counter insurgency in cyberspace!

PAP moves to counter criticism of party, govt in cyberspace. This is the headline in the Straits Times today. Now, cyberspace is shaping up and is shaping ideas and viewpoints. And PAP is taking it very seriously. The ST said, 'The PAP is mounting a quiet counter insurgency against its online critics.' Wow, counter insurgency, the choice of words could send jitters throughout cyberspace. Insurgency is the new dread word replacing Communism. Communists were sent to jail. Insurgents are dangerous especially of the terrorist kind. Would cyberspace critics and commentators, bloggers and forumers, be treated as insurgents? Then the paper added that the PAP has sent members to forums and blogs to rebut anti establishment views and putting up posting anonymously. I have a few anonymous bloggers in my blog, www.mysingaporenews.blogspot.com, displaying some characteristics that I am getting suspicious. But then again it must be my imagination or ego to think that my little blog will invite such interest. Further, they were there not to rebut but to post cynicism without any justifications, and personal attacks. So I shall rule them out as little brats. Definitely they don't deserve to be members of such a distinguished outfit for they don't rebut intelligently and came through as mindless little boys. Rebuttal by PAP in cyberspace is healthy and a move in the right direction. They need to explain their actions and to dispel any false accusations or allegations. Otherwise, falsehoods, if repeated too often, may be taken as truths, or at least to the gullibles or casual readers. But certainly they need to start out first by cleaning up YPAP forum. That is the most humiliating piece of advertisement paid and run by the PAP to discredit itself. It is the most nonsensical thing to do.

nkf story - affairs of the duds

Affairs of the Duds Excerpts from NKF Vice Chairman Alwyn Lim's emails were anything but flattering. On Richard Yong, Chairman of NKF 'He was able to bluff his way into some of his previous jobs but had not been successful in any.' 'Mr Durai decided to have a salaries review committee - a useless committee as it would be Richard Yong, Loo Say San...the usual rubber stampers.' 'Richard Yong on most occasions served no useful purpose beyond being a travelling mate for T.T.' On Loo Say San, Treasurer, 'Loo is a nice person, but naive as they come. They don't come any more naive than he!!!' 'I had written him confidential email which he forwarded to T.T. without permission. I had done that knowing that he would be stupid enough to forward the mail.' On Durai, CEO and the real Boss of NKF, 'I have questioned T.T. about the folly of having directors who are compliant and about a board which accepts his reports without questioning. He had answered he 'likes it that way'.' On the former board members 'I have no problems with T.T's honesty. I have my reservations about the competence and integrity of some of the members.' After all that he said, the whole board is like a board of duds. And there is absolutely no need to have any reservation about their competence and integrity. Why bother with duds? And Durai still stands out as an honest man. At least he is honest enough to admit that he likes to be surrounded by duds. And he knew that they were all duds to be kept in the board to serve him and his plans. Question is why would such a bunch of handsome and well acclaimed talents of this great island of talents allowed themselves to be duds? Or they may not know that they were duds in the eyes of Durai. It seems that the only thinker other than Durai is Alwyn whose perception of the whole play and plots and actors and actresses is precise beyond belief.

malaysia car toll hike

Singaporeans are responding negatively towards the impending toll hikes for Singapore cars going into Malaysia. From a personal and individual point of view this can be expected. It burns the pocket. The bargains will not be bargains anymore. The JB merchants too are unhappy as their businesses will definitely be affected. They too have their vested interest to look after. And they would like more free spending Singaporeans to go over and spend their money. From the Federal govt's point of view, it all makes economic sense. There is money to make. And quite substantial sum of money to collect after knocking off the cost of the collection system. The Federal govt has all the rights and reasons to impose tolls or whatever fees it thinks is good for them. And surely they will study the demand and supply curve to work out what is a reasonable amount to charge or whether they should even charge a toll. There are considerations of tourism and investment in the Johore industrial park, tourists coming into Malaysia, attracting people to visit the country for all the good reasons. Presumably all these have been in the computation and the 20 ringgits will bring in more ringgits than losing them. Good for the Federal govt even if it will cost more for the travellers and workers.

nkf story - tragedies begin

The tragedies beginning Once the shining knights that were paraded in front of the media, on screen and in the MSM, in the companies of dignitaries, feasted by the highest office, receiving heaps of praises from all corners, now one by one is falling down like straw men. After being put on the witness box, one by one crumbled and shrank. As each day passes, they retreated deeper into themselves. Scheming, conspiring, unethical, brainless, opinionless, lost, empty heads, concealing information, distorting information, fabricating lies etc could not describe enough of the characters of this show. The only one that is still standing like a hero is Durai. He still comes across as a great organiser, a leader of men and women. Maybe it is easier when men and women were easily cowed or led. And he was even praised as a visionary by senior govt officials. Greatness cannot be easily tarnished. Our society really appreciates talents. What is unbecoming is that so far none of them has shown any sense of shame, or that they have done something seriously wrong. They are all still holding their heads high, and smilingly away. Not a single sense of guilt. Maybe this is just a civil suit and no guilt is involved or implicated. It is just individuals claiming against another individual. When will the heads be held down? When will the silly smiles be wiped off their faces? When will anyone of them feel that they have done wrong? Is this a fault of our education system? Or is it the fault of the wrong values that our society have nurtured? Or is it just personal values of individuals?

why so difficult?

The NTUC is struggling with how to juggle CPF and Medisave contributions for the lower income and grandpas and grandmas. The solution is so simple. No CPF and Medisave contributions for them after 55. Any contribution should be voluntary. There are so many advantages for doing away with compulsory CPF and Medisave contributions for the oldies. Why so difficult?

more jobs to locals

Lee U Wen wrote in the Today paper, 'Every now and then when employment figures are revealed, there are murmurs about of jobs going to foreigners. Yesterday's blockbuster should end the debate.' And year 2006, 88,200 jobs to locals and 85,100 to foreigners. So more jobs to locals. Case close. Let's move on.

Car collection - A new heartlander's hobby

Car collection - A new heartlander's hobby When COE prices shot to the sky, Singaporeans bemoaned the high prices of cars and the inability to own one. So the govt changes tact and allow COE prices to fall so that more Singaporeans can now afford to own their cars. What a great relief. Now all the heartlanders are scrambling to buy cars. For heartlanders who work in town, the privilege of driving to work is $500 a month, including parking, ERP and petrol. And this excludes parking in HDB car park, additional parking in shopping centres etc, monthly instalment, insurance, maintenance, summons... What could happen is that many will buy a car to appreciate on weekends, cleaning it and sitting inside the car in the car park to listen to radio. Taking the car out for a spin is not going to be cheap. HDB carparks can be turned into a car hobbyist playground to meet up with other car owners for chit chat and admiring all the brand new and hardly used cars.

nkf story - more revelations

NKF story - More revelations David Jeremy Lee from Briton, a forensic accountant, discovered that in the year 2002, only 4c of a dollar raised went to the patients. And in 2003, not a cent went to the patients as funds raised were more than the cost of dialysis treatment. A large part of NKF cost went to 'prevention clinics, public health screening and Children's Medical Fund' instead of helping the patients. Another fact revealed is that Durai strongly believed that the numbers he gave to the public on amount of donations going to patients were accurate. I believed Durai sincerely believed in his numbers except that his arithmatic may be a bit rusty. Even Richard Yong and Loo Say San have doubts in those numbers. But Durai was confident enough to even go against the advice of his QC.

Malaysia Boleh - higher car toll

Malaysian Boleh. They have concluded and will go ahead with the intention to charge 20 ringgits for Singapore cars entering Malaysia. Their logic is simple. Singaporeans are rich and will soon get use to it, so said the Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan. Further, Singapore is charging Malaysians $20 per car. But why? Why would Malaysians willingly pay $20 and Singaporeans may not? The Malaysians come into Singapore to collect Singapore dollars. The Singaporeans go into Malaysia to spend Singapore dollars. That is the big diff. The migration of factories to China is a simple economic reason. When people cannot find bargains, they will stop going. Only those that need to go will go and pay the 20 ringgits. There will be those who find it not economical or beneficial to continue to go over with the new rates. For Malaysians coming over and pay $20, they are most happy to do so. They are working here and have plenty of money to bring back. What is $20 more?

Singapore Can!

Singapore Can Yes, Singapore Can. This is slightly different from Singapore Boleh. What Boleh needs is a little system, money and technology(SMT). When Singapore Can, these three factors are fully engaged to make something happens. We go about a problem or task systematically, involving the latest technology if needed, and of course with a lot of money. It is not an emotional thing like boleh. Just do and insist that it is ok even if it is not ok. And if the result turns out otherwise, still insist that the result is good. Singapore Can, faced with the perennial problem of water supply and interstate bickering, we went ahead, systematically, methodologically, to make ourselves self sufficient in water by the time the water agreements expired. We are almost there. Just 30 years ago, we only have 3 reseervoirs, the biggest of which was MacRitchie. Today we have 15 reservoirs, plus new water and desalination plant in the pipeline. And many of the reservoirs are many times bigger than MacRitchie. And the biggest are yet to come. The Marina Reservoir is going to dwarf MacRitchie. It will itself be dwarfed when Pulau Ubin is dammed. By then we will have excess water to sell to Johore at our price. We can then say enough is enough. No need water from Johore. And the sand issue. Soon we will be harvesting the sea for sand using technology. And with supply from other sources, we too will be self sufficient in sand. Then we can keep our money for better uses. Yes, Singapore Can. We thrive under adversities. We find solutions to our problems systematically, and over come them. We shall over come.

nkf story - durai a visionary

Durai a Visionary According to Dr Ling Sing Lin, a director from MOH and once a director of the old NKF, Durai is a Visionary with great plans in IT to put NKF in the World map. This Durai has succeeded. NKF is now famous around the world. As for the conduct of board meetings, apparently there was only one CEO and many cardboards that were programmed to nod in agreement without a speaking a word. That was the experience according to Dr Ling. And minutes of meeting were not allowed outside the boardroom. This is even more stringent than the Ministry of Defence or any other ministry. The matters discussed and reported in the minutes must be very sensitive and probably may compromise national interests.

characteristics of SPUs

Characteristics of SPUs Sex - Neuter Sexual Preference to be programmed Brain - ST Brawn 128k Microprocessor Artistic Sensitivity - Zero Financial Computation - Elementary Emotion Index - Stable with 0 variation Intelligence level - Fully programmed to 128k capacity Critical Analysis - Not programmed. No requirement 55 year limited warranty Special Features Easily programmed to do manual and routine tasks. No delinquent problems. Highly reliable. Drawbacks Reprogamming needed for every change of task. Unable to do critical thinking tasks. No software.

myth 111

'Buyer be Where? Economy's growing, but retailers aren't seeing benefits. More cash - but it's not being spent 7.7% Economic Growth 4.4% up retail sales 2.8% up Domestic private consumption 1.97% up HDB flat prices The above were in the front page of Today paper yesterday. Lee Ching Wern wrote: 'When you have an economy charging ahead - it grew by 7.7% last year - you would expect cash registers to be ringing non stop as more people hit the shops. But the reality has left economists and retailers scratching their heads...' Now is this the truth or is it a myth?

The Mindless SPUs II

The Mindless SPUs When I posted the above article on CPF contributions the normal response I got back is that Singaporeans will squander all their hard earned money away if the govt does not lock it up for them. And when they have done that, who is going to look after them? Are Singaporeans so helpless, irresponsible, mindless, of unsound mind, to the verge of stupidity, that once they get their CPF money back they will splurge and throw their life time savings away? Who do you think created this properous country? Who raised all these young upstarts to think that their parents are old fools who cannot manage their own finances? It is very sad that Singaporeans have become such unthinking lot that they have turned themselves into nothing but Mindless Singaporean Production Units (SPU). They are trained so well to be a useful production unit in the economy but utterly helpless in looking after their own finances and old age. Does anyone know what they do with unserviceable or no longer useful production units? They will be carted away and dumped. Production units are only useful when they can produce goods and services. And now we have a nation of SPUs! Not exactly. The handful of elite will never consider themselves as SPUs. SPUs need to be managed, controlled, and programmed. That's where the elite comes in, to think, planned and managed these mindless SPUs for their own good.

The Mindless SPUs

CPF compulsory savings We are compelled, alright compelled is too strong a word, so say legislated, to saving hundreds of thousands in our CPF. And we also know by now that this saving is a fleeting dream, like a dog chasing after its tail. No matter how much we saved, it is never enough. Never enough according to who? This morning, Alan Greene wrote an article in Today questioning the 2.5% interest rate being paid to CPF contributors. He made one strong point. CPF is a long term saving and should be paid a rate equivalent to long term deposit saving's rate. Not against the short term rate paid by banks. I just have one point to add. If our CPF money is being used for investments, then we should enjoy the profits proportionately. There should be a formula to compensate the members for their money held by legislation. It is the members' money. And they did not even ask the members for permission to use or invest this money. Our money should enjoy a reasonable return.

what is poor?

Newsweek last week succinctly asked a question that is in the mind of many people: “The island's economy is booming. So why are so many citizens worse off than they were 10 years ago?” The cause is a rising level of poverty and a stagnating middle class income in the past five years – while costs have gone up – all of which had raised fears that crime would dramatically worsen. The above is posted in www.littlespeck.com by Seah Chiang Nee. What our economists need to do now is to redefine the poverty line in Singapore. What is poor in Singapore is technically rich in many countries. And this has misled many to think that the lower income group who has a household income of $2k or $3k are alright. In reality, many are in a worst dilemma than the poor of underdeveloped countries. Those poors only did not have enough to eat but could live off the land. The Singapore poors are all in debts, huge debts.

Too much government

This is a favourite theme of Matilah Singapura. Too much govt is bad. In a way I agree. When there is too much govt, the space for private individuals and private enterprise shrinks. This is especially true in business. The govt, no matter how fair it portends to be, is still the govt. It has power, monopoly, huge resources etc on its side. And better still, it has all the supertalents to pit against the Ah Bengs and Ah Sengs, the Ahmads and the Muthus. No fight. The field is not level. On the other hand, too much govt means more jobs. More work will be created for more people. More money needs to be spent from the govt's coffer, and more taxes surely. There are pros and cons for having too much govt. Will too much govt create more jobs and leading to more employment? Or will too much govt leads to having a few people wearing plenty of hats and getting several salaries and becoming overpaid? And the people made to pay for more taxes? Too much govt is a good reason to justify for more taxes, more GSTs. What is important is that the money collected must be spread around and benefit the people and not a few individuals. Preferably private enterprises are preferred to create and generate demands for goods and services and not the govt. For private enterprises are subject to true market forces and the demands generated are really needed by the consumers and not forced upon the consumers. And the consumers will pay a fair price and also have the choice to buy or not to buy.

The happiness of having plenty

Most Singaporean schools have strict rules regarding uniforms for conformity. It also serves the purpose of reducing any sense of unease on children when the wealthy children attend schools all dressed up to their nines, branded school bags, branded shoes, branded watches etc. This is what most schools have been doing. There are many wealthy parents who would not mind showering on their children the best they could afford to. But there are also many who are struggling even to buy a pair of decent shoes.

Schools intentionally play down on such flaunting of wealth so that the lesser beings do not feel so underprivileged and uncomfortable. Children are innocent and should not be exposed to such vulgarities of the adult’s world..

Thus many schools standardise the wearing of footwears to something simple, no expensive jewelry, no expensive watches or even handphones. And this code of practice has been in force, officially and unofficially, for a long time. The principals and the ministry must have seen some wisdom in this practice and rightly so.

Of late things are starting to change a little. The latest craze that schools have adopted for their rich kids is in the guise of greater exposure and education in the form of expensive trips abroad to the USA, Europe, Japan, China or the Australasia. I must admit that these are great experiences for young children to travel and to satisfy the senses. Everyone will agree that these are indeed very enriching experiences. Pardon my punt.

But again, how will such trips do to the psychic of the poor beings who cannot afford them but only to ogle and envy at their more fortunate friends? Often only a small group will be able to afford such trips. Or maybe I am wrong and many can afford it. I surely would not be able to squeeze out that kind of money for a little escapee for my children. But then it is great news for the schools. ‘We sent our children on overseas education tour! To the Grand Canyon or to the Great Wall of China or to see the Great Pyramids.’ These will certainly raise the profile of the schools positively.

Schools may want to take a step back and try to understand the pressure being placed upon borderline parents who can barely afford them but have to cough out the few thousand dollars that they could have used for better and more important things. Or what about the young minds who could not understand why their parents could not afford to send them on such wonderful trips, and having to listen in awe, the stories from their close friends who went and returned and become so much more knowledgeable?

Our educators should be more thoughtful of what they are doing to their charges and not to encourage them to spend on expensive thrills which would not really do them that much good. Perhaps I may be wrong as I am not an educator and could not see the great benefits that such trips bring to the children. Maybe these children would eventually top their classes and become worldly wise adults. Who knows? The educators are the experts in these areas. I am just looking at the slightly negative angle which may be something that the schools have considered.

Anyway, I still believe that schools should leave the expensive pampering and indulgence to the parents in their private time and minimise the pressure on other children and their not so well off parents as well. Schools may unconsciously inculcate such values of snobbishness and keeping up with the Joneses at such tender age when the children could not appreciate how difficult it is for money to come by. Poor parents and poor children should not be made to feel that much poorer and deprived.

The Best Business

There are two businesses that I would consider to be the most lucrative and worth investing in. The consumers are plenty and all cash rich and all scratching their heads on how to use their cash hoards. Many businesses are good but there is always a problem of debt collection or bad debts. In these two biz, there is no bad debts. How good can it get? I am referring to Hospitals and the Last Rites. As we walk towards the future, all the oldies here will be so rich and probably die with all their money unspent. With a minimum sum that is going to exceed $100k and a Medisave Account that will shoot pass the $30k limit, most of the oldies will have more than a $100k in their CPF account, and untouchable except for the little ration that they will receive monthly. A shrewd businessman should be able to unlock this money and transfer them into his revenue account. One package is hospital retreats. Develop hospitalisation packages for the oldies to spend their holidays in 6 Stars hospitals, with all the spas and fine food and wine and pampering thrown in. A little creativity is needed to use some medical terms to qualify these oldies for their escapade, spending the money that they might not live to see. Another package will be for the finest hour, The Last Rite. The oldies can select a package to invite all their friends and relatives for their last party. They can decide on the venue, menu, the trimmings, order the Mercedes or Rolls Royce to go with them, etc and the guest lists, the best bands etc while they lay in peace. Imagine a $100k party or more, depending on how much is left in their Retirement Account, all to go at one go to make a memorable departure from this world and to feast all their friends and relatives. It is a way to make a big bang as one exits from this world. Otherwise the money will just go to the state.

freedom for grandpas and grandmas

The Grandpas and Grandmas should be allowed to spend their money at their own time and not be rationed. It is time to stop forcing grandpas and grandmas to save for tomorrow. For they may have no tomorrow. Stop the legislation requiring grandpas and grandmas to contribute to their CPF and Medisave. Make these optional at their age. Free the senior citizens from a life of regulations and programming of their life activities. Return freedom to them. Let them, for once, to live their own lives, plan their own lives and mess up their own lives if they so choose. They have earned their rights to do what they want, to be free. There should be no compulsion for more savings after 55.