Recent achievements

Time to take stock of the recent achievements of the govt ministries. The MOH has completed its plan to make sure that everyone is able to pay his medical bills when admitted to hospitals. The bill is large, it did not do much to bring down the hospital costs, but it did got the various medical insurance schemes going and potential patients can feel better that the insurance will take care of the bills. They only need to pay a few dollars more a month to the medishield. The second achievement is old age problems. The MOM knows that people will live longer, to 85 or 100 and need more money to keep themselves alive. They fear for the old people, that they will have no money to spend at old age. This problem is also solved through the Long life annuity scheme. So Singaporeans will now have more money to spend when they grow old. Transport problem is also solved, or at least temporarily solved through more ERPs and lesser COEs. Then in the not too distant future the Circle Line will come on stream. This will definitely help. For those living the in the extreme east, west and north, their problems of getting to the city may still be the same as they converge there daily. But this too will be taken care off with decentralisation in the future. In this short span of time, three major problems were solved. Looking forward, the outstanding one will be high education cost. A solution will be found soon. Security will be no problem despite the little glitch recently and can be said to be well controlled. Not bad for the report card.

Beware, caveat emptor, Yeong Kie Seafood Restaurant

Last week, I brought my guests to Genting Highlands. After a day above the clouds', we decided to have dinner at the Gohtong Jaya area on the way down. We ordered some dishes and decided to have a steamed fish as well. So the captain recommended 'sultan fish'. The steamed fish came. HALF, and plain steamed. Good & fine. But when the bill came, it came to over $500 !! We were shocked !! We were told the fish was 1.4kg ( & please bear in mind, its ONLY HALF A FISH ) at RM 320 per kg! RM 420!! This was daylight robbery. We were not informed by the Captain that a kg of the Sultan fish would cost us RM320 and there was also no signs of such pricings anywhere in the restaurant. When we checked with the cashier, she told us, its correct !! Of cos, it was our mistake for not asking the! price first. Anyway, on the way back to KL, we stopped at Unique Seafood,PJ, where one can choose a live fish. The most expensive Soon Hock swimming in the tank is RM135 per kilo. Asked them about the Sultan fish, it is going for RM100 a kilo. Will be sending this letter to the newspapers, Tourism board, etc etc; and friends, pls pass on to all on yr email list. CHEATED. PS, the above posted was emailed to me.

Stop complaining, HELP is everywhere

Why are Singaporeans complaining about high cost of living when HELP is everywhere. Stretch out your hand and you can touch HELP. I couldn't believe that there is so much HELP out there to keep the people warm at night. HELP from the govt, HELP from the NGOs and charities. There must be thousands of HELP organisations with hundreds of millions of dollars helping the poor. And there are so few poor living among us that many did not even know they existed. There are handouts, discount vouchers, subsidies, donations, queues for free food, charity shows etc etc. Sometimes I wonder if we are in Africa! With so much HELP, so many wonderful people helping, a little affordable increases here and there should not mean a thing. We can indeed be called a HELP paradise. If we put all the HELP agencies together, and the varieties of HELP a Singaporean can get, we should rightfully be number ONE in the world for helping our people. And best, we don't believe in welfare state and giving freely to the people. It is so sian to talk about the poor when the poor are so well taken care of. And don't forget, the more the increases, the more HELP will be there. Fear not, for I have known you by your name....

The people don't understand

Many people are moaning about all the increases that are driving up the cost of living here. Many are angry. But they don't understand. These are complicated policies that are postulated to mean well. The people should go about their lives normally. Don't worry, all is in good hand. When the time comes, there will be handouts aplenty, and everyone will then understand why the govt has been collecting all the dues. We must believe that our govt thinks very far ahead and policies are implemented after careful thoughts. The whole process will be carefully thought through. And Singaporeans do not have long to wait to see the fruits of such high fee policies. The next GE is not too far away. Remember the last GE? GE are good times, happy times, just like Budget times. Singaporeans will be very happy then. The GE will be days of abundance, dues collected during good times will be shared with the people. We must have more frequent elections and budget readings.

An example of a simple mind

You don't have to look far to understand how simple minded Singaporeans are. Just read the post by a Chong Yew Mun in the ST Forum today. He is claiming that people were too quick to recognise others mistakes like the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and thinks that they have overlooked the putting down of the recent Tibetan riots. He also finds it curious that Dr Ong Siew Chey, another forumer, suggested that the timing of the Tibetan riots coincided with the Beijing Olympics. He can not see any connection in the two events. His innocence is remarkable. He said China is solely responsible for the recent protest because of its suppression of the riots. It was the rioters fault that led to the suppression. He needs to understand what is geopolitics and why human rights is bullshit when political considerations take precedence. I like his innocence and idealism of a black and white world view. So simple to understand.