In every dark cloud there is a silver lining. And the SMRT fiasco is no exception. Many good things came out from it. Never did the authority know that there were so many faults and maintenance issues that need to be rectified and put right. Didn’t the authority know that there are so many emergency procedures that were put to a real test and found wanting. It was all a big lapse.
Nevermind, it is better that it happened in a case like this than a real and nasty one and caught everyone with his pants down. We were given time, grace, to put things right. The only thing we do not want it to happen again is that another incident blows up and a spate of committees and inquiry boards are formed again to find out what went wrong and how to put them right again. Let this be the early warning, a concession given, an opportunity to clear the road blocks and put things in order.
A pleasant point to note after listening to Tuck Yew’s speech in Parliament is that our train cabins are built like a space capsule, insulated. Commuters are safe inside if there is poison gas attack from the outside. The capsule is sealed and the poison gas would not get in. I think the ventilation must also be circulating air that is in the cabin and not from the outside.
As to the suggestion by Yaw Shin Leong to consider having ventilation windows that could be opened by the commuters during an emergency is a questionable thing. Commuters who are suffocating inside a train cabin could be tempted to open the vent without knowing that there were toxic and poisonous gas outside.
This train capsule is an added protection for the commuters. Now I know how safe I am when taking the train.
1/10/2012
The unfairest cut of a clean wage bill
The debate on the world’s highest ministerial salary continues. What is unfortunate is that all the nitwits are stretching their discussions to both ends of the extremes, that we should not pay our ministers out of this world salary or pay them to be paupers. When one starts to argue on the premises of extremes, the argument becomes silly and so do the nitwits. None is trying to ask the simple question of what is enough and decent for the ministers.
After reading all the comments I have come to the conclusion that the ministerial salary is fair and not out of this world. It cannot be as it is a reality within this world.
The favourite comparison is the President of the US and his pittance salary. But his overall income is unclean, a lot of hidden perks especially a White House to stay. Never mind if he would to be booted out in the next election. Then his Air Force One. Never mind if America is a continent. Never mind if Air Force One is a command post and not a Ferrari to drive around to eat wind over the weekend. And yes, we are a piece of rock. That is exactly the reason why we should pay our politicians that kind of not out of this world salary. It is so difficult to govern a small piece of rock. And Obama has an army of staff to help him to make his job so much easier. He can be a dummy, but the music will be just as good.
In our case, the poor ministers have something like 20 or 30 portfolios to be responsible for. I am exaggerating of course. Nothing of the sort. Now many of you did not know that right? He needed 29.5 hours a day to do those jobs. It is inhuman to subject them to this kind of workload.
There are many things we did not know, even the clean wage. We did not know that they are paid Special Allowance Bonus. And only for a miserable one month bonus for being so special. And how could the Salary Review Committee removed this allowance? This is definitely unfair. The Special Allowance Bonus should be at least 6 months to be special and deserving.
Then there were also 2 months of Leadership Allowance Bonus which none of us know until now. But as ignorant masses, how could we know if we don’t read the Hansard or the media. They must have been reported somewhere as these are official and legally paid. And what is there for the people to know? All ministers are leaders and paying them Leadership Allowance Bonus is as natural as durians on a durian tree. And how could the Review Committee removed this too?
Now whoever put these bonuses into the salary must take it up with the Review Committee and demand that they should be reinstated, including the Special Allowance. And both should be raised to 6 months each. Unless the Review Committee can convince everyone that they are not special and have no leadership. Then it would be fair to remove them.
I could go on with the Performance Bonuses, the GDP Bonuses and whatever bonuses that I did not know. The point is that these are legitimate rewards and all transparent and clean. Why should they be removed? Anything wrong with them? The Review Committee must explain to the people’s satisfaction that they are wrong before they can remove them. They are uniquely Singaporean and a creative and innovative way to pay our ministers. Countries of the world can learn from us. Now they could only be envious of our Guinness Book of Record, not only of paying the top salary in the world but also the best run and corruption free country, with clean salary.
Are we saying that the existing salary is not clean and need to be replaced by a cleaner one? I protest. We have the cleanest salary package for our ministers at a discount, and the poor ministers would now have to suffer the indignity of their salary being questioned and arbitrarily slashed by an average of 36%. This is simply outrageous.
What needs to be cut are the perks of those political leaders that are unclean and hidden, like Air Force One. I think the Americans are starting on this, maybe from 3 Air Force One to only one. And the American President will henceforth travel on roads instead of flying around for fun.
The Ministerial Salary Review Committee has overdone their cuts and embarrassed our ministers. Our minister’s salary is fair, decent and above all clean and transparent. Everyone knows how much they are getting as reported in the media. No hidden or unknown perks.
After reading all the comments I have come to the conclusion that the ministerial salary is fair and not out of this world. It cannot be as it is a reality within this world.
The favourite comparison is the President of the US and his pittance salary. But his overall income is unclean, a lot of hidden perks especially a White House to stay. Never mind if he would to be booted out in the next election. Then his Air Force One. Never mind if America is a continent. Never mind if Air Force One is a command post and not a Ferrari to drive around to eat wind over the weekend. And yes, we are a piece of rock. That is exactly the reason why we should pay our politicians that kind of not out of this world salary. It is so difficult to govern a small piece of rock. And Obama has an army of staff to help him to make his job so much easier. He can be a dummy, but the music will be just as good.
In our case, the poor ministers have something like 20 or 30 portfolios to be responsible for. I am exaggerating of course. Nothing of the sort. Now many of you did not know that right? He needed 29.5 hours a day to do those jobs. It is inhuman to subject them to this kind of workload.
There are many things we did not know, even the clean wage. We did not know that they are paid Special Allowance Bonus. And only for a miserable one month bonus for being so special. And how could the Salary Review Committee removed this allowance? This is definitely unfair. The Special Allowance Bonus should be at least 6 months to be special and deserving.
Then there were also 2 months of Leadership Allowance Bonus which none of us know until now. But as ignorant masses, how could we know if we don’t read the Hansard or the media. They must have been reported somewhere as these are official and legally paid. And what is there for the people to know? All ministers are leaders and paying them Leadership Allowance Bonus is as natural as durians on a durian tree. And how could the Review Committee removed this too?
Now whoever put these bonuses into the salary must take it up with the Review Committee and demand that they should be reinstated, including the Special Allowance. And both should be raised to 6 months each. Unless the Review Committee can convince everyone that they are not special and have no leadership. Then it would be fair to remove them.
I could go on with the Performance Bonuses, the GDP Bonuses and whatever bonuses that I did not know. The point is that these are legitimate rewards and all transparent and clean. Why should they be removed? Anything wrong with them? The Review Committee must explain to the people’s satisfaction that they are wrong before they can remove them. They are uniquely Singaporean and a creative and innovative way to pay our ministers. Countries of the world can learn from us. Now they could only be envious of our Guinness Book of Record, not only of paying the top salary in the world but also the best run and corruption free country, with clean salary.
Are we saying that the existing salary is not clean and need to be replaced by a cleaner one? I protest. We have the cleanest salary package for our ministers at a discount, and the poor ministers would now have to suffer the indignity of their salary being questioned and arbitrarily slashed by an average of 36%. This is simply outrageous.
What needs to be cut are the perks of those political leaders that are unclean and hidden, like Air Force One. I think the Americans are starting on this, maybe from 3 Air Force One to only one. And the American President will henceforth travel on roads instead of flying around for fun.
The Ministerial Salary Review Committee has overdone their cuts and embarrassed our ministers. Our minister’s salary is fair, decent and above all clean and transparent. Everyone knows how much they are getting as reported in the media. No hidden or unknown perks.
1/09/2012
Malaysia entering a new phase of freedom and accommodation
I was curious when the police allowed the rally in support of Anwar at the High Court. It could be a very serious demo if Anwar was found guilty. Now that the truth is out, very likely the verdict was already known and the goodwill for approving the rally was the final touches to a happy ending to a bad saga.
The opposition should appreciate this new openness and freedom they are enjoying under Najib and may they move forward towards a more inclusive society minus the vibes and acrimony of the Mahathir era. They could bury the past and be less combative and abusive towards each other.
Anwar can then go and contest the general election as a new man with a new ethos. Hopefully less of the bad blood will flow this time. What I don’t understand are the few bombs that exploded. Someone is still unhappy and did not want the party to go on. Someone wanted the bitching and fighting to continue, I guess.
The opposition should appreciate this new openness and freedom they are enjoying under Najib and may they move forward towards a more inclusive society minus the vibes and acrimony of the Mahathir era. They could bury the past and be less combative and abusive towards each other.
Anwar can then go and contest the general election as a new man with a new ethos. Hopefully less of the bad blood will flow this time. What I don’t understand are the few bombs that exploded. Someone is still unhappy and did not want the party to go on. Someone wanted the bitching and fighting to continue, I guess.
Yesterday’s mantra, today’s high falutin
How things can change overnight. Many great arguments, uncontested and unchallenged, were elevated to become the daily mantras of Sinkies. Overnight, after a heavy storm, the dull Sinkie minds seem to have brightened after the rain water flooded them. Now they are calling all the mantras high falutins. They don’t believe in any of them anymore.
The first to fall is the high salary for super talent. This brought along the demise of high salary to prevent corruption mantra. This is amazing. As they said, real gold is not afraid of fire. But gold plating is a different thing altogether. How many high mantras are going the high falutin way?
Maybe the Sinkies are going crazy and the old mantras are still valid but the Sinkies could not appreciate how valuable they were.
The first to fall is the high salary for super talent. This brought along the demise of high salary to prevent corruption mantra. This is amazing. As they said, real gold is not afraid of fire. But gold plating is a different thing altogether. How many high mantras are going the high falutin way?
Maybe the Sinkies are going crazy and the old mantras are still valid but the Sinkies could not appreciate how valuable they were.
Welcome to the Third World
Is this what is happening to Singapore? Or is it just a case of a little bad govt for the testing to remind the Sinkies not to pray pray with what they already got?
For nearly 30 years, the train was running quite near to clockwork precision or as good as you can get. Any disruption was minor and not something to be expected. Over the last few weeks, train faults, delays, slow down etc etc were a daily affair and is now expected. A trouble free ride is something that one can count to be lucky to experience.
What the shit is going on? It looks like the whole system has been allowed to decay and finally everything is breaking down, irreparable. Or all the parts have reached their shelf life and either the whole system be replaced or living with a rackety train system is the new normal?
A crisis like this needs a superman to appear at different places at any time to get things done and get going. Are Sinkies ready to live with slow mass rapid transport? I am seeing many are already readjusting their expectation of what a mass rapid transport system is all about, a bit slow, frequent interruptions and delays, long waiting time, and a crowded platform and train whenever there is a disruption.
The slide down to Third World is moving faster by the day.
For nearly 30 years, the train was running quite near to clockwork precision or as good as you can get. Any disruption was minor and not something to be expected. Over the last few weeks, train faults, delays, slow down etc etc were a daily affair and is now expected. A trouble free ride is something that one can count to be lucky to experience.
What the shit is going on? It looks like the whole system has been allowed to decay and finally everything is breaking down, irreparable. Or all the parts have reached their shelf life and either the whole system be replaced or living with a rackety train system is the new normal?
A crisis like this needs a superman to appear at different places at any time to get things done and get going. Are Sinkies ready to live with slow mass rapid transport? I am seeing many are already readjusting their expectation of what a mass rapid transport system is all about, a bit slow, frequent interruptions and delays, long waiting time, and a crowded platform and train whenever there is a disruption.
The slide down to Third World is moving faster by the day.
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