From proactive to reactive

This seems to be the picture of HDB’s housing policy today. In the past we pride ourselves in being proactive, plan ahead, anticipate problems before they happen. Now it is reacting and reacting, and look and see and then react again. And HDB is proud to say that it reacted swiftly to the changes in demand for public housing and raised its supply from 6,000 flats to 13,500 flats this year. This is a whooping 125% off the mark. And, ‘If the take up of BTO flats remains strong, we will continue to push out more flats under the BTO next year – at least one (project) every month if necessary,’ said Mah. It also said this, “‘What actually happens a few years down the road is unknown. Also, demand is not constant – it varies from year to year, depending on economic and other factors, ‘he told Parliament.” True, true, anything that is more than two days is unknown. Even the next hour is unknown. No need to forecast, no need to plan ahead, no data of population growth to work with, don’t know how many foreigners coming in etc etc. It is so difficult to plan ahead. Let’s take the realistic and practical approach. When there is a demand, then build. Ya Koon can make half boiled eggs in 5 minutes or even 4 minutes on demand.

Q and A in Parliament

The Parlaiment sat yesterday and questions were raised on public housing and answers were given. The PSLE has just concluded and the results will be out this Thursday. Comparing the two, the students got to spot questions and try to prepare answers that will match the questions if they were asked. Sometimes the questions were guessed correctly, sometimes not. And the prepared answers may be good but only the examiner will have the final say. It is quite tough for the students really. In Parliament, things are much easier. The questions are known in advance and the answers prepared accordingly by the best brains. The answers will be perfect. No need any examiner to mark. Even if there is any marking, the scores will be a perfect 100. Questioners completely satisfied and the people providing the answers perfectly happy for a job well done. Next question please.

The writings on the walls

The graffitis are getting bigger and more colourful. They are painted on lift doors, doors of HDB flats, on windows, on staircases. They are the works of loan shark runners. Despite quite a few have been arrested the number of reported cases of loan shark harassment has gone up to 13,771 for Jan to Sep , exceeding the 11.789 cases reported for the whole of last year. What are the loan shark graffitis saying? The message is simple. This is loan shark country. They are the boss. Now the men in blue are up in arms to deal with them seriously. New laws are being passed with stiffer penalties, heavier fines and caning for the runners, and now also the masterminds and the big guys. The question is whether the new punishments are enough to deter loan shark activities which are criminal in nature? Maybe the MHA can take a leaf from SGX on how to solve irritating problems. The exchange is very disturbed by the need to buy back shares which investors/remisiers sold by mistake or carelessness. These are not crimes but silly mistakes. The number of shares or values maybe very small, tens of dollars or a couple of hundreds of dollars. The penalty for the first unsuccessful attempt to buy back is $1000 fine or 5% of the contract value whichever is higher. And the penalties will go up with each day of delay in buying back the shares. After due date +3, the penalty is $5000 per day until the shares are bought back. And there will be disciplinary actions as well. The penalties are so effective that the remisiers and small investors are trembling in fear of making such mistakes. This is what is called effectiveness. Would the loan sharks and their runners tremble in fear with the new laws and penalties? We will have to wait for the harassment stats to tell the story.

Mysingaporenews joining Asian Correspondent

Announcement - We are going international Hi everyone, I have accepted an invitation from the Asian Correspondent to be one of their correspondents. There will be some minor changes to the format of presentation when the switch takes place either this week or next. The important thing is that the URL to mysingaporenews will not be changed and you can still log on to the blog as before. Also very important is that the style and content and the way I write will still be the same. I have full independence in posting in the same way as before. Not subject to any editorial policy or approval. The main advantage of this cooperation is that we will be riding on a bigger platform and gaining more readership and exposure. Please continue to enjoy and post as before. Cheers.

A new enlightenment has dawned on Singapore

Linguistic skill is not directly linked to intelligence. Singaporeans are finally enlightened to this fact. A Mrs Goh Su San wrote to the ST forum to salute LKY for telling it to the people. This Mrs Goh narrated the anguish and pain she and her family had to go through when their two sons fared badly in the Chinese Language in schools and they had to uproot from Singapore to settle in a foreign land. And loo and behold, their two sons blossomed and are now professionals in their chosen fields. The victims of language policies are not confined to just the second language, in particular Chinese Language. In the days of Senior Cambridge Examination, a student could have a string of As. But if he failed the English Language, he was a goner. No place in A level. And for those who did not pass GP in A Level, no place in the university. Failing the English Language was as good as failing the whole examination. How many brilliant students were lost through this language policy? It is history now. On the other hand, a student with a credit in English and all the donkeys and elephants could be admitted to the university. And many ended up as highly acclaimed intellectuals because to their university degrees and the command of the English Language, while the failures in the English Language could at best try their luck in business or else ended up in some clerical jobs or as mechanics. But it is better late than never that we are enlightened to this great truth today. With this great discovery, we could be entering an age of renaissance. Thank god, we are wiser now.