Money grabbing politics

'Much money-grabbing from the national tills were effected by those within or connected to the elite ruling political party. I sincerely hope the Hindraf case will not only bring the plight of the Indians to the international forum but the plight of other minorities as well.' The above quote is copied from www.littlespeck.com. It is written by a non Malay who said he had left but not sure whether it is Malaysia or the civil service.

Lawyers touting?

Lawyers were fined for touting or soliciting for business. And I think many businesses are also affected by such archaic practices. Why can't a professional offers his services at the best rate that he can offer? Should we liberalise all the practices and allow the free market to regulate businesses? There shall be minimum rules governing business and commercial practices as long as fair and ethical practices are adopted. There shall be transparency and a level playing field. Cartels, monopolies and protectionism shall be removed and made illegal. We need free trade and free entreprises to bring out the best in business and individual enterprise.

Human Rights - Confucianist version

Long before the western world talked about human rights, Confucian had clearly defined what human rights were meant to be. These rights were enshrined in the principles of destiny or fate. People were born to be kings or workers and all were expected to live through their destiny in the best they could. A king shall be a good king and shall rule the country in the best way he could. For that he is bestowed with all the powers and authority to do as he pleases as a king. The people who are born to be workers shall be examplary workers, be they carpenters, taxi drivers or production workers. They shall just put in all their energy and effort to be good workers. And that is their right. The ministers or government officials shall be good government officials and manage the country for the king. They shall all be obeyed. The father shall all be good fathers and children be good childrens etc etc As long as everyone does his part and live within his destined life, live responsibly and does not interfere in matters outside his realm of existence, there will be order and peace on earth. That is the Confucianist version of human rights. Everyone has the right to live his or her life as what he is born to be. And I believe all the Asean countries will love to live by this version of human rights.

Myth 167 Condor Heroes

Condor Heroes For those who are familiar with this Chin Yong's martial art serial, they will be familiar with the art of left hand fighting right hand. This is a skill mastered and taught by the infantile old master Zhou Bo Tong. Whenever he was bored he would use his right hand to fight his left hand. Of course both hands would never be hurt. And he could fight for as long as he wanted, it is just another kind of wayang kulit. This is a good skill to learn and apply in modern living. Let the right hand fight the left hand, sometimes right hand lose, sometimes left hand lose, or whichever one so desires. The master is still the master.

Human Rights in Singapore?

'It should not be there just for the sake of advocacy. Human rights issues have to be conginzant of the society they are applied to, and the degree of sophistication of the country and people.' Baey Yam Keng This has been the talk of the town since we took over the Chair of Asean and people are expecting that Singapore should take some kind of lead or leadership in promoting human rights. In my view, Singapore does not need any human rights organisation not that we are not sophisticated enough for it. Also our society does not need a human rights group for the sake of human rights movement. We are free from human rights abuses. Compare to all the Asean countries, no one can come near us as far as human rights are concerned. We are the best. Even the US, the champion of international human rights, is our best friend. That speaks volumes for our human rights record. Other countries should follow our examples on human rights and treat their people as fairly as us. We deserve a medal from the US and the UN on human rights.

Better taxi service and higher fare

There were several suggestions in the Today paper on how to improve the taxi service and increase the income of taxi drivers. But none is better than my suggestion for a $10 flag down rate. This $10 is not only effective, it will make everyone happy. First, because it is a bit more expensive than the present $2.50 rate, it will deter those who cannot afford the new rate to take taxis. Then more taxis will be available for those who can afford it. And they will be happy. Those who have to give up taxis can take our efficient and comfortable public transport system. For taxi drivers, nothing better to say. With $2.50 already some profit. With $10 they should be happy and encouraged to make our taxi profession a first choice profession and better quality service. And for the taxi operators, they can increase the rental rates too. See, everyone happy.

Price to keep a killer as pet

Investigation revealed that the rottweilers had attacked the son of a friend and required about 10 stitches. The AVA ordered that 2 of the rottweilers must be given away. So the owner will still have 3 at home. Is this good enough measure to keep the dogs from attacking another human bean? What the AVA should introduce is mandatory caning or imprisonment for the owner should any big dog attack a human bean. This will put the responsibility squarely on the owner and they will have to take all precautions to prevent such an attack. The current penalty is too little and will not be a deterrence and owners who have a lot of money will willingly throw the money at the unfortunate victims. The owner of big ferocious dogs must be made to bear the pain and suffering of their victims. And the fine must be very heavy, maybe $100k, and the licence should also be up, $10k a year. That should be a reasonable price for the right to keep a killer as a pet.

Myth 166

Boom or bust? Our economy is booming and we have full employment. Everyone must be doing well, gainfully employed. It is our golden year. Why are we rolling out more financial aids for people who need help? Why are there more people desperately needing help in a booming economy with full employment? Why isn't the wealth of the country spread to the lower income people faster?

Taxi fares must go up

With the high operating cost, higher fuel prices etc, it is so unreal to expect taxi drivers to continue to drive their taxis at the same fare. And it is also well acknowledged that our taxi fares are too low compare to the big cities. How can public transport like MRT and buses be allowed to keep going up but not for taxis? If there is any compulsion to keep fares affordable, it must be MRT and buses as these are used by the workers whose income have actually gone down quite badly due to all the increases. There are hundreds and one reasons to support taxi fare hike. One of which is that it is a more than just a means of transport. It is a luxury in a way compares to buses and MRT. We should see the flag down fare increase to $10. That would make taxi driving as a job more attractive and cut down on all the other schemes. And it can do away with all the charges and surcharges. $10 flag down rate is the way to go.

The tooth and fiction of Singapore

More and more people are coming forward pleading for help and assistance. They cannot feed themselves anymore. A can of cheap China produced luncheon meat used to cost $1.30. It is now $2.50, and out of stock. A plate or rice or noodle used to cost $3 but now $3.50 or more. A loaf of bread costing $1.80 is now more than $2. How could the people afford this kind of prices when they live on $290 pm? But what do they expect? Eat in restaurant? But of course this is fictional Singapore. They are just cooked up stories of hard luck Singaporeans. Just someone's imaginations to create a negative impression of this paradise on earth. The true Singapore, he paid $435 million for a condo! Now that is more real. Another bought a 5rm HDB flat for more than $730,000, all for a good sea view. A family is paying $5,000 just for rental alone, and no sweat at all. Another was paying $10,000 but saved $2,000 by moving to the lower floor. And a supervisor with 5 young children could smoke a pack of cigarettes costing $10 daily. And can afford to pay $100 for mobile phone bill for only one of the children. What about me? I can't afford to smoke, or I don't smoke. And my mobile phone bill is a consistent $14 pm, hardly exceeded and used for business and personal matters. And I feel very tight in my pocket. Which is fiction, which is tooth?

Payment for life

How much does a politician contribute to the country and people in a 2 term office to deserve payment for life? This is something that has not been really discussed in parliament or in the msm except in some naughty blogs and websites. It would be interesting to hear this issue debated in parliament. The old belief of political office as a personal sacrifice sounds quite hollow today when remunerations are pegged to market rate or more. Working for two terms and being paid for life is definitely more than anything the market will pay.

End of NKF saga

Matilda Chua was fined $10k for falsifying accounts unrelated to the NKF saga. And this marks the closing of an ugly and amusing chapter of corporate governance and how public donations to charities were simply money under the bridge. On record, former chairman Richard Yong and ex treasurer Loo Say San were fined $5k each for their parts in the saga. The CEO Durai was jailed for 3 months for deceiving the NKF. He is appealing and has yet to serve his sentence, I think. He is probably employed by a big company working in the Middle East as a CEO or something like that. Justice has been done. What happened to all the missing loot? Were they recovered and how much were recovered? God knows. Waiting for a summation of the case in the msm to mark the official conclusion of the case. And nothing more was heard of the infamous Aboobacker. Lucky fellow. How would the ending and punishment affect future corporate governance? Would people be encouraged to repeat the saga, after all it is only a few thousand dollars to pay and the rewards and perks were more than one can bargain for? All in all, the story has a happy ending.

Tharman the first non Chinese PM?

He has risen and risen, holding the two important portfolios of Education and Finance. And speculation is that he is meant for bigger things... perhaps the next PM. His credential is impeccable except for the little skirmish that was long forgiven. Now it is up to Tharman to win the hearts part is easier. Winning the voters confidence that he is going to be the next PM will be trickier. But all things can happen in the city of possibilities.

It won't happen!

Imagine a couple of happy grandparents proudly walking their first grandchild. The toddler is happily toddling ahead, a step at a time like any child learning to walk does. It is a moment for the photo album. A perfect sight of a happy family. Then out dash 5 rottweilers and they descend on the little toddler. In a flash of second they were tearing away the hands and legs of the toddler apart, right before the eyes of the stunned grandparents. It is so swift and over in a few second. During the aftermath press conference the owner of the rottweiler calmly said it is natural for the big dogs to attack small things. Period. They are prepared to pay the $5000 fine. It cannot be. It cannot happen. Too much dramatisation. Neither can 5 strong young men, strong swimmers, died in an ordinary dragonboat race in a calm river in front of thousands of spectators and helpers. It cannot be. It can't be. But it happened. It is not fiction. It is real. It can be!

It is only natural!

I read some comments in the report on the rottweilers biting the Jack Russel. The silliness of these comments is not surprising. It is someone else that will be hurt. In this case it is a small dog. The dog lover did not want to see the rottweilers put to sleep. The owner of the rottweilers said it is only natural for the big dogs to attack small dogs. It is only animal instinct. So everyone is happy. It is only natural that the dogs will attack small animals, including children. Do we want to see a toddler being torn to pieces before we act? No amount of money and compensation and words of sympathy and empathy can take away the horror and mental anguish of the parents should a child be torn to pieces and ended up as meal for the dog. Please do something before something ugly happens. Animals are animals and they have no intention to kill or maul little children. They did that naturally.

Temper rising

Bus drivers refused to stop their buses for foreign workers. Commuters squeezed their noses when foreign workers approached and gave them a disgusting look. What more? Human beans are human beans. Not many are saints. The little irritation in life can become a big issue to some. Some have higher tolerance level, some are more kind, some more forgiving and some more friendly. But some are more nasty and have very low tolerance. And this will apply to both sides of the equation. Bus drivers can drive off. But they may end up as the punching bag of angry foreign workers. People may squeeze their noses or walk away. One day they may get slap and punch by angry foreign workers as well for being rude. Then what?

Petrol prices up again

This is the second increase in two months. Petrol prices of 95 and 98 are over $2, at $2.006 and $2.080 and premium 98 is $2.246. But this increase is definitely due to external factors and no one can do anything about it. I wonder if there is any exceptional talent that can bring oil prices down. With petrol prices up, all things must go up accordingly as transportation is a major item in many businesses. We will just have to get use to higher prices of everything.

Singapore has a stronger case

In the editorial page of the Straits Times today Andy Ho wrote an article on the legal arguments in Hague. He concluded, like all Singaporeans, that Singapore had a stronger case. With selective hearing and vested interests of course. And this is bad. We owned the islands for more than 130 years and we only have a stronger case to retain it. We should be in a position to say there is no case. A stronger case can still lose and we stand to lose ownership of the islands. I am getting jittery.

The danger of racial strife

The riotings in France and in Malaysia can happen here anytime. What happened in Malaysia was beyond the control of the early leaders of the Malay Peninsula. What happened in France and Britain, were from policies arising from a guilt mindset. After ravishing the wealth of the colonised people, the Brits and French felt guilty and needed to redeem themselves by importing immigrants from their ex colonies. Do we have to voluntarily create more problems for the future? The problems that we are creating will be enormous as our locals could become a minority. In big countries, the immigrants will take a long time to grow to a significant number. Our small population makes us very vulnerable. Why are we asking for it?

More tragedies waiting to happen

The 5 rottweillers are at it again. This time attacking a puppy and injuring the owner as well. When will the rottweillers lay their fangs on a baby or small children before we call for a major board of inquiry like the dragon boat tragedy? If we are to shut up and accept that nothing will happen and let the rottweillers and big dog owners to go the way they are doing, when the next tragedy occurs, people will again all have a lot of questions and clever answers to tell. We told you so. The people who allow all these big dogs to run wild with the potential of maiming lives, the dog owners and the policy makers who think that nothing of the sort will happen, shall be hanged if it did happened. Do something now. Don't have to wait for another dragonboat inquiry to regret. Don't have to hear the wails of grief to feel sorry.