between hell and paradise

Between Hell and Paradise Paradise is where everyone desires to be. It has the best of everything, world best! But paradise is only for the select few, the chosen few. Not many people can afford paradise. Many people will be in 'hell' in a way, the living hell. It is admirable for the govt of the day to want to build a paradise on earth, world best in everything. But can we afford it? How many can afford it? It is like the debate between Wei Ling and Philip. Philip operates on a huge budget and casts his net very wide. Wei Ling is talking about making choices with our limited resources. We need to be selective and spend cautiously. We want world best facilities in everything. Yes we must have them. But no, we cannot have all of them. Segmentation and allocation of our resources must take into account the reality. The 'we' is a very loose group of people stretching from the penniless to the super rich, including foreigners that we want them to be here to pay for world class facilities. National resources must be allocated to build or develop facilities according to the needs of the different segments of our society defined by financial affordability. We have to cater to the needs of all levels and our resources must be allocated proportionally. Ask anyone if they want world best facilities and I bet the answer is yes. But ask them to pay for it and the answer will be no. The govt will continuously be running on an ever expanding budget if it keeps on telling the people that it is striving to provide them with everything that is world best. And the govt will be perpetually coming back to demand more money from the people for their world best ideas. Why not just try to make 'hell' more liveable instead of building a paradise

nkf story - chapter 3

Chapter Three The criminal trial has started. And Durai is facing two charges which he pleaded not guilty. The charges are 'using false documents with the intention of deceiving the NKF into paying out $25,000-$20,000....' Are these all the charges that he is going to face?

hota and 'phua park' business

In the early days of old Singapore, the locals dreaded being admitted to the General Hospital. Admission is as good as an acceptance of death. This is mainly due to the fact that many cases admitted were in a very bad state or in critical condition. Another fear is 'phua park'. In Hokien it means cutting up the body. This is taboo in the Chinese mindset. With the ongoing debate on Hota and how efficient the harvesting team is in going about their duties, would we see the same situation happen when Singaporeans fear being rushed to hospitals and line up for 'phua park'? For all the good intention and well meaning, a too efficient system in this, and an over zealous team of organ harvestors, would these present another kind of fear to the masses? Would the people become paranoid over hospital admission? We must respect the wishes of the dead. A dead person who signed the Opt In form is clearly committing himself into an act. How positive are we to know that the dead has such a wish if he did not opt in but was opt in by default? Without actually performing the act of opting in, did he or did he not opt in? This 'phua park' business is no small business to be dismissed away carelessly.

myth 119

Lower income group developing crutch mentality? Is it? In the land when nothing is for free, there is no free lunch, welfare state is taboo, when have our lower income group been depending on welfare and developed such a mentality? The Singaporean poor are the most independent and resilient part of our society. They either depend on themselves with pride, or if not possible, land themselves on the MRT track. It is those that earn millions that are developing a crutch mentality. To these millionaire employees, if they miss an increment in a year, they will suffer withdrawal system, they will become inefficient, refuse to work, they may go berserk. How can it be that they are not entitled to a well deserving increment cum huge bonus? How can they live without an increment? They would have trouble making ends meet. They will suffer a decline in their lifestyle, in the quality of life. Now that is the new crutch mentality developing in Singapore. A crutch mentality can only devlop over a long time of receiving goodies.

lesson from hongkong

The lesson from Hongkong Many have pointed to Hongkong as an example to what our lives will be with 6.5 million people. One thing for sure, our HDB flats are likely to shrink further. They have started to shrink in anticipation of the great and vibrant future of more talented people. Singaporeans looking forward to the great life in the future should imagine themselves cooping inside much smaller HDB flats. Oops, I mean the heartlanders. Those who have the dole can always enjoy the liberty of free space in their landed properties, with gardens and swimming pools. Definitely space is not a problem to them.