hypocrisy of the howard govt

Come come, Howard, Please get off your high horse and join the community of free trades. You can't be protecting Qantas by accusing Singapore of protecting SIA. You or Qantas has been given special privileges, more than SIA, through out generosity and stupidity to trust that you will reciprocate a magnanimous gesture with another. Now you are showing your horns by saying that 'One of the reasons we are sceptical of Singapore Airlines is that it has a level of protection from the Singapore Govt which far exceeds the level of protection that Qantas enjoys, and it is very important that we do not needlessly bargain away the interests that our national carrier has.' Just tell the world what SIA enjoys or is being protected by the Singapore Govt and stop making sweeping remarks that you know you can't justify or is untrue. The truth is that Qantas is over protected by the Australian Govt. The Singapore Govt shall henceforth drag its feet in facilitating or pushing for ASEAN's inclusion and acceptance of Australia.

'The naughty lion'

'The naughty lion' Many long years ago, there was a lonely lion in the island called Temasek. It was the only lion and had never seen another lion. One day, while frolicking in the water off Pasir Panjang beach, it saw a beautiful sea lion. To the lion, a sea lion was also a lion. And it was happy, and they were happy. A few months later a baby merlion was born. The paintings of this beautiful merlion is on exhibited at the new National Museum by our very own painter David Chan. He even christianed the merlion as Singa Merlionus. And so the story goes. And we have our naughty lion and merlion. Copahagen has a mermaid.

the pap mentality

The PAP mentality No, I say again, no, I am not referring to the political party of the same initials. And I am not trying to discuss about the political party or pap smear. I am referring to a Singaporean mentality that everything can be solved by paying. Tan Choon Ming wrote an article about how plastic bags, the indiscriminate disposal of them, is harming our environment. And the Singapore style solution is, yes, make them pay for the use of plastic carrier bags. Singaporeans are paying for rubbish disposals. Now we have to pay for the containers that will eventually be used for the disposal of rubbish. Fine, it will surely work, the Singapore way. Oops, what did I say? Did I say something right? Oh yes, fine, fine them like littering. But didn't we already have littering fines? Obviously this fine isn't working. So for the use of a plastic bag, Singaporeans will have to pay for it, which is a commercial decision, pay for their disposals, or fine for not disposing them properly. Fine, let's get it going. Singaporeans only understand the meaning of pay and pay. We pay for everything, from the paying of top dollars to solve elitist problems to the irresponsible who litter everywhere and to pay taxes to help the poor.

myth 102

'Elites are not proud' I was reading Adrian Tan's thought about the uncaring elitist debate. After acknowledging that elites are found in all societies and that it is self deception to pretend that there is no elite, and admitting that he too is an elite, he came to the conclusion that the solution is a little pretence. I agree with him that the elites deserved to be where they are and to be proud of their achievements. And naturally whatever they do may be a little cocky or perceived to be cocky. And that blatant abuses of the plebians are a no no. Pardon my punt. There are many ways to make elites more acceptable and friendly and lovable. Give them more publicity, and even if they are punks or hoodlums like some of those excellent footballers or other celebrities, they will still be adored. Make their antics admirable and cool, like some were heard to have splashed their faeces on the ceiling of hotel suites etc. But if all else failed, as Adrian suggested, a little pretending to be humble, will go a long way. Anyway this world is full of pretences and hypocrisies. Just pretend to be nice, act nice, say some nice things and people will forget who they really are. It is so simple and easy for the elites to be nice. Not too much to try to be nice, or pretend to be nice.

There is no reasons for PRs to complain

The last few days have been quite trying for the PR community in Singapore given the announcement that PRs will now pay more for medical and school fees. Actually all these are unnecessary and can be avoided. There are many ways to skinning a cat. Oops, maybe I should use a more diplomatic phrase. There are many kinds of subsidies and discounts. What I thought would be a more pleasant and positive thing to do is to announce that all citizens and PRs will pay the same rate of medical fees and school fees. Now am I back tracking? No, not really. The second announcement is that all citizens will get a discount or subsidy for medical fees and the edusave for school children will be increased to pay for school fees. I know it is LPPL. Oh, the difference is that one option means more money to the govt's coffer while the other means money out from the govt's coffer. But the difference can be overcome by announcing that medical and school fees will be increased followed by another announcement for subsidies for citizens. There must be better ways to make things more pleasant. Maybe they should engage a PR agency for this. What is a couple of millions for better acceptability huh? Marina was well spent.

why fame arts school chooses singapore?

Why did renowned New York arts school, Tisch, chose Singapore against Japan, Korea and India? Simple, we have our comparative advantage. 1. Strong Govt vision to make Singapore a global school house 2. Impressive infrstructure and advanced technology 3. Multi ethnic makeup of the people 4. Strategic location 5. Extensive use of English And we have many other advantages other than these. And I can easily add in another 20 or 30 advantageous. There is no need to go down on our knees. We have values and these can be converted to price.

differentiation for average foreign talents

Myth 101 'The fallacy that we must compete for lowest wage or cost' I have posted this myth yesterday and explained that there is no need to bring everything to rock bottom especially in our competition with other countries. There is also no need to pit our workforce with the cheap labour of India and China. There is no need to go down on our knees to beg for foreign talents to come to our shores to compete with our local talents. Here we need our supertalents to find a solution to justify their worth and their exceptional remuneration. There are such things as niche market, market differentiation and product differentiation. This can best be seen in the prices of upmarket properties. While others are coming down, property prices in prime locations are shooting to the stars. And our medical fees can be priced higher than the regional hospitals, why? Then the taboo topic that I avoided to talk about. While the pay of most public and private sectors are going down, the pay of top govt officials are also shooting to the sky, like top end properties. The elite may complain that this is politics of envy. I am conscious of how the elite feel on this. But this point is raised from the angle of product differentiation or market differentiation. At the top end, like top class foreign talents, the market is different. The air in stratosphere is also different. Then there is the element of no competition. Back to the foreign talent market. At the middle, the bulge of the bell curve, there are millions of them available. They are not a talent that is so special or exclusive that we cannot do without. At this average level of talents, there is no difference whether the talent has a third class, second class or general degree, or whether he comes from a third grade or second grade university. The job he is going to do or doing does not require any exceptional talent that our locals did not have. At this level, they should be competing on a level playing field. Or, the locals shall have a slight advantage in the competition. That's is what privilege of citizenship is all about. Any foreign talent that thinks he is competing unfairly and does not like our terms, thank you, find a better place to go. There will be more hungrier foreign talents who will come happily to take up what is available. Yes. lets cut out the bullshit. There is no shortage of talent at the average talent level.

myth 101

'The fallacy that we must compete for lowest wage or cost' A report in the Today paper showed the medical cost of some operations in the US, India, Thailand and Singapore. The US is undeniably the most expensive and India the cheapest. We are about 20-30% more expensive than Bangkok. What the comparison tells is that there is a market at every level. It is like our own job market. Not all sectors have to compete for lowest wage. In some sectors we are the most expensive in the world. Similarly, when we are competing for foreign talents, in some areas we have to literally pay through our nose. But in some areas, we pay them below market or less than if we were to employ our own citizens. It is actually a whole range of jobs and expectations. What I am trying to say is that we should price what we think we is comfortable and attract those that find our price acceptable. We can't make a price to fit the whole market range. And the new policy on citizen first may drive some foreign talents away but will attract some new foreign talents. Those who are affected and are moving are not the really indispensable talents that we cannot afford to lose. Thus there is no need to bend backwards to accommodate those who want to leave. There is no point in trying to keep those who are not happy here. It is more important for the govt to make the citizens, the stakeholders, happier. And a 10% difference in subsidies is not going to do that much.

myth 100

Myth 100 'The third generation will squander the inheritance away' This is a famous Chinese myth. Frances Ong Hock Lin writes about it again in the Today paper, fearing that Singapore now under the third generation leadership, will squander away what the first two generations of leaders have built. From the way things are going, he can rest very assured that it will not happen. The myth will not apply to Singapore. I am not saying this because our third generation of leaders are the brightest of the three generations of leaders. There are many things that say otherwise. First we have accumulated so much wealth, and still accumulating, that unless there is an earthquake under our feet, we will get richer by the days. And these generations of leaders are so much richer than the first two generation of leaders. Don't try to compare their richness. It will blow your minds away. But that is not the point. The important thing is that they are maintaining the same policy of spending with surplus budget or other people's money. Look at the two IRs that we are building. Not only it is the operators paying for them, the govt is even making a handsome profit from land sales and later all the services like water and electricity and taxes from the profits. And now when the govt is trying to help the poor, it is the people's money again, the 2% GST, that will be used for this purpose, probably with extra for the govt's coffer. So don't worry, this myth will never come true. We can only grow richer. Only external events or a natural calamity can bring us down. Sleep well.

what to do with 2% gst?

What to do with the 2% GST? I was planning what I want to do with my little fortune that the govt is going to give out to help me tie over this difficult period when my income is going down and down while others are going up and up. You see, I also suffer from this widening of income gap and is feeling the pinch just like the 80% of Singaporeans. So I thought if only the govt can give me $3000...you know what I will do with it? I will buy an annual IR membership. Look, this $3000 entrance fee is only applicable to Singaporeans. I think this is uniquely Singapore and the IR owners will be laughing all the way to the bank and not knowing what to do with this windfall. They have to return the money to the people in some ways. What I think they might do is that with this membership, the member will be allow to eat all the food they want from the resort, not necessarily from the casinos. So the member can feed himself with breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, hi tea, dinner, supper, pre breakfast breakfast, 24 hours a day. He could literally live there and food all taken care of. And that is what I would want to do. $3000 is less than $300 a month, which I reckon will be the pocket money my children will give me to spend. Now if the govt can use the GST to buy every Singaporean an IR membership ticket, it is like providing them with free meals throughout the year, and very good food too. And no need to sweat in the hawker centres. Now this will be the best meal ticket the govt can give to the people. Ok the IR may be 3 to 5 years down the road. Better still, the govt can accumulate this money for the people and put it in their CPF temporarily. And then make it a life time meal ticket for all Singaporeans, every year. And Singaporeans should not complain that the govt will keep the money for another few years. After all they are used to their CPF money being kept for them till 55 and then 62. But this one is money from the taxes, not from their salary. I somehow started to believe that I am a gee..nius! Now you see why I call this GST a Wonder Drug! Think of all the advantageous, IR packed with Singaporeans and a $6 billion revenue. Could be slightly lower if rates for children can be halved or free. And all Singaporeans well fed and spending their holidays everyday in the IR. It will really become a paradise for Singaporeans.

a new buzz in the air

We have never have that kind of buzz for a very long time till the award of this Sentosa IR. Even the Marina IR was pale in comparison. Now the expectation of the people of Universal and a world class family resort, and the economic and political spin offs are the talk of the town. People are starting to see things that they have not seen before. Scary ya? Just kidding. I think there are lots of beneficial side effects arising from this high profile project. Analysts are all looking forward for better relations and more cross border investments between Singapore and Malaysia. And with Abdullah in charge, economic primacy and considerations would hopefully be the driving force in joint investments and economic cooperation. It will be good not only for inter state relations but also for domestic politics as the economic pie grows. The slight concern is whether the ultras are allowed to ruin the party and the economic forces set in motion.

the fullerton, best in asia

Then we have the fame Shangrila Hotel. Next we have the grand old dame of Raffles Hotel. Today we heard that Fullerton Hotel, the former post office and inland revenue offices is voted the best hotel in Asia. It gets better as it ages, like good wine. Fullerton is actually a very majestic building of a long gone era. I think it is at par with City Hall, the same kind of architecture.

post by jackie

Hi Jackie, Couldn't trace your post, so I copied it here. Anyway welcome to the blog. I am not surprised with the way GMS and CTL write, the internet guidelines came into force for this reason.Any reasonable person can see they are not carrying themselves too well. A politician does not poke fun at their internet 'constituents' like what they did.Imagine Low Thia Kiang holding MPS and rebutting a resident who comes to see him instead of helping him.They want to join other forumites to let go as much shit as they feel like ignoring that it may have an impact on the party. Their resignations fit into the jigsaw puzzle nicely.Lastly, what makes you think a new party made up of progressive people turn out looking like a geek. Don't forget, the pro-PAP media is always ready to paint any white opposition party into black.For all you know, Low and Sylvia Lim are really very progressive people. Redbean: It is not easy for politicians to post in cyberspace. They will meet will bloggers who will flame them and force them to respond in the heat of the moment. And Singaporeans would not accept politicians to engage in gutter fight. It is tough for them.

Tokenism

Tokenism This may become the new catch phrase to gripe about. A blogger said it last week and it has come true. Citizens will now enjoy a medical subsidy of 5-10% more than PRs. So citizens must now be happy and so do the PRs. If there is no National Service, maybe when the difference between a citizen and PR is neglible, a token like this may be acceptable. But does the govt really understand what it is like to serve NS and how much is that sacrifice that is demanded from its citizens? The little subsidy difference can be viewed very negatively by those who feel strongly that all their contributions to the country in NS and reservist liability is only worth that pittance. But there is another form of tokenism in the medical cost they are paying. A whopping 80% subsidy for C Class wards. Now that must really make the citizens happy. Really happy.

Singapore Incorporation or Singapore Inc

The term Singapore Incorporation was coined many years back as Singaporeans answered to the call to build up this country, nation building, sacrifices, tightening belt, national service, changing of mindsets to move into HDB flats, restraints in labour unrest and work stoppages. We have gone past those days and Singapore has prospered. We have GLCs and Temasek's list of Singapore owned companies to complement a huge bureaucracy of ministries. And today we boast of $200 billion of national reserves and invested to generate more wealth. And when the govt is running out of budget there are all the taxes to be raised from the people to finance whatever the govt decides is good for the people. Amidst all the wealth and well beings, a growing segment of the population is facing increasing hardship and are falling on the wayside. This brings to mind the wealth of the nation or of the people accumulated and invested over the years on one extreme and the poverty and hardship of Singaporeans on the other. What is the purpose of creating all these wealth for th nation while some citizens are crying for help? Who is benefitting from all these wealth? The nation or country is like a household and the citizens the members of the household. After the acquisition of all the durables, ie infrastructures, the savings and investments, the income or revenue generated must be for the citizens or family members to live a better life. The revenue from the country has been reinvested or ploughed back to the nation in many forms that benefitted the general public. Couldn't some of this be returned to the people who badly needed it to live their lives, to get by and be a little less stressful in their life struggles? Could the people see the returns on the govt's investments as a return on their investments and look forward to a little dividend annually, or bonus issues? Singapore Inc will make more sense when the people can see their welfare and well being, their relative prosperity being linked to how well our investments and revenue grows. For the moment the only people who are happy are the fund managers and those managing the investments. Not enough have trickled down to the poorer citizens. Choktong did briefly mentioned about a formula to share this wealth of the nation. Nothing comes from it after that statement. We have the Singapore Shares, the Economic Restructuring Shares etc which can be seen as moving along this direction. The people will be greatly heartened if a formula is announced that the people are genuinely the beneficiaries of the nation's wealth. Singapore Inc will then have a more tangible meaning and closer to the hearts of the average and below average Singaporeans. The people need to believe and see that they are really the co owners of this island state and that they will prosper and live a better life as the nation prospers. The sharing of the nation's wealth shall be carefully formulated and not given as a charity or in the form of ComCare. Such funds for the needy Singapore is a different issue and hopefully will be made redundant when the people can share the wealth of the nation in a respectful and systematic manner rather than to beg for it on grounds of poverty and hardship.

Being poor in Singapore

What is life like being poor in Singapore? For a start, you get to attend the best kindergarten classes provided by the PAP. And they are good. But the rich will have their children enrolled in enrichment and creative thinking classes for their precious offsprings, like Montesorri, Tumble Tots etc. Next comes schooling and the poor will have plenty of choices to attend neighbour schools. The rich too attend schools in their neighbourhoods. All is fair and the school system is based on meritocracy. Your results count. While the poor will have to help their parents selling kueh or chee cheong fan, the rich will have the best tutors to guide their children plus all kinds of artistic or musical classes to give them an all rounded education and be more sophisticated. It is a level playing field but they play in different fields in different neighbourhoods. And for housing, the poor should be glad that they can live comfortably with room sizes that are not more than 15 sq metres. And they can also expect to make do with 70 to 90 sq metres for a family of 4 to 10. And they are also encouraged to produce more children too. That will help to improve the household income. 5 adults working could mean $5000 monthly income. That must be rich beyond words. And of course the poor don't pay taxes, I mean the lower income, not necessarily poor, hardly pay any income tax. Isn't that heaven? GST is not income tax. Please do not be mistaken. It is just consumption tax. And because the poor consume less, they really pay lesser GST. Now that is equitable definitely. Now better still, with higher GST the lower income can expect to get more in return from the GST they paid. where else can one find such a great deal? As for personal hygiene, the poor are encouraged to bath with lesser water to save money on the expensive water bill. Better not to bathe at all. Then can save more water. And if there is any body odour, never mind. It will become a great advantage in the world class MRT that is expected to pack everyone in tightly like sardine. Now you see how advantageous it is not to bathe? At least people will try to keep clear of you in the train and you will enjoy more personal space. And then there are all kinds of help schemes for the poor, school bursaries, food vouchers, subsidies, doles etc. All they need is to report themselves and let them do a little means testing to qualify. And if hospitalised, don't worry, they will make sure that they get into the best ward befitting their income. All Singaporeans deserve to be put in better wards if they can afford it to receive better medical care. Only those who are really unable to afford it will be put into the lower class wards. As for their money or savings in the CPF, they will be carefully kept and managed for their retirements. Once they pass 62, they will be able to enjoy in comfort the monthly allowance returned to them by the CPF. All of them will retire rich even if they are not that rich when young. It is so good to be poor and to be taken care of from birth to death.

the singapore wonderland

Wow, Genting finally got the bid for Sentosa. It is a great achievement to win such a project among big time international competitors. They were all serious and wanted to bag this project for their companies. And it was really a tough call to pick out the best proposal. The iconic glass structure of Kertzner is really very impressive. And the effort to bring in all the big names to tie up with the equally innovative themes of 8th Wonders would make everyone salivate. Genting won the bid through a tested formula and the great themes of Universal for an all rounded family entertainment. Singapore should thank all the bidders for their faith and belief that Singapore is worthy of such a huge investment and their confidence in us. No doubt Kertzner and 8th Wonder would be feeling down but it was a close call and there can only be one winner. The transparency of the award and the methodology applied spoke well of Singapore especially when not a single Singapore company was among the winners. And and the high profile generated by the two IRs could spark more big players coming to our shores. It is a great transformation for us from a trading post to a land of fun and entertainment hub. And 30,000 jobs from Genting alone plus the Sands at Marina will do us well and see us through for the next 10 years.

malaysia, 1955 revisited

The non Malays in Malaysia is at a crossroad like 1955. It was then that the Malays, under the leadership of Jaffar Oon, stood up to fight for their special rights. And the non Malays, led by Tan Cheng Lock, backed away from the fight. And they lost dearly when Malay special rights was enshrined into the Constitution. Today, the Malays are exerting their right to be the dominant race in the nation, more than equal to the other races. Even the Malay ownership of wealth should even be institutionalised and raised from 30% to 70% if Khairy has his way. And the non Malays again behaved in the same way as in 1955. They backed off meekly. And this time they are going to pay twice as dearly than before. But then again, fighting the cause could lead to more bloodshed as the kris has been drawn and it is a matter of when will it be used. The writing is on the wall.

when foreign talents say you are silly

I was trying to be less critical when I read the two letters in the Today's paper written by two foreign talents. But Chia Hern Keng pulled no punches by nailing where the fault was and calling a cat a cat. The contents of the two letters were distinctly arrogant and patronising to all Singaporeans. Humiliating too. Singaporeans were a bunch of useless administrators that could not even run a company. They rather that all the companies be managed by their foreign talent bosses who were real talent and effective managers. And without them, the foreign talents, like I repeated subtlely in my posts yesterday, Singapore is doomed. They are our saviours. Basically in the eyes of the foreigners we are all thrash, probably all the way from the top to the bottom. That is why they have the audacity to demand that we treat them special or more equal than citizens. Again all the Singaporeans took the verbal thrashing quietly and meekly. And Singaporeans deserve it if they think they are useless. And probably Singaporeans by now also believe that they are thrash and of lesser talent than the foreign talents. The foreign talents seriously and sincerely believe that they are better than Singaporeans and that Singaporeans should make way for them. Now whose fault is it? Chia Hern Keng said it plainly, without mincing words. 'We have only ourselves to blame as a nation. For if our own national institutions do not accord sufficient respect through its policies to our own citizenry, it is hard for foreigners to do the same.' In other words if we keep praising the foreigners and telling our people that they are dumb, then this is exactly the consequence. Your guests will come into your house and tell you that you are silly. And better still, you just smile and say thank you.

http://mapois.blogspot.com

Hi, I have visited the above site and tried to post. But the reply is 'we're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.' I dunno if the site is blocked or whatever.