Kenneth Jeyaretnam – Gaining acceptance and credibility

After the fiasco in the Punggol East by election when Kenneth and Desmond both lost their deposits, the political fortune of Kenneth was at its lowest. I could not imagine how miserable he must have felt in that 4 corner fight. His dismal performance was not totally due to his fault, the voters there were just too sophisticated to allow their votes to be splitted. It was crucial to send an opposition candidate into Parliament. They simply made a decision on who they wanted to win against the PAP candidate and threw all their votes at him. It was a case of since the opposition parties could not avoid a 3 corner fight, it was a 4 corner fight, the voters would have to make sure that it was not. They made it into a 2 corner fight with only one opposition candidate against the PAP.
 
Kenneth should not take it too hard that he was not the chosen one. The voters could not have decided on two opposition candidates and ended like the Presidential Election with all the opposition parties ended the losers. Kenneth must take the lesson from Punggol East and move on. It is good to see him still standing and fighting and not losing that fighting spirit and the will to want to be in Parliament. Just make sure that it is not going to be another 3 corner fight.
 
Since then, I have been hearing many good words about Kenneth. His façade as a bit aloof, his Englishman accented English that made Singaporeans uncomfortable used to be an issue. Today, the people seem to have accepted what he is and also appreciate him better, as someone of substance and deserving of a place in Parliament. And from the people whom I spoke and interacted with, and from what I have heard in the kopitiams, they wanted someone like Kenneth that can stand up and fire away on his feet with good, factual and relevant arguments to be in Parliament.
 
Kenneth’s appearances with Roy at Hong Lim and at Hri Kumar’s honest conversation at Thomson-Toa Payoh were well received. He made Hri looked very uneasy in his presence. His forceful articulation of the IMF loan issue was well researched and detailed and his effort did not go unnoticed. All I can say is for Kenneth to keep pounding the streets and keep fighting for what he believes in and what is good for the people. Many are quietly wishing that he should stand in a single seat constituency to raise his chances of winning a seat in the next GE.
 
Well Kenneth, you listening, keep it up.

Kopi Level - Green

How low can you go? It is a shame!

The cries of the 76 year old aunty did not go unheard. Her sad and pathetic tales, for begging in public, for the return of her life time savings in the CPF is now free chowder for the unscrupulous to ridicule her. This has made Andrew Loh feeling so disgusted that he had to write something about it. And here is what Andrew wrote.
 
‘Andrew Loh: I never post things from this odious PAP page but this, I find, is well below the belt and is totally irresponsible.
 
I’ve blanked out the address (road name) of her house which FAP had included at the bottom of the picture.
The old lady is asking for her CPF money back. What does where she lives have anything to do with it?
I hope the PAP will have some decency and condemn this by FAP, and find out how FAP came to know of her address and even a picture of her house.’
 
[Source]: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=822788644412753&set=a.196460927045531.49833.100000448763402&type=1
 
Like they said, the fish rots from the head. When the head is rotting, the body will follow suit. The plight of this senior citizen is not political. The issue of the people’s money locked up in the CPF is not political. It is about the people wanting their money back. It is about the rights to one’s own property, in this case money.
 
Politicians may want to treat this as a political football. But people, ordinary people, must not be embroiled in this issue to bash the hapless elderly lady when all she was asking is for the return of her money that rightfully belongs to her. Have some decency, have a little sense of right and wrong.
 
Don’t be an asshole! This is a very bad reflection of the kind of people backing them. People who condone such despicable acts are no better than them. Don’t ridicule an old lady for the sake of scoring political points. She has the right to demand for the return of her money. It is her money!

Kopi Level - Green

Singapore 20 or 30 years forward

What would Singapore be like in 20 or 30 years’ time? At the top, would govt leaders like ministers be new citizens? Would the top civil servants also be new citizens? Would the top management in IT, banking and finance be filled by new citizens and foreigners? Would the medical, legal and teaching professions in the universities be dominated by foreigners?

What about the properties? Would the top end and good quality properties be owned by foreigners with a sprinkle of local elite sharing a small portion of them? Would the HDB flats be occupied by new citizens and PRs? Would they still be as clean as before, like how we maintained them in the last 40 years? Or would the HDB estates be turned in modern slums, dirty, filthy and smelly befitting a 3rd World city filled with 3rd World people? Our trains smelling like filth, with people clinging on the windows outside?

Would there still be a Singaporean middle class left? Or would the society be so extremely stratified that you only have a small obscenely rich upper class and the rest consisting of poor lower middle class and the new poor, all eking a living in this grossly expensive city?

Would Singaporeans become an absolute minority in this city state and actually ended up working as maids and manual labourers, taxi drivers and security guards and all the good jobs taken over by foreigners who are hiring Singaporeans as housekeepers and drivers?

What would become of our lovely city state that we called home? Would all the daft Sinkies realise that things have gone too far and there is no return and regretted their foolishness yesterday for wearing a blinker and congratulating themselves that everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about when they should be worrying about?

I really hope that we are really on the right path and not rotting into oblivion. I hope we are not so short sighted that we cannot see further than the tip of our nose. Where are we heading as a people, as a nation, as a country? Are we being robbed as a people, as a nation, as a country right under our nose? Can we see the changing patterns of things that are detrimental to us as a people, a nation and a country?

No, everything is fine, everything is going as planned? I am just looking at 20 and 30 years forward. What about further down the road?

Kopi Level - Green

Medishield Life – 3 holes to plug

Without knowing the fine details of the Medishield Life Scheme, pending announcements, the intention and objective of this scheme look quite positive or very positive. The frightening thing is that such a good scheme has to be enforced by compulsion. The act of compulsion is never seen as something positive. Doesn’t the Govt believe that this is a very good scheme and every mentally sane person would want to be in the scheme except for those who are unable to pay for it? But this is no longer an issue as the Govt has a string of assistance plans to make sure that no one will be left out for not being able to afford the scheme. It is thus a non issue and there is no need for compulsion as those who have weird reasons not to participate would be very small.
 
The Scheme could be more sustainable, likeable and attractive if 3 things are considered and be worked into the formula. One is medical cost. Medical cost must be closely monitored and not be allowed to run away. This hole is somehow not addressed by the Committee as far as I can recall. And this is a very dangerous hole that could turn into a nightmare to the computation of premiums in the future. When cost gallops away, the pressure to raise premium would be very demanding and even appears logical and necessary. Would there be a watchdog or govt body to put a lid on medical cost? I cannot believe the Committee could totally ignore this devil in the scheme when it is the primary driver of premium rates.
 
The second hole that needs to be plug is profit. The Medishield Life is a compulsory national scheme and profit must not be factor in the equation. And no one must use the issue of uncertainties to impute too thick a cushion to address the sudden rise in demand for medical care. Such reasonings of padding the premiums or collecting as much premiums as the insured can afford is a dangerous precedent in the thought process. It is outrageous. The premiums must be carefully computed to be just enough though no one is able to predict the margin of errors. Any excess cost by future uncertainties should be treated separately as an act of God or accident of nature. If one is allowed to build in all the future uncertainties, the unthinkables, then the premiums would never be enough.
 
Related to the issue of profit is the issue of excess premiums collected. Premiums that have accumulated from lower claims must be ploughed back to reduce future premiums payable. Such excesses should not be conveniently channeled to another reserved fund to be accumulated for the rainy days. This is a national scheme to provide for the needs of the insured to pay for their medical care and not a profit making scheme or a scheme to fill the national reserve. Has this been discussed and worked out?
 
Would the Committee address these issues and incorporate them into the Medishield Life Scheme? Have they done it, or would they do it? These are three very big holes that could allow the premiums to go up and up and looking very justifiable, no choice. High cost, high claims so premiums must go up. Excess premiums or profits have already been set aside as reserves and untouchables.

Kopi Level - Green

Pope Francis attacks the world’s economic system

Agence France Presse reported on 14 Jun 14 that ‘Pope Francis launched a sweeping attack of the world’s economic system in an interview…saying it discards the young, puts money ahead of people and survives on the profits of war.’
 
And this is what the 77 year old pontiff said, ‘It’s madness…We discard a whole generation to maintain an economic system that no longer endures, a system that to survive has to make war… But since we cannot wage the Third World War, we make regional wars. And what does that mean? That we make and sell arms.’
 
Now who is the Pope referring to? Which economic system is he referring to? For the enlightened, the answers are obvious. For the daft, they have been glorifying and praising the same economic system and the Evil Empire as the Empire of peace run by peace loving people. Now, would they believe the Pope or would they say the Pope is lying?

Kopi Level - Green