The peanut fix

We used to buy a pack of peanuts while drinking our Anchor or Tsingtao beer in the kopitiam. That was a great way to live, a lifestyle for those with a few dollars to spend in the night. With growing prosperity, the simple peanut is no longer satisfying. Not because it is not tasty anymore. It is not expensive enough to fit into a new lifestyle called Rich and Famous. Now we have expensive wine and caviar. People's appetite grows with time and affluence. The more they have the more they want and the more they spend. The most revealing quote of Singapore's history is that $600k is peanut. At $600k, the peanut is still being sneered at, simply because those people have too much money. It is now more difficult to get a new high with a $600k peanut. The peanut needs to be worth more than that. Yesterday a $1m peanut may give a good kick. Tomorrow may be $5m and later maybe $100m. It is all relative and all drug addicts know how the dosage needs to be increased to feel the same way. There is no way out in the life of a drug addict. The only way to return value to the humble peanut is to find users that are used to a $2 pack and 2 bottles of Tiger beer. Start it at first base, just like the initiation of a new drug addict. A small dosage will be more than enough to get him high. Though the cycle will be repeated and eventually the new addicts will still be craving for $10m, it is still a reprieve and cheaper that way. Not all drug addicts start with morphine. Many grew up in the back lanes of yesterday running around barefooted. And the first stage to satisfy their desires is always the unassuming peanuts. When they are at the morphine stage, it is too late. The end is near.

Medal for model worker

I read about a post in Sammyboy of a bus driver 'arresting' a youth for cheating 20c. He stopped the bus, called for back up and the boy was taken away by the bus representative. All for 20c. This is the most honest, enthusiastic, dependable and conscientious bus driver that should be made into a model worker. Give him a medal on national day, make a bust of him and display it at Changi International Airport. Then write some stories about him and how he captured a commuter cheat singlehandedly and turn them in a Singapore legend. Cheating is a very serious offence. Bashing someone is not. A crime is a crime even if it is 20c. I think the bus driver is trying to make a statement on honesty and don't cheat the bus company's money

Time to feel generous and splurge

We all have a good year. Everything is looking so well, big pay rises and big bonuses. Time to give ourselves and our loved ones a treat. There is that expensive limited edition watch to pick up. Hmmm, a bit pricey but, what the heck! There is also the chocolate that costs $10 a bite, the abalone that may be even more chewy at $50 a chew. Ahh, the favourite bottle of red, $300, or $30 for a mouth wash. There are just too many good things in life that we should reward ourselves with for working so hard. And don't forget the little men and women sitting on the road sides or pedestrian mall. Spare them a couple of dollars as you pass by. Why am I feeling so guilty for doing that?

I don't feel safe in my neighbourhood anymore

This is what Tan Ting Ting said in her letter to the ST forum. Her neighbour was attacked after a late night party, bashed and robbed. She used to feel so pleased about the quiet and peaceful neighbourhood of Anchorage and Sengkang but these have turned into fear. Another woman was murdered at Holland Road and a Bangladeshi worker is being charged. Like I said, it is only the beginning. But thank god, statistically we are still looking very good. The crime numbers are still negligible. Then if you don't add people being assaulted as crime but personal and private problems between two people, then we can keep the numbers even lower. Fortunately or unfortunately the woman that was bashed was also robbed. Otherwise it would be another private matter for her to pursue with her lawyers. There must be regulations to limit and restrict the rental of HDB flats to foreign workers. Having a flat with 5 or more men, all hungry, burly and lonely is a recipe for trouble. Only the naive Singaporeans who have lived a life of peace and undisturbed existence will think that life will always be that way even with so many foreigners living next door. The day will come when the mothers, the wives and the daughters would not dare to walk alone in HDB void decks or corridors. That is the price to pay for our reckless disregard of social and environmental security. You only need one or two bad hats in a thousand to create pain and fear.

How Singaporeans think

Actually Singaporeans don't think. Only the elite think. The hottest issue now is Minister's pay. Ministers and MPs are not employees but elected people's representatives in parliament. Their tenure of service is subject to the mandate of the people every 4 years. The concern previously is that these people may be tempted to corrupt if they are not paid well. So their salaries, wonder that is the right term, were raised to million dollars level. With that we have solved our problem of corruption at high places. Now the new thinking is that their salaries need to be raised further. For what? Corruption is out. The new reason is to attract more future capable people to join politics. They are paying the current batch to prove to the future leaders that this is what they can get if they go into politics. Before, we use money to buy honesty. Now we use money to buy honesty and talents. Whose thinking? Not the average Singaporeans on the street. It is elite think. They think for the average Singaporeans. And many average Singaporeans also think that this is right thinking. Nobody question what is enough, what is enough to buy honesty and what is enough to buy talents. Is $5m enough? Is $10m enough or $20m?