nkf story - a sequel

A sequel in the making The saga of Charity Organisations has proven to be a lively and intricate concoctions of plots and subplots. Now this will be given an extended run with a sequel in the making. Youth Challenge has proven to be every inch a worthy successor to the infamous NKF saga and we are now being given a preview of more to come. What is interesting will be the ending. Will it end with the triumph of morals over pragmatism or pragmatism over morals. Or would goodness win over moneyism or vice versa.

grandpa and grandma saving for their future

At 55, many would want to slow down, withdraw their CPF and take life a bit easier. Some will live longer, some will get badly ill, and some will die the next day. The number of people dying the next day or before hitting 60 will be as many as those with serious illnesses associated with old age. At these age groups, or older, when the body is malfunctioning, what is there left in life to carry on? What is life if one is bedridden or have to spend every cent in one's savings or Medisave Account? Would it be better to use the money to enjoy the last few years and let nature takes its own course? But at 55, if one has some time and want to keep oneself occupied, and continues to work, one is expected to continue to contribute to the CPF/Medisave. And when the Medisave account exceeds the legally provided limit, one is still compelled to contribute only to see the money overflow into a Retirement Account to be rationed to you. At 55 or 65 or 75, what is there to save when one can kick the bucket the next day or next moment? Technically, if one continues to work, even at 90 or 100, one still must contribute to CPF/Medisave. How ridiculous can this be? Is there anyone thinking?

nkf story - irregularities were the norm

When irregularities were the norm As the story continues, more irregularities were exposed. But it seemed that all these irregularities were accepted as the norm. No one questions or bothers to question. Or is it that everyone was a party to the irregularities? Or is it that for personal and vested interests, it is better to just do and don't ask, don't see and don't say. Everything was fine. Everything seems so good. Everyone so happy. How can it be wrong? All the statistics looked so good. Everyone was patting everyone on the shoulder saying well done.

eager beaver got slapped

The eager beaver got slapped again. Indonesia banned sand export to us. The funny thing is that whenever there is a little problem in our neighbouring countries, our eager beavers will all jump on their feet to want to help with their time and money. On the other hand the recipients will either see this as a poor effort to curry favour, in bad taste, just to show how prosperous we are. And even thinking that we are doing it to please them for some goodies in return. And the Malaysian flood is also seeing our people rushing to help. Do people appreciate or would people turn around and say, "Get lost, hypocrites! We don't need your help." Our neighbours would rather let their water flow into the sea, or sand go to waste than trade them for money. They only want money to be given freely. And when they know that we need a commodity badly, be sure they will ban it to keep it from us. The next thing they will do is to ban maids when Singaporeans are too dependent on maids. This will come when maids will no longer be allowed to come to Singapore. More SEZs?

loan shark country getting better

Loan sharks active as ever. This is reported in the Today paper. More than 10,000 cases of harrassments or activities reported. In fact 10,221 cases in 2006, an increase of 47% from 8,600 cases in 2005. Ho Peng kee asked for more time to tackle the problem. So far only 294 persons were arrested on related offences. Looks like the loan shark syndicates are outwitting the police. They used electronic banking facilities, virtual transactions, debtors bank accounts, telephone numbers etc. They are so sophisticated that the police would need 'extensive intelligence gathering and investigation' to bring them to court. Tough job for the police when the criminals are so smart. In the meantime the people are encouraged to form neighbourhood watch group to help themselves, like the good old days.