Another day of disappointment

I was watching In Parliament last night, looking for gems again. It was another disappointing session. After sitting through the 10 minutes of airing on Channel 5 I could not remember anything worth noting. All I could recall was a few familiar faces like Halimah, Zaqy, Ho Geok Choo and Hawazi. Oh, I remember the camera zoomed in on a handful of faces in the back bench. To be exact, I remember 3 faces, De Souza, Pauline and Sylvia. And the camera kept coming back to Pauline as if the room was too crowded and it was being blocked from taking other faces. I was hoping that it could pan the whole Parliament room to show all the faces but no. Viewers watching In Parliament could go off with the impression that our Parliament had not more than 10 MPs. Of course there were 84 of them out there. This morning's ST reported that Mah Bow Tan was there and so was Lee Bee Wah. She dispelled the impression that Parliament was having a sleepy session. It was indeed very busy. This is what she said. 'Sometimes we are not called on even though we put up our hands. I would like to see more time devoted to hot topics in particular, so that the issue can be thoroughly debated.' That I agree, will be a good change instead of limiting debating time and the session ended with a minister making his prepared speech and followed by a few prepared questions from the MPs. To give justice to Parliament sitting, MediaCorp should devote more time to it rather than the 10 minutes accorded, same same like Talking Point. Even Blog TV has longer air time than the highest body meeting in the country. It would give an opportunity for the people to share some of the wisdom from the best talents in the country, anytime betterer than Blog TV.

Shhhhh…planning is a bad word

Don’t ever mention the word ‘planning’ in the public. To plan ahead, be proactive, and prepare for problems before they arise! Saying this word is going to result in many red faces. Just whisper it in private if you want, and have a good laugh at it. A little bird said that to me. I think it makes a lot of sense. The word may be raised to the same status as ‘boomz’. Or it may even become taboo.

The Ridiculous Nature of Thick Heads

Up till today, they are still using the same stupid reasons to explain the fiasco in public housing. There must be demand before HDB will build more flats. What about the demand of those who could not afford and could not apply, no demand by default of inability? And what about those that were kicked out of the HDB queue because their incomes are deemed too high? HDB will build flats to cater for the lower income first. Those who earn above HDB’s arbitrary income ceiling cannot apply for HDB flats as they will compete with the lower income and push up demand and prices! How silly. But they cannot see the silliness of this argument. The higher income group can only apply for the bigger and more expensive flats. So they are not competing with the lower income group for smaller flats. So what is the problem? What is the problem? The whole problem is NOT building enough to meet the demand. That is the stupid problem. And how silly of it when the flats are sold for huge profits? Hey jokers, you are not doing charity and selling flats at a loss! Can you get it? It is profit and profit and more profit. The difference is how much profit. So what is your problem in building more flats to meet the needs of all citizens irrespective of their income? Is it that citizens buying HDB flats will deflate the prices of private properties and the coffers of private developers, and the rich/speculators who have bought private properties and waiting to dump to these suckers that have no where to turn to? How thick can they get? They are still thinking that they are selling HDB flats at a loss and so must not build more than necessary.

Yesterday in Parliament

I could not find any specific gems in yesterday's parliament session to broadcast. Instead I found a new mood of confidence and self assurance that everyone had done a good job. Getting betterer by the days. The new housing measures to curb speculation were carefully thought out to benefit everyone in the property game, from existing home owners, new home owners and even speculators. Only our supertalents are up to it to come out with such a perfect measure to correct the fiasco of yesterday. Then the abrupt curtailment of free bus services to the Integrated Resorts. The measures were timely and necessary and for the good of the people. The govt is in control of the whole situation and will tighten the noose when necessary or when the IR operators cross the line. Would the govt have let the free bus services to continue if the IR operators did not mention or promote anything related to the casinos but emphasising only the goodness and wholesomeness of the IRs? Are the two resorts meant to be for the family, wholesome activities where everyone from Ah Ma to Ah Soon can enjoy? Or the IRs were just cleverly disguised casinos with all its evils and should not be promoted to the hardlanders as wholesome family entertainment? I think the truth is out. The IRs are hideous highouts for gamblers. Keep the Singaporeans and their families away. No promotion to their attractions allowed. And no free buses from hardlanders. And the YOG was money well spent. I also think so. I remember one project where the towkay wanted everything to be the best and no one dare to say no to him. It also had the same result, everything was top notch, plus cost overrun. But then that project was on OPM. So didn't matter. Sylvia's question on why the cost was overran by 3 times was well explained by Vivian. Sylvia thought if the whole event cost $387 million, and the cost of the recording system and upgrading of the facilities already cost nearly $200m, the latter should not be too difficult to project . The reply was that we did not know that it was an international event and we needed a higher standard of everything when we knew that it was so. So the cost needed to be scaled up to meet the world standard expected of the event. Sounds very reasonable and convincing. Luckily they didn't provide food for the volunteers at international standard or the cost would blow a bit more. My overall assessment of yesterday's Parliament is that everyone was happy that they had a job well done. You could see that on their faces, full of confidence that everything is going well. It is good that they feel that way especially when the election is around the corner. Confidence means half the battle won.

Sylvia Lim – A pertinent question

Sylvia Lim is going to ask Kan Seng about employing non Singaporeans as security officers. To many, with the line between Singaporeans and foreigners being blurred, employing foreigners as security officers is just a commercial activity. Yes we also have the Gurkhas as a precedent. So nothing to sweat about. After all Singapore is now a country for everyone or anyone who is a talent and want to settle here. If they don’t, we may even want to force them to. For Singaporeans, the Sinkiputras who value this little piece of rock as their only home, seeing how it is being abused by the influx of foreigners is heart wrenching. Personally I will feel very pissed off if I return to my country and is being checked and queried by a foreigner. I hope no foreigners are being employed and deployed at our doors to check on Singaporeans. It is a very obnoxious and pungent thing to do. This is like asking foreigners who became Singaporeans and asked to defend the country. All you need is a few bad apples and many lives can be lost. Remember the case in Australia when two of our young men were murdered by a new citizen turned soldier? We accept foreigners on face value and with good intent. Do we know who they are and what they are in the first place, what is their intent? Yes Sylvia, please ask Kan Seng.