myth 112

Myth 112 It is great to be poor In this little island, the next best thing to being a pet poodle is to be poor. Being a pet poodle, one can sleep in aircon room, send to see specialists, dine in pet restaurants with food specially concocted by food specialists for a well balanced diet. And can snuggle in bed with the master or mistress, in aircon room and under thick and nice smelling bedsheets. To be poor is the second best. There are so many people trying to start charities to raise fund to help them. And the govt too has set aside $600 million in Comcare alone to give to the poor. And all the helpers are everywhere knocking at doors asking people it they need help, need a few extra dollars. And the govt even raised GST to help them so that they will be better off after the GST comes into effect. And the latest govt budget is all about helping the poor and lower income groups. Now being poor isn't that bad right? I can see a long queue of happy people trying to be poor.

is cess still relevant?

CESS With the GST going to 7 %, is CESS still relevant? CESS is a taxed levied on the customer in tourist related establishment eg hotels and restaurants. This is 1%, and GST is going 7% and service charge another 10%, giving a total of 18% to the total bill.

citizen lee firing away

Choktong supports the debate between Citizen Lee and Philip Yeo. It is an intellectual debate just like when Catherine Lim did once but unfortunately that was not the right time for debate. At that time she talked about the 'affective divide' between govt and the people. Maybe this time Citizen Lee could bridge this divide and bring the govt closer to the people. One thing for sure, she is not going to get a dressing down. Nor would she take is lightly should anyone tries to do so. I am looking forward for more of such intellectual debates especially from the luminaries, the academics from the world best institutions in this island. Would we here from them about the 6.5 million population?

myth 111

Singaporeans need GPS to get around Global Positioning System using satellite and leading edge technology is now a standard feature in Singapore cars. And handphones and smartphones are also increasingly incorporating this feature in them. Singaporeans will be lost in the streets of Singapore. And the situation will be more critical when we are fully built with a 6.5 million population. Getting around Singapore will need the assistance of a GPS. Let me see, how do I get to Orchard Road or Raffles Place? Which button to press? Oops, I have overshot. Now which road to take to return to Orchard Road? But it is a very powerful and handy tool. At least it allows the Singaporeans to save some space in their overused brains for more important things like calculating the odds of a football match or figurine the next Toto numbers. Now there is no need to remember anything, or at least the location of the supermarket or the HDB block of their in laws. Just switch on the GPS and it will take them there. And getting lost in MacRitchie Reservoir or Sengkang will be a problem of the past. Hail the new technology. Hail the GPS.

dual citizenship

What about amending our laws and allowed dual citizenship? This topic was raised by countdown in the YPAP forum. And looking at it again, there are many merits with such a proposition. We can become Singaporean/Malaysian, Singaporean/Indonesian, Singaporean/Indian, Singaporean/Chinese, and the more popular alternatives like Singaporean/American, Singaporean/British or Singaporean/Australian. The immediate result is that we can have 10 million or 20 million population instantly. No need to wait for another 20 years to hit 6.5 million. And all the Singaporeans longing to be international citizens too will have their wishes granted. Singaporeans with dual citizenship can live and play and work anywhere we want. We will be truly International. The world will be our playground. And we will no longer be short of foreign talents. Provided other countries want us. Otherwise the Malaysians, Indonesians, Chinese and Indians will be here as our citizens but we cannot go over as their citizens. They can come here and work and play and return home. But we cannot do likewise in their countries.