more jobs to locals

Lee U Wen wrote in the Today paper, 'Every now and then when employment figures are revealed, there are murmurs about of jobs going to foreigners. Yesterday's blockbuster should end the debate.' And year 2006, 88,200 jobs to locals and 85,100 to foreigners. So more jobs to locals. Case close. Let's move on.

Car collection - A new heartlander's hobby

Car collection - A new heartlander's hobby When COE prices shot to the sky, Singaporeans bemoaned the high prices of cars and the inability to own one. So the govt changes tact and allow COE prices to fall so that more Singaporeans can now afford to own their cars. What a great relief. Now all the heartlanders are scrambling to buy cars. For heartlanders who work in town, the privilege of driving to work is $500 a month, including parking, ERP and petrol. And this excludes parking in HDB car park, additional parking in shopping centres etc, monthly instalment, insurance, maintenance, summons... What could happen is that many will buy a car to appreciate on weekends, cleaning it and sitting inside the car in the car park to listen to radio. Taking the car out for a spin is not going to be cheap. HDB carparks can be turned into a car hobbyist playground to meet up with other car owners for chit chat and admiring all the brand new and hardly used cars.

nkf story - more revelations

NKF story - More revelations David Jeremy Lee from Briton, a forensic accountant, discovered that in the year 2002, only 4c of a dollar raised went to the patients. And in 2003, not a cent went to the patients as funds raised were more than the cost of dialysis treatment. A large part of NKF cost went to 'prevention clinics, public health screening and Children's Medical Fund' instead of helping the patients. Another fact revealed is that Durai strongly believed that the numbers he gave to the public on amount of donations going to patients were accurate. I believed Durai sincerely believed in his numbers except that his arithmatic may be a bit rusty. Even Richard Yong and Loo Say San have doubts in those numbers. But Durai was confident enough to even go against the advice of his QC.

Malaysia Boleh - higher car toll

Malaysian Boleh. They have concluded and will go ahead with the intention to charge 20 ringgits for Singapore cars entering Malaysia. Their logic is simple. Singaporeans are rich and will soon get use to it, so said the Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan. Further, Singapore is charging Malaysians $20 per car. But why? Why would Malaysians willingly pay $20 and Singaporeans may not? The Malaysians come into Singapore to collect Singapore dollars. The Singaporeans go into Malaysia to spend Singapore dollars. That is the big diff. The migration of factories to China is a simple economic reason. When people cannot find bargains, they will stop going. Only those that need to go will go and pay the 20 ringgits. There will be those who find it not economical or beneficial to continue to go over with the new rates. For Malaysians coming over and pay $20, they are most happy to do so. They are working here and have plenty of money to bring back. What is $20 more?

Singapore Can!

Singapore Can Yes, Singapore Can. This is slightly different from Singapore Boleh. What Boleh needs is a little system, money and technology(SMT). When Singapore Can, these three factors are fully engaged to make something happens. We go about a problem or task systematically, involving the latest technology if needed, and of course with a lot of money. It is not an emotional thing like boleh. Just do and insist that it is ok even if it is not ok. And if the result turns out otherwise, still insist that the result is good. Singapore Can, faced with the perennial problem of water supply and interstate bickering, we went ahead, systematically, methodologically, to make ourselves self sufficient in water by the time the water agreements expired. We are almost there. Just 30 years ago, we only have 3 reseervoirs, the biggest of which was MacRitchie. Today we have 15 reservoirs, plus new water and desalination plant in the pipeline. And many of the reservoirs are many times bigger than MacRitchie. And the biggest are yet to come. The Marina Reservoir is going to dwarf MacRitchie. It will itself be dwarfed when Pulau Ubin is dammed. By then we will have excess water to sell to Johore at our price. We can then say enough is enough. No need water from Johore. And the sand issue. Soon we will be harvesting the sea for sand using technology. And with supply from other sources, we too will be self sufficient in sand. Then we can keep our money for better uses. Yes, Singapore Can. We thrive under adversities. We find solutions to our problems systematically, and over come them. We shall over come.