Labour force survey or means testing?

I just completed the survey online and it still took me more than half an hour to complete it. But that is not the main issue. What I find disgusting are the questions. They are intrusive to the privacy and confidentiality of a person. It is as good as a means testing. With the data asked, there is no longer any need for means testing. They want to know how many TVs you owned and what type. Are they going to start a manufacturing plant for TVs? Luckily it stopped short of asking how many marbles I have. But they already know the answer. Two of course. And how many trips I made to Batam? Another lucky question they never asked. How much do we value our privacy and how much can the ministry be allowed to ask in the name of a national survey? Unfortunately, the game is that they can ask anything if they want to. And the law says that you must comply or else.

The disappointing big debate.

I was eagerly waiting for the opportunity to be enlightened by the two learned counsels and their great debate. I thought for once the little earthlings will have a chance to witness the best from the best legal minds arguing their cases in the court of the people. The debate, should it take off, will be fairly judged by the people without any favouritism. I thought, if one wrote a page, the reply would come in 3 pages. And the counter reply will be 9 pages and so on. The issues in question will definitely be given a fair hearing and everyone will become wiser. Unfortunately there was no debate. The match stopped at round one and lights were switched off.

NKF story - Is Durai a nice man?

I have to address this issue after Matilah got so worked up by my posts. Would anyone say that Durai is not a nice man? He has good look, charm, he is charismatic, intelligent, position and power and a maverick. How many supertalents in Singapore can stand near him and look good? And physically he is simply tall, dark and handsome. He could be a movie star. He must have a lot of secret admirers too. But his being nice must be matched by the company he keeps. He has friends everywhere who admire and worship him. And his friends are not the ordinary illiterate and ignorant Ah Kow or Muthu or Ahmad. His friends are all the who's who in Singapore. Anyone who is not nice and attractive and celebrated will not have such luminaries as friends. And not that he has no friends at the lower levels. All his staff and colleagues were mesmerised by him. They regarded him like god. Then the beneficiaries of his organisation, they will kiss his feet. Now, is that enough to convince anyone that Durai is a nice man?

Just another thought

If I were to buy a few properties, I will definitely have to rely on the expertise and professional knowledge of my property agents, bank officers and conveyancing lawyers to make sure that the deal will get through without any complications. Will I be buying a property from someone having trouble with the law and on the verge of being made a bankrupt? I may, without all the knowledge of how such a situation could affect my purchase. But my property agent, or my conveyancing lawyer will definitely do their due diligence and advise me to stay clear of such properties. That is the least I will expect for the money I am going to pay. And if I will to go to the bank to arrange for a loan for the purchase, the bank officer will very likely not approve of such a loan. And the approval may also take quite some time for such a big loan. There will be a lot of checks and approvals along the way. Buying several properties will probably take several months for all the professional people to do their checks. Would my conveyancing lawyer encourage me to buy such properties even at dirt cheap prices?

myth 144

Multi tasking I have written about this before. I am prompted to write about it again after reading a letter by a Rick Lim Say Kiong in the Today paper. Rick's position is that employers are using the excuse of job enlargement and multitasking to exploit their employees with additional work but not additional pay. I am always sceptical about the concept of multi tasking. Up to a point, multi tasking works. The underlying assumptions is that the person is able to take on more jobs, can be trained to acquire more skills, and the jobs are easy to do within the limits of the employee doing it. And there is no compromise in quality and details. The problem is that everyone has a limited number of hours to work. Training someone to do 20 tasks does not mean that he can do twenty tasks. His 8 hours or 10 hours a day will mean that he can just do that much. The rest of the training and skills are wasted. Also, in highly specialised jobs where a lot of skills, knowledge and expertise are required, it is ridiculous to think that a person can be equally proficient in all the specialised jobs and skills and mastering them and executing them like an expert at all times. Even supertalents cannot do it without compromising on the quality. Maybe one, god.

Real wage increases by 3.5% last year

This is according to a Duke University/CFO Magazine survey. The increase, after correcting for inflation is only 3.5%. Whose salary is the survey using? A driver or a sweeper? Another problem is that productivity increases by only 1.2%. Such a huge discrepancy is a sign of trouble. This is untenable. How can wage increase outstrips productivity by 200%? It is like someone spending $3.50 but earning $1.20. Something must give.

First Nets, then Starhub

Both have long standing contracts with their customers, more or less tying them down in a way. Then comes the increases. And according to Starhub, this is market practice and the contract allows them to change the terms and conditions. Sure. Can such a practice continue to be allowed to go on? An equitable contract should be one that ties the parties to terms that both agree to at the moment of signing the contract. How can another party conveniently include all the empowering clause to allow it to change the terms of the agreement to his advantage and the other party cannot walk away with it? We have a lot of such contracts being signed. Some may be justifiable, eg long term housing loan that are affected by changes in interest rates. But all these short term contracts, when the variables are quite predictable and can be built into the contract, should not be allowed to have all the freedom to change according to their whims and fancy. This will put the other party at the mercy of the one sided contract. Yes, Case is right this time to step into the fray. Rip Van Winkle has awaken after all the years of sleeping. I mean Singaporeans in general, to their rights and start thinking.

nkf story - durai the man

Durai face his justice like a man Now that Durai had appeared in court to face justice squarely, the disappearance of Richard Yong will become more embarrassing and untenable politically. It is not only a problem of law enforcement and the credibility of our justice system, it has political ramifications. People are going to ask why and how come Richard Yong could get away. And the questions in people's mind can become more sensitive in nature. For the good of the system and peace of mind, Richard Yong must be brought home to face his just desert like every one of them. I do not know any one of them and am not posting this for personal reasons. It is all for the good of the country and the system.

Potential for xenophobic tension

Today, the current population ratio is about 1 foreigner to 1 citizen. When the 6 million figure is reached, it is likely that there will be 2 foreigners to every citizen. To some who have little contacts with foreigners, it is acceptable, healthy, and good for the economy and even suggestions that without foreigners we will be doomed. For those who have to face the foreigners daily in all his living activities, when every citizen has to fight for his space and the air he breathes, tension is likely to build up and break out. At the moment if one commutes by public transport, there is likely to be more than 1 foreigner, maybe 2 to every citizen. For not all citizens take public transport but all foreign workers and students do. The ratio in public facilities will see more foreigners than citizens. And when the time comes, when 6 million came, there will likely be 8 foreigners to every 2 citizens in the train and buses. And it is conceivable that all the younger, burly, dirty and smelly foreign workers will be seating and the minority citizens will be standing and being squeezed beyond their comfort zone. The current state of affairs in the mrt is that the foreigners are rushing and competing for every seat they can get in the train. There is no differentiation or consideration that these healthy young workers could take the punishing journey standing. They would rather sit. Imagine the day when the crowded trains have all the foreigners seating and all the citizens, a minority, having to stand in their midst. You can bet an outcry to come from the citizens complaining about losing their space and air to foreigners. But for those who commute by the comfort of their private limousines, these are minor irritations that the peasants and workers must bear. It is good for the country.

IMH in the red

Now this is unbecoming. It is time to relook at the costing and turn this around into a profit making organisation. IMH said it has 1,600 patients with 300 staying more than 10 years. How about encouraging them to discharge early? Its $9 million budget is a big strain. What is the budget of NKF? Or what is the budget for Changi prison? Should we also be worried about the high cost of operating a prison and turn in into a profit making organisation. Maybe they have already done that, with the prisoners working in some capacity. But hey, human rights groups would protest against selling their products. I am trying to think whether it is a problem for the govt to subsidise IMH. Oooh, touching on something sensitive, subsidy or is there a better word for it? Some of these patients, like the chronically sick or disabled, may have families who can afford to pay for their upkeep. Some may have financial difficulties paying for their lifestyle. Hmmm, terminating them, though a more efficient and practical solution, will definitely be unacceptable under any circumstances. So how? Maybe displaying them on TV and extract some emotional juice and sympathetic donations for their upkeep. An exceptional talent is needed to look at how to look after them without stressing on the state budget. How much does it cost to subsidise the durians or to encourage sports as a lifestyle? Living as a mentally ill patient is a lifestyle not of choice. But it is a way of living to them.

Absorb GST - passing the buck

Fair Price, Cold Storage, Shop N Save and Shengxiong are absorbing the July GST increase, albeit for a few months. It would be nice if all the big shops absorb the GST increase altogether. Then the people can save some money from this increase. But can things be so simple. Once there is an increase in cost, the merchants will know what to do and finally the consumers will end up paying everything and more.

myth 143

Rising cost and prices are bad I think this is a myth. Cost of living going up, GST up, prices of properties going up, rentals going up, fees going up, salaries going up, all these are actually good for the country. Singapore can only be saved when all the costs are up, the higher and faster, the better. You don't believe me? The laws of economics are like gravity. What goes up must come down. Any irrational and unjustified increases will strain the system and the system will break. Then all prices and fees and salaries will fall down like apples.We should quickly jack up all the prices. While we are complaining about having too many foreign talents and workers here and not knowing how to stop the flow, it is starting to slow down. And yes, they are finding it too expensive here to live with the relatively low income vis a vis cost of living. And the shops in Orchard Road will be ghost town if the prices keep going up. Soon people will stay clear of this place. Only the super rich and real super talents will come. And these are the people that we really need. Quickly, jack up the prices and see them fall.

Ban that song

In the Sunday Times column, 'English as it is broken', it tries to explain the proper usage of person and people as often people are confused when using these two words. A person is a person, singular. People is a collective now. So it is proper to say one person or two persons but not one people or two people. It is incorrect to say there are one or two people in the room. It is correct to say one person or two person in the room. So cannot say one people. This brings me to the famous national song of Singapore, One people, one nation, one Singapore. This must be broken English or Singlish. How can we sing 'one people'? Actually English is a bloody confusing language to use. And my first paragraph has me confused too. I begin with 'people are' and then 'people is'. Now which is right and which is wrong. People is a collective now, and is is used to explain the word. The people are friendly, the noun in action. And who says one cannot write 'is is' in the same sentence? Stupid English or Singlish?

Of politics, race and religion

Several JI operatives were detained by ISD again. And the faces are familiar, Muslim and Malay. But this time round there were no under currents by other groups to point the finger at the Malay community. Perhaps the process of educating the people to look at it as a problem not of a community but a few individuals has been a success. Also, this time the area of focus is the Middle East and Afghanistan, quite far away. The attraction in this case is the surfacing of an elite, a trained lawyer, who is motivated enough to give up his cosy lifestyle of comfort and material well being to risk his life in the rough and tumble of the war torn mountains of Afghanistan. Why is the movement gaining momentum despite the claims of success by the western media? Or is the western media's spin just a spin, and the movement is gaining grounds and growing stronger? For those who are reading the western media, the impression is a simple good guys against the bad guys, modernity against backwardness, secularity against religion, the west against the muslims or arabs. And it is very easy to choose to be on the right side of goodness. Apparently if one is to read the Middle Eastern or Muslim media, the picture is quite different. It is a picture of western oppression and injustice against the arabs and muslims, a war of suppression by the west against Islam, a war for control of Arab oil. So, is this a problem of politics or religion, or of race? It seems that it is a combination of all, and economics as well. Control of the Middle East, control of oil, control of media, control of values and control of a people and their religion. But the western media will say no, it is the uplifting of a backward people, a shining light of progress in democracy, human rights and materialism leading the way. The west and western media see themselves as the liberators of a feudal people locked away in time and stubbornly refusing to live and enjoy the life of modernity and secularism. And these people say, leave us alone to our life. We don't need you to meddle with our life and dictate to us your values. And so the fighting and killing continues.

The Living Legend

He may have come from a little red dot. Some may not have good things to say about him. Some may even hate him. Some may regard him as enemy. But he is a living legend among the world leaders today. No one in the world can command the kind of respect and deference from around the world except him. Not George Bush, Putin, Blair, Mahathir, you can name anyone, none is even close to the presence that he commands. LKY, just saw him in Tatarstan over the news. You can see how respectful and honoured the Russians felt to have him visiting them. And he is Asian, from a little red dot. Not even an Ang Mo. He is at least a head taller than all the Ang Mo leaders today. Whether you like him or dislike him, agree with him or disagree with him, he is in a class of his own. Singapore or the world will take a long long time to produce another man like him.

nkf story - Escape from Paradise - Book 11?

Richard Yong's escape from paradise is not only embarrassing, it complicates things further. He should have taken the Oriental gentleman route and do a hara kiri. Unfortunately he chose to live in ignominy, never to return again. How could that be a problem? What would happen if Durai also thinks of the same plan and got hauled back at the immigration? Tongues will go awagging. How come Yong could escape and Durai could not. Fortunately Durai is unlikely to do that. He is going to take the rap, face the penalty like a man, like a tough CEO that he once was. Again, if he does not appear in the next hearing, would there be a wrath of the people? After all the happenings, people are getting very uneasy about how the events are unfolding. It is giving rumour mongers a lot of ingredients to feed their imaginations.

Singaporean catch phrases

The Singaporean Dictionary of famous phrases, in jest. (To be added on as more gems are discovered) Affordability: It means affordable according to the income of the person saying it. Equality: Some have more rights than others. Or as in Animal Farm. Foreign talents aka Fallen Trash: Not very bright foreigners but can replace Singaporeans on cheaper pay. Foreign workers: To compete with local workers to keep wages low. GST: Tax to benefit the poor and lower income citizens High Pay: Free of corruption Honest Mistake: Free from accountability. A learning process for taking risks. IR: Another term for Casinos Let's move on: Enough. We have decided and no one should say anything more about it. Case closed. Local talents: Only in demand overseas Majority: If 1 million did not vote and 3 voted, 2 is a majority. Means Testing: An opportunity to strip a citizen down to bare all his poverty. Mee Siam Mai Hum: Uniquely Singapore National security: My security, or the security of whoever saying it. Pah Si Buay Chow: Stay on as long as the pay is good. Peanuts: As it is, good for monkeys only. Political talents: The best of all the country's talents. Quitters: Applicable to Singaporeans who can't make it here. Redbeanforum = online rantings in futility? ;P Retirement age: Not applicable in politics Straight As: Above average students. Anything below is average or below average. Straits Times: Tongue in cheek views of professional journalists for nation building. Subsidies: Govt subsidises, the people pay. Super talents: Measures by income Transparent: For me to know, for you to find out. Unemployed - Refers to lazy and choosy individuals. World class. This has many definitions depending on the context. World class govt: Highest paid govt. This is unchallenged. Will appear in Guinness Book of Records soon. World class public transport: Sardine packed public transport. World class universities: Based on the criteria of assessments and number of foreign students and lecturers tweaked to fit to the expected model.

reloading redbeanforum.com

Yesterday 2000 of my registered member's name were deleted. Wow! Who would want to do this to me? Anyway, I am asking the hosting party to have it reloaded. But I will lose one to two days of my posts there. The hazards of cyberspace publishing.

myth 142

Singapore does not care about its olds This is a myth and must be debunked. Singapore has done so much for the ageing population that we should be considered as one of the most creative in this area. We have made provisions in the CPF to make sure that all of them retire happily with a big cache of cash, at least $140,000 in their retirement and medisave accounts combined. And there are many benefits for the senior citizens like cheaper fares for public transport and medical fees. We have built specially designed flats with grab poles, emergency buttons etc at very cheap prices. And if that is not enough, we may even buy some pacific islands and turn them into senior citizens paradise. Now, not good enough? We even have a minister specially designated to look into the problems of the ageing population. And he is one of the finest and experienced ministers in the cabinet. He may know not much about this field, but he is taking it very seriously. He is now on a world tour to visit the best facilities to learn from them, first hand experience. By the time he is back with all the new knowledge and information and formulas, our ageing population problem will be solved. So no one can accuse the govt for not spending money and effort to look after our senior citizens. Some even got free money, like $260 a month to spend freely. And these are those without the $100k plus savings. It is a good life for the senior citizens. Those who want to work until they die, jobs are aplenty. They can work in food courts or in high offices, depending on their talents.

nkf story - let's be forgiving

Thomas Koshy wrote an article in Today asking many embarrassing questions about Yong's disappearance. And he was being polite, and so are we. We should all regard the whole episode as a Singaporean joke and laugh about it in private conversations. As for the culprits, I sense that there is this great compassion in all quarters to forgive them. So let us all forgive them and pretend that nothing happened and continue to live life as it is. No more funny questions.