Equal misery

Rajasegaran Ramasamy was quoted in the ST Forum complaining that teachers are getting free parking while in other ministries and stats boards the officers have to pay for parking. To him this is grossly unfair. He wanted the system to be fair to all and teachers be made to pay for their parking in school compounds. His most convincing argument is that 'the govt is losing a potential revenue of some $1.625 mil monthly.' Now who can argue against such a big sum of money logic. I am sure the bean counters will be smiling in glee with so much money to collect. Sorry teachers, your little privilege is habis. I will be glad to support Rajasegaran if he were to proposed that all the ministries and stats boards should follow the example of the MOE and allow their staff to park free. I forgot, Mindef officers are allowed to park free also. Will I be seeing paid parking lots in military camps and carpark wardens patrolling inside them as well? Rajasegaran's suggestion is a 'bee tang' idea and should be implemented and he be awarded a gold medal for public administration. The best suggestion I have heard from a citizen so far.

Tan Kin Lian speaking his mind

Tan Kin Lian has developed a new speak your mind culture in cyberspace. He spoke about things he knows best, insurance. And he went one step further by taking on NTUC Income on the changes in the payout of insurance bonus. He was unhappy when the payout formula was changed and policy holders will be getting less than when he was in charge. He ran a protest in cyberspace and would have taken the issue to the NTUC Income AGM. Fireworks were expected. Then, pssssst.... He was invited for tea by Lim Boon Heng and Matthias Yao. As reported in the ST, 'Mr Lim told him that his committee would ensure that Income's policyholders would continue to get good value, while Mr Yao said the restructure was designed to improve Income's solvency position.' Wow, if the payout formula was not changed, Income's solvency will not improve. Matthias added, 'those who terminate their policies this year would not be in any worse off position compared with the previous bonus structure.' What about those who did not terminate their policies this year? Should they all scramble to terminate their policies so that they will not be worst off? Anyway, 'Chairman Ng Kee Choe called the restructure a "very carefully considered decision" and one in the best interests of policyholders.' Was the old bonus structure carefully considered?

NKF story - Amazing Grace?

The Amazing Case or Amazing Grace? Durai is back and will serve his 3 month jail sentence from 10 Jun 08. He has to date paid $1.4 mil to NKF and still owing $2.6 mil of the total $4 mil owed. He has two rich friends to lend him $500k each to help to pay the debt. Wonderful friends to have. What is so amazing about that. Nothing. What is amazing is that it was reported that Richard Yong, Loo Say San and Matilda Chua, all three has yet to make any payment. They were declared bankrupts. All of them were high flyers, with big paychecks, living is style and luxury. And they could not and did not pay a cent to NKF! What's going on? Isn't that amazing?

The right to give and to receive

The right to give and the right to receive With charity taking a new form, and with some gaining ill repute, it is best to leave it to the individuals to do what they think best. I am talking about the right to scholarship here. The right of the govt to give scholarships and the right of the recipients to receive the scholarships. On the right to give, a noble act which is often tied to rewarding the best and the most brilliant who would in turn benefit the country. This must be distinguished from giving bursaries, normally seen as a financial assistance scheme to help the recipients financially. Malaysia was giving only 20% of govt scholarships to non Malays for at least 20 years. 80% of govt scholarships were given to Malays, assuming the numbers are true. This is the kind of racial disparity dictated by Mahathir and UMNO. And Malaysia is paying for it today, for giving scholarships not to the brightest but according to racial birth rights. Singapore has another kind of problem, giving scholarships to non citizens. From the citizens' point of view, from the taxpayers' point of view, both are seen as unfair and unacceptable. The right to receive, in Malaysia's case, is quite evident. As taxpayers, as citizens, the non Malay students whose academic grades are excellent should be awarded scholarships based on their merit. What about Singapore giving scholarships to foreigners whose parents are not taxpayers or citizens? Or are they aid or assistance packages to other countries? Malaysia is now revising the percentage from 20% to 40% in favour of non Malays. The MCA and MIC deserve to lose the election for allowing this to go on for so long. How many Scholarships did Singapore gave to foreigners? What is the percentage vis a vis citizens?

Stoned right!

Sharon Stone may be stoned, but she is damned right that the big earthquake in China is a karmic retribution for China's role in Tibet. But she forgot to elaborate more by looking at the progress in the US, Europe and particularly Japan and Germany. Many people actually are confused about the law of karma. The true karmic law is like the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest. The greater the evil, the better a nation or people prosper. China has not done enough evil, and that is why it is still a developing nation and suffering from national calamities. And that applies to the poor Asian and African countries. Compare to Europe, after they colonised and robbed the rest of the world their wealth and their dignity, and impoverished most of them, Europe is peaceful, graceful and rich. So did America. Look how great and rich the USA is? It is all karma. They reaped their good karma from killing and exterminating the Red Indians. They reaped their good life from turning Africans into slaves. And their good karma will continue if they keep killing the Arabs. China should learn from the USA, then it will become a richer country. Germany and the gassing of the Jews, concentration camps etc, see how good is the karma of Germany? It is now the most prosperous nation in Europe. The same applies to the Japanese. Remember the atrocities they inflicted to Asians when they tried to conquer and rule all of them, including the Rape of Nanking and the chemical factory using Chinese to test chemical and biological weapons, which they passed all the information and research material to the Americans, see how well off they are now? The law of karma says that a country and people must be cruel to beget good karma and live well. Now watch carefully as America and Europe start to decline and degenerate into the third world league as they become more human and care for human rights. Stone is right. She is stoned right. China was not evil enough to reap goodness!