living with truths or OB markers

Bloggers and forumers should stay away from trouble by staying within the OB markers. That is the cardinal rule. And Singaporeans accepted this as a right thing to do. Accept the OB markers without asking why. But what are OB markers? What about speaking the truths? Are truths offensive or threatening to OB markers? Should truth be not spoken if someone decides to put some OB markers around it? On the other hand humankind have been living with half truths or lies and be very happy with them because no one cares to put OB markers on them. Did Mr Brown got into trouble because he spoke half truths or because he crossed OB markers? If the case is one of half truths, would it be a civil way to tell the whole truths so that everyone is enlightened rather than to shut him up? What if he is telling the truths, maybe from his perspectives, and given the short article he could not clarify every detail, that they appear as half truths to others? And for that, or not for that, he was closed down because of OB markers? The issue is whether we should be living our lives with arbitrary OB markers imposed on us by demigods? There are obvious OB markers that everyone should avoid even if nobody says so. These are things that could cause social unrest or attacking people personally, libel etc. But if it is a case of politically correct or incorrect according to the OB marker maker, then it is a separate thing altogether. Not all OB markers are objective and good for the nation and people. Some may be good only for the OB marker maker.

Cyberspace and Main Stream Media

Cyberspace and Main Stream Media Mee siam mia hum made the day for bloggers and forumers which also becomes the envy of MSM journalists and reporters. Stories were spun, ringtones, jokes, poems, songs etc were added to make this simple phrase comes alive. Some were naughtly, some mischievious, but many were just poking fun for a little laugher. Everyone in cyberspace must have a say or a word on this. The poor MSM professionals must be biting their nails, wanting to have a go at it too, sharing their two cents worth. Both professional interest says otherwise. No, you can be indulging in such humour or graffitis. So they all sit back doodling on their keyboard wondering what to write. Now this is one aspect of cyberspace which MSM can never compete. Fortunately the new campaign on foreign talent kicks off and gives the MSM professionals something to talk about. Writing about the need for foreign talents and how this can benefit Singapore can never be wrong and is only politically correct. And whew, finally they got something to write about and keeps them busy. The cyberspace is also very active in this topic. But it is very clear that they both belong to different world and seeing the same issues in different perspectives. There is a very real reason why there is a need for cyberspace, just to tell a different story or looking at things from the real people. Can MSM compete with cyberspace when their coverage is limited to politically correct stuff or non political stuff?

creative profit!!!

in the next reporting season creative technology will report an extraordinary gain of us$100 mil! where on earth got asian companies claiming against western giants like Apple and won this kind of damages without even fighting it out in a long legal battle? only creative can do this. and now it has another leg inside apple territory, given the right to produce accessories for ipod. so creative can produce for its zen range of mp3s and ipods. who is this sim wong hoo, the singapore wonderboy? local talent.

myth 55

'Our problem is not Singaporeans giving up citizenships. Our biggest problem is getting people to come here, to take up residence and eventually become citizens.' Wong Kan Seng Is this a myth or a statement of reality? For 41 years, we have been brewing this concoction called 'mee siam mai hum,' just kidding. We have been brewing this Singapore stew and are almost there. The people are starting to gel and singing one people one nation. Today, for some reasons, we are in a hurry to throw in more new ingredients into the stew in double quick time. Can we expect the stew to be the same? How can that be when the recipe is changed? It will take maybe another 40 years to see the result. But the immediate position is that the 41 year stew is not going to be served. It will have to start the whole process all over again, depending on how much new ingredient are thrown in and at how fast a pace. We are not afraid of Singaporeans giving up citizenships. We want to welcome more foreigners quickly by making things easier, more transparent and probably more attractive terms. Now where would all these leave the Singaporeans? The next question is whether the potential citizens will bite. They are not stupid. They too will look at how the govt treat the Singaporeans. For they too will become Singaporeans too. And if they think once they become Singaporeans, they will be treated in the same way, will they have second thoughts? Now they have the best of both worlds. Why would they want to become shit in a shit hole if becoming Singaporeans means they will be lesser off than be better off? Can there be a level playing field for Singaporeans to opt to become PR just like PRs opting to become citizens? Make it easier and just as attractive, a freedom of choice to go either way. Why is it that PRs have greater freedom and flexibility and citizens have more restrictions? Who is better off? Membership has its privileges. Or is it the other way round?

welcoming foreign talents policy seems so right now

30 years ago we had the stop at 2 campaign. everyone was trumpeting how necessary it was to stop at 2. today we are paying the price for that decision. but mind you, it was the right thing to do then for they could not find enough jobs for a rapidly growing population then. today we are trumpeting this foreign talent campaign as if it is the only right thing to do despite our people crying for more decent paying jobs. will this be another big regret 30 years down the road? the british must be kicking their arses for freely allowing their colonial subjects to migrate to uk. otherwise they will not have, or will have lesser terrorist problems. such decisions are never a clear cut right or wrong solution. every solution will have its consequences. anyone dare to vouch that this is the correct thing to do? that is why i always call for moderation. the restructuring of the financial industry in the 90s had caused the loss of many high paying jobs when many in the industry were retrenched. is the financial industry really better off today? the banks appear to be doing well. but the stock market industry is like a big shining red apple on the outside, but rotten to the core and waiting to implode.

'preserve our rights to use our cpf'

I read the above title in the Today paper and find it amusing. There was a hot debate after Tan Keng Soon wrote an article suggesting to modify the CPF scheme and children should contribute to the CPF of their mothers. And now readers are not agreeable to this and wanted to have more control of their CPF savings. Now why is this so amusing? It is amusing because whatever CPF one has, it is well known and has already been factored into the big picture of the country. How much the people have in the CPF have been computed to make sure that they can afford to pay for HDB flats and medical cost. When people have more CPF money, property prices will be priced according to their affordability. Now that people have lesser money left in their CPF, HDB will build 2 room flats to meet their lower affordability ability. And when there are more in CPF, bigger flats will be built again. And today's paper headline has this cheerful report that Singaporeans can now afford to pay for their medical cost. These are also priced according to affordability. According to the report, if Singaporeans seek to be admitted into C and B2 wards, then they should be able to afford to pay for them through their Medisave. But the report forgot that admission into C and B2 wards is not a matter of personal choice but depended on the means testing. So much as Singaporeans may want to save some money by opting for C and B2 wards, they may not qualify and have to pay for more expensive wards because they could afford to. What does all these mean, ie affordability, is to see how much one has in the CPF and how much to price facilities and services to use up these CPF. Now the cry to preserve our right to use our CPF. Fat hope. Every organisation is thinking of how to use up your CPF. Their rights to use your CPF come first. By then they would not be much left. And the final condition, you don't have the right to decide when you can take out your cpf and how much to take out even after you retire.

myth 54

'SMRT is doing well and should not raise fare' I was in the train this morning and something caught my attention. First the thought that SMRT is going to raise its fare after making more than $100 million in profit. Should that be enough to cover for the higher fuel cost? Lets say fuel cost will add another $50 million to its operating cost, just a guesstimate, they will still make another $50 million, ceterus paribus. Then I look around the train carriage all over again. I just felt that something was not right. The two tv screens that were supposed to bring in advertising income were dead silent. The screens were blank, black and not powered on. One big source of income not coming in. What about the billboard advertising panels? There were at least 20 of them on both the inner sides of the train carriage. What? Only one panel has an advert! The rest were empty. This means there will be a drastic fall in advertising revenue. I only hope that it was only in one train carriage. But very likely it will affect the rest of the trains. And this will also mean that many businesses are not advertising, businesses not doing well, or cannot afford to advertise. Or maybe advertising in train is not rewarding. Make your guess.

myth 53

'Need to protect the safety of the World Bank/IMF delegates' As a host nation offering our facilities for the World Bank/IMF Conference here, it is our duty to provide the best facilities, the most hospital and friendly environment and to look after the safety of the delegates. And when we know of public demonstrations that are being planned, we fear for their safety. We must do whatever we can to protect them. Further, we don't allow public demonstration for our people and there is no reason to make an exception for our guests. What if our guests wanted the demonstrations to take place? What if our guests are not concerned with their safety or if they don't see any threat to their safety? What if our guests encourage demonstration as that will make them do a better job? What if our guests requested that the demonstrations be allowed to take place? No, we still need to protect their safety. So no public demonstrations allowed.

year of the dog

There is a beautiful picture in the Straits Times today of the Suzhou Mayor presenting a picture of a dog to Kan Seng in praise of our contribution to the Suzhou Industrial Park, and to commemorate the Year of the Dog. It is an excellent and finely crafted silk weaving painting, a craft that the Chinese has perfected. A special and valuable gift as both men were born in the year of the dog.

we welcome the best of the best

I too am worried after reading the responses to the call for more foreigners. Without teaching history, without reading politics, this country can go to the dogs without knowing it. And all because of the innocence of wanting the best, meritocracy, talents etc. If we throw away politics, we can even sell the country away to the highest bidder. What is there left when a nation does not value its people and its citizenship, but instead hold in awe the talents and superficial talents of the world as must have? It is about time to resurrect Durai as a national hero, and who's the guy who spent Asia Pacific Brewery's money and be treated like a king in all the casinos? We should recruit all the drug barons and the mafia godfathers and triad bosses. Tell them we welcome their exceptional talents and send them invitations to be our citizens. Talents of all colours and stripes are welcomed to this island of super talents.

shssssh...let's not talk about it

The Malaysian Minister for Information, Zainuddin Maidin, was unhappy about the spat between Mahathir and Badawi. He was deeply concerned that this will expose all the cronies in the system and tell on the weaknesses of the bumiputras. In his view, the changing of the PMs is only a transfer of cronies. And since the cronies are endemic in the system, it is better not to talk about it so that nobody knows. The lesser people know about it the better for the country. This is a very wise minister.

training courses for bloggers

Bloggers need to go for courses, less they be killed. Well not in the battle field of course. But killed in different ways. Professional training for journalists have proven that it saved their lives, as quoted by anothor professional trainer. That must be the most valuable training the world can ever have. All the armies in the world should send their soldiers for such training and they will be less likely to be killed in battle. Back to bloggers training. The first advantage I can see in this is that I am going to set up a training school for bloggers and get some income. And to boost my income, all the bloggers must be licensed, issued by me. That's another source of income. Another advantage is that bloggers will, after the training, confine themselves to safe topics like food, entertainment and sports. That would raise the level of bloggers in these fields. Next is to set up a task force to enforce the rules and regulations and licencing. Now this will create more jobs. Cyberspace inspectors and cyberspace police. I strongly support the call for training for bloggers, on condition that they attend my school and the licence be issued by me. Others can take on the policing role.

latest: we are opening up!

Latest News Following Hsien Loong's National Day Speech and his citation of Talkingcock.com, a sign of official sanction of the talking cock site, it is no longer blocked. All Singaporeans can now visit Talkingcock.com freely. Now this is no talking cock. Hsien Loong is walking the talk and showing the way. Welcome to cyberspace, Cyberspace citizen Hsien Loong! PS: I hope this is not just a slip by those responsible for blocking it.

the 6-8 million squeeze

With the kind of traffic jams that are increasing by the days, and with the policy change to allow more car ownership by removing COEs, how much more can our roads take before they will all clog up? With 4 million people, we are all feeling the stress, resources are stressed, road are stressed, jobs are stressed. Can we imagine how the island will look like if we are to have 6 to 8 million people? Khairy, Badawi's son in law may be right. When the people feel so squeezed, when property prices go beyond many, the lower income Singaporeans may find it a natural alternative to move into Johore, that is if they are welcomed. These poorer cousins of the rich Singaporeans cannot migrate to Australia or further. Would they eventually find the Southern Johore Corridor a welcome location and make way for other richer Singaporeans? When there are 6-8 million people in Singapore, can cars and flats still be affordable? Will there be enough jobs to go round? Or is this one of the reasons why the room size of HDB flats are getting smaller and smaller? Obviously they are not looking into a future where Singaporeans are all 5 feet tall and need lesser room to move around.

hsien loong's national day speech

A little light moment to remember. The most animate moment when he mentioned the name of Lim Kim San, he instinctively looked skyward to see if Kim San was there looking at him. I don't think he choreographed that. And anyone want to buy him mee siam, please don't. Mee siam apparently is not his favourite food. He didn't know that 'hum' do not go with mee siam. Now what is interesting in his speech, things that forumers will want to know? He spent quite a bit of time talking about the digital age and cyberspace. He discussed about how and why they did that to Mr Brown and the need to engage the people in cyberspace. He came out really fired up about this. But this is an area that he wants to do something differently but did not know how. This is best described by him quoting Deng Xiaoping, groping for rocks, one at a time while crossing a river. A case of wanting to let go, to engage the people but not having a formula to do it. Much as he wanted to talk to the people, or for his ministers/ministries to talk to the people, the big stick is still in his hand. He invited criticisms, and even talking about debate. But would there be any debate? In his view there was debate in Mr Brown's case when MICA responded. If that was the kind of debate that we are going to see, then one can expect nothing new. He talked about the new digital age and how to respond to this new challenge. But would the ministers/ministries think they are up to it to debate or discuss an issue over cyberspace? So far only one senior officer from the Foreign Ministry had the confidence to respond by writing back to Gayle Goh in her blog. Would there be more to follow suit and talk to the people instead of talking down to the people, or using the big stick? We will have to wait and see how they go about groping around, and carrying a big stick.

open jobs to foreigners selectively

Mr Lee added that Singapore has to educate the young to higher standards so that they can move up the value chain and do higher end and more difficult jobs. At the same time, the government will continue to invest in new schools to develop talent. These are the basics that are needed for Singapore to continually adjust and grow, MM Lee said. But Mr Lee warned that the government cannot stop the worldwide trend of lower wage increases for the lower income group, thus the urgency to learn new skills. To move ahead and compete, Mr Lee felt that the services sector is the sure sector, which cannot be "migrated so easily" or outsourced. The above was an extract of LKY's National Day Dinner speech at Tanjong Pagar. LKY said that the service sector is one area that cannot be outsourced or migrated easily. This means that this sector will still be a reserve for Singaporeans if they want them. To take this further, there are many services and industries that need not be opened up to foreigners. And such industries and services should be identified and their job opportunities be Singaporeans preferred. In our attempt to open the country, there is no need to open up everything, including our backside. Some parts must still be covered. We have protected the political system, the legal system, some sectors of the civil service like defence and home affairs etc, we can do more. There are many areas in the private sectors that need not be given away so freely and easily. There is a need to be a little street smart while we open up. Or Singaporeans will end up begging the foreigners to have mercy and not to compete with them for jobs. Opening up is a good thing to attract more foreign talents. But it should not be done foolishly.

reinventing singapore

After 41 years as a new nation, we celebrate national day again and again while others celebrate independence day. Our independence was handed to us on a platter, not on a pool of blood of independence fighters. We have grown from about 1 million people to 4 million, including all the residents, PRs and guest workers. It is quite a strange feeling to count the guests and PRs as part of our population. And we are aiming for 8 millions despite the dwindling fertility rate. And projections claimed that only 1.5 million Singaporeans will be left in the not too distant future at the rate we are going. This would mean that Singaporeans will be a minority in this island which they called home. Assuming that this will be the case, lesser indigenous and organic growth but with an influx of foreigners who are happy to be just permanent residents as they get better privileges than the citizens, would the island then really resembles what we have heard very often, a hotel? And if this is the nature of things to come, maybe we should think about reinventing Singapore into a global city without citizens. Everyone is a guest. Everyone is a PR. Then we can change our status from the Republic of Singapore to PR Singapore. Not People's Republic of Singapore, but Permanent Residence's Singapore. We can declare ourselves something like a neutral piece of land like Switzerland and get a guarantee from the United Nations and all the big powers to safeguard our neutrality. Then we can disband all the expensive and cumbersome defence infrastructure and national service. We will be the shining example of a country without borders. Anyone can come and go as they please. And no citizens to curse and swear about being at a disadvantage in their home country. Everyone is equal, just a PR. No more Singaporeans, just citizens of the world.

followup of andy ho's quality reporting

I was reading this article on students agents by Melissa Sim in the Sunday Times. Despite the fact that she had been told that her numbers were wrong, she still put it into print, claiming that students agents earned a hefty commission of between $2000 to $8000! And she was told that she must know what constitutes that $8000. The number is nonsensical if it is just commission for bringing a student here and help him enrolled into a school. No student would pay that kind of money just for that. The more likely figure is between $800 to $2000, depending on the complexity of the case. But $8000 is not uncommon for foreign agents in China, Korea or Vietnam to charge their clients as there are many domestic regulations and systems to get by, including paying off certain people. The impression given by Melissa Sim is that it is a 'low startup costs and about $100 million up for grabs...' What her article implies is that these are sheeps with plenty of money to be milked by the agents. But when you read her comments further, her evidence did not point to anyone paying that kind of money to their agents. Even a student who paid $2000 were unhappy about it. Where would anyone pay $8000? Other than the unscrupulous who would take the commission and run, many agents have to sweat it out and play parents to the students, especially the younger ones for 4 to 6 years when they are here, running and fetching them around to do domestic chores and worrying for their safety. It is hell of a responsibility to take a child into their care when their parents are thousands of kilometers away and have laid full trust that the agent will look after their children, responsibly. And she mentioned about the Association of Consultants for International Students(Singapore) or ACISS which was set up specifically by the agents and related industry players to self regulate and ensure professionalism and reliability of the service providers. The responsibilities are huge and the service providers knew that they have to provide a service that commensurates with the commissions they are getting, and to make sure that their care are safe and sound. It is no joke should an accident happen or the child is hurt in anyway. For $2000 and a responsibility that can stretch for several years, only the uninformed will think that it is good money. Perhaps in the eyes of this reporter, once the commission is in the pocket, it is time to disappear. I post this to show the quality of reporting and the amount of homework done by a mainstream journalist as claimed by Andy Ho. Factual and accurate reporting!

corporate watchdog!

Many of us are privy to many wrongdoings in the corporate world. Some were first hand information and some from hear says that were mostly truth. It is not uncommon to see hotshot and prominent honchos and CEOs indulging in sleazy deals, unethical and immoral practices at the expense of organisations and employees. I have heard of employees being held at ransom, treated like chattels, exploited and abused by the management they trusted. Some were used for horse tradings, some threatened and prevented from leaving the organisation, or if they leave, obstacles were placed along their path. All these wrongdoings have not been exposed for many reasons. And many at the lower end of the pecking order do not have the resources, money or intellect to take on the bigshot culprits who could drag them to court. And these people would lose by default as they would not be able to engage a legal counsel to bring the culprit to justice. They just cannot afford the legal fee. The internet forum will be a good place to expose such wrong doings to give warnings to those wrongdoers that their wrongdoings did not go unnoticed. Just to mention them here without identifying them or the organisations will suffice to put notice that their game is up. I hope forumers can contribute to this thread with their own encounters. And if this thread proves popular, I will stick it up as a permanent feature here.

crying wolf once too many

Putin has slammed the Americans for trying to flame the North Korean issue by claiming that the North Koreans are planning for an underground nuclear test. Even the South Koreans are dismissing the claim as untruth. The more the Americans keep dishing out their 'intelligence' reports of threats from terrorism or the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, the less would the world believe in them. They have cried wolf too many times and too often. The Americans are losing credibility in the eyes of the world after Iraq's WMD. The latest terrorist threat claim at Heathrow has also raised many eyebrows as to its reliability. It is very likely another hoax originated from the White House but executed through White Hall. The wayang of Bush and Blair is now well known since the WMD debacle in Iraq. How much more would the world believe in the two of them? How much more would they keep on undermining the intelligence of their intelligence communities? The credibility of both services have plunged to the lowest level ever since their reports and assessments had led to the invasion of Iraq. Today we are hearing the Australians raising alerts to Batam and Bali islands. Are these also part of their scheme to raise the alarm on terrorism and indulging in more hoaxes to frighten the world and make them look right? Wolf, wolf, wolf!!!