costs money and the cost is going up very quickly. It will not come down. Having more children is easy. But how many will be able to reach a level of comfort, by paying through the education system and quality of living, to say that life is worth living? How many will end up struggling for an existence, a life not worth living? Come to think of it, it is better to bring in the richer foreigners to supplement our population target than to encourage the indigenous hardlanders to produce more babies and to end up living in drudgery.

Lasik surgery getting cheaper

This piece of news sounds odd. Very odd indeed when it was accompanied by news that Lasik surgery will now be done using an improved and expensive equipment with enhanced technology. The result is higher accuracy and safer, and of all things, cheaper. Can this be true? How could better medical services be cheaper? This is against the conventional wisdom of paradise land. In paradise, everything, or anything that is better must be paid with more money. The delivery of a child in a hospital, private or govt owned private hospitals, now cost thousands of dollars. Has the delivery of a baby been different today than those done yesterday? Why is delivery of a baby costing so much? Several of my siblings were delivered by mother, free of charge. She did it herself. Are the women of today constructed differently? Or are the women of paradise built different that delivering a baby is now high technology and requires modern science to assist? The way a child is delivered today, other than a complicate case, cannot be different from a child delivered a few hundred years ago. A midwife could do it, a mother could do it. It is a natural process, a motherly instinct. That's how the human race populated itself. The additional cost today is contributed by all the comfort and fineries, all the pampering and the assurance of professional help. Minus all these, delivering a child can be made very much cheaper. The increasing cost must be a choice by those who want to splurge on them. For the ordinary soul who just want to deliver a child the old way should not have to pay a bomb to do it.

A lesson from Thailand

The military junta led by Sonthi and his generals are wetting their pants. There is fear of reprisals, fear of vengeance, fear of Thaksin's return. Why should there be fear? They have been upholding justice and truth and did everything they did, for Thailand and the Thai people. Or what they did were something else? In third world political systems, the obsession of power, the unwillingness to share political power, the unforgiving and vicious exercise of power against political opponents, depriving the people of their elected representatives by the abuse of power, will inevitably lead to fear and tension. Fear and tension in the victors as well as the losers. When Sonthi led the military coup, he made use of the whole state machinery to go after Thaksin, his family, relations and friends, and his party. All kinds of charges were drummed up, from treason, disrespect to the king and corruption. With all the civil servants under his control, he could go throw all the files, all the documents, to dig out every little things that Thaksin and his allies did, and frame any charges he wanted. That was justice, the justice of power, the truth of a third world political system. Compares that with what we are seeing in the US. The losers are as gracious and the winners as forgiving. And they accept each other in good spirit and with goodwill. They are willing to share political power with whoever the people chose. They accept the will of the people. They accept a system and play by it. There is no inkling of a coup or grabbing the machinery of the state to serve private and personal political interest. The winners and losers continue their lives as if nothing had happened. After the last election Al Gore continues his life lecturing and trying to save the world. We can see Romney, Hucklebee, McCain, perhaps Obama or Hillary continue what they were doing after the Presidential election. There will be no fear of vengeance or oppression or law suits. Thailand will take a long time to be free from fear. The military junta was ruthless in the persecution of Thaksin and his friends. Now they fear the same ruthlessness befallen on themselves. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. No exception. Third world political systems are vicious and shortlived, and will end in upheavels when there is a regime changed.

On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days. And on the 3rd day, still full of new year cheers and good wishes, saying all the good things is a must, you would not want to be greeted with any bad or unsavoury news. No one would be happy to be greeted with news of someone passing away. But that is exactly what greets everyone on the front page of The Straits Times. Is it an ominous sign, a sign of things to come for the year? It is a great objective and unfeeling piece of news to be flashed on the front cover of the main paper, to greet everyone first thing in the morning when he/she picks up the paper. Thanks but no thanks.

High rental good

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Current.com.au, the Harvey Norman co-founder and executive chairman rent rises of up to 50 per cent in one year, coupled with leases restricted to three years, meant all major electrical retailers there were under pressure. "The rents are just horrendous, and trying to figure out how you can do business is a really difficult thing, because you think 'Well, how do you do this?'" He said all three major players in the Singapore electrical retail market – Courts, Harvey Norman and Best Denki – had the same issues. "We all have the same problem, and probably sooner or later one of the three of us will disappear, and there'll be two of us. Then there's a good chance there'll be one of us." I copied the above extract from a post in Sammyboyforum. The rent hike is getting crazier by the days. A small foodstall in a refurbished aircon foodcourt will cost more than $13k a month in the new towns. Can't imagine what it will cost in town or big shopping centres. And how many bowls of noodles would the stallholder need to sell before he breaks even? But we should encourage the property owners to raise rent faster. Then the effect will be more dramatic. It is like blowing a balloon.

Thank you Maggie Mee and all instant noodles

Maggie Mee the saviour The shadow hovers over me but I am strong for my baby My baby sleeps so sweetly beside me She is my only reason to live, to die, to laugh and to cry Tonight is reunion dinner night, most stores are closed I'll have maggi mee and teh or Happy New Year everyone .. life is tough, but it is not so bad, can survive, got someone to love and got internet The above is posted by Downgrader in Sammyboyforum.

Budget time and more goodies

If there is anything to look forward to, Singaporeans should be eagerly waiting for Budget Day on 15 Feb. With all the collections, the govt should be rich enough to return some to the people when Tharman make his budget speech. We have had ERS and Singapore shares before. This time we may have GYAP or Golden Years Ang Pow for all Singaporeans. It will be a nice handout for the new year, and for more good years to come. In the past every budget day is likely to see more tax hikes. Nowadays every budget day is like waiting for the 4D results and see how much one is going to strike. Budget Day is now a Red Letter Day. We should have budget day for every parliament seating. It is better than anything else raised in parliament.