Motor Insurance Scam

No evidence does not mean that there is no fraud or cheating or false claims. And the culprits are a whole lot of people involved in the chain if what the insurance people claimed to know. And everyone is happy. Too difficult to unwind the mess. Insurers simply pay up or face an expensive lawsuit. Cheaper to pay and charge it to the innocent motorists in the form of insurance premiums. What the hell is going on? What kind of country are we becoming when scams of such a huge nature affecting hundreds of thousands of innocent motorists could just be ignored with a shrug of the shoulder? Are we going to accept that this is the societal norm, that cheating can go on because it is too troublesome to nail the culprits? Actually I don't think it is that difficult. Hang a few of them, jail them or make them pay hefty fines and put their faces on the front page of the newspaper, be they CEOs, workshop owners, doctors, insurance surveyors or lawyers or the motorists involved in the scam. We cannot become another Nigeria! Is our country going to the pigs?

Ho Kwon Ping -Spore beyond LKY

There is a followup article on this issue in the media by Ho Kwon Ping. This is a much better piece of things to read than the voluminous pages on cat fights. At least it is something worthy of the money we paid for. Basically the article examined the current status quo and what it would be before it arrives, a kind of thinking ahead, of the problems that may hit us. Ho Kwon Ping's first question is about PAP's ability to 'produce leaders of sufficient calibre that people will continue to support the unique one party dominant system' . Sadly, from all the signs we are seeing, from the policies and decisions made by the present generation of leaders, quite a few are simply doing a great disservice to themselves and their image as leaders. Oh, please feel free to disagree with my observation. It's ok. His second question is whether the future generation can find their way ahead without LKY and the PAP. He has faith that the new generations are much able and capable of taking care of themselves, something that we should be reassured. But this is contrary to the myth that there is no political talents and our best team is so so. See the contradiction? If we can't find any good calibre people to lead today, how can we ever hope of the leaderless people finding their way through choppy times? But I would like to agree with Ho Kwon Ping's optimism, and that in reality there are many able and capable people at the side line and they will step forward when needed. But sadly again, they were not coming forward exactly because of the current system that is hostile or at least inhospitable to their presence and their challenge to the chosen leadership. The system that brought us so far today will be the system that will bring us down, or will be done away with when the opportune time comes. I must qualify that it will not be thrown out, lock, stock and barrel. Only the bad policies and myths.

Electronic voting system for Singapore?

This is about the most perfect voting system we can think of. We should seriously consider this despite all the worries about how computer can be programmed to produce whatever results the programmer wants it. I read Ng E Jay's blog saying that the US is concerned about such a move. Fear not. Though computer is reputed to produce results according to the input, GIGO, it still boils down to human integrity and honesty. If we can have the most honest and high integrity officers operating the system, we can be sure that the system will function according to what it is supposed to do. Trust me, computer voting is not only convenient but also efficient and accurate. Tust me. I will leave it to everyone to trust the administrators of the system. This is very personal.

Singapore beyond Lee Kuan Yew

3 prominent politically well versed citizens spoke about a Singapore after LKY in a seminar organised by NTU yesterday. Mahbubani, Cherian George and Ho Kwon Ping gave their takes on what Singapore will become by then. There were concerns and optimism that all the things that needed to be done have been done to ensure that Singapore will continue to survive after LKY. But the 'huge political vacuum' created by LKY's sheer presence is very telling on whether anyone can fill his shoe. To make such a remark, it shows that after all these years, not a single one that is being groomed is close to fill the gap. Is this what we called a very successful leadership grooming and transfer process? Why is the best and ablest still fall so fall short of the expectation? Ho Kwon Ping made this observation, "This is not a pent up society waiting for the demise of the strongman in order to overturn highly unpopular laws." He added, 'Rather, the Govt has the support of the politically vital heartland in its pragmatic, incremental approach to change, even as it responds to tomorrow's generation.' These remarks suggest that Ho Kwon Ping has a lot of faith that nothing will change and the heartland is all behind the unpopular laws of the Govt. I am wondering how he came to such a conclusion. My reading is just contrary to his observation. But mine is based on my own reading of the mood of the people and what I have heard and read. The very fact that there is great fear of a split within the PAP is an indication of the differences in the views of the current leadership. And if that be true, how big is the schism and would it be big enough to overturn most of the unpopular policies? As for the heartlanders, they are very reticent in what they feel except for the kopitiam talks and what one heard inside a cab. I have my doubts that the present heartlanders are the same heartlanders of yesterday.

Should MPs be allowed to have full time employment?

The recent case of Josie Lau revealed the startling discovery that employees holding senior positions in an organisation should carefully review their ability and time commitment if they are to take another important appointment outside their organisation. This is particulary pertinent if both appointments are senior appointments that demand more of their time and effort. A good reference point is an appointment like the President of Aware and a VP position in a big organisation. If such a combination is deemed taxing enough on the appointment holder and to be discouraged, any combination that has more senior appointments than these must be avoided, if not, be disallowed. The rationale of time, commitment and responsibility to wear two such important hats is obvious. Can they really do a good job without compromising on the quality of their work? Unless such a fear is unfounded. Then we look at the job of an MP. Surely this must be at least 10x or 100x more demanding and taxing on the MP than the President of Aware. And what make things worst is that many of the MPs are holding more senior positions than just a VP. Many are CEOs with the responsibilities of the whole organisation. Should the issue of part time MP be reviewed in the light of such concerns? How can such an important appointment be done by part timers?