Howe Yoon Chong - His own man

'One of the lessons which he impressed on me was to be true to yourself, to say what you believe in, even if it means being disagreeable.' Vivian Balakrishnan. The above was what Vivian commented on Howe Yoon Chong. And from the other comments of personal experiences by other politicians, Howe Yoon Chong was indeed his own man. He did not minced words and he said what he meant. And for that, he naturally would find being a politicians difficult. And for that it is an admirable quality of a man who was true to himself all the time. No hypocrisy, no double talk. Just stuck to his principles and what he believed in, come what may. How many politicians can live to be like Howe Yoon Chong and be their true self? If we cannot respect such a man, what else can we respect?

Annuity - Nagging questions

How many people will live more than 85 years? How many of them will be destitutes and need charity? Can the govt afford to pay $300 pm to these octogenarians? Why go to all the trouble to implement a scheme that is unpopular and will only benefit a very small number of people? Please don't give the crap that all these old people will be dependent on welfare. The bulk of the lost generations, the uneducated, penniless, homeless and unemployable will be over in 10 or 20 years. The generations after them are not so desperate. Most would have something to fall back on. Those who still have to depend on charity will be those that have nothing in their CPF for the govt of hold back and neither would they have any HDB flats. These will be the new dropouts of society, the drug addicts, the loafers, etc, a small minority. And people are working longer from now on. Why are we doing all these? The problem so serious?

Quick, raise the lawyers' salary

Another lawyer has disappeared with client's money. Now, when are they going to learn? This is another vindication that the pay them well policy is the solution to prevent such problems. Quick, quick, increase their salaries....

Celebrating Singaporean - Howe Yoon Chong

He was not suave, charismatic, nor did he look like a TV star. Maybe more like Deng Xiao Ping. He was the unglamorous man that got things done. This is another pioneering leader that helped to build what Singapore is today. Would anyone put up a statue of him beside the foreign worker to honour his contribution? He was famous in Mindef. Heard stories that when he called up officers into his office, they trembled in their pants. And when he was scolding them, you could hear his voice at the other end of the corridor. Did I get my stories right? He was something like Goh Keng Swee, a doer that got things done with no nonsense. I did not know him as a man of humour. But he did joke. 'My hobby is getting some rest.'

Laws of Nature

When the old NKF were suing people in court, they were laughing to the bank. Easy money when the other party could not pay the legal fees and gave up the fight. The rest is history. Then Virtual Map also sued many users who copied their maps without persmission and were laughing to the bank with the high compensation claims. Virtual Map has been sued by Singapore Land Authority and lost. They are appealing. For the moment Odex is in a way repeating history, claiming compensations from illegal downloaders. Will history be repeated?