How proactive are we?

Today the hot topic is property prices shooting up, including rental of HDB flats. And the govt is saying don't worry, a lot of supply are coming downstream. It was only a few months ago when we heard of HDB over built and a lot of flats are still not sold. We also heard of changes in HDB policies not to build bigger flats and then to build bigger flats. If we are really proactive, we should be anticipating all the demographic changes coming our way and all the demand and supply issues. All the information are generated in the msm. Even the public knew about all the influx of foreigners and the 6 million population. Why are we reacting and trying to coop with all the impending changes instead of being ready for them without any surprises? Oh we are still planning and planning and planning ahead.

TV broadcasting - Time for liberalisation

With Singtel and Starhub providing a full range of programmes in competition with Media Corp, and with more broadcasters and programme providers coming into the fray, it is time to discard the archaic TV Licensing Scheme where consumers have to pay $110 to a sole provider whose programmes are hardly what the consumers want. Let the consumers have the choice of who to pay the $110 to. Oh, it is to the govt, but at least let the consumers have the choice to pick the service providers. Why should consumers pay $110 for Media Corp programmes that they don't watch and pay extra to watch programmes from other service providers? Doesn't make sense right?

Generation aXed - a thought provoking article

The above title of an article by Cheong Suk Wai in the Sunday Times is a very interesting article to read. She started by talking about this guy, I presumed must be a man, telling her that the country or the world will be a better place without the labourers or labourer's genes. The crux of this guy's theory is that good genes produce good genes. A very familiar line of thought. Then she cheekily quoted this Prof Wald who was asked to donate his sperm to the sperm bank for Nobel Prize winners so that the world will have more good genes. And the professor's reply was that his Nobel Prize genes came from a poor tailor. His own genes only produced two guitarists. Reading the article at face value is funny and a bit of an anti climax. But read in between the lines and the messages and all its nuances come through quite clearly. And there are many messages to be discovered. This is a real treasure hunt. One of the key message can be traced from these quotes: 'Now I don't know what he made of me, but my stunned silence throughout his tirade did not mean I agreed with it.' This is very Singaporean. Many audacious things happened recently, and all we hear is silence. 'But time and tribulation have taught me that the best response to such head scratching pronouncements is to say what you know in the very pit of your gut to be right and real.' What Suk Wai was saying is that you must be polite and say nicely to him but not to offend him or make him think that he is really an idiot. So her way of replying to the guy is this: 'What would competition be like when there are only good genes to compete against other good genes?' She did not talk back or demonstrate violently. She did not tell him he was wrong. She just asked a few plain questions. Hmmm, very similar to what I have been doing all these while.

Ranking a World Class govt

While we cherish and got delighted and gratified by all the number One rankings showered upon us, it is about time we do something for ourselves. Other countries have their private agenda for ranking countries to achieve their covert objectives. The one that comes out very clearly is the ranking of world class universities. By insisting in the goodness of having foreigners, academic staff and students, as good, highly desirable and a pre requisite to quality education and a high ranking, countries that feel insecure and needed a high ranking to boost up their egos will easily succumb to such seductions and import more foreigner academic staff and paid them handsomely to make their rankings look good. So, with a simple survey ranking, many academics were in hot demand all over the world. And the unwritten truth is that good academics are western academics. So the world has helped to get more western academics employed and with healthy bank accounts. It is practically a one way traffic as not many Asians or Africans will be good enough to be employed in western universities. Some may call this neo colonialism of the educated minds. A ranking of govts as world class, not first class, can also adopt some of the criteria used for world class universities. Needless to say, the foreign component is important. So govt will be encouraged to recruit foreigners into their ranks to boost the fertile mindsets of their contemporaries. Having cross fertilisation of ideas will definitely stimulate more innovative and novel thinking in govt. It is definitely better than incestuous thoughts. The other advantage is that with world govt feeling the need to employ foreigners into their ranks to be ranked among the tops, there will be more exchanges of people and ideas and this will bring the world closer as one big family. The seed of a world govt and international citizenship may be born through such a survey. Singapore will have a great advantage in having its fine politicians being recruited not only to third world countries but also first world countries. We will then be able to export our world class expertise in govt to the world. And we will benefit by having some of the best political brains in our govt. No politicians can resist the temptation of being paid world best salaries to be a political leader here. And it will not be a surprise to have Bush, Blair, Chirac, Putin, Abe all queuing with their CVs in hand at our doorstep. We will have truly world best politicians governing us.

Myth 152

Saving not enough It is a myth that people will never save enough for their retirement. It is like the insurance salesperson coming to you every other day to tell you that you are under covered and needed more insurance even if you have several millions covered. What is enough or not enough is very subjective. People earning several millions will say they are not having enough. So is someone earning $600. How much is enough is not dependent on how much one saved but how much one wants to spend. If one spends within his means, any reasonable amount is enough. And with other sources of income or savings, even $30k savings are more than enough for one who does not need to spend as he is fully provided for. For someone who wants to sail first class around the world for the rest of his life, several millions may not be enough for his lifestyle. We shall not dictate to the people on what is enough or not enough. It is subjective and personal and not a science. Why are we being forced to save so much and for who?