Of Parliament and debates

Of Parliament and debates For those who are casually following the happenings in Parliament, it is excusable to think that the opposition in Parliament is the PAP. Where were the Cheam See Tong, the Low Thia Khiang and the Sylvia Lim? Never seen and never heard of in a Parliament that is most of the time 75% empty except for the first few sessions. They must be among the absentees. That is the impression if one watches the TV news coverage. Quite natural when the opposition does not really have a role to play in a Parliament that is overwhelmingly dominated by a ruling party. And quite natural that the debate in Parliament is just debate. Nothing happens after that no matter how much the speaker said. Everyone who bothers to be in Parliament, made their few comments and asked a few questions and things just 'move on.' Their comments and questions were answered, and that's it. Scanning through the main stream media and the TV, which rightly allocated about 10 minutes of their precious time to Highlights in Parliament as they have more important programmes to broadcast, tells how important were the proceedings in the house. And the camera cheekily showed the 3/4 empty Parliament every now and then to tell the audiences how heated and thoroughly engaging the debates must have been. With the impression that the opposition were non existence, at least from the reports available in the MSM as a measure of their contributions, the floor was all for the PAP MPs. And the notables who spoke passionately, and at times aggressively on the issues that they pursued were the likes of Inderjit, Lily Neo, Ong Kian Min and Sin Boon Ann. They were convincing in wanting to put their points across strongly. But despite all that, the greatest victory goes to Lily Neo. In her quest to help the poor and needy living on government handouts, she succeeded in getting another $1 a day for them. That was the greatest achievement that no other MP could ever think of doing. Halimah is the most persistent fighter for the working class on record. She practically spoke on every issue that affected the workers and plea after plea for the government to spare a thought for them and their plight. So far she has not won her $1 worth yet. Maybe she will get her desserts as events unfold in the years to come. But one thing for sure, as against all the cynicism by Seng Han Thong, the ERP is going to be more expensive and hopefully more effective. Definitely not more effective and less expensive.

myth 121

Ang Pow is an acceptable customary practice Giving ang pows (red packets with money inside) is a traditional Chinese practice. During the Chinese New Year, the Chinese parents will give ang pows to their children, unmarried ones, for good luck. And they extend this by giving it to the children of all visitors to their homes or neighbour's children. This practice is further extended to workplace where employees are given ang pows too by their bosses. Nowadays, ang pows are also given to friends in the business circles as a show of appreciation. It used to be $1.10, then $2, $4, $10, and now $20,000! I will be deeply moved if anyone were to give me a $20,000 ang pow. It is just a customary practice.

futuristic singapore

Then we have countdown at traffic light junctions. I supported that. It is not only a convenient and useful information, it is also a safety feature to cut down on unnecessary risk taking and accidents. Then we have road signs telling motorists how low it takes to reach certain roads. Dunno for what? Then we have satellite technology to tell bus commuters when the next bus will arrive at the bus terminals. Great piece of information. Then we have signs telling passengers when will be his turn hop into the next taxi or he can change his mind and join another queue somewhere. Now we are going to have signs at all bus stops, did they say all bus stops?, to tell commuters when the next bus will arrive. Too much money to spend? Like Sam Tan raising the issue of a small length swimming pool in a public hospital for the benefit of patients to admire and relax. Something like the beautiful marine aquariums in NKF for the dialysis patients. No cost is mentioned as they were paid for by donors. So nothing to worry about. As long as someone else is paying for it, it is ok. The bus commuters are likely to have all the signs paid for by somebody else for their convenience. Great idea. At the rate we go, we are going to be an ultra modern, technologically advanced and futuristic island. World class facilities and leading edge technology on the road side. Somebody needs to pay for it, surely.

parliament - i scratch you, you scratch me

The MPs have done their part to praise this 'Made in Heaven' budget. It is time to reciprocate and praise the MPs for their angelic chorus. The quality of debate has been good beyond recognition if we are to learn from Kan Seng's summation of how good parliamentary debate is today. But he also dropped a hint that time and effort should be apportioned to more important issues and not wasted on issues that are of lesser importance. That is as frank and honest as Kan Seng can be. Now what after the great debate? Is there anything that is going be changed or all the papers submitted will be passed lock, stock and barrel? Are we going to have our 6.5 million population, increasing ERP charges, higher cost with world class facilities and infrastructure, or spending more money on not so important mega projects and lesser on the bread and butter issues facing the pathetic poor by giving them another $1 a day for a meal? Will our MRT go the Tokyo way to be world class and be packed 100%, 20% more than the current under utilisation? It must be a great sight to see MRT staff shoving and pushing commuters into an already 100% sardined pack carriage so that we will be more like Tokyo! The 6.5 million population is a very serious proposition that no one, no matter how conceited he is, is in a position to guarantee that nothing can go wrong. For when it does, it will go drastically wrong. We have made all these great plans only seeing it from our own point of view and interest. I cannot imagine the conditions at the causeway and second bridge every weekend and how our neighbours will react to the massive jams. Maybe next time not only no sand or granite, but no causeway as well. Who knows, as the problem that a 6.5 million population can contribute to our slow and leisure pace lifestyle of our neighbour is yet to be fathomed. A Richard Lim Siong Kheng wrote to the ST, 'There ought to be smarter ways to grow our economic pie, for examples, through increasing productivity...In other words, emphasise quality rather than size in the Little Red Dot. Let us do things the smarter way and leave something for posterity.' This kind of problem solving is nothing different from increasing ERP charges. Like Ong Kian Min said, '...there is a "psychological limit" to how high the ERP rates can go before drivers "will be up in arms". When there is only one aorta in our system, all the blood must go through it no matter how hard one squeezes it. And this is elementary and does not need supertalents to see the problem and does not take so long for anyone to realise why increasing ERP is not the solution. Or as Seng Han Tong said, 'lets make ERP more effective and not more expensive.'

cpf top ups

Changes of CPF rules for top ups Why would people want to put in money into CPF for top ups of relatives when they could simply put the money aside or into their savings account? For the 2.5% or 4% interest? Is that good enough to put give up good money which one has full control and put into a fund that one loses complete control over the money? Once the money is in the CPF, CPF is in full control of the money and any changes to the rulings, if unfavourable, cannot be reversed. Once in, that's it. But it is a great scheme for Singaporeans who cannot manage their own money.