A day without LKY

I posted about this a few weeks back. The news that LKY's heart is fluttering is troublesome even on a Sunday morning. Would his heart dare to attack him? My earlier post was on the transition of power and of a Singapore that can continue to hum quietly and efficiently without LKY in the govt. And we have all the time in the world for that to happen with him retiring to a non govt position. But LKY is around and in the govt, for an uninterrupted period of half a century. The thought and fear of what Singapore will be like without him is going to be very uneasy. Modern Singapore has never had a day without LKY. Now this can happen without notice. The possibilities are endless and the uncertainties are unhealthy. If only LKY had backed out from the govt 10 years ago, life will go on as per normal with or without him when his time is up. Now the suspense is just beginning. Nothing is settled until the so called fat lady sings.

First break into the world of free speech

Not bad for a first appearance at Hong Lim Park by TOC and a spectator size of 150. TOC reported the number to be 150 to 200. Whatever, I would not call it a crowd. But given the high cost of public transport, it is lucky they got the number. They should get a better crowd on a weekday lunch time when the office workers are around. But the midday heat may be too much heat for the speakers and spectators. This is a first for a civil group to stage a mini rally in a public place and the first for them to do so without needing a police permit. It is also a first for the main media to give them a bit of publicity with a generous photo showing a speaker and 10 spectators. Everything starts with a small step.

You want medals?

You want medals, we give you medals. This is more or less what our Paralympians were saying to Singapore. First Laurentia Tan gave us two bronze medals. Now Yin Pin Xiu gave us a silver medal and a world record. So did Theresa Goh with another world record of her own. Yin Pin Xiu is lined up to deliver a gold. The irony of life comes in the most unexpected places. When Singapore was hungry for an Olympic medal and willingly splurged on its sportsmen and women in the tune of a $32 mil annual budget, the medal harvest came where the expectation was low. With only a budget of $3.2 mil, a fraction of the main budget of the Singapore Sports Council, the Singapore Disability Sports Council is bringing home 3 medals and maybe another gold in the waiting. This may be the secret of our success. No need to pay so much for a medal. We can find our sporting heroes and heroines in the fields of the disadvantaged.

Road to a better transport system

Without fail, whenever there is a fare hike, the message is always about an improvement in the service and quality of the transport system. If every time it becomes better, we would have been better by 10 or 20 times over the years. This time the good thing is that the message is only about a better transport system and not about a world class transport system. What's the difference? A better transport system means you have to pay a bit better to get the better system. A world class transport system means you would have to pay world class fare. I hope it will be kept that way. A better system should be good enough. Hong Lim Park should be busy this evening with The Online Citizen making an appearance to talk about our transport system. I hope they will do a comparison of the quality and service of the transport system 20 years ago and what it is now and look at the difference in the fare over the same period. Are the increases in fare deserving of the improvement in service and quality? Another area they may want to look into is the land and infrastructure cost of the train system. How much land were given to SMRT and at what cost, and how much were invested in the infrastructure? And were these returned to the state or people or did they just become the asset of the current shareholders? The issue of public transport as a national service and not just a private business to generate profit to shareholders must be the key issue to be thrashed out. Why should an essential service that can cripple the whole economy be privatised just for profit? Or would it be better to operate under a different premise, to facilitate freer and cheaper movement of people which will benefit the whole economy? Should the system be returned to the state as a statutory board and the bull concept that only privatisation can make it more efficient and effective be dismissed? Would the activities at Hong Lim Park resulted in more revelations of what our transport system is all about or would it be another roadside selling 'koyote' session?

Laurentia Tan got us two medals

Paralympics: Singapore's Laurentia Tan wins second Equestrian bronze By Ryan Huang, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 11 September 2008 2116 hrs HONG KONG: Singapore's Laurentia Tan has won a second bronze medal in an Equestrian event on Thursday, giving the country its second medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. Overcoming the odds in the Individual Freestyle Grade 1A event in Hong Kong, Tan performed to music, despite being born with profound deafness. Tan also has cerebral palsy. She made history on Tuesday by becoming the nation's first and currently only paralympic medallist. - CNA /ls Now I am wondering who sponsored her training and how much did it cost to get us the two medals. It may be the Paralympics, but still an international event. Should put more money to train our Paralympians. Chances of medals are better.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

Bus and train fares up on 1 October Posted: 12 September 2008 1032 hrs in CNA online SINGAPORE - Most bus and train journeys except those for children, students and national servicemen, will see fare changes from 1 October 2008. The Public Transport Council (PTC) has given the green light for an overall net fare adjustment that will result in fare changes that will range from a 7-cent reduction to a 4-cent increase per journey. Adult EZ-Link fares on buses and trains and the senior citizen concession EZ-Link fare, will see a flat increase of 4 cents per ride. However, this will be offset by the 15-cent increase in transfer rebate from the current 25 cents to 40 cents. Public transport operators have also decided that they will bear 10 cents out of the 15-cent increase in the transfer rebate. ... Anyone did not see this coming? Anyway the amounts are small and affordable. And please just accept the increases and don't ever complain. We would not want the suggestion to raise road tax for motorists to subsidise these increases do we? It is a good and useful suggestion no doubt and the input comes from the people. More acceptable to implement such a suggestion.

TOC - A false start

Sep 11, 2008 The Straits Times Transport suggestions put forth By Maria Almenoar and Yeo Ghim Lay IF THE Transport Ministry were run by the people behind the socio-political blog The Online Citizen (TOC), car owners would be one unhappy lot. The band of 15 say that, instead of giving road tax rebates to motorists, the Government should up the tax - and use the revenue to subsidise public transport.... This is the gist of what TOC's stand is all about in its maiden public forum at the Hong Lim Park. I call it a false start simply because the high cost of public transportation is mainly due to the high profit the transport companies are making. They do not need to rip the motorists of more money to subsidise public transport. What is needed is to repriortise the mission of public transportation and change the profit motive to providing an efficient and cheaper public transport system. TOC's call to make the motorists pay even more is unnecessary.

Can professionals get their terms right?

Goh Eng Yeow from ST reported that David Loh and Han Eng Juan were 'executive directors of UOB Kay Hian. The heading of his article screamed, ' 'Dream Team' remisiers fined by MAS. Anyone reading the headline will quickly form the impression that remisiers got fined. And remisiers are always in trouble with their practices and in trouble with the law. Some times back there was another director that was sent to IMH. He too was called a 'remisier.' According to my professional knowledge of this industry, remisiers are independent sub contractors working in broking houses. They are never directors of broking houses. Directors of broking houses, eg executive directors, are normally company employees. They are not remisiers. I stand corrected if some broking houses actually give titles like directors or executive directors to their remisiers. Can professionals get this simple terminology and distinction right? Would the Remisier Society correct this impression that remisiers are not always infringing the laws and got fined?

The Otak Stall is closed

The Otak Stall is a new site in Delphiforum set up by Otak69 after Sammboy Coffeeshop was disbanded. It has been in existence for a few weeks and has to be closed down due to mysterious circumstances. This is what Otak69 posted in Singapore Kopitiam on his reasons to close it down. 'I've received a threat, possibly from ISD (or an impersonator), to face a lawsuit unless I close this forum before 2359 tonight. The person claims to know my I.P. address and had correctly named my ISP host, amongst many other details. I hope fellow bros will understand that this is a tough call for me to make to close this forum prematurely even though I do wish I didnt have to. I will risk facing a lawsuit if his claim is true. Bros may proceed to the other ficklebug's forum. Do get organised there ASAP. Otherwise, you can be sure that the same fellas will be trying very hard to disrupt your efforts there. I wish you all best of luck. http://forums.delphiforums.com/3in1kopitiam/ Note : I've made up my mind to kill off this nick, otak69. It will perish with the closure of this forum. It will never arise again and all subsequent iterations of this nick are clones. Do not respond to them or be lead by them if they try to impersonate me. I had a lot of fun with you fellas. Will miss you. otak69, signing off from The Otak Stall. 10/9/08' There have been many accusations and cross accusations by the forumers in The Otak Stall on their backgrounds and who they really are behind the nicks. We don't really know what is the truth and the details of any conspiracy if any. What is important for all bloggers is to use the internet as a tool for communications and stay away from crimes or dubious activities. We stand by what we post.

Too much money!

This should be the title of the next movie for Jack Neo. The concept of Money Not Enough is over used. He should talk about people with too much money, when they do not know where the money is coming from and what to do with the money, and still crazily asking for more money. My definition of Too Much Money is one month's income that is more than enough for one years expenditure. But it should exclude purchases like bungalows, yachts, exotic wild parties etc. To include such big ticket items, then there is not limit. You can buy a bungalow or ten bungalows everyday. Having dinners every night in a restaurant for the whole family are normal for people with too much money, but acceptable. People with too much money should be able to spend without batting an eyelid on the best food and best quality daily needs. The moral of the movie shall be how crazy and greedy people are when they fall into the category of Too Much Money and still asking for more money. And another plot should be on how those with Too Much Money are turning to doing more meaning things to better the world and other people's life instead of chasing for more money.

How to tell your own tooth

How to tell your own tooth with the backing of statistics? Piece of cake. I saw this chart on sales of private homes in My Paper today. The heading of the article is 'More HDB owners upgrading'. Reading from the chart, it quoted a 'DTZ's analysis of caveats captured by URA's Realis system,' and said, 'The number of private homes bought by those with HDB addresses also increased 35% quarter on quarter to 1,199, outpacing 3% increase over the same period in the number of private homes picked up by those with private properties.' Now comes the interesting part. Comparing the 1Q08 to 2Q08, the numbers were 888 and 1,199. So we see a 35% increase. But if you compare 2Q07 and 2Q08, also quarter on quarter, the numbers were 2,982 and 1,199. This is a fall of more than 50%. If one just read the heading, it gives the impression that more HDB owners are upgrading. Which is true if one is comparing 2Q08 with 1Q08. A rosy picture. But when comparing 2Q08 against 2Q07, it is like a recession is coming. And looking at the bigger picture, total purchases of private homes in 2Q07 is 13,513, 3Q07 is 9,441, 4Q07 is 5,,069. Then look at 1Q08 at 3148 and 2Q08 at 3,518, we are seeing a shrinking private housing market, from a peak of 13,513 to 3,518. Depending on how one uses statistics, it can tell all kinds of stories.

Statistically speaking

The Americans spent 16% of their GDP on healthcare. The Japanese 9%. So statistically speaking, we should spend more on our healthcare. The numbers must be right. Don't compare the lifestyle of the Americans and the chunks of meat, alcohol and tobacco they are consuming. Don't worry about their income level and the carbon monoxide they are breathing in from their 6000cc limousines running on the road. We need to spend more as others are also spending more. Singaporeans should spend $15 out of $100 on healthcare. This is reasonable. For the poor buggers and the losers, who have to spend every single cent of their income every month, $7 out of $100 go to GST. This would mean that for every $100 they earned, $22 must be set aside just for these two items. How much must go to public transportation? Well. this is a first world country. Nothing is for free. And we give good quality. Our medical care is world class. And this is the cheapest we can go. And don't expect our world class hospitals to provide less than world class services and healthcare. For that type of services and quality, please go to neighbouring non first world countries. They are definitely cheaper. And patients are asking for titanium inplants instead of cheaper steel products. That is the quality of our patients and their ability to pay. So medical care must surely cost more.

Let it be other people's problem

See, I don't live in Serangoon Garden. Should I just support the plan and let the foreign workers be housed in that school and the problems stay there? This island is just too small and running out of space. Not there must be somewhere else. Maybe they will house them next to my estate. Ok, I support the location of the foreign workers in Serangoon Garden. Another way of solving the problems of foreign workers is to engage them. Embrace them as your long lost brothers. Organise welcoming parties for them. Invite them to have dinner with your family. Recruit them to patrol and guard the estate. The problem becomes the solution. The people the residents fear become the people to help the residents. What an ingenious strategy. Turning adversity into an advantage. PS. Don't pray pray with unknown elements. My mother told me not to talk to strangers. Old mother's tale.

The heat is on

As the Ahmad Ismail controversy continues to boil, the dividing line becomes clearer and partisan politics is gaining ground. The pro Ahmad Ismail camp is digging in as the other side pushes the govt to take action against him. The frightening picture of May 13 is flashing across many people's mind. Could this be the excuse to thwart Anwar's effort to become the next PM? The Armed Forces Chief, Abdul Aziz Zainal has spoken and calling the Malaysian govt to take stern actions against those stoking racial sentiments. The Police Chief, Ismail Omar, said his men are ready to keep things under control. When the two uniform chiefs are showing concern, things are looking dangerous. Some opportunists may seize this as an opportunity to start a fire. Will Malaysia burn again?

No voice in cyberspace

This is just unbelieveable. The govt has no voice in cyberspace! And cyberspace is now being dominated by the pro opposition voice, the critics, the angry, the cynical and the unhappy. This is surely not looking pretty and very precarious. The govt used to have all the official media to communicate with the people, telling the people whatever their stories, in whatever ways it wants, from whichever angles. And no one can talk back. If there are any token voices from the people, they are likely to be carefully selected for printing in the media forum pages. Now the old media is helpless in singing the songs of the day. Many are not listening and even very critical, dissecting every bit into pieces. Only the converts still read the old media. The troublesomes have sought solace in cyberspace. And that is where they speak out in unison. A different song, a different tune, a different melody, a different sound. What is happening, the govt has no voice in cyberspace? What to do? Can the govt afford not to engage netizens and allow cyberspace to be the forsaken space, no control and no defence? Isn't this an interesting development? A control freak govt having no say in an area that is expanding and growing in importance?

Myth 189 - The Foreign Talent Myth

Myth We have seen Merrill Lynch, UBS, City Banks, Barclay Banks, Bank of Scotland and what else, all needing to be rescued. Then came Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Today we heard that Lehman Brothers, another giant investment house in deep trouble. I believe, not a difficult think to do, that all these banks and financial institutions are run by the best talents the US and Europe have. And they all ran their companies into deep shit. So much talks about foreign talents. Count ourselves lucky that we did not engage the top talents of these organisations and pay them hundreds of millions to run our financial institutions. We would have been broken by them. It is lucky that we only managed to get the 3rd or 4th rate talents. Now, when all these talents loses their jobs, will we queue up to invite them here with handsome pay package as our best foreign talents, just like we went for fire sales for UBS, Merrill Lynch etc etc? These talents must be up for grabs at a discount.

Increase fare for better services

Did I hear silly Singaporeans saying that they don't mind fare increases if the service is better? How many years of fare increases have we been through? Ten times, twenty times? Has the service improved by ten times or twenty times? If this kind of justification is true, we will be riding on golden trains with hostesses serving drinks by now, or akan datang. We have been seeing increases in fares, in fees, in minister salaries, should we be seeing increases in the quality of services and productivity from them. Do we see the improvements commensurate with the increases? Silly Singaporeans should stop using this excuse to let service providers keep increasing fares and fees. The quality of services are not determined by the amount of increases. There is no direct relationship except to buy hardwares. You can pay more and get 'worstest' services.

Time to stand up, time to speak up

Who says that Singaporeans are compliant sheep? We have seen the spontaneous uprising against the abuses in the old NKF saga. Now we are seeing another mass action against a potential govt decision that will adversely affect the people. Yes the sheep have spoken. They have rounded themselves to take a stand. They did not want to be pushed around. The more significant of this petition is that it is not against an individual but against the authority. They are saying no to the authority. In other countries, this is chicken feed. In paradise, this is a kind of uprising. And you can see that the people are not going to take no for an answer. They are up in arms. Would the govt bulldoze its way through or would the govt back off and announce that it was only at the discussion stage? No decision has been taken and the workers will be sited elsewhere that are more suitable?

Different interpretation of Serangoon Garden Incident

There have been different reactions to the Serangoon Garden petition with some calling them snobs while some raising the flag of racism. I see this rather as a case of social misfits where hardworking people, having worked for a better lifestyle and seeing what they have worked so hard for being threatened. Do we find this disgusting? Do we believe that people should work to improve their lives, their environment, and choose to live in an environment they are comfortable with? Do we want people to level up or to level down, accept the degradation of an environment that they have built all these years? Are we being fair to just look at the interest of the foreign workers at the expense of the residents who have been there first? Are they selfish? I will say no. They are just decent human beings who want to live life decently. And if you raise your lifestyle to their level, you will surely be welcomed. No one who wants a better quality of life will want to live in the ghettos or the slums. And it is normal for them to protest when people want to bring the slum to their doorstep. This is a microcosm of what Singapore is all about. We have move up to the first world in terms of quality of living and infrastructure. Do we want to level down? The influx of millions of poor workers into this first world city will definitely bring with it the graffiti culture along. Do we want that kind of environment or choose to be in a first world environment, F1 racing, fine dining, culture and concerts. Yes, snobbish appeals and past times. What do we want? Return to the third world? Racism is definitely not an issue. It is social class. A mismatch of social class and a clash of social lifestyles and habits.

Foreign talents feel slighted

Foreign talents should not feel slighted by the recent debate. Singaporeans are not xenophobic. Real foreign talents are welcomed and if they are, they should know this. It is the non talents, the pretenders and the conmen that are not wanted. And the foreign workers are also welcomed up to a point, up to a level when they start to squeeze the locals for space and facilities. That point has reached in Serangoon Garden. I have read in the media that PRs called this place their home as well. Well in a way. They are permanent residents. But this is only their temporary or secondary home. It is never the same compare to a citizen. The citizens are here for good while the PRs are here when the weather is fair.