Poor planning led to shortage of lawyers

The decision was made some 20 years ago to cut down on the number of lawyers through smaller student intakes. 'The decision to aribitrarily turn off the tap was grounded in some sound reasons, such as the desire to maintain the quality of the profession.' So said Conrad Raj. Can a decision be arbitrary and at the same time based on sound reasons? Arbitrary means arbitrary, boh lee yew. With sound reasons, must be well thought out. Whatever, the consequence is what we are facing, a shortage of lawyers, and indirectly a high legal fee, as shortage means high demand which means can command more pay. We are also facing a severe shortage of doctors and hospital beds. The latter we have talked about earlier and we know why. Well thought out reasons with intention to maintain a shortage. The lack of doctors could also be an arbitrary decision with sound reasons. It cannot be a case of poor planning. Planning is our forte. We are excellent planners and we are proactive, able to look into the future and anticipate problems. I think we should not be presumptious to deride our super talents for poor planning and lack of foresight. The problems we are facing are likely the result of good decisions that are coming back to haunt us. The decisions were good then, but bad now.

Myth 177

For the next 18 years or so, no one in their 40s and above today is good enough to be the PM of Singapore. Maybe this is not a myth but a newfound tooth. This sad state of affair is best reflected in PN Balji's article when he expressed fear in case of an emergency and no one is good enough to take over from the current PM. The next PM of Singapore will be found among those in the 30s today. So all the above 40s are has beens. Please do not feel slighted. It is the tooth. The other tooth is that Singaporeans may not even be the next PM. The best could be a quitter, a quitter from paradise or from any other country. Now this is more likely the truth. It only confirms our lack of locally born talents.

The ever changing wisdom

Singaporeans are perhaps the most adaptable and flexible people in the world. They are easily taught to change, even their mindset. In the 50s and 60s, they would all be looking forward to retirement at 55, to look after grandchildren or drinking kopi in the kopitiams. Today, this kind of mindset has changed. The new wisdom is to work till you drop dead. This model is built on a new reality, on independence, self worth and pride, and being useful to society. And also not being a burden to family and society. Not that the high cost of living has made life unsustainable if they have not money. The old wisdom was built on family as the building blocks of a country, filial piety, looking after parents and letting him have a rest, after years of toiling to bring up the children. It is time to live on the fruits of labour, to harvest, and enjoy the children and grandchildren. And the children feel proud to be able to provide for their parents aplenty. Dr Anne Chong Su Yan wrote a letter to the Sunday Times and this is the first paragraph. 'Recently, I was at a toilet in a shopping centre when I noticed an elderly woman with a bent and crooked back trying to clean the floor while fashionable young women applied their lipsticks and checked their hairdos in the mirror.' Good for her. She finally found out that in paradise there are such old people working in the toilets. It is better late than never. It would be shocking if one day she realised that there are poor people in paradise. The gist of her letter expressed her shock that old people were working in toilets instead of sleeping under the coconut trees on a beach chair watching the sunset. But have no pity on these old folks. They are living the new wisdom. Pride, independence, and work till they drop dead. Some ass holes may brutally tell the truth, that they deserved to be in that state because they were irresponsible and squandered their youth away. Having old people working in toilets and living an independent lifestyle is a lifestyle of choice. It is the pride of our nation. We have succeeded.

Story of an ex CEO in an MNC

The CEO was replaced by a younger man, full of ideas and idealism, full of energy and vibrancy. The new CEO let the ex CEO sit in an equally big office next to his. All his other perks remained the same, including his private car park and driver, and his pay. And so was his private secretary which they both shared. The only exception is that all the duties and responsibilities were taken over by the new man. And for the lack of something to do, the ex CEO was assigned to look after the welfare of the old and loyal employees. And he was given the freedom to design his own job specifications. His request to visit other countries for 6 months on a study tour was quickly approved. The ex CEO was happy, that he was well treated and still walked around like a CEO. He was invited to all the official functions, like a CEO. After a year, he quit. He thought he was having a good time until one day, in his blurry and self deluded state of mind, he realised that he was being overpaid for doing exactly nothing. He quit out of shame and out of guilt. He even returned all the money he received from his company for the year he was there, for doing nothing. At least he valued his decency and for quitting, claimed back a little self respect and honour for himself.

Stop depending on Western Media

This is what George Yeo said. He also said, 'For too long, we have depended too much on the Western media for news about each other's regions.' And for too long we have allowed Western media to form views about us, what is acceptable to them and what is not, who is good and who is bad, according to their interest and agenda. The foolish Asians are starting to wake up and starting to think that they do not need the approval of the West on what they think is acceptable or not. Only now they are calling for a different world view in Asian eyes and in Asian interest. Singapore will host an Asia Middle East Dialogue to work towards the liberation of the Asian mind. Suddenly someone realised that they have a mind that can think, and that we are still colonised in our way of thinking and in the news we read. Only now that we realised that our views and opinions were formulated by the West. Pathetic. In the first place all Asian media should do a soul searching and kick out the asses that allowed misinformation and distortion of information by Western media to appear in their prints and news. This kind of unthinking and shallow behavior cannot be allowed to continue, unless the country is still a colony and the press is controlled by the West.. We demand a high standard of reporting on our own internal affairs by foreigners, or at least insist on a right of reply. We are we printing distorted and mischievious articles about Asian countries freely as a right, as a freedom of expression, press freedom? For so doing, we are equally guilty to the misinformation and mischiefs created and the distorting of the minds of the readers. Lets first start at home and impose a high standard of reporting and not blindly printing misinformation or totally biased views in our media. And if there is a reason to do so, include a qualification or a fair and objective article to prevent the tooth from becoming the truth.