A glaring misgiving that was conveniently ignored and forgotten

A controversial honest discussion on the CPF had a troubled beginning when Roy Ngerng, Kenneth Jeyaretnam and a few others invited themselves to the party only to be disinvited. Kenneth somehow still managed to gatecrash the party only to create more controversies arising from his 8 point remarks on Hri Kumar’s ‘dishonest’ honest public conversation. And Hri Kumar returned the compliments by making his own statements on what he did not say as what Kenneth said he said. Now there is an ongoing big ding dong battle between the two key contestants of the honest conversation.

The prelude to this battle was a woman with an amazing cheongsam that was videoed while making some rude remarks on a 76 year old aunty making a desperate cry for the return of her CPF money. The whole social media was on fire with netizens throwing nasty things at the cheongsam woman who was revealed as a PAP grassroot leader by the name of Jean Ang. Netizens had a field day digging out everything they could find on Jean Ang and calling her all kinds of unpleasant names. And before the furore died out, the woman who took the video of the cheongsam woman that went viral was knocked down by a car and landed in hospital. More rumours appeared about how this accident could be linked to the video. In the meantime nothing was reported in the main media despite the uproar in the net.

What was depressing is that the poor 76 year old aunty was totally forgotten. Netizens were angry with the cheongsam woman for her rude gestures. Hri Kumar and Kenneth were crossing swords with each other over who said what. No one seems to bother about the reason for the desperate plea of the aunty. She was inconsequential. There are more important issues and scores to settle.

Irene Yap’s problem was that her money was locked up in her CPF account. Under all circumstances, anyone of her age should not have any more entanglements with the CPF. She should have withdrawn all her money from the CPF and ended her relationship there and then. Her fault was to choose to leave some of her money in the CPF to earn higher interest. Her fault was not knowing that once the money was left in the CPF, it would be subject to all the new regulations rolled out by the CPF. She cried in vain for the return of her money. Hri Kumar’s best reply to her was that she knew the law and regulations and that’s it. Her money will stay where it is and nothing else can be done. And no one in the govt, so far, has said anything about her case and it seems that there is nothing else she could do or no one would be doing anything. Is there anyone listening to her plight? Or she only has herself to blame as the law is the law?

Where is the empathy, where is the kindness, where is the compassion for an old lady caught by the hard side of the law? Is there anyone listening? Or everyone is deaf? Does anyone feel that something could be done for her? Does anyone walking the corridors of power think she deserves some assistance? Or is it a case of how much does she wants, $500, $5,000 or to return her everything in the CPF? Is there merit to her grievance?

Irene Yap is not alone. There could be many in the same situation as her. They are an anomaly in the system, or in a system that took them for granted, and this should be rectified to let them live in peace in their golden years. Why made them live in misery and anger for the want of their money back?

Is Irene Yap’s grievance important at all?

Kopi Level - Yellow

Roy Ngerng’s case – Rumour mongering galore

With the defamation case against Roy still waiting for its appearance in court, the kopitiams are flooded with all kinds of rumours. I must caution all readers and listeners to such rumours to be guarded and not to take them as truth until they are verified. Just received a post that is posted in newnation.sg. This is definitely a rumour with half truths. Here it is.
 
‘CPF blogger Roy Ngerng’s potted plant outside his HDB flat along the corridor has been investigated for the suspected breeding of dengue mosquitoes.
This after a barrage of sanctions have supposedly been levied on Ngerng, where he was sacked from Tan Tock Seng Hospital yesterday for using Facebook when he should be nursing and speaking on a grass patch over the weekend at Hong Lim Park.
And there are murmurings online that his hawker father has been called out for cleanliness issues at his stall.
Singaporeans from all walks of life, who do the mozzie wipeout steps, said they feel the shit this time has really hit the fan.
Hong Gan Leow, a local, said: “First, he got fired. Then his dad kenna arrow for cleanliness. Then now his potted plant suspected of spreading dengue.”
“When they’re out to get you, they’re out to get you. Wonder what would happen next? Roy Ngerng’s dog investigated for suspected rabies and quarantined?”
At press time, Ngerng’s dog has been investigated for rabies and quarantined.’
 
The only truth in the above post is the sacking of Roy by TTSH. I have no confirmation on the part that the ‘char kway teow’ stall of Roy’s father had been subject to inspection by the NEA or his plants being investigated for mosquito breeding. The civil servants are highly regarded for their integrity and would not be so stupid to conduct such investigations at a time like this to put them in a compromising position, subject of rumour mongering, and have their integrity questioned. I don’t believe in such rumours and people are advised not to believe in them.
 
Should there be any inspections done, it must be coincidental and part of the inspection programme. There is nothing to it and nothing to do with the defamation. Definitely cannot be as it is so easy for the public to put one and one together and cry foul. Knowing the political sensitivity of the defamation suit, the likely thing to happen, even if an inspection schedule had been planned months ahead to check on the cleanliness of hawker stalls and mosquito breeding, the civil servants would be smart enough to delay the inspections to avoid casting the govt in a bad light.
 
People should read the above post in newnation as a political satire or a political joke at most. I don’t think any civil servant in his right mind would do such a thing as it would do more harm to the image of the govt than good. Trust our civil servants to do the right thing.

Kopi Level - Green

30 years from now, what would historians be writing?

What would the historians be writing about Singapore in 30 years time? Would they be writing in praise of a great cosmopolitan city flourishing and a shining example for the world to envy and want to emulate, like what it is today, a great city that many countries still hold it in awe? Or would the historians be writing about a failed state in ruins, or no longer an independent city but a colony of some bigger powers? Historically, all the failed states believed that they were doing well moments before the curtains fell. Everything was just fine and under control.

At this moment, all of us are like fish in an aquarium and are making the best of what we have and perhaps thinking how good life is here. And life is really extremely good for some that they would not think of anything else and tomorrow can only be better. While we push and shove against each other for more space and comfort, while more fishes are poured into the aquarium, we are still adjusting and adjusting very well, like the proverbial frog in a boiling kettle.

We will acclimatise and get use to our environment for as long as we can adapt and we don’t break down, or the system does not break down. While the pressure builds up, would we have the chance to pull the plug before that breaking point is reached? Would we have the foresight to see it, feel it and be in time to avoid it? Or we are already there and still ignorant of it, in denial, or conning ourselves or being conned that everything is fine, it is in fact very good? I think it is the latter, with many congratulating themselves on how well they are doing. Life cannot be better and why are the losers complaining?

Would the historians in 30 years time be writing about the missed opportunities to save ourselves from the decadence of a city state when all the red lights are flashing everywhere, when disastrous policies were pushed through one after another as good policies, right policies? Today, no one in a position to make a change is seeing any wrong. There is no wrong. We are doing the best we can with all the right policies and things can only be better tomorrow. By then, with the benefits of hindsight, would they be asking how could the citizens allow a great city be destroyed in a matter of a decade of bad policies? Of course I am presumptious. How could that happen?

Perhaps they would be writing about the golden years of the first 3 decades of the 21st Century and more good years to come, and paying tributes to the wisdom of the leaders of today.

What do you think?

Kopi Level - Green 

Singapore owes its success to Pinoys and foreigners

This appears to be the message that foreigners are trying to tell the Sinkies. Never mind who planted this message in their heads. I chanced upon this Pinoy, Nathan Allen, writing this to his countrymen in response to a hate post by a Sinkie.
 
‘It kills me that Filipino workers are being treated with so much disrespect - even though for decades they have helped Singapore become the economic powerhouse that it is today. Reportedly, even the nationalists who fought for independence and helped build the Singapore we know today were influenced by the national hero of the Philippines - Dr. Jose Rizal.’
 
I am not blaming Nathan Allen for thinking so, that Singapore owes its success to the foreigners here for turning it into an economic powerhouse in the last decades. The assumptions here must be that the foreigners are very talented and without them Singapore would not be what it is today. If this is true, the same foreigners, with their talent and hardworking nature, must also have turned their own countries into economic powerhouses as well. This is straight forward logic. If they can make Singapore a power house, they must also be able to do the same to their poor and 3rd World countries.
 
The truth is that they are mostly the third or fourth rate talents of their countries. The top talents of their respective countries are doing very well at home as their elites, and there is no need for them to leave their countries to eke a living elsewhere. Many of the foreigners that are here are those that could not find decent jobs at home, not good enough. Shouldn’t they be grateful that Sin City found them so good to give them good jobs and good pay? Or maybe Sinkies are so untalented that these third and fourth rate foreigners are better than them and could easily find employment here than Sinkies?
 
Another strange phenomenon is that the top talents of these foreigners remained in their home countries but could not turn their countries into economic powerhouses. How could these third and fourth rate talents managed to turn Sin City into an economic powerhouse? Maybe these third and fourth rate talents are the real talents of their countries and if they were given a chance to replace their top talents at home, they could turn their countries into economic powerhouses just like they did for Sin City.
 
Do I sound logical? Why are these foreign talents so able to turn Sin City into an economic powerhouse while their countries remained as struggling economies, economic slum houses? What is the problem? My logic is flawed? Third and fourth rate talents could turn Sin City into economic power house but their first and second rate talents at home could not do the same to their countries?
 
Funny logic? Or 3rd World third and fourth rate talent’s logic?

Kopi Level - Green

Irrelevance of qualifications and skill sets in politics

There is no specific qualification or skill set needed in political office. The closest in terms of relevance would be some social science disciplines and public administration, but still inadequate as some ministries could entail and demand very specific and professional skills, eg Defence, Home Affairs, Health, Housing, Education etc etc. It would be difficult to cast a specific academic qualification for appointments like the President or the Prime Minister. The presumption that anyone as long as he is an elected politician is good enough to helm any ministry is the biggest flaw in a democratic system.
 
Hsien Loong is a mathematician by training and he is the PM. Chee Hian is an engineer, Tharman an economics grad, Eng Hen and Vivian are in medicine, and there are some from law, the hard sciences etc etc. In political offices, the academic or professional qualifications needed are non specific except for a few ministries when professional qualifications are very useful like law and health or defence. The common denominator actually is that nothing is relevant.
 
What then is the qualification or skill set needed to be a politician? In my view, other than a basic academic qualification to show that one has the ability to understand the 3 Rs, the other important attributes are the intangibles. Leadership, trust, integrity, honesty, compassion and a heart of gold, to want to look after the interest of the people are more important attributes than academic qualifications. Our obsession with super talents ended up wasting supertalents but having to pay supertalented pay for skill sets that are totally irrelevant to the jobs.
 
Political office is about country, nation and people and their well being. From these aspects, it is clear that super talents in the professions are not a necessary requirement and irrelevant in many cases to the appointments. It is the man and his mission and his heart that make a good political leader. Political leaders must be clear that it is all about country and people, to prosper the country and people. It is not about how good one is a doctor or lawyer or engineer or how much one is earning in the profession. It is not about self and how well they should be compensated.
 
So, what is the relevance in making a case for super talents to be better politicians and demanding ‘out of this world’ salaries? Where is the relationship in a super eye surgeon and a ministry like defence or the environment? Where is the relationship in a super lawyer and the education or health ministry? Broadly, the only relation is a good heart, a good mind and a mission to serve the interests of the people.

A good leader is priceless but not demanding to be paid ridiculously. His value is not in his qualifications or profession but the lifting of the quality of life of the people and the people's interests.

Kopi Level - Green