Is there a gag order?

Or is there a unwritten order not to engage bloggers in cyberspace? Or is it a crime or a sin to be seen in cyberspace for official or professional journalists and reporters? More likely it is a kind of self censorship. Without the official nod, without anyone saying it is ok, better stay clear of cyberspace. I have on many occasions quoted journalists and reporters on their articles and views, with their names clearly written. I was hoping that they would come by and add in their views or to offer some alternative views. It was always silence. I have yet to see a journalist or reporter engaging the bloggers in cyberspace. For that matter, people in authority. Are they afraid that their names will be tarred with feathers? Or are they afraid that their views will not receive the same silent approval, or be attacked and they could not defend by censorship or by not printing the rebuttal? Cyberspace is the most level playing field one can get in a discussion. Everyone is free to post, from king to pauper. But titles are not respected. It is the view that carries the weight. When will official and professional journalists and reporters feel safe and comfortable to write and post freely in cyberspace?

Something slips by

We were ruled by the colonial masters and fought for our independence, to be free people, and to be able to determine our own future. Has anything changed? Yes, we got rid of our colonial rulers. We were no longer ruled. Did we? Have we gone to sleep and woke up to realise that we are being ruled again? We are now talking of the rulers and the ruled, or the rulers and the many rules. And the rulers are not denying that they are the rulers. Or at least no one thinks that such a perception is misplaced and needed to be clarified. Maybe the rulers are happy to let it be, to continue ruling. And the people also contented to let it be, to continue to be ruled. Is this political development, progress? Or have we gone back to the medieval days where kings and princes were born to be great and the people to bow in their presence? Long live the king! After more than 40 years of independence, this feeling of being ruled is creeping in and surprisingly very comfortable. Is this the mentality of Singaporeans, that they loved to be ruled, needed to be ruled, and wanted to be ruled? Without being ruled, without rulers, they will feel unease and lost? In the next general election the campaign should be, 'Elect your Rulers!' Then we need not live with the hypocrisy that we are electing people's representatives to Parliament.

The schools gone by

Some of the bloggers here reminisced about the days gone by when we studied very little and still got by with our lives with very little. Those were times when Standard 5 or equivalent of Primary 6 could land one a job as a Chief Clerk(tua chye hoo) in an organisation or even as a senior civil servant in the colonial civil service. And one could wear white long pants and white shirts, to be whiter and more similar to the white lords. Educational standards then were very low. Qualifications of teachers were equally low. It was a case of the blind leading the blind. The aim was to be able to learn the 3 Rs. That would be adequate. The colonial masters did not see the need for the locals to be too highly educated. The first Chinese secondary school, The Chinese High School, was a communal effort by the Chinese community to educate their own children. No, not the responsibility of the govt then. They paid for everything, including land and building and the teachers' salary. And school life was simple. As children, did we study? Play was all we knew, or staying out of the cubicles we called home. Sometimes home was a folding bed, or bed was a corner of a floor inside the cubicle if one was lucky. Or it could be the corridor or 5 footway. Staying out was the norm, at least for the children of coolies and odd job labourers. The outdoor was the living room. Tuition or proper guidance by parents in education was a luxury that few could afford. Even if some parents tried, the teachers were mostly school dropouts, whose parents could put them through a few years in school but they failed to progress to secondary school or at best Secondary Two. Anyway, who cared about education when parents too were illiterate and did not know anything that the children were learning in school except ABC? Life was simple and no big dreams. The common big dream of the labourer mothers was the 'tua chye hoo' or a pen pushing job in an office. That was a great achievement and improvement in the quality of life. A 'tua chye hoo' was the senior administrative staff in an office, and could often earned enough to own a car. In the minds of the children it was play and quickly grow up to work. Those who failed early were the joy of parents. They could start work earlier, in the kopitiam as kopi kias, or helping the kok kok mee to peddle the streets for business. When poverty was everywhere, no one felt that poor or miserable. The little corners of wealth were in the Bukit Timah, East Coast and Orchard Road areas when the Ang Moh resided and those enclaves of the babas who were mainly civil servants or working with the British forces as clerks. Stress? The only stress was when the legs were covered with cane strokes left by abusing parents. How to hide them in shorts at schools. Other than that, many passed their lives aimlessly. Life was unstructured and so was elementary education. What's happening today to our children? Striving to be the best that can be. We spent our times singing 'God Save the Queen.'

Over achieved and over stressed

That is the impression I get from the discussions in the ST on the way the students are pushed. As a generalisation, our Primary One starts at kindergarten now. And by Pre university the students are actually doing undegraduate works. The question is what for? So what if our PSLE students are taught at the level of Secondary students? So what if our A level students are taught at university level? Did they shave off a few years in the education system? Or did they becomes smarter than the cohorts in other countries? They are just learning ahead of their time. A simple analogy is for a young person to start dating. Some start at 12, some at 20. What is the big deal if they ended up in a mess? We either derive some goodness from increasing the pressure or else we should let things cool off a little. The pressure can be selective, only for those who are good enough and wanted it. The PSLE and O level should be flexible to accommodate the different standards of knowledge acquisition. Forcing all students to attempt unusually tough questions is wicked. The A level only allows the exceptionable students to do more papers and H3. So the less gifted need not be put through the pace and be unduly stressed. Have mercy on the primary and lower primary students. They cannot be cooked in the same pot.

We got our bets back...some

We put Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge on the betting table and won it back, but not all. Now ain't that clever? What if we lose all? The judges voted 12 to 4 in favour of us. There were 4 who ruled against us. If only 4 more thinks that way. I still think it was a silly thing to do. if we have lost...everything. We lost Middle Rocks and South Ledge. Now that the sovereignty of the island is settled, other issues are still left undecided. Ownership of the territorial waters around Pedra Branca is still vague but more likely to be in Malaysia's favour. They owned Pedra Branca originally, which means that they own the whole area. Only Pedra Branca was signed away to the British and we inherited it. The only thing now is to claim territorial water from Pedra Branca. How far from its shore or, in the case of Malaysia, from the shores of Middle Rocks. The southern waters of Pedra Branca are going to be cut short by Middle Rocks. Hopefully we can claim 200 km from the north and the eastern waters. Even 50 km will be great. Then built on it if we can. Bye bye Middle Rocks and South Ledge. We won! Really?

Chipping at the armour of resistance

As the bloggers keep soldiering on, their presence as an alternative news source cannot be ignored. Vivian Balakrishnan made the strongest statement yet on alternative views in cyberspace. He said in no uncertain terms that the govt is willing to listen to honestly held views from responsible people online. This is the first shift that we are seeing and hearing. Another step forward by bloggers to be heard. But bloggers need to be reasonable and post their views decently and stay away from inciting racial and religious tension. That is not only fair but necessary as we cannot afford to have such issues discussed in an irresponsible manners that will lead to more anger, instability and violence.

Purchasing power down by 2.4%

According to Irvin Seah, an economist, and as reported in Today, his estimate is that 'the purchasing power of wage earners is now 2.4% lower than a year ago. I am wondering whose purchasing power is down by only 2.4%. Perhaps those earning $50k or $100k a month. I think my purchasing power must have gone down by at least 10%. And for those whose income is primarily spent in food and transportation, I think it will be more than 20%. How many percent down will be someone who earns $800 pm when he has to spend $500 on food and $100 on transportation with the rest going to miscellaneous? Pray that he does not have a big medical bill to pay.

Don't expect any pay rise

Of course this statement is meant only for the workers. All the rosy pictures painted a few months back, golden years, full employment, needing more foreign workers and talents in a tight job market, employers paying extraordinary salaries to compete for talents (this is still true if we read how SMU fresh graduates are being paid $10K pm), job applicants can pick and choose their jobs, all these are no more. Despite the runaway cost of living, there will be no huge pay increases to soften the impact. But have no worry, the govt will be there to help. If the govt can afford to give another few hundred thousand dollars to raise the salary of underpaid ministers to market level, they will definitely be able to give another few hundred dollars to the poorer Singaporeans. It is not that bad after all. Employers don't pay more, there is the govt to back up. I don't think there will be another round of retrenchment or get rid of the oldies. Then again oldies can look forward to cleaning tables and washing plates in food courts. And they are all very happy doing that in their golden years. They have been interviewed and they have expressed their happiness to have a job and an income. I think the retirement age for such jobs will be raised to 80.

Feedback between the Ruler and the Ruled

I thought this is an outdated concept of the days of kings and emperors and feudal lords. But it seems that it is still relevant in a democracy like ours. Civil Servant Kathryn Ng of SingHealth commented that the Reach and Rap feedback mechanisms did not seem to work and all feedback appeared to have fallen into a dark and bottomless pit. She actually referred to it as a big, dark hole. She said that it would be better if the public knew what happened to their feedback and there would be better trust between 'the ruler and the ruled.' Her usage of these two words were very appropriate. The ruler replied and it included this, 'Leadership can't be held hostage to every idea expressed or every view or every solution offered.' That is quite a normal response from a ruler, I supposed. Or is this the norm in other democracies and this is how the ruler talked down to the ruled? Maybe it is not like that. Very likely is that we know what is best and what else can the ruled offered that can be better than our ideas? And we don't entertain simple and shallow ideas.

Speaking words of wisdom...let it be

I still remember these words from the Beatles. The ST gave two full pages to Ngaim Tong Dow today to speak his words of wisdoms from his recollection of the past and using them as lessons for the future. Among the things he lamented was the selling of Natsteel, the company that contributed to the building of HDB flats and many infrastructure of the island in the early days. He saw it as a sale of a host of knowledge. And yet we have sold more things, a host of history when some foreigners are willing to pay for it. Raffles Hotel is one. What's next? Ngiam also talked about civil servants being flexible and understanding the need of the people. Not everything can be priced and price is not everything. The govt is about the people and the people's general good, about empathy and compassion. What he did not say, but could be read, is that money grabbing and money policies are not the way to go. He is speaking words of wisdom, not word of intelligence. You need not be very intelligent to be wise. And one can be very intelligent but very unwise. And many of the things he talked about are the things that cyberspace is talking about but not spoken in msm. Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.

Singapore's Hall of Fame

With so many super talents gathering in this little piece of rock, it is timely that we shall have our own Hall of Fame. To start with we can instal the honour to a few founding members like the Super Gambler, Super Fundraiser, Super Monk, and so on.

The Peanut Monk

From the view of the practitioners, paying a monk peanuts is the most appropriate means of compensation. Peanut is also vegetarian. Having more peanuts is good for a monk. From a professional and business point of view, a monk that can command $600k must be a super talent. To be able to raise that kind of fund to pay himself requires exceptional talent. An entrepreneur comes to my mind. Perhaps they can nominate him for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. For the prices he charged, or the temple charged to the consumers, it must be quality service and quality stuff. Value for money. The more you pay, the better you get. You want good stuff, you must pay for it. Soon someone will write to the media to extol his greatness and that he is deserving of the pay he is getting. Now what more justifications can I add in to support this kind of philosophy? The Hokien has a phrase for it, something like 'bird talk.'

Mahathir resigned from UMNO

What is he up to? Is he saying that if he is out and down, everyone, including UMNO must also be dragged down? I think it is a very irresponsible act for Mahathir to do. With this move, UMNO if finished. Just 20 or 30 candidates to follow him and Mahathir would have deliver UMNO to Anwar on a silver platter. But that is beside the point. UMNO will henceforth become a small and inconsequential race party, and soon be forgotten to history. It will be a has been, for the oldies to recollect their memorie of its former glorious days. But might as well. He has paved the way for UMNO's destruction for 22 years. Might as well take the honour to hammer the nails into the coffin.

Sichuan Earthquake Donation

The tragedy and death toll of the massive Sichuan earthquake have touched the hearts of many people both in China and elsewhere, including Singaporeans. Many people are donating very generously to help the victims. Hawkers voluntarily put up signs that they will donate their day's earnings to the victims. People queued up at the Chinese Embassy to donate in thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, in cash or by cheques. While many people spontaneously gave to help, there is always the question whether the money will get to the victims. The fund raising is voluntary and haphazard and depends on the goodwill and honesty of the people collecting the fund. Under such circumstances, scams or cheats will appear to take advantage of the people's generosities. The Charities Acts require anyone raising funds to submit an audited account. But in this case, it is not necessary at the request of the Chinese govt. In the case of small individual efforts like the hawkers, it may be cumbersome to manage the fund raising and a bit of give and take may be acceptable. But when the amount is big, proper accounting and auditing must be in place. I find it very unsatisfactory at the way the Chinese Embassy handles the fund collection. The procedure is totally unacceptable. People going there and handing over cash in the thousands and all they received was a piece of photocopy paper with a chop from the Embassy saying they have donated such a sum of money. That is the only piece of paper given to the donor. On the part of the Embassy, they did not keep any copy nor did they record it anywhere that the sum is received. Money were just shafted into a box. Presumably they will count it themselves and aggregate the sum collected. But such a procedure gives rise to uncertainties and possibilities of misconduct. The Embassy must do something quickly to assure the public/donors that the money is properly accounted for with a proper accounting procedure. Even the collection of money in a funeral wake is more credible with the donor signed a book against the amount he contributed. In this case, the Embassy will not know who donated and how much were donated.

MRT adds 700 more trips weekly

MRT has added more trains to alleviate the congestion in trains and lessen the waiting time. Commuters interviewed hardly noticed any difference though some said the trains were slightly less crowded. With 700 trips a week added and the impact was hardly felt. It can only mean that the trains were still travelling in full capacity. What is interesting is that some(two spoken to by the media) commuters expected a price hike for the additional trips and welcomed higher fares. MRT has commented the additional trips would cost another $5 mil annually. Would this be a reason to raise fare given the $150 mil profit it earned last year, and could be more with increasing ridership? The additional $5 mil cost could turn in more profit rather than lost as more people switched to take public transport. My view is that a price hike is good. It will force those who cannot afford the fare to give up taking public transport. They can walk to work. This will help to relieve the jam in the trains. For those who can afford to pay more, it will be a blessing in disguise as they will be able to travel in more comfort with lesser passengers to squeeze with, more free space and fresh air. Geeze, I am getting wicked, talking like an elite. My comfort comes first and I will pay for my comfort. Those who cannot afford to pay is their problem. They are not fit to be around. They should work harder and find the money to take public transport. And it is so cheap. How can they said they cannot afford to pay? And cheat some more! TParadise has no place for the unfit, lazy and untalented.

Crisis in Leadership?

'Leaders need to have an intrinsic sense of right and wrong. These qualities don’t seem to be apparent in our society. This is worrying. The difference between what is expected of a political leader and a senior civil servant is that the latter helps to formulate policies, while the former assesses the soundness of the proposed policies, their long-term implications, and then goes out to convince people to believe in them. While we have good people with credibility and integrity in cabinet, not enough of them appear to have the acumen to explain them clearly and simply, and persuade the ground. This is a key quality of leadership, which in turn is a tacit balance of IQ, and EQ – an intrinsic capacity to listen.' Viswa Sadasivan I have extracted the above comments of Viswa's recent speech on the crisis of leadership in Singapore. Nothing new, but surprising and unbelievable to know that this is the perception of Singaporeans from all walks of life. I also share the same conclusion. Why surprising? How can this be when we are paying so much for the best, and the best, so well paid, give people this kind of negative impression? What is wrong? Paying not enough or the best is simply not good enough? With the money we are paying, and the honing of interviewing and selection skills, and scrapping the bottom of every barrel, we should be having very outstanding leaders whom the people can easily accept and associate with, and say, yes, these are the best leaders we are paying for. What we have are doubts and a feeling of unease, that they are not what they are expected to be. How many of you share this impression? Or is this just isolated cases of a small group of people having such views? The quality of leadership is not what they think they are, but unfortunately, what the people think they are.

Revisiting our wasteful ways

With petrol prices going up, many cars will become collectors items. Bought and kept in the car park. Many will be driven only occasionally. Then there are the weekend cars that are used sparingly because of the usage restriction and owners' lifestyle. Now why must cars that are in excellent condition be made to pay additional road tax just because it is more than 10 years old? The mileage clocked in many of these cars are less than those clocked by normal cars. Should I ask the supertalents to take a look into this anomaly of unthinking past policies? Oops, sorry, better don't say policies are unthinking. They were designed to collect more revenues for any justifications. But please, please, think again and modify the formula for cars that are obviously under used despite the 10 year age.

The ugly and obnoxious poor

We have the ugly elite and the ugly Singaporeans everywhere. How about the ugly and obnoxious poor? Michael Palmer met a resident who demanded that he gave him $20k as a loan and he promised to repay him in 3 years with interest. Now, who in his right mind would hand over $20k to an asshole he does not know? And where is the MP going to find the money to give to one and many assholes who come to demand for that kind of money? While we discuss the plight of the poor in general and wanted them to have a less diffficult time, but on the individual level, many of these assholes do not deserve any kind of kindness. Do not be deceived by their pathetic and helpless sight. You do not know what they talked about the givers or what they scolded the givers for giving less. Heard of the beggar sneering at the $2 he got and demanded more with an insulting tone? In Today paper there was a complaint against this aggressive taxi drivers who tailgated a hogger. From the way he described the incident, the driver was definitely road hogging. But the threatening way the taxi driver drove and challenging him was uncalled for. Not only taxi drivers, bus drivers, sales staff, waiters and waitresses, hawkers etc, if only you hear what they say or curse at you. Even cleaners in foodcourts can be very nasty and abusive. Sometimes the Way or Tao is still worthy of retrospection. Let them be. It is their karma. They have to lead their lives the way they were, an experience that they need. The problem is that many don't seem to learn to be a better person. And if karma is real, they will repeat their sorrowful stories over and over again.

Pay up TV licence fee or else...

While the transport companies are going after the small time cheats, MDA is going after those who refused to pay the TV licences for their own reasons. Many just find it ridiculous to pay for things that they do not want. There are many channels, yes, but how many want all those channels that are programmed for them? Many will be contend to live by one or two channels and some may not want a single channel at all. Haven't technology caught up and be able to monitor which channel people tune in to and charge for usage, and not because the provider wants to provide and the viewers have NO CHOICE but to pay? It reminds me of the Medisave, Life CPF, Minimum Sum retention scheme etc etc, when the people have NO CHOICE. Who cares if MDA provides for 10 or 100 channels free if those are not what the viewers want? Who cares if MDA thinks it is important or good to provide 'TV and radio programmes that "inform, educate and entertain our multicultural and multiracial society"?' Why are the masses made to pay or subsidise for the effort of MDA to want to cater to everyone? Personally I only watch one channel. Not even listen to radio and all the craps the rowdy and at times silly DJs are gabbing about. So why should one pay for services and programmes that one does not want? Compulsory woah. If MDA thinks that they are the one to decide what the people should hear or see, then they should pay for it themselves and not demand that the viewers and listeners pay for them when the people did not want to hear or see.

Time to catch the bus/train cheats

Public transport companies are going all out to catch these petty thieves for cheating the transport giants for a few cents or a few dollars per trip. These are big monies to lose and it is estimated that the total amount lost is $9 mil annually. At $1 a trip cheated, that is 9 mil trips or roughly 25,000 trips daily. Either we have so many cheapskate buggers or cheats, it is still no good. Cheating is cheating, even for a few cents. It is now like a war against these petty thieves, and manpower and all resources, including satellite technology will be harnessed to save the $9 mil and to teach these useless buggers to be honest. People who have to cheat for a few dollars are not worth living. And worst still, there is a higher justification for the huge amount of money going to be spent to tackle this cheating problem. If not because of the cheating, transport companies need not keep on raising transport fares. So the cheating hurts the majority of the honest fare paying commuters. All fare paying commuters must be grateful and should lend a helping hand to catch all these cheats. And when the problem is solved, they can expect fares to be lowered. Or at least there will be lesser fare hikes. The moral of the story is that if these people want to cheat, they must cheat big and in style. And they would not even be called cheats if they are smart enough to do it. They will even be respected for being able to collect hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars without anyone knowing what is happening. The real and big cheats always get away and it is the small petty thieves that are caught and embarrassed.