Notable quotes - Khaw Boon Wan

'Test will err on side of generosity' Khaw Boon Wan Boon Wan said this during his dialogue sessions attended by more than 900 people on his plans to introduce mean testing. He promised that 'Means Testing will neither be mean nor demeaning.' The abattoir claimed to kill the pigs in the most humane and painless way. That is what we were told. But this is a bad analogy. Boon Wan was telling the people that he will be as kind and generous as possible. He tried his best to persuade the people of his good intention and that the Mean Testing is to help the poor. Reminds me of the 2% increase in GST. We shall all bear witness to his assurance published in the msm. Let's see when it is eventually introduced and whether desperate people will have the book thrown into their faces. You are not qualified. Next please. You are not qualified. This is the rule. Next please.... We will only know after the rice is cooked.

Taiwanese voters wised up

The heady days of blindly following Ah Bian are over. The Taiwanese voters have decided to take the future of Taiwan into their own hands. They decided to vote for the best man to lead them into the future. They paid no concern to party loyalty or whether Taiwan is independent or being a part of China. What the Taiwanese want is a better future for themselves and their children. Can Singaporean voters emulate the new ethos of the Taiwanese and vote for good men to lead them into the future instead of voting blindly? This is a test of the maturity of the electorate.

Celebrating Singaporean - Prof Shih Choon Fong

Professor Shih Choon Fong Professor Shih has transformed NUS to a world class university, recognised by the world as among the top 50. The only misgiving is that the population or the locals still do not regard the local graduates as good stuff. That is why we still need foreign talents from first or third world universities that are unlisted or ranked in hundreds and preferred over our local graduates. That is the irony of not having breathe foreign air. But Prof Shih has done well to get NUS of be recognised and for this he also earned a good reputation for himself. He is one of the rare local talents that is marketable overseas. I have difficulties counting how many of our great local talents that can be employed to top positions overseas.

More fears, stress and anxiety

Do we need more of these? Falling seriously ill is already a very stressful thing. Thinking of being admitted to hospital is another big anxiety. Got money to pay or not? Now must face another uncertainty, can qualify for subsidy or not? There are now so many kinds of fear and uncertainties to face before admission. But fear and stress are good stimuli to make the people woke up and work harder. How about that guys/gals, like the stimuli?

Compulsory Nannying

Did Singaporeans ask for more nannying? Sembawang GRC is going to have compulsory survey of household statistics on the number of occupants, age, sex, medical conditions etc to be submitted to the police. This will give the law enforcer a better picture of what is behind the four walls and would be able to customised help to these people. The intention is good and it can work and do a lot of good to the people who need help and the good officers who are there to provide help. But it is a double edged sword. It cuts both ways. We have heard of frightening stories of firms hiring security guards who were ex convicts and ended as expected. Then there were maids that were brought into the homes who were killers. You just do not know who the person handling the data is and what is his intention. Good intention will likely end with good results. Bad intention will end with horrendous results. And it is compulsory for people to submit their private information with no choice. Why not make it voluntary and let those who want to volunteer to volunteer with eyes wide shut? No matter how many layers of security checks, Murphy's Law says something bad that can happen will happen. And the people has no choice. It is compulsory again

The worst of 2007

I reckon the following are the worst political decisions of 2007, though not necessary in order of merit. 1. Compulsory Annuity Scheme 2. Mean Testing 3. 21% salary increment 4. Taxi fare hike 5. 6 million population 6. Allowing rising cost to run wild Can any of you think of anything worst than the above? Or anyone disagree?

Replenishing the dying stock of good genes

This may not have been spoken as an official policy statement, but this is what I think could be the key reason. As our stock of good genes are dying away quickly, and we are unable to find the same quality of equally good genes, despite paying so much, it is necessary to import from abroad. In a generation or two, we will have all the great genes we need, from sweepers, cleaners, bus drivers to doctors and researchers. Then we can claim to the world that we have the best sweepers, cleaners etc or best workers of the world. And this could be the reason to pay them world class salaries as well. At the rate it is going, the workers, or those at the bottom 20% could be getting $3k-$5k pm or a household income of $10k. And they will be considered the lower income group. The average Singaporeans, with world class genes, will be getting $20k-$30k pm. This will be the future for a city of excellence in the future. Dunno what will be the cost of living then.

The Mean Dilemma

While everyone is being worked up in this mean thing, wanting to be mean but trying to be not so mean, have we forgotten about the basic problem, the unstoppable rising medical cost? Or is Mean Testing a solution to solving this problem or just a diversion, that reducing cost can quietly be swept under the carpet? I am getting some inspiration from President Suharto on how to make more money to subsidise those who are trying to stretch their dollar and savings to last longer. The rich, like Suharto, will not be embarrassed by Mean Testing. They can afford to pay. And he is paying, I hope so, for every day he spent being hooked up to all the machines and surrounded by an entourage of expensive medical professionals. This is a very lucrative market to tap on. Hospitals, private and public, should allocate more resources to provide such services and support to the very rich and charge them accordingly, and no subsidies of course. They don't mind being hooked on to machines and enjoy the publicity. Though this is what advanced medical science can do to hold on to a dying piece of living tissue, it is important for those who can afford to live this way. There are plenty of money to be made. Market the business aggressively so that the very rich can pay for the not so rich or the poorer people. It is time to restructure the whole medical profession and medical business to pursue more profits with a good reason and not continuously lumping the cost to those who can barely afford to pay. With the fear of being sick and admitted to hospitals growing by the days, no one can blame those with a few dollars in their savings, including those in Medisave, to want to hold on to them for as long as possible. No one should harbour the thought of emptying the people's life savings for their own medical care as quickly as possible under whatever schemes. For whatever there is in the Medisave may not be enough.

Notable quote II by LKY

'This way you are not passing the burden (of caring for the elderly) to the next generation.' Lee Kuan Yew LKY 'defended Singapore's CPF scheme and argued against pensions for the elderly, which have to be supported by tax revenues...The CPF scheme, he said, helps Singapore to remain competitive, saying it aims for "minimum tax rates and maximum self sufficiency".' The above was part of his conversation at the Silver Industry Conference Exhibition and is reported in the ST.

Notable quote by LKY

'If we are not able to think for ourselves and decide if what they tell us is either good or useful or not so good, we wouldn't be here.' Lee Kuan Yew What we read in the news, especially the news produced by reputable msm, including Reuters, BBC, NYT or ST or whatever, read it carefully, understand them, and understand what are their agendas. Then decide whether it is to our interests or against our interests. For they are all views, not necessarily right or wrong, but views to influence and manage your way of thinking and seeing things. LKY's comment above was in response to a question on free speech in Singapore. He pointed to Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea as countries with free press but not necessary free of corruption. The 'media itself is corrupted.' Before anyone thinks that in order to be free of corruption, we cannot have a free media. Both are not exclusive. Why can't we have freer media and corruption free? This is the same as asking why can't we pay our politicians decently, and not excessively, and remain corruption free. Ok, I admit that what is decent or excessive is relative. But we all have this gut feel when things are excessive or not right.

Mean Testing the cure all for medical cost woes

This is the gist of an article by Hobbit posted in the Singapore Medical Association News in April 2006 and reproduced in the ST today. He attributed the problems of the runaway cost and buffet mentality of patients to several causes, poor administrative system to feed patients to hospitals for polyclinics and unwarranted high cost of facilities in heavily subsidised wards. Then there are those who could afford to pay more choose not to. And all these problems can be solved by simply introducing Mean Testing. I am quite shock actually to think that the cream of the professional world could come out with such a simplistic solution to address a host of problems that is due to poor management of systems and resources. What is needed is to put a team to address the system failures and inefficiencies and cut on unnecessary cost in B2 and C wards. People opting for subsidised wards do not need frills and thrills. Just give them decent medical treatment and basic facilities. Please do not add on to their burden by all the extras of a 5 star hotel. Is this so difficult to comprehend? What is important is to look at all the costs, what are and have been included into the costs of providing essential medical services that are unnecessary? Keep the cost down and provide what the people need and not what the provider wants the people to pay for. Why not convert a few blocks of HDB style flats into no frill public hospitals, away from the 5 star hospitals with 5 star price tags? The other issue pointed out by Hobbit is the shortage of doctors in public hospitals and surprisingly the admission that many specialists are running out of patients in private practice. What is the problem then? So difficult to figure what? Do not strangle the supply of doctors. Produce more doctors from the system just like we flood the roads with taxi drivers or with graduates to be taxi drivers. As for an over supply, let the market forces bring them to their senses and an equilibrium. This supply issue applies to other professions especially the legal profession. Produce more lawyers and bring down the cost of legal fees. Why am I wasting my precious time suggesting all these measures when all the supertalents can only think of raising fees and mean testing, and laughing all the way to the banks?

More mollycoddling needed for N level students

Angry parents are blasting at a principal for advising Sec 5 students to go to ITE instead. The students felt hurt. The parents were incensed. What kind of shit to feel insulted for being told the truth? If these students do not buck up, they will only waste their time in attending Sec 5. They may have decent grades at their Sec 4 N level exam. But let's face it, the grades are being sugar coated to look good, to soothe the feelings, to make parents and students feel that they have grades of 1s and 2s. But who is kidding who? When you are in N level, the grades are not the equivalent of the Express level. You need to knock it down by 3 or 4 grades or more. The principal might appear harsh, brutal, and insensitive. Not really. There are many ways to motivate or drive a person to excel. Some may respond to mollycoddling, to bribes, to begging by parents, to more tuitions, but some will be pushed to drive themselves harder by insulting their pride. And that is exactly what the principal hoped to do to some of these students. As reported, one of the student is responding as expected. 'But having decided to stay on, she said she feels added pressure to do well: "I feel quite nervous, and so do quite a few of my classmates."' Some parents are claiming to do damage control on the pride of their children. Some wanted to take the case to MOE. These students and parents need a hard jolt to reality. The students need a lot of effort to be able to qualify to go to the normal stream. Oh they are in the normal stream already. See the pretence? Are N level standard normal or below average? If this is considered normal, so our normal students are at this level? I would advise the sensitive parents and students to read into the principal's intention positively and encourage the students to rise up to the challenge. Prove the principal wrong! The same method is also often used in the military training school when the training officer will tear the trainees to pieces, insulting them to the point of being rubbish, completely useless beans. But on their graduation day, the training officer will march to the young graduate and salute him, addressing him respectfully as Sir. Parents still insist on more mollycoddling?

A better and more popular alternative

Why not have a non citizen class or all not citizens pay the full rate? After all they are all talents and should be quite capable of paying for world class medical bills. And PRs will only be admitted to B1 and A wards. The increase earnings can then be used to subsidise citizens under the present system and forget about the mean testing. This may give more votes to the party too or at least the people will be less angry.

Privatisation plays a major role in Singapore's success

Any public or govt organisations that is not performing or inefficient, privatisation will make them more efficient and more profitable. We should go ahead and privatise all govt hospitals, LTA and ERP operations. And all can be listed in the stock market.

As the worries mount

People are getting worried. There are all kinds of situations, conditions and permutations that will make any kind of mean testing inadequate. But we are behaving like the military. Once a decision has been made to go ahead, just go ahead, right or wrong, good or bad. Or else there will be a lost of faith, a breakdown in command and a sign of weakness in leadership. With whatever scheme that is going to be introduced, will C Class patients pay more or the same as B2 or B2 paying the same as B1 etc? Has the govt forgotten its primary duty of providing healthcare and let the people choose what they can afford? Or it is now the responsibility of the govt to determine who should eat what the govt thinks they can afford? Why is the govt thinking that it is its right to decide how people spend their money?

1,500 chicken culled in an exercise

This is the most realistic exercise we ever had to protect ourselves from bird flu. 1,500 chicken coming across the causeway were culled as part of a major exercise. As exercises become more serious, the more realistic the better will the participants learn and be prepared for the real thing. The next exercise on a building collapse will probably see the falling of a building with living people inside. The casualties will be collateral damage and necessary to make the exercise real. And the simulation of a terrorist attack, I can't imagine how real it can be. Wonder if any country will conduct military exercise involving live ammunitions and life being sacrificed? Iraq is a kind of life military exercise to test weapons and systems I supposed. Animals or lives are dispensable to achieve our aims of protecting more lives. All those who are protesting against cruelties to animals involved in lab test please buck off. If we can just culled 1,500 chicken for an exercise, what is a little pain and suffering. We are progressing very rapidly.

What went wrong with the taxi fare hike?

The taxi drivers are the people on the ground who fully appreciate and understand the situation. They were hit hard and need to lower cost or maybe raise fare a little to cover the rising cost. They knew their customers well and how much they could afford to bear. Those who think that a hefty hike is the way are people with a lot of money and think that taxi passengers are as rich as them. This is the first out of touch premise. If they have listened to the taxi drivers, they would not push the limit that far. The second mistake is to forget the cardinal principle of little increases, bit by bit, and tell the passengers that the small increases are affordable. Then increase a little every few months to get the passengers use to the higher prices. This principle was forgotten in the heat of the moment. Insanity creeps in and we have the hefty and justifiable increases.

Secrets of Success - Raising fees or charges

This is another efficient and well tested formula. Whenever there is a need to raise fees or tariff rates, just offer a 3 month or 6 month rebate. This can be done right at the beginning or quarterly over a year. The customers will feel grateful that they have a rebate, a subsidy mentality, and actually feel good. They will forget that for a few months of rebates they will eventually pay the new rate for the rest of their lives.

ERP coming to your HDB carparks.

Well, ERP gantry is now at Lor 6 Toa Payoh. So if you think of escaping the Expressways, fat hope. Wherever you try to sneak away from paying, the ERP will come to you. Eventually the gantries will be erected in front of HDB car parks. And that will be the day when all the car parks will be turned into warehouses for brand new and expensive cars. Move out of the carpark you pay. Car ownership will still be a privileged. And driving around will be a bigger privilege. Paradise is looking beautiful where people will spend their time strolling along free walkways and enjoying the beautiful landscapings around their estates.

Who's views matter?

Several letters gone to the msm and a few were published in Today discussing why views from certain people from the establishment meant more than kopitiam talks or the masses. They took offence that the people's right of expression as entrenched in the constitution was poof poofed away. This reminds me of a Hokien song called 'kim pao ghin.' It means that only certain people's words are meaningful and certain people will only get into trouble when they open their mouths. That's life. This simple process is also very selective.