temasek not selling singapore assets - dhana

for a while i was nervous. natsteel was sold. so was raffles hotel, cias. then dbs building. then what? the istana? it is good that dhana confirmed that temasek is not going to sell local assets for overseas investments. it reminds me of how aw cheng chye sold his father's bank to wee cho yaw. selling inheritance by a prodigal son is a sure sign of things going wrong. let's hope we don't see anymore selling of our national inheritance and national heritage. it is like selling our souls. the chinese saying, selling 'peh kong giap,' or the created wealth of fathers and grandfathers.

general election : my manifesto

let me suggest what i think should go into a manifesto. 1. fairer distribution of wealth to the people without undermining private enterprise and entreprenuership. 2. depoliticising of govt and non govt organisations. 3. make the presidency an honourary position. better still to do away with the presidency. a president is dysfunctional in the face of a rogue govt, like it or not. a rogue govt can change the constitution or even remove the presidency at will. 4. govt policies must be citizens first. 5. fine tuning of cost of essential services to alleviate the plight of the lower income segment of the population.

general election : a manifesto in question

first eng hen fired the first shot by declaring the wp's manifesto as a time bomb. then hsien loong followed by telling thia khiang to have it modified. the election battle has started. the pap's position is national interest in terms of racial harmony and questions the wp's objective through it's manifesto. should the wp change its manifesto because hsien loong suggested so? doing it will be admitting defeat at the first salvo. if not, is it able to defend its objective for racial harmony? their approach may be different, but the objective for racial harmony cannot be compromised. would the wp be able to explain how they are going to achieve this from what they have proposed? if it is just a different approach, then it is acceptable. but if what they proposed will eventually lead to a breakup of our social cohesion, they will have problems convincing the people to follow them. from my interpretation, what they have suggested are not workable. for this i agree with the pap. the impression i have is the lack of a clear thinking process in coming out with the manifesto. and if it is going to cause harm, they have lost the battle from the start. it is a pity that wp does not have strong thinkers who can come out with pragmatic policies. ideals are ideals and must be backed up with workable actions. i hope they can explain the hows. they need many explanations to do. the politics of today is not the politics of the animal farm. you cannot run away without the intellectuals providing the ballasts. the legs are not good enough without a thinking head.

kan seng apologises for cops

Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng on Saturday apologised for the way the police overreacted to a group of school girls' plan to sell and wear white elephant T-shirts at the opening of Buangkok Station. The white elephant cut-outs had become such icons that a group of Raffles Girls School girls planned to sell T-shirts with their design, and wear them at the opening of the Buangkok Station. But not everything went as planned. The police advised the organiser to apply for a permit when they found out that the proceeds were for charity. For this, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, who's also the Home Affairs Minister praised the police for being flexible and helpful, and the students for their creative plan and sense of humour. But Mr Wong was disappointed the police had clamped down on those wearing the T-shirts for fear that doing so in large groups may be "misconstrued by some as an offence".... Mr Wong said the police may have overreacted on this, but there were also other instances where the police were criticised for not doing enough to check overly exuberant behaviour. One example was the use of foam sprays at the Christmas Orchard Road Party, where some young women were blinded and then molested by some men. Instead of clamping down on the use of foam at the New Year's Eve party the following week, the police adopted a softer approach, by appealing to the common sense and cooperation of the public. Police also warned that if the foam spray was used to commit a criminal act, such as molest, the offenders would be arrested. DPM Wong said: "The recent episode at Buangkok showed how difficult it is for police to act. On one hand they have to maintain law and order and public interest, on the other hand they have to consider that society changes all the time and they have to continue to open up and liberalise some of the rules that we have in place." But Mr Wong stressed, that in so doing, the ultimate interest must be that of Singapore's, and not just specific groups or individuals. - CNA/ a little discretion will go a long way.

april 1 comes early

sunday morning is a time for a little senseless digression. it is good to read of laughters and applauses in the sunday times, during speeches by koh boon wan and ng eng hen. both must have been telling a lot of jokes to draw the laughters from their audiences. it is good that ministers have a good sense of humour. a rare quality in this highly stressed singapore when children playing with white elephants are taken very seriously by adults. now for a little good news. boonwan announced that from april 1, withdrawal of medisave is up from $300 to $400. this is one of the reasons for the loud applause reported by the serious sunday times. i think the applause will be thunderous if the announcement is for medical fees to by slashed by another 10%. but good news is good news. no need to bother about substance. another piece of good news. an average c class hospital bill is $800. and 9 in 10 patients in b2 class paid less than $2,200. and the medisave account as at end 2004 showed a balance of at least $17,000. more than enough to pay for hospital bills. so no need to worry. given that not many people will be hospitalised more than 3 times in their life time, and using the $2,200 figure as a guide, would a $6,600 medisave balance be more than adequate? take in the continuous increases in medical fees, a $10,000 medisave balance will surely be sufficient. ahem, i think the roar of approval will bring down the roof of the hall if boonwan would to announce that from april 1 medisave will be capped at $10,000 instead of the current $32,500 and will go up further. and eng hen drew laugher in his rebuttal of wp's 4 dangerous time bombs in its manifesto. maybe the wp should take his advice and do a thorough audit on the team that put up these dangerous proposals. are the proposals seriously thought out to win votes for the wp or to undermine wp? if i can agree with 3 out of eng hen's four rebuttals, then i think it is serious. the four points may be announced too early. april 1 is still quite some time away. the point that i agree with wp is subsidies and assistances to those who need help. after spending $2.5 bil on upgradings of parks and facilities, and $1 bil for needy folks, i thought it will be better to spend $2.5 bil on people and $1 bil on parks and plants and upgrading. then no reason to say money not enough. with 240,000 on the official list of being poor, money sure not enough. $1 bil really can't do much. it is better to give, maybe $100,000 to one person and he will be so much happier. and cheaper to do so. and one can claim authority from the divine who said, 'for those who have, more will be given to them.' with divine authority, who dare to say it is wrong? so if you are earning a lot more, maybe $2 mil, you need not have to complain that you need a raise. you need not have to tell people that you need more cash to stash away in your bank accounts. more will be given to you without asking. isn't that nice? it is a beautiful sunday.