The PM has acknowledged the bigger role played by the bloggers in giving feedback to the govt, or the govt listening to their grouses and acting on them. Outside of the establishment set ups, outside of the political system and intrique, there are a few more prominent voices in cyberspace that are gaining a bigger follower for their unrestraint and non party views, views that are personal, objective, neutral and perhaps strongly critical of the wrongs of our socio political system.
Among the more established bloggers are Lucky Tan of Diary of a Singaporean Mind, FeedMeToTheFish of the blog with the same name. Lucky has been providing very good economic analysis of what affects the current situation and thinking. Fish is more critical and cynical about the social and political mess we are in. There are also Molly of MollyMeek and the hilarious Mr Brown to add a little light hearted perspective to an otherwise hardcore political reporting. I could add a few more. Cyberspace is growing and can easily outgrow the main media in terms of numbers of bloggers and articles put out.
I would like to add two former newspaper men who have left the corridors of power and more or less on their own and free to offer critical and objective views of their own. Seah Chiang Nee may be free lancing for the Star in Malaysia, but he is still writing profusely on developments in the city state. And occasionally there is PN Balji who would chip in with his two cents worth. Their contributions have given cyberspace more authority as they were not minnows without any credentials.
2012 is likely to see more voices being heard in cyberspace and may these pioneers and stalwarts continue to write and contribute to the buzz and oomphs of cyberspace.
1/03/2012
Medicare for Senior Citizens
Malaysia - Senior citizens can look forward to a healthy start to the new year - they can seek outpatient treatment at government hospitals and clinics without having to fork out a single sen.
Effective yesterday, the Government abolished the token RM1 (S$40 cents) payment senior citizens needed to pay each time they sought such treatment.
The Health Ministry announced in its latest circular that patients aged 60 and above would be exempted from making any payment for outpatient treatment at government hospitals and clinics.
This means that these patients will enjoy medical consultation, check-ups and medication at no charge at all.
The circular, issued by ministry's finance division secretary Wong Foong Lai, stated that the exemption was in appreciation of the contributions made by senior citizens.
Senior citizens would only have to pay a nominal fee if they required specialist care, treatment or hospitalisation…
Lim Wey Wen
If the above were to be in the ST all Singaporeans will know that it must be a joke. But that is real in Malaysia. If only our govt were to treat our seniors better and provide them free medical consultation in poly clinics for common illnesses and cough and colds where no hospitalisation and expensive medical treatment are needed. Our govt is so much richer than Malaysia. If they can afford it, why can’t we? Ok, asking for anything free is like asking to eat in hawker centre, foodcourt or restaurant. How about charging a flat fee of $3 or $5 for the seniors, and NO MEAN TESTING needed?
Many oldies are finding basic healthcare cost quite unbearable. It would be a dream start for 2012. But as they said, tan ku ku. There is no free lunch in paradise. If any oldie is thinking of getting free medical care, try to get admitted into a charity home and go perform in one of the charity shows on TV, and show the world how pathetic and pitiful he is. Then only will he get some charity for free.
Effective yesterday, the Government abolished the token RM1 (S$40 cents) payment senior citizens needed to pay each time they sought such treatment.
The Health Ministry announced in its latest circular that patients aged 60 and above would be exempted from making any payment for outpatient treatment at government hospitals and clinics.
This means that these patients will enjoy medical consultation, check-ups and medication at no charge at all.
The circular, issued by ministry's finance division secretary Wong Foong Lai, stated that the exemption was in appreciation of the contributions made by senior citizens.
Senior citizens would only have to pay a nominal fee if they required specialist care, treatment or hospitalisation…
Lim Wey Wen
If the above were to be in the ST all Singaporeans will know that it must be a joke. But that is real in Malaysia. If only our govt were to treat our seniors better and provide them free medical consultation in poly clinics for common illnesses and cough and colds where no hospitalisation and expensive medical treatment are needed. Our govt is so much richer than Malaysia. If they can afford it, why can’t we? Ok, asking for anything free is like asking to eat in hawker centre, foodcourt or restaurant. How about charging a flat fee of $3 or $5 for the seniors, and NO MEAN TESTING needed?
Many oldies are finding basic healthcare cost quite unbearable. It would be a dream start for 2012. But as they said, tan ku ku. There is no free lunch in paradise. If any oldie is thinking of getting free medical care, try to get admitted into a charity home and go perform in one of the charity shows on TV, and show the world how pathetic and pitiful he is. Then only will he get some charity for free.
A medal for Mah Bow Tan
Many Singaporeans may be unhappy with him and his arrogant housing policies and how it affected their lives and their income. Because of that, many have forgotten to look at the good side and achievements of this man. He was handed a $2b problem, more than 10,000 units of unsold HDB flats. There was initial panic when so much money was tied up in unsold properties.
Then he did a miraculous feat. Within a few years he not only sold all this flats, and the sale was so good that he turned a surplus into a shortage. As a result, HDB was able to sell its flats at higher and higher prices, bringing in great profits, though it surprisingly registered an unfortunate big loss in one year. The gist was that he was the best seller of properties. The best property salesman in the number of properties sold.
He also taught the complacent young people in family planning. Many have taken for granted that marriage is a thing that just happened and buying a flat is so easy. He is not going to make it easy for them in their careless approach to setting up a family. He made them plan ahead. He made them plan at least 3 to 5 years ahead, and the penalty was to get married without a flat in waiting. He would only build public flats when his order book was full. Period. And this demanded the buyers to plan carefully. It also cut down on spurious applications and long queues for flats. Only genuine buyers needed register.
He also encouraged the higher income young couple to buy private properties instead of HDB. He maintained the eligibility ceiling at a level that many had no choice but to go private or ended up no housing at all. There were many advantages which many young people did not see, like low interest rates and high demand for flats with influx of foreigners. Those who took his cue are now smiling as their properties would have appreciated many times despite the high mortgages they took. It indirectly also helped to boost the economy and GDP with higher consumption and borrowing. Those who did not listen to his advice only got themselves to blame. And many are still flatless and not eligible for public housing any more while private housing went beyond their reach.
Mah Bow Tan’s other achievement is conservation. By not building too many flats, the land was kept in reserve instead of wanton building for the sake of building. He knew how precious and limited is our land bank. And because of this, he went one step further by building flats of smaller sizes, saving on land, material and cost. The cost savings went into the furnishing as well, smaller space needed smaller furniture and lesser furniture. Great savings for the owners. Micky mouse flats become a fad and a new way of life and with assurance by HDB that the quality of life would not be affected.
While the people took for granted the ownership of public housing, the tight policies made the people more aware of how important owning a flat was, and how valuable a flat as well. Many are so happy that the same flat, after using and staying in it for so many years, can still fetch higher and higher prices. They are feeling so much richer.
This man deserves a medal for his foresight and nature conservation policies. If he did not hold down on the building programme, all the land would have been built up and no space left for anything. Don’t just look at the negative side. There are goodness in badness and badness in goodness.
With 2011 in the past, let’s give this man a medal for his achievements in public housing and conservation.
Then he did a miraculous feat. Within a few years he not only sold all this flats, and the sale was so good that he turned a surplus into a shortage. As a result, HDB was able to sell its flats at higher and higher prices, bringing in great profits, though it surprisingly registered an unfortunate big loss in one year. The gist was that he was the best seller of properties. The best property salesman in the number of properties sold.
He also taught the complacent young people in family planning. Many have taken for granted that marriage is a thing that just happened and buying a flat is so easy. He is not going to make it easy for them in their careless approach to setting up a family. He made them plan ahead. He made them plan at least 3 to 5 years ahead, and the penalty was to get married without a flat in waiting. He would only build public flats when his order book was full. Period. And this demanded the buyers to plan carefully. It also cut down on spurious applications and long queues for flats. Only genuine buyers needed register.
He also encouraged the higher income young couple to buy private properties instead of HDB. He maintained the eligibility ceiling at a level that many had no choice but to go private or ended up no housing at all. There were many advantages which many young people did not see, like low interest rates and high demand for flats with influx of foreigners. Those who took his cue are now smiling as their properties would have appreciated many times despite the high mortgages they took. It indirectly also helped to boost the economy and GDP with higher consumption and borrowing. Those who did not listen to his advice only got themselves to blame. And many are still flatless and not eligible for public housing any more while private housing went beyond their reach.
Mah Bow Tan’s other achievement is conservation. By not building too many flats, the land was kept in reserve instead of wanton building for the sake of building. He knew how precious and limited is our land bank. And because of this, he went one step further by building flats of smaller sizes, saving on land, material and cost. The cost savings went into the furnishing as well, smaller space needed smaller furniture and lesser furniture. Great savings for the owners. Micky mouse flats become a fad and a new way of life and with assurance by HDB that the quality of life would not be affected.
While the people took for granted the ownership of public housing, the tight policies made the people more aware of how important owning a flat was, and how valuable a flat as well. Many are so happy that the same flat, after using and staying in it for so many years, can still fetch higher and higher prices. They are feeling so much richer.
This man deserves a medal for his foresight and nature conservation policies. If he did not hold down on the building programme, all the land would have been built up and no space left for anything. Don’t just look at the negative side. There are goodness in badness and badness in goodness.
With 2011 in the past, let’s give this man a medal for his achievements in public housing and conservation.
1/02/2012
2012 a year of give and take
Many ordinary people will understand this give and take phrase to mean you take some, you give some, or you give some and you take some. It is so simple as that, or is it?
Different people have different takes when comes to give and take. Some say those who have been taking should stop taking and those who have been giving should stop giving, and the role be reversed. The takers should start to give and the giver should start to take.
Another view is that the taker should continue to take since he is the taker and the giver should continue to give since he is used to be the giver. And there are variations to how much to take and how much go give. The familiar formula is to take $1,000 and give $1. Oops, sorry, this is not about money. Money is not in the picture. In that case the position of giver and taker means different things. When money is concerned, the taker is always at the advantage. If not money, then the taker is at the losing end, taking shit and whatever.
Yes whatever, in the end it is likely that the taker will continue to take as it has become habitual. On the giver side, he too will be giving all the time. And it will still be a give and take situation, some will take and some will give. Some will take more and some will give less.
Different people have different takes when comes to give and take. Some say those who have been taking should stop taking and those who have been giving should stop giving, and the role be reversed. The takers should start to give and the giver should start to take.
Another view is that the taker should continue to take since he is the taker and the giver should continue to give since he is used to be the giver. And there are variations to how much to take and how much go give. The familiar formula is to take $1,000 and give $1. Oops, sorry, this is not about money. Money is not in the picture. In that case the position of giver and taker means different things. When money is concerned, the taker is always at the advantage. If not money, then the taker is at the losing end, taking shit and whatever.
Yes whatever, in the end it is likely that the taker will continue to take as it has become habitual. On the giver side, he too will be giving all the time. And it will still be a give and take situation, some will take and some will give. Some will take more and some will give less.
1/01/2012
The inevitable change
2011 set the stage for change in a new world with new players. The Americans tried very hard to retain its number One super power status and to contain the challenge coming from an emerging China. Much as it tried, American power is dwindling in the midst of economic failures and a mountain of debt. America continues in its pursuit of military power and control, getting itself embroiled in wars, in sanctions, in interfering with the domestic politics of every country on its good book or in its bad books. It poked its finger into Myanmar and North Korea, two countries that have nothing to do with the lives of Americans. While the North Koreans are mourning the death of its leaders, the Americans are furiously engaging the South Koreans on how to deal with the North Koreans when it is totally none of its business. It still thinks it has the privilege and resources to mess around the world.
Domestically we are seeing a party on the defensive. The ruling party has expended all its political capital and with every minister a liability rather than an asset to the party. Without political capital, something that it callously chose not to build over the last decades, it is looking at social capital to fall back on. How much social capital is there when it neglected building on it like political capital?
Singaporeans went through a very painful phase of ‘nothing can be done’, it is all due to market forces, wide income gap is good and natural, that is growth. High housing prices are beyond the govt’s control, so is high cost of living, market forces at work. The high intake of foreigners labelled as foreign talents is for the good of the people, like it or not. It can’t be helped. It is not the norm or responsibility to build housing for the people when they needed it. The govt will dictate when they want to build and how many to build, and 3 to 4 years wait is a take it or leave it position. So what can the people do about it other than to accept it as the norm.
Many people benefited from the govt’s policies of market forces, including very high pay, very high property prices. Those who have plenty kept piling their plates higher and higher when they could live for generations without having to work. The average Singaporeans continue to make ends meet and whine quietly. And the people were told to accept it as normal in a meritocracy. The rich will get richer and the poor poorer. Can’t be helped.
Many things were taken for granted. Retaining more and more of the people’s money in the CPF/Medisave is done against their wishes as if the money belongs to the govt becomes a norm. No need to consult the people. Just legislate to make it legal.
Is there really much social capital that the govt can tap on or call upon when the social economic system benefits only a small group of elites at the expense of the majority? The elites and talented are very happy, very, very happy, as they get richer and richer with favourable govt policies. So are the foreigners and the foreign talents. No where can they find a system that is so friendly to them than Singapore. And they would threaten to move some where if govt policies were not favourable to them. We owe them a living. On the other hand the average Singaporeans are finding life getting tougher for themselves and were told that they have themselves to blame.
Does the ruling party really believe that things are getting better for them and not getting worst for the years to come? The Americans are going to face tougher time ahead, like it or not. The only thing they have left is power, power to destroy, to impose sanctions, to coerce, to start wars. As the born again convert of Americanism, everything the Americans do, we follow. Would the blind believer follow the leader to the same end?
Domestically we are seeing a party on the defensive. The ruling party has expended all its political capital and with every minister a liability rather than an asset to the party. Without political capital, something that it callously chose not to build over the last decades, it is looking at social capital to fall back on. How much social capital is there when it neglected building on it like political capital?
Singaporeans went through a very painful phase of ‘nothing can be done’, it is all due to market forces, wide income gap is good and natural, that is growth. High housing prices are beyond the govt’s control, so is high cost of living, market forces at work. The high intake of foreigners labelled as foreign talents is for the good of the people, like it or not. It can’t be helped. It is not the norm or responsibility to build housing for the people when they needed it. The govt will dictate when they want to build and how many to build, and 3 to 4 years wait is a take it or leave it position. So what can the people do about it other than to accept it as the norm.
Many people benefited from the govt’s policies of market forces, including very high pay, very high property prices. Those who have plenty kept piling their plates higher and higher when they could live for generations without having to work. The average Singaporeans continue to make ends meet and whine quietly. And the people were told to accept it as normal in a meritocracy. The rich will get richer and the poor poorer. Can’t be helped.
Many things were taken for granted. Retaining more and more of the people’s money in the CPF/Medisave is done against their wishes as if the money belongs to the govt becomes a norm. No need to consult the people. Just legislate to make it legal.
Is there really much social capital that the govt can tap on or call upon when the social economic system benefits only a small group of elites at the expense of the majority? The elites and talented are very happy, very, very happy, as they get richer and richer with favourable govt policies. So are the foreigners and the foreign talents. No where can they find a system that is so friendly to them than Singapore. And they would threaten to move some where if govt policies were not favourable to them. We owe them a living. On the other hand the average Singaporeans are finding life getting tougher for themselves and were told that they have themselves to blame.
Does the ruling party really believe that things are getting better for them and not getting worst for the years to come? The Americans are going to face tougher time ahead, like it or not. The only thing they have left is power, power to destroy, to impose sanctions, to coerce, to start wars. As the born again convert of Americanism, everything the Americans do, we follow. Would the blind believer follow the leader to the same end?
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