Root of taxi touting problem

We have heard all the anger in display on what to do with taxi touts. Can we ask what is the root to all these problems? Cost of living? High cost of operation? Trying to earn a little more, something similar to corruption? Inefficient taxi operator systems or inequitable pay to the taxi drivers? We have heard and experienced the high cost of living. It is no longer a joke. And the govt is doing everything it could to curb the losing value of the dollar or pay. Huge payrises are the solutions. But not many people are getting the payrise. The self employed will be hardest hit. And taxi drivers are one of them. We may want to use the same rationale and assumptions to solve the touting problem like we solved the corruption problem. Pay them well, so that they will not resort to touting. And there will be better quality of drivers coming into the professions. The graduates too can consider driving taxi as a living. We will have plenty of them when the fourth university is in operation. And everyone stand to benefit, the commuters, especially the tourists, will be awed by the high calibre of our taxi drivers. The latter too will be happy with the high income. Now compare this with the 70 plus trishaw uncle that should be at home enjoying the grandchildren instead of struggling with his trishaw to pull two huge europeans and be humiliated for a few dollars. The trishaw profession, if not restructured, is a shame to this country. Our octogenarians ended up plying the streets soliciting unruly passengers. Not much different from prostitutions.

Old workers now top national priority

This seems like fiction. A few years back, all the old hags were gotten rid off as quickly as you can say redbean. Now the old hags are treasures to be kept. Why the sudden change of mind? Should this be part of a long term plan, properly schemed out? It cannot be one day good one day bad. What happens to being proactive, planning ahead? This seems like fiction. A few years back, all the old hags were gotten rid off as quickly as you can say redbean. Now the old hags are treasures to be kept. Why the sudden change of mind? Should this be part of a long term plan, properly schemed out? It cannot be one day good one day bad. What happens to being proactive, planning ahead?

One directorship to do top cop in

Malaysia's No 3 cop, Ramli Yusoff, director of Commercial Crime Investigation Dept, was charge for owning properties of more than RM1 million and also for violating a regulation by not declaring his directorship in a private company. His total assets that were in question were more than RM27 million. If he would have become a politician, he could have 10 or 20 directorships and no question will be asked. It will all be above board and legitimate. Only politicians have such privileges. And he could also be given millions of shares in their govt linked companies, and be much richer than the RM27 million that he had. Must know how to play the right game.

Sexy talks on radio

The msm reported that Mediacorp Radio has been fined $5000 when DJs Glenn Ong and Mark van Cuylenburg talked about sex in the morning. To be precise, it was done between 7am and 8am. What they discussed was whether men and women should make noise during sex and whether noisy men turned women off. A few hours just after bed, they may be reliving their encounters and needing some affirmation that they are doing the right things. And it is good sex education for school children on their way to schools. They will have heightened awareness of what sex is all about and would have a lot of questions to ask their sex education teachers. Mediacorp should take the opportunity to have a radio channel devoted to sexy talks since it is so popular and they have enthusiatic DJs to anchor the programme. It will be a really hot and steamy channel. And more money will roll in from the advertisers. From the hotels in Geylang as well.

The years that Asean squandered away

China made the decision to open up their economy in 1978. It was, till then, a closed and very backward country and economy. In 1978, Asean and several countries within Asean were already a mini economic powerhouse compare to the China. What happens today is that China and India have leapfrogged over Asean and are now two big engines that run the world economy. Where is Asean? Still stuck in its own bickering over national interest and pride but not moving anywhere. We laugh at the two giants, India and China, as slow, difficult to manage with gigantic population and infrastructure problems. They have got their acts together. Have Asean got theirs together? Hsien Loong called for more rapid liberalisation, opening up of the skies and economies. There were several attempts at building growth triangles but only to fizzle out like the opening of a bottle of coke. Only some gases made a little noise. And the world moves ahead.

The international dumb asses

If pay be the criteria for intelligence, these must be the dumb asses in international politics. Russian President Vladimir Putin S$113,000 pa French President Nicolas Sarkozy S$480,000 British PM Gordon Brown S$534,000 German Chancellor Angela Merkel S$544,000 Irish PM Bertie Ahern S$620,00 These dumb asses were so shortchanged that they didn't know their market values.

My take on the mean criteria

With means testing becoming a reality, let's guess what the criteria will be to qualify people for medical subsidies. Starting at C wards. First condition will be living in rental flats. Personal income not more than $800 pm and household income not more than $1,500. Also there must be no savings and the Medisave account must have less than $3000. For B2 wards, subsidies will be eligible to those living in 3 rm HDB flats or equivalent. Personal income should not be more than $1500 pm and household income not more than $3000. And Medisave should not be less than $10000. For B1 subsidies, only for those living in 4 rm HDB flats. Personal income less than $2000 and household income less than $4000. Medisave account should be less than $15000. I think these could be the possible conditions for means testing. Anyone in better conditions than these should be warded in B1 or A wards and pay accordingly. The poorer people will thus benefit from lesser people competiting for the subsidies while more people will have to pay the full rate, providing more subsidies for the poorer people. Brilliant right? What say you people?

Response to ERP rates

I watched a few interviews conducted by the media on TV last night. A couple responded in shock. How could it be, so high, it was going to affect their livelihood. Then another put it in another way. Too many cars on the road. And he recommended that the COE price should be raised to $80k. That would keep the car population down. The latter response is more in line with my earlier post. You either make car ownership so costly or driving on the expressways so costly, otherwise the congestion problem is not going to go away. But of course there are many other ways of minimising the problem and these will take time and cost. The raising of ERP charges or COEs are short term measures and have been short term measures for many years. The real solution is still awaiting to happen. And the 6.5 mil population will only make things worst.

Giving is stairway to hell

I was reading Sheralyn Tay's report in Today on what Charles Hampden-Turner said at the conference on National Volunteerism and philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility. In his speech he said everything that we need to know about the false assumptions and farce of charity and means testing. He does not recommend blind generosity, the singlemindedness to give and think that that is the road to paradise, a good and generous act. One side just give and the other side just receive, instead of rewarding success, we reward failure. And related to means testing is that the recipients will try to outdo each other to be the '100% certified slob' to qualify for handouts or subsidies. These people may even give up job opportunities or other means to help themselves as those means would make them less eligible to qualify. Thus there will be 'a race to the bottom.' And that was exactly what the public were slapped with during those charity shows when pathetic cases were paraded to show how bad their conditions were. Does anyone bother about the pride and diginity of these poor souls? Or poor souls need no pride?

Getting squeezed or living in comfort?

Siamak Adibi, a foreign talent, and Darren Chong, wrote to Today about their concerns over the issues of limited resources and a growing population. Siamak is considering leaving if the condition gets worst. Our hospitals and public facilities are over taxed. People have to queue and wait for hours to see the doctors even with appointments. Public parks and utilities are stretched. Then Pritam Paul, another FT, dismissed such concerns and praised the great and liveable conditions we are having. He compared to India when the conditions were appalling and chastised Singaporeans for not knowing the paradise that they have. Mark Lee posted another letter saying that we, as a first world country, should measure ourselves against first world countries and their conditions of living. We should be comparing ourselves with Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, Montreal or Copahagen or similar places, definitely not with Manila, Mumbai, Bangkok, Hanoi or Jakarta. What Mark said is simply not to distort the truth by using poor and inappropriate examples. This is as good as lying.

Good that ERP rates have gone up

Finally a bold decision has been taken to raise ERP charges higher. Unfortunately it is still not going to be effective. It is still not high enough. We really need to have a tough man at the job to go for it, $10 or $20 per pass should do the job. Then the expressways will be faster and smoother. The raising of the charges will mean a few things. The smaller roads or roads with cheaper ERP charges will be jammed. That is what my crystal ball said. Unless public transport is good enough to replace private transport, and unless people with families and little children to rush to parents or schools can find alternative tranport that is efficient and fast. What is going to happen is that people will get use to the high charges and go back to use the expressways as there is no other better alternative transportation to meet their needs.

Boon Wan told, go ahead with mean testing

The issue of means testing has been in the back burner after Boon Wan has second thought over its implications. I think he was wavering as the idea is anything but mean. Now he has been told to go ahead with means testing. And of course, means testing, like raising GST, is to help the lower income group to pay for their medical fees. This is an unique formula that only works in this island. And if I did not hear wrongly, it is also to make medical fees more affordable to middle income earners in case they can't afford it anymore. Lucky Singaporeans.

How much would the wantan mee cost?

With the price of flour going up by 20 or 30%, how much will that plate of wantan mee or char kuay teow cost? The beef ball noodle, the fish ball noodle, hokien mee, mee goreng, and don't forget the chapati and the roti prata. All these are the staple food of the ordinary Singaporeans. How would this affect their daily diet? Would they now have to cut down their consumption or have to tighten more to keep themselves going?

Money in the decision making process

Why are Singaporeans so sceptical about the CPF and the annuity schemes to think that the govt is after their money? Is this perception fair? And now we have Singaporeans thinking that the public transport system and the ERPs are all there for the same purpose, to get more money from the Singaporeans instead of solving the transportation problem. Everyone now is thinking the same kind of thought. Can we blame them?

No further need for charity shows

With automatic insurance schemes starting from birth to 20 years old, with CPF, Minimum Sum Withdrawal and Annuity Schemes, and also lease buy backs, Singaporeans should be adequately provided from cradle to death. There should be no need for charity shows in the future when all these are in place for the new Singaporeans. And all these are provided by the Singaporeans own pockets. No need charity and welfare from the govt as well. We have taken for granted that all Singaporeans can afford all these schemes in addition to supporting themselves and their families.

Govt going into selling insurance business?

First we have compulsory annuity schemes. Now we have automatic Medishield for kids. And more schemes for youth and young adults on the way. Where else can one sell insurance in a large scale to the masses in such an easy manner. Compulsory and automatic. The latter, ok, can opt out within a month after automatic inclusion. And at $30 annual premium, I concur that it is affordable. What if the opt out rate is too high to make the scheme not economical? Would it then become compulsory? It is a good scheme and good for the people? Why not make it compulsory in the first place? Or why not make compulsory annuity be automatic and allow the people to opt out of the scheme if they do not want to? The premium cannot be a key consideration to decide whether it is compulsory or automatic I supposed. $30 versus $1000 or more per annum?

Curbing property speculations

Mah Bow Tan announced new rulings to curb the hot property market before it starts boiling out of control. The fear of a spiralling high property prices running beyond the reach of the average Singaporeans is a great concern. And now this concern is also creeping into the fear of FTs who will also be aversely affected. And in turn the whole business cost. What seems to be lacking is a clear strategy as to what the property market should be like and how Singaporeans of different income level would be accommodated in the big scheme of things. We have the HDB market, the condo market, the landed properties and the high end market. The different markets can be structured to serve the different sectors of the population, local and foreign, carefully planned to benefit the real home owners and the speculators, balancing a need to keep properties affordable and at the same time a lively speculative markets. We are now seeing piecemeal solutions to a very complex problem.

Madrasah to revamp

Yaacob Ibrahim announced that three Islamic schools would have their curricula revamped to raise the standards of academic subjects. This is a very bold move that will change the direction of the Madrasah schools and the orientation of its student products. For all these years, Malay students enrolled in Madrasahs are steeped in religious educations, spent a big portion of their time and effort on religion and related matters. This will have its toll on the time spent on the pursuit of academic and non religious subjects. And I think it is asking too much for the students to excel in both religious and academic subjects. To concentrate in both areas equally is very demanding. The competiting attractions and importance of the two paths make it a very difficult choice for the Malay leaders to choose. There must be a compromise and give and take whichever the path is chosen. And only the Malay leaders can make such a decision with the support of the Malay community.

Pluralism versus Homogeneity

China, India and Japan are flying to the moon. These Asian countries are doing it all on their own. Homebred and homegrown talents to drive their space programmes. And the Russians have been doing it all along. On the other hand there is this great mixed pot called America with talents from all over the world. At the moment, plurality of talents is leading the competition by a nose, taking the Russians into the picture. Would we see a homogeneous country, depending on their own talents, outdoing a plural society made up of the best brains from all over the world? It is a new kind of experiment on the world stage. What if it eventually proves that home grown talents can do it on their own without foreign talents?

Huge payrise for the Civil Servants

The Civil Servants, especially the lower ones, are going to get their just rewards. Average 8.6% and better ones 14-17%. Of course this pay rise, in percentage form, should go all the way to the top, I think. It is quite a sum at $1 million level. Two reasons were given, competitive environment and demand for better quality of services. The former is quite true. As for better quality of services, I have my doubts. If we compare dollar by dollar paid, we should be the best governed country in the whole world. And if quality is measured in monetary terms, our quality must be hundreds of times better than our neighbours and even better than the USA or Japan. Are we getting better quality policies and decisions or are we learning from the lesser paid countries and depending on them to teach us to do better?