‘The Govt can do a better job of communicating to Singaporeans the value
of staying open as an economy, said Education Minister Heng Swee
Kiat…,’ at the Institute of Policy Studies. This came after Hsien Loong
spoke to the students at NTU on the challenges into the future.
A few points came through in Hsien Loong’s speech and are receiving some
harsh criticism for what he said and why he said things particularly on
the treatment of foreigners. For a start, the hostile spontaneous
outcry against Anton Casey was not a lynch mob. The comparison is too
extreme. For those who did not read American history, a lynch mob often
consisted of a bunch of white supremacists, many are the average white
Americans like the netizens, dragging a nigger, and hung him on a tree
with a lasso around his neck. This is called mob lynching. And the crime
could be more petty than what Anton did, or very serious, like running
away from slavery.
Bad communication is not just about using bad examples. What is bad
about lecturing to Sinkies on the need to treat foreigners well here is
that it was not the fault of Sinkies but Sinkies being lectured like it
was their fault. What the anger was about is that the Sinkies are
expecting the govt to speak to the foreigners, nicely and politely of
course, but in no uncertain terms, that this is our country and they are
guests here. Be sensitive to the natives and do not insult the natives
while having a good life here. I am not using locals because locals
include PRs.
The people expect the govt to tell the foreigners to behave or else. The
least the people expect is to get a lecture from the govt to behave.
Now, what is not said but communicated to the foreigners are: Sinkies
are at fault, Sinkies are rude to foreigners, over reacting and need to
be told to behave. The antics of Anton, well never mind carry on, small
matter. Sinkies will get use to it and will live with it after a while.
Foreigners should feel good and welcome, like Anton.
Do the foreigners need to be told to reflect on their bad manners and
attitude? I think this is very bad communication, sending the wrong
signal and wrong message. The Sinkies are angry again for getting a
scolding when they expect the scolding to be aimed at cocky and rude
foreigners.
Kopi level - Yellow
1/29/2014
Family institution dysfunctional
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
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
1/28/2014
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
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