Everything is subsidised!

Leong Sze Hian wrote in TOC about his friend's encounter with govt privatised hospital and private profit making hospital and the fees they charged. The govt privatised hospital's fees are heavily subsidised(that was I think) while the private hospital fees are not. For the operation of a cyst that took 15 minutes, the cost quoted by the govt privatised hospitals that included paying a visit to the polyclinic to earn the right for subsidies came to $600. Leong's friend went direct to a private hospital, preparing to pay more as there was no subsidy and the bill came to $287. And this did not take into consideration the wait and wait because of the long queue of subsidised patients waiting to be treated in privatised govt hospitals. Below is the detail numbers quoted from Leong Sze Hian's article. 'She subsequently went to a private hospital, and was operated on, on the spot by a surgeon, in a 15 minute day surgery, costing only $287. The total costs of the polyclinic consultation ($9.50), Government restructured hospital consultation ($29 after a $57 subsidy) and day surgery, were $600. Since there are no subsidies in private hospitals, it is puzzling why a simple 15 minute cysts removal day surgery at a Government restructured hospital’s subsidised rate is more than double that of a private hospital.' Sometimes it can be very scary when one hears the term subsidies. The subsidies for public housing is just as pleasantly scary. Who needs more subsidies please put up your hand.

Yes we need help...No we don't

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the haze is an international problem and Indonesia cannot do it alone to control it. No thanks, we can handle it ourselves, said Gusti Muhammed Hatta, the State Minister for Environment, when Yaacob Ibrahim called to offer help. Do they want help or not? Oh, this is the first time that they had such a big fire and big haze? My eyeballs are rolling all over. Maybe Marty has been staying overseas for too long and just returned to Indonesia. Maybe next he is going to say is that this haze is a once in 50 years occurrence, no need to worry. Given the severity of the situation and the health of Malaysians and Singaporeans are at stake, this cannot continue to go on and on every year. We have been suffering from this, and so do the Indonesians themselves. A solution could have been in hand after so many long nights dreaming over it. Both Malaysia and Singapore will be most willing to help, to contribute to prevent this international pollution of the air. Forget about second hand smoke from tobacco. This is far more serious and widespread. And no, Malaysia and Singapore will not give any aid in the form of money or a free satellite. What could be possible is a joint task force of fire fighters and equipment, stationed in various parts of Sumatra to be on call to put out the fires. This will be attacking the problem directly, putting the fire out, nothing more nothing less, with the Indonesians in charge and Malaysia and Singapore providing the manpower and resources. Boleh Pak? Cukup Pak?

What if it is Agent Orange?

The perennial blanket covering of Singapore and Malaysia by haze arising from forest burning is becoming an annual Great Expectation. We knew it is coming, and we know that there is nothing that we can do about it. We can ask to talk to them, call for conference, ministerial meetings, but the haze will still come. Perhaps we shall just yield to their demand for a multi million dollar satellite and see if they will stop burning. The chances are that the burning will continue as the satellite could do nothing except to tell them where the burning is taking place, which we already know. They will probably make the best use of the free satellite for other commercial pursuits. The thing is that everyone is treating this as just a nuisance. What if it is Agent Orange or something more toxic? They don't need an armed invasion or an army to decimate Malaysia and Singapore. It is so easy and cheap.

A standing Orgy

It was a case of meat to meat. The people were literally glued to one another. They were squeezed so tightly that if you remove their clothings, the flesh could have fused together. The breathing was heavy. The eyes were in a daze, some in a state of shock and disbelief. Wet, yes, I could see that everyone was wet, perspiring and sweating, young and old, men and women. It was a standing orgy alright. And I was caught in the midst, right in the thick of action. The foreign workers loved every minute of it. That was the standard of public transportation they were used to. I was wondering how the cleanly dressed female office workers and the little girls in school uniform felt about the big squeeze. And this standing orgy will repeat and can repeat practically everyday. All it needs is for the train to delay for 15 mins. And that was how long my morning train took to arrive. And everything slowed down. At every station the commuters going down would have to squeeze slowly through a mess of fusion meat. It took quite a while, and a big struggle to get out of the train. And to make matter worst, the huge crowd outside were panicky, trying to force themselves into the party, to join the orgy. The time taken for the journey simply doubled. This little delay can cripple the normal lifestyle and routine of the commuters. It can bring everything to a halt if the breakdown is extended. This is the price we are paying for living it up to the limits. Good to increase the population to 6m. We can increase to 10m with a little clever planning. And we can have orgies everyday too. Nice!

All Japanese must not forget Unit 731

What is Unit 731? Just google for it and a detailed description will be available in Wikipedia. For those who intend to, please be warned that it is not good for weak stomach. It describes the monstrous Japanese and their barbaric crimes in World War 2 in China. For ignoramous Japanese like Seiji Maehara, Shintaro Abe, Junichiro Koizumi and the likes, either they refuse to know their history or Japanese school left out this part altogether. If Japan continues to ignore their historical crimes, they can never dream of a peaceful co existence with China and Korea in the long term. Unless they recognized their evil deeds, repent, and return all the loots they robbed from the two countries, including territories and islands, you just would not know when someone in the future will take these issues up and start a war with Japan. While there is time, it is only honourable and decent, and rightful for Japan to return what they had taken. It would put them in a better light than to pretend the past did not happen, they did not commit any crimes to their neighbours and the land or islands seized were inheritance from their forbears. They were robbed from their neighbours at gun point. If they don’t return today, one day they will be taken back at gun point, for sure. The Japanese leaders and people better have the wisdom to do the necessary and clean up this bad patch of their history with their neighbours, once and for all.

The Stock Exchange should go 24 hrs

SGX is still pushing for continuous trading with no lunch break to improve trading volume and to capitalise on the connectivity with other operating exchanges. Though the idea is good, it is half hearted. SGX should go all the way, provide continuous trading round the clock. This will make SGX the only stock exchange that never sleeps and investors who have insomnia or in different time zones can always call our exchange to trade till their hearts contend. This will definitely generate all the volumes that SGX intended and even propel SGX to become the world's number One stock exchange. It will be another feather in our hat. There should be no problems with our pool of remisiers and broking house employees. They will welcome such a great idea with glee. Plentiful of money to be made. The broking houses can help by redesigning the trading area with beds attached to the terminals so that remisiers can literally trade, eat and sleep in the same place. I would suggest something similar to the SQ jumbo airbus first class seat cum bed. That would allay any protest from the remisiers. Just make them comfortable and happy. Anyway the remisiers are very pliable and adaptable bunch and would just adapt to the new demands. They don't have a troublesome union to fight for humanly working hours or other craps that make operating the business difficult. There will be fatigue and stress problems no doubt. Just provide more steriod jabs in case they need them. And if they make mistakes, the stock exchange should be generous enough to pay for their errors. Working in a highly stress environment, none stop for 8 to 10 hours, can be killing and mistakes are bound to happen. And working 24 hours is a new ball game. No joke. If the maids can cope with working for 24 hours without any problems, I think remisiers too should be able to do it equally well. Take this as an experiment and if it works well, other industries too can go on 24 hours non stop operations. Our Ministries and Ministers too can work 24 hours to increase their productivity. 24 hours is the way to go. Make Singapore a city that never sleeps.

The housing predicament - What we do not know

One thing for sure, we do not know that we have limited land, that land is scarce. We do not know that we should not be selling our landed properties to foreigners, like selling Alaska, gone forever. We do not know that property speculation is bad, as a home is a must have essential asset, a roof over our heads. We do not know that prudence is good, or at least until yesterday. We also do not know that the laws of demand and supply can wreak havoc to our property market. We do not know that allowing private property owners to buy public housing will inflate property prices, and that is bad. We do not know that allowing more foreigners into the island will result in high demand for property prices and high speculation. And we also do not know who is the main cause of high property price. Maybe now we know, or do we?

War Dead Medal Tally

What I would like to see is for Asian media to maintain a War Dead Medal Tally similar to the Olympic or Commonwealth Medal Tally to be viewed by their audience daily during news presentation. In this case instead of Gold, Silver and Bronze, the count will be war dead by nationals, those killed in the ensuing wars in Asia. The Tally Board shall read for example, Iraqi 1200 Afghan 800 Pakistan 600 Palestinian 500 Israeli 100 American 300 English 150 German 30 French 20 Australian 10 Such a Tally Board not only serves the purpose of tracking the number of war dead, it also gives a clear picture of the people that have been sacrificed in the name of country and nation or as war collateral. It also helps to remind the politicians who support and promote the wars to know the number of lives they have killed. For the moment I think only the Americans and the Europeans are interested or care about the lives of their citizens killed in wars. The rest don’t matter. Or is it? I am sure the rest of the countries too value the lives of their citizens and those killed in wars, directly or indirectly. The statistics should not be difficult to obtain as every country involved will have their reporters reporting in the war zones. Not only that the media will be doing its duty to report and tell the pain and sufferings of wars, it will also remind people that as long as wars are not stopped, people are being killed daily. By not reporting them, by not knowing the numbers, no one feels guilty, no one can relate the horrors and grief of the victims of wars. I really hope some Asian media will take up this proposal as the Western media do not think it as their responsibility to do so, nor would they want to tell the evil side of the story of wars started by their trigger happy Presidents/Prime Ministers. Al Jazeeera and Channel News Asia are suitable candidates to take on this task to educate the people on wars, and indirectly to stop proliferating wars. Countries waging wars should also know that the world is watching at their evil and wicked deeds. It is a duty to humanity to tell the story of wars and war dead to keep people from thinking that war is only a movie.

Pressing all the right buttons

Mah Bow Tan was very impressive in Parliament yesterday. He was pressing all the right buttons and saying all the right things. I like the word prudence, the need for prudence in buying properties. I like to hear him going after those overseas properties, though I don't agree with him. I like what he said about more calibrated measures to control property prices. Though prices will not fall, they will not go up as much as 5% per quarter, only 3%, giving an annual increase of 12%. Not bad for property appreciation. Still got chance to hit $1m for HDB flats. The Ministry of National Development is doing a great job in managing the housing problem. Soon there will be no housing problems to talk about. Or maybe someone will say you cannot expect to have zero problems. But just don't create more problems to be solved by brilliant remedies.

Is China trigger happy?

According to Paul Krugman, Professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, China is. He referred to the recent Diaoyutai Incident when the Japanese Navy arrested a Chinese fishing boat captain and China's withholding the sale of rare earth to Japan and made this comment. '...the incident shows a Chinese govt that is dangerously trigger happy, willing to wage economic warfare on the slightest provocation.' What is the US doing in pressuring China to revalue the Yuan? Not trigger happy, just an American right to do so? What about the calls for trade sanctions, branding China a currency manipulator when the US is the real currency manipulator, printing more and more money and depreciating its own currency? But wait, let's talk about trigger happy? What was the reason for the invasion of Iraq? In this case, real bullets were fired. No, not real bullets, bombs, all kinds of bombs were thrown into Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. No this is not trigger happy to the Americans. What about Pakistan and Afghanistan? Oh, the Americans are using water pistols to shoot at their enemies. So the Americans are not trigger happy. They only squeeze water at their enemies. This is the American hypocrisy! They can be trigger happy but point the fingers at other people. Has China fire a single bullet? But he is only talking about economic warfare, firing economic guns. Which country has been enforcing economic sanctions on other countries on its own terms? China has been the victims of all kinds of economic sanctions from the Americans even till today. No need to mention North Korea, the Middle Eastern countries and all countries branded as enemies of the US. The US is not trigger happy. China is, according to Paul Krugman and most of the Americans who can speak and write. And they all believe in this hypocrisy as the American and western truth.

The relevance of copyrights and internet domain names

Just a hypothetical question. Supposing someone could register a domain name like MacDonald.com.sg, and MacDonald writes a polite letter to ask him not to use it, change it, does he need to comply? This is only a hypothetical situation. It can apply to any domain name. Or would MacDonald call the owner of such a domain name and negotiate to buy it over as a business transaction? If I am not mistaken, the trademark of MacDonald, or any other brand name, is a different matter from a domain name. And every country can have their own MacDonald.com.xx. So MacDonald would either have to register it first or have to buy it over from the first registered owner? Anyone can fill in on this?

Myth 224 - Our land is limited! Property prices must go up!

Everyone is spouting this nonsense daily as if it is a gospel truth. There is limited land, we are land scarce, so property prices can only go up. The supply will never meet the demands. Here is the fallacy or root of this fallacy. Who says we don’t have enough land? Or why is there not enough land? Land was plentiful at one time. The migrants just go around and build their little attap or zinc roof houses anywhere, on any piece of empty land they could find. Our population then was a few hundred thousand and increasing gradually. At 2 million or 3 million, land is not an issue. It is when we keep piling up the numbers, inviting more and more people here that land become scarce. We create our own problem. We make our land scarce. We will have plenty of land once more if people start to run away from this land. Or we can stop the inflow and reduce the population. But economic laws and principles will be against any reduction. It means recession and depression. No growth is bad. So we must have growth and growth and growth. This unending growth is good for us. Same as for the whole world. Keep producing more people and more people. Go forth and multiply. Where will it end if growth is unceasing, unending? Is our limited land a myth or a conjure reality? We have changed from land abundance to land scarce. That is clever from the economics of growth. If Australia will to blindly follow this economic principle of growth, it too will run out of land in a matter of time. The whole world will run out of land. But it does not have to. The pain is self inflicted. We don't have to go down this road. It's final destiny is self destruct. We need to know our limitations and stop while we can. So is the world. Population growth, economic growth, high consumption, high destruction to environment, depletion of resources and food supply, climate warming etc etc etc. All for incessant growth.

Be prepared for the invasion of the Dark Side

They are already here and in a big way. They turn Singapore into their turf like their home countries. The latest report of three Taiwanese being arrested, jailed and to be caned for loan shark activities is only a glimpse of what have yet to be uncovered. Now we can understand why the loan sharks here are fearless and would have no qualms burning and locking up their victims' residents. They play the game they know best in their lawless societies and think that they can do the same here. According to a govt statement, three Taiwanese citizens were given 7 to 24-month prison sentences after being convicted of loan shark harassment. 'Two of the defendants, identified as Su Wei Ying and Wu Wei Chun in the Singapore Police Force statement, were also to receive "15 strokes of the cane" for their offenses. Su, 28, and Wu, 24, were both convicted of seven charges of loan shark harassment in violation of Singapore's Moneylenders Act and sentenced to 24 months and 21 months in jail, respectively, in addition to the caning.' Source CNA. And their Trade Representative is showing concern that they are being caned. Why should he when the Taiwanese broke our law, got a fair trial, and were punished like any Singaporeans would have been. There was no discrimination or biases? Did he forget that Singapore is not Taiwan? Or did he think that Taiwanese should be dealt with more leniently than the locals? Perhaps in Taiwan they could get away with their crimes with a call from the Dark Side. The loan sharks flouting our laws and becoming more adventurous and defiance is only an early sign of more to come. If we cannot deal with this problem and clean up our city, there would be no way to put a blockage to stamp the flood of Dark Side activities that normally coexist with casinos. In many notorious countries, including those that are claimed to be operating under the rule of law and the respectability of law, it is common that the govt officials were in the pay lists of the mafia and with the mafia calling the shot. We have to be prepared to stamp this tide and stay on the bright side. The Dark Side is sexy and inviting and tempting.

Temasek Review versus Temasek Review

What is this tussle all about? A case of copy rights, a business wrangle, a political issue or what? One is an internet forum and another a corporate newsletter. Can they share the same name, or does one Temasek Review interferes with another Temasek Review? The target audience or readers are obviously different. What if one Temasek Review is registered internationally? Would it make any difference? Where is the boundary in cyberspace? I hope mysingaporenews is not being used by some other corporations. I have heard of mypaper and your news so far. Will I be looking forward to some nasty surprises from a conflicting claim? And I think redbeanforum is quite safe. At least it has no grand labels attached to it. The closest similarities are tomatoes, apples and oranges and perhaps peanuts. I hope Temasek Review may be able to squeeze some juice from it's name. Or would it be the other way round? Would the word 'pap smear' be banned?

Nobel War Prize

Ever since Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize he has been engaged in the same wars as his predecessor. He added a feather to his cap by adding 300,000 more troops to Afghanistan. And they are fighting another rag tag militia like the Vietcongs, without planes, without tanks, without sophisticated satellites and smart bombs. No Rambos or Arnie too. And the American commanders are asking for more fighting men as they can’t deal with the problem. But that is not enough for Obama. He wanted to start another war with the North Koreans by conducting provocative exercises at their doorstep. And that is still not enough. He wanted to use Asean as an excuse to start a war with the China. It is time that the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to him be renamed the Nobel War Prize. If not, they need to switch the definitions for peace and war.

What a pity, No Liverpool

Peter Lim's serious and business approach to acquire Liverpool Football Club failed. They did not want his money even when he was willing to pay 60 million pounds more than the successful contender. So, was it a business decision or political decision? Was there more that we do not know? There is no corruption in fine English gentlemen. So what went wrong? Never mind. But it is a pity that he failed in his bid. Otherwise we will become famous as a football nation. Not they we can kick football, but owning a champion English football club will do the trick. Our football fans would have the chance to cheer themselves crazy every time Liverpool plays. We will fly Liverpool flags everywhere, sing Liverpool's anthem and wear Liverpool colours. Just hope they did not get carried away and change our National flag and national anthem as well. They will be prouder to call themselves Liverpudlians than Singaporeans. Whatever, a football club in big debt cannot be a profitable business except for some bought fame. I think it is good riddance that Peter Lim did not get to buy it. Why throw good money after bad money or money for a bunch of hooligans? Some will disagree and feel that this is closest to our dream of being in the World Cup. The possibility of our Liverpool team playing as our national team can be arranged, with some money in the right place. Maybe someone else has a bigger dream to make this come true.

The most enlighten article on North Korea

Doug Bandow, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, I dunno where it is, has his article published in the ST today. Let me quote some of his ’intellectual’ comments about North Korea and Kim Jong Il. ‘The so called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the world’s first “communist monarchy”, poses no threat to America.’ Clap, clap, clap. This is ingenius observation. ‘Its economy is a wreck. Its military equips undertrained and malnourished soldiers with ancient equipment. One American aircraft carrier has more firepower than the entire North Korean military.’ This must be based on objective academic observation and empirical data. Obviously he did not see the recent parade and the well fed, well uniformed and well armed North Korean soldiers. The US should just march in like they did in Iraq and see what happens. ‘…Dear Leader Kim Jong Il is evil but not stupid. He knows that the US could wipe his nation off the map. He wants his virgins in this life, not the next, and would not waste his time attempting to pass power to his son if he planned self immolation in a pyre of fire.’ Kim is evil? How many people has he killed compared to Bush and Obama? And he wants virgins. Kim must have confided in him privately. My god, this is an academic piece of art! ‘The South’s forces are better trained and its equipment is more capable; Seoul has a much large army reserve and military industrial base. It has twice the population and upwards of 40 times the gross domestic product of the North. Moreover, neither China nor Russia, the North’s traditional allies, would support it in another war.’ Obviously this joker did not remember what happened during the Korean War. Let me remind him that the North nearly drove the South Korean army into the sea. Only the American intervention saved the South from a complete annihilation. And his simpleton’s conclusion that China and Russia would not come to the North’s aid in another war is as good as saying there is no Christmas comes December. After reading till this part, I wonder what kind of academic integrity there is in this article. This looks like a thrash written by a bigoted secondary school boy. I couldn’t bear to read further for fear of being impressed by his silliness.

How rich are Singaporeans?

A recent survey claimed that Singaporeans are the 4th richest in the world with net worth of US$336k each or something like that. So how to compare this money with someone with only $30k to see who is richer materially? Of course the Singaporeans have more money, big and strong Singapore currency. The deception is only beginning. Think of how hard it is to save $100k and how fast it slips through our fingers. It may take someone 5 to 10 years to save up $100k but his decision to buy that car will instantly burn every cent away. Ok, Ok, he does not need to buy a car. He can take public transport or buy a bicycle to promote green life. And a young couple saving their first $150k only to see it vanishes when they sign on the dotted line to buy that little flat, and another 30 years to slog to pay up everything. Yes, they need not have to buy. Just rent or stay with the mummy and daddy. Young couples who are able to save this kind of money cannot buy HDB flats, very likely earning more than $10k pm. It is the govt’s ruling. Then the retiree with his $200k savings! They may feel happy and secure to put such a sum of money away for their old age. However, one admission into a hospital for a serious illness, gosh, not a single cent left, nothing left for his remaining years. Are we really that rich and well off? What is the purchasing power of our strong dollar at home? A Singaporean with $50k could barely pay for his Korean car. A Singaporean with a family income of $1k-$2k may need financial help to make ends meet. So we are rich. A major economic crisis will bankrupt a large portion of the population when so many people are indebt of $500k or more. We are exposing our people to such a high and unnecessary risk which we believe will not happen. We have forgotten what happened in late 1990s. Don't they have nightmares of a crash and living in debt, unable to pay their big loans?

Chia Thye Poh deserves a Nobel Peace Prize

He is the longest surviving political prisoner in modern history, serving more years than Nelson Mandela. He was imprisoned without trial for 23 years and under house arrest for another 9 years, giving a total of 32 years in detention. Mandela served 27 years in all. Wikipedia describes Chia Thye Poh as a prisoner of conscience, a person who stood firm on his belief without wavering and sacrificing his freedom and the best part of his life. If any one deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, it must be Chia Thye Poh. The politicians or political parties should nominate him as a candidate for next year’s award. He might be a communist, though he has never admitted to be one. But communist or no communist is no longer an issue with the award given to the first communist in China in Liu Xiaobo. And if the Nobel Prize committee does not know where Singapore is, it will be an advantage by telling them that Singapore is part of China. It will give the committee more reasons to give the award to Chia Thye Poh, ‘to spite China again’. And we can celebrate our own Nobel Peace Prize winner, our very own son.

The prostitution of Nobel Peace Prize

This was once highly acclaimed as a respectable honour when bestowed on a recipient. The recipient in most cases reserved such a recognition without any dispute or controversy. The first misgiving concerning the award of the Nobel Prize was when it was presented to Barack Obama, a greenhorn president that had all words and no actions during his early days as President of the USA. Everyone was embarrassed. Obama too was embarassed. For what had he done to deserve such an honour? Or was the title President of the USA be good enough for such an honour? Probably because he is the first black President of the USA and thus deserved such an honour. Regardless of the reasonings, no thinking person will think that Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. And to rubbish the award further, he went on to increase troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and to continue fighting the wars instead of looking for peace. Many more lives were lost because of his decision to extend the wars. All the previous Nobel Peace Prize recipients must be turning in their graves. And those living must have felt how cheap the award has become. Nelson Mandela was jailed for political reasons for 27 years before he was deemed fit to receive the award. Just a few days back, a Chinese national by the name of Liu Xiaobo, was also given the same honour. He was jailed for only 4 years. Would political prisoners like Chia Thye Poh and Lim Hock Siew, who have both served terms as long as Mandela be more deserving of such an award? No, the Chinaman, with 4 years of jail was chosen, in a way to spite the Chinese authority and an attempt to pressure them, to meddle with their internal affairs. No doubt Liu Xiaobo has made great sacrifices for his cause. He has given up the good life to choose imprisonment instead. But he has become a convenient political pawn for the West to attack China. It is such a shame to the founder of the Nobel Peace Prize. An award to be respected and now being prostituted for political gains.