Medishield will pay out more

Good news, the people will pay less for their hospital bills. Instead of paying 50%, they will now pay 20% of the total bill. Hospital fees are getting more affordable. In a way, medical cost to the people has been lowered. Bad news, your premium will have to go up. Good news again. The amount of increase is very affordable. Between $5 to $40 per month. This is a heaven made solution.

China has wide network of spies to steal secrets, says US

This is the heading of a Washington Post article in a local msm. What this report is saying is that this is news, and bad news, that a country like China is involved in such a big enterprise of spying on other nations. What the msm did not say is that the US, UK and all foreign countries were doing this same dirty work for centuries and more wide spread and comprehensive than the Chinese. Prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the Japanese had established a whole community of spies in Hawaii and America. What is so new about such news? Oh, it is to parrot an American propaganda, that China is a bad boy. The Americans were sooooo innocent. I bet you, the Americans do not engage in espionage. And that is the tooth. That is why I say Asian media is part of the Western conspiracy to run down Asian countries. They happily published whatever the Americans want them to publish. This is the heading of a Washington Post article in a local msm. What this report is saying is that this is news, and bad news, that a country like China is involved in such a big enterprise of spying on other nations. What the msm did not say is that the US, UK and all foreign countries were doing this same dirty work for centuries and more wide spread and comprehensive than the Chinese. Prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the Japanese had established a whole community of spies in Hawaii and America. What is so new about such news? Oh, it is to parrot an American propaganda, that China is a bad boy. The Americans were sooooo innocent. I bet you, the Americans do not engage in espionage. And that is the tooth. That is why I say Asian media is part of the Western conspiracy to run down Asian countries, inadvertently I think. They happily published whatever the Americans want them to publish.

Today's Great Beliefs

There are many great beliefs today that look so good. These include all the highs, high salaries, high rentals, high property prices, high cost of livings, high medical fees, high tuition fees, high population, high foreign influx, high savings, etc etc. No wise man will utter a word of caution against these great beliefs. One day, all these great beliefs will come back and haunt us and even destroy us. And all the chorus singers will sing, 'I told you so.' But for the time being everyone is feeling very high.

This guy damn anti establishment

He posted a comment in Andrew Loh's TOC kpkb at Singapore's best Health Minister, Boon Wan, for the tight availability of hospital beds. Would you guy agree with him? If you do, you are not only anti establishment, but also go against the judgement of Chok Tong. 'Boh tua boh suay.'Here is a paragraph of his post. "There is also the Ultimate Stupidity of LIE KY LHL PAP. KHAW Boon Wan said it himself recently, when he regurgitated LIE KY longtime stricture that ‘hospitals should always UNDER PROVIDE rather than over provide so resources can always be most efficiently used at maximum capacity’. Ha, ha, ha! You can do this to say, hotel rooms, where if there is a shortage, the tourist simply holidays elsewhere or room rates skyrocket to reduce demand. But hospital beds? Ha, ha, ha! Thus, the stupid, unthinking adoption of obvious ‘efficient policies’ to healthcare is actually killing some of our people and creating much more [unnecessary] suffering, my sympathies to Esther and thanks to Andrew LOH for highlighting this problem for us to discuss." - Robert Ho.

Secrets to Singapore's success

2% increase in GST I must revisit this issue as a secret to Singapore's success. The people really believe that the 2% increase in GST, from 5% to 7%, is to help the poor. And I also believe this is true. Never mind the rising cost of everything. Help is on the way.

Be there for the common man.

New Law Society head wants lawyers to help S'poreans know their rights Michael Hwang, the new Law Society Head wants to help Singaporeans to know their rights as a citizen. He said when a civil servant tells a citizen that he has no right to certain things, ask him if he is acting within the law. He also lamented that even lawyers must know what these rights are and not to accept every direction or decision that comes with a govt letter head. This part is a bit strange. If the learned lawyers are not too sure of what are the rights of the citizens, how to expect citizens to know their rights? Would Michael Hwang want to answer whether all the compulsory retention and designations of CPF money towards compulsory insurance schemes violate the rights of a citizen to ownership of his own properties? Be there for the common man.

Planning and predictability

These two elements are core to the success of Singapore. Everything is planned, very well planned indeed, and very predictable. And now they are planning and scouting for the next PM-to-be in 18 years time. And the net is cast wide to quitters overseas. The strange thing is that why aren't the opposition parties also plan and scout around for their PM in waiting? Have they already conceded that for the next 18 years the PAP will remain in power and will fill the PM post with its own candidate? Well, I think the PAP is right. And so are the opposition parties. In 18 years time, the PM will still come from the PAP stable.

Man with a Mission

Lee Myung Bak took time off to go directly to a police station to rebuke the policemen all because they reacted too casually to a molest case against a 10 year old girl. Wonder how he could find time for such triviality. What if he were our President and was here a month ago? He would probably flew into a rage. This self made man is a man with a mission. History once in a while will throw up a man like this. I called him a silly man. Matilah called him a selfish man, for throwing away his wealth to the poor. Fortunately or unfortunately we don't have this kind of silly and selfish man in paradise. What we have are intelligent and compassionate men that made a lot of self sacrifices to serve the people and nation.

28 hr wait for hospital bed

TOC Feature: 28-hour wait for a bed at the Singapore General Hospital Posted by theonlinecitizen on April 2, 2008 The above article was posted by Andrew Loh in TOC. It talked about a patient that only got to a bed of her choice after 28 hr wait. It also mentioned that a bed was offer to her in B2 ward earlier instead of B2 Plus ward but she rejected the offer. In my view, the criticism for the long wait was unfair. First she was sick and should grab whatever bed that was offered to her if she needed a bed badly. But she had an affluent sickness of being uncomfortable in a warm room and needed to be in an aircon room. So she rather wait for the comfort of an aircon room and to endure the discomfort of being in the waiting area. A personal choice. The other point raised is the lack of beds. But this is not a real problem. It is a conscious decision to build lesser hospitals (which also means lesser beds) so that the facilities will not be under utilised. It is a judgement call. You can agree or disagree with the judgement or value behind the judgement. The lack of bed need not be a problem. If the thinking is right, or the value is right, lack of bed will not be an issue.

Umno dismantling a farcical regime

UMNO has awaken from its slumber, like Rip Van Winkle. What happens? Everything was fine, so fine. Now everything looks so farcical, so ridiculous. All the values of goodness, right policies, right things to do, to say, are now wrong. Yes, UMNO is going to dismantle everything associated with the Mahathir regime. Even Mahathir agrees. All his choices for PM were wrong. All his good men in UMNO were unfit to be there. Mahathir is calling for UMNO members to speak out, speak out, speak out. When he was in power, it was Daim, Daim, Daim. Did I get my spelling right? Diam, Diam, Diam. Unbelieveable, the people within UMNO who once sang all the songs of praise are now the non believers. Would it be the case in paradise? Would the believeables also turn to become non believers and denounce everything as heresies?

Talk on Generosity in Public Service

Mahbubani should invite Lee Myung Bak to the LKY School of Public Policies to talk on Generosity in Public Service and the Meaning of Public Service. Paradise has long discarded and forgotten that there are some human values that are good through times. Things like generosity, compassion, kindness and helping the poor. These are values to live be and not just to speak for show. And Lee Myung Bak is the man to talk on such basic human goodness. No one can accuse him of hypocrisy, of saying one thing and doing another. Lee Myung Bak will bring enlightenment to Paradise, to those that have been blinded by greed. But he has a tough job convincing those who have crossed over to the dark side that there is still light on the good side. Of course many will sneer at him and call him foolish. But to be pragmatic, he should not push it too far by asking people to follow his example. Just pass the message that greed is good. This will bring cheers from his audience. All he needs to is to conclude by saying, 'Too greedy is bad.'

UBS is looking like a rotten deal

The UBS deal is not looking too healthy at this point in time. Hopefully our investment has provided for the latest can of worms. If we are just extending a loan, collecting dividend and can get our money back if we elect not to convert to shares, then we are ok. What is evident now is that putting money in ailing banks or organisations is not enough. We need to put our people in charge. With the resignation of Marcel Ospel, it would be good if we can put our top talents in to restructure the bank and save it before it goes to the pawnshop.

Mahathir insulting Malays

He said, 'The West will exploit Malays if Anwar become PM.' He still believes that the Malays are incorrigibly dumb and can be easily exploited by the Malays, including Anwar. Only Mahathir can protect the Malays and take on the West. How many of you believe Anwar is dumb and Mahathir is right?

Mr Lee donates his entire salary to underprivilege people

In year 2002 to 2006, Mr Lee donated all his salary to the children of cleaners and firefighters. Now he has promised to donate his entire 5 year salary to the underprivileged people. He also pledged to donate the bulk of his personal wealth to the underprivileged except for a retirement home. The newly elected South Korean President Lee Myung Bak told the reporters on Sunday. This is a tough act to follow. But who would want to follow such an act? No right thinking man would want to do such a foolish thing. I admire this foolish guy greatly. And I believe the South Koreans will have a lot of respect to such a selfless man. PS: Not sure if the South Korean President is entitled to a lifelong pension on retirement.

I fear Anwar

If there is any Malaysian PM that can take Malaysia out of the cesspool into a modern industrialised country, competing in the international market on equal terms, it must be Anwar. He has been baptised in the cauldron of fire, and is now solid steel. He is progressive and the only one at the moment that can unite the Malaysians under a new ethos. The Malaysians are not much different from us. And if they can get their acts together, follow a similar formula as us, pragmatism, new technology, meritocracy, they are going to compete with us in every field. And they have the advantage of cheaper cost, abundant land and resources, they will catch up very fast. We are only one generation ahead in education. This can be short circuited if the political environment is changed and the Malaysians in our midst find it acceptable to return home. Then we will be facing a Malaysia that is more like us. And our dreams of ever increasing salary can go poof poof into smoke.

Then so right, now so wrong

UMNO is starting to tear down the legacies of Mahathir. His rulings on how the number position in UMNO should or should not be contested, and the requirement of 30% division nomination before one can contest are now under attack. Some party stalwarts have openly said they disagreed then but kena bulldozed by Mahathir. They want the party President position to be open for everyone to contest. Got to tow the line, you know. Would such things happen to us? Would some of the policies that are so right today be so wrong tomorrow? The first one that came to my mind is the rulings for an elected President and the stringent conditions needed. The conditions have excluded many people from eligibility and the position is now restricted to a small elite group of people. What happens to equal opportunities and all men are equal in a democracy? Why are some more equal than others? What other policies will also fall in times to come and MPs or Ministers standing up to say 'I also disagree then but got no choice.'

How much will it cost?

An unhappy patient wrote to Today complaining about surcharge on a Good Friday. He had to pay $9 more to a GP. The article also said that some charge as much as $30 during a holiday. It is at the discretion of the clinics. What the letter writer was asking is that shouldn't the patient be told of the charges in advance, a case of transparency. In the $70k case I posted earlier, I am not sure if the patient and his family were given an estimate of how much it will cost prior to admission. I am wondering if they would admit him if the estimate is so high or may even admit him to other hospitals. $70k is no mean sum and not everyone can afford to pay even with whatever shield and insurance. It must be made compulsory for all hospitals to give an estimate of the cost and if more are expected, to let the patient know in advance. It cannot be a case of being admitted and be at the mercy of the hospital to have full discretion to do whatever it wants and charges whatever it likes. The patient has a right to know before hand how it will hurt his pocket and decide to go ahead with it.

Cheaters and infidelity

Thomas Koshy continued the discussion on politicians who cheated. His main argument is that are we asking too much from politicians by expecting them to be pristinely clean and moral. In his article in Today, he believes that politicians are just like everyone else and have some personal flaws. He said, 'And let us not be so naive as to assume that no Singapore politician has engaged in illicit liaisons. Certainly, rumours of illicit liaisons involving politicians are not unheard of. The fact that they have not become tabloid fodder is probably more a reflection of press priorities than anything else.' Koshy went on to ask whether we should allow such indiscretion to go by and not to raise it as a smear against the politician. Now this is a moral and ethical issue and depending on one's own moral compass, many will object to it vehemently. So will the hypocrites. How can politicians be dishonest and indulged in cheating their spouses? There will be no end to it and either we live in our own make belief world that all is goodness or don't even think about it and let live. Perhaps it is better to accept the flaws of man and not to harp or nitpick at one another on every little indiscretion. Go and ransack somebody's cupboard and say, hey, there are so many skeletons and splash them across the media front page. Political assassination used to be a game played by those in power and in control of the msm. Today, the same dirty linens can be hanged and dried in cyberspace. A more even playing field maybe. Will people be more discrete in their indiscretion or in divulging people's well kept secrets?

What if Singapore?

P N Balji threw up two issues for discussion in the Today paper. He touched on the succession of Hsien Loong after he retires. He also lamented, in fact worried, that there will be no substitute PM in case if we need one today. In his first point, he said that Hsien Loong would probably find a replacement in about 18 years. And assuming the next PM should be about 50 years then, he is likely to be someone in the early thirties. Anyone past 40 today will be too old to fill the shoe. Scouring around the MPs today, looks like Teo Ser Luck is the only possible successor. The other few that are eligible will come from the few young ladies. A replacement for Hsien Loong in 18 years time should not be too big a problem given that more youngsters can be recruited in the next GE. What is perplexing and confusing is Balji's fear that in an emergency at any moment there would not be anyone to front the cabinet. Why? Kan Seng is still around. So is Jayakumar. Both are DPM caliber and cannot be written off as unfit to be an emergency PM. Then there is Eng Hen, the one touted as LKY's lookalike. He should be a good substitute to take over. And don't forget, if there is really an emergency now, LKY and Chok Tong are always available either to fill in temporarily or to mentor the new PM. Where is the problem? It is like setting up a red herring when there is no issue at all.

What has Mas Selamat got to do with Qing Ming?

I wanted to visit Choa Chu Kang cemetry last weekend for QingMing. But on hearing that Selamat would be there, I decided against it. It was a good decision or I would be caught up with the huge jams that came with it. What the shit would Mas Selamat want to do at the cemetry? He is causing a lot of inconvenience to the people paying their respects to their loved ones. Mas, please go some where else ok?