Singapore govt smarter than Malaysian govt

While the Malaysian govt can only think of building bridges to collect tolls, Singapore only needs to erect ERP gantries to do that. In the former, building bridges will take a long time and a lot of money upfront. In the later, the roads are all there and erection of gantries will cost next to nothing. And the money collection is instant. See how fast we generate revenue. And gantries can be added anywhere. In a bridge, you can't have more than one collection gate.

Take Public Transport Month

In view of the traffic congestion, Singaporeans should drive less. We should support Raymond's initiative by taking public transport to work or play. Let's make February 2008 a 'Take Public Transport Month.' For the month of February, everyone should leave their cars at home and try taking public transport for a month. If we can do that, we may change our habit of travel and free the roads for the rich car owners. Hopefully, when the public start to take public transport, the transport companies will not find the excuse that they cannot cope and thus have to raise fares to stop people from taking public transport. Can the Raymond promise that this will not be the case?

Comprehensive changes to improve transportation

It is a major overhaul of the road system and the changes are very well thought of and should make our roads freer not from no need to use but unable to afford to use. For those who still need to use the car, they will just have to pay more. For the casual drivers, they can jolly well park their cars at home. For those who really need to drive for some reasons but cannot afford to pay, just too bad. This point may hit hard on essential driving and casual driving for those who can afford to pay. Got money can travel, even for the fun of driving everywhere. Maybe the Raymond may want to consider allowing a $10 upfront free usage for all motorists as a kind of gesture for those who may need to drive on some important or urgent matters. A second point that raised my eyebrows is the provision of electronic info for carparks 400 metres away. This is a sheer waste of public fund and technology. When use in a car park it makes sense. Putting such information on the road at quite a distance is, to put it kindly, rubbish. How would it help when 20 cars see the info and rush for a parking lot? One development from all these changes is that many will have to park their cars at home. That will provide a new opportunity for car parking business. HDB car parks can be spruced up, carpet the carpark, cameras to allow owners to view their cars in their homes, car washing facilities in every floor, private lots for owners to print their names on the floor etc etc. Aircon the carpark so that owners can read books sitting besides their $100k cars. These additional services will allow owners to happily park their cars at home. And a small circuit can be provided for the owners to drive their cars in circles to warm up the engine. Otherwise there will be starting problem from lack of use. Car parking business will be changed dramatically.

I thought I have enough savings to retire

Then one smart ass said I need more money to live on before I die. They said I need more money to live on woah! Then they started to take my little savings and put them aside and said it is for my own good. And just like that! I have no say whatever with my own money. I count count and still think it is enough because I no drink, no smoke, no need go out, eat maggie mee so shiok... why do I need so much money for? Pay hospital bills? I no need leh. I sick I die, hahish. No happy no unhappy. Pssst, can I have my money back? This god no answer.

ERP needed in MRT stations

While there is this push to get the richer Singaporeans to take public transport, the people who are so used to the comfort and privacy of driving their own cars, more thoughts are needed to make sure that travelling in MRT and buses are up to their expectations. At the moment taking public transport is a filthy, smelly and unhealthy experience. The trains and buses are clean, but not the commuters. Despite all efforts to make the facilities world class, spick and span, the commuters will stride in in their dirty and smelly working clothes and to rub them against your clean while shirt or expensive blouses. They take great pleasure in doing that. Then the smelly ones. You have to exchange your Colgate Mint breath or your expensive mouth spray breath with their smelly breath. You breathe out, they breathe in. They breathe out, you breathe in, at close quarters, exchanging breath. And of course the sick, those with flu or whatever, sharing everything they have with everyone in the confined space of a train or bus. How would the richer Singaporeans tolerate such stuff when they are used to some personal hygiene and cleaner air and better smell? Maybe the first one or two train carriages should be cordoned off with ERP gates and commuters having to pay extra to get in. This will provide some separation for those who wants a little space and comfort. Such segregation is not new. The airlines, trains, hospitals, express buses etc are doing it. But just don't call it first class or any snobbish name. Maybe call it express trains or ERP, Express Room Passengers! It is unthoughtful to force the richer Singaporeans to take public transport but failing to provide a higher level of service to them. It is unthoughtful to provide a world class service standard to all commuters knowing that now all can or would want to pay for it. Have a standard service and a better service for those who want to pay more. Huh, paying more sure rings a bell.

Notable quotes - George Bush

'The Govt must trust the people with their own money.' George Bush Although I don't agree with Bush in many of his international policies, this is the most agreeable statement that came out from him. It is time that the gods and saints stop bullying and ridiculing the people by telling them that they are incapable of managing their own money. It is time that they return the money to their rightful owners.

Why so many complaints about MRT?

It is unbelieveable that there are so many complaints in the msm today on the MRT. Too crowded, overcrowding, smelling people's body odour, people breathing down your neck, etc etc. How can there be so many complaints about our world class transport system? And they had just collected several years of fare hikes to improve the system. I think all these complaints are unjustified. Our trains, compare to some other countries, are so comfortable. At least not as crowded as in Tokyo or having to hang outside the train or sit on the roof. And we have been told that the trains are only 80% capacity. We can squeeze in 20% more people. Singaporean commuters are too much. Can't they appreciate that standing close to each other will be a great opportunity to strike up a conversation and get to know the other person. Perhaps they can make more friends as well. It is great for socialising. For the ingenius salespeople, it will be a good occasion to sell more deodorant. And the services must have improved tremendously after all the fare hikes. Imagine if not of the fare hikes what will be the condition of travelling in the train. Singaporeans just do not know how good this paradise is.

Things are getting brighter

This morning I work up with an urge, to take a law degree. With Singaporeans all getting richer and smarter, their reputation will also grow in stature. And they will have to protect their big reputation at all cost. Any slight will be enough reason to start a liber suit against another party. With this kind of development, litigation lawyers are going to have a ball. And it is an honourable profession, protecting the honour of all the rich and respectable Singaporeans. I will look forward to the day when the rich beggars will hire a lawyer to defend their reputation should anyone say anything bad about beggars. But let me register myself to the law school first. I am going to start practising at the age of 85, as a lawyer.

Complaint Choir

What kind of performance is this? Complaints, complaints, complaints! Why don't they sing praises? Do they think that just because we are opening up, getting looser, foreigners can come here and sing about complaints? Complaints about Singapore are only for Singaporeans. Foreigners can sing or joke about our complaints outside of Singapore. Then we can shut our ears to them and we will be alright, and they will be alright too. The complaint Choir can only perform by Singaporeans only. I think this is something understood by all. Sometimes people also not happy if I make negative comments about Singaporeans and they tell me to shut up or shift out too. We are really uptight aren't we? We cannot joke about ourselves or complaint about things that we are not happy about. For doing so is just like telling lies. We need to sing more hymns and praises and everyone will be happier. Can't we just hear the good stuff?

Discussion is good - Tony Tan

Tony Tan said this in response to concerns raised regarding GIC's investments overseas. His position is that if the concerns raised were not discussed and allowed to build up, they may lead to some form of financial protectionism. Would Tony's comment that discussion is good applies to other fields, especially domestic issues? And would discussion is good also applies to cyberspace or only to some select groups? Is discussion good or no good on some issues?

We will improve our services

Sorry guys/gals. I was on a short retreat and no posting for a couple of days. Back late last night, glanced through the papers and saw a small piece of good news. The bus and MRT companies have announced that they will improve their services in the face of an opening up of the industries by Raymond Lim. This is the first positive contribution from Raymond in his tranportation reform. Before anything is even being done, the transport companies are already sitting up. What is most amazing this time is that they did not say anything about more fare hikes in order to improve their services. Am I dreaming? How could they improve their services without any fare hike? Does anyone notice any difference or improvement in their services after the last few fare hikes? I hope more concrete and substantive improvements can be felt by the users.

Whither Singapore?

We are entering a watershed in our history. We have gone past the days of nation building and are looking at new goals and heights to scale. The days of the founding fathers are about over. It is time to ponder where we are heading? The earlier days are simpler. Economic growth and filling the stomach and a roof over our heads. Now economic growth is not everything. There are more choices, right choices and wrong choices. Oops, let me backtrack a bit. Economic growth or more money in the pocket is still very important. Yes we have plenty of choices that money can buy. We are now in the phase of looking for the good life. What is the good life? All the glitters, all the wine, women and song. This is like the prime years of the Tang Dynasty.

Some Taxi drivers still complaining

When an average taxi driver is getting more than what he got previously, why are some still complaining? There are bound to have some who earn more and some lesser. But as the average income is more, than generally more will get more. For those who are getting less, either they are taking too much kopi breaks or not working hard enough. Drive a few rounds more and their income will rise. They are not saying that the numbers given are a lie. Several taxi operators have also support the better numbers.

I got this good news

Heard over the news that our taxi problem is more or less resolved. Taxi passengers are happier as the waiting time has been halved. And taxi drivers' income is also better than before. Now we have happy passengers, happy drivers and happy taxi operators.

Can we afford 6.5m?

In many respects we can. But in the area of transportation, I doubt we can keep pushing further. Under the present 4.5m, we are greatly stressed. We are at the verge of erecting ERPs at every junction. What if we have 6.5m? Cannot imagine the congestion. Now our car population is about 500,000. Add another 2m people, we can expect another 200,000 cars on the road. Then what? Build another network of roads? The expressways, if we double it, may still look ok. It is the smaller roads that will choke up and get blocked out. There is no way one can drive out of the car park with 700,000 cars unless we are going to pay through our nose to get the car moving. We have MRT! Even now, if we add another 10% to the commuters, the MRT will be struggling. Forget about buses on the roads. 6.5m! Still pushing it?

Passing of an era

The golden years are slipping away. We are seeing the passing of the last leader of an era. LKY had just given a lecture in Saudi Arabia to share his wisdom, and for the intelligentsia to tap his knowledge. He is the last leader who thrives in adversity and transformed this island to a city state of distinction. Sadly, we are not seeing another man to fit that role. We have many leaders but none come close. None will be invited by an international audience to share his intellect. None has achieved the stature and distinction that LKY has achieved. He was and still is the leader of this city state. Our administrator type of leaders are good and excellent civil servants, making outstanding employees. Probably a product of a system that hinders the production of leaders. Men, no matter how able, who wait to be called, are not leaders. Leaders, especially of a nation, must stand out and lead on his own. We don't have that kind of leadership for the last 20 years. The golden years will still glow and glitter for a few more years before they fade away. Unless we have another shining leader to assume the kind of leadership to lead the people, not administer the people the way we are doing. Not telling the people, and not compelling the people by legislation to get going.

No Petrol Day

Got the below article from an email. Hi folks,.......... Lets give it a try! Lets fight the high cost of PETROL. Lets HELP OURSELVES against the PETROL COMPANIES!! If we all cooperate, it should give a SHOCK to the petrol industry! Lets give it a try. Got NOTHING to lose !!! See message below>>>>>> IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF PETROL FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES. AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES. THEREFORE '24th JANUARY ' HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED 'STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND 'DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF PETROL THAT DAY. THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT. WAITING ON THE GOVERNMENT TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO? REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF PETROL GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH AFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING SUPPLIES MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO! WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE 24 JANUARY A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS SAY 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'. We forward so many junk email to many of our friends, now let us do it for some useful cause to cut down the price of the petrol........ REMEMBER: JANUARY 24, 2008.... NO Petrol Day...!

$290 definitely enough

The ministry is reviewing the need to revise the $290 for the Public Assistance Scheme and understandably it will take time, maybe a year, as it is tax payers money that is being given out, and got to be very careful in spending such money. In the meantime let me make a guesstimate on how much would such folks need to get by. Say $2 for breakfast, $3 for lunch and dinner. That's $8 a day or $240 pm. Another $50 for rental and PUB bills. Just nice. And at year end give them a little angpow of $50 to buy a few pieces of new clothing. That should do. For such a sum, the frugal and thrifty may even have some savings if they rely on instant noodles, add an egg, a few pieces of vegetables or tauhu or ikan bilis. Great and healthy meal and got money to spare too. If Boon Wan would to review the sum, I think he will err on the side of generosity and may round it up to $300. That will be nice. As for me, I must also plan for my retirement. I am looking for a job that will pay me $5k pm on retirement when I do practically nothing. That will be very nice. And if I spend $8 a day on food, I will have plenty of money to live like a king on weekends in Batam. Wow, getting $5k pm on retirement and doing sweet nothing. Anyone got such a lobang please let me know.

Housing is affordable

I must agree with Mah Bow Tan that housing is affordable. Singaporeans have a wide option to choose from, from the exclusive condos to the rental flats. So if one cannot afford a 4 rm flat, go for 3 rm. If that also cannot, go for rental. Everyone should live within his means and opt for the appropriate housing type. Everyone has a choice. But in the case of hospitalisation, hey it is a different matter when you cannot choose which expensive wards you want to be warded. Ok, ok, you can choose even C wards but you have to pay a little more. If people are given a choice to opt for things at a lower price, then it is affordable.

Time to return to sanity

The conflict of interest between serving the people and profit maximisation does not need further elaboration. Public services, medical, education, essential services, transportations should serve the interest of the people more than to serve the interest of a few shareholders. In Raymond Lim's reform of the public transport service, nothing significant will come out of it if the interest of the people to move around, for work and leisure, is not addressed. And if these interests are curtailed just to serve a few shareholders, then we are going to incapacitate the movement of our people. When people stop moving, when vehicles stop moving, we are no better than the jams in Bangkok or Jakarta. There the traffic are stopped from moving by bad planning. Here our traffic are stopped from moving by too much planning. What's the difference? Time to return to sanity. Time to serve the people.