how predictable!

How predictable! Even before the ink is dry the expected backtracking has started. The two free access zones in the IDR are now scrapped because of domestic politickings. How much confidence can foreign investors have on a govt that is so fickleminded and will bend to local political pressure no matter how hysterical and irrational they may be? Who is there to guarantee that 3 weeks or 3 months down the line all the terms and conditions will be changed? Will the IDR becomes an Internal Development Region catering to the domestic markets and interests like all the housing estates built but cannot be sold? With all the backtrackings as a norm, investors must think very carefully before putting money in the IDR. The other point that led to the scrapping of the FAZs, other than the irrational fear of becoming slaves of foreigners in their own country, is the anti semitic mindset. Historically, the Bumis and the Jews were living in two separate corners of the globe and hardly know each other. Why is there so much hatred for the Jews to be a reason to scrap the FAZs?? This kind of unthinking hatred for another race is very frightening. Don't the Bumis have a mind of their own and think what have the Jews got to do with them that they have to hate the Jews so intensely? There will be reasons to hate their former colonial master for exploiting and ruling them as a subject people. But what have the Jews done to deserve such acrimony?

The artificiality of an Aquarium

The artificiality of an Aquarium Nobody begrudges anyone earning too much money. Even the ministers are not begrudging other high earners from earning too much money. But they only said that they deserved to be earning as much as other top earners by virtue of the assumption that they are the top talents and holding the top jobs in the country. It is even suggested that all of them would be offered more by top foreign companies, a proposition that has not been proven. Maybe a couple of them could receive that kind of offers. I doubt more than one will have such a rare privilege. What were thrown out in all the debates recently re nothing but a green eye syndrome. What other's have I must also have. Like the 'eye' which they called it the 'flyer.' Other countries have the ferris wheel so must we. This is hardly a rational justification for being paid the same as the private sector. A business concern is totally different from a public service. One is money and profit oriented, the other is people oriented, a lot of nobility, passion and mission towards a country and the people's well being. The rewards are different. The political structure or system that we have is an artificiality that cannot be replicated nor continue to exist forever anywhere in the world. Up to a point it will look ridiculous and will self destruct. It will be dismantled or become a joke in times to come as all things artificial must go the same way. Our system is built by a one party dominance system that has entrenched itself and thinks that this is it and will be institutionalised for perpetuity. A political system is a political system. It is never meant to be an occupation where people can built a lifelong career, as an employee. The conditions, prerequisites, mentality and expectations are totally different. In the first place the political appointees do not need any objective qualifications. Anyone, a barber, taxi driver, or even a comedian without any skills in govt, or the discipline of higher education, can stand for election and get elected by the people. The supertalent concept is only a system applied by the ruling party. No other party is doing the same. And given the unpredictability of the electorate, the party of supertalents may be voted out and replaced by a party of average talents. When it happens, the whole pay system will become incongruent to the reality. It is no laughing matter paying millions to a wayward group or pretenders. And whose millions are being used to pay the politicians? It is the people's money. The billions of the nation's money are the people's money and cannot be used to pay politicians to serve the interest of any political party. Everyone receiving public money must be accountable to the huge sums he is being paid. If he is redundant or not doing a job worthy of that kind of money, then it is a misuse of public fund. The value of the job must justify the money paid and not for any other reasons. In a commercial enterprise, especially a family owned business, the grandfather and grandmother can continue to draw exorbitant salaries for doing nothing, maybe given a big title as chairman or director. That is private business and private money. One can do whatever one is happy with his own private money. The govt must look at the bigger picture and understand that the current aquarium set up is a temporary condition, an artificiality that may not hold in the longer run. Sooner or later, the longkang fish, the tadpoles, and the worms are going to infest the aquarium and it will not look so perfect on the window display. And a country cannot be held at ransom for fear that the elite will become corrupt or be offered a higher pay by the private sector and leave the people in the lurch. There will be a few not so clever individuals who will step forward to serve the country for more noble and altruistic reasons. Unless this money culture has already set roots in the minds of all Singaporeans. Then we will be doomed for sure. And I can assure everyone that it is a matter of time before the nation will be sold to the highest bidder.

are they joking about us?

Has anyone heard what the foreigners were saying about our logic that we need to pay millions to keep our ministers from being corrupt? I heard something, a little, inside the lift. But most of it were drown by the giggling and laughing that followed. What I heard was when would it stop, or something like how much would it be enough? Or is it like a dog chasing after its tail?

notable quotes

"Retrenchment is good for singapore. If there is no retrenchments, then I worry." - SM Goh "I don't think that there should be a cap on the number of directorship that a person can hold." - PAP MP John Chen who holds 8 directorships. "It's not for the money because some of the companies pay me as little as $10,000 a year." - PAP MP Wang Kai Yuen who holds 11 directorships. "If you want to dance on a bar top, some of us will fall off the bar Top. Some people will die as a result of liberalising bar top dancing… a young girl with a short skirt dancing on it may attract some insults from some other men, the boyfriend will start fighting and some people will die." - Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports "I would want to form an alternative policies group in Parliament, comprising 20 PAP MPs. These 20 PAP MPs will be free to vote in accordance with what they think of a particular policy. In other words, the whip for them will be lifted. This is not playing politics, this is something which I think is worthwhile doing." - SM Goh "If you sing Jailhouse Rock with your electric guitar when others are playing Beethoven, you are out of order. The whip must be used on you." - SM Goh again, on a dramatic u-turn, rethink or backtrack, whatever you call it. "Save on one hairdo and use the money for breast screening." - another gem from Lim Hng Kiang "We started off with (the name) and after looking at everything, the name that really tugged at the heartstrings was in front of us. The name itself is not new, but what has been used informally so far has endeared itself to all parties." - Mah Bow Tan on the $400,000 exercise to rename Marina Bay as Marina Bay. "Having enjoyed football as a national sport for decades, we in Singapore have set ourselves the target of reaching the final rounds of World Cup in 2010." - Ho Peng Kee "Only 5% are unemployed. We still have 95% who are employed." - Yeo Cheow Tong "Singaporean workers have become more expensive than those in the USA and Australia." - Tony Tan "People support CPF cuts because there are no protest outside parliament." - PM Lee "No, it was not a U-turn, and neither was it a reversal of government policy. But you can call it a rethink." - Yeo Cheow Tong "…I regret making the decision because, in the end, the baby continued to be in intensive care, and KKH now runs up a total bill of more than $300,000…" - Lim Hng Kiang, regretting the decision to save a baby's life because KKH ran up a $300,000 bill "Without the elected president and if there is a freak result, within two or three years, the army would have to come in and stop it." - MM Lee Kuan Yew "Please do not assume that you can change governments. Young people don't understand this" - Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, post-2006 General Elections

The inevitable is here

Today is a very important day. Luckily it is not April 1.

Ominous signs are everywhere, from the front page of the major news media and through all the pages. It is the sign a sickness that will eventually eat up everything. We have gone down the slippery road and everyone is cheering what a great ride it is as we go down.

When it is time for a change, it will come and nothing can be done about it. All the factors will pull and push towards the change. And don't be surprised it will come much sooner than expected.