A rousing reception for Janil Puthucheary

Cyberspace has a rousing welcome for Janil Puthucheary but not the kind that he would have liken. Crossing to the side of his father’s political enemies, breaking a promise to his wife, and quitting his country of birth were the reasons that did not go down well with bloggers. This may be a bit unfair to a talented man who has stepped out to be counted, to sacrifice and to serve the country, and the very people that are not happy with him. Quitting Malaysia could be easy as the opportunities here are much better for him to practise as a doctor. How he convinced his father to join the PAP must be tricky. How he convinced his wife to forgive him for breaking his promise to her could be even trickier. Look at it this way, the lure of politics must be a very strong calling for Janil to step into the ring. The temptation of chasing a good cause, a national calling to serve the people of his adopted country, must be so powerful for him to resist. Assuming he got elected, assuming he goes on to become the Prime Minister of Singapore, his will be the greatest story ever told of a foreign talent making it good in Singapore. He will become a national hero of sort, a role model for all foreign talents seeking their fortunes here. STB could use him as the poster boy to attract more foreign talents to this island, a place that truly appreciates foreign talents without any biases, but recognizing everyone according to his merits. And once a citizen he can pursue his dream to the highest office in the island. The task of attracting more talents here will become a piece of cake, with PM Janil Puthucheary. Just a good bedtime story.

New Citizens Party

The PAP is the first to announce a new citizen, Dr Janil Puthucheary, as a candidate for the GE. Though he is just 3 years as a new citizen, he is no stranger to Singapore. His father, Dominic Puthucheary, was a founding member of PAP but joined the Barisan Socialis and ended up as a political prisoner. The family left to become Malaysians. Janil Puthucheary is a kind of homecoming, and a healing of political rift. The other opposition parties are also heard to be considering putting up new citizens as their candidates. This is good news as new or old citizen, they are all citizens with equal rights under the law. The better part is that there are many talents among the new citizens that are much better than the old citizens. With this abundant pool of foreign talents turned citizens, I am sure there will be enough of them to form one or two new parties to contest in the election. And being hungrier and adventurous, more entrepreneurial, in the same mould as the founding members of PAP and Barisan Socialis, they will be a great asset to the political scene. Singapore politics needs new blood and a heavy dose of fresh air to give it a new life. The staleness in the air is getting a bit nauseating when political parties need to scrap the bottom of the barrel for talents. The vibrancy, the new mindset, the never say die attitude of the new citizens should carry the country forward in the 21st Century. There is no longer the need to depend on lazy and has beens Singaporeans that are complacent and waiting for the sky to fall on their laps. Singapore will benefit from the drive of the new citizens and their enterprising spirit. NCP or New Citizens Party, maybe one or two, will be nice to have. Come on, new citizens, it is time to serve the country, to sacrifice for the country that have treated you so well.

War Games in Libya

The Americans and its European allies are conducting war games in Libya. In this case it is live firing with real ammunitions. The gamers are firing their cruise missiles, known as Tomahawks into Libya to test the weapon’s accuracy and effectiveness. It is also a cheap way to use up old and expired items and to replace them with new inventory. The American weapons industry is yet again given another new lease of life with more orders for new weapons and ammunitions. This is much more lucrative than the war games at the Korean peninsula where limited live ammunitions were fired. Of course things will be rosier if the Korean peninsula could turn into another big live firing exercise area. Who is fighting who? It is the Europeans and the Americans attacking an Arab country. The US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Norway and the UAE are in. Where are Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt? Without the participation of the major Arab countries other than UAE, the West is going to look very bad. This is going to be ammunition for the Arabs to be more anti West and anti American/British in particular.

I slept with the Merlion

Anyone with the money can sleep with the Merlion. Yes, this is true. It is a nice message. Everyone is welcome to sleep with the Merlion. This should be the message or logo for Singapore. Forget about Uniquely Singapore. We welcome everyone with open arms, with loving hospitality. Come, sleep with me. This must be the most exciting experience awaiting our guests.

NaturalNews Insider Alert

NaturalNews Insider Alert ( www.NaturalNews.com ) email newsletter (Unsubscribe instructions at bottom) Dear NaturalNews readers, As of right now, the situation remains desperate in Japan, with a confirmation coming this morning that the food near Fukushima is now radioactive. Efforts to cover the spent fuel rods with cooling water have failed again and again, and now there is concern that at least one of the fuel rod storage pools may be cracked, meaning it cannot hold water. Thus, there's no way to cover the fuel rods no matter how much water you pump in (and the pumps aren't even operating yet anyway...) The official government explanations about radiation exposure in Japan are an insult to intelligence. A few days ago, they would say things like "The amount of radiation people are experiencing is only equal to that of a chest X-ray." Today with the irradiated food, they now are comparing your exposure to "the amount of radiation you might get from a CT scan." What they don't tell you is that a CT scan emits up to 600 times more radiation than a chest X-ray. What's next on this scale? Are they soon going to announce that people are only exposed to "the same amount of radiation as a miscalibrated mammogram?" And folks, the radiation exposure in Japan is constant radiation, meaning it's like getting a CT scan that just keeps scanning 24/7 (if you're close enough to the Fukushima plant). This isn't one limited dose that turns off in two seconds, it's an ongoing radiation avalanche that keeps coming. The mainstream media has all but abandoned accurate reporting on this issue, almost as if they were all ordered by the White House to just stop talking about Fukushima (because it was scaring people). Here's my story on that: http://www.naturalnews.com/031748_mainstream_media_nuclear_catastrophe.html There now appears to be a total information blackout on the true status of reactor #4, reports Ethan Huff: http://www.naturalnews.com/031758_Fukushima_nuclear_reactor.html A Japanese Mayor has gone public with his own accusations that the Japanese government abandoned his people and lied to them about the real situation: http://www.naturalnews.com/031747_nuclear_fallout_disinformation.html Mark Sircus brings us a timely update today on the worsening situation in Tokyo: http://www.naturalnews.com/031757_Tokyo_radiation.html

Notable quote by LKY

“85% of Singaporeans are living in HDB flats and we intend to keep the values of these homes up. It will never go down,” said MM Lee. If there is one thing that will defy gravity, it will be the price of HDB flats. Wonder how this will be managed if it is subject to market forces and the world economy. Wondering what will the price be if the lease expires. But the formula is for the govt to buy back before the lease expires at market price to knock down and rebuild. And as long as the price of new flats is up, the resale or buy back price can only go up. Sounds good. There is another assumption, that the CBF workers's salary will be able to keep pace with the rising prices. _________________

Say No to destructive growth formula

The growth formula built on population expansion will destroy the earth. The obsession for growth based on high consumption of goods and services to obtain economic growth numbers will also lead to the depletion of raw materials and limited fossil energy sources. It is crazy to leave the world to crazy economists who only believe in growth in numbers and numbers while mother earth is being eaten up, destroyed, without any conscience. High consumption is greed, gluttony for no good reason. Why should a car be built to run on 7000cc engine, why should one person owns ten or twenty cars, ten houses, yachts, and many wives and tens or hundreds of children? Having wants and greed are good to some extent. But when these become wasteful and leading to the destruction of earth, it must be stopped. Imagine if every country just keeps on producing more people to generate more economic activities, more consumption of produces and resources, and of course energy, it will lead to an earlier death of mother earth. There must be a rethink. There were plentiful of land and resources available to humankind when the world’s population was a few hundred millions or less. Now we have several billions to share the space, air and food supply and resources. We are consuming everything at double quick time. It is time to consolidate our resources and improve the lives of people with more production/growth but lesser consumption. Stop wasteful production and wasteful consumption. The free willing economy where the fittest survive and enjoy everything they want in abundance, without any care to how their wasteful consumption is destroying the earth must be stopped. The crazy idea of growth and growth without thinking about the consequences must be stopped. At a micro level, this little rock is overpopulated, over consuming the limited resources. And the crazy thing is that it is claiming progress and claiming that without growth, life will be a misery. Life will come to a standstill and the system will break down. Yes, under the current belief that economic growth is everything, things will change. The formula is a bigger cake for more people. More people, more economic growth, more demand for space, water and energy. Can this be change to smaller cake for lesser people? There must be a freeze on population growth in the world and in every country. Mother earth is under stress. The food chain is under stress. The resources are being depleted. Fossil fuel is being drawn down to a dangerous level. Ya, the savior is nuclear fuel. Everyone is looking towards nuclear energy as the panacea to sustain economic growth and energy consumption. This will eventually lead to a catastrophic destruction of lives and everything on earth.

All the good signs

The economy grew by a record 15.7%. What a miraculous number and what an exceptional govt to achieve such a high rate of growth in a world hit by financial crisis and natural disasters. Time to reward everyone for a job well done. All civil servants and politicians will receive pay rise, performance bonuses and GDP bonuses to the tune of 10 or 17 months of bonuses on top of the basic salary, the 1 mth AWS and the 3 months of variable bonuses. Please correct me if I am wrong. Roughly it is about there, and everyone will be happy happy. The people will also not be left out. Everyone will get something, at least $800 plus whatever savings from taxes, and top ups. And the opposition parties are in the mud ring wrestling and trying to get out to be ready for battle in the coming GE. And let’s not forget the most important man in the country, the President. He too must be rewarded for doing such a fine job, shouldering such a heavy responsibility and still having to look happy and make visitors to the Istana ground feel happy. Of all the good signs, this is the most telling. For some may claim that it is audacity beyond words for the govt to pay the President $4m a year plus all the perks, and almost a $1m pay rise. Such arrogance could be negatively received by the electorate. But looking at it from another angle, it is a sure sign of confidence. The govt knows the ground well and that the people will still give the ruling party a resounding victory in the next GE. They would not dare to risk winning a GE by making this kind of payment if they think it will not go down well with the people. The govt is always right and they must have done their sums well and knowing that all is well. The next GE will be another clean sweep. There will be no meltdown whereby the opposition will do a clean sweep. The budget, pay hike and big bonuses will not be the swan song.

All the bad signs

Japan is into the second week of the tsunami disaster and nuclear plant meltdown. The situation is grave but how grave? There were reports and reports and updates and updates. The Japanese on the ground are feeling uneasy. Many are openly questioning the reports coming out from their govt. What is the situation today? Last night I heard Naoto Kan saying that he would be visiting the site next week. This is the first time a senior govt official is talking about a visit to the disaster site. What does it say? For one whole week, with all the assurances that the nuclear fallout is still safe, no govt officials dare to visit the actual site of the disaster. Maybe I am wrong and they did visit the site but not reported. And the victims were accusing the govt of neglect and leaving them to die. Japan is a super efficient govt. Not just talk only. They have proven it in many ways. Why are the aids not reaching the stricken people after so many days? Bad transportation, bad coordination, bad weather, not enough helpers? None of these is valid. The Japanese are the best equipped and best organised. Even in India and China, helicopters will be flying around to drop aids to the victims. Maybe all the helicopters are used in dropping water on the nuclear plants. Is the situation that bad that it is better to leave the affected people on their own, to die as the victims are claiming? Could it be that these people are like lepers, already hit by radio activity and better to leave them there than to risk good people going after bad people? The Americans are helping, but no troops on the ground. They are keeping at a safe distance of 80 km. What does this tell? Is there a message saying nothing nearer than 80 km is safe? Then the exodus of foreigners and those who are able to do so. Embassies and MNCs are telling their staff to get out of Tokyo. Another bad indicator that there is more to it than meets the eyes. Finally, yesterday the threat level using the International Nuclear and Radioactivity Event Scale (INES) was raised from 4 to 5 with 7 as the highest. And the cooling of the 6 nuclear reactors are still work in progress, with one leaking water as fast as water being pumped in, and some still in threatening state. The signs are bad and saying a lot of bad things that were not reported. A sure sign of things are getting better is to see govt officials and the Americans on the ground itself. The UN nuclear envoy also avoided visiting the site. And there is no surge of volunteers rushing to save the victims by the highly nationalistic Japanese and their samurai spirit. Obviously things are bad. How bad?

A worst case scenario

What if a sudden explosion or discharge of radioactive clouds from one of the reactors and raising radioactive particles to a dangerous level? Fukushima prefecture no longer habitable and the govt order an immediate evacuation from the area. Radioactive clouds are blown towards Tokyo and a similar evacuation order is made. Can you imagine Fukushima prefecture will be abandoned and left barren for years to come? Can you imagine an evacuation of Tokyo! Just pray the Japanese is able to control the situation and prevent it from becoming a crisis of such a magnitude.

Cover ups rife in Japan nuclear industry

This is the heading of an AP article about the cover-ups in Japan’s nuclear industry. The Japanese are angry and no longer believe what they were told, especially of the current nuclear meltdown. Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear engineer said, ‘There’s not enough transparency in the industry.’ AP wrote, ‘In 1989, he received an order that horrified him: Edit out footage showing cracks in plant steam pipes in video to be submitted to regulators.’ The cover-ups of Japan’s nuclear industry went back to the early days of the 1970s when the plants in Fukushima were built. According to some reports that were in the media, some GE engineers resigned because of fear that the plants were unsafe as they were built to withstand only quakes up to 7 in the Richter Scale. There were reports that subsequently this was rectified. How much was the truth and how much were cover-ups no body really knows. The Japanese people are feeling the brunt of this fiasco.” ‘I can’t believe them,’ said Taketo Kuga, a cab driver in Tokyo, where low levels of radiation were observed on Tuesday.” What about the foreign communities? They voted not to believe all the reports that the radiation level is low and safe by leaving Japan, particularly Tokyo. There is an exodus going on with foreign companies and embassies ordering their people to leave. The honesty and integrity of the Japanese govt are taking a whacking for sure.

Why the President’s salary is pegged higher

This is a reply from Chen Hwai Liang, Press Secretary to the Prime Minister in the ST forum page. I am wondering why is it a letter in the forum page and not an official statement, say in the front page of the ST. The kpkb in cyberspace about the more than 20% increase in the President’s salary must be making people uncomfortable. So here is the official explanation. The salary is pegged to the private sector benchmarks. ‘The principle and benchmarks have been extensively debated in Parliament, most recently in 2007.’ He forgot to add that this was also approved by Parliament. Who and how many MPs voted in favour of this formula? Let me guess, 82 for and 2 against? I am not sure, forgotten already. The vote in favour was almost unanimous. Do the citizens agree with it? Sorry the latter is a non issue since the people voted the MPs as their representatives in Parliament and are indirectly saying that the MPs represented them and voted on their behalf. The other reasons given by Chen Hwai Liang, ‘The President occupies the highest office in Singapore. He exercises custodial powers to protect our past reserves and over the appointment of key public officers to protect the integrity of the public service. As head of state, he represents the country and advances our interests internationally. This is why it is appropriate to peg the President’s salary higher than ministers’ and just above the Prime Minister’s.’ I think the first sentence should be sufficient. It is the highest office in Singapore. Period. But the explanation added that the President’s job carries a higher responsibility, though the ministers may be running their ministries and their thousands of staff. The people may agree or disagree, but this is the official position. Now that the people understand the rationale, let’s move on.

Quotes from Japan after the tsunami

‘What the hell is going on?’ PM Naoto Kan ‘This govt is useless’ Masako Kitajima, Tokyo office worker. ‘I’m not sure if what they’re saying is true or not, and that makes me nervous. I want to know why they won’t provide answers. Tokyo resident Tetsu Ichiura.

Nuclear energy – expert opinion

If a govt is exploring plans to build a nuclear plant and engages nuclear experts to provide expertise advice, what would be the likely recommendations? If the experts say, no go. Finish, his job ends there. If the recommendation is that it is ok, nuclear energy is the way to go, all precautions can be taken to reduce risk to zero, ha, his expertise will be needed much longer, at least till the completion of the nuclear plant and possibly longer. Now, why would a nuclear expert tell a govt that nuclear energy is too dangerous and too high a risk to take and to risk his usefulness, and his paycheck? Many experts will say, don’t worry, there are risks, but manageable. We have the technology, the knowledge and the knowhow to make sure that it is safe. Go ahead and have your cake and eat it as well. And such soothing and confident words are what many govts would want to hear and will feel very assured. I read in the paper that some countries in Europe are putting on hold their nuclear ambition. I also read this comment from a third world leader, ‘Our reactors will be third generation and they will be able to withstand even the most powerful earthquake.,’ Bangladesh Atomic energy Commission chairman Farid Uddin Ahmed told AFP. He must be rightly advised by the experts and believed everything they said. I believe when the Japanese built their nuclear plants in Fukushima, they must also have been told that the biggest earthquake will not shake the nuclear plants. Absolutely safe! Fear not. Whatever sophisticated and bestest technology and equipment, there must be accompanied by the bestest talents and workforce to operate them. Third world mentality, third world attitude, third world ability, third grade work force, are themselves the greatest risk to a potential nuclear disaster. Just like buying sophisticated military aircraft, without the skill technicians to maintain them, without the skill pilots to fly them, they will all ended up grounded. In a nuclear plant, the ending is tragedy of mass termination.

Trading madness or irresponsibility?

Matthew Lynn, a Bloomberg News columnist, wrote an article in the Today paper about high speed trading to the fine tune of picoseconds, just to take advantage of the next guy who does not have technology as an aid. Now what is a picosecond? This is Matthew’s definition, ‘a picosecond is one trillionth of a second, or …a picosecond is to one second what one second is to 31,700 years.’ This is the direction the stock market trading is heading to. Hey, wait a minute, what is a stock market, a jackpot machine, a casino or a game of chance? ‘A stock market has two core functions. It exists for companies to raise capital needed to invest in their business. And it should help ordinary people to make a decent return on their savings by investing in those enterprises.’ I quote Matthew. And this is nothing new. Why are the regulators allowing themselves to be led by the nose by the big funds to change the nature of stock trading from investment to one of pure gambling, by odds and speed? Mathew added that ‘at a certain point, you have to step back and ask whether this is a road we really want to go down, and whether it performs any useful function.’ He concluded by saying that ‘The stock exchanges should call a halt – and tell the traders that if they only want to hold their investments for a picoseconds, they might be better off going somewhere else. Like a racetrack.’ I would like to add that it is highly irresponsible for stock exchanges to allow this to happen as it not only gives the hedge fund an unfair advantage over other traders, which is a fundamental principle it must uphold, such trading methodology will eventually lead to the destruction of the stock market itself. High speed trading and many other variable methodologies are undermining all the cardinal principles of stock markets, eg churning, creating a false market, uneven playing field, buying and selling without change of ownership etc etc. The rot has started and its natural ending is the demise of the stockbroking industry if this deceptive trend is not stopped.

Relying on cheap labour unsustainable

Eureka! Eureka! Singapore has finally discovered that relying on cheap foreign labour for economic growth is unsustainable. The govt is now advising the companies to change their business model to raise real productivity instead of just employing more and more cheap labour. The govt is doing the thinking again, to help the unthinking Singaporeans, this time to increase their productivity by other means. This is good news or bad news? If companies are not going to import more foreign workers, will it affect our economic growth? What about the businesses that are dependent on foreign workers, like those in Geylang? I think it will also affect property prices and rentals. Maybe not. I don’t think the spending power of cheap labour really help much to generate economic activities and growth. The only businesses they provide, other than in Geylang, will be public transport and loitering in the casinos and all the public parks. They would also provide more jobs for themselves as cleaners, to clean up the litters they left behind. If lesser cheap workers are imported, the casino operators will be most happy, the local commuters will also be happy. Not sure if the public transport providers will be happy as the trains and buses will be less crowded and their revenue will be affected. Singaporeans and Singaporean businesses will have to make adjustment to live with the presence of lesser cheap foreign workers.

A Japanese lesson

By the time the last head is counted, there could be tens of thousands of Japanese dead after the one in a century 9 on the Richter scale earthquake. The flooding water that rushed to the shore and inland, flooding everything in sight was 10m high. Yet, the Japanese were calm, stoic, as if it was just part and parcel of living in Japan. No panic, no kpkb, no screaming and crocodile tears. They put up a brave front despite the destruction and loss of life. Coming home to Singapore, you should look at the faces of the lucky Singaporeans who escaped death while holidaying in Japan or missing a connecting flight to America. There were grief, fear, and some were sobbing. What a frightening experience and a narrow escape from death. Come nearer to Orchard Road, we had the once in 50 years flood of 2 feet deep water. What a disaster! What a comic disaster. It was just an afternoon monsoon rain that could help to clear the longkangs of the debris that needed a strong flushing. Boo, boo, boo, crying all round and blaming everyone and the govt for not preventing a flash flood caused by two hours of tropical rain. Singaporeans must grow up, learn to take disasters in their stride. The two feet of flood in Orchard Road should be time for a little fun in the rain. Throw some soap powder into it and have a free foam party. Enjoy and have fun the next time when it floods. No need to kpkb on spilling a glass of water. Learn from the Japanese. The next campaign for nation building, clap and have fun in Orchard Road when it floods. Enjoy the blessing of water from the sky. Take a bath or have a party. There are worst calamities than a little flood. And for those who are hell bent to have a nuclear plant here, because no choice, too many people and oil too expensive, the Japanese lesson will help them build a better nuclear plant that will never fail. If the local super talents here are not good enough, the foreign talents will swarm here to say aye aye, they can build one for us and guarantee it will never fail. They will not live long enough to see it fail for sure. By then they would have taken the money and gone.

The 4th Dimension

A clash of life forces at the frontier of two dimensions.

Need for a major restructuring of the workforce

Singaporeans should be grateful that 106,600 PMET jobs are being taken up by the Filipinos. This is the same as the thousands of construction workers and maids doing jobs that Singaporeans did not want to do. What Singaporeans should do is to retrain themselves for higher paying jobs. Not retraining PMETs to do lower level jobs. If this is the case, then someone’s ass need to be kicked. There are plenty of high paying jobs in Singapore that Singaporeans should aspire to do. Those jobs that Singaporeans are no longer competitive, should go to foreign talents. We should welcome the Filipinos and the rest to be our PMETs. Singaporeans can then seek jobs that these foreign talents cannot do and pay better. I am looking at Members of Parliaments, mayors, town council chiefs, President, or other political jobs. These are high paying jobs that Singaporeans should aspire to do. There may not be that many now but more can be created. We can have more MPs, more mayors, vice mayors, PMs, dep PMs, asst dep PMs, Presidents, Vice Presidents, and even Senior Presidents, or executive Presidents etc etc. And of course there are plenty of directors to be appointed in public and private companies. Singaporeans are barking at the wrong tree to fight with cheaper foreign talents to be PMETs. There are better and higher paying jobs waiting for Singaporeans in govt and in politics.

Japan caught sleeping

The nuclear meltdown may happen. All systems failed. Human error compounded by a huge earthquake. Did they plan for such a day? They must have. The construction of a nuclear power station must have taken into account all the possibilities of a meltdown and to prevent it from happening. It happened. But what was disappointing is that the 8.9 Richter scale quake did not lead to an immediate evacuation of coastal villages and towns. If it did, it was too slow. The Japanese have been preparing for such eventualities all their lives. They have tsunami drills regularly, more regular than conducting war games with the Americans. How could so many lives be swept away if there was a tsunami warning and evacuation of the coastal people? Caught sleeping? If it is a once in 50 years act of God, maybe excusable. But earthquakes and tsunamis are part and parcel of the Japanese life and they are very well prepared and equipped to deal with them. Japan caught sleeping. The world expects the Japanese to do much better in preventing such disasters. They are very meticulous and systematic people. They have failed their own people this time.

106,600 PMET jobs for Filipinos

This is how successful we are in job creation. And if you add the others, we could have created at least half a million PMET jobs for all the foreign talents here. It is indeed a great feat and something to crow about. It is also a great feat that so many ex PMETs are now driving taxis or becoming agents or self employed, and struggling to make a living. Yes, we are an all inclusive country, including all foreigners as well. For those Singaporean PMETs who are still left in the lurch, it must be their own inept, that they could not compete with the foreign talents. Serve them right. And if they have a big mortgage to service and growing children that need to support, it must be their bad karma. I do try to believe that it is all the faults of these ex PMETs for their own failures. Somehow I also have this niggering feeling that something is not right. Maybe 10%, statistically never wrong, to presume that there will be some that deserved to be in the shit hole. For the rest, I believe they are true Singaporeans at heart and are hard working and will be the ideal employees like all Singaporeans are, work and work and work. It is sad that so many of our own PMETs have ended up in such a dire strait, and many in the prime of their lives. The option is to be retrained as service workers, and their valuable training, experience and expertise be dumped into the longkangs. There is no need for their skills as they can be replaced by cheaper and hungrier foreign talents. Is there anything wrong about this state of affair?

Today we plan for economic growth

Our economic growth is the envy of many countries. We took pride in our economic growth and place all our bets on it. Economic growth, growing the economic pie, is the answer to all our social problems. And the key to our economic growth is economic activity, and the basic ingredient is human beans. The more human beans there are, the more economic activities can be generated and all the numbers added up to a lovely piece of cake, a bigger cake for all. The formula is simple. More human beans, more work, more productivity, more revenue, more activities, more needs, and more of everything. There is more creation of wealth, more consumption, more expenditure, more demands which will create more and more demands of other supporting and service activities. Today we plan for growth. Tomorrow this growth will dictate how the economy will run and all the other human activities. More people mean more food, housing, transportation, jobs, services and space. We can build up and build down. We can share the piece of rock with more people and more people. There will be higher demand for food, water and electric power. So more facilities will be built to store water and generate power. The nuclear option will not be an option but a necessity. There is no way out. The nuclear disaster that is awaiting to blow up in Japan must be food for thought for many who think it is a logical road to take. Our economic growth and growing population and needs for power will push us down this road. Japan, with probably the most efficient and trained workforce, is now staring at a human disaster they think will not happen. It happened. They are trying to play it down. People from a radius of 20km were evacuated. If we have a nuclear plant on our shore, 20km radius means the sea. No where to evacuate, no where to run. And the beautiful architectural feat of high rise buildings, the new Towers of Babel, are massive disasters and tragedies waiting to happen. They are death traps. So are the massive underground living space. No, we don’t have to face an earthquake or a tsunami. The worst we could get was a little tremor from a distant quake far away. And the water level, if there is, will be a knee deep flood in Orchard Road. We are blessed with no dramatic natural disaster, yet. We cannot escape from human error and human created disasters. With so many people packed tightly together, even a full loaded sardine packed train can take several hundred out at one go. A high rise collapse can be more destructive. Our planning for economic growth today could be our planning for a major disaster tomorrow. If the Japanese can foul up a top security nuclear plant with all the safety measures, the lesser beans of this region better restrain their ego trips and don’t think they can do better than the Japanese.

A vote for Greed

Greed is good. And that is coming out quite freely from all the successful people. There is no denying the fact that our prosperity has been driven by the power of Greed. Greed is the greatest motivating force that transformed what we were to what we are today. Greed is now the prevailing culture in this great and affluent city. Anyone who does not subscribe to the goodness of Greed or condemns Greed is condemning themselves to mediocrity. Greed has brought the best out of our super talents in all fields. Through Greed, they have reached the peak of their fields of expertise and are among the best in the world, with many excelling and becoming the bestest of the best, or at least in the income that they can command. The highest paid professionals in several fields are Singaporeans. We can boast of the highest paid President, PM, ministers etc etc and surgeons and lawyers. In other words, Greed has propelled our citizens to the top of their profession. The belief that goodness, ethics, morality, sacrifices, selflessness, are virtues is only meant for the losers or the idealists. The pragmatic and talented know that these are useless values only to be taught to children. They have no time for such idealism. They are busy making themselves worthy and reaping the reward of Greed. Because they are so good, they can demand any price they wanted. A dying man needing some expert to save his life will have to take the price. And asking a million a day is reasonable in a life and death situation. The more professional one may go one step further and ask the victim if he has the money to pay before proceeding to save him. Check the affordability of the victim first. In a highly competitive world, Greed is nothing to be ashamed of, and is doing us well, to compete and be the best in our pursuit for excellence. The culture of Greed pervades every level of our society and is being practised zealously to a fine art. And the epitome of Greed is not the contribution but how much one is able to ask to be paid. Some may do very little and being paid a ransom. That is the ultimate art of Greed at the highest level. It is time to vote for Greed. Give a resounding vote of confidence that Greed is Good. No kidding.

$4,267,500 for the President

Up from $3,376,800, the President's pay is now $4,267,500. And the govt announced this in Parliament and believing that it will go down well with the people, or the people will quietly accept it. I am not sure if this is arrogance or what? Maybe the govt knows that the people will accept everything as long as it is passed in Parliament. It happened. What can you do about it? One thing the people can do, clap, clap and say the President deserves it. It is peanuts really, compared to the medical bill a good surgeon can charge. It is peanuts really, as it cost less than $1 from every resident in the island of more than 5m people. Cheap, cheap.

How stupid can one get?

I was reading the papers today about the cruel beating and harsh regime administered to two brothers age 9 and 11 under the care of a taskmaster. The boys were caned till they bled for dozing off while studying. They had to wake up at 4.30am to study and slept at 11pm. The parents thought that the taskmaster could discipline the boys and probably improve their grades. The harsh regime is common in China, and with a little trace of the sadism in a book praising Tiger mums. Beat them into shape. It is for their own good. The more you beat them, the better they will turn out. And many silly ‘masters’ employed such methods on their students. The notables who went through such regimes are Jackie Chan, Samo Hung and their peers. Many were maimed for life. Still many silly parents allowed their children to be cruelly beaten for their own good. How stupid can people be to perpetuate such barbaric behavior on the young? And there are adults who still think beating and cruelty are good to shape up children. I would recommend caning for the taskmaster and the parents. I thought such mentality only can be found in the rural areas among illiterate and ignorant farmers. ‘The 45 year old electronics scientist was sentenced to six months’ jail…’ ST. Poor boys.

A new national problem

Worrying about the jobless yodas. Our oldies are going jobless, unemployed, unemployable. Serious problem! We need to find jobs for them. We need to restructure jobs, amend legislations, to let all the old fools to continue working, till they drop dead on their jobs. What is happening? What have happened to the happily retired and living on a nest of life long savings? We are and were a nation of big savers. We save more than anyone else. What have happened to our savings? Why must oldies keep on working to earn some money to live on? Crazy thought. What have gone wrong to our great retirement schemes and plans? What happens to the golden years, to see the world, to enjoy the grandchildren, to be happily retired, lying on a rocking chair and reading a book or watching the sunset? Now it is like a big crisis to have all the oldies hanging around, jobless! They must have jobs, they must be working, so say all of us. No more golden years? Soon golden age will also be passé.

Message from Parliament

We need more foreign talents. And we need more foreign talents. We have more than 5 million bodies in this piece of rock. And we need more foreign talents. When we are at 6 million, we still need foreign talents. When we are at 10 million, we still need foreign talents. When we are at 20 million, we will still need foreign talents. We need the bodies to ensure economic growth. Our economic growth is vital to our survival. Without economic growth, we will be history. And our economic growth depends on bodies. We need bodies to fill up our trains and buses. We need to fill them to the brim or else it is inefficiency and unprofitable. We need bodies to fill up our shopping centres and food courts. If not, business will be bad and rentals will fall. We need more bodies to fill up the factories and offices, or rentals will fall too. We need more foreign talents. We need more bodies to buy up all the properties, housing or commercial, or else prices will fall. And when all the properties are bought, we need to build more to generate more economic growth, and we need more bodies, and we need more foreign talents. And our roads must also be filled with cars or else it will be a waste of resources. A jammed pack road system is a sign of prosperity and high economic activity. Also good for COEs and ERPs. Our world class hospitals need to be filled. Can’t imagine if they are half empty or 70% filled. We need more bodies to fill them, from staffing to patients. Every head counts for economic growth. For the sake of economic growth and efficiency, we need to keep growing our population. And since the locals are not reproducing enough, we need to bring in more foreign talents. Don’t worry, economic growth is everything and it will not stop. We will keep growing, and keep needing foreign talents, and more bodies.

Comforting words in Parliament

Raymond Lim spoke in Parliament about his ministry’s plan for public transportation. More trains, more buses, higher frequencies, and best of all, more comfortable rides. Gone were the comparisons with Tokyo’s sardine can trains. It used to be the reference point, that if our trains were not as crowded as Tokyo’s, we are still not there, not up to Tokyo’s standard. Now comfort and higher frequencies are important. Thank you. And there is more money for everyone. The students are going to get more assistance with their school fees and the qualifying income has been raised. The poorer groups of citizens too will be seeing more help coming their way. Is this part of the election process or what? If it is part of the election process, a pre election morphine jab, what will the post election process be like? For sure, the fares will go up. The delay in fare hikes is only temporary. And for sure, someone is going to say, hey, all this costs money. And money must come from somewhere. Anyway it is a nice change. I am hoping that Boon Wan will also say that medical fees are too high. But no, when an open heart surgery cost only $8 out of pocket, it cannot be too high. In fact it is too cheap. And then we have seen medical bills in the tens of millions. Seriously, there is no reason to say that our medical bills in govt privatized hospitals are too high. The only way to say that they are too high is to ignore the $8 open heart surgery as only good for the likes of Boon Wan. Hope he will share with the people how he could do it. And also the $24.8m medical bill must be seen in a different light. Taking these two examples as anomalies, perhaps, maybe, we can then take a serious look at those $150k or $200k bills and say yes, honestly, undisputably, they are extraordinary high and not suitable for ordinary people. In reality, any bill that is above a couple of thousands is high. Any bill that is in 5 digits is very high and very unaffordable to the average Singaporeans. But they are lucky, with so much money in their Medisave and all the Ms to pay for them. What if they have no Ms? And would somebody admit that the prices of public housing is no longer affordable to many average Singaporeans? It will be a pleasant sound to hear. But I just heard a loud No, they are very affordable. Hey, this is pre election time, would it not be nice to say something nice?

Why is there a need to apologise?

LKY has made a statement that he stood to be corrected on his comment that the Malays should loosen up a little in their observance of Islamic norms. He was just being polite. As an elder statesman, he was being generous to offer his advice for the Malays to integrate better with the other communities. For him to have made the statement, the reason is obvious. If the Malays have integrated at a pace and level that he found comfortable, he would not have to say this. The Malays may think otherwise and feel that they have integrated very well and no need further advice. It is just a matter of perception from two different perspectives. Some may agree with him, some may not. I am still reading many comments that LKY needs to apologise. Apologise for what? For trying to them to be better integrated? Is that a derogatory remark, something that hurts? If the Malays disagree with his observation, just tell him they don’t agree. Both need not see eye to eye. Actually the way LKY puts it, the comment was most polite. He is not demanding the Malays to do what he wanted or else…. He did not reprimand the Malays for the pace of integration which he found still not good enough. The more the Malays and the other communities integrate with each other, the better it is for hotel building. Oops, I slip. I mean nation building. Even if it is just a hotel, integration of all parties working and living in the hotel cannot be bad. Need to apologise for wishing the community to be better? Come on, grow up lah. Take off the blinkers and see the world from the level of a higher good and stop being so petty and personal. The Malays are lucky that the MM is thinking about their problems and how to help them along. He could just keep quiet and pretend, which everyone is doing, that all is fine.

Ignoring the people

The flame that is burning in the Middle East is all about the rulers ignoring the people. There you have dictators and kingships and democratically elected leaders who are dictators in all counts of the word ruling the people at their own fancy. The people were just subjects or masses that could be ignored. And the leaders thought they own the people, the country and all its wealth. Now the time has come when the people no longer wanted to be ignored. They are taking their countries back. They are throwing out the dictators and royalties too. It is only a matter of time as the tide has changed. There is no where to hide and no where to run. The ignoring of the people have gone on for too long. Some may want to relate the crisis in the Middle East to the situation in South East Asia, and in Asia, with fingers pointing to China and praying that China should be the next to fall. There are differences. Every country is different. The oppression and subjugation of the people in the Middle East and their standard of living are all grievances that prompted the people to rise against the rulers. Relatively the people in Asia and South East Asia are fairing much better. China is a big contradiction but a country that is making the most progress to improve the livelihood of its people. Many are getting richer by the day and the middle class is growing. China and the Chinese have never seen such good times for several centuries. At the rate it is moving, China is heading towards its golden age. The rest of the western craps like freedom of expression will fall into place as the country grows in affluence and abundance and when everyone is well fed and well clothed. Singapore is another aberration. A little pearl of progress, a little shining light as far as economic growth and material wealth are concerned. Are the rulers here guilty of ignoring the people too? There were some demands, nothing critical, for more transparency. What are the assets worth under the wings of GIC and Temasek? The rulers have explained that for strategic and business reasons, cannot tell. How much assets are the elected President supposed to guard? Too complicated and will take many hundreds of manhours to tell. I think the rulers are still working on it, another work in progress. Both explanations are reasonable from the perspective of the rulers. Then what about the cost of building public housing? So far also no answer. There is no commercial or national consideration to keep this information confidential. Would the rulers tell? The people have been asking for so long and have been ignored for so long until the issue is as good as forgotten. After a few times of being ignored, case closed. Such issues are not life threatening and not telling will not make any difference. There will be no uprising over such minor non disclosures. No need to tell. No problem at all.

Can Malays bridge the gap?

This was the title of an article in the Sunday Times yesterday. The conclusion is that they need more help from the govt. And this mentality of more help from the govt can last in perpetuity. 100 years down the road, they will still face the same problem and will still need more help from the govt unless…. Apparently they did not know why. I may sound arrogant to make this remark, but that is obvious. No one wants to say it. Saying it will only draw all the brickbats and accusations and demands for apologies just like what LKY had to face recently. If one does not want to look at the problem squarely, one can never solve the problem. Period. Having said this, I think it is a myth that the Malays are not doing well. I think they have done exceedingly well. Am I kidding? No. To measure how well one does, one needs to know what one is aspiring to be and what one is prepared to contribute and work towards that goal. There are two elements here, the goal and the effort. What is the goal of the Malay community? Are they seeking materialism or religious comfort and way of life? Some may want the rewards of materialism which mean that one must put in all the time and effort to achieve that. You want to be a CEO, a doctor, a lawyer or whatever in the corporate world and industry, what is needed from you? You can’t be there if you don’t work for it. Many Malay families have reached these positions, though more are welcomed. Then there are those who aspire to be imams and religious leaders. They pursue higher education in this field. They succeeded and became religious leaders. But religious leaders don’t come with big houses, big cars and big pay packets unlike some mega churches. They have achieved what they wanted and should be happy with their achievements. They are not under achievers. They have different motivations and goals in life. And the in betweens, some wanted to be footballers, musicians, singers, performers, some wanted to be salespersons, some wanted to be workers, and they put in the equivalent effort to achieve these goals. And they are there. You can’t say that they have not achieved. There are many great Malay footballers and in fact the whole national team are Malay footballers if the foreigners are excluded. They did well in their chosen field. And there are some who just wanted to get married, make babies and enjoy life, with little pressure and stress, and not having to work 12 or 16 hours daily. That is their goals in life. They too have achieved. You can’t claim that they are failures because they are not professionals and did not live in big houses and driving big cars. It is their aspirations and the time and effort they put in to get what they wanted. One other point that surfaced in the article is that the Malays cannot succeed because they are the minority and did not have the numbers. Is that reason valid? Just look at the Indians and the Chinese, they are minorities in countries around the world. They did not need the numbers to be successful. The Indians are exceedingly successful not only here but in the US. They literally own and managed some of the biggest American and European banks. And they are minorities, absolute minorities in the exact meaning of the word. The Chinese too are coping quite well in many western countries, as minorities though not excelling the way the Indians do.. Numbers is not and never the only reason to be successful. It is what you want and what you are prepared to put in to get it. How many Indians or Chinese are there in the West? In many of the countries, they are not even 1% of the population. And they did not ask their govt for help. They just do it. So, is there a problem, a contradiction, or just a wrongful perception? Can the Malay bridge the gap? What gap? The gap of material success is attainable if they set that as their goal and work towards it.

‘Marriage is not all about money’

Sam Tan, the MP in Tanjong Pagar GRC said, and added that ‘You don’t need to wait for the Finance Minister to dish out incentives to get married.’ So is making babies, a natural process that one does not need a university degree to figure out what it is and how complicated is the process. The teens and pre teens are doing it happily and enjoying every bit of it. The moral of the story is, don’t think too much, ‘Just do it’. Why is getting married and making babies such an angst among the thinking Singaporeans? Yes, they think too much. They think from cradle to grave, and wanting their whole life to be lined with gold. If that was the thinking of their parents, many would not be here today. Many of their parents and grandparents were just too poor to think and worry about feeding them and bringing them up. They did not need Nike to tell them to just do it. They were well ahead of Nike’s philosophy. And many of the young are doing it even before they passed their teens. Some got married before they even started to earn a living, all with the blessings of their wise parents and elders. It may be a case of following the leader. They have done it and cannot be wrong. And they too did not need the advice of a MP to do what they wanted to do. Getting married is the simplest thing to do. Housing is never a problem. Some were given landed properties by their parents, who have planned well ahead for them, as marriage gifts. Those without such thinking parents can always live with their parents under one roof in their spacious HDB flats. Our 2 and 3 rm flats are a luxury compared to what the Hongkongers are having. And when the babies come in the following months, it will be complete, three generations under one roof. This is what living is all about. This is what a happy extended family is all about. No need to have maids when the grandparents are around to baby sit. Don’t worry, everything will take care of itself. The flats will come one day. The babies will grow up on their own and take care of themselves. If one thinks too much, there will be no marriages and no babies. And that is a serious problem for the country. The country really needs more unthinking people to just get married and make babies to drive economic growth. We need the super talents to think and the non talents to work. It is a perfect arrangement, both complimenting each other. Everyone is happy.

The level of intolerance

PAS has just raided several shops selling lottery tickets in Kelantan. They find gambling against their values and life style and would not allow it to be on sale despite the provision of the Federal Law. Selling lottery tickets and some forms of gambling like betting on 4D, horse racing, and a casino in Genting Highland, are allowed under the Federal law. If I am not mistaken, night clubs and bars were also banned in Kelantan. The MCA is raising its protest as an infringement into the rights of the non muslims. Just because the state govt does not agree with the lifestyle of other races, it does not have a right to ban them. If this precedent is upheld, then many things can be banned and the non muslims will have to live like the muslims in Kelantan, no eating of pork, no night spots or night entertain, no bars, no gambling, no movies, no drinking and maybe no drinking of alcohol as well. What else will be banned? This is the kind of intolerance that is getting more pervasive and intruding into the lives and social activities of other minority races. This is the kind of danger when political power falls into the hands of intolerant groups or people that have no qualms about imposing their wills and beliefs on the minorities. The big question is how intolerance is PAS should it won political power in Malaysia? For the moment there are some moderate voices within the group and some forms of give and take. When the chips are down, when the more secular parties lost power to the likes of PAS, what would be left of the rights of the minorities in Malaysia?

Who pays GST?

I must repeat what I said about GST again. 1. Unborn babies pay GST. Mothers to be have to visit gynaecologists for consultancy. Pay GST. 2. Babies pay GST. All baby food, clothing and utensils, including pampers and pacificiers subject to GST. 3. Children pay GST. All their food and clothings and accessories include GST. 4. The jobless pay GST. They pay GST for food and clothing and whatever. 5. The retirees pay GST. They pay GST for food and clothing and medical bills. Since people like to use percentage as a measurement or for comparison, how many percent of the incomes of the above goes to GST?

Independent Director jailed

This is the first time that an independent director was jailed. In the past they simply resigned and disappeared when trouble was brewing. That was an easy escape route for this profession. Would this jailing of independent directors be a signal that collecting director fees is not going to be a cup of tea and independent directors will now be held accountable and be put in jail if they failed in their duties? I really hope so. Oh some are crying foul, $50k or $60k not enough to risk being jailed! My two big balls! If one is doing his job well, there will not be any jailing and $50k or $60k is a big sum of money. And some even claimed that there is a shortage of independent directors. Really, just because some are sitting in 8 or 10 boards? The fact that people are rushing to grab as many independent directorship as possible is proof that it is a very lucrative job and many people are willing to do it as a full time job. Now part timers are aplenty, hoarding 5 or more directorships and pretending that they are able to cope with the demand of the job and its responsibilities. Let’s be serious, and make this a responsible profession and independent directors be made to work for their keeps. Imagine some could be taking hundreds of thousands and quickly resign the moment they see trouble coming. This is making a mockery of the system and the good money paid. If nobody wants to be independent directors because money not enough and risk too high, just let me know and I will be able to recommend to them qualified professionals who are more than willing to do the job, including your goodself.

From oversupply to undersupply to…

With all the best talents, with all the planning, pre emptive policies and targeted response, the housing market has been swinging like a pendulum, from over supply to under supply and to stop gap measures. Is this how the housing of the people should be managed? Over built and under built seem to be a norm because supply and demand are fickle and unpredictable. This all boils down to the meddling of a public housing policy to house the people to one that turns housing into a commodity for trading and speculation, responding to market forces with different objectives. When the supply of public housing is determined strictly be demand and trying to anticipate demand and not to provide a home for the people, this is what we get. Public housing is not only an economic consideration, it is a political issue and cannot be simply decided based on profitability and market forces. A 10,000 unit over supply is a problem that should not be from the start. Why, how could it happen? But having a situation that there is completely no available stock and to build only when there is a demand and be completed in 3 to 4 years down the road is equally disgusting as a public policy. Heard the latest stop gap measure that raises the income ceiling to $5000 for buying of 3 rm flats. The reason, to prevent these buyers from over stretching themselves and forced into buying more expensive flats that they could not service. What about those who happened to earn more than the commandment that $8000 ceiling is immovable and be forced into buying private properties and overstretching themselves? Is it alright to force those who earn a little more into the crazy private property market to be squeezed by the astronomical prices of private properties? Where is the responsibility to ensure that people should buy within their means and not endanger themselves by over committing? It is individual responsibility to manage their finances. But how can govt policy force people to over commit themselves with an immovable income ceiling that is already obsolete? Can we have another stop gap measure tomorrow to raise the ceiling for 4 rm flat and another one for 5 rm flat next year? Such piece meal changes are manifestation of not thinking through the whole problem and not looking at the big picture. Can someone remove the blinkers please.

The Dance Floor

Two couples dancing away.

Why no interest in Jasmine Revolution?

Peh Shing Huei, ST’s China Bureau Chief interviewed several Chinese and was disappointed that most were just not interested in the call for a Jasmine Revolution in China. In a way a revolution is fun, as long as it is happening in someone else country, and other people’s blood are flowing. Many anglophiles and western biased Chinese analysts would love to have a Jasmine Revolution in China. For the ethnic western journalists, no need to say, for a China in disarray is a good thing. Why would the Chinese want a revolution at this point in time when China is on a roll? China has risen like a phoenix from the ashes. Yes there are problems, but the problems are miniscule given the enormity of the problems when China was a poverty stricken state when being a Chinese was a shame. During those dark days, many Chinese probably wished they were not born and wanted to be Europeans. Some Chinese today still want to be Europeans. But the number is dwindling. There is great pride in China and in being Chinese. China and the Chinese are positioned to upstage the Americans in a matter of time. Why would the Chinese want to kill this golden opportunity, to turn their country upside down, and to be conquered and treated like pariahs by the westerners one more time? No doubt there are still some silly Chinese who had a few hamburgers too many and think that China should succumb to western pressure and be a failed state. They are praying everyday for it to happen. The Chinese in China must not make the same mistake and destroy what their govt has done over the last 40 years. They have done everything right with some exceptions which are more of failings of individuals rather than the govt. Would the Chinese be stupid enough to listen to silly overseas and local Chinese who advocate them to destroy what they have built today? If China would to be messed up today, it will never be able to stand up again for another century. And some of the western minded Chinese will be most happy. And they will call themselves John Smith wherever they go and proudly announce that they don’t understand a word of Chinese. And being Chinese would once again be a shame.

Dictatorship of a political party

A dictator controls everything in a country, the people, resources, finances, power and ideas. A political party can also behave like a dictator, controlling everything in a country. Have we reached such a state? I was reading Tharman’s reply to Low Thia Khiang in Parliament and I came away with the feeling that everything he said was true, right and the best for Singapore. He and his team had thought through everything in detail and came out with the best solution available. ‘There is more than enough for lower and middle income households in the Grow and Share package in this year’s Budget to tide over this period of high inflation.’ Period. Believe it or not, agree with it or not, like it or not, that’s it. That’s the final answer. ‘A retired couple is likely to see their costs of living increase by $400 this year….A three generation middle income household’s living expenditure for the year is estimated to rise by $1,850….’ Undisputed hard numbers and hard truths. And the GST issue… The current system is the best. The other variations, permutations, modifications, are either not effective, bad or too difficult to implement. GST is not regressive taxation. Next please. And despite all the questions and questions, the answers given by Tharman are all the answers that will be given, and that’s it. The party has all the correct and perfect answers and solutions to all problems. Do we need another alternative party or alternative voice? As for the dictatorship of the party, we are not there yet. At least there are some who acknowledged that they did not have the monopoly of ideas. They only have all the answers.

Like a prostitute

This is exactly what a truly free economy is like. Offer to anyone who has the money to pay for it, citizen or non citizen, good or bad person, no question ask as long as the party is willing to pay. The door is always open, and so are the legs. There is no consideration about right and wrong, about morals, obligations, loyalty and responsibility. A prostitute is only responsible to provide a service to satisfy the customer and collect her keeps. Period. Please don’t ask the prostitute to be nice. A prostitute is only nice to the one with the dole and for the moment. Do not bother about charity from the prostitute. Her mind set is that if she can offer or sacrifice herself, everything, pride and dignity, to earn that dollar, you better take care of yourself. Can prostitution be an honourable alternative for the viability of a state? I mean figuratively of course. Is our country just another prostitute?

Tampines uncut

Tampines GRC is one of the few that were left practically unchanged in the redrawing of boundaries. Might as well since any redrawing does not give the PAP any advantage over the opposition, be it Tampines or anywhere else. However, Tampines presents a very interesting case for speculations given the opposition’s assessment that it is one of the very likely GRC to fall. Then why is Tampines left uncut? Would it also be that Mah Bow Tan will still helm the GRC in the no horse run race? Assuming that it is a win or lose situation, what does it mean? One possibility is that the housing problem is already resolved by all the remedial accelerated housing programmes. The house hunters, especially the first time owners, must have been appeased and their housing needs taken care of. So it would not be an election issue any more. Tampines is safe. Another possibility is that Tampines will be the sacrificial lamb. Well, if the reading is that some GRCs will fall, might as well let Tampines go without too much hustle to redraw the boundaries. It is already too far gone. Let there be no complains from the opposition that its boundaries were redrawn to protect the ruling party’s interest. It looks like a pretty fair proposition, boundaries intact and the GRC team intact, maybe with one or two changes for renewal. And Mah Bow Tan is going to dig in and defend his turf like a man. My guess is that Tampines will go to the opposition unless they fumble again in the last minute and got themselves disqualified. Pray no such idiots surface to overturn the apple cart. Why am I feeling so nervy that this is gonna happen?

WE, the People of Singapore….

The PAP’s election campaign is on. And it is there to tell the people how good the party is, how well and how much they have done for Singapore, and how good is the caliber of their candidates. This must be expected as all political parties will want to blow their own trumpets. And, if the PAP has its way, it will want the people to vote all 87 PAP candidates to Parliament. They are saying it all for their own good. The opposition will also sing their own songs, on how they could contribute to the country when elected. They will tell the electorate how important it is for the opposition to be represented in Parliament to speak for the people, to speak and to offer an alternative voice. All the reasoning has been rehashed over the years, over every election. What else is new? What is new or can be new is ‘We, the Citizens of Singapore…’ Yes, we, the people of this country must know what is good for us. Every political party will be thinking of what is good for themselves first and then the people. We, the people of Singapore, must think for our own interest first and foremost. Only WE, the people of Singapore…. will know what is good for us, not someone says so. All the political parties have their own agendas and think of themselves as first. We, the people of Singapore… better do some thinking now, and do what is right and good for us. Yes, US, and not other people or political parties, US, and vote wisely, for our own good. Don’t believe anyone telling you that they are doing it for your own good. We know, and have bad experiences, many bad experiences, when people tell US that they are doing it for our own good. We are the people of this country and must decide what is good for this country and for US and our children. The election is for the people to elect who the people think can serve them better. Let’s make it happen.

Global Warming - Temperature Rising

My latest creation on Global Warming, showing how the fishes melt under high temperature. A larger version in my Art of RAR blog.

When the right ball does not know what left ball is talking

When this happens, someone can go on screwing everyone. Ok, kopitiams and hawker stalls, do not anyhow raise your price, it will lead to higher cost of living. Inflation is the most dangerous beast lurking in our midst. The worst bugbear is housing. Look at the lovely prices in the sky and all the happy developers and speculators, and HDB owners! Now who is aiding the high prices? Would the hike in worker’s levy raise the cost of housing? Maybe not. Who knows, nobody I think. It is very difficult to understand building and construction cost when no numbers are available. Will the hike in redevelopment fees for properties raise property prices? Definitely no. There are unrelated, two different things. The high cost of housing is imported, imported together with foreigners coming here to work and to be residents. And also the high cost of materials, definitely beyond our control. I am still trying to figure out why property price is still rising. Maybe I am really dumb. After so long still unable to find out why.

We need more Chee Soon Juans in Parliament

Chiam See Tong may be able to anchor a team to win a GRC. I hope he delivers. But what is badly needed in Parliament is more Chee Soon Juans. Personally I think he is the most wronged person in politics. He has given his all, his career, his family and his life to politics, to serve Singapore. If this is not sacrifice, what else is? It is time that the people appreciate his contribution and give him their votes to bring him into Parliament. Having one Chee Soon Juan is not the end as a lonely figure in Parliament is not a joking matter. He could be drowned by laughters, and that is all there is to keep him on the defensive. He needs a team of several Chee Soon Juans to stand up to the wolf pack. And a few Chee Soon Juans can only do good for the people of Singapore. There is a need for an opposition voice, a real opposition voice, in Parliament. And if there is a time for it, this GE is the best opportunity to make it happened. The set back in the Reform Party must be taken in its stride and the best of the opposition must be given a chance to represent and speak for the people. Without an opposition voice, we can expect more of what we have already knew, and more akan datang. More of everything is affordable. No matter how good a solitary ruling party is, I think by now the people are wiser and know what is for their own good. A bigger and louder opposition voice is begging to be represented and heard in Parliament. Our first world country with first world political and economic system, with first world citizens, now with more foreign talents becoming citizens, more first world, must surely be able to withstand the presence of a few more opposition members in Parliament. Not the NMP or the NCMP kind. It would not collapse. If it does, like sand castle, then it is not worth keeping. We need a more resilient and durable political system that can last.

Tragedy of ignorance, irresponsibility or plain stupidity?

Lily Neo related this story of a 45 year old jobless woman. She has ‘five children aged 9 to 20 and a grandson living in a two room rental flat. She remarried recently, but her husband is also unemployed. The sole breadwinner is the 20 year old son, who has primary school education and earns $650 a month doing odd jobs. Her two daughters aged 9 and 12 are not doing well in school. Her 13 year old son has dropped out. And her 18 year old daughter has a 5 year old son.’ In the 1950s or earlier, in a rural environment, life will go on just like the border towns of Thailand/Myanmar/Kampuchea or in some parts of third world countries. The people live off the land, build a hut with some leaves and called it home. They will survive without education, with little food and little needs. In the 21st Century, in the heart of a big city, you cannot live life that way. Everything costs money, rentals, food and all the basic needs. Why is such a thing still happening in our society? Who is at fault? How much can the govt do to help these people? Are such tragedies avoidable? Just ponder. These people have the right to live, make love and procreate. Can anyone say they need to have a COE for doing such basic things? Can any govt take tough measures against the right to live, to make love, and to procreate? Is there a solution? Is there a problem in the first place? If we cannot recognise the problem, then there is no problem and no need for a solution. If we do not know that there is a problem, better still, no problem. Where is the ostrich?

This is home, truly…

Is Singapore a home or a hotel? The traditional understanding of a home is a place where one grows up and has many fond memories of, old places, faces, smell and a lot of stories to feel nostalgic about. It is about belonging, a familiar place to touch base. The features of modern living and being Singaporeans today are about change. Everything is changing, from the infrastructure and road maps to the faces of people on the street, the odour and the sight and sound, never the same before. We have people moving in and out of the island, citizens become non citizens, non citizens become citizens. We move homes like changing clothes. All the memories of childhood were wiped away for development and progress. The moving and changing even goes down to being a part of a place or constituency. Today part of Hougang, tomorrow part of East Coast, then become single wards, then GRCs. Today serve by this MP, tomorrow by another. With all the continuous changes in our lives, from the familiar to the unfamiliar, can we really feel that this is home? No wonder they are saying that as a nation, we are still a work in progress, starting all over again and again. Our roots have very few things to anchor on. Our friends were always new, our neighbours new, our MPs also new. We are less than 50 years old, and our accumulated past have already been wiped away by economic and progress. This is home, truly? Work in progress?

How could Singaporeans be not grateful?

It has never occurred to me that a medical bill can go beyond a million bucks. (Ok, I know I am not living in this glittering world). It was shocking to hear that it could be $24.8 million. I was always shaken by a $20k or $100k bill. It only shows how ignorant I am in the world of the very rich when paying a few million bucks is nothing. Singaporeans who have to pay $100k or $30k for a medical bill must be grateful that it is such a small sum to pay. And those who kpkb about a 5c hike in transport fare or a 10c in kopi O, please lah, have a life. You people are not worthy of living if you have to kpkb about such trivials. The $24.8 million bill must have awakened many people that their lives are actually not worth living. How could people be spending that kind of money as if money is nothing? That is another point. Next time when one got admitted to our world class hospitals, privatized or whatever, don’t complain about the bill. It is very cheap. And be very grateful to ministers who have to give up their lucrative medical careers to serve the people and country. For doing that, they are sacrificing a career that could mean several millions of income per month for a $3m annual salary. Be grateful and be thankful that we have such good people making such big sacrifices. And also be grateful that the minister is trying to raise your savings in the Medisave account to several hundred thousands. The reason now is obvious. Medical bills in privatized govt hospitals are cheap but can still be in the hundreds of thousands. The current minimum of $33k or there about are simply peanuts. Definitely not enough! Be appreciative of the govt helping to plan for you to pay your medical bills when you least expect it. The masses may be ignorant and not thinking, thank god the govt is thinking for them every day, for their own good. Singaporeans are indeed a lucky lot.

The Grand Old Man of the Opposition

Whenever I look at Chiam See Tong and his physical condition, I shook my head and quietly told myself that he should retire from politics. Then I read these comments from him when asked why he wants to continue in his condition, I understood. These are what he said, But you know, this isn’t a hard job, he said.. In fact, it is harder to bring up a family with little income. It is harder competing for jobs with foreign talents. It is harder to look after a disabled child, or an elderly parent It is harder to afford hospital bills for your family. These, are hard jobs that Singaporeans are facing. And it will get tougher. He is doing it for a cause, to want to do something for the people. With all the odds and physical limitations, he is struggling to fight another fight which is no easy thing to do. He is the Grand Old Man of the Opposition, a man with a mission for the people of Singapore. He walks his talks. Good men are rare to find. He is one of the few left. He never claims to have sacrificed anything. He just do it. What a man!

When supply and demand are not elastic

The basis of a free enterprise economic system is based on the elasticity of supply and demand. And there must be plentiful of supply, ie choices, and plentiful of demand, ie people can afford to buy whatever they want. Without this elasticity, a free enterprise economy is doomed for self destruct. Today we are seeing more and more evidence of what an uninterrupted and skewed economy can become a living hell to many and heaven to a few. Hey, isn’t that a truism, that only a few will be in heaven and the rest be in hell? Take drinking water as an illustration. If the supply of drinking water is controlled by a mean owner, he can literally sell a cup of drinking water at $100 or at whatever price he demands. Everyone kwai kwai must pay. It is only the wisdom of time that govts of today imposed regulations on the distribution of essential and basic goods and services. Of course the temptation of free enterprise and the grostesque profits it can make often proved too tempting that devious reasons were used to perpetuate free private enterprises. The mantra of market forces know best and are best for buyer and seller is the wisdom of today. This is the biggest myth that the masses have been led to believe. For many economies, or many goods and services, the perfect market condition is just not there. The result is abuse of the free enterprise system. There are times when control and regulations must be imposed, with good intention as a prerequisite, to ensure a fair and equitable system for the people in general. A time has now come to upturn the concept of property speculation in a small piece of rock. Properties cannot continue to be speculated simply for profit basis. It is an essential piece of basic needs and must be heavily regulated. Unrestrained property speculation for profits only benefitted the few who will get richer at the expense of the larger majority. Making matter worst is that foreign speculators in the name of investors, came in to profit and disappear with their gains and leaving the locals with a baby that becomes a heavy burden for life. The madness of property speculation, of property as a good investment, has transformed itself into a dangerous animal to the demise of many average home owners. With so many negative factors that will only contribute to higher and higher property prices, a fundamental change in housing policy must be looked at now. It is no joke when a person has to work his guts out, for the rest of his life, just to have a roof over his head. It does not make sense anymore.

A second career in politics

Gilbert Goh has joined and left the Reform Party. Heard that he is now with another party. People like Gilbert, in fact there are many professionally trained and experienced people who have retired or in between jobs, should take up politics as a second career. The experience and wisdom they bring along after years of hard knocks will give them a more mature perspective of the expectation of life and what they can do for the people. And many of them are very able and could do much instead of waiting for another job. A politician is a full time job, a career and a worthy one, and a worthwhile one as an occupation. What are they waiting for? Get together some like minded people, ten or twenty and that will be a good start and nucleus for a new political party. Joining an existing political party is easier but it means accepting all the culture and history and philosophy of that party. Starting a clean slate with some people one knows better is more desirable and easier to move on without any old garbage. The young retirees are at the prime of their lives and have many more good years to go. What is there to lose when there is so much to gain?

Of moles and conspiracies in Singapore politics

The latest break away in the Reform Party saddens those who are hoping against all hopes that a reasonably able alternative party could appear in the next general election. The longing for a stronger alternative voice in Parliament was seeing some light at the end of the tunnel until this happened. Some able and young aspiring politicians quit, and in so doing dashes the hope of a good contest in the GE. Many speculations were floating around as to why the break at this critical time. Conspiracies, moles, inept or personality conflicts or whatever, all breeds nothing good for the cause of an alternative voice. The most distaste reason, if it turns out to be true, is to have moles working from within a party to bring it down. The country deserves good people, people with integrity, to come forward to serve the nation. Good people, whether from the ruling party or alternative parties, are good people. Politics may be a dirty game to some, but it should not be made dirtier by people with lesser integrity, to play the role of moles to undermine another party. Good and talented people must have self respect and not to be involved in such roles for the good of themselves, the country and the people. It is not worth it to compromise one’s self respect and integrity to do such dirty works for any reasons. For the moment this is all speculation. I doubt anyone with some intelligence and dignity, and worthy to be a leader and a man, or a woman, would stoop so low to become moles. The conflicts in political parties are inevitable as different personalities and objectives are involved. For whatever reasons, the interest of the nation and the people must be above all else, and all private personal interests. Let’s pray that we will have good and decent people in the ruling party as well as the alternative parties to be leaders of the country.

The Good and Bad News of inflation

January’s 5.5% hike in inflation is the second highest in two years. If this goes on every month, the inflation for the whole year will be probably 3 to 3.5%. Pardon my poor arithmetic. See the good and the bad news? Inflation is good news really. The higher the better. It means that the economy is doing very well and people have a lot of money to spend and can afford to pay more and more. Look at the high property prices and the high COEs, where got problem. The queues are there everyday.. For property buyers, the higher the inflation, the longer will be the queue as they will make instant profit after every purchase. The price will shoot up everyday. Buying property will be such a wonderful experience. A commentator, couldn’t remember his name, said that this high inflation is already expected. So nothing to worry about. It is all well planned and managed. Looking at how comfortable and happy Singaporeans are today, we can actually use inflation as a measurement of happiness index. The higher the inflation, the happier the people. At least 80% of property owners (HDB owners) will be praying that inflation goes through their flat roofs and all can be instant multi millionaires. Good for the coming general election.

Amidst chaos there is a golden lining

The Middle East is in turmoil. New Zealand’s Christchurch is in rubbles with many dead or waiting to be rescued. The Asian stock markets tumbled with many incurring huge losses. Everything is looking bleak despite a people’s budget to help the lower income earners to overcome the inflation beast. But not all is lost or not all is bad news. I just read that there is a profession that could bring in a revenue of $24.8 m over 7 months of work. This works out to be roughly about $3.5m every month. Not bad for a job when compared to our ministers earning that in a year. Now I can even say that minister’s pay is peanuts. If there is any job that I wanna be, this must be the job, a surgeon. This is the bill Dr Susan Lim charged to her patient, a royalty from Brunei. The bill has become a controversy and is fully reported in the ST today. It was also reported that the final bill, after discounts and whatever, is now about a quarter of the original bill and still unpaid. Even at one quarter the sum of $800k a month is still a princely sum. All I can say is nice. I wish I could have such an income. I am drooling and all wet thinking of the bill. World class medical treatment will come with world class bill for world class quality of professional services. You want the best, be prepared to pay for the best. Is this a Guinness Record? A $8 bill for a heart bypass must be a steal. Please don't complain about how expensive our public privatised hospital bills are. Be really grateful.

Conning the silly Asian Asses

The big Western banks and funds are managed by their best financial and engineering talents and are out to rob the world. They have conceived and designed the most complicated and advanced financial systems that almost guaranteed maximum profits and minimum losses to themselves. And they are selling these systems to the silly Asian Asses who bought them hook, line and sinkers. They only need to dangle the carrot of a combined war chest of several hundred billions of cash. They will bring the cash to the silly Asian Asses if the latter would abide by their terms and conditions, and how the game should be played. They can’t be bringing their war chest to give away to the silly Asian Asses for sure. They are there to rob! The American regulators have now understood how and what these reckless and irresponsible bankers are doing, gambling with high stakes, using other people’s money. They can’t lose, except other people’s money. And they stand to win and line their pockets with millions when they have control of the game. Paul Geithner in his latest speech called for an international system to prevent these rogues from gambling and robbing the innocent investors of their money. America is working out a system to tighten and regulate the activities of these big financial robbers and wanted the rest of the world to implement the same tight regulations to curb this menace. Geithner wanted to see a level playing field to prevent these rogues from moving from one country to another where the legislation and regulation are lax to enable them to do damage to the innocent. For the moment, the silly Asian Asses still have greed covering their eyes and could not see the harm and damage that these rogues could create to their financial systems even when billions have been extracted and robbed from their local investors. When would it end, when would deregulation be stopped and more regulations be introduced to protect the integrity of the financial systems across the world?

Of Glorious Past

Egypt, India and China were three old civilizations that survived the times, intact. They were once the centre of civilizations, the centre of knowledge, culture, science and engineering, philosophy and the arts. And for many centuries their people were proud of their achievements. The pyramids and astronomy were the pride of the Egyptians, the Yogas, religions and great architectural wonders were what Indians were known for, the Chinese bragged about gun powder and printing blocks. Those were their glorious pasts. Obsolete! Then a quiet industrial revolution took off in little Europe and the little countries became empire builders. They ran over the Egyptians, the Indians and Chinese and made themselves masters of these people. The great civilizations became history, and its people and culture were scorned upon as bankrupt ideas. For centuries, they became the laggards of civilizations. But their glories lived on in the minds of many, including lesser countries around the world. Many still hold them in awe as centres of learning and are sending their next generations to learn ancient knowledge and past glories that are of little relevance to the modern world. There are signs of revival in India and China, to reclaim their past greatness and be recognized again as respectable civilizations. Thanks to little Singapore, the Chinese came and learn, and brought home our model of development, studied, improved on it and adapted it for their own development. They have surpassed Singapore by leaps and bounds. And they are not looking back. What could little Singapore offer to an ancient civilization of several thousand years? Singapore may be a flash in the pan, a little light from a shooting star in the dark sky, but Singapore can be that flash of light in a sea of ignorance. Singapore may fade away fast, but it has its little moment of brightness, to light up the dark sky and to show the way. Ancient civilizations, no matter how great, will need to adapt to the changes of modernity, adapt and reinvent themselves, or they will become the ruins of history. India and China have sent many of their youngs to the centres of modern knowledge in the West, to learn from the very best, to feed, cloth and house their people, to give them a better life. If they have not done that and continue to live in their past glories, what would be the fate of their people today? Or how far could they advance if they have chosen to send their young to learn the ancient ways in Egypt? Would they be wasting their money and resources and talents to learn to live in the past, with ancient wisdom, knowledge and values?

Difficult to make distinction between new and old citizens

Is it so difficult? With the computerization of all records and data, what is so difficult? The issue is whether there is a need to differentiate new and old citizens? On face value it is easy to accept that all citizens should be treated equally and be entitled to all the rights and privileges without distinction. A citizen is a citizen. Under the law, all citizens are equal. What about citizens who did and did not sacrifice the 2 to 2 and half years in NS? What about the wealth of the nation accumulated over the years by the older citizens and bearing fruits today? Should the new citizens be entitled to all the same rewards from the earlier contributions of the old citizens especially when the sum is very significant like housing ‘subsidies’ and govt handouts like the cash being given to the citizens? Things like paying of school fees, rights to register for schools, taxes, GST, rights to vote are less ambiguous and less contentious. Should new citizens be allowed to stand for election without time qualifications? Surely there are things that must be put in the right perspective instead of promptly being brushed aside as a non issue. No need to ponder a second longer. There is another important reason why there should be a distinction. The number of new citizens minted are in such big numbers and in a furious speed that they will soon be as many as the old citizens. Is this a cause for alarm?

Slow ride to Mumbai

The train was crowded as usual in the morning. I closed my eyes after finding a spot to rest my feet and to enjoy a quiet morning ride. The air was scented by a little bit of jasmine and other flowers, and a heavy dosage of coconut oil. Then came the beat of Bollywood that filled the whole cabin to complete the experience. My fingers started tapping, and slowly my head and shoulder too responded uncontrollably to the catchy beat. My memory slided back to the 1950s. Three blocks of 4 storey flats bounded by Nelson Road and Borneo Road facing Gate 5 of the then Singapore Harbour Board were the quarters for its workers. I don’t remember that they had to pay for rent. The centre block was occupied by the Chinese coolies working as stevedores and riggers or just plain labourers. The other two blocks were homes to the Indian labourers in the same trades. Traffic was sparse and the air was quiet in the early morning hours. And sound travelled far and loud. And there was music in the air from radio in full blast. The older version beat before the times of modern Bollywood greeted everyone, and every morning, in the neighbourhood. And there was some incense too, curry and prata delighted the taste buds of morning workers. Then the speaker came on, ‘Next station, Raffles Place.’ Immediately I was brought back to the 21st Century city state. For a brief moment I thought I was heading to Mumbai. Thanks for the memory, SMRT.

People, go down on your knees

The people of Singapore, new and old citizens, must go down on their knees for this windfall of money given to them by the govt. Do they know where the money comes from or is coming from? Never mind, be grateful and just say thank you. And please stay there, on your knees and don't get up. For the next spate of price and fee increases will make your knees wobble. And you may have to be on your knees to beg for mercy. Just my imagination. It won't happen...not again and again. For those who have a gripe about treating foreigners or new citizens better, they may want to ask whether a new citizen of yesterday would also receive the full benefits of an aging citizen who have threw in his lot with this country for the last 50 or 60 years, contributing to the reserves and everything to produce this windfall? Maybe new citizens would not get the same amount, at least those who did not do NS will get $100 less. It is a very beneficial option to be citizens and be given cash just being a citizen. I think the application queue will get longer by another mile. Applying to be citizens is like applying to get free money.

A new model for Egypt?

Yang Razali Kassim wrote an article in the ST yesterday on Indonesia as a possible role model for the new Egypt. The assumption is that there is real change with the fall of Mubarak. Some are wondering whether there is any change at all and whether everything is as before with power in the hands of the old guards, and the Emperor still in control. But this is another issue that will become clearer when the dust settles. Yang Razali has pondered whether Indonesia is a good alternative political system for Egypt and the Middle East. The thought of Indonesia as a model for an ancient civilisation which is the pride of the Arab world is a refreshing change. It shows a shift in the mindset of what can be good for the Islamic world. And now, Indonesia and even Malaysia, could stand out as good alternatives to the Middle Eastern political system. They have not been doing well and not exemplary on any count. Nothing to crow about. At least Indonesia and Malaysia are truly independent countries and not controlled by foreign powers, and are models of economic growth and development. The rest of the Islamic world outside the Middle East have always looked towards this centre for everything, education, culture, social and lifestyle, and of course religion. The question is whether the Middle East lives up to its reputation or perceived greatness for the rest of the Islamic world to emulate. Looking at Indonesia and Malaysia, it is apparent that these two countries are more successful in their social and economic development. Should it then be the Middle East looking to Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia, as the role model for the future? Should Indonesia and Malaysia look West to the Middle East and give up their rich cultural heritage to be more like Arabs or vice versa? What the Middle East can offer so far is religion and an ancient culture that is not going anywhere except towards the medieval age. In contrast, Indonesia and Malaysia are moving forward to science and technology, with religion as one of the pillars of their social political framework. The Middle East is all about religion and religion and the times of Muhammed. There is a contention between modernity, science and technology versus religiosity, tradition and ancient conservatism. Which shall be the light of the Islamic World? America was the new world of Europe. Can Southeast Asia be the new model for the Middle East?

Budget – Why so little?

$6.6b with $3.2b angpows for the people were announced by Tharman in his budget speech yesterday. My immediate reaction is why so little? The Americans printed US$600b or nearly S$800b. This is roughly $2,600 per American. We are giving out about $1,000 per citizen. And we are so much richer than the Americans. They are in debt and we have a huge reserve and surpluses every year. We could do much more to help the people in a time when inflation is eating up the income of the people. In 2009, during the financial crisis, the Resilience Budget was $20b. This year we have a bumper harvest and only a $6.6b giveaway. Definitely not good enough. The few thousand dollars are spread too thinly and will disappear in no time. The most crucial issue is how to curb high inflation. Actually no lah, inflation only 3 to 4% according to the latest official reports, where got high. Why are the people complaining about such miniscule inflation? I am also scratching my head. The monthly inflation seemed to vary from 3 to 5% and the whole year inflation is only 3 to 4%. If one simply compound a 3% monthly inflation over 12 months, I am sure is it more than 4%. If really the annual inflation is 3 to 4%, and with income rising above 5%, there is real income growth for the individuals. In that case, the budget is actually a big bonus. There is no real need for an angpow budget and nothing to worry about. What is real? The cost of everything is still rising and unstoppable. This is the frightening part and no amount of angpows and handouts can do much if the outflow is faster and more than the income, angpows and handouts included.