How could Singaporeans be not grateful?

It has never occurred to me that a medical bill can go beyond a million bucks. (Ok, I know I am not living in this glittering world). It was shocking to hear that it could be $24.8 million. I was always shaken by a $20k or $100k bill. It only shows how ignorant I am in the world of the very rich when paying a few million bucks is nothing. Singaporeans who have to pay $100k or $30k for a medical bill must be grateful that it is such a small sum to pay. And those who kpkb about a 5c hike in transport fare or a 10c in kopi O, please lah, have a life. You people are not worthy of living if you have to kpkb about such trivials. The $24.8 million bill must have awakened many people that their lives are actually not worth living. How could people be spending that kind of money as if money is nothing? That is another point. Next time when one got admitted to our world class hospitals, privatized or whatever, don’t complain about the bill. It is very cheap. And be very grateful to ministers who have to give up their lucrative medical careers to serve the people and country. For doing that, they are sacrificing a career that could mean several millions of income per month for a $3m annual salary. Be grateful and be thankful that we have such good people making such big sacrifices. And also be grateful that the minister is trying to raise your savings in the Medisave account to several hundred thousands. The reason now is obvious. Medical bills in privatized govt hospitals are cheap but can still be in the hundreds of thousands. The current minimum of $33k or there about are simply peanuts. Definitely not enough! Be appreciative of the govt helping to plan for you to pay your medical bills when you least expect it. The masses may be ignorant and not thinking, thank god the govt is thinking for them every day, for their own good. Singaporeans are indeed a lucky lot.

The Grand Old Man of the Opposition

Whenever I look at Chiam See Tong and his physical condition, I shook my head and quietly told myself that he should retire from politics. Then I read these comments from him when asked why he wants to continue in his condition, I understood. These are what he said, But you know, this isn’t a hard job, he said.. In fact, it is harder to bring up a family with little income. It is harder competing for jobs with foreign talents. It is harder to look after a disabled child, or an elderly parent It is harder to afford hospital bills for your family. These, are hard jobs that Singaporeans are facing. And it will get tougher. He is doing it for a cause, to want to do something for the people. With all the odds and physical limitations, he is struggling to fight another fight which is no easy thing to do. He is the Grand Old Man of the Opposition, a man with a mission for the people of Singapore. He walks his talks. Good men are rare to find. He is one of the few left. He never claims to have sacrificed anything. He just do it. What a man!

When supply and demand are not elastic

The basis of a free enterprise economic system is based on the elasticity of supply and demand. And there must be plentiful of supply, ie choices, and plentiful of demand, ie people can afford to buy whatever they want. Without this elasticity, a free enterprise economy is doomed for self destruct. Today we are seeing more and more evidence of what an uninterrupted and skewed economy can become a living hell to many and heaven to a few. Hey, isn’t that a truism, that only a few will be in heaven and the rest be in hell? Take drinking water as an illustration. If the supply of drinking water is controlled by a mean owner, he can literally sell a cup of drinking water at $100 or at whatever price he demands. Everyone kwai kwai must pay. It is only the wisdom of time that govts of today imposed regulations on the distribution of essential and basic goods and services. Of course the temptation of free enterprise and the grostesque profits it can make often proved too tempting that devious reasons were used to perpetuate free private enterprises. The mantra of market forces know best and are best for buyer and seller is the wisdom of today. This is the biggest myth that the masses have been led to believe. For many economies, or many goods and services, the perfect market condition is just not there. The result is abuse of the free enterprise system. There are times when control and regulations must be imposed, with good intention as a prerequisite, to ensure a fair and equitable system for the people in general. A time has now come to upturn the concept of property speculation in a small piece of rock. Properties cannot continue to be speculated simply for profit basis. It is an essential piece of basic needs and must be heavily regulated. Unrestrained property speculation for profits only benefitted the few who will get richer at the expense of the larger majority. Making matter worst is that foreign speculators in the name of investors, came in to profit and disappear with their gains and leaving the locals with a baby that becomes a heavy burden for life. The madness of property speculation, of property as a good investment, has transformed itself into a dangerous animal to the demise of many average home owners. With so many negative factors that will only contribute to higher and higher property prices, a fundamental change in housing policy must be looked at now. It is no joke when a person has to work his guts out, for the rest of his life, just to have a roof over his head. It does not make sense anymore.

A second career in politics

Gilbert Goh has joined and left the Reform Party. Heard that he is now with another party. People like Gilbert, in fact there are many professionally trained and experienced people who have retired or in between jobs, should take up politics as a second career. The experience and wisdom they bring along after years of hard knocks will give them a more mature perspective of the expectation of life and what they can do for the people. And many of them are very able and could do much instead of waiting for another job. A politician is a full time job, a career and a worthy one, and a worthwhile one as an occupation. What are they waiting for? Get together some like minded people, ten or twenty and that will be a good start and nucleus for a new political party. Joining an existing political party is easier but it means accepting all the culture and history and philosophy of that party. Starting a clean slate with some people one knows better is more desirable and easier to move on without any old garbage. The young retirees are at the prime of their lives and have many more good years to go. What is there to lose when there is so much to gain?

Of moles and conspiracies in Singapore politics

The latest break away in the Reform Party saddens those who are hoping against all hopes that a reasonably able alternative party could appear in the next general election. The longing for a stronger alternative voice in Parliament was seeing some light at the end of the tunnel until this happened. Some able and young aspiring politicians quit, and in so doing dashes the hope of a good contest in the GE. Many speculations were floating around as to why the break at this critical time. Conspiracies, moles, inept or personality conflicts or whatever, all breeds nothing good for the cause of an alternative voice. The most distaste reason, if it turns out to be true, is to have moles working from within a party to bring it down. The country deserves good people, people with integrity, to come forward to serve the nation. Good people, whether from the ruling party or alternative parties, are good people. Politics may be a dirty game to some, but it should not be made dirtier by people with lesser integrity, to play the role of moles to undermine another party. Good and talented people must have self respect and not to be involved in such roles for the good of themselves, the country and the people. It is not worth it to compromise one’s self respect and integrity to do such dirty works for any reasons. For the moment this is all speculation. I doubt anyone with some intelligence and dignity, and worthy to be a leader and a man, or a woman, would stoop so low to become moles. The conflicts in political parties are inevitable as different personalities and objectives are involved. For whatever reasons, the interest of the nation and the people must be above all else, and all private personal interests. Let’s pray that we will have good and decent people in the ruling party as well as the alternative parties to be leaders of the country.

The Good and Bad News of inflation

January’s 5.5% hike in inflation is the second highest in two years. If this goes on every month, the inflation for the whole year will be probably 3 to 3.5%. Pardon my poor arithmetic. See the good and the bad news? Inflation is good news really. The higher the better. It means that the economy is doing very well and people have a lot of money to spend and can afford to pay more and more. Look at the high property prices and the high COEs, where got problem. The queues are there everyday.. For property buyers, the higher the inflation, the longer will be the queue as they will make instant profit after every purchase. The price will shoot up everyday. Buying property will be such a wonderful experience. A commentator, couldn’t remember his name, said that this high inflation is already expected. So nothing to worry about. It is all well planned and managed. Looking at how comfortable and happy Singaporeans are today, we can actually use inflation as a measurement of happiness index. The higher the inflation, the happier the people. At least 80% of property owners (HDB owners) will be praying that inflation goes through their flat roofs and all can be instant multi millionaires. Good for the coming general election.

Amidst chaos there is a golden lining

The Middle East is in turmoil. New Zealand’s Christchurch is in rubbles with many dead or waiting to be rescued. The Asian stock markets tumbled with many incurring huge losses. Everything is looking bleak despite a people’s budget to help the lower income earners to overcome the inflation beast. But not all is lost or not all is bad news. I just read that there is a profession that could bring in a revenue of $24.8 m over 7 months of work. This works out to be roughly about $3.5m every month. Not bad for a job when compared to our ministers earning that in a year. Now I can even say that minister’s pay is peanuts. If there is any job that I wanna be, this must be the job, a surgeon. This is the bill Dr Susan Lim charged to her patient, a royalty from Brunei. The bill has become a controversy and is fully reported in the ST today. It was also reported that the final bill, after discounts and whatever, is now about a quarter of the original bill and still unpaid. Even at one quarter the sum of $800k a month is still a princely sum. All I can say is nice. I wish I could have such an income. I am drooling and all wet thinking of the bill. World class medical treatment will come with world class bill for world class quality of professional services. You want the best, be prepared to pay for the best. Is this a Guinness Record? A $8 bill for a heart bypass must be a steal. Please don't complain about how expensive our public privatised hospital bills are. Be really grateful.

Conning the silly Asian Asses

The big Western banks and funds are managed by their best financial and engineering talents and are out to rob the world. They have conceived and designed the most complicated and advanced financial systems that almost guaranteed maximum profits and minimum losses to themselves. And they are selling these systems to the silly Asian Asses who bought them hook, line and sinkers. They only need to dangle the carrot of a combined war chest of several hundred billions of cash. They will bring the cash to the silly Asian Asses if the latter would abide by their terms and conditions, and how the game should be played. They can’t be bringing their war chest to give away to the silly Asian Asses for sure. They are there to rob! The American regulators have now understood how and what these reckless and irresponsible bankers are doing, gambling with high stakes, using other people’s money. They can’t lose, except other people’s money. And they stand to win and line their pockets with millions when they have control of the game. Paul Geithner in his latest speech called for an international system to prevent these rogues from gambling and robbing the innocent investors of their money. America is working out a system to tighten and regulate the activities of these big financial robbers and wanted the rest of the world to implement the same tight regulations to curb this menace. Geithner wanted to see a level playing field to prevent these rogues from moving from one country to another where the legislation and regulation are lax to enable them to do damage to the innocent. For the moment, the silly Asian Asses still have greed covering their eyes and could not see the harm and damage that these rogues could create to their financial systems even when billions have been extracted and robbed from their local investors. When would it end, when would deregulation be stopped and more regulations be introduced to protect the integrity of the financial systems across the world?

Of Glorious Past

Egypt, India and China were three old civilizations that survived the times, intact. They were once the centre of civilizations, the centre of knowledge, culture, science and engineering, philosophy and the arts. And for many centuries their people were proud of their achievements. The pyramids and astronomy were the pride of the Egyptians, the Yogas, religions and great architectural wonders were what Indians were known for, the Chinese bragged about gun powder and printing blocks. Those were their glorious pasts. Obsolete! Then a quiet industrial revolution took off in little Europe and the little countries became empire builders. They ran over the Egyptians, the Indians and Chinese and made themselves masters of these people. The great civilizations became history, and its people and culture were scorned upon as bankrupt ideas. For centuries, they became the laggards of civilizations. But their glories lived on in the minds of many, including lesser countries around the world. Many still hold them in awe as centres of learning and are sending their next generations to learn ancient knowledge and past glories that are of little relevance to the modern world. There are signs of revival in India and China, to reclaim their past greatness and be recognized again as respectable civilizations. Thanks to little Singapore, the Chinese came and learn, and brought home our model of development, studied, improved on it and adapted it for their own development. They have surpassed Singapore by leaps and bounds. And they are not looking back. What could little Singapore offer to an ancient civilization of several thousand years? Singapore may be a flash in the pan, a little light from a shooting star in the dark sky, but Singapore can be that flash of light in a sea of ignorance. Singapore may fade away fast, but it has its little moment of brightness, to light up the dark sky and to show the way. Ancient civilizations, no matter how great, will need to adapt to the changes of modernity, adapt and reinvent themselves, or they will become the ruins of history. India and China have sent many of their youngs to the centres of modern knowledge in the West, to learn from the very best, to feed, cloth and house their people, to give them a better life. If they have not done that and continue to live in their past glories, what would be the fate of their people today? Or how far could they advance if they have chosen to send their young to learn the ancient ways in Egypt? Would they be wasting their money and resources and talents to learn to live in the past, with ancient wisdom, knowledge and values?

Difficult to make distinction between new and old citizens

Is it so difficult? With the computerization of all records and data, what is so difficult? The issue is whether there is a need to differentiate new and old citizens? On face value it is easy to accept that all citizens should be treated equally and be entitled to all the rights and privileges without distinction. A citizen is a citizen. Under the law, all citizens are equal. What about citizens who did and did not sacrifice the 2 to 2 and half years in NS? What about the wealth of the nation accumulated over the years by the older citizens and bearing fruits today? Should the new citizens be entitled to all the same rewards from the earlier contributions of the old citizens especially when the sum is very significant like housing ‘subsidies’ and govt handouts like the cash being given to the citizens? Things like paying of school fees, rights to register for schools, taxes, GST, rights to vote are less ambiguous and less contentious. Should new citizens be allowed to stand for election without time qualifications? Surely there are things that must be put in the right perspective instead of promptly being brushed aside as a non issue. No need to ponder a second longer. There is another important reason why there should be a distinction. The number of new citizens minted are in such big numbers and in a furious speed that they will soon be as many as the old citizens. Is this a cause for alarm?

Slow ride to Mumbai

The train was crowded as usual in the morning. I closed my eyes after finding a spot to rest my feet and to enjoy a quiet morning ride. The air was scented by a little bit of jasmine and other flowers, and a heavy dosage of coconut oil. Then came the beat of Bollywood that filled the whole cabin to complete the experience. My fingers started tapping, and slowly my head and shoulder too responded uncontrollably to the catchy beat. My memory slided back to the 1950s. Three blocks of 4 storey flats bounded by Nelson Road and Borneo Road facing Gate 5 of the then Singapore Harbour Board were the quarters for its workers. I don’t remember that they had to pay for rent. The centre block was occupied by the Chinese coolies working as stevedores and riggers or just plain labourers. The other two blocks were homes to the Indian labourers in the same trades. Traffic was sparse and the air was quiet in the early morning hours. And sound travelled far and loud. And there was music in the air from radio in full blast. The older version beat before the times of modern Bollywood greeted everyone, and every morning, in the neighbourhood. And there was some incense too, curry and prata delighted the taste buds of morning workers. Then the speaker came on, ‘Next station, Raffles Place.’ Immediately I was brought back to the 21st Century city state. For a brief moment I thought I was heading to Mumbai. Thanks for the memory, SMRT.

People, go down on your knees

The people of Singapore, new and old citizens, must go down on their knees for this windfall of money given to them by the govt. Do they know where the money comes from or is coming from? Never mind, be grateful and just say thank you. And please stay there, on your knees and don't get up. For the next spate of price and fee increases will make your knees wobble. And you may have to be on your knees to beg for mercy. Just my imagination. It won't happen...not again and again. For those who have a gripe about treating foreigners or new citizens better, they may want to ask whether a new citizen of yesterday would also receive the full benefits of an aging citizen who have threw in his lot with this country for the last 50 or 60 years, contributing to the reserves and everything to produce this windfall? Maybe new citizens would not get the same amount, at least those who did not do NS will get $100 less. It is a very beneficial option to be citizens and be given cash just being a citizen. I think the application queue will get longer by another mile. Applying to be citizens is like applying to get free money.

A new model for Egypt?

Yang Razali Kassim wrote an article in the ST yesterday on Indonesia as a possible role model for the new Egypt. The assumption is that there is real change with the fall of Mubarak. Some are wondering whether there is any change at all and whether everything is as before with power in the hands of the old guards, and the Emperor still in control. But this is another issue that will become clearer when the dust settles. Yang Razali has pondered whether Indonesia is a good alternative political system for Egypt and the Middle East. The thought of Indonesia as a model for an ancient civilisation which is the pride of the Arab world is a refreshing change. It shows a shift in the mindset of what can be good for the Islamic world. And now, Indonesia and even Malaysia, could stand out as good alternatives to the Middle Eastern political system. They have not been doing well and not exemplary on any count. Nothing to crow about. At least Indonesia and Malaysia are truly independent countries and not controlled by foreign powers, and are models of economic growth and development. The rest of the Islamic world outside the Middle East have always looked towards this centre for everything, education, culture, social and lifestyle, and of course religion. The question is whether the Middle East lives up to its reputation or perceived greatness for the rest of the Islamic world to emulate. Looking at Indonesia and Malaysia, it is apparent that these two countries are more successful in their social and economic development. Should it then be the Middle East looking to Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia, as the role model for the future? Should Indonesia and Malaysia look West to the Middle East and give up their rich cultural heritage to be more like Arabs or vice versa? What the Middle East can offer so far is religion and an ancient culture that is not going anywhere except towards the medieval age. In contrast, Indonesia and Malaysia are moving forward to science and technology, with religion as one of the pillars of their social political framework. The Middle East is all about religion and religion and the times of Muhammed. There is a contention between modernity, science and technology versus religiosity, tradition and ancient conservatism. Which shall be the light of the Islamic World? America was the new world of Europe. Can Southeast Asia be the new model for the Middle East?

Budget – Why so little?

$6.6b with $3.2b angpows for the people were announced by Tharman in his budget speech yesterday. My immediate reaction is why so little? The Americans printed US$600b or nearly S$800b. This is roughly $2,600 per American. We are giving out about $1,000 per citizen. And we are so much richer than the Americans. They are in debt and we have a huge reserve and surpluses every year. We could do much more to help the people in a time when inflation is eating up the income of the people. In 2009, during the financial crisis, the Resilience Budget was $20b. This year we have a bumper harvest and only a $6.6b giveaway. Definitely not good enough. The few thousand dollars are spread too thinly and will disappear in no time. The most crucial issue is how to curb high inflation. Actually no lah, inflation only 3 to 4% according to the latest official reports, where got high. Why are the people complaining about such miniscule inflation? I am also scratching my head. The monthly inflation seemed to vary from 3 to 5% and the whole year inflation is only 3 to 4%. If one simply compound a 3% monthly inflation over 12 months, I am sure is it more than 4%. If really the annual inflation is 3 to 4%, and with income rising above 5%, there is real income growth for the individuals. In that case, the budget is actually a big bonus. There is no real need for an angpow budget and nothing to worry about. What is real? The cost of everything is still rising and unstoppable. This is the frightening part and no amount of angpows and handouts can do much if the outflow is faster and more than the income, angpows and handouts included.

The Chinese was the worst affected in MTL

As a group, the Chinese was the worst affected group by the Mother Tongue Language policy. Other than the numerous dialects spoken at home, many homes were using Malay or English, or any other languages except Mandarin. Mandarin was a foreign language to the majority of Singaporean Chinese who were mostly southerners. The peranakans spoke a mixture of Hokien and Malay and English. When the policy was introduced, many Chinese children were caught in a very difficult position. The worst affected are the Babas and those who used mainly English at home. Many have opted for Hopson’s Choice and migrated, for the sake of their children’s education. For without a good pass in Mandarin, the door to tertiary education is closed. More importantly, the children would have to struggle with more tuition to try to make the grade. It was misery and a painful childhood to many Chinese children. If any, the Chinese should be the group that would be shouting discrimination and being put in a very disadvantageous position vis a vis the other races. The Malays should have lesser difficulty in MTL as Malay is their mother tongue and spoken at home. I think the Indians too have quite a comparable problem with the Chinese as many spoke different dialects as well as English at home. Some of them also ended up migrating. They too did not shout discrimination. They have accepted the MTL policy grudgingly for national integration. If the Chinese and Indians would have taken the MTL policy badly and protest strongly, the situation could become ugly. Thank god that the MTL issue has subsided and is now part and parcel of life here. There are still problems and are being sorted out. For the Chinese, dialects are disappearing with the passing of the grandpas and grandmas and the younger breed are now speaking English and Mandarin. The new citizens from China would only have to struggle with English. I am not too familiar with the situation among the Indians. Tamil is not the only dialect that is being used at home. Now with the influx of the Northern Indians, there may be contention for the recognition of other Indian languages other than Tamil. This could present another situation as more non Tamil speakers become citizens. The situation among the Malays should be fairly the same then and now.

Unrest in ME, China and Russia at risk?

This is the way western analysts are thinking and hoping everyday. Tomorrow if there is a health epidemic, a financial meltdown, and industrial or manufacturing mishap, it will be China and Russia or any other country except the US and Europe that will be next in line. These silly no hopers are praying and praying everyday to see the demise of Russia and China but forgetting that the next big collapse could be the US and Europe. The US is all ripe for a revolution with the income gap widening, the middle class becoming poor and beggars, and a national debt that they may not be able to repay short of turning the greenbacks into banana currency. They are still trying to keep the lid close and hoping for a miracle. The whole can of worm could splash out tomorrow and the US could be the beggar overnight. And Europe with several countries already in the critically ill list, and many more to go but not yet disclosed. As long as Russia and China can keep on feeding its people well and improving their standard of living, the West can keep on hoping and praying for their downfall. But before their prayers are answered, the West could have gone to the rubbish dump of history first. All Empires will have to call it a day. The West is no exception. The revolution in the ME is a revolution not only against dictators but a revolution against corruption and poverty, and against Western domination. When the West loses its grip on the ME and its oil, they will come tumbling down like a house of cards.

No growth better than growth

Yes, it sounds contradictory. Growth is the essence of our economy and the vital ingredient to the good life we are having. How can no growth be better than growth? The old mature economies are flowing along with lower growth rate but maintaining a high quality of life. We have experienced many years of high growth and the quality of our life has improved by leaps and bounds. The thing is that we are now witnessing diminishing returns from our growth. In fact, while the rich are getting richer and enjoying real growth, the middle income and lower are not getting better, and many are not enjoying any real growth or bettering their living condition, despite good economic growth. A simple illustration, if economy grows by 5% and income grows by the same amount, broadly speaking, the people should enjoy a 5% growth in their disposable income or spending power. Or at least they should be slightly easier in their pockets. But not everyone got a 5% increase if the economy goes up by 5%. Yes, some got 10% or more increases. That’s why some are doing very well and very happy. Another problem is that the inflation beast that we have today is eating away everything. If inflation is 5%, everyone is back at status quo. If inflation is double or more, though the economy looks good, though the income goes a bit higher, there is really a net contraction in the spending power. It is negative growth to those whose income does not keep pace with inflation. On the other extreme, low economic growth with low inflation could be better when inflation is lower than economic growth and income growth. How much of our growth has been translated to the wealth of our people in the middle and lower income bracket? Are they really better off, sharing the growing economic pie, or are they starting to feel the strains in their pockets? A $100k increase in property price means many will have to work 5 to 10 years for nothing, not improving their income at all. This goes to the prices of cars, of high medical bills and other big ticket items. The couple of hundred dollars of salary increases are easily eaten up by the high cost of living of everything, from basic necessities, transportation, food on the table, and consumer durables. We may be in a situation when no growth or low growth is better off than high growth if the standard and cost of living can be maintained. At the rate inflation is eating up everyone’s income and savings, we should think carefully of chasing high economic growth for its sake. It could be an effort in vain. What is important is real improvement in standard of living, cost of living, not fictitious dollar increases when the value is depreciating by the days.

No child be denied an education

This is the assurance by the govt. No money never mind, just ask and will be given. Any small prints to read? Any conditions attached? Will the parents be subject to mean testing? What income level is considered as affordable and disqualified from govt handouts? A $2000 household income for one child or $5000 income for four children qualified? I think the first thing is to prove how challenging the family life is. The term challenging and affordable can mean anything to anyone. Nevermind, when a family is in that condition, no need be shy, just go and ask for help. The govt will be most happy to help. The devil is in the details. Something like no one will be denied medical treatment in our hospitals. Then why are citizens going to Malaysia for treatment? Fail the mean testing, or too shy to ask or beg?

If only Malaysia agrees…

If Malaysia agrees to let us build all the facilities we need in Johore, like hospitals, schools, housing etc etc, we can save a lot of money from paying sky high prices for these facilities and services in the island. There are obvious competitive advantages in terms of land costs. And if that happens, Singaporeans can all move over, hopefully can still work in their own country. And the whole country can be sold or lease to foreigners who can afford the high prices. As a hotel, there is nothing sentimental about this place. Let it go to the highest bidders. Singaporeans can go and park somewhere else. The cheaper land and labour costs will make living in those places much more affordable for the 21st century nomads. And we can extend the work in progress in nation building forever. No sweat, as long as Singaporeans can be shifted out and rent out their expensive HDB flats and earn rentals to live cheaply in Johore. Medical and hospital services would also be cheaper. Come to think of it, renting out the whole island and live on the rentals is not a bad idea. Our beautiful island paradise can be home to the rich and famous, our world class hospitals to serve the rich and famous…. Provided Malaysia is willing. We can truly become the modern nomads, people without a home in their own country. Oops, got homes, but need to rent out to live on the rentals outside the island as the high cost of living becomes prohibitive to the average Singaporeans. OK, the average Singaporeans can also call themselves landlords, till the lease expires. Isn’t this a damn great idea? No need to worry about nation building, no need to worry about country and citizens. Just treat the whole place as a hotel to make money for nobody. The concept of renting out our homes to collect rents and live simpler is already being in practice by some Singaporeans. Some have rented their private properties and live in HDB flats. And Singaporeans are already going to Malaysia and Thailand or elsewhere cheaper for medical treatments while our hospitals are doing fine business treating the rich from all over.

Haunted by a living myth

Singaporeans are asset rich. Those who live in bigger flats, 5 rms and above, are better off. A Pavithran Vidyadharan, welcome to Singapore, wrote to the ST, ‘ I hope on Friday, when Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam announces this year’s Budget, he will be more generous with goodies for five room and HDB executive flat owners. There is a misconception that such owners are high income earners, and they don’t need much help. It is not necessarily so. They could be living in the bigger HDB flats because their family is large; some could be taking care of their aged parents and in laws; and some could even be taking care of divorced or widowed siblings and their children.’ There are many other reasons why those living in bigger flats may not be better off. The older policies and pricing allowed many average Singaporeans to buy bigger flats as they were ‘really, truly’ affordable in every sense of the word. Some of them could now be retired and have lesser or no income. And with the great inflation Singapore Style, with no money in the pocket, life can be equally tough for those living in bigger flats. The demons of inflation and false wealth will be knocking at the doors of these asset rich Singaporeans. The only solution is to down grade and down grade and down grade. This will also apply to the wealthy scions who have inherited wealth and big properties. If they don’t inherit a business to generate the same wealth to maintain the high living lifestyle, and not professional enough to command million dollar incomes, they too will join the down grade queue. Just to repaint a house can be tens of thousands. And this is likely the main reason why the very rich do not think a few hundred millions would be enough for their children as the cost of living and inflation will soon erode whatever wealth there is there.