it is painful watching a freak show

I happened to be fiddling with my remote control button during the commercial break watching Da Vinci Code, and 'Ouch!' It was so painful to my eyes when I saw these few freaks trying to appear queer on TV. And then there was a panel of judges, also trying to look cute and sound cute. My goodness, who is on show, or who is performing? The contestants were there as props. It is the judges that were the performers, trying very hard to be someone they were not. I grimaced with so much pain. I shouted 'Cut, cut, cut!' But nothing I could do except to switch back to the channel I was watching. The commercial break was still on. Then I told myself, it could not be that bad right? So I bravely pushed on the remote button to take another peep. 'Ouch! No, it is just as painful. No way I am going to take a second look ever again. It was supposed to be some kind of idol show. My gosh! Remove the contestants, remove the freaks. Oh, wait a minute, it is the judges that need to be removed.'

my government or my people?

When is enough enough? When will the people stand up and tell the PAP that they will not let the PAP to continue to rough handle anymore? There are some consensus views of what or how the PAP is being seen by the voters in the aftermath of the recent general election. 'The PAP is seen as a very arrogant party, and totally unfair to both the opposition and the people. I am against offering upgrading as a carrot. The money belongs to the nation, not the PAP...Christopher Lee in the ST. 'When the people say that the cost of living is high, the PAP says we have cellphones and air conditioners. When the people ask for GST waivers on necessities and medical items, the PAP says they are subsidised. How to talk to the Govt?'...Neo Kim Seng in the ST. 'During the campaign, the PAP told Hougang and Potong Pasir voters: ...Why be so stupid and continually support the opposition which never contributed constructively in Parliament or which only makes trouble in Parliament?...I am surprised at their unsporting attitude.' Sylvestor Goh in the ST. Despite these views which are quite common and quickly surfaced in a discussion, the PAP is still voted to power for another term. The people are unhappy with a PAP that is seen to treat the people badly and even ignoring the people's pleas with their clever arguments, with their views of what they think is best and not coming around to try to understand the people's concern. But then again, its seems that the voters will have to tolerate the arrogance of PAP, or have to grit their teeth and accept PAP as a matter of no better choice. And worst is that they are happy just to know that the PAP is now trying to be gentler to the people. 'I am a PAP supporter who believes the Govt has done a great job and is changing to adopt a softer approach towards the people...' Billy Lee in the ST. This last quote speaks for all Singaporeans, that they have grown use to be push around, or bashed around and all they can hope for, and will be happy, if only the PAP just try to be a little nicer to them. Is this the attitude and expectation of the people on the PAP or any future govt, that it is the natural state of affair for a govt to be stern and even treat them roughly? When would the Singaporeans said enough is enough, that no govt shall ever mistreat them like thrash or to be thrashed around? And a little kinder govt is a great blessing? Do the Singaporeans ever think that it is only right and proper for any govt to treat them fairly and respectfully? The Singaporeans deserve a govt for what that govt is if they let the govt sit on them as a natural state of thing.

another productivity drive

Quantum Leap In Productivity?by Heng-Cheong Leong Lim Swee Say is asking the low income to "make quantum leap in producitivty" in order to move ahead. Great, let's ask your favorite food court's dish clearing auntie how exactly is she going to clear "quantum leap" number of tables? I guess most folks' answer will simply be either OT or Second Job. Is that all NTUC can do? the easiest and most efficient way to help the aunties to clean more dishes and faster is to buy a few dish washing machines. then one aunty can clean what 10 aunties can do. then can replace the 10 aunties with dish washing machines. then can say productivity of 1 aunty is now equivalent of 10 aunties. i still like the idea of creative management in designing high paying jobs. one way is to create more town councils, maybe one town council for every 10 blocks of flats. and every 10 town councils one mayor. then every ten mayors one zone mayor, and every 3 zone mayors one region mayor. and every 3 region mayors one district mayor. and every 3 district mayors one governor mayor. wow, so many jobs created, and high paying one also.

world cup roar

that was what these proud and loyal supporters of Chaim said about his return for another term. they said the roar was louder than if a world cup goal was scored. the whole estate was on their feet when the result was announced and they celebrated till 3 am. their joy, as a group of citizens, was not contrived or managed. it was simple spontaneous joy of a browbeaten people who stood up against all odds and, as they said, unfair and bullying tactics. this is legendary stuff that will be told to the children by words of mouth.

fiction movies are dangerous

Mr Brown's article in the Today paper suggests that in order to protect our innocent young from being deceived by the new superman movie, the movie should be banned or at least be given a NC16 rating. This, in his reasoning, will save the lives of our children who might start to fly from their double decker beds or their windows. The consequences are so scary as our children will not be able to differentiate between facts and fiction. I fully agree and support his suggestion. We should start a movement, a petition, to ban any movie that has a dangerous influence on our young minds. What I want to add is that the ban should also be extended to those 55 and above. At 55, these oldies are not only half as efficient, but cannot be trusted to look after themselves. And our CPF has made a very good decision in locking up their money as well : )

when 55 is half a goner

When 55 is old. The case of the NTU professor who at 55 is considered old, reduced to half pay is a case of doing and saying different things. If 55 is considered old, then the govt must quickly come up with a plan to terminate everyone reaching 60. After 60, one is no longer worthy to contribute to society regardless of the profession that one is in. And in the academia, 55 is only the beginning when all the information pumped into the little brain has just been simmered to perfection to be dished out to the students and society. I would strongly suggest that if this is what our society think of people at 55, then make it a national policy. Everyone on reaching 55 must have his or her pay halfed. And this policy should start with NTU with no exception. Only exception is in parliament where old is gold

a new dimension in cyberspace

The little war between CNA and Singapore Elections is an example of what the future of the media is like. The long entrenched and preserved territory of the media, once strongly guarded of the selected few, to wield the mighty pen to influence the masses is now being challenged. No longer can the media blow its trumpet and sing its tune with immunity. When they talked nonsense, they will be exposed. Just like the election when politicians talked nonsense, immediately people pounced on them and amplified their loose talks in the cyberspace. Singapore Elections is claiming that CNA had used their pics and doctored them. CNA is saying no. The details are in the Singapore Elections forum. Wow, the media being made to account for what they are doing. Before this development, the media is the boss and print what they like. You may complain if you don't agree, but if they don't response, nothing will be heard and no one will know. Internet has changed all that. They cannot ignore you, in this case Singapore Elections has its own platform to tell the world. Things are getting interesting.

magic of internet and digital photo

The combination of internet plus digital photography is really powerful. Someone shot a few dirty pictures of Marine Parade and posted in Sammyboy. The pictures glorified the litters, rubbish and walls with peeling paintworks. Immediately the town council sprang into action and all the disfigurements, graffittis and dirty spots were attended to by contractors. No MPs worth their salt will be able to live in peace when pictures of their badly maintained estate is floating aroung in the internet. And this same magical tool can be used in other areas as well. Wow, it used to be posting a complaint in the Straits Times forum to get a response. But that way you got to be lucky if the paper publishes it. Otherwise, nothing heard, nothing needs to be done. Now with internet, blogs and forums, sure to be posted and be seen. This is efficiency Singapore style, or internet style.

acjc student blogger warned by teacher

gayle goh, an acjc student engaged bilahari kausikan, 2nd perm sec of foreign affairs on an issue concerning retraining of old workers. the perm sec took the trouble to discuss the issue with her and even encouraged her to be critical in her views. but she was warned by her schoolmates and teachers that her blog deals with social and political issues. what more can i say about the mindset of the young singaporeans when the kiasi attitude is etched in them when they are in school. no discussion on socio political issues. how to change this when on the other hand a top civil servant is trying to encourage our young to speak out.

unfair trading practices by banks

While NTUC Coop is restructuring their business model to cut the cost of selling insurance products, it did not count on the 'hard sell methods' of banks to get customers. When banks use hard sell or unfair tactics to improve sales, should this be questioned? And this is what Tan Kin Lian is doing. Then there is also the new Fair Trading Acts coming into force soon which is supposed to level the playing field and prevent unfair trading practices. For those who advocate a laissez faire environment, they may say it is ok. Any organisation can leverage on their strength to gain market share, like hard sell method' or 'dumping' or undercut the competitors by unfair pricing or inducements. The selling of insurance by high pressure tactic as mentioned by Tan Kin Lian is one of such examples. Another example is for banks to offer below the market commission to retain, attract or capture new customers. This is exactly what some banks are doing, selling some products by underpricing the market and make their profits from their main products. Are such practices ethical and tolerable under the Fair Trading Acts? What would happen is that such practices will destroy the jobs of those businesses with dedicated professionals or agents, and thus causing job loss. It will in the long run also destroy the market as well. This is an area which the govt can do to prevent job loss and curb the Levianthan in the banks. It is the muscling out of small players by big boys and has nothing to do with efficiency and professionalism. And the govt has a duty to protect the small guys from such unfair practices. Unless the govt sees the destruction of jobs as a good thing and authorise or encourage the banks to keep doing what they are doing.

Mudslinging by Mahathir.

A DVD is selling on the streets and pasar malams with contents showing Mahathir attacking the Malaysian govt. He accused the govt of lacking courage and the country going to the dogs. By saying that the govt is lacking courage, he is actually calling all those in govt as cowards. And by saying the latter, he is saying that the country is run by dogs. This is a very offensive terminology in a muslim country when dogs or angin are tabooed in the religion, a very derogatory term. Mahathir should count himself lucky to be in Malaysia. In some countries he will be sued until his pants drop. Those words he used not only challenged the credibility of the govt, he is also attacking the sacred institutions of govt and defaming the leaders.

hi fellas, i hope i am not boring you people

i have been chatting here for quite a while and i am running in danger of boring all of you. the internet is revolutionary in a way. before the blog and the internet forum, we are all at the mercy of the printed and controlled media. they speak, we listen. and when we want to speak by sending them beautifully written letters, they decide whether what you wrote serve their interest or purpose. if not, they will simply throw it in the waste paper basket. you wasted all your effort for nothing. they are our masters. now you don't need anyone's approval to see your words in print. today, the internet has return to us our voice, our right to speak our mind. and all at the press of a few buttons. no one is there to arrogate himself to be your master, to control or manage what you can say or what you cannot say. it is a different kind of freedom. but of course this freedom comes with responsibility. we can use this tool for many different purposes, for selfish goals or, we can fantasise a little by saying that we can use it to benefit society. it may be an illusion, but there is no harm in giving ourselves a little purpose in life. otherwise we will just be chatting at random and quite aimlessly. think about it and voice out your thoughts, and you do not know when or how it could have shape other people's ideas. and if your intention is good, maybe down along the line, your thoughts or ideas could give birth to some better thoughts and ideas. feel free, feel less inhibited, communicate and share your ideas around. cheers.

cost of living and job loss watches

i have created two threads in redbeanforum.com to monitor these two issues that are close to the hearts of the people as these affect them directly and can be very painful. also, both are issues that the elected govt has promised to do for the people. the two threads will monitor the developments in these areas and all of you are encourage to contribute to these threads. primarily we want to see what the govt is doing to reduce the cost of living and to create jobs and not destroying jobs or offering jobs to foreigners at the expense of the citizens. PRs are not citizens and should have lower priority in terms of benefits from govt policies vis a vis citizens. the govt must not forget the contributions and sacrifices of citizens towards the nation and the people who voted them to power.

before smrt raises its fare again

The SMRT is making huge profits again. It has been making profits for many years in the hundreds of millions. And all along it has been claiming that cost is rising and it will lose money if transport fare is not raised. And that they are accountable to theirshareholders as a private company. Is it really a private company in the true sense? Can anyone remember that $6 billion was used from taxpayers money to build the infrastructure which has since been written off. (I stand corrected if anyone can prove to me that I am wrong on this.) Now the management of the SMRT are happily managing the company for profits made from none other than the taxpayers who contributed the $6 billion to its initial cost. If the SMRT is to regard itself as a purely private company, and making money for its shareholders as its primary objective, then it is only right and fair that SMRT make provisions to repay the $6 billion back to the people as it has no obligation to the people. For being given the right as a monopoly business, it cannot lose money like any other business. It only needs to raise fares to cover whatever it wants to cover and whatever profits it wants to make. Where else can there be such a sure to profit business? Where is the business risk? The privatisation does not really benefit the people except shareholders. It is a misnomer to claim that without privatisation it will be inefficient and will run at a loss. This is an insult to all govt andstatutory boards, that they are inefficient because they are not privatised. And in case of a stats board, if the management isinefficient they should be fired and replaced with a new management team. Turning it private is a lousy excuse to improve efficiency. I don't believe that stats board are inefficient just because they are not privatised.

better than pyramid scheme

If I can get hold of the people's money, say $100k per person and guarantee them a small return, maybe 2% better than the bank rate, and they have no right to ask them back, wow, won't that be nice? Then I can use it to invest in anything I want. If I make money, I will reward myself with big fat bonuses, and pat myself on the back and tell everyone how clever I am. If I lose money, I will just call it a bad business decision beyond my control. I still collect my management fee, and even give myself a big raise. And If I cannot afford to pay the dividends, I will only rewrite the terms and extend the payout later, or make them contribute more. This provision will make chit funds and pyramid schemes so amaturish. And also, I will make sure that nobody knows the account. It is only for me to know. Won't that be nice?

lowering medical cost or how to pay

BoonWan is tackling the 'how to pay expensive medical bills again.' I sense that the issue is not how to reduce medical cost, but how to pay the ever increasing cost, through group insurance. I think the root to this problem is high medical cost. And this must be tackled first. Medicare must be rightly divided into those who can afford and don't mind paying and those who cannot afford and needed help. That is why we have a govt and not an anarchic society where there is no govt and if one cannot afford it, just too bad. Another area is for the govt to provide choice for the people to decide what they want to consume and pay for. The govt shall not pre decide who should consume what and pay what. The third area is to educate people to prepare to die. Anyone who passes 65 or 70, must be prepared to die, gracefully, with minimum discomfort, through ageing. The medical service must not play the role of extending life at all cost, thus raising medical cost to an astronomical height. For those who can afford it, they can pay for whatever to extend their life for as long as they want. For many who cannot afford it, and without the means, extension of life is an extension of suffering, a burden to themselves, family and society. The expensive medical procedures and medicine are not doing them any good but increasing their misery. And hopefully, with a review of the objectives of medicare and its role in society, and with a proper insurance scheme tailored to different individual needs, with choices and not a straight jacket formula, no one need to have all their money locked up in medisave and CPF when these can be used to provide them with a better quality of life. Not everyone needs the heavy insurance, not everyone wants to extend their life mindlessly. And many will have other means to pay for their medical needs, including family support. The medisave and medical insurance must allow for flexibility and choice. Otherwise, there is no need for all the supertalents if a simple straight jacket solution is all that the ministry can come out with.

taxing the poor efficiently

Income tax dept should rethink unequal tax cut policy to narrow divide between rich and poor I am an income tax payer. Income tax dept should rethink unequal tax cut policy to narrow divide between rich and poor. However, I am pleasantly surprised to discover that my income tax burden is reduced for assessment year 2006. I gather this information from the IRAS website: Singaporean, individual, salaried earner, top income tax contributors will pay 1% less tax while medium income earner will pay 0.5% less tax compared to last year. But low income earners get no benefit. I would like the IRAS to reconsider unequal income tax reduction. I propose that the system of income tax in 2003 be reinstated with reduction in Goods and Services Tax by at least 3 percentage points. My arguments are simple. Firstly, our system taxes us in an inverted pyramid form, ie. the more I earn, the heavier my tax burden. I find this sensible, reasonable and logical. Secondly, GST is non-discriminatory and it effectively taxes our fellow lower income Singaporeans. In my opinion, this has contributed to the rich and poor divide. Not too low income earners like me should not complain about paying taxes as it is our duty as Singaporeans to contribute and move together forward as a nation. No man gets left behind in my Singapore. Ng Swee Kai The writer's article was published in the Sunday Times forum page. I fully agree with his suggestion. The GST is unjust to the poor through its reasoning that everyone must pay tax, rich or poor. Only rich people will support such a taxation policy where the poor, including the very poor, have to pay tax. Thus the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.

can the hatchet be buried?

Lets bury the hatchet and get on with life. The election is over, the victor has been announced. There is no need for the viciousness to continue beyond the 9 days. It was already bad to see people fighting like vipers just to contest for power and wealth. It is time to let go and offer some graciousness. There will never be a Mother Teresa in politics. But there are gentlemen who will arrive on the political scene now and then. We lament that not many good men and women are willing to come forward to serve the nation. Is that true? There are many not so good men, there are evil men, but there are also very good men. Why is it that only the second best are offered to the people as leaders of the nation? Or why would good decent men who would willingly step forward to do their little parts for the people stay away? The last general election is perhaps the sanest of all elections we have had. There was almost a complete absence of personal attacks on any poltiicians. No dirty linens aired. Not until the Gomez incident. Even then, the opposition too were behaving like angels. They tackled issues, some controversial, but nothing personal. No good and decent man would want to get involved in gutter politics. No one would want to be threatened or be sued for wanting to serve people, society and nation. Try to imagine the fear that go through Gomez's mind all those days, putting aside the issue of guilt? And when it was over, it was all a storm in a teacup not worthy even to appear in court. But the pressure of being under siege is unnerving and nightmarish at the very least. Would any good men or women want to place themselves in such a situation? And not for a crime, and could be just a presumed intent. Unless the viciousness mentality is removed, we will only have the second best to serve the country. Our politics will never dream of becoming first world. I am not even asking for forgiveness. For there is nothing to warrant forgiveness.

when religious laws take over the country

Housewive ‘I am not a prostitute’ Indonesian moral guardians pick up frightened lady on street with 28 others, including 63-year-old woman. Amy Chew. Reuters May 12, 2006 "PROSTITUTE!" shouted the jeering crowds as a frightened housewife was led out to a show trial enforcing a controversial morality by-law. The evening before, on Feb 27, Lilies Lindawati was detained by officials of Tangerang, 35km west of here, while waiting for a bus home after dark, an offence under the local authority’s anti-prostitution regulations. With Lilies in tow, the officers went on to round up 28 other women. A 63-year-old woman buying rambutan on the roadside was arrested, as were two young girls eating at a stall. They were bundled off to City Hall where they were held for a night and brought to trial the next morning. "There is lipstick and compact powder in your bag. That means you are a prostitute," said the judge, who spoke through a microphone at a makeshift court on the City Hall grounds. Crying, Lilies replied that it was common for women to carry lipstick and compact powder. "But he refused to accept my explanation," said Lilies as she sat on the floor of her one-bedroom house, which she shares with her husband and two children.... Lilies was fined 300,000 rupiah (S$54). She could not pay the fine and was sent to jail with nine other women who also could not afford the fine. This is what can happen what religion takes over in the running of a country and when religious freaks passed themselves around as the agents of god.

gomez, a storm in a teacup

So Gomez is guilty but let off with a stern warning. Perhaps this is the best settlement given the circumstances. From the govt's point it will save a lot of embarrassment and unfavourable publicity in the international arena should the defence put up a strong case and get him acquitted. There is always such possibility in a court of law. The findings and judgement is made by the court and not even the police or prosecutor. Domestically the people found the case repulsive and it will only erode whatever little goodwill that is left. To expend this credit will cost them dearly in the next election. From Gomez and the WP, it is a nightmare that is over. A storm in a teacup which they could do without, and could not afford the time and finance to go through a lengthy legal process. They just did not have the money to fight an expensive court case and I don't think they will have the money to sue anyone. They definitely cannot do a Durai. They are a small party with limited resources.