How long can our luck hold?

The ugliness of top men in office is being unveiled daily for all to see. Bush and all his lies about WMD and how he fixed his opponents is now under official investigation. And nearby we have the dominant and cannot be wronged Mahathir who has initiated the opening of his own can of worms. He was untouchable as a PM, who was also a Home Affairs Minister, Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Trade Minister. Actually he was a one man Govt. A clear recipe for disaster. And the disaster is going to explode. We have been very lucky. We have LKY, Chok Tong and Hsien Loong, all men of unquestionable integrity, as our PMs. Can our luck hold forever? Can the next PM be just as honest and honourable that he will not do a Mahathir? This is a danger that we are facing as a nation. Are our institutions developed to prevent absolute power in the hands of one man or a few men?

Health Care Specialists

After the closing down of sleazy massage and tui na spas in neighbourhood estate, this creates a vacuum that needs to be filled. We should train our own aunties as Health Care Specialists to provide a badly needed and lucrative service in HDB estates. This is definitely better than Toilet specialists. But to upgrade the professionalism in the trade, all specialists must attend a diploma course in the polytechnics on the human physiology and how each part functions and how much pressure is needed to maximise the relief and pleasure for the customers.

job loss and job gain

The civil service has brought the Finance and HR functions under one roof for greater efficiency and economy of scales. And there will be great savings in cost of up to $4.5 million a year. Where would this come from?

It is inevitable that there will be layoff and retrenchment. Look at it positively, this is a great move. People who can't fit in should be retrenched. And because of the pooling of the two functions, it will create a bigger function of two. So the responsibility at the top is bigger and there will be more value added jobs at the top.

This is the way to go, lower and less value jobs be downsized. Create more jobs at the top that pay well. More CEOs, Deputy CEOs, Asst CEOs. This upgrading of skills can be seen all the way from our toilet cleaners becoming specialists.

Given time the income of all Singaporeans will be higher than what it is now.

myth 36

'Singaporeans are fed up with progress...' by Mr Brown. This myth came from Mr Brown's sensational article of polemics. And I must agree that it is a myth, a distorted truth. For Mr Brown is talking only about 30% of Singaporeans, those who are trying to make ends meet. He has not covered the large group of happy Singaporeans, especially those earning $100k or more a month. Even people earning peanuts are very happy. How then can Mr Brown said that Singaporeans are fed up with progress? It is right for Bhavani to chastise Mr Brown for distorting the truth. For if Mr Brown is telling the truth, then there would not be 4 million smiles. Mr Brown's fault is to look at only one small segment of unhappy Singaporeans. The truth is that there are many happy Singaporeans, and Bhavani knows better.

Operation Hush Up is on.

I have been scanning all the papers, official media, tv news, radio news, etc... I have not try Stomp yet, but Mr Brown has vanished. No news about Mr Brown and how he distorted the truth. And all the investigative journalists, anyone interested in covering this incident? I have just taken a peep at Mr Brown's blog, and there are almost 500 comments in 3 days on this issue. Hey is this not news? But it is big news in blogosphere! Any little blog or forum in cyberspace worth its salt will have enough comments on the issue to make it worth reading. It is the news of the day. What happens to the traditional media? Not interested or what? Isn't news be news? Isn't something so hot be newsworthy? Maybe we are all waiting for an official response and take the cue from there. We are all objective reporters and journalists. We are independent thinkers and we write what we think are news worthy, of public interest. If I can't or don't even say something on this issue, I better close down my forum. I don't practise self censorship here. I don't have to read what is safe or unsafe to post. Now, why would people flock to cyberspace for independent news instead of subscribing to the main media? Luckily I did not buy a copy hoping to read something about it. Would I be wasting my money, feeling money not well spent?