recognition and rewarding ns men

while the govt is reviewing the incentives to reward ns men today, it is still not too late to look from the very first batch of ns men who had made the greatest sacrifice and suffered the most under the worst of all conditions that all ns men had gone through. they are still around, having braved through those days of really tough training and almost inhospital conditions and terms of service. perhaps mindef can work out something to recognise all nsmen who have served the nation and offered the best part of their lives to the country. we are now a fairly rich country and can afford to be a little generous or even frivolous with our men who went through the whole works as dutiful soldiers and defenders of the nation. being frivolous is the privilege of the very rich. bill gates is giving his money away everywhere. our super rich are also doing so. and often money were given away without having to go through hard cold calculations. a rich nation too can afford to be frivolous at times. if we can spent hundreds of millions on parks just to beautify the landscape, it would not be asking too much to allocate $20 or $30 million annually to reward the greying ns men. have something for those who have completed all their ns commitments starting with those in the 50s. it will be seen as an incentive and something to look forward to in later years for the young ns men.

appeal for free hdb parking on sat

the ura and hdb in a joint letter turned down a public appeal to let visitors park for free in hdb carparks on sat. two reasons were given for the rejection. sat is a weekend and they did not want residents to be deprived of a carpark when they returned home. the second reason is the lost of revenue. allowing free parking on sat will mean having to raise parking fees on other days to maintain the same level of income from carparks. by now many hdb dwellers must be awared that every time they park their cars in another hdb car park they are actually paying double. firstly they have paid for a season car park at home. when they move out, someone is going to park in their lots and pay while they themselves would have to pay again in another carpark, very likely hdb. actually it is a game of musical chairs for hdb dwellers. and 80% of singaporeans are hdb dwellers, travelling from home to inlaws or friends and relatives in another hdb estate. and for this reason, even if sat is free, like free sunday parking, the pattern of cars changing carparks will still be the same. except now they need not have to pay double and hdb could only earn once. saturday night is also an evening out where many will go dining or clubbing and will be home later. so the free parking till 10 pm should not be too much of a nuisance in depriving residents of their carparks except for some hot areas. for these two reasons, allowing free parkings on saturday may not be a hassle provided hdb is willing to forgo some revenue for the double parking fee which they are making from hdb dwellers. if they are prepared to think a little, or put the scheme on a test basis, some fine tuning may be all that is needed to minimise problems coming from it. and it will definitely enhance the quality of social life and families or friends visiting each other more often. but profit is always the prime concern in this money crazy society. it is like asking hdb to cut a pound of flesh from their butts to give away. if only they could think otherwise, saturday will be a whole lot more different to all hdb dwellers. but for those who prefer a quiet night in their flats, they must be prepared to bear with more noises and movements of people around them.

malaysian mps airing unhappiness in parliament over crooked bridge

the new straits times reported on the unhappiness of malaysian mps in parliament over the soft approach adopted by malaysia on the bridge issue. in their views, the bridge is for mutual benefits and there should be no conditions attached to it, citing singapore bargaining for the use of malaysian airspace. what they did not consider is the cost involved. it will be a different issue if malaysia would to offer to build the whole bridge and absorb the full cost. without that, for singapore to agree to build the other half of the bridge, it will have to cough out $500 mil at first go. then the other costs will come in, demolishing of the causeway, disconnecting and re laying of the water pipes, dredging the seabed, relocation of all the ciq facilities in woodland. our newly built ciq will be wasted and a new one will have to be built. all these may cost singapore another $500 mil. and all for an unnecessary bridge that will give more problems than the existing causeway. and all the users of the bridge are going to pay all the way. then there will be complaints and problems from the shopowners and businesses in woodland centre for lost of business. it is not simply building a bridge. a billion dollars are at stake for a superfluous project which can be done without. would they think it is a small issue if they understand the cost and problems involved?

mas...heading for bankruptcy?

i was shock to see this headline in soc.cul.singapore site. for a moment i thought we are really in deep trouble. for as i read on, 'mas is losing big bugs again...in record sum...could be as much as rm$1 billion. the letters 'rm' brought me some relief. in malaysian ringgits? can't be our mas, the monetary authority of singapore. indeed it was not. this is another mas, malaysian airline system. two identical initials that can be easily mistaken. one on solid ground, one in the clouds.

speak mandarin campaign, a tentative moment

every year around this time when the speak mandarin campaign is launched, my non chinese friends would feel a little uneasy. there is a little tentativeness in our daily contacts. to the minorities, a speak mandarin campaign always evokes that kind of unfamiliar feelings, that the majority are at it again. singapore is going to be a chinese country. mandarin is emphasised again. and who knows, it may become our national language, replacing english. the sensitivity and apprehension over the speak mandarin campaign is expected. can't say it is understandable after so many years and explanations of why there is a need to conduct this campaign. it is to rebuild the cultural ballast into a people that has lost it. many chinese in singapore have lost that chineseness in them. from a certain perspective it is good, becoming more singaporean and more international. but from another angle, it undercuts all the roots and history of that person, what he is or was. this, among all races, not looking at it from a racist viewpoint, is not a welcome thing as the person no longer knows who he is. he loses his bearing once he has lost his anchor to a fixed point, like a ship floating aimlessly in the ocean. it is ok as long as it is moving and heading towards a destination. but a time will come when it has to come to rest and not able to settle down in a place. the 'who am i' question will pop up sooner or later. the majority of the chinese in the republic are very comfortable in the english language and western culture. and this is seen as undesirable if it goes too far. the govt feels that it is important to arrest this slide and a speak mandarin campaign becomes a tool to serve this purpose. there are also other reasons for it. the economic reason for facilitating communication and commerce are most often quoted. but speaking mandarin will only be a social and commercial interest. singapore will forever be an english speaking nation, a language that is a leveller to all the races. the minorities should have no fear on this regard. they are not expected or force to speak mandarin. why no speak tamil campaign or speak malay campaign? if there is an erosion in the two communities with the same problems facing the chinese community, i think their leaders will raise the issue at the appropriate time to protect the identities and cultural ballasts of the respective comunities.