Do we still have this institution called family? Many of the oldies do
not seem to have such an institution that is supposed to take care of
them and their needs at old age. Ok there are exceptions for some oldies
with huge extended families. No need to know about the rich as they
will take care of themselves very well with or without the family
institution. The oldies in charity homes and those living on their own
or with friends cannot fall back on the family to support them. Some may
be too comfortable financially to prefer to live in the richness of a
retirement village minus the family institution.
Many who are seeking financial assistance from the govt have been told
to seek support from their kins, their family ties. In reality this is
not so simple. Not many families have millions in their savings and
could spare a few dimes for their kins in distress. Many families are
struggling to make ends meet and have a load of problems of their own.
One thing for sure, the aid givers or dispensers would never be able to
understand why the children or siblings are so heartless to leave their
kins in need to the state. It is beyond them until the day they fell
into the same shoe.
The family institution is there but not there for another reason. And
this will get worst with the new generations. What kind of family
institution can one be talking about when there is one, or maybe two
children in a family? The small nuclear family often fell victims to
circumstances through many things that would break up the little family
tree, natural casualty and calamity, financial hardship or simply living
too far apart or emigration.
Since the days of Stop At Two, the role of family institution had been
undermined and clobbered to death. But the old mindset of social workers
and even politicians remains unchanged, thinking that there is this
great family institution that could provide a big umbrella to protect
those who need protection.
The family as an institution is about as good as it is among the Malay
families when a household could have four or more children. The
tragedies of broken families aside, the Malay families still could fall
back on the family institution in better shape than the other
communities.
It is time to take stock of the relevance of the family institution as a
social support network for the people. It is there but not there. If
there, many are too small to make a difference when faced with a very
high cost of living. The family institution is as good as defunct,
consigned to the museum as a memory of the past.
It is easy to bring up children when the cost of living is low. It is
easy to look after parents too, and better still with many siblings.
When the cost of living is high, extremely high, when there are no
siblings to lend a helping hand, it is tough to look after the seniors.
The new sandwiched class is going to face a monumental financial wall to
look after their parents and children. Caveat, this does not affect the
rich.
In the not too distant future people will be asking, where is the
family, where is the family support, or may totally forgotten that there
was such an institution.
Kopi level - Yellow
1/29/2014
1/28/2014
From peanut to kachang puteh
$600k is only peanut is passé. Rich Sinkies are playing with bigger and
bigger numbers. I was in this car park and my friend pointed to me two
gleaming Rolls Royce parked side by side. Hardly used. The owner is
likely to have a fleet of sports cars to swoosh around town. I know
someone who sold his house for more than $20m and the buyer did not even
bother to take a look at the property. His agent bought it on his
behalf and the only thing that he was interested is the parking space
inside the property for more than 15 cars. He needed the space for his
toy cars.
To these rich people, it is common for them to mutter, ‘What is $10m?’ Money is aplenty in the island. A $600k peanut is really nothing. Today it is about $672m kachang puteh. Yes, kachang puteh is smaller than a peanut. But with so much money in people’s hand, $672m is nothing more than a kachang puteh. That is the amount that we want to give to IMF. No need to think what the amount could do for our citizens. Giving away $50m is just not the right thing to do, too little to befit our dignity. Not sure this is an annual contribution or one time layout. Need to check on this.
The value of money is relative. To the thrifty, a papaya is worth something. To the very rich, a few hundred millions are nothing? Better still if it is OPM. Spend until ‘song song’, damn ‘tua kang’.
A stretch of road can cost $4.3b, a fake garden another billion or more. Don’t ever complain about a 10c increase in transport fare. No time to bother with such an insignificant amount. It is meaningless, does not worth mentioning. A waste of time! What is 10c? Oops, I mean what is a few hundred million?
How much do you want? How much do you want to give away? I want a kachang puteh.
To these rich people, it is common for them to mutter, ‘What is $10m?’ Money is aplenty in the island. A $600k peanut is really nothing. Today it is about $672m kachang puteh. Yes, kachang puteh is smaller than a peanut. But with so much money in people’s hand, $672m is nothing more than a kachang puteh. That is the amount that we want to give to IMF. No need to think what the amount could do for our citizens. Giving away $50m is just not the right thing to do, too little to befit our dignity. Not sure this is an annual contribution or one time layout. Need to check on this.
The value of money is relative. To the thrifty, a papaya is worth something. To the very rich, a few hundred millions are nothing? Better still if it is OPM. Spend until ‘song song’, damn ‘tua kang’.
A stretch of road can cost $4.3b, a fake garden another billion or more. Don’t ever complain about a 10c increase in transport fare. No time to bother with such an insignificant amount. It is meaningless, does not worth mentioning. A waste of time! What is 10c? Oops, I mean what is a few hundred million?
How much do you want? How much do you want to give away? I want a kachang puteh.
Goh Keng Swee’s papaya trees
When Goh Keng Swee made his visits to army camps, he was every impressed
with the neatness and vastness of the camps. There was plenty of space
for the soldier boys during his days. There were also plenty of greens.
Being an economist, he could not tolerate waste. He saw the open space
and wanted them to be productive and useful. He gave it some thoughts
and came up with the idea of papaya trees. Papaya trees are hardy and
need little space to grow and to bear fruits. The soldier boys would
have free papayas for desert. And no space would be wasted.
The idea was about thrift and about not wasting precious land. Though his idea might have some conflicts with the army regime, but what was important then was the kind of thinking in the heads of national leaders.
Today, the new thinking will scoff at his suggestion. Why waste the effort of the soldiers. You want papaya is it? Go and buy lah. Money is not an issue. How much would a papaya cost? $2? Knn, we gave hundreds of millions or billions to foreigners also never bat an eyelid. We are going to give the IMF another few hundred millions and it is only sup sup suey. I am not sure this is an annual or one time one contribution. We have plenty of money and thrift is no longer relevant today. It even sounds silly.
Would anyone during Keng Swee’s time dare to throw parties after parties using public fund? Today it is tens of millions for each party and we are going to party and party without a care on how much we will be spending. How much did the govt spent for the YOG? Does it matter? Does it matter if an MP ask for a few dollars more to help the poor? Sure matter. It is a matter of principle. We cannot encourage a crutch mentality. We cannot have an entitlement mentality. It is not the amount of money, it is a matter of doing the right thing or wrong thing.
During Keng Swee’s time thrift was the right thing. Today, spending generously is the right thing. We have so much money if don’t spend, keep for what, for when? Time has changed and what was right in the past is wrong today. When ‘oo lui lang’ talking the logic is different.
The idea was about thrift and about not wasting precious land. Though his idea might have some conflicts with the army regime, but what was important then was the kind of thinking in the heads of national leaders.
Today, the new thinking will scoff at his suggestion. Why waste the effort of the soldiers. You want papaya is it? Go and buy lah. Money is not an issue. How much would a papaya cost? $2? Knn, we gave hundreds of millions or billions to foreigners also never bat an eyelid. We are going to give the IMF another few hundred millions and it is only sup sup suey. I am not sure this is an annual or one time one contribution. We have plenty of money and thrift is no longer relevant today. It even sounds silly.
Would anyone during Keng Swee’s time dare to throw parties after parties using public fund? Today it is tens of millions for each party and we are going to party and party without a care on how much we will be spending. How much did the govt spent for the YOG? Does it matter? Does it matter if an MP ask for a few dollars more to help the poor? Sure matter. It is a matter of principle. We cannot encourage a crutch mentality. We cannot have an entitlement mentality. It is not the amount of money, it is a matter of doing the right thing or wrong thing.
During Keng Swee’s time thrift was the right thing. Today, spending generously is the right thing. We have so much money if don’t spend, keep for what, for when? Time has changed and what was right in the past is wrong today. When ‘oo lui lang’ talking the logic is different.
What is a rogue govt?
The term rogue govt has been used many times to warn Sinkies that the
good life they are having will be history if a rogue govt comes to
power. What exactly is a rogue govt? Is it a govt that is corrupt? Is it
a govt that betrays the people? Is it a govt that have failed or flawed
policies? Is it a govt that throws money away freely to foreigners?
I think everyone will have some views on what constitutes a bad govt. It would be nice to have a simple definition so that everyone understands what is a rogue govt. Without an understanding of the term, even when a rogue appears and stands right in front of you, behaving like a rogue, no one will recognize it.
On the other hand, a rogue govt may not think that it is a rogue govt. It may be doing a lot of things that are rogue in nature but so deluded to think they were good. Some rogues may honestly and sincerely think that they are angels. Of course most rogues will know they are rogues but would put on a pretense to continue to take advantage of their victims.
Do we know what is a rogue govt? This is very important. We must know what a devil looks like to be aware and to chase the devil away. If we fail to see a devil or a rogue, we may invite him home and got screwed without knowing, and still be very grateful thinking we are sleeping with an angel.
Kopi level - Green
I think everyone will have some views on what constitutes a bad govt. It would be nice to have a simple definition so that everyone understands what is a rogue govt. Without an understanding of the term, even when a rogue appears and stands right in front of you, behaving like a rogue, no one will recognize it.
On the other hand, a rogue govt may not think that it is a rogue govt. It may be doing a lot of things that are rogue in nature but so deluded to think they were good. Some rogues may honestly and sincerely think that they are angels. Of course most rogues will know they are rogues but would put on a pretense to continue to take advantage of their victims.
Do we know what is a rogue govt? This is very important. We must know what a devil looks like to be aware and to chase the devil away. If we fail to see a devil or a rogue, we may invite him home and got screwed without knowing, and still be very grateful thinking we are sleeping with an angel.
Kopi level - Green
1/27/2014
Be kind to William Wan
The Secretary General of the Singapore Kindness Movement spoke to
Sinkies to show some kindness to foreigners like Anton Casey and was
slammed harder than Anton by the Sinkies.
I am thinking of calling Sinkies to be kind to Willaim Wan with due respect to his appointment as the Sec Gen of SKM. Would I get slammed by the Sinkies as well? I think I better not try to be kind for the wrong reason or when the mood of the people is very unforgiving at the moment.
I rather call on William Wan to show some kindness to the poor student that was charged in court and fine $400 by SMRT. Or was it by LTA? Or was it fined by the court? William could make amends and show some real kindness that would be appreciated by the Sinkies like this case. Let’s see if he can get the SMRT and the court to erase this bad memory in the life of the poor student so that he/she need not carry this millstone on the neck for life.
A conviction is the court of law is a very serious stigma for anyone. It is an over killed over a minor infringement.
Please show some kindness to the poor student first and I will be the first to show a lot of kindness to William Wan and would write an article to plead for him if he could help this poor student. And also the driver and the bus assistant that were beaten up by the mob in Little India surely deserved some kindness too. Why should a foreigner deserve so much kindness for spitting at Sinkies and our Sinkies don’t deserve any?
Since we are in midst of a Kindness Campaign, would any kind MP or Minister be moved enough to look into this poor student’s case and give him/her a clean start in life? If none can do it or want to do it, can the PM ask for a Presidential pardon on her behalf?
I am thinking of calling Sinkies to be kind to Willaim Wan with due respect to his appointment as the Sec Gen of SKM. Would I get slammed by the Sinkies as well? I think I better not try to be kind for the wrong reason or when the mood of the people is very unforgiving at the moment.
I rather call on William Wan to show some kindness to the poor student that was charged in court and fine $400 by SMRT. Or was it by LTA? Or was it fined by the court? William could make amends and show some real kindness that would be appreciated by the Sinkies like this case. Let’s see if he can get the SMRT and the court to erase this bad memory in the life of the poor student so that he/she need not carry this millstone on the neck for life.
A conviction is the court of law is a very serious stigma for anyone. It is an over killed over a minor infringement.
Please show some kindness to the poor student first and I will be the first to show a lot of kindness to William Wan and would write an article to plead for him if he could help this poor student. And also the driver and the bus assistant that were beaten up by the mob in Little India surely deserved some kindness too. Why should a foreigner deserve so much kindness for spitting at Sinkies and our Sinkies don’t deserve any?
Since we are in midst of a Kindness Campaign, would any kind MP or Minister be moved enough to look into this poor student’s case and give him/her a clean start in life? If none can do it or want to do it, can the PM ask for a Presidential pardon on her behalf?
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