Celebrating Singapore

Taking a magnifying glass and poring over the map carefully, it was with great effort that I found this little place called Singapore. Take another map before the 19th century and you would not find it. And this little piece of rock of 4 million people, actually about 2.5 mil if the non citizens are not counted, is hell of a rich country today. Without any natural resources, we are standing among the rich nations of the world. The most remarkable thing is that we have so much money as a state that we literally did not know what to do with it. Hey, we are talking about a few hundred billions in US currency. The boys must be going ga ga and getting dizzy in their heads. How to put those numbers into perspective? And we trotted around the globe with a handful of rich nations talking about where to put our money. And all the big corporations and nations in need of money will come knocking at our doors, taking a queue number and waited patiently to be welcomed in. Unbelieveable, but this is our achievement. We have plenty of cash. The little catch is that we don't have the people to take care of it. And we do not know what to do with it. So we do charity for the world. We are the number one philantrophist to the world. Take a bow. We deserve it.

Should fare hikes be posted in websites

Public transport companies are having wonderful and informative websites to promote what they are doing and educating and informing the public about the companies and activities. Shouldn't public companies post information on the history, the when and how much were the fare hikes on their websites? Such information are relevant and useful to the public. It is also all about transparency. And these are information that are not only available whenever there is an increase, they are all authorised, approved by PTC. They are not confidential information. I have been trying to find these information in the websites but no signs of them. Public transport companies, please post them on your websites please.

Knowing your place

Today I shall not indulge in matters that does not concern me, matters that should rightfully be the concerns of those who volunteered to care of them. Today I shall talk about things that a kopitiam shall talk about, about things that affect the kopitiam people daily. Let's start at 6am. What would people be doing at 6am when the sun is not even up? Sunrise is now 7am after we amended our time forward. Oh, the 'mummies' must be busy preparing their little kids for school. 6am may even be too late for those living further away. These are real stuff of kopitiams. What else, ha, choping seats in kopitiams with tissue papers. Arrrgggh, such bad habits, offensive, unacceptable. There must be better ways of choping seats. And don't forget to return the plates to the cleaning ah peks or ah mahs. And don't leave a mess after eating ok? Public transport may be something they should talk about. Not the high cost, but about seating on the floors, about peeping Toms, about giving up seats to aunties and uncles and getting annoyed when they don't accept the kind offers. For the young, talk about warcraft, about the latest gadgets and mobile phones, about Stomps, and yes, take pictures for Stomps. And the tai tais, about the most sexy lingeries and where to get them. I think there are many serious stuff that befit kopitiam talks. How nice if everyone will come to kopitiams and talk about such stuff. I think everyone will give me pat on the back and say, 'Good boy, that is your rightful place.'

18 years good enough to invest in stocks

The new ruling has just came out. 18 year olds can trade in the stock market. I don't use the word investing in stock markets. Stock markets used to be a place for long term investment. You put in some money and see them grow with the company. Not today. The stock market is like a casino or worst than a casino. The big players are manipulating the markets at will and investing in stocks is no longer like it was before. It is betting on a position every day, every hour and every second. I don't think it is the right thing for 18 year olds to be in this kind of stock market. We will turn into a nation of gamblers. is this the right way to go? At 18, the possibility of reckless trading is very high. And traders can easily be caught in bad positions and losses can accumulate into a mountain in no time. And the parents will end up bailing these kids out, that is if they are able to or can afford to.

Parliament is not kopitiam

Parliament is the nation's highest body where the ablest men and women gather to discuss serious national issues. There are important things to be raised in Parliament. There are important things to be raised only in kopitiams. One issue I thought would be important enough is the sale of core national assets. We have sold 3 power stations which I believe should be regarded as core assets or strategic assets. They were real things, with buildings, machinery and equipment sitting on the ground. They provided an essential service to the people. We have exchanged them for fiat currency. From the fiat currency we got, we probably have used it to buy other assets which recently have proven to be fleeting assets. Now the money is gone. The fleeting assets have diminished in value. Our 3 power stations also gone. The selling of core national assets must be seriously discussed in Parliament. If we do not need the money, there is no reason to sell such assets. Why trade our core and strategic assets for things that, well, have proven unworthy or worthless? Parliament must review such attempts to sell more national assets in the future and decide whether it is a good thing or a sensible thing to do. At this point in time it has been proven to be unwise. It is like selling Christmas Island. Once sold it is gone forever.