May Day Message

The Govt vows to listen more to the public, instead of predicting what is best for them....In the past, we in the govt used to think about what can be done for the people...This line of questioning is actually wrong, even though it sounds grand. We should instead be asking ourselves what we can achieve together with the people. - Donald Tsang. This is a message from a populist governor. Will it work or will the Singapore way work better?

Means Testing and hospital bills

There were two letters pleading for mercy in the wake of Means Testing and the increasing hospital bills. Doris Ng Hui Choo has a daughter that needs to be hospitalised every now and then for a week and her household income is $3,500. She asked whether this HUGE INCOME of $3,500 is adequate to pay for her daughter's medical bills? And Adeline Koh Kwek Poh commented that even the Medisave accounts of a few siblings may not be enough to pay for hospital bills that come in 6 figures. Can such people be mercifully allowed to opt for C or B2 wards? Would our compassionate and very rich people think a little about the plight of the common folks? I have challenged the notion or perception that a $5000 household income is heavenly when it is the combined income of 4 or 5 adults, each earning about $1k. Their personal expenses will eat up every cent, forget about having spare cash. But would people whose income is in the millions appreciate that life is tough for families with $5000 household income?

Patients can withdraw more from Medisave

With effect from 1 May, patients can now withdraw more from their Medisave to pay their medical bills. What it means is that they need not fork out so much cash. Now is this a good news or bad news? My old illiterate and ignorant mother used to say that going to hospital is free, cause can use CPF to pay. How nice. Does this big news really change anything? Is the medical fee and cost going to go down? Hmmmmm.....can we blame people for not having enough savings in their CPF for retirement?

I expect the Press to whistle blow - Vivian

That was what the Press was told by Vivian Balakrishnan. But according to PN Balji, the local media was taken to task by the foreign media for an obvious lapse in their reporting of the SGX affair. It was Dow Jones and The Asian Wall Street Journal that forced the issue and a change of mind at SGX. The episode is best described by Balji as 'A Fortnight that shouldn't be forgotten.' And Balji's article is in the Today paper. So at least the Today paper is feeling the pinch for the local msm for not playing the role of a watchdog. And it needs the foreign media to do the job. What does all these means? When Taksin was in power, everything was alright. So was the time when Suharto was in power. Their local media just played along with the power. But once power changes hand, all the skeletons came out. That is the powerful role of the press when it acts the role that it knows best.

Myth 135

The easiest job to do Many professional jobs require many years to strenous training and discipline to acquire knowledge and skills before one qualifies to practise. The lawyers, the doctors, the engineers, scientists etc. Even a chef will have to take years of training and practice to learn the rope. If we consider the discipline and years of training required as a guide to how difficult a job is, then politician is the easiest of all jobs. One can be a cook, a driver, a lecturer, an engineer, doctor or lawyer, but without any formal training, tomorrow one can become a politician. And the presumed expertise or ability is dependent on how successful one is in the previous profession. The higher one was paid before, the more able one is supposed to be as a politician. Maybe this part is a little tricky as a qualification. The loan shark or mafia boss or drug lord also earns in multiple of millions and should easily qualify as politicians. That is why in countries like Taiwan, Korea and Japan, the mafias are behind the politicians and with some becoming politicians. In brief, the requirement for a good politician is a clean moral record and be successful in any profession. Definitely much easier than any other professions.