Chipping at the armour of resistance

As the bloggers keep soldiering on, their presence as an alternative news source cannot be ignored. Vivian Balakrishnan made the strongest statement yet on alternative views in cyberspace. He said in no uncertain terms that the govt is willing to listen to honestly held views from responsible people online. This is the first shift that we are seeing and hearing. Another step forward by bloggers to be heard. But bloggers need to be reasonable and post their views decently and stay away from inciting racial and religious tension. That is not only fair but necessary as we cannot afford to have such issues discussed in an irresponsible manners that will lead to more anger, instability and violence.

Purchasing power down by 2.4%

According to Irvin Seah, an economist, and as reported in Today, his estimate is that 'the purchasing power of wage earners is now 2.4% lower than a year ago. I am wondering whose purchasing power is down by only 2.4%. Perhaps those earning $50k or $100k a month. I think my purchasing power must have gone down by at least 10%. And for those whose income is primarily spent in food and transportation, I think it will be more than 20%. How many percent down will be someone who earns $800 pm when he has to spend $500 on food and $100 on transportation with the rest going to miscellaneous? Pray that he does not have a big medical bill to pay.

Don't expect any pay rise

Of course this statement is meant only for the workers. All the rosy pictures painted a few months back, golden years, full employment, needing more foreign workers and talents in a tight job market, employers paying extraordinary salaries to compete for talents (this is still true if we read how SMU fresh graduates are being paid $10K pm), job applicants can pick and choose their jobs, all these are no more. Despite the runaway cost of living, there will be no huge pay increases to soften the impact. But have no worry, the govt will be there to help. If the govt can afford to give another few hundred thousand dollars to raise the salary of underpaid ministers to market level, they will definitely be able to give another few hundred dollars to the poorer Singaporeans. It is not that bad after all. Employers don't pay more, there is the govt to back up. I don't think there will be another round of retrenchment or get rid of the oldies. Then again oldies can look forward to cleaning tables and washing plates in food courts. And they are all very happy doing that in their golden years. They have been interviewed and they have expressed their happiness to have a job and an income. I think the retirement age for such jobs will be raised to 80.

Feedback between the Ruler and the Ruled

I thought this is an outdated concept of the days of kings and emperors and feudal lords. But it seems that it is still relevant in a democracy like ours. Civil Servant Kathryn Ng of SingHealth commented that the Reach and Rap feedback mechanisms did not seem to work and all feedback appeared to have fallen into a dark and bottomless pit. She actually referred to it as a big, dark hole. She said that it would be better if the public knew what happened to their feedback and there would be better trust between 'the ruler and the ruled.' Her usage of these two words were very appropriate. The ruler replied and it included this, 'Leadership can't be held hostage to every idea expressed or every view or every solution offered.' That is quite a normal response from a ruler, I supposed. Or is this the norm in other democracies and this is how the ruler talked down to the ruled? Maybe it is not like that. Very likely is that we know what is best and what else can the ruled offered that can be better than our ideas? And we don't entertain simple and shallow ideas.

Speaking words of wisdom...let it be

I still remember these words from the Beatles. The ST gave two full pages to Ngaim Tong Dow today to speak his words of wisdoms from his recollection of the past and using them as lessons for the future. Among the things he lamented was the selling of Natsteel, the company that contributed to the building of HDB flats and many infrastructure of the island in the early days. He saw it as a sale of a host of knowledge. And yet we have sold more things, a host of history when some foreigners are willing to pay for it. Raffles Hotel is one. What's next? Ngiam also talked about civil servants being flexible and understanding the need of the people. Not everything can be priced and price is not everything. The govt is about the people and the people's general good, about empathy and compassion. What he did not say, but could be read, is that money grabbing and money policies are not the way to go. He is speaking words of wisdom, not word of intelligence. You need not be very intelligent to be wise. And one can be very intelligent but very unwise. And many of the things he talked about are the things that cyberspace is talking about but not spoken in msm. Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.