corporate governance: transparency not necessary

this is the view of a writer in today paper, chong lee ming. his view is that good government, ie honest, trustworthy, incorruptible govt, will bring about good governance. i am wondering what is he trying to say behind this argument. does he have a different agenda? but one question which he did not address and could not appreciate, how to know whether a govt is good, honest, trustworthy and incorruptible without transparency? just like nkf, without transparency, you will never know. and by the time you know the truth, it is too late. transparency is the key to good and honest governance. or at least it is one of the keys to it. without transparency, everything is in the dark. you can't see anything in the dark.

education: mixing wine with vinegar

the moe is under pressure to respond to the public's whinning about 'problem' gep kids. i just hope our politicians do not behave the same way as their counterparts in the north, playing to the gallery and compromise on why certain programmes and policies were put in place. the gifted programme is introducted for a specific purpose, not to hold back but expedite the progress of a small group of highly gifted children. there are pros and cons, but generally it is a practical solution to a practical problem. these are very different individuals and they are expected to be different. the problems that are being harped, that they have lost touched with realities and the less fortunate is true. but how to overcome them is another matter. i hear immersion loudly. mix them with the less gifted and all will be well. try mixing wine with vinegar and see the result. the objective is laudable. but the result may be undesirable. mix the good students with drug addicts and see what you get. the same kind of thinking appeared in the ypap forum where one forumer suggested that because students of different races do not mix well in schools, so there must be enforced mixing for them to understand each other. this kind of thinking is so superficial. it is like putting as child in a room full of books and he will learn and be more scholastic. can serious people please look at issues seriously and apply some serious thoughts before implementing changes? a person who wants to learn, just point it out and he will learn. a person who refuses to learn or unable to learn, will not learn even if you shaft it into their mouth. people are all different. some are gifted academically. some in sports and arts. all are talents. but the gifted must mixed with the less fortunate to understand them better? what rubbish. so we put the less academically endowed together with the bookworms for them to appreciate and understand the bookworms better? or like the forumer who posted racist remarks and forced him to work with other races to learn to be nicer to them. it could work. it could become worst as his hatred could be intensified. imagine some of the protected children enlisted for national service and dumped together with a platoon of pai kia or drug addicts and ended up like them. how to answer to the parents? understanding another group does not demand immersion or physical togetherness. it is what education is all about. what good will it do to force einstein to play ball with the punks in the street? their life missions are different. they have different roles and responsibilities to play.

opposition talk

heard this in the kopitiam. the slogan for opposition parties. 'we will donate 50% of our pm and ministers' salaries to charity if we are elected to parliament.'

searching for singapore's soul

this was a heading in an article on edwin thumboo's search for singapore's soul in the today paper. my immediate reaction is that we have sold our souls to the god of money. our new soul is money and nothing else. just look at the comments on durai. nothing personal. many are still praising him for his brilliance in raising so much money for nkf. for the sake of money, the issues of morality and ethics are no longer important. many people in high positions even vouched that they respected him for what he had done. do you have any soul? oops, i mean do you have any money?

spp's mission statement

1) Give all Sinaporean Education at least College Degree (Lower Diploma) 2) Let their parent had more time with family ( Family Love) 3) Society need to help them when they are in trouble (Social Care) 4) Family Financial has no problem (career and business) above are 4 points posted by a spp member(darkbrightside) at the ypap forum. i would not call this their mission statement as it is just a forum statement. but it did indicates the direction the party is thinking or looking at. if i were to be in their position i will be looking at the following: 1. reduce the cost of essential services. 2. reduce the cost of jtc factories and offices. 3. reduce the cost of hdb shops and lease properties. 4. reduce the cost of education esp in colleges, universities and independent schools. 5. reduce the pay of ministers, public sectors and glcs by 10-50% for those earning above $15k per month. 6. introduce a citizens first policies. good foreign talents are still welcome. 7. review the cpf policies of withholding the withdrawal of cpf savings. allow full withdrawal at 55 years but retain $10k -$15k to purchase an annuity policy to provide an allowance after the age of 65 for 10 years. the above are just preliminary thoughts and need to be modified with actual data.