10m population – Crossing the line of diminishing return

Liu Thai Ker’s keynote address at a forum organised by the Business Times of SPH in collaboration with Singapore Institute of Building Limited yesterday (31 Jul) is drawing unusual flaks in the social media. He is singing the same sick mantra of growing population for economic growth and wanting more immigrants in the little island. More than 160 comments (in TRE) have been posted in the thread about the 10m population that Liu Thai Ker said was needed for Singapore to be a sustainable country. If this belief is true, Singapore would have perished long ago and all the small countries should not exist.

The netizens were not angry with Liu Thai Ker personally. But for him to repeat this folly is just unbearable. And they are looking for a scapegoat to vent their anger. Liu Thai Ker was in the right place to take the blows. To have 6.9m or 10m or 20m is just a matter of adjusting to a life in a more dense piece of rock. Can, sure can. The people would also become denser or be condensed.

It is not a matter of can or cannot. It is a matter of whether the people want to go down that road. It is not even a matter of being sustainable or not sustainable. There are many schools of thoughts on this and no one is wiser. It is not an absolute solution that we go this way or we will perish. Come on, is there a genius out there that can be sure of this, that there is no other ways?

By the same belief, I would not even grant it the privilege of calling it a logic, the Australians must be dumb to have so few people in a continent bigger than China, India or the USA and with a population of about 20m. The economists for growth will be screaming ‘fools’. The architects and property developers will be shaking their heads for the lost opportunities to build more buildings and fill up the land with more people. Wonder who is crazy?

Why do we want to keep building and building and to add more and more people into this piece of rock? What for? Oh, economic growth!  We have gone pass the law of diminishing return when every extra effort will give smaller and smaller returns. We are in a new level, a level when every extra effort, or increase in population, will lead to an increase in pain. The more people we put into the island, the higher will be the cost of living, the stress on the socio eco system, the infrastructure and the demands on the people. It will lead to more stress and more pain, on the people and on the systems and structures.

Those who are living in the confines of 50,000 sq ft properties would not know or feel that this is happening. Some wise crackpots are even telling the people that living in 600 sq ft flat for a family of 4 or 6 is fine, no drop in the quality of life. We used to have that kind of environment in the 50s and 60s, 8 or 10 people living in a cubicle. That was the quality of life. They escaped the squeeze by spending time outside the cubicles. Today the people are better off with aircon comfort in shopping centres and the great pubs and nightspots.

The people are saying they did not want this kind of squeeze. Why should their lives be screwed by a few people who want to push this belief through, even got it rubber stamped in Parliament? The govt has heard the cries and the felt the anger. But it seems to choose the deaf frog way, not wanting to listen and now we have a line up of snake oil sellers paraded to sell this koyok of more population. Who is the crazy one? The people must decide on this. The people have rejected the PWP. If the govt wants the moral authority to carry this through, it must call for a referendum before destroying this island for the Singaporeans and their children. Turning a deaf ear is not a solution. This is the people’s call, not the call of a handful of individuals, and definitely not the call of snake oil sellers.

Kopi Level - Red again. 

Tastefully offensive

TASTEFULLY OFFENSIVE

                         http://youtu.be/h6uq4OCla2c

View this. It was on America's got talent. They are not so uptight as a people and a society. They know how to have fun.

VEP- Trying to understand the decisions

The VEP and Toll fees hike is turning into another mini crisis or pain among the transport operators and travelers on both sides of the causeway. When one hiked the other party also wants to hike. It can be Singapore first or Malaysia first, doesn’t matter. If Malaysia does it, Singapore’s standard reaction will be, we will match the hike.

For the party who made the first move, one can quite safely deduce that they must have done some homework, some analysis on the numbers and the reasons for hike. Let’s hazard a guess on the reasons why LTA decided on the fee hike. The first point is likely that the govt needs money and someone was told to look for more revenue sources. Can the CPF issue be a factor where some changes will take place to return some money to the people to appease them? A second reason is to relate the cost of driving on our roads with comparatively higher COEs that the Singaporeans are paying. A third reason, too many vehicles on the road and a need to limit foreign vehicles coming in. But this third reason is contrary to the need for economic growth, to have more economic activities, more people and vehicles in the island. Raising fees would definitely lead to lesser vehicles coming here if they could avoid it, lesser Malaysians driving in for leisure, and lesser Malaysians shopping here and thus affecting the Great Singapore Sale. Oh, GSS is over already I think.

A fourth reason, would this affect those Singaporeans buying properties or setting up factories at Iskandar? What kind of impact? Likely to be negative, but is it good or bad for Singapore?

LTA must have played with the different combinations on what would be the desired fee hike and the acceptable consequences. So lesser vehicles, lesser people coming in are acceptable trade offs for the increased in revenue. And if the Malaysians retaliate by raising fees on their side, even lesser vehicles and people coming in, but with a corresponding match in toll fee hike, the increased in revenue is good.

What would be the motivating factors for the Malaysians to do so? The first is political. KNN anyhow raise VEP to make Malaysian vehicles pay more. Must hit back to show them we cannot be makan or bullied. Another reason, well, using the political excuse will be popular with the people, but better still, can raise revenue also. This is like killing two birds with one stone. Can tekan the Singapore govt and appease the Malaysians. Got balls!. The third reason, or haven’t thought of, what if this leads to lesser Singaporeans coming into Malaysia? Would it affect the tourist dollar, would it affect the sales of properties at Iskandar and the bigger plan of turning Iskandar into a shining pearl? What about the ordinary Malaysians crossing over to work and the children taking public transport to schools? This last question going to be susah.

What both sides must have thought through would be the likely effect of choking up the causeway and the second link. People, goods and money will not flow so smoothly through these two links. It would definitely affect the economy the wrong way. It is like throwing a spanner in the works by both sides.

Why would the two govts want to do these things? In Singapore’s case, boh lui is a likely to be a big factor. For the Malaysians, it is like trying to fight a battle only to lose a war.

Kopi Level - Green

Ebola – Are we safe?

With our open leg policies, are we safe from Ebola? MOH said Singaporeans should not be alarmed as the transmission is by direct physical contact of body fluids. Also ‘there is low travel connectivity to West Africa, where the current outbreak remains limited to’.
 
Just don’t be alarmed, which means what? There is little connectivity from here to West Africa. But there are indirect connectivities to West Africa by travelers from all over the world. The disease is posing a health epidemic across the whole world. Every country is alarmed and raising checks and quarantining travelers.
 
Pray it doesn’t hit us. Our jam packed trains are not going to be very helpful if one joker is affected. Remember Murphy’s Law. Pray, pray hard.

PS: This is the scary part. 

'The incubation period of EVD varies from 2 to 21 days. Patients are not known to be contagious during the incubation period but become contagious once they begin to show symptoms which include sudden onset of fever, weakness, muscle pain, joint pain, headache and sore throat. This can be followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, stomach pain, red eyes, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases bleeding. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for EVD.' Copied from a post in TRE.

Kopi Level - Green

The shifting and changing intolerance

We were once an immigrant country. We have the blood of immigrants. A stroke of luck, we became the owners of this island that we made it our home. We were generous to foreigners coming here. We welcomed them and extended our hospitality to them. Practically every foreigner who sat foot here went home in praise of our generosity.
 
When foreigners were small in numbers, when they came as tourists and just passing by, things were good for both them and us. They came to enjoy our little island paradise. We gave them a pleasant stay and a happy memory to bring home. They came and they left fulfilled.
 
As more and more foreigners came and stayed, things changed. We started to feel some annoyance and irritations in the beginning. But never mind, the govt said we should welcome them for all the good reasons. The govt did not tell us the bad reasons and the consequences of having too many foreigners living with us.
From rushing for a seat in the train, a seat in the hawker centre, we find that we had to compete with the foreigners for living space. Our space has been invaded. We need to share our space with the foreigners. The level of tolerance fell. They are becoming more than an irritant.
 
And more came. We suddenly woke up and realized that we had to compete with foreigners for jobs, for housing, for education, for the right to earn a decent living, for everything. The level of tolerance became intolerable. But we were polite, we bowed our heads, gave way to the foreigners. Many PMEs resigned to their fate to become taxi drivers and security guards. They deserved it as they had given up the fight. We gave way, we gave up our better lives and jobs to let the foreigners have a better life.
 
The foreigners were very nice people. When they were new, small in numbers, they were polite and a bit fearful of the owners of the land. They gave way to us, avoided offending us. Things started to change when their numbers increased, when they became familiar with the system and the docile owners. They started to get annoyed with our presence. We became an irritant to them.
 
They even ganged up to steal our jobs, our space, took our convenience for their convenience. Now they even discriminated against us, the owners of the land. They told us they were smarter, cleverer, and they were here to help us. They started to despise us. They thought they were superior to us, they have every right to be in this land of ours. We must give way to them. If we are not happy, they told us to move out.
The arrogance became rudeness, became offensive. They did not like us and did not have to like us. They did not like our presence. They even gave us the hostile stare in the trains like we should not be there. They called us xenophobic.
 
The foreigners are getting intolerant of us, the citizens, the owners of this land. The Little India Riot is not going to be the last. When they are big in numbers, there is nothing to stop them from beating us, from violence, from rioting, and worst.
 
The intolerance level has changed, the intolerance has changed side. They cannot tolerate our way of life, our cooking, our festivities, the noise we created. The foreigners, because of their numbers, and the docile and daft Sinkies allowing them to do as they pleased, are growing intolerant of us, the citizens here.
 
What’s next? Would they be thinking of chasing us away, the citizens, out of our homes, our country? Can you believe that? Threatening citizens, shouting at citizens and beating citizens? In the trains they would rush for the seats first, ignoring the citizens. They have become very comfortable here, too comfortable with the daft citizens. They can makan the citizens. The citizens must not offend them or else.
 
Welcome to the new 3rd World?

Kopi Level - Green