My words are getting prophetic

In no time I will be calling myself a prophet. Yesterday I was mumbling about the great news that patients would be paying less for hospital bills from their pocket but expect higher contributions to their Medisave. Even before the ink was dry, or before the sound of the keyboard faded away, news was out. CPF Minimum sum raised to $117,000 and Medisave Account raised to $32,000. And ceiling for Medisave is also raised to $37,000. If medical cost is not hauled back, looks like no immortals or demigods can do it, the people must be prepared to keep pumping more money into their Medisave. Now the rich citizens of Singapore have $149,000 in the lockup. The other prophetic statement I made earlier was my guess that the Malaysian Special Branch could actually be awared of Mas Selamat's whereabout in Malaysia long ago. Now it is in the paper, that they knew from the day he arrived in Malaysian soil. I am a prophet!

Sin Boon Ann apologised

Actually I was very disappointed. I am sure Sin Boon Ann did not make his comments out of nothing. Ok, quoting an unnamed source from the internet was a mistake. But was there biased reporting? Ok, don't use the word biased, but was the coverage fair? With Han Fook Kwang's admission that they could have done better, would Sin Boon Ann won his case should it be taken to court? In this case, with the privilege of speaking in Parliament, he would not have to go that path. What would happen if Sin Boon Ann insists that what he said was a fair comment? Was his apology just for quoting an unnamed source or was it an apology for saying that ST was biased in reporting which he then believed it was wrong and could not be substantiated?

Great savings on surgery bills!!!

'From today, you could pay $1,950 less for a knee replacement surgery and a six day hospital stay in a Class A ward - thanks to the increase in Medisave withdrawal limits for surgeries, which will reduce out of pocket expenses for patients.' This is the first paragraph of Neo Chai Chin's article on surgery bills in the Today paper. My 92 year old mother will jump with jubilation. She will even exclaimed, 'wow, free, so cheap!' To her, CPF money, Medisave money is not her money. It is money from somewhere that she did not know. So spending all the CPF money, all the Medisave money is alright. In a way it is true, afterall, one cannot touch the money unless one is so 'sway' to be struck by a serious illness. Then only one has the privilege to empty it from the Medisave Account. Otherwise, it is not your money to use. So, is this what reducing medical cost is all about? Or is it now cast in stone that medical cost cannot come down, will not come down, and the only way is to find other ways for the patients to pay, and the best way is to pay through the Medisave account. Don't take from the right pocket, take from the back pocket. So what's next, CPF not enough, Medisave not enough. We need to raise the contribution in the Medisave Account. The Medisave Account of the people are being depleted so fast, like the CPF, that they have not enough money for retirement and to pay medical bills. Raise the Medisave Account to $200K! That should do for a while.

9 NCMPs up for grabs!

This is the carrot that the govt is waving at the opposition parties. They know that the opposition candidates will not win an election except for Chiam and Low. And Chiam is fading away with age. The opposition may be left with Low alone unless Chiam can find a worthy successor to replace him. So far none in sight. Chaim should consider Sylvia Lim if all else failed. But not all is lost. The opposition can now hope to contest for the 9 NCMP seats available. This is their best bet. Don't forget, we have yet to hear anything about ensuring better quality MPs, indirectly saying that the barrier could be raised. If that be the case, the opposition will have to scratch their heads botak to find better candidates to stand. They can approach Siew Kum Hong as a possible. Not to be distracted, let's return to this happy proposition that opposition parties should be gunning to be NCMPs. The govt can make this more attractive by increasing the allowance for NCMPs. Then perhaps the opposition can serious go for it. And perhaps the opposition can table a counter proposal in Parliament to have 50% of the contested wards be offered NCMP seats. That will ensure a greater presence of opposition MPs in Parliament, a livelier debate and maybe a better govt. And the ruling govt can continue to be the govt forever and ever.

Good MP, Good Govt and Good Debate

This is the heading of an article by Jeremy Au Yong that screamed across the ST yesterday. He was reporting on Swee Say's assessment on the new changes to the electoral system, that it will bring about these results. How many of you agree with this conclusion? We have good govt for many years and people are getting wealthier, buying million dollar homes without battling an eyelid. Singaporeans are very rich and and living very well. Will we be getting better govt with the changes? Will the people be better off than they were now? Some will and some will remain losers all their lives. Making any one sentence or one paragraph conclusion on this will be too simplistic as the answer can only be found across the whole population. Good MPs? According to who and to who standard of assessment? Slipper MPs are bad, that's quite obvious. What else, must be highly qualified, must be successful, must be rich, must have rich parents, must come from top schools, must have straight As? Would these be the criteria to determine good MPs? Or without these, the quality of MPs will be poor, the barrier to entry if too low will be bad? I am still pondering what is a good MP? Good debate? Do we have good debates, great debates? With 15 minutes of coverage on the TV, one can hardly form any conclusion about the quality of debate, if there was a debate at all. Most often it was either govt MPs praising the govt or govt MPs talking down to the 3 opposition MPs. The provision of more NCMPs is just a side show. Nice to have but mostly inconsequential. What the Parliament needs are MPs of the people's choice, elected by the people under a system that is fair and equitable to all parties. Go back to the single ward representation of the past, and lower the financial barriers to entry. Let the potential MPs stand out and present themselves to the people first, convince the people that they are worthy to be an MP and get voted into the Parliament. Only then will we have a real Parliament of the people, by the people and for the people. Only then can we have MPs defending the rights of the people and not defending the interests of their parties. Retain a few 3 member GRCs to ensure minority representation and the rest can go straight to the people and let the people decide what they think is good for them. The electorate is well educated and mature today. On the other hand, let me offer a simplistic view here, good debates do not guarantee good govt. So it is better to have a business like govt and a not so good debate in Parliament. To have good MPs, good debates and good govt, is like having the cake and eats it. Too good to be true.