Aspiration of the new Sinkies

Our parents aspired to live in landed properties, or at least a private flat. If that is too much, a bigger HUDC or executive flats also can. And of course, the prized possession of a car to take the family out to ‘chiat hong’ or joy ride. That was the simple aspirations of what a better life was then. And they did not need to be a graduate, they did not need two incomes to be able to live that kind of lifestyle.

Many of these babyboomers have retired or semi retired. Many are very lucky to have a landed or private property, or a bigger HDB flats to fall back on, to downgrade and live on the spare cash as retirement fund. Many have gone the full circle of HDB flats, private properties and car ownership and back to a smaller HDB flat and no car but taking public transport. And some are happy with this formula.

What is the new aspiration of our well educated young? Many are graduates of the universities or polytechnics. And many are two income families. It seems that their aspiration is for a small HDB flat and no cars. Their only wish as far as transportation is concerned is for the public transport providers to provide a reliable service. Many have given up the idea of car ownership and ownership of private properties. A few of the more successful young people would still be able to do that. But the majority of the middle income families, with two incomes, will not be able to do so.

And not to forget, many of the babyboomer generation belonged to the socalled sandwiched class, supporting their parents and bringing up families, and still could afford larger homes and cars. The new young families are luckier with lesser of them having to support their parents who could look after themselves by downgrading and cashing out.

When this group of young people’s time comes for them to retire, not many would have the comfort of downgrading from their HDB flats, to cash out and live on that. Hopefully their CPF is still around and adequate to do that. You cannot be sure about this as the babyboomer generation also believed that their CPF savings would be enough for retirement. Many will not have the luxury of experiencing the HDB flat, private property and back to HDB cycle. Many will live a life without knowing what it means to owning a car. All they could afford would be very high tech bicycles.

Is this an aspiration worthy of a Swiss standard of living? Is this something to work a life time for? Let me try to figure out what kind of aspirations the maids and foreign workers would have? Some told me they will go home, buy a land to build their own house, maybe buy a car and set up a small business, all achievable if they work for maybe 6 to 10 years here. No need to spend a small fortune on a tertiary education as well.

But Sinkies must congratulate themselves for a better quality of life in the world’s most expensive city and stress free life for themselves and their children. Did I just say stress free?

Kopi level - Yellow

Meritocrazy in a decadent city state

They say a fish rots from the head. When that happens, the fish does not think anymore and soon the rot will spread through the entire fish. And because of a rotted brain, the stench of rot would not even be noticed. There is no sensory organ to detect the smell of a rotting fish.

The dearth of talents and skilled professionals in this prosperous city state does not stop at the banking and finance industry or the IT industry. It is pervasive and starting right from the top to the semi skilled worker’s level. The absence of intellect affects all levels of the citizenry that the city state is now a glittering shell of its former self. Every level of its people would have to be replaced as there is nothing good left in them, or have already been replaced.

Reading an article this morning in the ST on the hollowing of the academia is just too depressing. This is the seat of the intellect of the nation, the hotbed for the gestation of ideas and ideals by the best academic brains. The rot is just as pervasive but to some, is a good thing. Let me quote a few numbers. 18 out of 25 faculty members in the NUS Political Science department are foreigners, or only 7 are Singaporeans. At the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 38 are locals (not sure how many are Singaporeans, but you can guess that it will be very small when they have to resort to use the term locals instead of Singaporeans) out of 82 faculty staff. In the Rajaratnam  School of International Studies, 12 are locals out of 29 faculty staff. At NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, 21 of the 48 faculty are Singaporeans. Here they feel comfortable enough to say 21 are Singaporeans.

This sad state of affair is not missed by some of the Singaporean thinkers and academics. Some have raised their grievances to the ministers. Seah Kian Peng found this worrying and brought the matter up in parliament and ‘highlighted the fact that that fewer than half of the faculty in political science, communication and public policy – which he described as “some of the most important and context sensitive fields of endeavour in any country” – are Singaporeans.’ NMP Eugene Tan of SMU had raised the same issue six times in Parliament since 2002. Obviously nothing has been done or no action was taken, and the problem continues to grow. Is it a problem, or is it something desirable, planned by the establishment and so no action needed?

According to reporter Andrea Ong, the seed of this transformation or hollowing out in the academia seemed to have started in 1996 when, ‘then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong challenged the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University to build “the Boston of the East” and be dubbed the “Harvard and MIT of Asia”. The two universities could achieve this by drawing in “the best and brightest” from Asia and around the world, he said.’

Though Chok Tong did not ask the universities to bring lock, stock and barrel from Harvard and MIT, ie buying and bringing all the academic staff here, and replacing all the dull Sinkie students with the best and brightest in the world, the people who executed this ‘dream team’ apparently went ahead to replace the Sinkie academics and students with foreigners. Buying an international football team to compete in the world cup is an isolated fetish craze that would go away with maturity and with minimum negative impact on the country, maybe a few billion dollar lesser, but to replace the seat of learning and the academia with foreign faculty staff and students are simply shallow. But till today, with the problem growing and no concrete steps taken to reverse the trend, it seems that the lunatics have won and are having a field day to transform our universities into the Harvard and MIT and Sin City becoming the Boston of the East.

Those who are still left with a little grey matter are shaking their heads at this silliness but no one is going to do anything about it. We will have our own Harvard and MIT soon, and the faculty staff will be from the real Harvard and MIT, and the students would not be children of daft Sinkies but the brightest and the best from the whole world. We are succeeding, surely and steadily.

Where would the Sinkies go? How would the Sinkies fit in?

Kopi level - Yellow

Can Singapore retain its unique selling points?

What are the unique Singapore selling points that made it so successful and attractive as a city state? This is Hsien Loong’s reply to Malcolm Rifkind in Chatham House.

"It's a first world system in a very complicated and non-first-world part of the world. Things work, the country is stable, the society is cohesive, people are well-educated, the government is incorrupt and efficient, and we deliver on what we promise and we try to head in a consistent direction over a long period of time.

"So if you come to Singapore, and you want to do business, you can count on what we promise you, and what you see is what you get and that's not bad."

We all know that. But what contributed to the stable society and made everything works? The govt is incorrupt and efficient because of a very disciplined and well educated workforce. No rioting or burning police cars.  Would the Singapore workforce still be the same disciplined and well educated workforce as before when the 3^rd World foreigners are brought in to replace them? Would they keep everything working, support an incorrupt and efficient govt?

What do you think when the original Singaporeans are replaced and we have a new Singaporean population from the 3^rd World?

Kopi level - Yellow

Are we having a very dangerous govt?

 In an article on unemployment posted in TRE by a Dr Tommy Wong, titled ‘Hidden unemployment in Singapore’, it attracted this comment from a blogger.
 
• Pink Panty Loong - "Wussy Doormat LEEderSHIT!":
April 4, 2014 at 9:54 am (Quote)
Yes, just send the 175,000 EP holders back home and our older PMETs with good experiences should not have any problem getting employed! So if you tell me there isn’t a ethnic cleansing of Singaporeans by the PAP government for new foreigner-turn-citizen voters, than WHAT IS IT?! That is why I keep repeating and I’m going to repeat tirelessly that we have a very DANGEROUS government here! Please vote them out in the coming GE to save Singapore and ourselves!
 
Pink Panty Loong is talking about ethnic cleansing of Singaporeans and pointing the finger at the PAP govt….that we have a very DANGEROUS govt here. How many of you see the unemployment problem in the same light or disagree with Pink Panty Loong?

Is your life getting better?

Sure, definitely better. Swiss standard of living is nothing when one is earning millions every year. Swiss standard of living is nothing when one is living in a house worth tens of millions and owning a few more to rent out. Swiss standard of living is nothing when buying a Ferrari or Lamborghini costing more than a million is small change.
 
For those who cannot afford to send their children to university, cannot afford to have more children, cannot afford to pay medical bills, downgrading to smaller HDB flats, can only afford to buy smaller HDB flats, cannot afford a car, are your life getting better?
 
Talking Point on 2 Apr telecasted live on the topic of the middle class and whether their lives are getting better. My impression after listening to the panel and callers is that Sinkies do not deserve to be called Sinkies. They should be called daft Sinkies. The Hongkies, Taiwanese and PRC Chinese did not call Sinkies stupid for nothing. It is a well deserving title.
 
Now why do I say that? The views from the forum is all about adapting to your means and downgrading. I can accept that when one is an idiot, one should not aspire to anything more than 3 meals and a pair of shorts. But when one is talking about the middle class, the 50 to 60 percent sandwiched between the lower income and the rich, what kind of life or aspiration should they be expecting other than downgrading?
 
In the 70s and 80s, everyone was talking about upgrading, getting bigger flats and private properties if possible, and going for that super convenience called a car. And the people aspiring and attaining such level of comfort were not even the middle class but the workers, the taxi drivers, the supervisors, the technicians, the young graduates. Life was getting better for everyone, including those below the middle class.
 
Today, it is very normal for a young family to have at least a graduate, or both are graduates. They spent millions and a life time studying to get to that position. Is it too much, unreasonable, for them to aspire to live in a bigger HDB flat or condominium? Forget about private landed properties, these are way beyond their means today but not within the means of their lowly educated parents. Is it too much for them to aspire to own a small Japanese car to make living that much more convenient and pleasant, eating out once a week or a month?
 
What transpired in the forum is that daft Sinkies should be happy with public transport, if not even go on bicycles. Forget about small cars, cars are not necessary. When have daft Sinkies been fed with this kind of stupid ideas? And a small HDB flat should do, live within your means. Is that what daft Sinkies are contented after spending a third of their precious life pursuing tertiary education and spending a fortune on that to live in stupid small HDB flats and go around taking public transport? Is this what the future holds for the Sinkie middle class?
 
But the daft Sinkies that were airing their views found this acceptable, the type of life they feel reasonable and happy to be. Who said Sinkies are unhappy? Most of the views expressed by the daft Sinkies was that they were happy not owning a car. They did not want to know why the roads are so heavy with traffic and the prices of cars and COEs so high. They are very happy if public transport is satisfactory and they can live without a car.
 
This message of no need for a car has been successfully stuffed and buried in the daft Sinkie mind. They are all talking about downgrading and living within their means. I can accept that if they could not even make it to tertiary education and should not be asking for too much. Why would a minister find it difficult if she could not be earning a couple of millions a year to live a ‘decent’ lifestyle?
 
I must say the daft Sinkies are easily contented with life and are a very happy lot, living, adjusting and adapting with the quality of life without cars, without a decent job, smaller HDB flats and eating out lesser.
 
Is this what Sinkies are living for? No more ambition for a better life, no more aspiration that things can be better? Oh, the new aspiration, to own and ride a bicycle, and perhaps become his own boss, driving a taxi and with a few degrees to hang inside the taxi..

Kopi Level - Yellow