Getting squeezed or living in comfort?

Siamak Adibi, a foreign talent, and Darren Chong, wrote to Today about their concerns over the issues of limited resources and a growing population. Siamak is considering leaving if the condition gets worst. Our hospitals and public facilities are over taxed. People have to queue and wait for hours to see the doctors even with appointments. Public parks and utilities are stretched. Then Pritam Paul, another FT, dismissed such concerns and praised the great and liveable conditions we are having. He compared to India when the conditions were appalling and chastised Singaporeans for not knowing the paradise that they have. Mark Lee posted another letter saying that we, as a first world country, should measure ourselves against first world countries and their conditions of living. We should be comparing ourselves with Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, Montreal or Copahagen or similar places, definitely not with Manila, Mumbai, Bangkok, Hanoi or Jakarta. What Mark said is simply not to distort the truth by using poor and inappropriate examples. This is as good as lying.

Good that ERP rates have gone up

Finally a bold decision has been taken to raise ERP charges higher. Unfortunately it is still not going to be effective. It is still not high enough. We really need to have a tough man at the job to go for it, $10 or $20 per pass should do the job. Then the expressways will be faster and smoother. The raising of the charges will mean a few things. The smaller roads or roads with cheaper ERP charges will be jammed. That is what my crystal ball said. Unless public transport is good enough to replace private transport, and unless people with families and little children to rush to parents or schools can find alternative tranport that is efficient and fast. What is going to happen is that people will get use to the high charges and go back to use the expressways as there is no other better alternative transportation to meet their needs.

Boon Wan told, go ahead with mean testing

The issue of means testing has been in the back burner after Boon Wan has second thought over its implications. I think he was wavering as the idea is anything but mean. Now he has been told to go ahead with means testing. And of course, means testing, like raising GST, is to help the lower income group to pay for their medical fees. This is an unique formula that only works in this island. And if I did not hear wrongly, it is also to make medical fees more affordable to middle income earners in case they can't afford it anymore. Lucky Singaporeans.

How much would the wantan mee cost?

With the price of flour going up by 20 or 30%, how much will that plate of wantan mee or char kuay teow cost? The beef ball noodle, the fish ball noodle, hokien mee, mee goreng, and don't forget the chapati and the roti prata. All these are the staple food of the ordinary Singaporeans. How would this affect their daily diet? Would they now have to cut down their consumption or have to tighten more to keep themselves going?

Money in the decision making process

Why are Singaporeans so sceptical about the CPF and the annuity schemes to think that the govt is after their money? Is this perception fair? And now we have Singaporeans thinking that the public transport system and the ERPs are all there for the same purpose, to get more money from the Singaporeans instead of solving the transportation problem. Everyone now is thinking the same kind of thought. Can we blame them?