Ming Yi found guilty of fraud

Goh Kah Eng or Ming Yi and Raymond Yeung were both found guilty of fraud, falsifying documents and misappropriating funds. Ming Yi was a high profile monk, well known for his self sacrificing acts to raise funds for his charity works, to help the needies and poor. But some how inside Ming Yi there is a Goh Kah Eng that did not go away. And being the human part, Goh Kah Eng succumbed to the temptation of greed. Very sad that even a high profile monk could not overcome such temptation. Now I am growing to appreciate our system more for its incorruptibility. And the incorruptibles are deserving to be immortals and demigods, undefeated by temptation and greed.

Housing shortage problem solved!

50 to 60% of BTO applicants did not take up the flats offered to them. And the excuses they gave for not taking up the flats were more spurious than genuine. The conclusion, first timers applying for flats, most or almost all, will be successful. So there is no shortage of public housing problem. And I would suggest that there is no need to put up more BTOs in a hurry. What for, when there is no real urgency? Putting up more will only lead to a glut and over supply. Come to think of it, under the BTO scheme, if anyone applies for it and failed to get a flat, then something must be seriously wrong with the system. It is built on demand. And application is submitted 3 or more years in advance. How can any applicant failed to get his flat? The failings are first timers who needed a flat fast, not having to wait 3 or more years. This is the crux of the problem. In 3 years, many things can happen. The marriage may even be called off, or the couple may strike lottery or their income gone above the $8k ceiling, or they may inherit the flats from their parents or someone else. Anyway, the public outcry for shortages in public housing is a hoax, imagination, biased and unfair demand for attention.

Speaking through two holes

HDB has revealed that the take up rate at Punggol Breeze and Fernvale Residence were only 69% and 55% respectively. And according to HDB, the reasons were long waiting time, 3 to 4 years to build, choice units taken up, and maybe distance from MRT stations. But according to HDB, this is a sign 'that first time buyers still have plenty of choices despite the high demand for flats in some areas'. Wow, really ah! And it is good news that HDB will proceed to build these flats as they are confident of sustained demand for public housing. I can give a personal guarantee that all the flats will be taken up when completed. Just turn off the supply. It's elementary Watson! What other reasons for not taking up the BTO flats? I am still scratching my head. Damn difficult to find out the truth.

Putting a tighter leash on Ris Low

It is for her own good. Judge May Meseenas has imposed stricter supervision criteria after Ris Low's probation came up for review. She would now not be allowed to shop alone. And she must continue with her psychiatric treatment. I would presume that the reason for imposing stricter conditions must be due to the supervisee trangressing the limits during the probation period. Now what did Ris Low did to bring about tighter supervision on her freedom? Did she commit or attempt to commit theft again? Or is it because she participated in the Miss World contest? It looks like Ris Low is a danger to herself and to society. It would be better to put her on a leash or in a lockup.

Myth 212 - Free competition is good

Over the years we have been creating a few fictional warlords to compete with each other for monopolistic businesses and we claimed that they are good. Competition means better quality, efficiency and competitive pricing. Then some quietly merged again, probably realising that it was all a hoax. Now we have two out of three media/entertainment providers competing with each other to see who can pay more to acquire rights to entertain the consumers. And all must be doing it for the good of their consumers. The consumers can expect better quality programmes at lower or more competitive cost. Now, would the programmes be better now that Singtel had almost double the bid price to acquire the rights for EPL etc? Would the consumers be paying more or lesser after this great and free competition? Someone was shouting 'Singapore Premium ah!' behind my back. It is so easy to make money from Singapore. No problem actually when we have so much money to spend, OPM.