Wednesday, January 30, 2013

6.9 million by 2030 ! What madness !

My friend, an ex-S'poren who has happily settled in Australia - dropped me an email expressing her shock about PAP intention to further expand S'pore population.

Her exact words : How can Singapore be 6.9m ! It will be worse.

We the citizen know it is madness, how can PAP not know ?  What is their real hidden agenda ?  They try to bluff their way through with their white paper on population with airy statistics which no sensible citizens will believe. We can see with our eyes and experience what has happened around us these past years with the rapid population growth.

Reducing population is harder than population expansion. Even with our years of falling fertility rate, S'pore population has been on the rise. Just import. So if they miscalculate again (nothing new) - what are they going do to about the 'extra' people ? People die naturally, and nowadays folks are living longer. You cannot 'expel' people from the country as we are not refugee !

The population white lies paper makes many assumptions and resulting effects based on these flaw assumptions. Who is going to believe our quality of life will be better and there will be more jobs for PMET ?
(PMET = Professional, Managers, Engineers and Technicians)

Our quality of life has been on the decline for years for ordinary citizens. PMET unemployment has been on the rise. How can bringing in more people to squeeze into an already densely populated area improve our quality of life. How can more competitive job market creates better employment prospect for local PMET ?

Empty words and broken promises - we have been through all these before. Did not our ex-PM Goh promised us Swiss standard of living ? What happen to that now ?

These assumptions are full of holes. How can PAP guarantee foreign investments will continue or existing ones will not pull out of S'pore ? Many of our neighbouring countries are opening up. They will be the future dragons of Asia and the drawing magnet for overseas investment.

What about global event like climate change which can result in food shortage and/or drought. What will happen to S'pore then with our over population of 6.9 million ? We import practically every thing and is not self sufficient in water resources. So will we be having food and water rationing in peace time ?

Why is PAP so blind and deaf ?  Perhaps there is an ugly hidden agenda.




 

PM fears transparency


This is what PM said regarding request by citizens that the
governing party be more transparent
 
"If you know that everything you write down is going to be
made public, a lot of things are not going to be written down."  
 
What does this reflect about his thinking and his party
integrity? As it is they are operating being an opaque screen.
So if we request for more transparency, they will hide even
more things from the public? 
 
If one is honest,what is there to hide? What is there to fear? 
 
Often, we get a good glimpse of the real 'face' of PM and his
PAP gang through their slip of tongue. Just like the time when
PM said about him needing to spend more time to fix the
opposition should more of them be elected into parliament. 
 
We know how good his daddy is in fixing his opponents.
Like father like son. PM takes after his father in many ways..
he too is notorious for taking up law suits against S'pore
citizens at every perceived 'insult'. After all he has lots
of money to throw around with his excessive salary which is
highest in the world amongst political office holders.          
  
 
 

PM does NOT fit the bill

PM attributed his party poor performance in the recent by-election to the candidate inability to connect with the mass. What a joke - his party hand pick him and now they realized they picked the wrong man !

Now he is saying they they will get candidates that the mass can connect with, which according to him must pass these questions as criteria :

- "Do I feel like you ?"

- "Do I like you ?"

- "Can I connect with you ?"

Base on these questions from PM, it is obvious that, PM himself as leader of his party does NOT fit the bill ! No wonder he cherry pick all the wrong men for the job and we the citizens suffer the consequences. Perhaps PM should resign for the good of his party and the country.

WP only capable of being co-driver of PAP

Why did Mr Low of Workers' Party (WP) played down his party victory in the recent by-election ?

He was telling us that WP is happy assisting PAP and they are not ready to form the next govt. So when will they be ready?

When PAP first formed the govt, likely they were not 'ready' but just went ahead, as opportunity waits for no men.  After all, the administrative system was in place and it was not as if they started from scratch.

After decades of independence, our civil administrative system has been strengthen. So why is WP so lacking in confident of their party capability ?

Could it be they have come to know of things PAP hides from us ? After all, the AIM saga is likely the tip of the ice berg of PAP dirty linings.

If it is serious matter regarding all these official 'legalized' (though they may not be ethical) administration of our funds....reserve, CPF,...etc....it will be a concern indeed that should they become the governing party - what to do - to disclose or not to disclose ? The truth could hurt S'pore's image and international standing and also fury from the citizens if country's fund and our life saving in CPF are not solid but hollow.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

The Punggol Slap

Workers' Party (WP), Mr Low said that he hoped voters in Punggol East would give PAP (People's Action Party) the 'Punggol Slap' during the by-election. His wish came true. Hurray ! WP won the by-election by a comfortable margin.

Looks like it is a pretty hard slap for PM and his PAP gang. They deserve it with all their wayang (acting).

Just look at some of the names PAP has been called and it is clear how most citizens view them and their policies :

- Party Against People
- Perfectly Arrogant Party
- People Acting Party

Whether a person is sincere or not is reflect in his face, smile and action. Just look at PM, - his smile is so fake. He tries to smile to soften his image but one just get goose pimples looking at it.  His smile shows that he basically CAN'T smile and is uncomfortable doing so. What does it says of such a person, who is not comfortable even with himself ?

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Les Mise'rables

This movie nominated for 8 Oscar is not to be missed if one loves stage musical. The acting is good though the singing is a little bit disappointing.  They got these big name stars (Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Anne Hathaway...) to act in the movie to attract audience, so can't expect all of them to sing as good as professional stage musical singers.

Surprisingly Hugh Jackman (from X-Men) who took the role of Jean Valjean, sings relatively well. He has the meatiest role singing all throughout the film. However, his rendition of  'Who Am I' and  'Bring Him Home' does not have the vocal impact like Colm Wilkinson (of the 1st stage cast), Gary Morris and Alfie Boe (of the latest stage cast).

Russel Crowe singing is a real let down. He is Javert - the self righteous law enforcer who hunted Jean Valjean through the years.  He neither has the vocal range nor volume to bring to live the songs 'Star' and 'Javert's Suicide'.

Anne Hathaway (from Princess Diary) who is nominated for best actress, singing is good. She acted as Fantine. Her rendition of  'I Dreamed A Dream' will bring tears to your eyes.

Samantha Barks played Eponine is the same one doing the stage musical. She did great for the song 'On My Own'.

Amanda Seyfried who played Cosette sings well but she looks like a  'fairy tale' princess and does not impress with her acting. The girl who play little Cosette is more impressive.

The songs in Les Mise'rables have good musical scores and lyrics. The lyrics are touching and reach out to the audience emotionally. Most of the songs in Les Mise'rables are sentimental and emotionally charged. The only catchy tune in this musical is 'Do You Hear The People Sing'  as it has a marching beat to it. But this too is charged with emotion of people who were oppressed and wanted a better life.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Suing Bug

We know how expensive law suit can be here. So those in politics and with plenty of $S love to sue bloggers when they dare to speak up. Seems like the suing bug have filter down and now anyone with $$ is suing to get their way or is it to get attention ?

This rich guy who owns a group of budget hotels is suing a car dealer for more than $1 million because his Rolls-Royce is noisy and vibrates when making a 3-point turn.

It is not the 1st time he confronted car dealers about his unhappiness over his purchase. But this time he did not get his way so he is suing.

Why waste the court time over such trivial matter. But when one is rich and have plenty of time, little things pricked at the ego and must be settle at all cost.

Misleading headlines in MSM

Seems like our local papers love to mislead to make the govt looks good. Their headline usually reflects things are well in S'pore.  But read carefully and somewhere in the article, we can tease out the facts.

Take the recent headline in the Straits Times  - "Poll : S'poreans are best prepared for health costs".  That is good news but how can it be true when the ground feeling is that medical cost is getting out of hand and most are saying 'can die but cannot afford to be sick' ?

Then doubt starts to set in when it is stated in the report that S'poreans could be underestimating the expenses and it is their perception rather than actual ability to meet health expenses.  It is vague which age group was polled. If it is those young working adults in their prime of health, who had yet to experience the red tape which renders CPF Medishield (insurance scheme) and Medisave ( medical cost payment) useless. Most of the time we have to come out hard cash instead of being able to tap on CPF for our medical expenses. Likely this group would think they are adequately prepare since they may not even have first hand experience how expensive it is - even with subsidy.

Read on and we will realise the S'pore are NOT prepare at all as the shortfall between the medical treatments that people here need and those they are prepared to pay for is $124 million !  Now the truth states surfacing. It then states that the shortfall is expected to rise to $737 million by 2020.

So if one just glance at the headline which is suppose to capture the essence of the article, one would have been totally misled by it. No wonder net citizens are calling it the 'Shit Times'.

Would not the heading 'S'poreans are ill prepare to meet actual medical cost' says it all and honestly ?

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Licensed Loan Sharks ??

Loan sharks are facing fierce competition from the blossoming of licensed money lenders and mushrooming of pawn shops all over S'pore. Seems like they are getting themselves licensed too in order to give some legitimacy to their 'business'.  But old habits die hard - they still love to harass their clients.

They have been leaving flyer in HDB doorsteps to advertise their business, with their licence number stated. Then some of them have been hanging around coffee shops and eateries in housing estate to distribute their flyers and talk to folks patronizing the food center offering their 'financial' service.

An elderly lady in my neighbourhood told me that she called the police last night as someone had shone a spot light at her window the whole night.

She had been approached by licensed loan sharks at the coffee shop. They offered her a loan which she declined since she doen't need it in the first place. Then these 'sharks' tried to persuade her to sell her flat and offer to handle the transaction for her. She declined again. She suspected the recent harassment of spot light aiming at her window is the work of these 'sharks'.

MSM is becoming Irrelevant

Our local main stream media (MSM) is becoming irrelevant. Their reporting is sometimes a week behind events which are already hotly discuss in the internet. Take the recent questionable transaction between PAP Town Councils and AIM (a private company managed by PAP) - it was reported by in the news by CNA (Channel News Asia) and the local newspapers a week later. Likely they can't ignore it anymore as the discussion in the internet is getting more intense by the day. So they obtained permission from their 'boss' on top to report it.

The reporting by MSM is one sided and does not provide a full picture. The journalism is pathetic as there is no effort to do in depth investigation into the event. Then there is a lack of analysis. If there is - it is with the purpose to clean up their 'boss' tarnished image, regardless of the fact behind it.

Bloggers on the other hand provided in depth analysis into events which really put professionals in MSM to shame. Besides, the investigation done by netcitizens can be on par with those carry out by our law enforcers. They are not even paid any salary. The only driving force is to get at the truth of the matter which is often swipe under the carpet by those with political influence and $$.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

AIM Saga, when all else fail - SUE

Background Information : The saga involves a questionable transaction between PAP Town Councils and AIM, a $2 paid capital company which is managed by PAP members (eg. Ex-MPs).  A local prominent blogger analysed and wrote extensively about the questionable transaction with clear and obvious conflict of interest.  PAP tried to explain the transaction but their explanation only raised more questions.

Now PM is suing the blogger. Not surprising, as PAP is notorious for suing anyone who tarnish their image. Some have become bankrupt as a result of daring to speak up.

Times have change, bullying tactics don't work so well as in the past. Decades ago, it used to silent many of the vocal ones.  Now, it only generate more discussion in the internet.

Besides, we still remember the Kidney Foundation Saga, where the corrupt head used lawsuits to silent those who hinted at his misdeed. All it took to bring him to justice was an entity with $$ who counter sue to protect its reputation and integrity. His mistake - he did not bet on anyone taking him on and thought he could go on forever suing people to silent them.

Lesson learned :

- Those who sue may not be speaking the truth but hiding their misdeed.
- To these big bullies,-  Might is Right.
- To us, they are despicable, as Right is Might !

Thursday, January 3, 2013

S'pore National Pension Scheme ??

Talk about nice sounding words to mislead, our govt under PAP is very good at it. They have been refering to our national force compulsory saving scheme under Central Provision Fund (CPF) as  'S'pore National Pension Scheme' for some time.

If one does not pay attention - one would have thought our govt has introduced another new scheme. We have been calling it CPF for years since its introduction. Is using the 'new' reference name meant to down play the negative image of CPF ? Or perhaps it is to 'boost' international image that we have a 'pension' scheme rather than force saving which we the citizens has no control over ?

By using the word pension -it evokes the meaning of someone of retirement age claiming or receiving a sum of money regularly from the govt or private company.


We do NOT receive any pension from the state. Whatever money in the CPF is our own saving which the govt dictates what we can and cannot do with it - when we can draw it out, how much we can draw out,etc. The list of things we can and cannot do can go on...and on. That is how much restriction they imposed on money that does NOT belong to them. The CPF policies are forever changing with the ultimate aim to suck more money from us. Its image is getting from bad to worst over the years.