Same floor flat different price

Brother wanted to buy a 4 rm flat next to another brother but found price increased by $84k. It was $280k a year ago when his brother bought it from HDB. It is now $364k from HDB. This is reported in the New Paper. The price has gone up as it is marked according to market resale value of flats in the area. And this brother is unhappy. He found it unreasonable as the costs of building the two flats were the same. But he forgot. When his brother bought the flat at $280k, it was already subsidised. Now if he is going to pay at the same price, the subsidy will be whatever plus $84k! Now that is a very huge market subsidy. Further, the $364k is also cheaper than market price. I think he is expecting too much. Too unreasonable. $364k, good price, fair price. Cheaper than market price, and subsidised some more. What more does he want?

In praise of smelliness

Jayandran Sandra Alison posed an interesting perspective about giving Jalan Kayu a clean makeover and 'why smelly Jalan Kayu' should not be clean up like Chinatown. Chinatown has lost its charm and authenticity as the residents are moving out and all that was retained or came in to replace them were commercial outlets and business people. Chinatown will not be the same again. It will be clean, not smelly, and not very real. Should Jalan Kayu be retained for its smelliness and chaotic nature? One thing for sure, the tourists would want to see an old dilapidated Chinatown, with all its squatters and squalors than a clean and modern one.

No Estate Duties

This is a good piece of news for all Singaporeans, including the HDB dwellers. With the world's rich and infamous coming here to park their money and buy up the properties, anyone holding on to one will be seeing its value double or triple. This is better than the asset enhancement scheme. While the rich foreigners are buying up the high end properties, and some locals cashing out and downgrading, they will be a filtering down effect to HDB flats as well. How about a 3 room flat costing a million bucks? If such a price can be attained, who needs Long Life Annuity Schemes? Practically everyone will become a millionaire, in strong Sing dollars of course. While all the rich who are holding on to their properties and counting the gains, some thoughts must go to the new flat buyers, the young people starting out to buy their first HDB flat. How are they going to earn enough money to buy a 3 rm flat which by then the prices will outstrip their income? We can't be sitting on our fat arses and waiting for things to happen and say it is due to external forces, nothing can be done.

Anti Competition Practices

Two articles in Today were on anti competition practices and abuses here. It is good that more people speak out on this issue and those who were victims take up legal suits against the perpetrators of such practices. Organisations that allowed such practices to continue should be made to own up and face 'the consequent loss of reputation and goodwill' as stated by Lim Bee Khim from the Ministry of Trade and Industry. So far all is talk and no action despite the prevalence of such abuses and unethical practices.

Celebrating Singaporean - Lily Neo

MP Lily Neo As an MP she may not be given enormous projects to tackle, so nothing too visible. But in her own ways she has contributed very significantly to the downtrodden and otherwise taken for granted group of desperate people in paradise. Without her challenging their cause, these people may still be getting $250 a month to get by. Now, not only that they are getting $290, they are going to get $330 soon! And people now realised how pathetic and difficult it is to live with that kind of money. Maybe some people may think that for such people, the money will be too much for 3 packs of maggie mee a day. Now don't ever think that this is an easy thing to do. For raising it in Parliament, she was embarrassed. She took it quitely. She is a true champion for the poor and deprived, with a real heart. She is sincere in what she is doing. Don't be surprised that one day she will be honoured as the new Goddess of Mercy of Paradise.

Charity in Paradise

For a small little island we have thousands of charitable organisations, all thriving and collecting millions and millions of dollars annually from the generous and kind populace. But this is not all. The govt gives out $1.8b of handouts this year, and has been doing it for many years. We are indeed a very generous country with many generous donors, many people in need of charity, and many people enjoying running charitable organisations. Soon setting up charitable organisations, running and managing them, collecting donations and receiving donations will be a way of life in paradise. And this is only natural. Paradise is where all the good people with good hearts are found. Paradise is synonymous with charity.

Ungrateful Singaporeans

What, what, I can't believe my ears. Singaporeans not happy with the Golden Year Ang Pow budget! With the govt giving away $1.8b from the $6.4b surplus, Singaporeans are saying not enough, that this is not atm budget, that the govt is not playing Santa Claus, and they are disappointed! And some families are getting a few thousand bucks, like striking 4D, still not happy. What are the Singaporeans expecting? These are money from heaven, no need to work for it and they are disappointed. Unbelieveable.

Windy Cool Words

There is a Chinese saying, something like speaking windy cool words, or fen liang hua. It doesn't require much skill though. Anyone with a few million bucks should be in a position to do it. Even the Ah Longs are quite adept at such phrases. A frequent encounter between an Ah Long and his debtor can go like this, after the beating up and paying up of course. 'I advise you huh, got no money don't try to gamble or live like a rich man ah. And don't borrow money from Ah Long. Live within your means. Got money eat more, no money eat less. Then your life will be better, no need beating from Ah Long. See. Then every year got angpow from the govt some more, then can go for a short holiday in Malaysia. With a roof on your head, with enough food to eat, even house brand never mind, what more is there to be unhappy about. Live a simple and happy life.

The upper crust

Both SICC and SIA were in the news, two law suits involving the cream of our society, the privilege class. It was interesting to read the petty details of the cases, especially when the masses always look at this distinguished class of people from a distance with great admiration and envy. Face it, money is just a facade to give some signs of impeccability and dignity. Beneath that, human beans are human beans and they all eat and shit just like everyone else. What astonished me is to read this statement in the paper, 'All we did was to capitalise on it.' Capitalise on people's private life, little silly mistakes or indiscretion, blowing up in the msm, seems a normal game in paradise. If this kind of things becomes an acceptable norm of social behaviour, we can forget about gracefulness. We are just as good as anyone in any little corners of the world. We are just petty human beans in disguise. Let's not breathe a word about being ethical and on moral high grounds. In paradise, things are more precarious as everyone seems to know everyone or hear something from everyone. And if everyone is going to capitalise on such information, we will have a very exciting and colourful society.

Short sighted policies

We think we can keep on raising prices. We think we can keep on raising salaries. We think we can keep on having full employment and budget surpluses. We think our people can all be turned into geniuses by having the best education with the best facilities and best lecturers. We forgot that water will always find the lowest level. Gravity will bring everything down to earth. The US thought the world owes them a living and they have been living it up for a couple of centuries. But time is catching up with them. They are at the brink of a total collapse of their economic system based on high expenditure and borrowed money or printing money and high salaries. They think they can continue to pay their workers the best salaries only to see jobs fleeing to cheaper places. When we over pay our workers, jobs will flee too. When we overprice our services, properties, rentals, they too will look for cheaper places to go. This is a fundamental economic truth. Any exception is shortlived.

Imported inflation or inflating prices?

Our secret of fighting inflation is to let the price hikes flow down to all levels. Then we pump in the money, raise salaries or give handouts to the people. This theory seems to be sold and have been accepted by our leaders. So price control is out of question. Let all the prices to rise. Don't worry, there will be handouts every year. Two points to note. Are the price hike really imported and beyond our control or they are self manufactured by profiteers for some obscene reasons? The second point is that inflation will always come first and the handouts one year later. And while handouts are being given, one year late, inflation continues to rise. Giving handouts are reactive and never enough. Many basic necessities like rice, water and food, need not rise so much given our strong dollar and cheap imported water. The reason and the extra taxes placed on the price of water is obscene. And we are inflating the cost of education by throwing money after the so called best lecturers or most expensive lecturers. Do we really need to buy the best from the world? Can we have second or third best or only a few really good ones? Not only that we cannot afford world class prices, Ah Meng's children will still come out as orang utangs even if they are taught by the best brains. The failure of Haw Par Villa, Tang Dynasty and Sentosa was evidence that Singaporeans were not or could not pay outrageous prices. Are we serious in wanting a world class transport system with world class prices? Looking at the profits of transport companies, they can do well with lower prices if profit is not the only reason for their existence. Instead of privatise, return them to the govt as essential services to serve the people's interest instead of a few shareholders. Then ERP, imported inflation? Rentals and property prices, pressured by external factors to go up? Medical fees, really must go up so high? Many of these high cost items are self created and self inflicted. And the poorer people have to bear the brunt of the pain. And comes budget time, we give them a few pieces of 'koyok' or a bill few good pills and all thinks everything is ok. For things that are really caused by external factors beyond our control, fair enough, we have to find ways to live with it. For high cost of things that we have full control and consciously pushed it to the people, we can do more to avoid them. Not everything is due to imported inflation but we inflate the prices ourselves.

Oo la la, Good Year Ang Pow

$1.8b of GYAP coming our way. Where on earth can one find an ATM that gives this kind of money to the people? It would be unreasonable for anyone to find fault with the budget. It is too good to be true. Money pouring into everyone's pocket. But criticism there will be, on the details perhaps. There will sure be some reasons for people to nickpick. Let me start with one. In the last debate, it was a good one too, but after some criticisms and afterthoughts, several MPs stood up to defend their mothers and grandmothers. They felt that the housewives who stayed at home to look after the children and spare the working mothers and fathers from having a demonic maid at home, deserve something more. They are playing a very vital role in supporting the family and growing the children. Well, Tharman has forgotten his mother and the housewives again. Not a word was mentioned. Let's see if the MPs remember and kick up a scene in Parliament. Nothing will be done after that anyway. But a little wayang will be good if they want the votes of the housewives. Or at least it gives them something to throw at Tharman. The other point that people tend to miss out when there is a goodies galore is how the goodies were made possible. There is a budget surplus of more than $6b. And this is the result of a policy of taxing and getting as much money from the people in all ways. Then after emptying the people's pocket, just give a few handouts in return. And as usual, the sheeples will respond in a most predictable manner. Very happy and grateful for the goodies. They have forgotten about the GST, ERP, the fees and fare hikes, the causes of the high inflation. The latter were blamed as the result of external factors beyond our control. If policies were to tax a little lesser, there may be lesser need to give handouts. Or there will be lesser to give. Wonder which is better. Collect like hell to give a little more, or collect less to give less?

We are not short of talents

How can we be short of talents when we can easily create more? Ah Meng could be a great talent if we pay her more than peanuts and bananas. As such, Ah Meng would probably be remembered as a peanut and banana talent. Imagine if Ah Meng is paid $1m! He will instantly be a million dollar talent. Creating talent in paradise is so easier. Just pour money onto the person.

NUS Law fees up 20%

I nearly missed out on this. 20% hike for NUS Law students. But that is fair given the amount of money they can make on graduation. After all all the parents interviewed believed in quality and don't mind paying for them. So with the message that the higher the fees, the better the quality, I think all the parents would soon be demanding that the fees be raised higher. Then they can go around telling people how much they paid for quality education.

Prepare people to die

I believe it is kinder to prepare people to die or to accept death once they have past 70 years than to prepare them to live forever. The later could be more pain and suffering, loneliness and a life of physical deprivation. Only the very rich, with all the filial children around them could enjoy life forever. Death is a certainty. Once 70 is reached, biologically we are gone. All the parts needs to be changed or we will look worst than scrap cars in the junk yard. Face it, old people will be a problem to themselves, their families and society unless they are physically able to live life on their own. We should prepare and educate people to accept that the time will come to depart. The fantasy of living past 80 and forever is not a good thing to many. It can be very tragic even with $600 pm. What for? Live a glorious life. Let the end be fast and swift, with little pain.

What we need is respect for the citizens

We need to respect our humble citizens. We need to respect their rights as individuals, their pride, their rights to be masters of their own money. We cannot keep telling our citizens that they are inept, irresponsible, cannot be trusted to look after themselves and their money, dictate to them how to live their lives, how much money to take from them, how to spend their money, when they can get back their money. We cannot tell them that for their standard and quality of life, they should be contented with being squeezed like sardines in trains and buses. We cannot tell them elementary logics that even Ah Long can think of. We cannot keep treating them like mindless and unthinking masses and on the other hand telling them that they are products of world class education system.

Quality of tertiary education going up in 2008

The quality of tertiary education will go up between 4-10% in 2008. To be more specific, NUS and NTU's quality will be up by 4% and SMU up by 10%. This is if you are convinced that quality can be measured by money. The more money the better the quality. At the rate we are going, we will soon be world best, better than Harvard and Stanford. All we need to do is to buy over all their top professors. And if we put Ah Meng's children in expensive universities with expensive professors, they will turn out more talented than cheaper universities. Our graduates should rightly be paid a premium and be in hot demand around the world. We will have solved our lack of talent problems forever.

People exempted from TALIS

1. Those with less than $40k in Retirement Accounts at 55. 2. Those with serious medical conditions. 3. Those on pensions. 4. Those with private annuities. What about those millionaires or half a millionaires? What about those with properties worth half a million or more? PS: TALIS is short for The Amazing Lifelong Insurance Scheme

Why my coke is 80c?

Ah Pek was seen arguing with the mama shop why his can of coke is now 80c and not 60c. Ah Pek said he read in the paper that the prices of common household goods increased only by 4.3%. Now his coke of 60c increased by 20c or 33%! How can? Profiteering huh!

The Amazing Lifelong Insurance Scheme(TALIS)

It's so amazing. Simply brilliant. Foreign workers used to return to their villages to tell stories about paradise, where people can walk to a machine in the wall to take money when they need money. Now the citizens of paradise will have a $600 payout for life. No govt in the world can promise their citizens such a scheme. If we sell this scheme to the world, we can have 20 million people queueing to be citizens. Just a few questions. Who is paying who? A life time payout, or forever? How many more years can one live after 80, 85, or 90? One good thing coming from the review is that it is now not compulsory. The people will have 12 flexible schemes to choose from. For those who are going to live forever, this is like paradise. I am going there to prepare mansions for all of you who believe in me.

Long Life Insurance

Same assumptions and reasoning. People will live longer, no money, go to meet the people session to ask for help. How many of these people really need help at the end of the day? Why don't we have another set of assumptions. Some people will live longer. They will make provisions for themselves personally or through their families. They don't need govt's charity. Is this group more than those in the former group? Assuming that 70% live till 65. So 70% will may need the Long Life Insurance. Assuming 50% of those reaching 65 will live till 85. So half of the 70% or 35% may need the insurance. Take this at the half way mark this will give 17.5% who would need the insurance. The assuming that half of this 17.5% have been responsible and have savings, then only 8.75% will need the insurance. And assuming that half of this have families to take care of them, the final figure will be 4.375% that really need the insurance. For the sake of 4.375% who for some reasons cannot look after themselves in old age, 100% of the population will have to be forced to buy Long Life Insurance. Actually this figure is a bit inflated as many who cannot afford to live that long would have die naturally. Those who can afford to live to the ripe old age would have some means to do so. What the Govt can do is to issue a Certificate of Proof of voluntary rejection of the Long Life Insurance and allow people to opt out of the scheme. And at the end of the day, if these people come for handouts, just give them the $290 pm and nothing more. The COP will make them ineligible for more govt handouts. I think this will be fair. The people will take responsibility for their own actions and life. And the govt would not be blamed if they mess up their lives. And given the benevolent Long Life Insurance Scheme in place, not many will be left in the lurch. Is it really so hard to let people have the option to opt out? Why so adamant about making it compulsory? Let people be responsible for their own actions. Trust the people. If the govt cannot trust the people, why should the people trust the govt?

What makes a great PM

I was reading P N Balji's comment on the barriers of age, gender and race. And he mentioned that LKY was a PM at 35, Chok Tong at 49 and Hsien Loong at 52. For this, he suggested that the future PM could be older, maybe in the 60s. This is natural as our population, including the supertalents will live to 100. And if they are not fruitfully employed after 60s, then they will be rotting somewhere and will be a waste of their talents. But it would be better if we can find younger PM, say below 35. From the above statistics it is proven that the younger the PM, the better will be his contribution and achievements. And this is only logical. For if a young man in his 30s can shine and be seen as good enough to be a PM, then he is truly an exceptional talent. And he will grow in his job. An older PM will just slow down with time and age. So, an older PM is not the best choice.

It would be more palatable

If only public policies were made not with the people's saving but with public funds from taxes or revenue. It would be better if the urge to provide world class services comes with a public announcement that it will cost so much from the users' pockets. It would be better to provide world class services but at the same time offer those who cannot afford it an alternative service to pay for a cheaper service, and without mean testing of course.

Notable quotes - Lionel De Souza

'The relevant authorities should take the necessary action to criminalise anti competitive practices before they become prevalent.' Lionel De Souza. Before they become prevalent? I support Lionel's call, but wake up, it is prevalent and blatantly practised in many industries by supposely professional and respectable top management staff. They are rightfully called criminals and need to be punished for not only the crime but immoral and unethical practices. It is a poor reflection of the high moral standards that these individuals eschewed and blared out loudly in public speeches. It is hypocrisy in the highest level of corporate management.

New NKF - Spartan but safe

This is the headline in Today on the new NKF. The new CEO, Eunice Tay, has gone in for about a year and has changed the image from a lavish setup of a business and profit oriented organisation to one that looks more like a charity organisation, emphasing on the well being of its patients and on thrift. She cut, reduce, reuse and recycle, and even manages to remove more than 10 vehicles and freeing 5 floors of its HQ office space for rentals! How could so much space and vehicles be made available or not made available by the previous regime? The surprising result is that patients that were unmotivated, depressed and suicidal are now happier. And so were staff morale and a lower turnover. All the little empires and bickering of office politics were gone, including the lavish office of the CEO and the golden tap. I think the new NKF will gradually regain the confidence and trust of its donors, supporters and patients. Other public service organisations could learn a thing or two from the concept of 'Spartan but safe' and discard the golden tap philosophy to benefit the customers they are serving. No need to have first class or world class dreams if the customers cannot afford them.

Myth 172

Saving that is not Technically Singaporeans are among the greatest savers, saving at least 38% of their income directly into the CPF and more for those who can afford to in their private personal accounts. But Singaporeans will never have enough for their old age. How so? Because the saving is not savings. The savings will be spent along the way and by the time they retire, they will be shock to know that there is hardly anything left. Savings of Singaporeans is a myth. Where would all these big savings go to? Housing will take a huge proportion over 30 or 40 years. This is perhaps the biggest item to be taken out from the saving. Then there is the Medisave that will be spent in world class hospitals charging world class rates. And if this is not spent, it will be kept out of reach of the Singaporean till he passes away. Then there will be the fees for education, the premiums to be paid for medical insurance and life long insurance. And Singaporeans can count on more schemes in the future to help them spend their savings in the CPF, and probably even compulsory spending. So whatever the Singaporeans saved in the CPF, they will spent it, in one way or another, in advance.

Indigenous population growth

We are getting 37,000 new births last year, slightly better than the year before but still not good enough. It is still not enough to replace the attrition rate. We need more babies. Go forth and multiply. It is easier said than done. How much does it take to bring up a child to adulthood? $250k, $500k? We have many pro family policies to encourage parents to have more children. The question is that how many can afford to bring up children to go through our expensive web of life? Everything costs money and the cost is going up very quickly. It will not come down. Having more children is easy. But how many will be able to reach a level of comfort, by paying through the education system and quality of living, to say that life is worth living? How many will end up struggling for an existence, a life not worth living? Come to think of it, it is better to bring in the richer foreigners to supplement our population target than to encourage the indigenous hardlanders to produce more babies and to end up living in drudgery.

Lasik surgery getting cheaper

This piece of news sounds odd. Very odd indeed when it was accompanied by news that Lasik surgery will now be done using an improved and expensive equipment with enhanced technology. The result is higher accuracy and safer, and of all things, cheaper. Can this be true? How could better medical services be cheaper? This is against the conventional wisdom of paradise land. In paradise, everything, or anything that is better must be paid with more money. The delivery of a child in a hospital, private or govt owned private hospitals, now cost thousands of dollars. Has the delivery of a baby been different today than those done yesterday? Why is delivery of a baby costing so much? Several of my siblings were delivered by mother, free of charge. She did it herself. Are the women of today constructed differently? Or are the women of paradise built different that delivering a baby is now high technology and requires modern science to assist? The way a child is delivered today, other than a complicate case, cannot be different from a child delivered a few hundred years ago. A midwife could do it, a mother could do it. It is a natural process, a motherly instinct. That's how the human race populated itself. The additional cost today is contributed by all the comfort and fineries, all the pampering and the assurance of professional help. Minus all these, delivering a child can be made very much cheaper. The increasing cost must be a choice by those who want to splurge on them. For the ordinary soul who just want to deliver a child the old way should not have to pay a bomb to do it.

A lesson from Thailand

The military junta led by Sonthi and his generals are wetting their pants. There is fear of reprisals, fear of vengeance, fear of Thaksin's return. Why should there be fear? They have been upholding justice and truth and did everything they did, for Thailand and the Thai people. Or what they did were something else? In third world political systems, the obsession of power, the unwillingness to share political power, the unforgiving and vicious exercise of power against political opponents, depriving the people of their elected representatives by the abuse of power, will inevitably lead to fear and tension. Fear and tension in the victors as well as the losers. When Sonthi led the military coup, he made use of the whole state machinery to go after Thaksin, his family, relations and friends, and his party. All kinds of charges were drummed up, from treason, disrespect to the king and corruption. With all the civil servants under his control, he could go throw all the files, all the documents, to dig out every little things that Thaksin and his allies did, and frame any charges he wanted. That was justice, the justice of power, the truth of a third world political system. Compares that with what we are seeing in the US. The losers are as gracious and the winners as forgiving. And they accept each other in good spirit and with goodwill. They are willing to share political power with whoever the people chose. They accept the will of the people. They accept a system and play by it. There is no inkling of a coup or grabbing the machinery of the state to serve private and personal political interest. The winners and losers continue their lives as if nothing had happened. After the last election Al Gore continues his life lecturing and trying to save the world. We can see Romney, Hucklebee, McCain, perhaps Obama or Hillary continue what they were doing after the Presidential election. There will be no fear of vengeance or oppression or law suits. Thailand will take a long time to be free from fear. The military junta was ruthless in the persecution of Thaksin and his friends. Now they fear the same ruthlessness befallen on themselves. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. No exception. Third world political systems are vicious and shortlived, and will end in upheavels when there is a regime changed.

On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days. And on the 3rd day, still full of new year cheers and good wishes, saying all the good things is a must, you would not want to be greeted with any bad or unsavoury news. No one would be happy to be greeted with news of someone passing away. But that is exactly what greets everyone on the front page of The Straits Times. Is it an ominous sign, a sign of things to come for the year? It is a great objective and unfeeling piece of news to be flashed on the front cover of the main paper, to greet everyone first thing in the morning when he/she picks up the paper. Thanks but no thanks.

High rental good

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Current.com.au, the Harvey Norman co-founder and executive chairman rent rises of up to 50 per cent in one year, coupled with leases restricted to three years, meant all major electrical retailers there were under pressure. "The rents are just horrendous, and trying to figure out how you can do business is a really difficult thing, because you think 'Well, how do you do this?'" He said all three major players in the Singapore electrical retail market – Courts, Harvey Norman and Best Denki – had the same issues. "We all have the same problem, and probably sooner or later one of the three of us will disappear, and there'll be two of us. Then there's a good chance there'll be one of us." I copied the above extract from a post in Sammyboyforum. The rent hike is getting crazier by the days. A small foodstall in a refurbished aircon foodcourt will cost more than $13k a month in the new towns. Can't imagine what it will cost in town or big shopping centres. And how many bowls of noodles would the stallholder need to sell before he breaks even? But we should encourage the property owners to raise rent faster. Then the effect will be more dramatic. It is like blowing a balloon.

Thank you Maggie Mee and all instant noodles

Maggie Mee the saviour The shadow hovers over me but I am strong for my baby My baby sleeps so sweetly beside me She is my only reason to live, to die, to laugh and to cry Tonight is reunion dinner night, most stores are closed I'll have maggi mee and teh or Happy New Year everyone .. life is tough, but it is not so bad, can survive, got someone to love and got internet The above is posted by Downgrader in Sammyboyforum.

Budget time and more goodies

If there is anything to look forward to, Singaporeans should be eagerly waiting for Budget Day on 15 Feb. With all the collections, the govt should be rich enough to return some to the people when Tharman make his budget speech. We have had ERS and Singapore shares before. This time we may have GYAP or Golden Years Ang Pow for all Singaporeans. It will be a nice handout for the new year, and for more good years to come. In the past every budget day is likely to see more tax hikes. Nowadays every budget day is like waiting for the 4D results and see how much one is going to strike. Budget Day is now a Red Letter Day. We should have budget day for every parliament seating. It is better than anything else raised in parliament.

Spare a thought for the less well off

George Yeo urged firms not to increase prices unnecessarily and to spare a thought for the less fortunate. 'Mr Yeo urged businesses not to forget the less fortunate, particularly when times are hard. He said, "Inflation, because of high fuel and food prices, is a problem. And it is a concern for all Singaporeans, especially for those who are less well-off. "I also hope that those of us who are in business, yes, we have to adjust prices, because the input costs are high, but where it is not necessary to increase prices, it's good to spare a thought for ordinary Singaporeans who will be affected." ' A very surprising call actually. Times are hard? Since when? We are in an economic boom, golden years, full employment, everyone is getting richer with housing prices shooting to the sky. What hard times? Prices did not go up yesterday. And who have been jacking up all the prices? And who have been saying that it can't be helped? Do these big organisations, including the hospitals and transport companies ever spare a thought to the people when they raised prices? But they did. They made sure that the increases were all very affordable. Maybe George is living in a different paradise. The rest are still partying every night in the land of possibilities.

Personal Tax cut

Budget Personal tax cut? Singapore government may cut personal tax from 20 to 18% as inflation soars and growth slows, reports Thomson Financial. Feb 6, 2008 By Jonathan Burgos The Singapore government is expected to announce a cut in personal income tax to cushion consumers as inflation accelerates and growth slows this year, analysts said. Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam is expected to announce the tax cuts when he unveils the budget for the year to March 2009 in parliament on Feb 15.... 'The inflationary consequences of the GST hike have significantly raised costs of living for the lower-income groups,' Kit said. It will be politically difficult for the government to roll back the GST, but Kit believes the budget will introduce a generous one-off package to offset inflation. To do this effectively, the government will have to do more than reduce the personal income tax rate, since fewer than 30 percent of Singaporeans pay income tax, said Tay Hong Beng, executive director for corporate tax at KPMG. Individuals whose annual taxable income is less than 20,000 dollars are not required to pay tax. The government may increase tax reliefs, Tay said. It could, for example, exempt medical bills from the GST. Health care costs rose 6.3 percent last year. I copied the above from www.littlespeck.com My immediate reaction is who will benefit from a tax cut? I will benefit a little. But most of the people suffering from the rising prices are not going to benefit from a tax cut as Kit had pointed out in the above article. What is needed is to bring down the rising costs of things and services that are within the control of the govt. The things that will affect the bulk of the population at the lower income end, food and essential services, must be looked at seriously. And the regressive GST that taxed more on the lower income group, is not helping the poorer people. All the handouts are a one off thing. When are we going to stop taxing on the poor so heavily?

The American Presidential Election

I was watching a bit of the Presidential race in the US. I am impressed and envious at the maturity of a people, at a system that allows the people to step forward confidently, without any sense of fear, to choose their President. From the Presidential candidates, their supporters, the civil servants, the electorate, we can see a certain level of ease and transparency, non interference in the election process, and a very high level of Freedom, a freedom of choice in the political stage. And they are not going to riot or rampage whichever party won. When will we be able to reach such a state of maturity when we are like the Americans? Or are we a less able people that cannot aspire the American dream, that we have to live in a straight jacket system like what we have now and will be like this forever? It seems that our hearts have no room for anything. We have no room for alternative parties and talents, no room for a political system that is as free as the American, no room for a people to feel and vote the way the Americans are doing. After 30 years of near 100% literacy rate, with 30 or 40% of our people receiving tertiary education, we are still infants, immature, small heart, ungraceful, uptight, full of vengeance, unable to live with opposing views, unable to accept that others may be right, or there are other alternative ways than just one way. If we do not allow the people to grow and mature, we will be stuck in a rut, a third world mentality and a third world political psyche, where the losers in a political race is condemned, embarrassed or can be worst. We have a very educated and bright citizenry, worldly, sophisticated and ready to move on to the next level of political maturity. What is holding back the country and people from progressing and attaining a higher level of political awareness, participation and involvement in the running of a nation, the political process of governing a country and be a part of that process? Without the full participation of the people from all corners and all walks of life, the governing of the people and country is, by default, left to a small select group of self appointed people. We are not tapping the full resourcefulness and potential of the whole population. In a way, we are like those countries that do not tap on their women talent pool, or underdeveloped nations that tap on a small pool of their elite. Are we ready to be like the Americans? Yes in all aspects. The illiterate and ignorant immigrants of the past have mostly departed or lying in nursing homes. We are a new generation of confident and well educated people. If we cannot be more graceful and mature, then we have failed as a people. We shall deserve to be sheeples if we accept that being sheeple is the only way to progress, to a better life. It is a kind of bondage.

Celebrating Singaporean - Noeleen Heyzer

Noeleen Heyzer Another high achieving Singaporean, landing a very senior job in the UN is Noeleen Heyzer. She is Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. A very charming lady in a the company of international leaders.

Celebrating Singaporean - Dr Susan Lim

Dr Susan Lim Award Another great achievement from a Singaporean to have an American Award named after her. The American Academy of Continuing Medical Education awards her for her work in minimally invasive surgery by naming a Dr Susan Lim Award to be awarded to renowned medical professionals in the same field of Laparoscophy.

Jam packed MRT

Whichever idiot ever suggests that it is a good idea, a bearable idea, to be jam packed inside a MRT train should first be put through the process and experience what it is like to be sandwiched between two smelly commuters. If he can stand the smell for 3 minutes, he is qualified as a super pig. For only pigs will be accustomed to such smell from a pig sty. Who is lauding the great Tokyo squeeze as something that we must get use to? What kind of world class standard is that?

Doing the opposite

We encourage entrepreneurialship. We want our people to take risk. High risk high returns. We must teach our people to be entrepreneurs. Hahaha. The real thing is that we are just doing the opposite. We reward employees and make the job as an employee so comfortable and rewarding that everyone is looking for a job. Singaporeans are looking for a job in Singapore and around the world. We are grooming the best employees for the world market. And the last hope for Singaporeans to take a little risk, to manage their lives and find their dreams is also dashed. We are keeping your money and we are going to manage it so that you will get $600 a month for the rest of your life. So safe, so secure, so predictable, no chances, no errors. Singaporeans will live a comfortable life as an employee with a monthly pay check from his employers and then a monthly pay check from his own savings. No need to take risk. The entrepreneurial dream is just a dream.

A little reflection

Chinese New Year or any new year is a time for reflection. Today paper wrote a frontpage article about the lonely people living alone and their need for the warmth of kins and young people. But it also said, 'A festive season that is all about kin and friends can be an especially depressing time for...the bedridden, the estranged, the abandoned, the lonely...' Many caring organisations and welfare groups are helping out to make these few days less lonely and less sad. 'At a dinner held last Friday, Madam Chew Ah Yim, 68, who lives alone and is childless, told Today: "It's like having grand children to talk to."' Because of the good work of all these organisations and the kind people that help to make these people happier, less lonely, life is worth living. The good thing is that all these people will have the chance to live beyond 85 years and have many such happy hours to look forward to. The unfortunate thing is that these happy hours come once a year. thanks or no thanks to the advances in medical science that these people can live to 100 years. Is it joy or is it suffering?

Halal canteen in a Singapore school!

This is shocking. We have been telling everyone everyday that we must respect other people's religion, culture etc and way of life, but not to impose our own way of life on others. How could this happen to Boon Lay Garden Primary School? I read it in the Straits Times but not in Today. What is more shocking is that it was implemented for more than a week! And School Discipline Master and Security Guards were checking the food the children brought to school to make sure that they were halal. Shouldn't they be spending time checking for terrorists? For such things to happen, there must be several meetings among the teachers and principals before it is being implemented and letters sent to parents. The sheeples as usual just like to keep quiet and be led around. If people are thinking, if teachers are thinking, the whole mess should not have taken off. It would have been stopped in the meeting room and not allowed to progress so far. This is the price we are paying for an unthinking populace, an unquestioning people that fears authority. Just take orders. Keep quiet, don't get into trouble by arguing with authority. What is happening?

Furious with Khaw Boon Wan

Forumer Seah Leong Khai was furious with the affordable $10 pm increase in MediShield premium introduced by Boon Wan. He used to pay $160 each for himself and his wife. Now each will have to pay $280 a year. This is almost double what he used to pay. But if you look at it from a monthly basis, it is very affordable. Only $10 mah! What irks Seah is that after collecting $297m, the CPF paid out only $119m in claims and expenses. 'It had a surplus of $178m in 2006. It now has more than $925 m in net assets in the MediShield Fund.' Seah asked why couldn't some of these be used for the higher payouts. Now, how to explain to Seah that the surplus must be kept for rainy day and that $10 a month is affordable?

Natural selector in govt hospitals

I was rather amused by what Salma Khalik wrote about natural selector in govt hospitals. And I was also not too amused by the kind of thinking behind the concept. What Salma said is that C wards were deliberately designed to make it uncomfortable or inconvenient, eg locating the toilets outside the wards, so that those who do not want to live with the condition will have to opt for better wards, and pay more. Really we have decision makers thinking this way? Like dat also got ah? Salma's recommendation is that hospitals should provide the necessary, some improvement will be appreciated without being extravagant, to subsidised wards. These hardup people know that they cannot demand for luxury or extraordinary creature comfort. But to make things difficult deliberately...hmmmm, what shall I say? Better don't say anything. Can we provide these subsidised wards with a decent environment without the intent to make them uncomfortable? Hopefully we have matured, more graceful, and not being small minded like our predecessors.

The vanishing conscience

We have many learned men but something is missing. A civic consciousness, a conscience to say and do what is right for the ignorant masses. This quality seems very lacking as we see how our lives are being managed by the state. The state is now managing our lives and our money as if they belong to them. And not a whimper is heard. Where on earth can you find elected people's representatives arrogantly going about planning the people's lives and planning with the people's money as if the money belongs to them? And the people accepted that, that it is ok for the state to decide how much to set aside their savings, what they should spend on, what they cannot spend on, and when they can get it back. This principle of individual right and ownership is being threatened and challenged everyday. When your money is no longer your money. Oh, oh, maybe I am wrong. Everyone agrees that this is the norm, the right thing to do. That may explain the silence. Shit, sorry, I am wrong.

No need for 4G leaders

If we believe what we say, what we claim, 1 in 2 Singaporeans who is alive at age 65 will live past 85, maybe 100 years. That is what the Lifelong Insurance Scheme is all about. LKY and Chok Tong will live past 85 to 100 years at least, given the quality of life, food and medical care. Hsien Loong too will be in the same boat. What do these mean? It means that in the next 30 years we will have 3 living PMs in charge. All tested and predictable leaders. We can't have 3 mentor ministers and more senior ministers to go with without bursting our budget. With the three around, there is no need for a fourth generation leader for the next 30 years. So no need to worry so early lah. Unless we don't believe in the assumption that all those who reach 65 will live past 85 to 100 years.

Choking the toilet

There was this solitary toilet next to a big restaurant. You can imagine what it was like when the customers are all full, belly like 48 gallon drums. All will head to the toilet at the same time. Sure jam. Big queue, long queue. The the jamban jaga got smart. In order to reduce the number of people queuing up, he raised the entry fee to the jamban. He solved the long queue problem. But there were no jamban around. Not his problem. These overfed people must find another jamban or go to the backlanes.

The queer things we do

We buy cars but not to use them, only to park in the car parks. We build roads but limit cars using it. We build expressways but do not allow cars to travel faster. Then we complain that the expressways are too slow. We save money but cannot touch or use them. We raise taxes and said it is to help the people. We pay very high salaries and claim that it will prevent corruption. We boast about our world class education system but claim that we have no talents, or need foreign talents to help them. We claim that we have a lot of talents, just pay them if you want them, but not enough to form two political parties. We keep raising prices and claim that we can't do anything about high cost of living. We legislate laws to make the people save money but insist that they must spend them in expensive hospital bills and buying lifelong insurance. We insist on people saving for to live to 100 years when 50% or more will die before 65. We continue to whine and whine about the govt but keep on electing the same govt.

Trust the govt with your money

Trust the govt with your money This is what Eng Heng was saying when he talked about the modified Lifelong Income Scheme. Do I want to trust anyone with my money? When I started to contribute to the CPF scheme, the contractual agreement, not just a principle, was that I would get to withdraw all my money at age 55. Did I get to get all my money back? My second disappointment was when it was announced that $30k of my money must be kept in the Medisave, only to be used on hospitalisation or serious illnesses. So $30k taken from me and I may not see it or touch it in my life. My third disappointment, when it was legislated that a huge sum of money, more than $100k, will have to be helded back as minimum sum. This too was not in the original scheme of the CPF. Now it is proposed that I have to buy Longevity Insurance to give me money after 85 which my god said I don't need it. Ok, maybe it would not affect me now with the Longlife Insurance as this will only affect those under 50 today. How could there be trust when I don't even have any right or say to my money. If I have a choice, I will take out every cent in the CPF immediately. For I do not know what schemes will appear tomorrow that will keep my money away from me.

The great planners

The thing that Singapore excelled and did very well is estate planning, infrastructure development and driving the economy, and many other things that planning can do. We have planned everything, and anything that can be planned, we have thought of it and planned ahead. But one area we have failed miserably, that is transportation. We have let the problem grow for too long, and not because we cannot afford to solve them. And this is weird. Of all things, transportion, the roads, vehicles, and population are all numbers that can be crunched easily. Dealing with numbers and being able to manipulate the numbers to a high level accuracy is our forte, what we do best. Can I say that these problems are predictable and could have been forseen and solved progressively instead of the gridlock we are talking of today. Luckily now we have Raymond Lim to look at it closely and to do something about it, quick and fast.