Backside kenna burnt in MRT train

A nurse got her backside burnt while travelling in the North South MRT line towards Jurong East. Recently there was another case of a commuter suffering almost from the same kind of incident, seating on seats in the train. There were other similar incidents in the past.

There have been no conclusive reports on the causes of such incidents. Were they caused by accident, negligent or mischief? It is strange that in our crowded trains, such incidents could escape from so many public eyes. Any accidental spill would quickly be noticed as the person involved would have no reason to hide.

What is unacceptable is mischief and this can get more frequent as well as more toxic. The public have been warned about unattended bags or things left lying around in the trains, buses or stations. It looks like liquid on the seats of trains and buses is posing a clear and present danger to commuters.

Commuters are better warned that people leaving liquid on train or bus seats must not be taken likely and some precautionary measures need to be taken to curb this, hopefully irritating mischief caused by individuals and nothing more serious than that.

The public’s cooperation can be helpful with the availability of cameras in the mobile phones. A quick shot of the person leaving behind a wet seat could be evidence should something amiss is found and the person needs to be contacted. This kind of public spirit and civic consciousness are much more urgent than scoundrels in cyberspace pretending to be civic minded but really to harass bloggers and trying to fish for the slightest transgression, intentional or otherwise. The backside burning is a threat to personal safety and is occurring a bit too frequent. It is a small problem relative to rail cracks but still important enough to receive some attention.

This would be something more worthy and meaningful for the IB to watch out for, money better spent for sure.

From 6.9m to 10m

Liu Thai Ker, the first chief planner of HDB is throwing a 10m population target for a future Singapore. This is a doubling of the present population of 5.4m. As I have said earlier, I too agree that there is no problem housing 10m or even 20m people in this island and a 50m population is also a possibility.

The main question is what we want. Is this really what our future generations want to have? It will come along with a lot of conditions and consequences to the kind of lifestyle for each population size. The land size and population size will predetermine many things to come. To support the kind of population and a supposedly better quality lifestyle, you would need an economy to produce the goods and services to provide the funding.

With the present 5.4m population, the economy is looking like hitting the wall and the policy makers are at wits end to generate more income to sustain the population and life style here. So far, the only solution is increasing population to grow the economy to support an even bigger population to sustain a bigger economy in a never ending process. Does it work or will it work infinitely? I think we are hitting the end of the road very soon.

There is hope though, that there could be a breakthrough in science and technology to keep this scheme going. And yes, we need to keep casting our net very wide and pray for an exceptional genius to emerge to bring us to the next level or else….

What is the whole purpose of this game of life by growing the population in a vicious cycle? This generation has a responsibility not to create a situation that will make this island unsustainable for our future generation. We owe it to them to keep the whole eco system healthy, the economy and social system in balance and with some room for them to manouvre. An oversize population in a small island without natural resources just does not seem the right thing to do.

The future is not just about building enough homes to house the population. The hardware, the software and the heartware all needs to come together to make living possible, enjoyable and meaningful without the kind of inflation that we are going through now. And this can only get worst. Anyone out there really has the solution to a population of 7m or 10m thought out? Everyone is talking about how crazily good and exciting with 7m or 10m population. Anyone care to share how bad it can be if things did not turn out right, if there is a world crisis, be it financial, food, weather, flood and drought? With 7 or 10m, there is no room for error. It will be disastrous.

How much will a 3 rm flat cost? How much will a COE cost? How much will a plate of chicken rice cost?

A support the White Paper Rally

Now, would it be interesting for another group to organize a rally in support of the Population White Paper at Hong Lim? We can use the two events to make some comparisons, the organization, approval/permit application, speakers, turn out etc to see if the people are in support of the White Paper or against the White Paper.

I think organization and approval should be a piece of cake just like the one organized by Gilbert, no interference and everything will go on smoothly. As for speakers, very likely the pro White Paper will have more important and dignified speakers that will draw a bigger crowd. A lot of great names are flashing through my mind. The turn out would likely be at least 10,000, double or triple the protest Rally.

How about it? Would someone like to take on this initiative? It will be interesting, definitely, and we can also see the coverage given to the event in the main media and over the air.

The more I think about it the more enthuse I am over the potential of this event. I may go for the chicken rice or better still if someone will to donate some abalone porridge. And that will be nice.

Quote by M Ravi, lawyer of the downtrodden

I believe what is missing in the White Paper is all of us. We are not in the White Paper at all.   -  M Ravi in his speech at Hong Lim Park on the Population White Paper.

The ridiculous nature of things

Recently we are hearing more and more Third World people coming here to set up businesses and claiming that we don’t have talents to work for them. And the only talents good enough are their own natives. Why would these Third World people want to set up businesses here when the cost of operating their businesses back in their Third World countries would be so much cheaper, cost of living cheaper, and plenty of talents that they are bragging about?

And the funny thing, why, with their talents, that they could not turn their Third World countries into First World countries?

And why would a First World country like ours go on its knees to beg for Third World businesses and Third World talents to come here and treating them as better talents than our local talents? Or the truth is that our talents are really worst off than Third World talents? Then why are we paying our talents ‘out of this world’ salaries, and Third World talents who could not find any good jobs in their home countries coming here to be paid First World salaries and to look down on our local talents.

My view is that businesses operating here, employing more than 70% of their own kind at management level should be encouraged to leave as they are not contributing much to our economy but taking advantage of our system and infrastructure and our efficiency and location. We are so good in so many aspects as a country, as a business centre, but behaving like a cheap prostitute with no bargaining power and have to accept any customer that comes along.

Isn’t that pathetic? Even Third World so called talents are despising us as unworthy of employment. Where is our dignity?