Why can't I sell my kidney?

Who is the fanatic who decides that I can't sell my kidney? Why should such fanatics have so much say over my body parts? There are many people who are living in misery, not even able to feed themselves with a full meal a day. Some hungry for the whole of their lives. To these people, to be able to sell a part of their body for $20k or $30k can make their lives so much more pleasant even for a year or two. Why should the elite of the world decide on the fate of these miserable people and condemned them to perpetual misery? Will their lives be better off selling a part of it or will they be better off in their pathetic state of being alive? Then there are also the body parts of the dead or going to die. Cadavers have been so to medical students. Nothing new. HOTA has been farming body parts for free. Should the people have the right to ownership of their body parts and will it to be sold to benefit their love ones? Can it be seen as private properties, assets to be handed down? Why is it that the state owns our bodies when we are dead and also owns our bodies when we are alive? In the case of willing buyer and willing seller, let the market forces determine how it should be sold. Why are we tempering with the market mechanism in a century when oppression or slavery can be persecuted by the law? Should the law make provisions to allow people more freedom to live a life they so choose, even to sell their body parts, fully aware and responsible for their own actions? Human body parts are definitely better than animal or synthetic parts. Many have gone to waste through ignorance. Let the owners of their parts decide what they want to do with them. Any fanatics want to impose their moral values and superior righteousness over the rest of the people?

ERP is getting on the nerves

We are hearing more and more noises in TOM of grouses on ERPs. Some even accused the LTA of right hand not knowing what left hand is doing. But actually they do. Every dept and ministry is functioning very well. The people with grouses are those who cannot afford to pay. If you can, driving around is going to be a joy. We have world class public transport system that is efficient and affordable. Nothing to fret about really. The only little concern is the buses may ply less often once too many ERPs are put up. It will be quite costly to have a few thousand buses paying ERPs 20 or 30 times daily. Some were also concern about the quality of family life. Actually family life should improve as more people will choose to stay at home instead of going out. And with so much time at hand, they can spend time washing and admiring their precious cars in the car parks. Overall, Singapore will be greener with lesser people driving and lesser cars on the road. Business will benefit from freer flow of traffic. And with people all staying at home, there will be more free space around to accommodate the 6.5m population coming our way. Maybe can raise the number to 10m. ERPs not only solve transportation problem, they also solve social problem and green problems.

The caretaker generation

We have arrived at the doorstep of the first world. The people who helped us get here were mostly gone. The people who are singing the song of praise and praising themselves for the success think that they are the one who have brought us here. That they are the ones with the magic formula, the architect of paradise, and think that without them we will not be here. They think we owe our success to them. The builders of paradise have all but gone. A handful still around. It is they and their effort that should be appreciated. The rest are just caretakers, inheriting a good fortune and riding on it, making the best out of it, that's about it. Before they get too high on their high horses, they should be reminded that it is not them that brought us here. They themselves were brought in to look after the wealth and not to mess it up. The people of paradise do not owe any debt to the caretakers. The people who will owe a debt to them will be the future generations should paradise continue to exist as a paradise.

Is Reach reaching to the people?

I have no idea how Reach is doing. Never been to that corner of cyberspace, yet. I think there are enough feedback in cyberspace, enough of issues and concerns that can be had for free. No need to keep setting up official sites just to gather feedback and attention at a cost. It will only tap on a very small minority who believe that they have to go through proper channel, to be vetted and to get the green light before the message can go up the next step. Something like writing to the forum pages of TOM. When there is sincerity in wanting to listen to the unhappy, the dissatisfied, the disgruntled, the vocal, for their grouses, just go to where they are. These people could be so pissed off that anything official will be taboo to them. They would not touch the official sites like Reach with a ten foot pole. So what Reach will be getting will be from a select group but at the same time isolating and not getting anything from those who are really pissed. When they say, you want to feedback you come to Reach or go to such and such a place and take a cue, only then we will listen to you and attend to you, what are they really saying?

Chance to 'poke' the Govt

Nice to hear that. The govt is changing and getting more confident and less uptight. It is encouraging people to poke at them. Unbelieveable a few days ago. Yes, Reach, in all seriousness, is taking feedback a step ahead by setting up a Facebook to 'poke, suckerpunch, and send a tulip - or pehaps a Venus Flytrap if you prefer - to the Govt.' No need to send money. They don't need any. Are we seeing more relaxation about cyberspace activities or is it just for Reach supported programmes? Feedback is now taking on a new dimension, not so serious or don't be too serious. Just have fun. 'The Facebook effort is the latest in the arse-nal that Reach is building to engage Singapore-ans as it tries to combat the perception that the Government does not listen enough when it formulates policies.' I am quoting this from the ST with every comma, hyphen and fullstop at the exact spot. Can I just poke a little fun? Would the Govt try to listen to cyberspace in non Govt supported sites or set ups? Must the Govt only listen to their sites and only these sites count as feedback and the rest as gibberish and complaints? Reach is getting more and more hits. It must be doing well.

Need more gantries

A letter by a Liang Teh Hai to the ST forum stated the obvious one more time. There are just those few roads to drive from one point to another. ERP on one will divert traffic to another. It is just like passing the buck. Even laypersons can see this simple logic. But supertalents don't seem to. So more and more ERPs will be erected. This Liang Teh Hai fastforwarded the whole process and suggested we have ERPs at every corner of the island. Then charge on a pay as you drive formula. He forgets to erect ERPs at the entrance of every HDB car park. It is not going to be cheap and cost effective I think. His main concern is people driving the road for fun. So pay as you drive would stop people from driving for fun. But he forgets again that more and more people are just buying car to drive around for fun, on weekends and after work. This is supported by another letter by a Karunakar Krishnan Vasu who is asking for the after 3pm rule on Sat for weekend cars to be relax as this was probably due to the past policies when Sat was a working day. Some still do. But the idea is to let people drive after work for leisure. I think he is not asking too much. But difficult to change the mindsets of fanatics. They already knew what is best for the motorists.

Singapore will be ruined by the Opposition

So much talk about a freak election and an opposition that will dump Singapore. Nay. The current opposition is so inconsequential that they will not be elected. If they do, it will only be a small handful that could do nothing. The Singaporeans are not dumb. Should a opposition be elected in the next election, it will come from a new group of fresh face professionals. Not anyone who wants to be a opposition candidate can be elected. He or she must be credible. And should such a group come into power, it will be a big plus for Singapore. What I am seeing is that there are many potentials who are in positions to do a lot of harm to Singapore should LKY quit the scene. They are everywhere, in and outside the establishment. Some are just waiting patiently, some, the unthinking kind, will just be swept along by the new force of change without knowing whether it is good or bad for them. Singapore does not need an opposition to destroy it. Like I say before, the forces or factors that brought Singapore to its height will be the one that will bring Singapore to its knee.

Equal misery disincentives

Another way of encouraging people to take public transport the New Zealand way. We discouraged people to drive into the city by raising ERP charges, and in the process aiming for faster and smoother traffic flow. Such an approach will favour those who can afford to pay the hefty charges to drive happily into the city. Cannot afford don't drive. Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast's approach was different. The only charge that is high is parking. (We have high parking charges too) No ERPs. In a way, it is also pay to go in. But there is a subtle difference. Everyone can still drive in without paying if you don't park. The actual incentive is to slow down the traffic deliberately in favour of pedestrains. The motorists will learn that it is faster and more efficient to take public transport to the city. Rich or not so rich can drive into the city but to bear with the inconvenience of slow traffic flow. Equal misery. The catch is that commercial vehicles too will be caught in the slow traffic as well. Not a very good idea and not very pro business. In our case, commercial or no commercial, just pay lah. Also not favouring business and driving up business cost. Straight jacket? I think we are smarter. But could be better if a distinction is made to be more pro business and pro public transport operators, including taxis.

Human failures unavoidable

Toh Yong Chuan from Home Affairs tried to explain that we have all the best systems, but no system can avoid human failures. That is definitely true. But there must be ways to make sure that we get the best people into the system. The best system to emulate is how to entice the best to join the govt. Pay them well, very well. That could be an easy way to avoid human failures. For since we have such a policy, we don't see any human failures at the top. All the human failures are at the bottom. The front line soldiers and staff. These little people have not benefitted from a high pay high quality policy. And the high cost of living is getting into them. I think if we pay the well, the equivalent of well at the top, we may also see lesser human problems. How come never think of that? We could be getting a clear and simple message coming from the rank and file, that they need to be paid well as well. No excuses, pay them well and if they still bungle, fire them. Then we will have the best people manning the best system. It is a sign of going downhill if we keep trying to explain away our problems. Action, the carrot and the stick always work, especially at the lower end. At the upper end I am not sure.

Cyberspace challenged by TOM

Yesterday's article by PN Balji in Today, 'Now that strike 3 has happened...' was perhaps the most hardhitting piece that TOM had published recently. This kind of articles or stand used to be what cyberspace is known for. Now with TOM taking a stronger and more critical stance, it will pose a challenge to whether cyberspace can do better. It is good news for Today's readers. It is also good that TOM could rise up to the challenge by cyberspace, to publish more serious introspective articles and stories. Let's have more interesting and challenging views on hot issues like Mas Selamat and whether the Home Minister should carry the can.

No Singapore after LKY

Some quarters are hoping that LKY should disappear from the scene as soon as possible for personal reasons. And they believe Singapore will become a better place. Could be. But my view is that it is a deadly wish. There will be no Singapore if LKY is out of the picture. Why? The political picture looks so serene and complete today, like a jigsaw puzzle with all its pieces nicely in place. They are all held there because of the presence of LKY. The dominant players may think that all the right pieces are in the right place. And if not, the high salaries and promotions should have bought some loyalties. What I see is that it is far from the truth. The day LKY is out of the picture, the whole jigsaw puzzle will be in disarray. No one will be able to hold everyone together. No one, after LKY, has the stature and commanding presence to do that. Even now, you can see the forces manoevring to get some pieces out and some pieces in. The juggling for favourable positions will intensify as the day gets nearer. What we are seeing is the calm before the storm. We will have a new jigsaw puzzle with a totally different picture. And what kind of Singapore will come out of it? I think the death wish will see the demise of many and Singapore will never be the same again.

Pump prices up for 13th time

Pump prices up for 13th time since last July PUMP prices have risen again, with petrol going up by five cents a litre and diesel, 10 cents.... With the latest adjustments here, a litre of 92-octane petrol costs $2.203 before discount. The 95 grade is now $2.236, while 98-octane is $2.31. The so-called ultra-premium fuels cost more. Shell's V-Power climbed five cents to $2.429, while Caltex's Platinum rose by four cents to $2.426. The above is extracted from the Straits Times. Where got problem?

Blame it on the fengshui

PN Balaji is making a strong statement on the state of affairs in the Home Ministry. He is not holding any punches. 3 strikes are unacceptable and no more excuses for a world class system, and paid like one. What is happening? This one must thank TOM. Cyberspace would not have access to all these information to report on them. If only TOM has kept quiet, everything looks so well. This is the power of the media. I think it must be the fengshui. Need to do something about it. Maybe relocate the Home Ministry back to the original Phoenix Park. The new one is just giving too many problems. Maybe it is more serious than just Phoenix Park. All our investments in the foreign banks are looking very dicey. Is it the digging for all the underground MRT lines? Hurting the dragon bones? Any expert wish to comment on this. Things are looking really ugly if we look at what could be coming.

To all the losers

All the losers here are very ungrateful. They could not appreciate how good life has been for them in paradise. People around the world will give up everything, or buy their way to be here. And all the losers know is to complain. But everything here is so cheap and affordable. What is a $200k car or a $3m house? They are within the means of the able citizens. So easily affordable. And it is unbelieveable that people are complaining about paying $5 for ERP charges. Many are willing to pay $20 just for a hassle free drive. And more ridiculous, they are complaining about a 20c increase in public transport fare! Frankly, if you cannot afford to pay $2 for a world class public transport system, you should not be here. This is a land of opportunities! Go and work harder and smarter and become a super talent. Then you will know how good life can be in paradise. It is literally wine, women and song if you want it to be. And if you cannot make the best of all the opportunities available, man, you deserve to be a loser. We have built a great city of world class standards. We have provided our citizens with world class facilities and a way of life that is the envy of people around the world. Everything works! Oh, you have sacrificed your youth in doing 2 1/2 years of National Service, and reservist liabilities. What's so big deal? With the money we are paying, we can buy the best soldiers to defend us and they will do so happily. No complaints. We don't need soldiers that will fall dead while walking. What kind of soldiers are these? Get real, doing NS is a privilege, a chance to redeem yourself and be given the right to be in paradise for the losers. You must be very thankful for such an opportunity. Otherwise we don't even want you here. Ingrates! Who are the 'We?'

The cynical Singaporeans

Why is it so difficult to explain something so simple to the Singaporeans? The ERPs and the rate hikes are not to increase govt revenue. In fact the govt is losing money doing all these to help businesses by making the roads emptier. I have read everywhere in cyberspace and not a single one is agreeing with this official view. The TOM also mentioned it. Alas, the hopeless Singaporeans just refuse to agree or accept these reasonings. Come on Singaporeans, if there are less traffic on the road to cause jams, there must be more businesses as people using the roads must be genuine shoppers or people who have a reason to be on that stretch of road. And it is very costly to erect all the ERPs. No joke, the physical structures and the software to go with it. And collection of all the fees with people complaining that their cash cards don't work. All these cost money too. The ERPs are good for Singaporeans and good for businesses, but bad for the govt.

Flabbergasted

I was listening to the news in CNA when it came to the announcement of a Chinese player that won his first round at Wimbleton against a seated player. The name flashed across the screen, Zheng Jie. Then came the horror, the newsreader read Jie Zheng! And the newsreader was an overseas Chinese who obviously knew what Chinese name are and how it should be read. Zheng Jie became Jie Zheng! And this is in CNA, not BBC, CNN or some American news agency. Why are the Chinese confusing themselves and in the process confused the world? Chinese name should be written and read the Chinese way, especially in Channel News Asia. Otherwise everyone will be confused as to which is the right order. Kuan Yew Lee, Jin Tao Hu???? Who are they? When I read George Bush, I know Bush is the family name. When I read Lee Kuan Yew, I know Lee is the family name. I will be terribly confused if I have to guess if Lee is the family name, or is it Yew? And so will the rest of the world.

The brutal and unforgiving internet

Gone were the days when people can expound their stupid theories of rights and goodness in 'the old media' TOM with impunity. Gone were the days where readers were treated as fools, to lap up all the rubbish and silly wisdom by people with access to TOM. Gone were the days when the fettered people have no way to talk back. Today, the internet has given the people the right to talk back, to question and to ridicule silliness and stupidity of anyone. People who think they are extraordinary and want to talk down to the people better make sure they make sense. The internet has a very low level of tolerance for nonsense. Not only the people will talk back and tear down stupidity into bits and pieces, it will be aired in cyberspace around the world. People who spout nonsense are advised to shut up before they make a fool of themselves. The only truth that is acceptable in the internet is the truth that people understand and accept as reasonable. Tooth is never acceptable and will be rubbished together with the soothsayers.

Cyberspace is No Man's Land

The internet is in virtual space and does not belong to anyone or any govt. Do not assume that it belongs to the govt. Once you adopted that position, you are conceding cyberspace to the govt. What is important is not to be seditious, don't commit crime, or cause racial or religious strife. Some may want to be scandalous or libellious. Go ahead and face the consequences if one has the money to take on anyone in the courts of law. Other than violating other people's right, the internet is fair game and should be left that way. Live and post freely and abide by some reasonable moral codes of decency. I think that should be good enough. Why invite the govt to impose laws to regulate your rights and freedom of expression? Never surrender your rights voluntarily for no good reasons. Any addition rules or laws on the internet is one law too many.

Practise what you preached

After Mah Bow Tan, Lim Swee Say met his residence and provided the most brilliant arguments so far for all the price hikes and high cost of living. He looked so earnest and sincere. He told the audience that there was no reason for the Govt to want to make life difficult for the people. The price hikes were necessary. The Govt worked on the principle of market forces. The Govt did not want to meddle with market forces and people must be prepared with the consequences of market prices. As for ERPs, it was a separate issue. It was done to curb traffic congestion. I think they are planning ahead, for a 6.5m population. Otherwise, with the high cost of petrol, no one is going drive around just for fun and will cut down on driving when possible. This will take place even without the increase and hikes in ERP toll rates. In other words, there will be lesser driving around. He also revealed that the high cost of living was affecting everyone. I believe him. Those holidays in the US or Europe are going to cost more. Those children studying overseas are going to ask for more pocket money. Got to feed the limousines more, the aircons, and pay more ERPs. Now these are expensive things and even millionaires will have to pay more. Pity them. OK, the Govt is not going after more revenue by all the increases. It is just market forces. Then can we let market forces determine how many people go over to JB by removing the 3/4 tank rule and the tax on purchases bought over there? In fact we should practise this market force principle fully. No more subsidies for housing and medical fees, or education fees as well. Let the market decides how much it should be. And no more compulsory savings. These are against market forces. Was Lim Swee Say able to convince those people listening to him? For one, I am not convince even a little bit.

Lions still far from Asia's top 10

This is the headline for Singapore's football dream. The other grander dream was to be in the World Cup in 2010. It is very clear that the dreams are fading away and time to wake up. Fear not, according to national coach Raddy Avramovic. There are some shortcomings and if we can overcome them, we will get there. Very encouraging words. Very good for engaging more foreign talents and more foreign coaches, and to spend more money, for a childish dream. Let's face facts and be brutal about it. Midgets cannot dream of defeating giants that are well drilled. Period. But there is hope. Genetic engineering. This can be done by buying good thoroughbred world class footballers' genes and infused them into the embryos of potential footballers. In 20 or 25 years time, we will have our team of physically big and gifted players to play for us. Minimum 6 ft tall, strong, like horses, and with stamina that only world class footballers have. If they still can't get the picture, go to the US. They have the formula for genetic breeding which they have perfected during the years of slavery.