the poor indians in singapore

There are many complaints and unhappiness among the Singapore born Indian community. Tamil phrase: "Mattam mana allu" English translation means the old man Lky is a lousy cheapskate fellow. Tamil phrase : "Mavan vanthe methevangalum othevee saye oode mathan avanum oothevee saye mathan" English Translation : The "son" Lhl is a more cheapskate fellow than the father, he also wont help the others much and does not let anyone help the other's much also Tamil phrase : "Lalle velai vangete adimai yakirvanu" English translation: They make use of you do the work for them and make you a slave and pay you very little or play games and don't pay you at all or give useless gimmicks. What is going to be done to help livelihood of the "groups" and societies of Singapore particularly among the Singapore born Indian community ? Where is the action required, where is the help, where is the closure on unresolved problems , where are the results ? Who or which People should be held answerable ? Jason Vincent i have extracted a part of jason vincent's article posted in soc.cul.spore. what jason has posted is that the indian community is feeling very neglected by the govt. he even suggested building 2 shopping centres and several other facilities for the indian community. now this is a problem isn't it?

wage gap will continue to widen

there is this peculiar practice in singapore that will ensure the wage gap will continue to widen. it is entrenched in the system. the more important or senior a person becomes, he can expect to be appointed to many chairmanship positions or figure head positions and be paid extremely well but without much to do. some of these positions are just honorary, but still pack a huge pay packet. so it is very easy to earn several chairmanship pay and leave the job of running the company to the professionals. what a nice perk! how then can the wage gap gets narrower? it cannot be helped? is it? this is what unequal distribution of wealth is all about. you got more money, people give you more money. and what's wrong with that? why can't these important jobs be really important and the incumbent has to contribute time and effort to justify his huge pay so he can only assume one position and more can be pass around? but then there is a dearth of talent in this nation where the high density of people with high paper qualifications are found to be lack of talent. so only a few rare breed have the talent to receive such easy remunerations. do these positions really need highly qualified people in the first place? but, come to think of it, there is nothing wrong. this is the natural order of things. even a genius will tell you that it is perfectly normal and the correct way to do things.

why should govt act to ensure political freedom?

a straits times forumer, teoh chin leong, asked this question after commenting on catherine lim's article on political freedom. he said catherine lim has not answered this question? i was taken aback by his question. did he mean that limited freedom is accepted and the people must give good reasons for the govt to allow political freedom? isn't political freedom the people's basic right and any govt curbing political freedom is taking away the right of the people? is this the mindset of singaporeans? so well bred to be obedient, to be restrained. even accepting that they should be limited political freedom when freedom was theirs in the first place. such mindset concedes that it is ok for one's political right to be taken away. teoh chin leong did discuss a little on the need for political freedom. but his conclusion is that singaporeans are not ready for political freedom, that political freedom must be conditional on an educated society and a people who can discussed dispassionately on political issues. i am very sad to think that educated singaporeans think this way. how many countries can boast of a literacy rate higher than us? how many countries can boast of a concentration of people with tertiary education like us? if we are not an educated society, who is? the sheep will be led to the slaughter. and all they can say is bah bah and bah.

crooked bridge: lets be good neighbours

badawi has confirmed that the half bridge will be built. it is in their interests. they know what is good for them. let them build the bridge whatever way they want it. lets be good neighbours. we shall not engage in any dispute or hot headed argument over the bridge. we shall not make a protest or take them to the international court. we shall not make any comment in response to johore mp shahrir samad calling us stubborn. we shall not even reply to him to explain who is stubborn. we shall just keep quiet and let it be. and we hope by doing so, giving them our blessing, they will leave us alone and build their bridge.

general election : prelim round 4

the general election mood is here. a lot of ground work and footwork were done over the chinese new year. the pap must be very confident that they have done well and will continue to do well in the general election. lets try to pry into their thinking cap and see what were in their minds. 1. economically they believed that they have done exceptionally well. and this is supported by all the economic data that were released recently. gdp up, export up, manufacturing up, national reserves up, unemployment down, more surpluses to give away. the people must be very happy and satisfied with the govt. 2. $1 billion will be given to the 240,000 marginally poor. they too must be very happy. and having 240,000 marginally poor families are acceptable in a rich and prosperous country. nothing wrong with it. maybe give them a little more if they cry louder. there are plenty of money to go round. 3. the people will be very grateful with the $2.4 billion upgrading plans and a better east coast park. better facilities and the contractors will have more jobs to do. 4. a big pay rise coming. starting with the president. and the people will all be very happy that the president shall get $2.5 mil for this very important job. the people will not mind. after all, all civil servants can expect something since the president has started the ball rolling. and the higher the appointments, naturally they will get more. this is the nature of things and singaporeans are all very happy about it. 5. nkf. no problem. all very well managed. see, the fees are coming down. more patients will benefit from it. and now better management and transparency. it is a good job and the people will forget about the whole episode come election time. 6. peanuts? what peanuts? no body remembers a thing. 7. medical fees, hdb flats, buangkok, all resolved. no problem at all. mrt fee hikes? very good, mrt makes a lot of moneyfor the shareholders. that is business, to make money. 8. withholding of cpf and increase in medisave contributions. singaporeans are rational people. they will listen to the govt. they know all these were done for their own good. they will secretly thank the govt for keeping their money. 9. corporate failures and corporate governance. small things. does not affect the people. only some directors were affected. but everything will go on as normal. 10. stockmarket is going up. people must all be making money in the stockmarket. so people must be happy. they must be many people rushing to open trading accounts again. people are bullish and confident again. well, everything seems to be well under controlled and well managed. a sweeping victory is expected. and the opposition is still not able to present more credible candidates. and worst, their manifesto is already a poison and a timebomb. the people will be wise to see that and vote for pap. the majority vote will increase, and thats for sure. all the grass root leaders are working hard and the feedback received have been very encouraging. the people are all behind the pap.