Santos J - Model PR

Santos, a PR from the Philippines, has written an appeal to Singaporeans not to be too harsh on them and allow them to buy HDB flats from the resale market. And he has good reasons to say so. One of the biggest and immediate gain for allowing PRs like him to buy HDB flats is that the Singaporean owners will make capital gains, ie, they are helping Singaporeans to make profits when they buy their flats. I can’t dispute such a sound argument and Singaporeans got to be very appreciative of this wealth creation opportunity provided by PRs. And don’t be envious when they later sell it back to some Singaporeans to make some profits when they decide to go home.

Santos has more to add on his contributions and commitments to Singapore. I quote,

‘Some of you asked about our commitments to Singapore. I can say for certainty that my son will serve NS when it’s time for him to do so.
We are also sacrificing for Singapore.
My wife and I will prefer to remain as PRs because we have a sense of pride being citizens of our country. We were born and raised there. I hope you can understand our feelings for our country just like you have yours for Singapore.
As for my son, he will have to decide what he wants to be when the time comes. He is currently studying at a local school.
I appreciate what Singapore has done for my family.
I ask that you can please think of us PRs who are also struggling to help build your economy and your country. Thank you.

J Santos’
I must say that this is a genuine and passionate plea by a PR for the privilege and right to work and stay here and to help Singapore and Singaporeans in the process. And Singaporeans must take note that he chose to come here to help build our economy and our country. He kind of becomes a quitter of his country and kind of not wanting to help his country and his country’s economy. Now this is a big sacrifice for anyone to make for the sake of Singapore and Singaporeans. If Aquino hears this he will flip and may call Santos a quitter for sure, and a traitor if he stops smiling.
We should embrace such economic mercenaries who came here to help us. It is a pity that he still thinks of returning to the Philippines. If not, he would make an excellent candidate for political office, at least an MP. What a waste, no invitation for tea.
But do not be surprise that he would become the next poster boy, be invited and feasted everywhere he goes. Maybe he will be giving speeches to encourage more foreigners to send their children to do NS.  I am simply touch.
If all the PRs think like that, we will have solved at least two problems, more recruits for NS and a growing economy. And not to forget, Singaporeans can make profits by selling their HDB flats to them.
I am going to ask for his autograph. First I must get a copy of his photo then he can sign behind it.

Big bucks no responsibility, no accountability

Taiwan’s Defence Minister Kao Hua-chu resigned over the death of a national service man who was punished for having a mobile phone with a camera.

‘Hung Chung-chiu's death sparked an outcry on the island, with thousands of protesters demanding an investigation.’ BBC.  The tradition of Confucianist honour and accountability is still prevalent in Taiwan and the Minister Defence found it honourable and responsible to take the full blame for the death of the soldier. It has to be as the death was too big an issue to be swept under the carpet or to pass the buck down to the junior officers. To have a senior military officer to take the fallout was also found unacceptable. Only the Defence Minister was fit and appropriate to shoulder such a responsibility.

In today’s context, when children are sparse and few, and national service is a compulsion, not voluntary or an occupation, the seriousness of the death of a national service man is more pronounced and glaring. The parents sent their sons to be trained to defend the country, to die fighting for the country, not to die through negligence or abuse by his officers, or uncalled for accidents and mistakes.
The ministers or military officers of Taiwan are not paid outrageously well. To them, public service is an honour itself. And they take their jobs seriously and honourably and will own up and accept responsibility when it is due. It is not a case of collecting big bucks but with no responsibility or no accountability to failures or mistakes of their subordinates.

Say what you like, there is honour in the man (the Defence Minister) and honour in the service.   Kao Hua-chu’s resignation brought respect to himself and to the Taiwanese govt. No matter how high is the position, no one escapes and can hope to walk away by patting his backside as if nothing happens when a serious mistake or failure occurred. High office and big pay must come with great responsibility and accountability. How nice if one can be sitting in high office, collecting big bucks and no need to be accountable for any failure or mistake.

Obama and Cameron face off in Syria

The lying and killing were executed by Bush and Blair and their councils of liars when they invaded Iraq, murdered Saddam Hussein and destroyed that country, killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in the process. Saddam Hussein would take many life times to do the same damage inflicted on Iraq and its people by the Bush and Blair team.

Today, history is going to repeat itself with Obama and Cameron taking on the faces of Bush and Blair and using the same recipe of lies and disasters. Everything is identical, the conspiracy, the mission, the fabricated intelligence, the finger pointing and the players, except this time the new victim is Assad, Syria and its people.

The best part is that these two clowns think that they could pull off the same trick without needing to change the plot. It is easy for Obama as the Americans, as a people, are war like in nature and always want to go to war to claim victory and to celebrate the invasion and killing of foreigners, in George Carlin’s words, brown people. They love it and have a very high propensity to kill and destroy brown people while at the same time claiming peace and for the good of the brown people. There will be little pockets of Americans with a little conscience to shout no. This time the only such voice came from brown Americans.

The world is not going to swallow the whole lie once again. And the Brits are also not going to go through this farce without feeling ashamed of themselves. The British Parliament has just shot down Cameron’s call to attack Syria under the same set of circumstances as Blair. They knew the lies and would not allow Cameron to send British boys and girls to become murderers of brown people. According to ST’s Europe correspondent Jonathan Eyal, ‘This is the same inexplicable rush to war, the same refusal to wait for a report from United Nations investigators, the same claim that Western govts “know” who is the culprit on the basis of intelligence information which, of course, cannot be fully revealed.’

Jonathan Eyal also quoted former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who was involved in the Iraq War, reminding the MPs of the perils of going to war on fuzzy logic: “I know,” and “I have the scars.”

The Germans too learnt from the disgraceful Iraq War that they would not be seen to be in the company of murderers and be made a fool and accomplice of the crimes of murderers. They are staying neutral this time and wanting to hear from the UN,

But there is an eager beaver who missed out the actions in Iraq and wanted to be the cheer leader in Francois Hollande of France. Hollande wanted to take the place of Blair in this new blood letting of brown people. He said France is going to punished those responsible for using poison gas to kill hundreds of people. What would he do if it is proven that the chemical attack was done by the USA or its allies? 

And of course the nit wit in Washington, a brown leader or is he black, will not have anything but his way, to drop bombs to kill more brown people like it is his right to do so. And the whole world should just shut up. How could they say no to a Nobel Peace Prize winner who wants to conduct more wars and kill more people? The world must be insane!

The most peace loving nation and people, led by a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, are the most deserving people to wage wars, and the wars they conducted are virtuous in the name of God and peace. Sorry brown people, God is white.

Western hypocrisy - Killing the Syrians is playtime

 Looks like we will be firing Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria, dropping bombs over their cities, and we can watch them live on TV with a beer and sandwiches. Maybe hold a party and pop a few bottles of champagne. This must be the greatest real life entertainment on earth, better than Hollywood. This seems to be the mentality of westerners when they talked about the impending invasion and bombings of Syria or any country the Americans and the western powers have chosen. It seems that it is their right to do so, that their reasoning, justifications, intelligence reports, fabricated or truth, do not matter, cannot be questioned.
 
Put it the other way, if another superpower and its allies are going to do the same to UK or Japan or another pro West country, would the western media write with so much comfort, and so casually like it is a non issue? And there are international laws to abide by, the resolutions of the UN, of the Security Council, which to the Americans are inconsequential. They are the judge and the executioner, the self appointed policeman of the world. They decide who is right and who is wrong and how they will deal with them. Period.
 
In an article by Hans Blix reposted from the Guardian in the Today paper, he questioned the rights of the American to act so unilaterally, as the policeman of the world and showing their middle fingers at the UN and world opinion. And what is at stake, chemical weapons. No, not chemical weapons but used of chemical weapons. The Americans and the West alleged that President Assad used chemical weapons against the rebels. They are not going to listen to the UN, presumingly an independent source or neutral to the civil war that have sent their officials to investigate the incident. The Americans and the western powers have judged unilaterally, using their own evidence. Assad is guilty!
 
The real culprits attacking the civilians could be anyone, Assad or the Americans and the western powers. The treachery and deceit of war are not so simple and cannot be taken at face value. Who is being framed? Who would benefit from this accusation is clear. It is the Americans and the western powers that can use it to attack and invade Syria. This alone is enough to tell the story and the truth. The Americans and the West are thinking that the Middle Eastern people and the people of the world are stupid and would accept all the shit they throw at them.
 
Chemical warfare is moral obscenity! Then who are the people arming the rebels with chemical weapons? Who are the people providing chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein to use against Iran? Who are the people providing chemical weapons to Osama and the Al Qaeda and the Talibans?
 
Why not ban chemical weapons totally and forbid any country to have them? Who do you think has the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons and producing and stockpiling them? They are hobbyists? They are spending all the money and resources, scientists and experts, all for fun, not to use them?
 
These are the same obscene people who talked about chemical weapons as moral obscenity. How believable are they? No need to guess who. And they are going to use their moral obscenity to attack Syria to kill more Syrians than those killed by the chemical weapons.
 
How much more and longer can the world live with this American and western hypocrisy? And they are claiming that they are not going to topple the Assad regime, not to tip the balance in the battle on the ground. Who are they trying to deceive? And their allies are singing the same tune, refusing to question if the chemical weapon attack got anything to do with the Americans and the West. Who is there to arrest these international gangsters? At the moment no one and the Russians too have to eat humble pie if the American led attack goes ahead. The Russians too cannot protect Syria despite Putin and all the tough talks and its interests being violated.
 
While the Americans and the western powers think they can hit Syria and Syria unable to hit back, Syria might as well take on a single country like Turkey or Israel and throw everything it has on one target. Turkey looks like a more attractive target to extract heavy casualties and damages.

Discrimination by majority rule

We are still hearing a lot of angry discriminatory remarks being hurled every where about how the majority ill treated the minorities. I must say that there are policies that are discriminatory in nature. There is no denying that discrimination by the majority against the minorities exists everywhere and in every country. The difference is only a matter of scale and severity and also the reasons behind it.
 
There is some discrimination in govt policies towards the minorities in some areas for sure. To understand why it happened, one needs to understand the history behind some of these discriminatory practices and the necessity of it all then. One point that separates the discriminatory practices here from other countries is that it is not discriminatory by virtue of race or religion per se. The historical circumstances dictated that some policies were necessary as a matter of national security. Please feel free to disagree but let me explain.
 
During the days of Malaysia, our number one enemy was Indonesia. There was Confrontasi, with bombings in the streets and with commandoes dropping into Johore and if I can remember, in East Malaysia. It was war in a way, or the threats of war. There was hostility between the two countries.
 
Then we were separated from Malaysia in a not too amicable way. Malaysia became enemy number one with the hostility from Indonesia dying off. There were a lot of suspicion and mistrust and verbal warfare and agitation by the politicians.
These historical backgrounds led to the crafting of some policies that were discriminatory by any count but the reason was not racial or religious to begin with. Our relationship with Malaysia went on a roller coaster ride with a few ups and many downs. This in a way imprisoned the security mindset of the policy makers till today. We are having a lull, a good respite in our relations with Malaysia for the last couple of years. How long would it last and how quickly the relationship can turn sour is as fast changing as the weather as the source of acrimony between the two states is still there, and is unlikely to be removed for a long time to come.
 
Despite the so called discrimination, the country prospers in all fields and life is good to all the citizens, to a matter of degree. There is relativity involved with some doing much better than others and with some feeling that they could do much better without the discrimination. The reality is that life has improved for the majority and minorities and the economic pie is bigger to share around.
 
The composition of the population remains fairly similar from the days of independence. The Chinese are in absolute majority with the Malays, Indians and Eurasians forming the smaller minority groups. The circumstances leading to the migrants arriving in this island were mainly economics in nature. They came to eke out a better living and with many, particular the early Chinese and Indians, planning to return to their motherland eventually. The thought of permanent residence or becoming citizens were the furthest from their minds except for some who married the locals and had sunk roots here. The rest is history, and today they are citizens of this flourishing and modern city state.
 
The Chinese became a majority by chance, with no preconceived or preplanned intention to do so. It could be either way. The Malays could remain the majority with the rest as minorities. The Indians actually stood a better chance to be the majority by virtue of their closed association with the British colonial masters. The British were used to them and dependent on them for their administrative assistance and labour. If the British did not freely import the Chinese coolies here, the racial composition could be Indian majority and Malay minority or vice versa, and a trinkle of Chinese presence.
 
What would Singapore or Singapura be like if the absolute majority were the Indians or Malays? In all probability, Singapore would still be as prosperous as it is today, by fate or predestination. If the absolute majority is Indian, then it could be a mirror image of Mumbai or Kolkatta or another Indian city, an Indian PM and many Indian cabinet ministers and MPs. If the Malays were the majority, Singapore could be another image of a Malay city or state and the composition of the govt is likely to be Malay PM and Malay Ministers and MPs in the majority.
 
Now the interesting question, would the majority of an Indian or Malay state be less discriminatory as the Chinese majority state today? This is hypothetical of course. Would the Malay or Indian majority be as generous as the Chinese to their minorities? Would the Chinese as a minority plus the other minorities be hurling accusations of discrimination against the majority ruler? Would they be treated as fairly as the minorities of today’s Singapore?
 
What kind of Singapore would it be like? Would there be less or more discriminations on race and religion? What kind of economic opportunities would there be for the Chinese minorities?
 
PS. I hope we are mature enough to discuss this issue without resorting to name callings and behaving like mad dogs. Should this discussion go down the longkang when the insecure and extremists come in to mess up the discussion I would not hesitate to close down this thread. In a way this is a test on the maturity of the bloggers here, a small representation of the masses at large. Are we ready to discuss such issues?

Lessons from Syria and the Middle East

 Small countries should learn the lesson of Syria and many Middle Eastern countries. The arms that they have, the few aircraft they bought from the West and the few tanks or whatever, are totally useless when the mighty US and the western powers decide to band together to kick their asses. The arms they bought are only good enough to fight among themselves and kill their neighbours.
 
Lesson Two, the West will gang together but divide the little countries to be attacked one at a time. See how they did it to Iraq, Libya and now Syria? The West is still the dominant player in controlling the rest of the world.
 
Lesson Three, until these countries have the means of dealing a severe blow at the US/West through the possession of nuclear arms and delivery system, the US/West will take pot shots at them any time they like. And it is so easy to fabricate lies, false flag incidents, even using chemicals on their own sides to blame the enemies and use it as an excuse to attack or invade another country.
 
Lesson Four, the US lackeys will all sing in chorus without bothering to ask who was the real culprit in the use of chemical weapons. They just accept whatever the US/West said as truth.
 
Lesson Five, the UN will be used or bull dozed over to give some kind of approval for their deceit and excuse to invade another country using false information and lies. In this Syrian case, the Syrians have all the evidence to prove that it was the rebels and their supporters that used chemical weapons but were simply ignored.
 
Lesson Six, the supposedly honourable American President and his Secretaries and those in London and Europe will tell a white lie on TV without blinking to deceive their people and the people of the world for their criminal acts against humanity. And they will even swear to God that they are telling the truth.

A " Tribute " to Dr Mahatir

A “Tribute” to Dr M
By Andrew Cheng
A Doctor In The House wry and sly,
The Malay Dilemma you feign to cry,
Soon after the tragedy in May 69,
Rising from the ashes you became mighty and high,
A good 22 years you reign in style,
 Shedding crocodile tears when time to say good bye.
A crooked man with a crooked mind,
Wanted a crooked bridge, the rational hard to find,
Billions vanished without any trace or sign,
Plundering the country is never a crime,
Corruption, cronyism and racialism, all are fine,
Leaving this beloved Bolehland way far behind.
Ketuanan Melayu, Hidup Melayu is your battle cry,
You scream all these to cover your deception and lie(s),
Many saw these but pretend to be blind,
Mercy upon those who do not toe your line,
Know not why you lose your memory when in a bind,
Another intelligent devil like you we hope not to find.

What a lovely poem befitting to Mahathir.
The last sentence says it all.

HDB for citizens only

This is about what Han Fook Kwang was saying in his latest article on the housing problems facing the citizens. I quote, ‘Making the HDB market - both for new and resale flats - exclusively for citizens is the best safeguard for the future to ensure that public housing prices will always remain within reach of the majority of Singaporeans.’
 
Increasingly the elite from the establishment are coming to terms with the plight of the average Sinkies and not brushing off the sources of their unhappiness. The housing problem, high cost of living, high medical fees etc etc are not new, did not fall down form the sky yesterday, but were simply ignored as noises for too long.
 
Han Fook Kwang is not alone to gradually shift his leanings towards Singaporeans and the good of the people. When one starts to remove the blinkers to face reality, the veil of ignorance that was self imposed will be removed for good. And the inequality and unjust happenings facing the citizens becomes real and immediate. They just cannot be wished away and slammed them right in the face every time they tried to talk them away..
 
This is a good sign and hopefully it will transpire upwards to those living in the clouds to bring them down to earth to deal with the real problems of the people. Hankering and appeasing to the foreigners, including PRs at the expense of the citizens will increasing be a political debt the govt will have to pay. The daft citizens have had their blinkers removed and the cotton buds pulled out from their ears. It is now the turn of the political elite to get those hideous things from their faces and ears.
 
It is time to really understand and take cognizance of the woes of the people and do some real work as the elected representatives of the people. So many policies can be tweaked to favour the citizens without needing the intellect of a top academic. They are simple commonsensical things to do. Boon Wan has started the ball rolling in housing. Where is Chuan Jin and his PMETs versus foreigners issue?

Syria -The most evil empire at it again

Has the world forgotten about the lie that led to the invasion of Iraq on a fabricated WMD charge? Has the world forgotten the murder of about 30 South Korean navy soldiers in the sinking of the Choenan Incident? The two Koreans could have gone to war and destroying themselves and their country. Fortunately they have better sense not to fall into the trap. Can’t say that of the Middle Eastern countries that are helplessly being manipulated by the Americans and the western powers to keep killing each other. Many innocents have died due to false flag incidents created by you know who.
 
And now another false flag incident is being fabricated to justify the bombing of Syria by the Americans and western powers. The Americans have already pointed the guilty finger at Assad. In an AGENCIES report, ‘Washington said it already held Mr Assad responsible for “moral obscenity” and President Obama would hold him to account for it.’
 
It is so easy to fire chemical weapons on your own troops or on your own side and blame the enemy. And given the intent and who would benefit if Assad is accused of using chemical weapons, the answer is obvious and it is easy to conclude who would have all the reasons to use chemical weapons to blame Assad and to justify an invasion.
 
Assad, like Saddam Hussein, is not a fool and would not give the Americans an excuse to attack. So the likelihood of the Americans creating this incident to invade Syria is very high. Would the Americans be held responsible for this moral obscenity and the killing of more Syrians and the destruction of Syria? Would Obama be charged for crimes against humanity just like George Bush? No, no one will bring charges against them. They are the empire that is above the law.
 
Syria will be in turmoil and be destroyed. So would be the lives of the innocent civilians. How much more evil can the Americans and the West be?

Turning insurance upside down

The Medishield Life is a great scheme for the good of the people theoretically. It is going to bring affordable healthcare to everyone, especially those who really really need it, those who are already very sick with existing conditions. How much more can one hope for when no insurer would want to touch them with a ten foot pole? Now everyone is waiting for the details to see how real this can be and how many will be covered and how much will it cost.
 
Personally I have doubt if there can be a comprehensive insurance cover for everything and every one. It cannot be for many simple reasons. When the principles of insurance are turned upside down, when the uninsurable will be insured, when the highest risk will be made to pay less and the least risk will have to pay more just do not make sense.
 
In the matter of life and health, the young are the less risky group and normally will pay the lowest premiums for insurance. The older one gets, the nearer one gets to the other end when death and serious illnesses are as sure as the sun will rise. Naturally the premiums to be paid by the oldies will be many times higher than the young. And covering people above 70 and into the century is inconceivable and makes bad business sense and bad insurance. Further, who needs insurance at those ages and who can afford the premiums?
 
The first major flaw, to cover the young and make them pay for the oldies is incomprehensible. And who will be made to pay for the young who have no income?
The second big flaw, covering the high risk oldies, and making them pay less. I am wondering just how low would they be made to pay when the risk is so high. And it is unimaginable to get oldies paying insurance premium throughout their lives into the 70s and beyond. Many of them will be economically inactive, with no income and probably exhausting or depleting whatever little savings they have. Where got money to pay? Then who will pay for them, the govt or their children?
 
Now, the paymaster must naturally be the parents of the young and the children of the olds. Yes the economically active that will have to pay for their own insurance and the insurance premiums of their children and parents. God have mercy for this piece of sandwich.
 
Designing insurance schemes that violate the principles of insurance policy will not work as it will not be workable or sustainable. Either the premium will be so high or the insurers will all go broke. What is the likely outcome once reality sets in, when the numbers do not make sense, is that there will be a watered down version that may be a big let down.

The earnest of govt to want to talk to the people

The Natcon or OSC had run for one full year and 47,000 Singaporeans have been invited to talk to the govt. This is the clearest sign that the govt sees a need to engage the people, to listen to the people, to talk to the people. It also shows that the views of the people are important. The govt is encouraging the people to speak up, share their views and in the making of a Singapore that they want.
 
No one can doubt the sincerity of the govt for stepping out of their ivory tower to be up close with the people. One group of people that is glaringly missing in this equation is the critics in cyberspace. Somehow the govt does not seem to know that they exist and have a lot of things to say and want to contribute to the making of the future Singapore. Maybe if they shout louder or put up their hands they will be noticed. Stand up to be counted. The govt is talking about an all inclusive society and would have no intention of leaving them out. It must be a case of being in the fringes and difficult to know they are there. But no worry, soon the invitation will come.
 
The govt is in all earnest trying to get as much feedback and involved as many people in the business of the country. Wait, just wait, be patient. All the right people will be invited to share in the making of the country. Have faith.

Is Medishield Insurance a profit making scheme?

CPF account owners have the privilege to participate in two optional medical insurance schemes, Medishield Basic and Enhanced. Presumably because these are a national health care initiative by the govt, the terms and benefits must be better than what the market can provide, or at least not worse off. I am not going to spend time delving into how much better or how much worse off they are and feel comfortable that they must be reasonable to the policyholders.
 
From data available in the media, it was reported that between 2001 and 2010, MediShield premiums collected were over $2 billion and the paid out was less than $1.3 billion, giving a net gain of $850 million.(I thought it should be $700m which is still a big sum) This is a pretty healthy return for a business. If the Medishield schemes are meant to be a profit making enterprise, the shareholders must be very pleased with the result and profit.
 
My question is whether the schemes are meant to be such, or be a self funding public service? If it is for profit making, who should benefit from the surplus? And I can understand why there is a new scheme like Medishield Life in the making. This new comprehensive all encompassing scheme could be even more profitable by the sheer numbers of policyholders as a compulsory scheme. Those with existing health conditions are unlikely to get away without paying an extra hefty loading on the premiums. A profit making business must take into the risk taken. And the oldies, in their 70s, 80s and 90s and above, I am salivating at the sum they are likely to pay in premiums. There is no free lunch, and higher risk means higher premium. The insurers must be beaming at the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow surely.
 
What if the Medishield schemes are not meant to be profit making? If that is the case, should not the profits, like the $850m, be ploughed back to the policyholders to lower the premiums? A non profit making scheme should not be distributing the profits away right? I don’t think any policyholder of the Medishield schemes has seen his premium lowered or subsidized due to the surplus of $850m yet. Where has this $850m gone to? Should not any surplus be returned to the policyholders in some ways? This will prevent anyone from thinking of raising premiums all the time to generate more profits for dunno who.
 
And if the Medishield Life is going to be made compulsory, it has more reasons to be a self funding scheme to benefit the policyholders and making profits should not be a consideration at all. Of course it should also not be loss making as well.
 
So, where are we now? Are the current Medishield schemes meant to generate profit or to pay the medical expenses of the policyholders? The main mission of such medical insurance schemes must be clear and up front, and must benefit the policyholders. It is a ‘compulsory’national insurance scheme with no one allows to opt out. Thus it must not be profit making in nature. If not, woe beholds the policyholders as they will end up at the mercy of the scheme, feeding the bottom line and having to pay out generous bonuses to dunno who.
 
Anyone knows what is going on?

Current COE system is the best

LTA has rounded up its 3 month public consultation exercise on how to tweak the current COE system to benefit the car owners and hopefully lowering the COE premiums. From the feedback as reported in the Today paper, it seems that the current system is still the best.
 
One suggestion by the public is the pay-as-you-bid system. This is shot down as it would ‘not necessarily lead to lower COE premiums’, according to NTU don Ng Yew Kwang. This must be the most convincing reason to dismiss the pay-as-you-bid system. I can’t think of any better reason than this.
 
Asst Professor Walter Theseira, also from NTU, said that if the price did come down due to the pay-as-you-bid system, good that it is possible to come down, she was worried that it would be the same people paying for lower prices. Is this a good reason why pay-as-you-bid system is not good? What is wrong with the same group of genuine buyers paying for lower premiums? Isn’t the objective is to lower COE premiums? Does it matter who were the buyers as long as they are legitimate?
 
Another suggestion of tying COE to OMV was met with disapproval by the MD of Volkswagen, Steffen Schwarz. In his view, Singaporeans want the latest technology and safety features and pegging to OMV is not necessary the way to go.
 
Though some car buyers at the feedback session by LTA felt the pay-as-you-bid system could work, it was reported that the academics and industry experts felt that ‘the current COE bidding mechanism, where all successful bidders pay the lowest, market clearing price, results in the most efficient outcome.’
 
I can only say this is the biggest bull shit. But what can I say when the experts said it is the best. So, would LTA listen to the experts or the genuine buyers who want to change the system to bring down COE premiums? There seems to be an agenda to retain the current system with some minor cosmetic changes. Another exercise in shadow chasing perhaps. How can they change the best COE bidding system that is serving so well and generating so good revenue?

USA – a country that must dabble in wars

After the disastrous WMD lie and the destruction of Iraq and murdering hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, the world thought the Americans and the Brits would be remorseful and stay out of wars for a while. The Americans started to make some moves to pull out of the Middle East region and Iraq, only to reposition itself for a bigger war with its Asian pivot. Tension is rising high and the Americans openly talked about increasing military aids and selling more weapons to the regional countries.
 
That is not all. It is now preparing another big lie to engage in open warfare in Syria. Despite all the objections by the Russians, it is going in, again with another warmonger in Britain, and of course all the western powers. They are now making another case for another invasion of a Middle Eastern country, Syria. They are preparing the ground and the ‘intelligence’ like they did in Iraq. The Americans and their western allies are claiming that the Assad govt is guilty of chemical warfare against the insurgence. Everyone knows that a false flag incident can easily be staged without anyone able to prove who was the real culprit.
 
The Assad govt knows very well, just like Saddam Hussein, that all the Americans need is a false excuse to invade the country. In this case by pointing at the Assad govt for using chemical weapons, just like accusing Saddam Hussein for possession of WMD. All the Americans needed to do is to fire some chemical weapons into the insurgent camps and put the blame on Assad.
 
Syria is going to be invaded, by another American and British led Coalition of the Willing, and many more Syrians will perished as war collaterals, and the country destroyed and needing foreign aid to rebuild all over again.
 
Does anyone bother to ask why the Middle Eastern countries are in constant warfare, just like the Americans? Is there a correlation? Would the Asian and South East Asian countries learn from the tragedies of the Middle East and keep the American warmongers at a distance and not be dragged into another big war in their front yard?
 
The Americans need wars to keep their control over the susceptible and vulnerable countries. The Americans need wars to keep their war industries booming and profits in an exchange of lives for bullets. God have mercy on the Middle Eastern countries. God have mercy to enlighten the Asian and South East Asian countries not to be foolish to be fixed by the Americans and dragged into another wars incited by the Americans for the interests of the Americans while they pay dearly in lives and the destruction of their own countries and people.

How far can the govt go to make things compulsory and make the people pay?

We are familiar with CPF Life and the going to be introduced Medishield Life. Both are compulsory schemes and the people have no choice, cannot opt out but to pay at whatever rate the govt thinks appropriate and right to charge the people. Many have forgotten the Home Protection Insurance Scheme which is also a compulsory buy for any new HDB flat owners.
 
The people are accepting these compulsions quietly mainly for three reasons. One, the schemes are generally good for the people. Two, it is money taken from their savings in the CPF that they knew they may not be able to see them in their life time. So they did not feel the pain for paying. And thirdly, what can the people do without knowing their rights or the govt’s right to legalize such compulsory schemes and making the people paying for them.
 
The Medishield Life may come in to rub some people wrongly. Many would not be able to pay the premiums in the long term as it is like paying till one dies and with the premiums increasing with age at a time when many oldies no longer have any income or are economically active. So, could it happen that some may have to top up with cash from their own pockets or from family members when govt subsidies are not enough? Here we may inch closer to an area that is taboo, ie taking cash from the people directly for compulsory schemes.
 
Would this Medishield Life scheme, or later on new compulsory schemes, be introduced and expecting the people to pay by cash? If paying by CPF savings is legal, then there is no reason why paying by cash cannot be legal for govt introduced compulsory schemes of any kind that are claimed to be good for the people.
 
How far can the govt go with this line of thinking and with more compulsory schemes and expecting the people to pay in cash when there is nothing much left in the CPF? This possibility cannot be ignored and is not far fetched. The people must question how far can the govt go in such compulsory schemes. The govt cannot be given a free hand to keep scheming more compulsory schemes and making the people pay for them through their savings, and eventually may be taking direct cash.
 
The govt is pro active, think ahead, plan ahead. The people too must be pro active, think ahead and plan ahead and be prepared to pre empt policies that are not to their interests and benefits, to nip future govt policies in the bud.

Shadow chasing as an art

The Medishield Life is the latest govt effort to solving the high unaffordability problem of health care in Singapore. Admission to a govt general hospital has attracted the same fear as in the days of yore. Our parents and grandparents generations feared hospital admission due to ignorance and the perception of death as most illnesses were left too late and became too serious that admission was akin to dying. Today the fear of admission is more practical, cannot afford to pay and better to die. So here comes the white knight waving Medishield Life in his hand as the saviour of the troubled and very sick.

The runaway property prices have sent shivers down many youngsters and their parents for not being able to afford the affordably priced public housing. The truth that the affordable public housing was unaffordable finally sank in without any admission of guilt or ownership for creating this financial and social fiasco. Alright, never mind, no need to go witch hunting as the problem is being addressed by the most simple solution, to build more flats to meet the high demand. In some way the problem is being tackled with some success but with the prices remaining high and still going higher. Yes, the high price is not really a problem and is allowed to go higher albeit at a slower pace.

The high cost of living coupled with high inflation have made the money so much smaller, or a bigger income but smaller buying power. The silly and ignorant are still very happy that their income is growing and oblivious to their purchasing power. The most badly affected is the average Sinkie with a stagnant real income. The solutions offered so far are more subsidies and more subsidies.

The above three major bugbears of the citizenry have a common syndrome. The high cost of medical care will continue to go higher. The high cost of housing will continue to go higher. The high cost of living will continue to rise. None of the solutions to these problems touches on the need to stop the prices and high cost of living from going higher. Somehow this is not seen as a problem or the cause of all the problems. The prices and high cost of living must naturally go up. Or is it that they cannot be brought down? Or is it that it is good to let them go higher and higher.

I am still very curious why aren’t anyone tasked to solve these problems wants to bring down the runaway prices and cost of living/inflation? In a way this is similar to the population growth. Population growth is a necessity, an unstoppable reality, a must have. Without population growth the whole economy will go on a tailspin and the economy will fumble. So population growth must continue to grow. It is unstoppable, the fourth unstoppable growth that must not be fiddled with or be messed around.

A simpler way to look at this problem solving approach is the high prices of goods due to demand and supply. Both demand and supply affect the price and the price can be managed by fiddling with demand and or supply at the same time. But the mindset is just to tackle from only one side of the equation. How effective can this be or will it be? Or how real is the solution if one is closed to looking at the other part of the problem?

The intricacies of Indian bureaucracy

The crisis of the falling value of the rupee of India is in the front page of many papers recently. At least 20% of the value has been wiped off for those holding to the rupee currency. The second most populous country and setting it sight to overtake China as the next economic giant of Asia is now struggling with a lost of confidence in the rupee.

While the crisis is just unfolding, below is an article by Venkatesh, a Chartered Accountant that revealed the workings of the Indian bureaucracy and how money has to be paid all the way to get a project on the way. It is quite startling even to Venkatesh and the full article is worth reading by those intending to invest in India. Bid sovereign wealth funds must really be in the know of the corporate culture of India to place their multi million or billion dollar bets in the Indian economy. Lacking such knowledge and bravely punting and putting money into India is only for the brave and the knaves.
I have deleted some of the details to shorten the article. For those who want more the link is available. Happy reading.

'Indian economy comes to a fullstop

By MR Venkatesh on July 22, 2013

(Excerpted from http://www.niticentral.com/2013/07/22/indian-economy-spirals-to-a-fullstop-107779.html)

A fairly large South-Indian group with varied business interests had invited me to a strategy session to turn it around. It was the first meeting and was to be preceded by breakfast. As we waited to be served, I perused their latest balance sheet.

Noticing that it was a profitable, tax and dividend paying company, where was the question of turnaround I wondered? Nevertheless, I instantly zeroed in on the balance sheet. I observed that the company had invested approximately Rs 700 (1 crore = 10 million) crore on its subsidiaries and lent another Rs 300 crore — in the aggregate Rs 1,000 crore. Flipping across the accounts, I asked a simple question – what is the return from this investment of Rs 1,000 crore? (Amounts changed for obvious reasons.)

The CFO was silent. The executive director hummed and hawed. The body language of the rest was a dead giveaway of their uneasiness to discuss this matter further.

The junior-most amongst them blurted out, perhaps unwittingly, that it was virtually nil. His answer got a cold stare from his superiors. “Nil!” I exclaimed to the horror of my hosts. “You must be paying approximately Rs 150 crore as interest annually on this sum.” I commented, probably rubbing salt into their wounds. I went on to probe further, “Why, what happened to this money?”….

Unable to bear my repeated questioning, the CFO finally broke down. “Sir, as you are aware we are in infrastructure. That requires tremendous pay-offs to politicians and bureaucrats. We have used approximately 150 subsidiaries, some of which are foreign ones, to route these payments.”
I was stunned. My jaw dropped. “Sir, we expected you to know all these practicalities of our business. The turnaround strategy needs to factor these ground realities.” ….

The economics of kickbacks and payoffs

Instantly my thoughts raced to the Nira Radia tapes. Fifteen per cent was the kickbacks payable to the Minister concerned for approving every road contract. Add another fifteen to the bureaucracy and local politicians. Add another five to seven to bankers, lawyers, consultants and agents to procure funds. What we have is a staggering 35-40 per cent additional cost to every infrastructure project….
There is another dimension to this issue. Somewhere down the line these “costs” were funded, mostly by our banks. Corporates altered their top-line as well as bottom-line to keep their banks in good humor….

The impact of gold plating

….The net result – twenty per cent of lending by Indian Banks is stressed. Obviously, when banks end up funding pay-offs and kickbacks, this is the end result. And that is a whopping Rs 11 lakh crores – approximately $200 billion – a sum that even the banks in USA cannot afford.

Added to this is the stress on account of our external accounts. The foreign debt has risen to $390 billion. This was a mere $225 billion in 2008. What is galling is that the foreign exchange reserve has remained at a constant $300 billion during this period. Needless to emphasise, the ratio of foreign exchange reserves to foreign debt has deteriorated from 138 per cent then to less than 75 per cent now.
What is adding to the consternation is that in the short term – by March 2014 – we need to pay approximately $172 (billion) of our foreign debts. This works out to approximately 44 per cent of the external debt and a staggering 60 per cent of the total foreign exchange reserves of the country.

Tharman – A little meat and a little departure

In today’s ST front page, Tharman listed 5 priorities of govt policies that in a way are related to Hsien Loong’s NDR speech on a comprehensive health care scheme for the senior Singaporeans. Tharman filled in some meat to that general policy change and direction, and also included a few cautions and departures from the sweeping Medishield Life scheme for all, sick or unsick.

Tharman’s first priority is about targeting govt subsidies to those who need them and said that universal benefits are ‘wasteful and inequitable’. A comprehensive all encompassing healthcare benefit scheme will fit into this wasteful and inequitable definition perfectly. There is no need for further elaboration on this as the impact and consequences are simply obvious.

The second priority, to design redistribution policies to spur self reliance and individual responsibility has been the cornerstone of many govt policies. To lump every Singaporean into a healthcare scheme with no recognition of their needs and demands on the system is going to be in conflict with the concept of self reliance and individual responsibility. The reckless and irresponsible are going to pass the buck to the rest of the people to foot their bills, as simple as that. Would this be acceptable under the new scheme?

Tharman did qualify by saying that those who are in genuine need for assistance would not be left on their own. This is the big difference between humans and animals. In the animal kingdom it is survival of the fittest and the weak and sick will perish on their own steam. As a social animal, the human specie has this innate ability to want and can look after their weaker fellow beans, the old, the sick, the less able and less talented. Human beans can be caring, generous and selfless.

The third policy pointed out by Tharman is more startlingly in a way as it has been violated in many instances for vain glory and misplaced responsibility. This policy is about making ‘sure tax incentives and grants “aggressively” support and catalyse community and civic efforts, and strengthen “the values that drives us to be our brother’s keepers”’. How would spending money on foreign sports talents and paying for foreigners to study here fit into this brothers’ keepers idea? How would bringing in foreigners to replace our citizens in jobs be a good thing? We need to take care of our very own, incentivise and motivate our own to excel in all fields. The foreigners are not our responsibility and money spent on them is simply wasteful and also inequitable.

How would this policy fit into the comprehensive health care scheme with PRs and new citizens in our midst and standing to benefit wholly from public funds?

Tharman’s fourth policy is about progressive taxation, benefits and social spending. I think he must believe that GST is progressive taxation. Or would he now be more enlightened to tweak this regressive tax to tax the poor less? In this regard he hinted at the need for future tax increases to fund the growing health care needs. Here is his biggest contradiction. If the recently floated comprehensive health care scheme does take cognizance to the priorities mentioned, there should not be a need to raise taxes. Raising taxes is only necessary when the scheme is an unlimited buffet spread for all to partake with little regard to equitable distributions and prudence not to over provide with no regard to the cost involved.

Tharman’s final point is about a just and fair society, about opportunities to enjoy quality living, public spaces and our work and living environment. Would the govt be building more and smaller flats to improve the quality of living for Singaporeans, or would the dreams of the 70s and 80s when every family aspire to own a 5 rm flat or better, including private properties be reignited? Can Singaporeans relive this dream?

With the freeing of the two pieces of land in Paya Lebar and Tanjong Pagar, the govt is given a chance to really redevelop and design quality housing for the people and not more mickey mouse pigeon holes in close proximity. A new concept of living with bigger homes and space could be the future, if only the wet dream of 6.9m does not become a reality. We have more space and create even more space for everyone here, and not creating more space to squeeze in more migrants to fill up every inch of space created. Can there also be a departure from the mindset of more population for more economic growth and the deception that small and little space are good quality living, good for bringing up children?

Yes, we have the money to build our dreams. And our dreams must be better and bigger space and more amenities for the people, not more squeeze and lesser space to live like mice and competing for space and air. There is no need to drive down a road to hell when we can go to paradise. But as they say, the road to heaven is wide open but few takers, but the road to hell is narrow and dangerous and crowded like hell.

How would these five policies mentioned by Tharman be worked around the Medishield Life for all?

Overloading is dangerous and illegal

Our private cars have a legal limit on the number of passengers it can seat. Going above the approved number is illegal. The school buses or private buses, tour coaches, pickups and commercial vehicles too have a legal limit as well. And there is a very good reason for it other than graciousness. It is safety.
 
Often there were reports of ferries or boats sinking because of overloading. Our lorries and trucks also have loading limits and speed limits for safety reasons as well. Funny thing, why are public transport buses and MRT trains not having limits on the number of people they can carry on each bus or train carriage? Why are they allowed to squeeze as many passengers as they like into the cabins? And they have been suggestions to hire pushers to push more people into trains like it is the right thing to do.
 
Would overloading of public buses and trains affect the safety of the passengers? No? Not sure? What do you think?

Managing the people’s life savings

HDB prices are affordable based how the ability of the buyers to pay. Now the affordability is a couple’s monthly CPF contributions for the next 25 years. This means that whatever that goes into the CPF will go out the other way, to pay for the affordable HDB flat. The couple would likely to start to save a little 5 or 10 years after buying a flat when their incomes rise. How much savings could that be to go into their retirement account?
 
Then there is the Medisave Accounts to fill up and at current rate, more than $100k will have to be set aside as untouchable in the Medisave Minimum Sum Account. Technically there could be nothing left to be set aside for the Retirement account at least after the flat is fully paid in 25 years time.
By the age of 55 or 65 the CPF Life Scheme will kick in and whatever money left in the CPF would be compulsory acquired to pay for their retirement annuities. Luckily the Medisave Account is still untouched by any compulsory scheme, but not for long. The money in the Medisave Account will be compulsorily acquired too to pay for Medishield Life once the scheme is finalized.
The net effect of the two compulsory schemes means that the Govt has decided for you how your money must be spent. In the CPF Life which is an annuity scheme, there is still hope of getting something back if one lives long enough.
 
In the case of Medishield Life, it is paying and nothing is coming back except when one needs hospitalization or is seriously ill and provided the illness is covered by the scheme. Read the fine prints and the exclusion clauses carefully.
 
The Govt effectively has a hold on the CPF savings of its citizens through a monopoly public housing scheme that will feed on the savings of its citizens for the first 25 years and a CPF Life for the next 30 plus years. As for the Medishield Life, this is still work in progress and the payment into this scheme could come very early, maybe from the day one starts working and contributing to the CPF.
 
The best part, the Govt can decide as and when how much to raise the premiums and compel the people to pay. There is no opting out. Resistance is futile. You earn and save and the Govt will be the recipients in a way, helping you to spend your savings.
Your money is not your money anymore. The Govt knows how much you have and can afford to pay and the three items will effectively absorb practically every cent there is available or affordable with hardly anything left. This is a very efficient system to manage the people’s income/savings by the Govt, with compulsion, and the people are literally left with no choice of their own.
 
The Govt is caring for the people, to their last day and managing their last cent without having to ask the people for their consent. Our CPF savings are now absolutely safe with the Govt.

And one good thing, there would not be any more scheme to manage your CPF savings after this.There is nothing left to be managed anymore.