Notable quotes :Lee Kuan Yew 1984 National Day Rally

'Every thing works, whether its water, electricity, gas, telephone, telexes, it just has to work. If it doesn't work, I want to know why, and if I am not satisfied, and I often was not, the chief goes, and I have to find another chief. Firing the chief is very simple.'

Changing times and changing ethos, work ethics and expectations.

Amos Yee – A few pertinent questions

'The psychiatrist who conducted the court-ordered evaluation of the youth at the Institute of Mental Health, Dr Cai Yimin, is also Emeritus Consultant, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health.’ This is extracted from a post by Andrew Loh in TOC.

The first question many have been asking is the need for someone to be remanded in IMH for a suspected case of Autism Spectrum Disease which is not a mental illness. Is this the case for all patients suspected of ASD to be locked up in IMH and in Ward 7? Or is Amos Yee the first such suspect to be held in IMH?

The second question is the time needed to make a thorough test on Amos Yee to determine his condition? Does it need 2 weeks to do so? As the final finding has shown that the psychiatrist had found Amos to be normal, no mental illness, was this conclusion made at the end of 2 weeks or the result was known earlier?

If Amos Yee was found to be normal earlier, would it not be the duty of the examining psychiatrist to remove him from IMH at the soonest possible? Isn’t it right not to keep a normal person a day or an hour or a minute more in Ward 7, a place used to hold serious mental patients?

When was Amos Yee diagnosed to be clean and normal and when was he removed from IMH Ward 7? Is there anything wrong to keep him a minute longer in Ward 7 when he should be moved out as quickly as possible?

Don’t leave home without it

The senior citizens may be thinking of their pioneer generation cards as the most precious item to be carried along wherever they go. The young may be thinking of their credit cards or their latest mobile phones. This phrase of ‘don’t leave home without it’ has taken on a new meaning.

Last night we witnessed the most serious MRT breakdown when the two main lines, North South and East West went down at the same time at evening peak hours. The frustration and anger and the increasing perception of an unreliable public transport system are getting to the nerves of the commuters. Despite so many assurance and compliments of how well the SMRT has done, how much money has been invested to improve the system, the breakdowns are not going to stop and are getting more serious. The image that comes to many people’s mind is the 6.9m or 10m population that the people have been daily prepared for.

Now with this crippling failure of a public transport system that commuters had taken for granted for the last 3 decades and now seeing breakdowns as a new normal, would there be a rethink about our ability to live with a population more than the present 5.4m? Are we up to it or just trying to psyche ourselves that we can do it when the incidents of breakdown are saying otherwise?

Lui Tuck Yew must have run out of expletives to apologise to the people on every breakdown. He might as well have a pre recorded speech to broadcast inside the train whenever a breakdown occurs. And he should also set up a permanent Committee of Inquiry to investigate on train breakdowns with such frequencies.

As for the commuters, they must be prepared for it as well. Forget about the free bus services when a break down occurs. They are not prepared for it, badly organized and too little to cope with the huge numbers of commuters needing to be dispersed as quickly as they could. How many buses would be needed to move the commuters? And how many commuters know how the free bus service system works? The MRT staff is just as good as blur about the bus service and they have great problems handling the crowd.

What is the best solution? It may be a good idea for every commuter to carry a folding bike with them. This is going to be the most effective and reliable tool to cope with the train breakdowns. They can simply unfold the bikes and zip away quickly.  And with the Singapore Made Aleoca bikes at very affordable prices, it should not be too much of a strain on the pockets.  For the richer Singaporeans, they can flaunt their Brompton bikes in the train to show that they are of a different commuter class, carrying the Rolls Royce of folding bikes in the train.

Yes, don’t leave home without it. You will need it more frequently than you think. And it will help the MRT to manage the crowding problems in the stations. And no need to be so blur and lost on which free bus to take. We need to help ourselves and help the MRT. It is our responsibility and our problem to take care of ourselves than to add to the mess and jams at the stations.

But before you go and grab that folding bike, check with MRT which models are acceptable. I know the Brompton model is definitely ok, but not all folding bikes can be lugged into the train. You will be stopped by the MRT staff if the bike does not meet their criteria. Maybe Lui Tuck Yew may want to offer some vouchers to the commuters to buy the folding bikes. Or maybe some kind of subsidies as the commuters are trying to help MRT with the breakdown and crowding problems. Or MRT may want to go into selling folding bikes business as this is an important tool needed by commuters now.

What do you think?

Najib is the man!

Many people must have underestimated the strength of Najib to stay on as the PM in the face of attacks from so many quarters, from Mahathir, some royalties and also from his own UMNO. And with the 1MDB assuming such a high profile in the politics of Malaysia, most PMs would have crumbled and resigned, but not Najib.

Najib is still hanging on with no signs of throwing in the towel. And he has good reasons for it. Some of the heavy weights in UMNO are staunchly on his side, supporting him and prepared to take on his critics. Ahmad Hamidi, Hishamuddin, Khairy and a few others have spoken up to show support for Najib. The initial signs of a break with Muhyiddin calling for an investigation have fizzled out.

Many would think that with Mahathir taking on the role as cheer leader, there will be a fall out and many UMNO leaders would cross over and take on Najid. For the moment this is not happening. Najib is hanging on and with UMNO appearing to be strongly behind him.

Mahathir must be wondering what is happening. This Najib is turning out to be a tough nut to crack. And Najib has a trumph card in Rosmah. She has not shown what she is capable of doing to protect her husband yet. This is the time when Rosmah would be called upon to prove her mettle against the old fox. She may dig out some dirt about Mahathir or his children to share and divert the attention away from Najib. And Mahathir will have to spend time covering his back.

It is still too early to tell if Najib will survive this crisis. As long as the UMNO leaders are closing ranks to stay with him, it is not easy to dislodge him from office if he does not want to bow out.

This is another big battle to watch. And quite fortunate for Najib that the PKR is also having problems of their own and would not be as formidable as a united front to mount a challenge at Najib.

An unsustainable formula with unsustainable policies to match

In the late 70s the formula was already in place. There was this common saying, if you are 40 and have not made it, it’s over. For those who have made it, they are at the top of everything, in career and status and income. Many young scholars in this scheme were CEOs here and there, permanent secretaries, generals and ministers.

Now a bit of reality.  At 40, at the top, earning top income, what is going to happen to them when they are 60, 70 or 80? For this group of aristocrats, their career cannot end there and then. They will continue to be relevant and continue to get more and more pay. Somehow there will be positions or appointments available for them. And there will be many coming after them to join the club. And membership to this exquisite club will grow and grow, and at the same time their income will grow and grow. Mind you, once in the club, everyone is earning millions and more, with no caps.  Sustainable?

The problem is that this group does not disappear like their parent’s generation. They don’t die at 60 or 65. Their lifespan is going to hit 80 and more. How to feed their growing income that has no caps? How much is needed to sustain this group of elite?

As for the ordinary Singaporeans, if by 40 they have not made it, most will not, they are going to hit the wall. Many will start to lose their jobs. Many will become unemployable, unwanted. Many will have to retire prematurely. Many will try to make ends meet by whatever job they could laid their hands on, underemployed is better than unemployed, they consoled themselves.

For this group, 60 is a defining moment, a defining age. It is time to take stock of their miserable savings. Some still think that they could survive without knowing that there will be another 20 or 30 years ahead to live. How many can afford to live on their savings, dwindling and eating up by inflation at a frightening rate, to last another 20 or 30 years? How much is needed to survive 20 or 30 years without an income but a little savings?

The bulk of the aristocrats is being sustained by the gravy train, a big group and growing rapidly. But the crowd of retirees, the average Singaporeans, is going to grow out of proportion, to live to 80 or more, but with no jobs and no income.

How sustainable is this formula of a longer lifespan without any income? And for those with enormous income, where is the money coming from to sustain their growing incessant appetite for more? They are at their peak at 40, at the top of their career and income. But their income will keep peaking every year, unrestrained. There is no limit to how much they want to be paid or expected to be paid.

How fortunate are those in this aristocratic class? And how unfortunate will be those not in this aristocratic class?