IDR and tinted glass

When the two govts are trying so hard to get things going in the IDR, two agencies from opposite side are doing or not doing things to facilitate the movement of vehicles through the causeway. Both sides have different specifications for tinted car windscreens which technically makes travelling by cars a pain to the travellers. What is acceptable and not acceptable is going to irritate all the drivers. Can't the two agencies sit down and talk over kopi and decide on a common specs for the benefits of travellers/drivers? Or should such a minor issue become another sore point to the two agencies and to travellers?

5 man SAF team returned from Afghanistan

It was reported in the media that a 5 man SAF dental team has returned from a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan. And another engineering team is still there till Oct 31. It only reminds me of the 23 Korean hostages incident. What if? Hope we don't have to plead and bargain for their lives.

Umno Youth threatening bloggers

Hishamuddin had spoken again, threatening bloggers with sedition. "Umno Youth warns that freedom has its limits and we will not tolerate those who touch on issues of national stability, harmony, cultural values and the personality of national leaders," he said. Actually who are the greatest culprits in raising sensitive issues and threatening violence in the country? Luckily he did not draw his kris this time round.

Sin of Waste

Singapore will pay for its sin of waste one day. We are getting more like the Americans, wasting precious resources without a care as to how resources could be used more efficiently. We discard our cars after 10 years, some even less. Now we are tearing down buildings that are in good conditions, millions to build and millions added on by their owners. Tearing down some low rise houses for highrise is a necessity. But tearing down highrise to add on a few more floors and to charge the buyers more, all for more profits, well, it is a different ballgame. It is greed and waste with total disregard to the destruction of mother earth. More bricks and mortars, iron and steel, aluminium and plastics and mother earth will be used in the process. The immediate impact is to drive property prices up. And more people will end up having to pay more. The people who benefitted from en bloc sales will use the new cash to pay more by downgrading. This will in turn push up prices in the sector that they downgraded to. When property prices keep going up and income does not keep pace, many will end up chasing a fleeting dream. And when the bubble bursts, often it does, many will end up with valueless properties either people do not want or cannot afford to buy. The American subprime loan crisis is a good reminder of what could happened or had happened here before. When property prices were driven to ridiculous levels and the developers and all their cheer leaders and pom pom girls keep cheering that it is a good thing, prices will go higher. Now a HDB flat cost more than half a million, back to the pre crash prices of $600k and $700k. These are ridiculous prices, excessive for their real values. It will come tumbling down again. There will be no buyers to pay for them except the few who made easy gains from en bloc sales. The normal buyers, people who earned their money the proper ways, the hard ways, cannot afford to waste on such extravagant prices. Keep cheering and be irresponsible. The crash will come again. We will have our own subprime loan in over lending to the property market one more time. Non performing loan crisis. Our economy and income level cannot sustain an ever rising property prices.

Educating on the Inevitable

The old must die. That is a certainty that no one can escape. When the body ages, all the systems must fail, and all the regenerative and defensive systems must break down. That is life. We need to educate the people on the inevitable. We must educate the people that the road to the beyond is not something to fear or to delay at all cost. The people, especially the less educated and enlightened masses, must be assured that there is nothing in dying. It is a natural path to take. It is good to live as long as one is healthy and able, and with the finances to keep life going in a comfortable way. But if health does not permit, or finances are drying up, and when age and sicknesses catch up, there is a time to let go. When the people have been taught to expect the inevitable, there is lesser fear of death by old age. There will also be lesser worry about saving not enough for old age and the expensive hospital bills. There is no need for expensive hospital bills. Why should a lonely, homeless, penniless person, with all the body systems breaking down, insist on staying alive and paying a ransom to the medical profession and institutions to remain in that pathetic and useless condition? Would it be better, if he still have some savings in his CPF or Medisave, to use it to make his life more comfortable, enjoy his few remaining years with the food that he misses or the wine he wants to taste and live life to the fullest instead of stinging to keep all the money to be given away for the medical care givers to splurge on themselves? We must educate the people to save for their own comfort and enjoyment and not to feed the medical bills. Up to a point, there is no need to throw more money away to pay medical bills when the effort is futile.