I am branded, not like Prada or Luis Vuitton

Matilah has branded me as alarmist and even irresponsible for highlighting the high cost of H1N1 test. My fear is that some people will not seek treatment or test because the fee is too prohibitive. You only need 5 people infected and walking around, not seeking treatment, and you will have an epidemic in your hand. This is alarmist? Denis Distant also wrote to the paper on the same issue of cost. Not everyone can throw away $85 or $214 just to confirm if one has contracted H1N1. It is not cheap. Let me list down a few things of what alarmist is. 1. Voting an opposition party into govt will chase all foreign investors away. 2. Voting an opposition MP will turn the estate into a slum. 3. Holding a party in a park can be a security issue, maybe rioting going out of control. 4. Our wives and daughters may become maids if we vote the opposition in. 5. If we give handouts, the people will develop a welfare mentality, a crutch. I could go on and on. If I am alarmist, I am in great company. I am not in the naming game or else I would give matilah a brand as well. But that will be cheapo. When has matilah joined the branding clique?

Was it $214 or $124?

A couple of days back a forumer wrote to ST, I think, to complain about having to pay $214 for a H1N1 check in a govt hospital, or was it a privatised hospital? H1N1 is an epidemic that is going to affect the whole population. What if everyone finds this too expensive and refuses to seek treatment, how would the situation develop? What would happen if the people find our medical fees too high and choose to skip treatments for all their deadly diseases and sickness? Can we say, well it is their own health and it is their own problem. If they die, we can replace them with more migrants or with new citizens. What if the diseases they are infected were highly infectious? Would it become a crime for not seeking treatment?

Sweet dream turning into a nightmare

I was at this long queue of happy people waiting for our angpows. The queue was long but the people did not mind. The govt had announced that it would be giving out $2b worth of angpows to the people as part of the Sharing the Nation's Angpow Programme(SNAP). This was mooted several years back and was finally being implanted. Profits from the country's investment of our reserves would be shared with the people. At an estimated sum of $500b and a 3% return it would give a neat profit of $15b annually. Of this, $2b would be shared with the people so that the golden goose would not be killed in the process. Everyone was in the queue. And so was I. Then screams were heard and the queue scattered in all directions. No angpow, not for another 10 years at least. The fund managers need to earn back the $100b that were lost. Without the loss, $100b at $2b a year could be spreaded and given to the people for 50 years. Now we have to live with not angpows. The people were angry but that was how fate had dealt the people a nasty blow. We had a lot of money and wanted to make more. Through no fault of anyone, the world financial system collapsed on our investment. It was a sweet dream that turned into a nighmare. Then I woke up feeling pissed.

Najib making very bold moves

After his proposal for closer cooperation with Singapore, Najib is making even bolder policy changes that will test his tenure in the hot seat. His new changes on foreign ownership of private corporations and properties even surprise me. My earlier impression of him was that of a careful and not to ruffle feathers PM. His third bridge has already created a storm. Now the announcement of these changes could raise a typhoon if he does not have the backings of his cabinet. While these are good to attract more foreign investments, the question is whether they are enough? Is there any assurance that the next PM would not remove everything and back to status quo as before? Would the foreign investors feel confident that this will be the new Malaysia for the forseeable future?

Discrimination - Another point to add

Another major difference between Malaysia and Singapore is that in Malaysia, racial discrimination is official, legal and morally a right thing to do. Anyone opposing such discrimination can be threatened with bodily harm or attacked by mobs running amok. In Singapore, the official position is no discrimination. It is against the law. The govt is embarrassed by whatever little signs of discimination and took pains to explain why it was a necessary evil, a temporary one. When conditions are favourable, we can see that all discriminations will be removed in a matter of time. In Malaysia, discrimination is institutionalised, a way of life, official govt policies and will be there to stay.

Putin was furious

Putin has been on a warpath against the high cost of living in Russia. He yelled at the grocer for selling sausages at $11! To him it was too expensive though the grocer told him it was good quality. He was on a rampage and took it personally to bring down the high cost of living. I was wondering what would he say if he knew that the flats at Duxton Pinnacles that could be sold at $300K was sold at $500k because the market forces said so, because people were willing to pay for it? Maybe if he were a Singapore leader he would say differently, and said, 'Very clever!' Or 'Good for the economy.'

Discrimination - Malaysian and Singapore models

We have discrimination on both sides of the causeway. In fact we have discrimination everywhere across the glode. Let's just look at some of the pertinent features of the two policies that discriminate its citizens. Discrimination Singapore style, not spoken too loudly but strongly felt by the Malay community, cannot be denied or brushed away. Among the other communities, they can hardly complained about discrimination as they were very well treated with hardly any discrimination at all. If they are discrimination, it is positive discrimination. In the case of the Malay community, discrimination is in the area of appointments in sensitive and strategic military appointments. If one look at this closely, one will notice that the discrimination was more of a contingency arising from the difficult relationship between Singapore and Malaysia in the early days. The tendency for the Malaysian side to target Malay Singaporeans was an issue that cannot be treated lightly or ignored. That was the gist of the discrimination policy. It was not intended as a racial discrimination policy to begin with. For that, the govt has tried in other areas to compensate for it by adopting affirmative policies to give the minorities more assistance and attention. Our policies towards the minorities is to favour them when all things are being equal. In contrast, the Malaysian discrimination policies were to favour the majority, with affirmative policies for the majority and discriminate the minorities in practically all fields. The discrimination is widespread and pervasive and without any need of disguise or apologies. Our govt, when questioned about the military appointments, has always been awkward and difficult. Hopefully, with time and better relations with Malaysia, and the different pace and development, we will become two distinct people with very different aspirations and inclinations that will put all forms of discrimination as a bad dream of the past. It is unthinkable if we were to practise the Malaysian kind of discrimination here. The best part of it is that the minorities in Malaysia are resigned to the discrimination policies and the govt is proud and think it is right to adopt those discriminating policies. PS. Are we able to discuss this issue in a mature manner without punching at each other?

A transient society

Seah Chiang Nee wrote about the transient nature of our society in www.littlespeck.com. Everything is transient and changing, from the traditional kopitiam to the population. Soon the original Singaporeans will be a minority in the island, at the rate new citizens and PRs are coming in. The original Singaporeans built this island from the leftovers of what was a British colony. The vestiges of our colonial past are well preserved and would probably be there for a longer while. Some of the old buildings in the clusters of Chinatown, Bugis and Little India may still be there to remind us of our inglorious past. When most of the original Singaporeans are gone, would the new Singaporeans, the more materialistic and in a hurry to make it good, feel any emotion or attachment to the things of old? Would they just wipe them off and build another phase of modern and high tech infrastructure? Would they harbour any misgivings or distaste for the less able Singaporeans and their history and think of economic and material progress, and erase all our past for a futuristic Singapore? Things are changing fast and our progress and economic development are built on the premises of pulling down the old and rebuild into new. For there is hardly anything or land left to generate more revenue. So build, destroy and rebuilt will be the key to keep the economy going. Don't be surprised one day a new batch of Singaporeans, hungry for growth, will tear down Chinatown, Bugis and Little India for the good of the country.

Revamping the financial system

Chok Tong talked about the changes in the financial industry and the fear of unscrupulous or toxic products. Investors are returning to basics, looking for smaller but steadier gains like bonds, govt bonds, not any cheap bonds. With all the cheats and thiefs exposed, and the American govt watching them like a hawk, hopefully they will not be allowed to design another batch of fraudulent products to cheat the masses. All the sins and crimes orginated from the US though they were brushed aside as something of lesser evil. Evil they were. So, how would all these white collar cheats and crimes affect us? Today we read in the ST that SGX needs to compete for IPOs. We either compete for good IPOs or be content with sub standard companies that ended up as another bunch of frauds. The confidence among our investors have also been hurt badly by all these fly by night companies. Many have been suspended due to frauds that were dressed up as pristine companies with great growth potentials. And the parties involved in the dressing ups, making all the fees, are still at large, laughing all the way to the banks. This is only one aspect of the financial systems that need to be placed under the microscope. The other are the practices adopted by big funds that capitalised on their muscle and technology to exploit the system to their advantage, often leading to the destruction of values of stocks. Dubious trading strategies and methodologies that are contrary to the well being of stocks and the stock market must not be allowed to be practised in our stockmarket. The gains of a little clearing fee and the fictitious churning to give the impression that the market is alive and healthy is not worth it for the huge losses incurred by innocent and small investors. There is a need to revamp the way the stock market is operating.

Proud owners of a $3m dollar piece of space

How many of you are proud owners of a $3m or $1m piece of space in the sky, with 4 walls that you called home? I bet there are many out there, some willingly forking our several millions to have a little space fancifully dressed up and called high end apartments. High end or low end, it is a big chunk of money that people are paying for. Imagine how many more things they can do with that kind of money to better their lives and the lives of other people? But relatively speaking, the money they spent is only a fraction of their worth. They still have a lot to spare to live a great life. At the lower level, at the HDB level, many are paying a relatively higher portion of their income for that space called flat or home. Why do we have to pay so much just for a place to sleep? The joke now is that the people who really enjoy the expensive flats or landed properties are the maids. They are the ones staying home while the owners slogged day and night to pay for the flat or houses. For many who just have one property to live in, a 4 rm or 5 rm flat is still a flat whether you pay $200k or $1m for it. High prices are good for those who want to trade their homes. And if the cost of a flat can be reduced, the savings can be used for a better quality of life, to purchase many other things. What is happening is that the money is now locked in this little flat called home. It is a deplorable allocation of resources. Asset rich and cash poor, and little money left for other things. Is this a good model?

Strong wings and deep roots

Chok Tong is worried that we are losing some of our top students who went overseas for their studies. This is a drain on our small talent pool and it is important to bring them home to roost. In a way they are a consequence of our success, giving them strong wings to fly high and far, but not deep enough roots to stay put back home. Chok Tong is asking the schools to inculcate emotional values or bonds in the hope of keeping them with us. How much is emotional bonds anyway? The brighter and smarter the students, the clearer they see and understand the ethos of our society. It is all about how much, and not about emotions, sentiments or silly values like giving back to your country or serving the people. Everything is calculated in monetary terms here. There is no room for ties or intangibles. No free lunch, there is a price for everything, except compulsory National Service. Now who have been passing such values to the young? But what is the problem? What we lost we can easily be replaced with talents from China, India and neighbouring countries. And they are not only better talents, they are also more appreciative of what of the goodness of our country. They may be new here, with no emotional ties, no family ties, and short roots. But we know that they will develop all these that Singaporeans born and brought up here, with family ties, cannot. Singaporeans are ungrateful and unappreciative of what the govt have done for them. The migrants will be grateful and appreciative and will not go away for greener pastures. Is there any contradictions or any hypocrisies? Haven't we been very successful in buying foreign talents here? Now, why are Singaporeans running away? In numerical terms, for every Singaporeans that went away, we can bring in 100 or more. In hard cold numbers, in our calculative ways, we are net gainers. Where got problem? Soon we will have a strong migrant population in the majority, and bringing our country to a higher level of material success. PS. More pics of the Singapore River Festival in the blog link.

Notable quote by Gerard Ee

'Many social entrepreneurs do not understand that social enterprises are for profit. Some even feel guilty about it.' Gerard Ee Do Singaporeans understand the above statement? Or do they need further explanations on the purpose of social enterprises? They are set up for profit, yes to make profit. What charity, what helping the needy, what nonsense? There is no need to feel guilty about making profit. That is the reason for all enterprises, govt, social or charitable organisations. The rest of the reasons of how noble, how kind and compassionate, the need to help those who need help, are all a big bullshit. Ok, profit is not necessary bad. Profit is good, just like greed is good. But make profit for what or for who? Be greedy and more greedy, for what and for who? Now with so many professionals in it, they even coined the term venture philanthropy. They went in with the skills of well trained corporate executives and wielding knives as sharp as those of sushi chefs. Remember those organisations that collect a lot of money and were praised sky high that they were good? Even monks and priests are at it. If only they were not discovered and their dirty laundries washed in the open, they will continue to do what they knew best, and enjoy the perks of top class business executives. Today we have several pages of write ups in the ST glamorising the passionate and committed, and in tailored suit executives doing charitable work, helping the needy. I hope they were doing it not for profit. But what's wrong with that? They should not feel guilty about it if they were doing it for profit. I don't know how many of you will agree with my nonsense above?

The ridiculous nature of progress

Yes we are rich, very rich. Many people have gone pass the comfort zone and have time and money to be philanthropists. Actually I prefer this word to be spelt philantrophist. The piss sound in the first word doesn't do justice to the do gooders. Where am I heading? Oh yes, we now have excess money and energy to help more needy people. All our needy people are well taken of by the govt and the legions of charitable organisations in our midst. I do not know the statistics, but we could have more do gooders or charitable organisations per capita than any country in the world. What shall we do with so many good things? Spread them around, overseas, to help the world. And if that is not good enough, we can import poverty to live with us. This will give us more opportunities to explore our creativity and the compassionate goodness in us to help these needies. We must thank the importers of foreign workers for helping the do gooders in their cause. Let's import more foreign workers so that we can feed them and look after them. It is always a good thing to help others. Never mind if they came here in debt and without a job. We can all do our part to feed them. It is good for the soul. The MOM must be more generous in the issuing of WP and not go around chasing after them as illegals.

First brown General

The US took more than 200 years to welcome a black President. We took 44 years to produce a brown General. Not too bad actually. BG Ishak Ismail is the first Malay to be promoted to the general rank, at the age of 46. The world is changing for the better. Let's hope that he will beat a path for more able Malay soldiers to rise to higher ranks, and not because we need to promote them to fill up some quota or a public relations exercise. So far the reports on Ishak is quite commendable. As we move on, our Malay brothers and sisters should move on together as a people and share the progress of the nation. The able ones should take the lead and show the way.

Fake degrees in the Education Hub

We want to be the premier education hub of Asia. We want to attract hundreds of thousands of foreign students here to pursue their studies. We had a spate of frauds coming from the private school providers. Now we have more revelations of fake degrees being offered over the years, undetected. Undetected!!! My god! Could all these be avoided? Is it so difficult to weed them out before they even enrol the students? It cannot be that difficult than sending man to the moon. Alas, the squeaky clean and administratively efficient state is now no better than a third world country. How could we be an international education hub when such simple frauds like accreditation from reputable institutions can get pass so easily? It is definitely a case of negligent, no one or organisation being assigned to administer it. Another equivalent of selling toxic products. Come on Singapore, you can do much better than this, to allow such blatant frauds to exist right under your nose, Terribly disappointing. Exactly like the motor insurance fraud. Nobody's child, nobody's problem. Not my problem. Soon we will be known as an island of super first world infrastructure but operated by third world conmen and tricksters. This is a reputation we cannot afford to live with. Rip Van Winkle is still enjoying his nice nap.

2 more pics for viewing pleasure

Stop crying to papa and mama

There was this little tiff between Lionel De Souza and TOC of which the former complained to MDA about the contents in the latter's forum, claiming that the postings were harmful, bordering on perdition and sedition. MDA has made an official reply to the complaint stating that not everything or everyone should go crying father and mother to the authority. If anyone is not happy with the content, speak to the forum owner or moderator first. And MDA will only take action if the content is serious and damaging. Otherwise, grow up. The internet is there and will be there and MDA will continue to handle it with a light touch. Bravo, MDA!

Property sales and prices going up

These must be good news. And the better news is that more of the buyers are HDB upgraders, 46% of them. The actual number is 673 for the 2Q of 2009. It is good to note that HDB upgraders are able to move on to the private property market, thanks to the higher resale values of their HDB flats. The other side of the coin is that with resale prices going up, prices of HDB flats, new and old, will also move up accordingly. While the upgraders have the benefit of owning flats that are appreciating in price, the new buyers, those who have yet to buy a flat will have something to worry about. And with their income not keeping pace with the rising prices, the new flats that they are going to buy are going to cost them more. But they should not worry as there will be more new flats being built in the new towns. And if they cannot afford 4 rm flats, go for cheaper 3 rm or 2 rm flats. They must tailor their expectation according to their income level. This is only a reasonable advice. Would we reach a stage when our young graduates could only look forward to buying a new flat in a new town, and probably a 3 rm one as their income will not be enough for the bigger flats? We used to have graduates being seen as someone who have made it and on a career path that will lead to a better lifestyle. With the rising HDB prices keeping up with market prices, future graduates should attune themselves by lowering their expectation of bigger HDB flats or private properties in their first buy. Things are different now, and they got to get use to the higher cost of everything.

Singapore River Festival

Just a few pics of the Singapore River Festival that I shot.

Tan Kah Kee Station

How can we called an MRT station Tan Kah Kee Station? Who is Tan Kah Kee to deserve such an honour? Never heard of him or his contribution. A better name for that station should be Queen Elizabeth Station. This will remind everyone of the royal neighbourhood of Duchesses and Kings and royalties. It will also remind Singaporeans of the great contributions of our colonial rulers. These are the legacies of the neighbourhood according to Leslie Raj. Actually I don't care a damn about the royalties. To the many ignoramus, the piece of land which Hwa Chong sits was donated by the philantrophist Tan Kah Kee. That piece of land is as large and as far as the eyes can see. For those who only know the value of money, please count how many condominiums can be built on that piece of land, real prime estate. Tan Kah Kee's contribution was more than that, if one bothers to read the history of Chinese High School and Hwa Chong. Their existence came about by the spirit of the community to break the stranglehood of secondary education for our children when the British govt refused to educate them but only at primary school level to be clerks and office boys. The community stood up, led be Tan Kah Kee, to build the first secondary school for the Chinese community in this island. And Tan Kah Kee donated his treasured piece of land on which the school stood today. That is the legacy of Tan Kah Kee and Hwa Chong. And his contribution is not just in and around Hwa Chong. Tan Kah Kee is most deserving to be honoured by having the station named after him.