A curious letter in My Paper

Teoh Kueh Liang wrote to My Paper saying 'Govt should take the lead in hiring older workers'. Now where has Teo Kueh Liang been? The govt has been taking the lead in this area for many years. Just look at the cabinet? No, not the one in the kitchen. Or look at the Istana. Or look at the board of directors of all the govt linked companies and stats boards. Then do a count on the number of oldies in them, starting from the Chairman down. The govt has been the leading light in hiring oldies all these years. It is all there for the people to see. What would be nice is to have some top jobs like Chairman and Presidents to go on a rotation, a one year term for each incumbent. Then many Singaporeans could benefit from the experience to be in such positions and would appreciate the problems the country is facing better.

An amusingly frightening article

Last week I read an article by William Pesek in the ST explaining how China is at the brink of collapse or implosion. According to him, China is facing a mountain of problems that will pull it down. As a history student, I knew that China had collapsed 200 years ago, a broken country stricken with poverty, lack of industry, penniless, infested by warlords and foreign pests. Why is China facing imminent collapse today when it is the second most powerful country in the world, rid itself of all the foreign pests, warlordism, poverty and a reserve of US$2 trillion? China has muslim separatist problem that it could not handle, widespread corruption, an economy that is too export oriented and if America refuses to buy Chinese products, the factories will close shop. And there are in fighting among the Chinese leaders when Jiang ZeMin stood side by side with Hu JinTao at Tian An Men to view the parade. But the most serious problem China is facing is the reserve of US$2 trillion which it does not know what to do with. I thought I was reading an essay from a secondary school kid that is still in dreamland and highly intoxicated by the western media point of view. Is the Uigher separatist movement a problem to China? With a continent as huge as Europe and a 1.4b population, what is Uigher? China could simply designate a small corner of Xinjiang and called it the reservation to protect the Uighers and send all of them there, like the Red Indians in the US. Make sure they can get in but cannot get out. Any Uigher found outside the reservation should be arrested and send back to the reservation. Close the gates to the reservation, cordon it off with one of its armies and forget about them. See, problem solved. No American wants to buy cheap Chinese goods? The Chinese goods are now like drugs to the Americans. They need them desperately as no one could sell them as cheap and as good. The average American is broke and needs cheap stuff from China. The presence of Jiang together with Hu was to show how close the Chinese leadership is. From Deng to Jiang and to Hu, they are not building dynasties, they are not installing their princelings to perpetuate their rules. What rubbish about infighting? The western media can only hope that the Chinese leaders will fight among themselves by sowing seeds of discontent, conceiving imagination and presenting it as real. And about the US$2 trillion problem! I think every govt would wish to have this problem. They will crawl to Beijing to beg for the US$2 trillion problem to be theirs. It was a rubbish article that is most amusing and naive. But many readers will believe that China is in serious trouble after reading it.

Unappreciative and ungrateful Singaporeans

I read in some blogs and forums that Singaporeans are getting more angry with HDB inspite of the revelation that all the complaints about first time buyers not getting their flats were ridiculous. Mah Bow Tan has also quoted statistics, statistics, to prove the HDB case that the complaints were unjustified. And some were so angry to even call for voters to vote out the govt. So serious meh? Can't they see that Mah Bow Tan and the HDB were working their guts out to make sure that HDB flats are affordable and available to fit everyone's budget? There is an affordable flat somewhere for everyone. Just don't be choosy. Now which side of the story deserves more merits?

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.