President Wee Kim Wee

I read a post in Sammyboy forum praising Wee Kim Wee as the humble and down to earth president that Singaporean loved. And another forumer saying that no one could get his name wrong as you could read it forward and backward and still got it right. With all due respect to President Wee, let's hope no reporter or msm is going to print his name in the western format with his family name behind his name. Fry the bugger if it is in the local press.

Charity begins at home

'Amid calls by some US lawmakers for wealthy universities to lower tuition costs, officials at Stanford University have said they will no longer charge tuition to students from families earning less than US$100K (S$140K) a year. For students whose families earn less than US$60K a year, Stanford will not charge for either tuition or room and board.... Stanford is now among a small string of top tier schools, including Harvard, Yale and Pomona College, that have taken steps in recent months to help middle class families and, in some cases, households with incomes ovr US$150K.... "We will continue to evaluate international applications on a case by case basis."....' Reuters, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Straits Times. How would these compare to our policies on education? Oops cannot compare apple with oranges.

Wrong place to look for role models

Edison Chen said he was not a good role model. His girlfriends in the videos admitted that they were naive. Why would children all look up to these bad role models and naive girls as role models? There are many good role models in many other professions. The last place to look for role models, you know where. The most naive group of people coming out from this episode are those people who look at them as role models.

ERP, pay according to usage

Thomas Koshy has some great suggestions in his article on ERP rates in Today. The principle he relies on is that the more one crosses the gantry, the more one pays. And for those who cross more, the rate will also be higher. At the other end, I like this best, is infrequent users will be given a kind of waiver for the first time they cross a gantry. The fees not collected is compensated from the high users. As for those in the transport business and need to transport goods and people, try to use buses and MRT to save on paying more ERP charges. And for those unfortunate poor buggers whose travel patterns require them to cross ERP frequently, or have an ERP outside their homes, maybe they can introduce something like a frequent travellers or mileage rewards like what the airlines are doing. Very interesting suggestions, the same principle as using water. The lesser water people used the better. The lesser people use the roads, the better. Why do we need to build roads and rails?

High property prices

How to help Singaporeans when property prices are destined to go higher? I dreamt of a good scheme to ensure that all Singaporeans will have money to buy their dream flats. I mean HDB flat. The private sector high end flat is a different kind of dream. So how does this work out? My premise is that all the young men and women at the age of 25 must have at least $100k in their CPF accounts. This money can come from a CPF insurance scheme paid by their parents on the day of their birth. For a start, the day a baby is registered, $30k of one of the parent's CPF accounts should be deducted and set aside for a Housing Endowment Fund. This fund will simply grow and by the time the child is 25, it should be around $100k or more. If the parents have two or more children, the equivalent amount should be set a side for the respective children. With such a scheme, no young people will have problem paying for a HDB flat in the future. Not bad idea huh.

Money to bail out sick banks.

Below is an extract from an email that came to me. It shows how much money we have to invest in sick banks which I agree is a great opportunity given to us and a risk worth taking. But I also share the author's sentiment about why we were so desperate to need to raise GST by another 2% to help the poor when we actually have so much money to bail out sick banks. (I have omitted copying the cynical and naughty parts of the arguments as I am not sure of the source of this article.) In the past year alone, the Singapore government ¡V through its investment arms of Temasek and GIC - invested a whopping $34, 560, 000, 000.00 in various investments worldwide. That's $34.56 billion. GIC: UBS - $14 billion British Land - $388 million Citigroup - $9.8 billion US Hedge Fund - $429 million Temasek: British Bank Barclays - $4.3 billion Merrill Lynch - $5 billion Standard Chartered - $643 million And if you think the government is stretching itself too thin, no worries. GIC deputy chairman and executive director Tony Tan says the GIC has capacity to bail out another bank. (AFP) Now, government investments are not a bad thing, to be sure. Of course there are questions of transparency and accountability which some people have brought up. Be that as it may, what is even more troubling is another issue. This is the constant lament of the government about not having enough money or financial resources to deal with Singapore 's ageing population, helping the poor, providing subsidized healthcare and so on. Thus, the government has introduced the GST hike to 7% ("to help the poor"), and is introducing the Compulsory Longevity Insurance (for our ageing population), and Means Testing (for healthcare). All of these are paid for by Singaporeans, in some way or another. In raising the GST to 7%, Channel NewsAsia reported PM Lee as saying: "Mr Lee explained that the hike was necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets, needed to help the lower income group.." (CNA) The extra 2% will give the government a further $1.5 billion to finance "the enhanced social safety nets, needed to help the lower income group". Now, if the GIC and Temasek Holdings have $34 billion to bail out ailing foreign banks, why does the government not have the money ( a mere $1.5b) to help poorer Singaporeans, which it says it needs? Why does the government not have enough money to spend more on the aged and healthcare? Contrast the obscene spending by the GIC and Temasek with the pathetic excuse given by MCYS minister Vivian Balakrishnan about giving those on public assistance a further $23 increase, which some MPs have asked for: "The government is reviewing the S$290 monthly public assistance (PA) allowance for needy Singaporeans to see if it should be increased. It is also conducting a separate review on the qualifying income limit for assistance, which currently stands at S$1,500 a month. The review is expected to be completed later this year." (CNA) (TOC) Why does the government need to have months of "review" to ascertain whether giving another $23 to those most in need is justified? If this is not the height of hilarity, then I don't know what is. It would be funny if it weren't so sad ¡V that our government would not blink an eye in spending billions bailing out foreign banks in risky undertakings while being so hardfisted about giving a mere $23 to its most vulnerable and needy citizens. Something is just not right. How did the government suddenly make $34.5 billion appear out of thin air when they were just lamenting, not too long ago, that they didn't even have $1.5 billion to help the poor? Now, the next time I hear the government says it does not have enough money and need to raise this and raise that to fund certain "programmes" to "help the poor", I will tell them: "Please stop....."

Bee tang ah! Huat ah!

Gabriel Chen wrote in the ST about this guy whose net worth is about $6m and after some computation found that he has an angpow of $200k! Wow, what about those with $20m or $200m net worth? Huat ah, huat ah : ) Thanks to the Good Year Ang Pow Budget. And Singaporeans still complaining not enough?

Oil price hitting US$100 a barrel

Looks like the future of oil prices is only up and will be above US$100, maybe US$200 or more. We need to prepare our people for high oil prices and get use to paying for them at high prices. More importantly we must educate our people to cut down and save on wasting power and electricity, like going green. The situation of oil prices is like water. Oil is precious like water. We must do what we did for water. We have taken many measures to save water and educate the people from wasting water. I find all those measures very effective and should be adopted in the same way. To prevent people from wasting electricity unnecessarily, to teach them to switch off lights when not needed, we need to double the price of electricity. And we can include an electricity surcharge tax of 30% just like we tax for over usage of water. These measures will guarantee to be effective as it hurts the people where it hurts most, the pocket. People will then be more careful in the use of electricity and will not anyhow waste them. The other go green measures can come in. Don't get me wrong, raising electricity rates is only one of many measures to save on fuel cost. Now I am getting green conscious. I am going to save the world. I might even be awarded with a Save Mother Earth Medal like Al Gore.

Frightening but good for the people

A new bill is being tabled to protect 'patients who are detained or forced to be admitted to psychiatric institutions' in Parliament. To even think of people being detained or forced to be admitted into psychiatric institutions in paradise is really frightening. There is no such thing in paradise, cannot be. Such things only happened in communist regimes of the past or in some dictatorships. But of course it is good to have such a law just in case such things did happened and there is some protection for the people being wrong. Under the current procedure, according to Tan Hui Leng, 'a person can be admitted or detained for treatment if he is suffering from a mental disorder that warrants such an action, and if it is in the interests of the person or to protect others.' Hmmm, what do you think? Can bloggers be deemed to be suffering from some disorder and needs to be detained in the interests of the blogger or to protect others? My imagination is getting wild. But in the future, if paradise is taken over by a dictator, a bad dictator, this is a frightening possibility. So this new bill is good for the people and the victims. It is a proactive bill.

Same floor flat different price

Brother wanted to buy a 4 rm flat next to another brother but found price increased by $84k. It was $280k a year ago when his brother bought it from HDB. It is now $364k from HDB. This is reported in the New Paper. The price has gone up as it is marked according to market resale value of flats in the area. And this brother is unhappy. He found it unreasonable as the costs of building the two flats were the same. But he forgot. When his brother bought the flat at $280k, it was already subsidised. Now if he is going to pay at the same price, the subsidy will be whatever plus $84k! Now that is a very huge market subsidy. Further, the $364k is also cheaper than market price. I think he is expecting too much. Too unreasonable. $364k, good price, fair price. Cheaper than market price, and subsidised some more. What more does he want?

In praise of smelliness

Jayandran Sandra Alison posed an interesting perspective about giving Jalan Kayu a clean makeover and 'why smelly Jalan Kayu' should not be clean up like Chinatown. Chinatown has lost its charm and authenticity as the residents are moving out and all that was retained or came in to replace them were commercial outlets and business people. Chinatown will not be the same again. It will be clean, not smelly, and not very real. Should Jalan Kayu be retained for its smelliness and chaotic nature? One thing for sure, the tourists would want to see an old dilapidated Chinatown, with all its squatters and squalors than a clean and modern one.

No Estate Duties

This is a good piece of news for all Singaporeans, including the HDB dwellers. With the world's rich and infamous coming here to park their money and buy up the properties, anyone holding on to one will be seeing its value double or triple. This is better than the asset enhancement scheme. While the rich foreigners are buying up the high end properties, and some locals cashing out and downgrading, they will be a filtering down effect to HDB flats as well. How about a 3 room flat costing a million bucks? If such a price can be attained, who needs Long Life Annuity Schemes? Practically everyone will become a millionaire, in strong Sing dollars of course. While all the rich who are holding on to their properties and counting the gains, some thoughts must go to the new flat buyers, the young people starting out to buy their first HDB flat. How are they going to earn enough money to buy a 3 rm flat which by then the prices will outstrip their income? We can't be sitting on our fat arses and waiting for things to happen and say it is due to external forces, nothing can be done.

Anti Competition Practices

Two articles in Today were on anti competition practices and abuses here. It is good that more people speak out on this issue and those who were victims take up legal suits against the perpetrators of such practices. Organisations that allowed such practices to continue should be made to own up and face 'the consequent loss of reputation and goodwill' as stated by Lim Bee Khim from the Ministry of Trade and Industry. So far all is talk and no action despite the prevalence of such abuses and unethical practices.

Celebrating Singaporean - Lily Neo

MP Lily Neo As an MP she may not be given enormous projects to tackle, so nothing too visible. But in her own ways she has contributed very significantly to the downtrodden and otherwise taken for granted group of desperate people in paradise. Without her challenging their cause, these people may still be getting $250 a month to get by. Now, not only that they are getting $290, they are going to get $330 soon! And people now realised how pathetic and difficult it is to live with that kind of money. Maybe some people may think that for such people, the money will be too much for 3 packs of maggie mee a day. Now don't ever think that this is an easy thing to do. For raising it in Parliament, she was embarrassed. She took it quitely. She is a true champion for the poor and deprived, with a real heart. She is sincere in what she is doing. Don't be surprised that one day she will be honoured as the new Goddess of Mercy of Paradise.

Charity in Paradise

For a small little island we have thousands of charitable organisations, all thriving and collecting millions and millions of dollars annually from the generous and kind populace. But this is not all. The govt gives out $1.8b of handouts this year, and has been doing it for many years. We are indeed a very generous country with many generous donors, many people in need of charity, and many people enjoying running charitable organisations. Soon setting up charitable organisations, running and managing them, collecting donations and receiving donations will be a way of life in paradise. And this is only natural. Paradise is where all the good people with good hearts are found. Paradise is synonymous with charity.

Ungrateful Singaporeans

What, what, I can't believe my ears. Singaporeans not happy with the Golden Year Ang Pow budget! With the govt giving away $1.8b from the $6.4b surplus, Singaporeans are saying not enough, that this is not atm budget, that the govt is not playing Santa Claus, and they are disappointed! And some families are getting a few thousand bucks, like striking 4D, still not happy. What are the Singaporeans expecting? These are money from heaven, no need to work for it and they are disappointed. Unbelieveable.

Windy Cool Words

There is a Chinese saying, something like speaking windy cool words, or fen liang hua. It doesn't require much skill though. Anyone with a few million bucks should be in a position to do it. Even the Ah Longs are quite adept at such phrases. A frequent encounter between an Ah Long and his debtor can go like this, after the beating up and paying up of course. 'I advise you huh, got no money don't try to gamble or live like a rich man ah. And don't borrow money from Ah Long. Live within your means. Got money eat more, no money eat less. Then your life will be better, no need beating from Ah Long. See. Then every year got angpow from the govt some more, then can go for a short holiday in Malaysia. With a roof on your head, with enough food to eat, even house brand never mind, what more is there to be unhappy about. Live a simple and happy life.

The upper crust

Both SICC and SIA were in the news, two law suits involving the cream of our society, the privilege class. It was interesting to read the petty details of the cases, especially when the masses always look at this distinguished class of people from a distance with great admiration and envy. Face it, money is just a facade to give some signs of impeccability and dignity. Beneath that, human beans are human beans and they all eat and shit just like everyone else. What astonished me is to read this statement in the paper, 'All we did was to capitalise on it.' Capitalise on people's private life, little silly mistakes or indiscretion, blowing up in the msm, seems a normal game in paradise. If this kind of things becomes an acceptable norm of social behaviour, we can forget about gracefulness. We are just as good as anyone in any little corners of the world. We are just petty human beans in disguise. Let's not breathe a word about being ethical and on moral high grounds. In paradise, things are more precarious as everyone seems to know everyone or hear something from everyone. And if everyone is going to capitalise on such information, we will have a very exciting and colourful society.

Short sighted policies

We think we can keep on raising prices. We think we can keep on raising salaries. We think we can keep on having full employment and budget surpluses. We think our people can all be turned into geniuses by having the best education with the best facilities and best lecturers. We forgot that water will always find the lowest level. Gravity will bring everything down to earth. The US thought the world owes them a living and they have been living it up for a couple of centuries. But time is catching up with them. They are at the brink of a total collapse of their economic system based on high expenditure and borrowed money or printing money and high salaries. They think they can continue to pay their workers the best salaries only to see jobs fleeing to cheaper places. When we over pay our workers, jobs will flee too. When we overprice our services, properties, rentals, they too will look for cheaper places to go. This is a fundamental economic truth. Any exception is shortlived.

Imported inflation or inflating prices?

Our secret of fighting inflation is to let the price hikes flow down to all levels. Then we pump in the money, raise salaries or give handouts to the people. This theory seems to be sold and have been accepted by our leaders. So price control is out of question. Let all the prices to rise. Don't worry, there will be handouts every year. Two points to note. Are the price hike really imported and beyond our control or they are self manufactured by profiteers for some obscene reasons? The second point is that inflation will always come first and the handouts one year later. And while handouts are being given, one year late, inflation continues to rise. Giving handouts are reactive and never enough. Many basic necessities like rice, water and food, need not rise so much given our strong dollar and cheap imported water. The reason and the extra taxes placed on the price of water is obscene. And we are inflating the cost of education by throwing money after the so called best lecturers or most expensive lecturers. Do we really need to buy the best from the world? Can we have second or third best or only a few really good ones? Not only that we cannot afford world class prices, Ah Meng's children will still come out as orang utangs even if they are taught by the best brains. The failure of Haw Par Villa, Tang Dynasty and Sentosa was evidence that Singaporeans were not or could not pay outrageous prices. Are we serious in wanting a world class transport system with world class prices? Looking at the profits of transport companies, they can do well with lower prices if profit is not the only reason for their existence. Instead of privatise, return them to the govt as essential services to serve the people's interest instead of a few shareholders. Then ERP, imported inflation? Rentals and property prices, pressured by external factors to go up? Medical fees, really must go up so high? Many of these high cost items are self created and self inflicted. And the poorer people have to bear the brunt of the pain. And comes budget time, we give them a few pieces of 'koyok' or a bill few good pills and all thinks everything is ok. For things that are really caused by external factors beyond our control, fair enough, we have to find ways to live with it. For high cost of things that we have full control and consciously pushed it to the people, we can do more to avoid them. Not everything is due to imported inflation but we inflate the prices ourselves.