High business cost is good

There was a time when there were calls for reducing business cost to stay competitive and relevant I think that was an old broken record and had been thrown away. Today, high cost means high quality, value for money. So high cost is good. High rental, high wages, high communication and transportation cost, high food and services costs, high education and medical cost etc. This is what a great first world city is all about. The higher we charge, the more people will flock here. Why are the hotels worrying that their rates are getting too high and tourists may not be able to afford them? Would medical tourists also go somewhere? Would the high spending shopping tourists go as well? Foreign students, foreign workers, businesses, would they stay and keep coming? What happens when one day we work up and all the factories are gone, hotels empty, hospital beds under utilised, shops without tourists, hawkers unable to pay for food court rentals? Never. It will not happen to us.

Low income section or store by NTUC

NTUC is exploring the idea of setting up another store or section to cater to low income folks. All the while I thought NTUC Fairprice is meant for low income folks. Or there is now a lower low income group to service? Would someone be suggesting that mean testing be put in place so that the low income and middle income groups cannot visit this new section/store? Would those who can afford to pay more should continue to pay more and only those who pass the mean testing test can buy from the new store? It must be this way. If not everyone will be patronising the new store and deprive the lower low income group from the benefits.

What kind of media we have

They claimed to be professionals, well trained, well qualified and paid to do the job as a profession. They claimed to report factually, the truth. They claimed to do a lot of fact checking to ensure accuracy, and very well researched pieces too. They also thumbed down the bloggers and cyberspace forumers as gossipers of no substance. They are the chosen and respectable ones. And they have the msm to prove that they are pristine professionals with their works in print and paid for, every letter and words published. They are valued for money. Ngiam Tong Dow thinks that they should just fall back on straight factual reporting. No need to think or think too hard. After all their opinions are unlikely to be of any value or not wanted unless.... What you people think of the media?

Brewing of a perfect storm

The political crisis is not over yet, just beginning. And Trengganu may be the state that is going to tip the scale and send Abdullah and UMNO into the oblivion. The royalties, led by the Agong, are standing up after being silenced by Mahathir for many years. And Abdullah is unlikely to be in the same league as Mahathir to keep them in the closet. The Agong, who is also the Sultan of Trengganu, is not going to appoint Abdullah's nominee as the MB and has appointed Ahmad Said instead. Any contest by Abdullah that this is unconstitutional could see a constitutional crisis and a fallout with the Palace. The very likely consequence is that Ahmad Said will take with him 12 UMNO MPs and may join PAS or PKR to form an opposition state govt. That would put Abdullah's govt in jeopardy, literally hanging on a string. And if the speculation of a cross over by East Malaysian MPs, Anwar is going to be the next PM in a few months' time. And UMNO will be irrelevant. So will MCA, MIC and Gerakan.

Untold secrets of our success

One of the greatest achievements of the ruling govt is to come out with decisions and policies that please the elite, including those from the academia. The latter are the thinkers, the critics and the people who can see the flaws of any bad policy or decision. And they can be expected to speak out on them or write critical analysis in msm or academic journals. The very fact that the elite and scholar thinkers are not saying anything or not saying much proves beyond any doubt that all our policies are very well conceived and implemented. It is a silent consensus that speaks louder that voicing loud approvals.