The people are getting angry

With the high cost of living, with every dollar being stretched (says who? who's dollar being stretched?) some are crying out against the news of more gantries and higher tolls. A letter written by Karen Tan in Today complained why the timing, why now? A little congestion for a cosmopolitan city is normal. In fact you need traffic jams to show the world that you a busy city. How would the city look like if there were only a few cars? Is the introduction of gantries and toll hikes a strategic move or an insensitive one? Or is it another case of fanatics at work, where they think that they are always right and no need to care about how others are affected by it? Maybe it is done in preparation of the people towards higher costs in driving a car. The people needs to get use to it and soon they will accept it. Then it would not be so painful. Buy SMRT shares quick.

Leaders must inspire!

I was a young officer in the civil service working under the first generation leaders. The standard demanded by them was very high. Any report that I submitted must be 100% free from factual or typo error. Not even a comma or full stop in the wrong place was acceptable. I shivered at the thought of sending out a report with a comma or full stop missing. That was the standard set and demanded from the leaders. And we knew what that standard meant. We were inspired to achieve those standards, tough as they were. And for those who could not inspire, or down the line who were not inspired, there was the element of fear. Other than inspiration, there was also the element of punishment. The fear of making mistake and the fear of facing the music. Some will respond to inspiration, some will only respond to fear and punishment. Fast forward today, the Mas Selamat case was not a problem of a missing comma or fullstop. The mistakes were ugly. Imagine what would have happened in those days if such mistakes were to be made? Everyone would be trembling in their pants, maybe wetting as well. Today it was just Jack Neo shooting his movie. And can we expect people to learn from the mistakes? Yes, people will learn, that it is ok to slack, to be complacent, to make mistakes, and to walk away with a slap on the wrist. The message of complacency being acceptable has gone down the line. And what happened at the Magistrate with prisoners in the lockup walking out so easily spoke for itself. If leaders cannot inspire, they better be feared. If leaders cannot inspire, and still want to be nice, that is a recipe for more complacency.

Singaporeans are truly stupid

Every morning Today paper will be given free in several places. Every morning I pass Raffles Place MRT, quite early. And there will be piles and piles of Today paper to be given away. And sometimes the crowd will build up and jam the MRT station, all waiting for 7.30 am, for that is the time that the paper can be given away. Why 7.30am? Because the latecomers complained that they did not get their copies. So now must wait till 7.30am so that latecomers are happy. What about the early birds? Of course they are unhappy. What the fuck! If they have 1000 copies, 1000 readers will have the chance to get them. Why did they bother to care about early or late birds? And causing so much congestion in the station. And tempers ran high as well with some cursing and swearing at the distributors. But Singaporeans are rule followers and just cannot think. The boss says 7.30am. So do as the boss said. The boss can be stupid, doesn't matter. Follow orders and nothing will harm you. Maybe I should not generalise that all Singaporeans are stupid. Only some. The stupid decision makers.

Gantries and more gantries

Motorists will be the happiest people in paradise. Driving around will be a breeze, or at least around town comes 7 Jul. 5 more ERP gantries will go up and 32 more will up their toll fees. Or like they said, 'Have money will travel.' Just pay your way and all the way. It is great to be toll operators. It is only logical that the central business district be restricted to people who have a reason to be there. No more jalan jalan or makan angin in CBD for free. It is another form of Disneyland for the banking and finance people. In fact all other offices that are not related to these industries should not be there. They only add to the congestion and high demand for office space. Yes, have another set of regulations to keep non related industries from locating in the business districts. Set up a list of criteria to fulfil, something like mean testing. If don't qualify, no business to be there, shift out. We need to put people in their proper places.

Malaysia - What petrol subsidy?

Malaysia is a net exporter of oil. It is producing oil and selling oil at a highly inflated price due to speculations by western oil traders. The cost of production of oil is also relatively unchanged. So what subsidy is Malaysia talking about? They should be talking about profits, and huge profits. The only kind of subsidy is market subsidy, a uniquely Singapore experience. Because of the high market price, the Malaysian govt could sell their petrol at a much higher price. So to sell them at a lower price, it is called SUBSIDY! Does the Malaysian Govt understand this term? Singaporeans do and are very cynical about it when it is mentioned. And why cut the 'subsidy' and then decide to give back to the people in kind while at the same time incurring the wrath of the people? There are good things to learn from Singapore. But some things are quite silly and should not be copied without knowing what they meant and how badly they are received by the people. Low petrol prices in Malaysia is not subsidy to the Malaysians. It is lesser profits to Petronas, to the Malaysian Govt.