Dr Wong Wee Nam - notable quote

'It is not for any individual to decide who is fit to stand for election. It is for an informed and intelligent electorate to decide who should be elected. This is a very fundamental principle of the democratic process.' Dr Wong Wee Nam. Have Singaporeans been robbed of this right to decide who can or cannot run for election and who can or cannot be elected?

Singaporeans obsession with preparing for tomorrow

'Living longer, must work longer, must draw down later, must save more, and must take care in case you live beyond 85.' Lee Hsien Loong Hsien Loong is talking about CPF and the need to keep more money for beyond 85. What I would like to tell Singaporeans is to prepare for life after 85, after death. What happens if one goes to hell? Singaporeans must prepare now, what they should do in case they go to hell or to avoid going to hell. Going to heaven is a happy problem.

The rise of Alternative Media

Below is an extract from littlespeck.com showing how important is alternative media and how hypocritical main stream media has become. We are gradually seeing the demise of msm when serious news is concerned. The credibility of msm is at stake and soon it will be buried for good. Coverage News blackout With the press silenced, Ma;aysian city-folks rely on new media and foreign agencies for protest coverage, but not so for many rural Malaysians. Nov 13, 2007 By mediaslut The Malaysian government was reported to have ordered a blackout of any news and photos in the country’s main-stream media of the BERSIH rally held in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, on Saturday, Nov 10 2007. The rally was well publicised and with a blackout in old media, where did the curious or concerned go to get information about the protest? They went to the blogs of Malaysians and protest participants who took photos and wrote their account of the demonstration online. They went on Technorati and searched the keyword “Bersih” and probably visited one of the 493 blogs post tagged with the keyword “Bersih”. Jeff Ooi reported a spike of visitors to his blog, Jeffooi.com, over the weekend. From an average of 5,000 - 6,000 visitors on sleepy weekends, Jeff reported 24,600 page-views with 21,000 unique visitors to his blog on that Saturday itself. There was a time when the medium was only the radio, television and papers. The cost of producing anything for them was expensive and out of the reach for the common man and woman. The cost of distribution was also exorbitant. Today, the medium is the Internet and the tool they call a blog. Another can set up a blog and go “live” on the internet within minutes, for free. The cost of distribution has also gone down with blog search engines such as Technorati or Google. The cost of creating such content’s also now affordable to the masses. A mobile phone is even touted as the ultimate journalist tool and could be bought at a relative low price depending on the plans provided by the service provider. It takes photos, records audio and video, and can be uploaded to the blog in minutes. How effective is a government ordered old media blackout today? Ahirudin Attan, the person behind rockybru.blogspot.com and a former journalist, called the blackout a severe blow to Malaysian journalism as “people had to rely on foreign TV stations, blogs and wire news to know what happened at the rally”. (mediaslut) Meanwhile, Jeff Ooi wrote in his Screenshots blog: - The BERSIH rally remained top news of the hour, every hour, since 3.00pm on Al-Jazeera International yesterday. I was in the Al-Jazeera studio to give live commentaries during the 3.00pm, 4.00pm and 6.00pm bulletins over Astro Channel 513. There will be a live crossover with Anwar Ibrahim during the 8.00pm prime time news last night. There are visuals that show Al-Jazeera correspondent getting doused in the chemical-laced waterjets the Police shot at the crowd.. One blogger wrote, “Malaysian journalism took a severe blow. People had to rely on foreign tv stations, blogs and wire news to know what happened at the rally. ”There was hardly any report in the government-controlled media.” Another, anil netto, added: “Mainstream media coverage was pathetic. I woke up this morning expecting it to be front-page news. After all, news of the protest gathering had flashed across the globe yesterday. ”But when I saw the front page of The Sunday Star today… zilch, nada, nothing…. Was this for real? It seemed as if I must have been on a different planet. ”It was only reported half-heartedly on page 8. Tens of thousands of people had brought Kuala Lumpur to a virtual standstill the day before and .. Page 8!” Nov 13, 2007

UMNO lacking in confidence

Reading from Malaysian PM’s speech, Sin Chew daily columnist notes ruling party is short of confidence. By Tat Tian Yan Does anyone know the title of the opening speech by part president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to the just ended UMNO General Assembly? Not many people will realise it. Here it is: “Strengthening Confidence – Venturing Into A New Era”. The most important word is “confidence”. “Confidence” is the weakness of UMNO. In fact, UMNO has everything, be it power, resources, party members, the vote and so on. However, they are lacking confidence. Abdullah knows this as a fact. But the majority of the party members, and even the high-level cadres are not aware of it. They feel insecure because they are lacking confidence. Their tough look is very often used to hide their deep unease. Therefore, we can see a lot of “terms” in the UMNO General Assembly. The most common terms are “Do not challenge us”, “Our patience is limited”, “We have already sacrificed too much” and so on. "They feel insecure because they are lacking confidence." These “terms” reflect the collective psyche. The above is an extract from littlespeck.com I rather see this lack of confidence from a different angle. What UMNO needs are able leaders who are development minded, take on projects to develop the country, introduce positive and pro business and development policies to drive the economy. What UMNO now has is a bunch of politicians who spend their time politiking and how to line their pockets. How many of them have come out with ideas, serious development and economic ideas and push them through? Practically zero. And worst, any big idea, other than the stupid crooked bridge, will be torn down to pieces for fear that they make less and the investors make more. With this type of frog in the well mentality, Malaysia cannot progress. And as it starts to regress and go down the hill, the politicians will keep on inciting the people to raise tension. That is what the Malaysian politicians in UMNO are good at and are doing everyday to keep their bank account growing.

$2 billion projects delayed

The delay is to reduce the reliance on more foreign workers. Has the message of the presence of a sea of foreign workers sank in? The daily commentary and expression of views in the msm are signs that the welcome is wearing thin. The agitations and discomfort will grow as time goes by. Now what it needs is for some foreign workers to be recruited into organised crimes and the wrath of the people will just explode. And when hostility blows into the open, it can become ugly. Let's manage this foreign presence and don't think that we are a country like American or Australia. We are too small and we have already too huge a foreign presence to test our tolerance. Up to a certain level, foreigners are welcome. Once the limit is exceeded, some kind of xenophobia will appear. It is only natural.

1/4 tank rule for Singapore cars

Malaysia is toying with the idea of reducing petrol subsidies for its citizens. Closely related to this issue is the hordes of Singaporeans pumping petrol in JB and enjoying the same subsidies. This is most inequitable to the Malaysians as the subsidies were meant to be for Malaysians only. What I think will be a simple rule to prevent Singaporean motorists taking advantage of the subsidies is to introduce a 1/4 tank rule. 1/4 should be enough for Singaporeans to drive back from the causeway after their shopping and feasting.

Computer addiction worries Parliament

Ellen Lee raised in Parliament on the problem of her 12 year old nephew's addiction to computer games. She fears that this could be a general problem and wanted to know what the ministers are going to do about it. I hope someone will raise the problem of gangs running around night spots and slashing people with parangs. Would Singapore turn into another cowboy town or an island of secret societies fighting in the streets? Have they rid the island of loan sharks or are the sharks still swimming freely around?

Another sign of super efficient Singapore

Property prices are up. So property taxes are going up. Another big bonus for the tax dept. So high property prices also is good for the govt, or at least the tax dept. And the standard formula applies. The tax will go up. But there will be rebate for two years. You only pay more later. Get use to the bigger tax figures first so that the numbers will become more familiar.

notable quote by Redbean

'It is fun to ridicule opposition parties as long as one is not ya ya.' Redbean.

Universiti Malaya 246th place!

The Times London Higher Education Survey listed Universiti Malaya at 246th, dropping 54 places. It is out of the top 200 universities in the world. Though I do not place much value in such a survey except as a guide, to be at 246th is a bit far off on any count. Given its western biased and artificiality, the survey is good only as a guide for students to know whether an university is respectable. Being in the top 50 or 100 should be a decent standing.

Not necessary for 6.5m population

Ngiam Tong Dow has reviewed his thoughts and felt that the population target of 6.5m needs to be reviewed. This is an old number done many years back and the changes in technology has made this number not so valid today. I think he is feeling the sense of frustration and despair among the population on this push for 6.5m. He is calling for a rethink. Sad that with so many brilliant brains, it needs an old master to tell them what to do. Don't they think? Are they brave enough to relook at old premises and say, hey, they don't look right?

Different perspective of wrongdoings

Venerable Ming Yi said the amount unaccounted for is only a couple of hundred thousand. No big deal. 'The Sunday Times understands that the amount of money not accounted for adds up to a few million dollars, and not a few hundred thousand as the Venerable Ming Yi has said.' When people are used to big sums of money, their perspectives on the value of money changed. It is less hand half a peanut. Nothing to cry about. When they shit, probably more than a peanut will ooze out. And people were literally hanged for cheating on taxi fares for a few dollars. And public transport commuters can be jailed for cheating on the fares for a few cents. This is the new Theory on the Relativity of Money.

Malaysians marched in protest

It is unusual for such a huge turnout of mass protest against the Malaysian govt and the political system. 50,000 protesters, many dressed in royal yellow as a sign of respect to the royalties, marched to the palace to hand in a protest note to the king for political reform. The official press put the number as 10,000. Never believe in the numbers provided by the official press. What is happening to Malaysia? Has the system got so rotten that the people are rising to call for a change? Apparently, from all the happenings and reports, corruption in the system has reached a point that it is an open secret. The country is disintegrating in the hands of politicians who only know how to politic and line their pockets and nothing else. The Malaysians are so fed up with the politicians that they are siding with the royalties and pleading to the royalties to take a more active role in its politics. This is something unheard off in the past 30 years. The politicians are cornered. Their political gimmicks and games designed for their own aggrandizement have been exposed. The ground has shifted and a dramatic change of events is taking shape for a new Malaysia and a new social contract. If that is the message of this latest protest.

Raise the political barrier

Vivian Balakrishnan had a lively discussion with 100 young activists and an impressive 10 questions were asked. Not bad for Singapore standard of active participation in a dialogue. 3 questions is standard and 10 is excellent in a depoliticised citizenry. The key issue raised was the need for a high standard of integrity among political aspirants. Vivian mused that 'many people are asking us to dumb down our political system. Lower the hurdles, lower the standards, lower the penalties, lower the deposits, so that we can have apparently more contest.' He added that he 'would rather have a high political hurdles, so that anybody who seriously enters the contest is a good, strong, honest person, willing to pay the prices and able to withstand the scrutiny of the public.' In one mouthful he has said that the govt will set the rules and standards for entering politics. A hard fact that the people must live with. The power of the day sings the song. Also, no one will take issues with maintaining high standards of conduct and integrity. These must be the basic qualities expected of national leaders. What is questionable is to link ability to pay a high deposit, or rich people, as people of high integrity, is unacceptable. There are many good people with very high integrity but do not have the money for deposit and were out of the system, cut off by the system. The next point is that these people of high integrity must be prepared to pay a high price. Why should entering politics be equated to paying a high price? Who is exacting this high price and under what circumstances? When we expect good people of high integrity to come into politics, the assumption is that they will conduct themselves exemplarily and would not behave like clowns or hit people below the belt. The issue of paying a high political price is unnecessary and is a threat that our system can do without. Not that people going into politics can destroy another with impunity. Unjustified and unsubstantiated attacks on any opponent must be paid with a high price. But this high price must not be there as a criteria or condition in our political system if we are to open the net wide enough to really get the good people into politics. Yes, it is dangerous to lower the criteria to enter politics. But a good political system must not have unjustified high barriers to keep good people out. A lot of money and high political price as a threat are something we can do without.

Night ERP charges

Not very long ago, if I can remember, control of road congestion is to free the roads to facilitate commercial activities. Our business and trading activities must not be curtailed by a clogged road and nothing moves. The CBD and Orchard Road gantries were set up to free the area from traffic jams. It is interesting to see the introduction of night ERP charges in CTE till 10.30 pm for home bound traffic. After 6pm, most of the commercial activities other than shopping, food and entertainment must have closed shop. And these are people going home or doing their social activities. The CTE may be slow, but it is leisure time. Why the need to activate the ERP charges? If this logic is allowed to get through, weekend and holiday ERP charges will soon be introduced as well. The activation of ERP charges will then be dependent on road congestion and nothing to do with the slowing down of commercial and business activities. Then come weekends or holidays, no chance of driving around freely. Pay to drive every where and on every day.

Pedra Branca, our island

Reading through several days of the reports in the msm on the Pedra Branca court battle in Hague, I am fully convinced that Malaysia's case was spurious. They were just grappling with straws to build their claim over the island. The msm has presented every aspect of Singapore's legitimate claim and every rebuttal or dismissal very convincingly. Reading the media, one wonders why Malaysia even bothers to take up the case and waste so much time and expenses to go to Hague. It is not only losing the case, but putting up a poor case will discredit themselves in the international platform. I kind of feel a bit embarrass at the supporting evidence and arguments put up by Malaysia. But all these are based on the reports in our msm. Malaysia's position was reported in bits and pieces, in an incoherent manner. Neither were there a decent coverage on how Malaysia rebut or dismiss our claims and positions. It would be interesting to read how Malaysia present its case in full and see if they really make out a good case for themselves. I will search the Malaysian msm for their version of the story. The other astounding impression is the comments made by the Singapore team. Their morale was high, they have made a good case, and they were cautiously confident, guarded and prepared for any surprises Malaysia may throw out. They went there to fight a 50:50 case and may lose. Hmmmm, I thought and have lived with Pedra Branca as an intrinsic part of our territorial integrity. It is ours, never in doubt, like ownership of a landed property. And if there is any spurious claims against it, my position would be quite different. I may present the case with all the legal documents. But at no time would I concede that it is a 50:50 case. I may even put in place some measures for damages and cost and make it very clear in all manners and conduct, that it is a wild claim and need to be dismissed with cost awarded to me. To take the position that it is 50:50 is already conceding that our ownership is also tentative.

Battle for the right to live here

The battle to live in this little paradise has started. At the higher end, the talented level, Singaporeans will have to compete with foreign talents for every inch of turf they want to step on. And they are going to lose. For the foreign talents are going to beat our local talents till their nose bleed. So the only alternative is to look for a jobs overseas, pack up the family and go. At the lower end, the softie Singaporeans are going to compete with the hungry and toughter foreign workers. And they will be bashed against the wall. No fight. The hawkers in food courts are being replaced gradually. The mei meis in spas, health centres and Geylang are also being evicted by more willing and aggressive foreigners. Soon, very soon, the new owners of Singapore will be all new citizens, not born locally. We cannnot compete. And sadly, that is a fact. The good news is that Singapore will prosper to greater height by the foreign talents, the new Singaporeans. And we may see Singaporean maids and workers overseas. Possible?

NUS and NTU ranking drop

The Times London Higher Education Supplement has ranked NUS and NTU at 33 and 69 respectively compared to 19 and 61 the previous year. This call for alarm. Our rankings have dropped! Though the reports still considered the two universities as world class, they are dropping and will drop out of the top 100 soon. Jialat. Actually, when looking at the criteria and how the rankings were done, it is a western biased and pseudo intellectual ranking that is as good as a straw poll from people on the streets. What is so great about being ranked high by using digits on number of foreign students or faculty staff or staff student ratio? What is important should be the quality of the staff, their academic achievements and also the quality of the students produced. What is the point of ranking as number one when the students are all but average?

Would we have our own subprime loan crisis?

By the look of things, our stringent financial controls, and the CPF savings, we should not have any subprime loan crisis. So we should be spared because of our prudent policies. Spend only when one can afford it. Don't anyhow spend and don't spend beyond your means. For this, the medical services must take note and not force people to consume more expensive wards and services beyond their means. Medical costs must be brought down quickly. I digress. Superficially we may think that we will not have subprime loan crisis. But if we recall the way the prices of HDB flats were pushed to these levels without the income to match the increase, many people are actually living beyond their means. The worst hit are those that sell their first or second HDB flats and upgraded thinking that they could afford it. But they forgot that their incomes are not upgraded at the same rate as the price of flats. And all it needs is a little financial crisis, losing their jobs, and they will be cooked alive.

Another saga?

While begging has taken a different form and scale, corporate governance for such organisations are changing at an unusually slow pace. Thanks to NKF that more is being done to clean up the management of such charitable organisations. When professionals take over the art of begging and transform it into a business concern, they somehow forgot to transform the management of the organisations and its funds by bringing in the same quality of professional management. So, while the process of introducing professional financial management to charitable organisations, we are going to uncover many unsightly things, so to speak. The public must be prepared and braced up for such an eventuality as more organisations are dissected up for the full view of the donors. We may need a campaign to psychologically prepare the people so that they are mentally able to withstand the tsunami coming their way. More psychiatric clinics and pyschiatrists need to be roped in to help the people so that charitable organisations are not disadvantaged and donations do not stop coming to them.