Myth 175 - New Welfarism

Chua Mui Hoong wrote an article about a new disease which she called New Welfarism in town. Essentially she is talking about the subsidies and handouts which the govt is giving to the poor and expectations of handouts is now creeping up to the middle class. Singaporeans are taking these handouts as an annual giveaways from the govt. And she said that 'The PAP has been right in fearing a "crutch mentality" among the low income.' So while giving, there is this constant fear and reminder not to turn the country into a welfare state and erode the work ethics of the people. My observation is that she is barking up the wrong tree. Welfarism starts at the highest level where giveaways are disguised as just rewards. In the name of talent and high positions, people are demanding to be paid in gold and getting it. And no one is calling this welfarism but paying for according to market worth. And it is this bunch of leeches that are sneering at the few dollars thrown to the low income earners and claiming that these low down scums of society are developing a crutch mentality. The biggest recipients of the biggest handouts are all laughing to the bank and are blind to the handouts they are getting. They are even blind to the fact that they are victims of the crutch mentality and are demanding for more without knowing it. This is the New Welfarism that people are blind to it. Remove the handouts and you will immediately see the withdrawal symptoms. They may get delirious. And what kind of work ethics are we encouraging when people are being paid exorbitant sums not commensurate with the petty works they are doing?

Learning from India's Civil Service

Singapore wants to learn lessons from India’s ‘growth story’ March 20th, 2008 By Prashant K. Nanda New Delhi, March 20 (IANS) National University of Singapore (NUS) is inviting Indian civil servants to teach the ‘growth story’ to other Asian counterparts and in turn learn the best practices in public administration from global experts, all for free. “Many countries in the world want to know about India’s growth and we wish Indian civil servants to teach the developing countries. We are inviting them to do a course in our institute for free,” said Kenneth Paul Tan, assistant dean of NUS’ Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP). When I read the above I thought it was a joke. No it is serious. And nothing personal against the Indian Civil Service, I thought we should be teaching the world our brand of world class civil service? Without being prejudicial, I still believe we have the best civil service among all the ex British colonies. Some may argue that Hongkong's is the best now, but it is a touch and go and you would need a set of criteria to compare them objectively.

Looking for Mr Happy

This is surely the clearest sign of things are becoming bad. All the while I know that Singaporeans are all very happy. High paying jobs, govt angpows, full employment, world class services, staying in hospital also damn happy and don't want to go home. And the PRs and locals lagi happy. And their happiness are so infectious that all the FTs and foreign workers are also happy. The happiest of course are in the cabinet, I mean kitchen cabinet. They should instead be looking for Mr Unhappy. Now that will be a difficult task normally. Luckily with the recent turn of event you may find someone very unhappy. What I am not sure is how much would be spent on this happy exercise. Who is paying for such a creative idea? We are first world and the citizens are very mature to welcome such a wonderful idea.

Golden Years are here

With the news of price hike hitting the people almost every other day, we will soon be paying everything in gold. Just heard that PUB rate for power will be up next month. When oil is up, practically everything will be up. Power and transportation are all dependent on oil/petrol price. Welcome to the golden years.

Time to say a few good words

For three weeks he stood alone to face the wrath of the people, specifically those in cyberspace. Many have written asking Kan Seng to take responsibility and to resign. While everyone is taking potshots at him, he stood firm. And while being attacked, he still got time to say a few soothing words for the Home Team, to boost up their sagging morale. Indeed Kan Seng is a brave man. He fought like a lone warrior. No one has yet to speak out on his behalf. He must be feeling very lonely at this moment. Let's hope his terrain mapping tool will quickly map out where Mas Selamat is and bring him back to Mount Pleasant. Then we can all sing him praises and said we can all sleep well with him in charge again. It is a tough job and many would have crumbled. It needs a steely man to stand up in a moment like this, and to continue with the search despite all the criticism. Kan Seng is the man.