Sunday, December 28, 2014

The Most Expensive Pest In Singapore !

Wa ... seems like the 'honour' of being the most expensive pest in S'pore (perhaps even internationally) goes to the rats residing in Bt Batok.

According to the Chinese papers and an article in The Real S'pore, it cost the Town Council a cool $120 K for the 'rat removal operation'.  That translate to $522 per rat ($120 K divide by 230 rats).

A cost saving way is for the Town Council to organise a neighourhood bonding session, where residents meet up to catch rats.  This activity could be included in of our govt current integration program among locals, new citizens and foreign residents.  They could pick up a new trade for backup career planning in pest control which looks very promising, as there are reports of rats sighting all over Singapore.  Besides there are many mosquitoes to spray all over the island from HDB to private condos.

Or the Town Council could have loan the cats from the recently out of business Cuddles Cat Cafe to eliminate the rats. Those 30 cats are jobless and their owner is desperate to recoup his money. I am sure he can loan them out and charge $5 per rat caught. The bill will only be $1150. Even if he charges $20 per rat it only cost the Town Council $4600.

There are many cat owners and stray cats care givers in Bt Batok. Town Council should have sought their help. Some of them may even be willing to let their cats it do for free.  After all the strays are community cats and they will have fun serving the community catching rats. As token of appreciation, Town Council could give these 'heroic' cats 1 month supple of cat food. The cost will be really be PEANUT compare to $120k.

Well, if our Town Councils could lost millions in bad investment without need for accountability to residents, $120k is likely a small sum to them. No need to answer for it, just move on. If money is not enough, raise service and conservancy fee again, never mind even if there are surpluses transfer to the sinking fund.  Coming out with an 'excuse' is as easy as ABC.

Singaporeans are quick to pick up on the ironic and humorous side of the whole issue.

"Wah.... 1 rat is equal to 8gram of 999 gold bar sia.... didnt know rat worth so much..."

"can CPIB come in to investigate?? SGD522 for a rat....?? are we taxpapers idiots or what?? "

"What is $120,000? Not even enough to pay the Minister one month salary. To PAP, this is just PEANUT,.."

These quotes are feedback from humorous readers of The Real Singapore who are sick and tire of our govt stupid habit of sitting on a problem and not acting until it explodes. Remember our MRT breakdown, overcrowded hospital, HDB shortage......woes after woes.. They will then turn panicky and start throwing money to solve it, the only way which they know.  It does not matter how much it cost as it is tax payers' money after all. It does not matter if it addresses the root cause of the problem, because being shortsighted, they will just pour more money into it, without reflecting on their own shortcoming.   If money really can buy talent, how come we have a bunch or morons in parliament ?




Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Why GIC and Temasek investing in the SAME Company ?

It is reported that both GIC and Temasek have invested in Xiaomi.  Why is both our sovereign wealth funds investing in the same company ?  Should not they target different companies instead ?  It is not common sense not to put all our eggs in one basket ?

We have seen what happened to the likes of Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and BlackBerry - all once upon a time 'giant' in the mobile phone scene.  They have become dwarfs now.  Xiaomi may be the next future 'dwarf'.

GIC and Temasek past investment records have many ugly spots.  They got burnt by different companies.  So now they want to share the same black spot ?  

Of Cats and Crows

CATs
The recent unpleasant case of cats dying in a cat cafe operated by inexperience owner is a wake up call to those rushing into the latest craze hoping to profit from it.  Likely he does not really have welfare of animals in his heart as those cats in his cafe are not from animal shelters or abandon strays.  He bought them from pet shops so that they look cute and nice. Those who truly care for animals should not patronized cafe run by such owner.  It is a blessing that he is out of business.

One thing for sure, he will not be keeping the cats as he is trying to sell his business set up with around 30 cats.  Hope he will make an effort to re-home the cats should he failed to find a buyer.

There is a place for social enterprise catering to abandon animals where animal welfare is the main driving force besides profit.  Such cat cafe owners deserve to be successful as their success will translate to more animals being helped.

CROWs
There is an article by Mr Tan CW on "Stop shooting of crows, use humane methods to prevent attacks".   The sad fact is likely attack is just an excuse to shoot them. Crows are being culled regularly just like pigeons.  They are all considered as pest by our govt. Our govt does not practised human method when animals are classified as pest.

Crows are just too intelligent to be poisoned or caught. 

I have witnessed when pigeons flocked to feed on poison food and suffering a painful death, while the crows kept away.  They were in fact crowing away up in the trees warning fellow crows of the danger. There was not a single crow amongst the flock of dead pigeons. Crows seems to have learn from past experience, where pigeons have failed.

Crows will be shot, it is only hope that the shooters ensure the birds die quickly. Wounded birds could be gassed in a bag (eg carbon dioxide).  There are other methods if the govt want to save cost.  Just  don't leave wounded birds to suffer a prolong death. 


Of DOGs and RATs

The root cause of the stray dogs and rats problem at Bt Batok is HUMAN!  Who abandon the dogs in the first place ?  Likely these dogs have formal owners who did not even bother to do sterilized them.

There are black sheep amongst feeders.  They should be fined for littering for being so lazy and inconsiderate. Such irresponsible feeders do not represent other strays care givers.

Dogs do not breed rats. So stop blaming the strays. The rats population exploded because various govt officials are practising their taiji as usual. The concern area MP is busy fixing MPs of opposition ward. The issue was not dealt with until it was all over the internet and MSM forcing action from them.

So folks like 'wolaop' should think deeper and stop being rude calling other stupid in his/her article.

The earth does not belong to the human species alone.  "The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man" - Charles Darwin.   These strays are in undeveloped area, and yet folks like 'wolaop' is so bitter and intolerant of the strays existence.

"If any culture has a sympathy for its animal companions, then it has a chance to become sensitive and caring in all respects."  We can only pray that folks like 'wolaop' forms the minority, as society will be richer and kinder with less them. 


Thursday, December 18, 2014

Medical Cost Running Amok

With medical cost running amok over the last decade, govt grant / subsidy on Medical bill is not helping patients as long as medical cost keep going up even faster than national inflation rate. What is the point if higher govt grant only leads to higher medical cost ?  In end result is the patients cough out even more while the hospitals / clinics pocket more.

Let us not forget that these grants are coming from taxpayers.  Govt grant is between 50 to 70%, with pioneer generation getting slight more.  This is a lot of money since our medical cost is so high. They could have been put to better use helping lower income patients instead of going into hospitals/clinics wealth chest.

Then they force us to save more into our CPF Medisave account, increased our insurance premium for Medishield so that they can extend the coverage to try to catch up with the inflating medical fee. They then tell us that we have Medisave liability if we could not meet their ever increasing minimum sum for Medisave, which currently there seems to have no limit set as it keep going up and up yearly.

This CPF liability thing is ridiculous as how can we own ourselves money?  So what they are in fact telling us is that we owned CPF money which is nonsensical.  The whole CPF system has become senseless when they want to retain our money in CPF and introduced all sorts of policies to have total control over our CPF savings.  Money that could have gone into our retirement needs are sucked into Medisave to cover for our Medishield premium and sky high medical cost.

Some factors that are driving up medical cost which will keep going up if left uncheck are :

- the so call 'public' hospitals/clinics where govt grant is applicable are all privatized so they are all profit oriented

- govt making S'pore into a medical hub in S.E. Asia only increase demand for health services. Increase demand drives up fee.

- availability of money from patient's Medisave, Medishield and govt grant could encourage hefty billing as out right cash payment is reduced and the fee looks 'affordable' on paper.



Feedback From Citizens To Our Govt

Our govt should be thankful to have our citizens taking to the internet like fish to water.  The recent case of rats infestation near Bt Batok MRT station is a case in point.  Often thanks to internet, it leads to coverage by MSM and force the sleeping responsible party into action.

Ah... they get to learn of the seriousness of the problem and how the Town Council, NEA and HDB have been playing taiji pushing away responsibility.

If they really want to know what citizens think about them (remember this can translate to vote during election), read the feedback.  If they have a sense of humour, they will be pretty entertain while getting honest feedback on their stupidity policies. All these good feedback are taken from TR Emeritus.

- Grace Fu's new dept from under the directive of PM : So, all other units (TC, NEA, HDB…everyone!) just sit back and relax. Leave it to Grace to handle the matter.

- Foreign Workers Reliance  : Grace, I suggest you raise a platoon of real cats, trained to ‘search and destroy’ the rats. That way, no need to rely on foreign workers.

- Ineffective Execution of Policies : They can’t solve a satay stick problem, how to solve this rat problem? Some more these rats can run and hide.

- Population White Paper : The rat video is a glimpse of the PAP’s 6.9 million Population White Paper!

- National Conversation : Well actually we don’t really know what to do, maybe we can hold a national conversation on this complex problem and give us your suggestions, what do you think?

- Recent White Elephant Taxi App by LTA : quickly develop an app called rat-rat@sg, to show where the rats are so residents can avoid them.

- Money Grabbing At Every Opportunity : Hey, how about making it a Tourist Attraction? Let’s face it, how many tourists from 1st world countries would have seen rats running around like an army? And the govt can add revenue by selling tickets.

- Not Dealing With Actual Problem : PAP will argue these are not rats but mice and it’s a once in 50 years problem. Anyway, let’s move on!

- PM ridiculous Habit of forming Committee to deal with every single issue  : LHL has to first convene a cabinet meeting to appoint a Coordinating Minister for Rats who will then form a Rats Committee. Remember LHL just formed a grass cutting committee to ensure grass all across SG is cut the same way.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Hefty Medical Bill


My mum went for a cataract operation on her left eye at Changi Hospital. The bill comes up to more than $3K. Most seniors will end up with cataract and doing 2 eyes will set one back by more than $6K !  Even with the so call govt 'grant', the bill is more than $1K for one eye. (Pioneer card, Medishield all not applicable for cataract operation)

This is crazy as cataract is such a common procedure nowadays, which is make 'easier' with medical and technology advancement. One would have thought the fee should not see such drastic increase.   The closest comparison is Lasik surgery for vision correct. The cost has been coming down over the years. So why is cataract surgery cost heading up ?

Then the bill is not clear.  'CONSUMABLES' are listed twice which total near to $300 - what are these consumables is not stated.  There is a charge for 'OTHER PROCEDURES' which amounts to $65.42  - no idea what procedures are these. Some 'CONSUMABLES' I can think of were the 1 cup of Milo, 1 slice of bread, hospital grown and 4 bottle of eye drops.

It seems funny that these 'CONSUMABLES' cost more than the main item which is len implant which is $177.50. After all cataract operation is about replacing the len.

The highest cost in the bill is the  'FACILITY FEE' which is  $1551.50 !!

All these so call govt 'grant' or 'subsidy' is not making sense. Just like at the Polyclinic where the consultation fee before 'grant' is more than what most GPs would charge.  Even some of their common medication cost is higher when compare to private pharmacies. We are talking here of non-prescription medication easily available at local pharmacies.

So looks like hospital is doing the same thing.  Jack up the fee for everything, then apply the govt 'grant' and the bill looks good on paper.  We always end up paying higher medical fee with higher govt 'grand'.  What is the point then ?  Control medical cost instead !

Why build such big fanciful hospitals and end up patients have to pay for all the 'frills' ? The Chinese saying about 'look good but taste terrible' aptly applies to our hospital.  What a large building but the waiting time for a consultation averages 3 hours. It is so overcrowded in the waiting rooms ! 

If a simple day surgery cost is so expensive, one shivers to think what bill will be for serious chronic diseases involving deteriorating internal organs like our aging heart, kidney, liver......

Hefty medical bills are 'killing' off the poor patients after they survive their illness.

Here is a comparison of FACILITY FEE of hospitals from family record - all day operation without hospitalisation :

2004  Changi Hospital $534  for pile removal
2005  KK Hospital (formal one) $ 329 for abscess removal
2009  Changi Hospital $273 for release of trigger finger
2010  SNEC $605 for Lasik for vision correction
2014  Changi Hospital $$1551.50 for cataract operation



 
    



Sunday, December 7, 2014

M1 cheapest data plan in town

M1 is having a promotion. Not sure how long it will last.

1GB (1000MB) going for $10 (no contract) with 30 days expiry (it used to be $20).

Now SingTel data plan (no contract with 30 days expiry) sure looks very expensive as $10 can get you only 200MB, $15 for 500MB and $20 for 1 GB.

Besides Singtel rate is 0.27 cents per KB, while M1 is 0.20 cents per KB.

Those who are without contract can consider switching telco or having a 2nd SIM card for surfing the internal.  

Even for those with contract, it is worth getting a 2nd SIM card as we know exceeding the data usage specify in data plan is expensive.

Those who use smart phone mainly for surfing should not sign up for contract plan as the data is more expensive. Exceeding the data specify can be heavy on the pocket.  Besides unused data cannot be carry forward to the next month.

For data plan without contract, unused data can be carry forward to next month as long as we purchase the data before expiry date. There is no way you can exceed the data as you will be cut off. So no shocking surprise.

SingTel contract plan with monthly data expiry, the disadvantage is obvious as :
SuperLite $27.90 for a miserable 100MB
Lite $39.90 for 2GB
Value $59.90 for 3 GB

M1 even without promotion offers 3GB for $30 with 50 days expiry.  There is no contract binding and unused data can carry forward to the next 50 days with data purchase top up.


Note :
Do not underestimate the 0.20 cent per KB (1000KB = 1MB). It can work out to a lot if you overshot your specified data plan under contract. For example on average a video eats up 10 MB.
So it will cost you 0.2 x 10 x1000 divide by 100 to change to $ = $20 to watch a video !

So even what looks like a insignificant difference of 0.07 cents between SingTel and M1 would translate to $7 more for every 10MB.  Those familiar with data usage will know that 10MB is really very little and can be used up within minutes or watching a short video clip.

For SingTel the pay-per-use rate is even higher at 0.54 cent per KB. Likely this is the rate they charge you when you overshot your contract data play. Then watching a video on your smart phone will cost you $54!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Political Busking By MIW should be regulated !

The article by The S'pore Beacon on 'Political Busking should be regulated' is so ironical. The party that is most guilty of the so call 'political busking' is MIW themselves!  So what the writer implies is that when MIW busked away at every opportunity at all those public community events is ok. Only NGOs and non-MIW folks must be regulated.

There is already enough control and regulations to drown us. So much so that even the regulating authorities are not sure of their own policies. Nothing is sufficient for MIW and their supporters as they are so confined with their rigid thinking that ideas not in line with theirs are viewed negatively.

If according to the writer : At the very least, they must declare their source of donations, the purpose and the spending breakdown. Then should not all our governing politicians declare and make transparent their assets and financial status before taking office?  There is so much non-transparency on how MIW operates and their supporters have the cheek to ask for transparency. Please lah - get your 'masters' to lead by example and do so first before opening your big mouth. We are currently a 1st world country running on 3rd world opaque system, putting S'pore to shame!

The recent Aljunied Town Council case in a good example of how the pot starts calling the kettle black and it turns out the pot is blacker than the kettle.  Then there was the previous AIM saga. All dirty linings exposed because MIW is ever so keen to smear others and it backfire on them.  They should spend more time cleaning up their own house first. If not the last laugh will be on MIW.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Culling Of Pigeons in S'pore

Though I know that pigeons are culled regularly by pest control company employed by Town Council in HDB, but I have never witnessed the horrible scene before.  This morning, I saw pigeons being picked up from the ground and bagged into plastic bags.  They are still alive but weaken so much that they let themselves be picked up and thrown into plastic bags.  Birds were also falling off the ledge onto the ground.

It is so upsetting that a family passing by asked me what is happening.  I told them the birds were poisoned. They are non-locals and were shocked that our laws allow such inhuman act.

Imagine how much pain we endure when we have tummy upset. How terrible the pain will be to ingest poison and death is NOT immediate.  Here we are talking about making cruelty to animals carries a heavier penalty.  On the other hand, we allow such cruel method to be used to cull pigeons which are classified as pest in S'pore.

Pigeons are just birds, but become pest in S'pore context because of our over-development and dense population living in HDB.  The poor birds become the victim of S'pore progress !

It is not the pigeons fault that their environment is heavily populated by humans. Why can't we be more tolerant and live and let live. Even if they need to be culled, can't we have more humane way of doing it?  The food could be drugged to knock them unconscious. They can then be bagged and gassed with carbon dioxide so that they died while still unconscious.

We are a first world country and yet we use such cruel and inhuman method to cull birds just to save cost!  It is an irony as there is so much contradiction on interpretation of cruelty to animals. 




Thursday, October 23, 2014

Out Dated Road Traffic Act Killing Cats & Monkeys

On one hand with have law that prohibits cruelty to animals with penalty clauses of jail term and/or fine.  Then we have our traffic police telling us that under the Road Traffic Act it is perfectly fine to hit and run away if you knock down an animal as long as it is not -  ass, cattle, dog, pig, goat, horse, mule and sheep.

The police under MHA must be either very busy or very lazy.  Why is there no review and update of the Act? With the exception of dog, sighting of any other of those listed animals will be such rare occurrence that it will be news worthy. This outdated law is probably written long long time ago where S'pore used to have pig farms and bullock carts pulled by cattle. 

So it is not cruel to knock down and leave a injured cat or monkey to suffer a painful lingering death under the Road Traffic Act?  Why the inconsistency in the law which contradicts each other? 

Under the Animals and Birds Act, all mammals are covered under it (except for human and fish).  So should not the police keep up with time and update their Act?

They make it known that they will only response to those 'certain' animals cover under their outdated Act.  Such response only reflect negatively on them.  No wonder we have our serious riot in Little India. Our police force are passive and complacent and will only wake from their slumber if they are pushed.

Let us hope our pro-active NGOs will do the pushing.  Now - where is the voice of AVA?  Sigh - they are in the same operation mode as our police force - passively inactive - the less work the better.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

MIW recruiting ?

Could MIW be recruiting members in preparation for the next election? The latest guess is that MIW finally come to their senses and realised that their choice of paper army generals and high flying career elites with airy personality and turn-off character are not to general public liking.

So now they are looking for folks who can  touch base with the ground, like Mr Louis Ng of ACRES who has been a vocal animal welfare activist for decades.  It is like killing 2 birds with 1 stone.  Besides, muffling a vocal voice, they got someone whom they thought could endear them to voters, especially those with affinity to animals.

Perhaps there may be light at the end of the tunnel for our local unemployed PMETs? Could there be potential openings for them? They need not approach CDC for help to undergo retraining to prepare for downgrading to lower skills and pay jobs which are irrelevant, putting their years of experience to waste.  No need to worry about struggling with the substantially lower pay which is hard to keep up with inflation and mounting food cost to support their family. 

They could look now forward being recruited to a $16K per month part time job. This job entitles one to be absent at parliamentary session without consequence. You can sneak off too when the session gets to boring without pay cut. You can choose to speak, sleep or remain silent, the wiser option is to sleep or remain silent.

Remember NMP Mr Eugene Tan - the reason he is not reelected could be because he has been too vocal and hardworking during parliamentary session. Being awake and giving hard hitting comments are not advisable for career development with MIW.  He used to be interviewed extensively by the papers and on TV for his views. Now hardly see him anymore.  Lesson learned is to remain in MIW good book at all cost, regardless of your conscience.

To increase your chance of success, try to rub shoulders and take pictures with your Ministers and MPs.  Remember even FT with fake degree can get PR with the help of his MP.  Knowing whose shoes, apples and butt to polish goes a long way.

Our local talented PMET's degree is real - thus should be worth more and able to land a political post with MIW?  Any degree will do as there is no relevancy attached to it since eye doctor can be in-charge of drains environment and even paper generals can take on any portfolio.  There even used to be a post for those without portfolio, which sound so useless that they had the ministry renamed.

Then there will be more meat to come once you are part of MIW gang. There will be plenty of invitations to take on directorship in various private companies, never mind if there is conflict of interest. What is more important is to increase your net worth monetary, so that you will be 'respected' when you talk to big shot.

No need to worry that you may be stress out, running around to attend so many meetings in various companies, as there are so many MIWs that individual official workload is pretty light.  The trend is to beat each other to take on the most number of directorships. Make full use of your free time and make as much easy money as possible. It is perfectly all right as all your big bosses are doing it too.

The only prerequisite for this high paying job is thick skin. It is rather unpopular as you will face 'noise' and verbal arrows from alternate media.  But then, never mind if you have sensitive skin, as you can learn a trick or two from your boss how to fix dissent voices.  Besides, with so much $$ and time to spare, you can also take up law suit to cow and silent those 'arrows' you cannot block.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

ACRES founder going for "greener" pasture

Though I am not pro-PAP but there are a few of Ministers that I respect.  However in order for PAP to get my vote, there are 3 criteria of which the most important is their policies which have a direct impact on us citizens.

The 2nd criteria is how well they implement their good policies.  Well, even in a crate of rotten apples, there are a few good ones to be found.  No point having well intended policies to help citizens but mess up due to poor execution and follow-up.
 
The last of which is the personality and character of the candidate.  So I am not sure how Mr Louis Ng, the founder of ACRES, being roped into PAP is going to help in getting our votes.  Seems like this is their latest strategy to get people who have their feet on the ground into their party.  Maybe their realize that army personals, scholars, doctors..etc  do not go well with public taste due to their 'airy' personality.

I respect Mr Louis Ng, as he done some great work with regards to animals welfare and educating the public in respecting wild life. Few years back, his team in ACRES exposed how easily tiger parts were available in S'pore, though it is supposed to be illegal to posses them. With so lean manpower and fund, ACRES sure aced AVA and put them to shame.  Anyway it is a known fact that AVA normally tails behind non-govt organisations (NGOs) as they are reactive rather than pro-active.

Thus, I am disappointed that Mr Ng has decided to join a political party.  Though some are of the opinion, there is no conflict of interest, but personally I think there is.  Mr Ng has been very vocal about those wild dolphins held in captivity in Resort World Sentosa (RWS) to provide entertainment.  We know that without govt approval, there is no way RWS can get those dolphins into S'pore.

By joining PAP with a party whip to keep members in line, how can there be no conflict of interest ?  He will likely be told to keep dirty lining within the 'family' and not expose them for public viewing. Likely he will tone down on his belief, if there is any left after joining PAP.

Mr Ng started young in his animal activism. It has been a long 13 years of tough work against block heads in govt agencies.  So maybe he is tired and time to move on to "greener" pasture. After all being a family man now is unlike old times where only passion counts in animal welfare. Besides, the potential carrot of $16K salary a month as a MP may be hard to resist. The best part is our MP needs to work only part time to collect their salary.

I will not give my vote to Mr Ng should he be filed in my HDB estate which is under GRC.  GRC is one issue that bugs me as it is unfair and plain abuse of power of the current ruling party to tip the scale in their favour.  Isn't abuse of power a form of corruption ?

Even if Mr Ng stands in single ward, which is unlikely, he may not get the votes PAP hopes for as POLICIES do matter to us citizens as far as judging PAP is concerned. They have past records (recent ones not historical ones from their founding days) for us to judge them.  Their past glory days in the 1960s to 80s hold no meaning to me and likely other citizens.

So do their aggressive propaganda over the media base on their past historical achievement works ? Plainly NO.  They are just wasting tax payer money to glorify themselves, which I think is sickening.


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Under The Vast Sky


HK protestors use songs with meaningful lyrics to boost 
their moral. This song, Under The Vast Sky is the most
sang on the streets of HK this year. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIeTcFgdd_4

It is written by HK rock band Beyond in 1990s. It has
meaningful lyric and the melody is soothing.
 
Roy and friends tried to introduce song during 2 of
their CPF protest, but without much success. Could
it be because the song were not familiar to the
audience, many of which are elderly?  Perhaps the
song is not by local song writer, unlike HK which uses
their own song. 
 
But then I understand that HK did use the Les Miserable
song "Do You Hear The People Sing" with more success
than our local protestors.
 
Wonder what is the reason - S'porens protestors not
musically incline or too shy to sing in public ? 

Sunday, October 12, 2014

'Acting Minister' for Com & Info at Citizen level !!

I am in this small interest group on WhatsApp and was told by one member not to send link (it is not even a post) related to 'politics'.  It was an article about the recent case of a greedy lawyer vs greedy doctor.  It so happens that the greedy lawyer is a PAP MP.

So we not only have our govt telling us what to read and what to see, we now have fellow citizen behaving like 'Acting Minister' for Com and Info, telling us what to post on social media !

How to avoid talking about politics since it is an integrated part of our social fibric.  Open the newspaper - most of the news is politics. HK protest, Roy and Han being called up to the police station, citizens low birth rate, ......

Even 'gossipy' type of news could involve politics. For example the case about the PRC con man cheating the rich widow of money.  We have a blur PAP MP helping him to get his PR and our sotong ICA approving his PR application.

I suppose those 'little Acting Minister of Com and Info' meant is that anything negative about the existing ruling party is politics. It becomes sensitive to them.  They think they have the right to tell others off to keep out as it is an OB marker to them.

If one wants to be in social networking sites like Facebook  and WhatsApp, then learn to deal with the information. No one is forcing you to read or click on the link if it is not your cup of tea.  Why the arrogant to have the cheek to tell others what they can and cannot share on networking sites.

These folks are living in la la land.  They think the coin has only one face though it is obvious it is 2 sided.  Their coin is covered with a thick layer of dust as they never flip it over.




Great Food at E'spuma Lab

Read about this food eatery, E'spuma Lab situated at PoMo Mall, Selegie Road which uses cooking techniques normally found in high-end dinning.  The chef, Teo Y S decided to use it in his eatery which layout is similar to fast food chain, but the food is serve to us.

So we get to taste potato espuma and sous vide eggs, both cooked to perfection.  Espuma is Spanish for foam.  The culinary technic is to produce it with a siphon and nitrous oxide adding taste and texture to it.

The quality of food is good, the price is affordable and the portion is reasonable considering the high quality food and price.

This is one place I will be visiting on a regular basis.  So far, I have tried their Sous Vide Egg with Sauteed Mushrooms ($3.80), Fish and chips ($6.80) and Fragrant Curry Chicken with Creamy Potato Espuma ($6.80).

I love their Curry Chicken with Potato Espuma best.  The chicken is tasty and the potato espuma is something new to me and I really like its taste which compliment the curry chicken well.

Recommended to go for their set as it comes with a tasty soup and a drink. The set meal is ($8++)

Bourne's Swan Lake

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake is the opening performance for this year da:ns festival (dance festival).

It is ending today. For those who miss it, it is a great pity as the performance is superly entertaining. This is the first time it is in S'pore though it was first staged in London in 1995.

Bourne's Swan Lake uses altered Tchaikovsky's score and the swans are all male dancers. Their appearance and dance movement are riveting. Its story line bears little resemblance to the traditional Swan Lake ballet, with totally different characters and dances.  Though basically still ballet in nature, it is humorously entertaining with injection of disco and jazz blended in so well.

This is one show that I will definitely watch again and again whenever it returns to S'pore.

When I saw the last scene in movie Billy Elliot, I was curious as to how come the Swan Lake ballet has male swans. I have not heard of Matthew Bourne then. I was so impressed by the last scene which showed the male 'swan' doing a beautifully executed leap into the air.

Here is the link to the clip :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5BSyJ_vlHo

Sunday, October 5, 2014

PM Lee's Speech At NUSS Full Of Ironies.

PM Lee's speech at NUSS recently was full of ironies.  He was telling uni students that they have a bright future, when his govt is now directly discouraging S'poreans from obtaining a degree, which does not guarantee a job.

Then he also his gave reasons why his govt banned Tan Pin Pin's film - To Singapore, With Love, which has won numerous awards and accolades world wide.  According to him, he cannot allow others to present account of themselves which is self-serving personal account and conveniently inaccurate...etc etc.

So who verifies the numerous books his daddy wrote about himself and S'pore are historically accurate and factual?   Is his daddy's work not self-serving personal account too?

Is he saying only what comes out of his daddy's mouth is the truth and all other accounts are false? One man words against many others - who do we belief, when we know that one man loves half truth and is a shrewd politician.  Politicians are generally good liars, especially when they are self serving and love to glorify themselves.

He again stressed the importance of foreign talent (FT) as according to him,  "... allowing foreign professionals to work in Singapore in fact creates more good jobs for Singaporeans. If we are too tight on foreign PMEs, I think many companies would be deterred from coming here, and the jobs for Singaporean PMEs may not even exist in the first place.”

We wish to ask the PM, can he offer us some raw factual numbers (not statistics which can be manipulated) that FT creates more plus good jobs for S'poren and NOT take them away instead?  We have seen how easily PRC Yang Yin fools local authority with his fake uni certificate. The university stated on his cert does not even exist in China and the local authority is non the wiser.  Exposure of such cases have been on the raise.

It is a confirm fact the India, China and Philippine have syndicates which churn out fake certificates. CNA featured a documentary on Philippine syndicates which are so good at faking certificates they look like the real stuff. They used high tech scanner and even buy real certificate papers from corrupt officers in organisations for the purpose of faking. The universities stated in the cert. do actually exist. So you think our local authority can tell it is a fake, when Yang Yin got away with his non-existence uni so easily.

Philippine govt is worry that their economy can be negatively impacted and damaged with so many fake professionals floating around.  According to the documentary, one synthetic can sell more than 40 fake certs per day, and they come cheap, - less than US$20.

Fake professionals are mobile and they will flock to country like S'pore whose govt under PAP stupidly welcomes them with open arms, with job and good pay.

Wonder why NUSS bothers to invite PM.  What can the audience learn from him? Did he offer any depth, insight or wisdom ? NONE. Yet MSM media devoted so much air time and print space to his lecture. Sigh !




PM Lee thumb down S'poreans again

Seems like PM, like his daddy enjoys taking every opportunity to thumb down S'poreans.  He was giving a speech at NUSS and he said that our national swimmer, Joseph Schooling, is called 'an Ang Moh foreign talent' and that he is ashamed and dismayed when he "read such virulent and nasty attitudes".  He went on to said S'poreans have "bad behavious, rude behaviour, behaviour that is really a disgrace to a S'porean, a human being...."

Notice the strings of strong negative words he uses on S'poreans!  In the first place, where on earth he read the remark about Joseph being a foreign talent?  Is it hear say or a joke his close aides told him, which he stupidly mistaken for a fact?

As far as a I know, internet is full of praise for our national swimmer, Joseph.  Everyone is saying how proud we are of him.  The commend is that we are not proud when foreign talents our govt bought with money win medal for S'pore.

Joseph is a rising stars, it is not the first time he won medals for S'pore.  Anyone who read MSM and/or internet is aware he is a S'porean. Even folks like me who cannot swim and does not follow sports events is familiar with Joseph as we are proud of him.  After all there are not many things in recent years to be proud of being a S'porean.

PM is worst than MSM, but then we know MSM is under his thumb.  After how MSM distorted the CPF rally painting it in bad light, the saying "A picture tells a thousand words" should be rephrase as "A picture distorts fact like hell".  The selected picture MSM published made it looked as if CPF rally folks were disrupting YMCA event and scaring the children.  But when the slide by slide video analysis appeared on internet, we know they are lying through their nose.

Perhaps PM is a chip of the old block. We know his daddy is notorious for telling half truth. Maybe he beats his daddy in this aspect?


Tuesday, September 30, 2014

NGOs, Religious org, civil service.....should not be hijacked


The recent unpleasant incident at Hong Lim Park reminds us of AWARE (a NGO) being hijacked by a religious group in 2009, with the purpose of promoting their religious agenda.  It is suspected that YMCA could be hijacked by political activists/grass root leaders to smear other activists. Likely NParks could be in the hijack picture too.

Though civil service should be 'neutral' when implementing policies and going about their routine work, we know that in all likelihood, they are not.  Directly or indirectly their hands are 'tied' by the political party dominating the parliament.

It is the same with PA and the community centers, PAP influence is obvious as daylight.

Politics and religion are powerful catalyst and it is best that they are not mixed with groups doing social work and serving the public.

NGOs and religious organisations should be alert and cautious as active volunteers could be harboring selfish and ill intend(eg. like notorious Yang Yin who volunteer himself eagerly at grass root to fulfill his greedy motive.) 

As for MIW, their grassroot supporters and IB team may be at the base of the hierarchy, but we still expect some credibility from them since they are in service of their masters - who claimed that they are the best, A team and thus 'deserve' to pay themselves obscene salary. They love to paint themselves as whiter than white while smearing blackening opponents.

To our utter horror and disappointment, most of them seems to lack intellectual ability and have poor command of English.  Look at their supporters and IB guys at work making noises in the internet, you will get the picture.  Many of them cannot even provide a weak rebuttal, but just spill obscenity and 4-letter words. Not only is MIW salary obscene, the language of their supporters and IB team is equally obscene and foul.

Perhaps it is another telling sign that those who paid themselves enormous salary are likely self serving rather than public serving. The joke has been that we pay peanuts we get monkeys, pay a ransom and we still get monkeys. Likely we get 'white' gorillas instead. Though a mutated ape, they are more deadly with their brute strength and capable of playing dirty. Maybe it is better to have monkeys as when they play dirty, at least it is less damaging.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Hong Lim Park Incident - NParks mess up or.?

When I read the Sunday Times report on Hong Lim Park incident, it was not surprising that Roy and Han were painted blacker than black. Next we have PAP ministers/MPs pouring more black paint onto the picture.

It is clear that either NParks is so dumb to give approval to 2 events which need loud speakers to reach out to audience or there is some dirty political scheming behind the scene. Are NPark officers all lacking in common sense to let 2 events held concurrently at the same time in close proximity to each other?  Did they mess up on purpose?

Sat CPF rally is the 4th to-date. The organiser has always announced the date/time of the next rally one month ahead.  So is MSM trying to make us believe that CPF rally intentionally crash with YMCA event?  They highlighted the approval date of NParks letter to YMCA which was weeks before that of CPF rally. However, YMCA had changed their event time twice. The original starting time was 10 am. The last round of time change had the event starting at 4pm and ending at 8pm. This clashes directly with CPF rally was from 4 to 7pm. 

With the govt wide net work of IB busy at work, how can they pretend not to know the date/time of the CPF rally. It was publicized in a few internet websites well in advance.

If there is really some scheming behind the whole incident, then it is indeed despicable that innocent children were used as pawn for the selfish motive of politician(s) in power. So the hypocrite minister claimed to care for the welfare of these kids. Could it be that he is milking these special need children for all they are worth for public sympathy to turn against Roy and Han instead?

To get to the truth of the matter,  watch the video clip on the event. Then judge how accurate is MSM report.  How to trust MSM when they do not report with conscience but to their 'master' wimp and fancy.  Reading the local MSM reminds one of North Korean, where the press is basically the propaganda machine of the govt.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Reading the 'Right' stuff is NOT Safe

How to trust the govt when they are only interested that we read the 'right' stuff regardless of our well being and safety. I am referring to the official PSI reading put up by them.

For years, before 1st April 14, they have been giving us PSI data base on PM10 (particular size) and leaving out PM2.5 in their compilation. PM2.5 are more hazardous as they can be inhaled into the lungs and could be carcinogenic (cancer causing).  In the context of S'pore, the haze from Indonesia has always resulted in much higher PM2.5 reading compare to PM10.

It is after much constructive 'noise' from enlightened public during last year when we were hit with the worst haze ever, that they finally incorporate PM2.5 reading into their PSI reporting effective 1st April this year.
From such official data they chose to provide the public with, it is clear that our health is the last thing on the govt mind. They only want the data to look 'good'. 

Another public feedback is their useless past historical data based on 3 and 24 hours averaging.  They are still sticking to such reporting. The govt is directly compromising public safety and health as no one will be taking precaution when they are hit with unhealthy/hazardous level of haze.  After the concern period is over (likely 1 to 2 hours later), then the official reading will show we had been hit, isn't that too late ?  Besides, the reading will be much lower, when the spot reading could have been 50 to 100% higher.

We have a Minister who is a doctor heading NEA. Surely he is well verse with health and safety issues.  It is sad that a professional doctor turned politician puts reading the 'right' stuff as priority over public health.

Tampines becoming PAP losers refuge

It was reported PAP Desmond Choo will be moved to Tampines. Perhaps they are preparing him to replace another formal loser Mah B T, who was also dumped to Tampines after losing his ward. Looks like Tampines is becoming the refuge for PAP losers.  

May be Mah will be retiring from politics for good in the coming election in 2016 ?  So likely Mah will be landing a big fat post in some Govt link enterprise, as this seems to be the trend with most formal PAP ministers/MPs.

Monday, September 22, 2014

PSI - Real Time and NOT Average Past Historical Data

Our government is hard of hearing. We the public have been telling them we want real time PSI reading and not be fed with useless average past 3 and 24 hours historical data.  Likely the only real reason they insist on giving us average past data is to make the reading look 'good'.

It is against logic and safety practices to give us past data which would not help us to make decision whether to carry on with our activities or remind indoors. PSI reading is similar to weather forecast. We want to know what is the current weather outlook and what is the forecast for the next few days. Since they do not give us historical report base on the past 3 days weather, why do they  insist on giving us historical data for PSI?

Take last Sun (21 Sep) for example.  It was reported that "The 3-hour PSI readings hovered in the moderate range through most of the day but crept up slowly from noon and broke into the unhealthy band of 116 at 8pm. At 9pm, it stood at 129."

If we were given real time data, likely the PSI spot reading would be much higher than 129 (which was based on 3 hr average). The time when we were hit with the strong haze would likely be around 6 to 7 pm and not 8 to 9 pm.

My nephew was having his Taekwando outdoor practice with his Sun class from 5.30-7pm. The instructor did not cancel the class because according to NEA report, the PSI reading was below 100psi which was suppose to be moderate during that period. The whole group of youngest were exposed to unhealthy level of haze due to the useless outdated PSI official reading.

How can construction companies make decision when to stop work when the official govt PSI reading is based on past average data ? Outdoor workers would have been exposed to hazardous haze level since the PSI reading is not real time.

For our own safety, do not rely on govt official PSI reporting.  Check out the real time data on this website instead: http://aqicn.org/city/singapore/east/ 

Don't read the 'right' stuff determine by the govt, as their data makes a lousy reference. The irony is that the govt is getting S'pore to be a 'smart' city. Yet they are so dumb to think they can fool us with such unreliable information.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

PAP snake oil seller for 6.9M Population ?

Is ex-HDB planner, Liu Thai-Ker the delegated snake oil seller for PAP unpopular 6.9 million population target? This guy has been going around making speeches and giving interviews that 10 million is no issue in recent months. Is he trying to make the 6.9 million more palatable compare to 10 million?

Likely he thinks his past credentials will enable him to fool the public. Reminds us of  LKY who thinks he is 'God'.  But we have found out to our disappointment the hard truth about LKY is that he normally tells us only half truth. He is just another snake oil seller who is very good at selling himself to get all the credits not due to him for S'pore growth story.

Sure, it is a no brainer right - just tear down lower rise HDB flats through SERS (selective en bloc redevelopment scheme) and in the process make more money out by making poor folks buy another flat and then build 50- storey or even higher flat to house the 10 million.

This same joker was involved in the 1991 Concept Plan which target for 5.5 million. Now he changes his mind and double the figure!  It goes to show how bad in planning our govt is! They normally get their figures and projections wrong. But the worst part is that they still see themselves being 'brilliant' at their social engineering feat just because they are drawing enormous salary.

They still have not learned from the overloaded transport infrastructure and medical services which are still teething problems yet to be resolved.

As it is, our places of leisure and entertainment (parks, zoo, shopping malls...etc) are perpetually very crowded, not just during weekends like 20 years ago.  Every hour is peak hour for MRT, be it weekday or weekend.

So have Liu Thai-Ker look at the bigger picture? What about food, water and energy resources? What will happen if there is a global drought impacting food and water?  Flooding too can destroy crops in countries we import our food from.

S'pore is heading towards the nuclear energy path, which is derailed due to Japan's nuclear disaster. Likely we will be having underground nuclear plant if the 6.9 -10 million target is on PAP plate.

The irony is that our surface area is so small, we don't even have enough safe zone around the nuclear plant, thus the need to go underground.  Is it safe? I don't think so. With so many MRT tunnels and likely more underground malls and living space in future, our underground will be rather 'porous'. Any nuclear leak could be easily channel throughout the island.

Besides, our weather is getting warmer and warmer by the years.  Building more and higher flats will only increase the surface area emitting heat. More roads ? Tarred roads are a known culprit for increasing environmental ambient temperature.

Never trust snake oil sellers - they are short sighted and out to con the public to accept their policies.  They don't care what happen to future generations as they are not around take responsibility anymore.  As it is, even now they are always playing the pushing game when things go wrong.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

MOH HealthAssist (CHAS) scheme

My mum holds a HealthAssist card (Blue CHAS) and also a pioneer generation card. The GP she consulted regarding her blurred vision is under the CHAS scheme.  I was surprised that the GP asked her to see a doctor at the Polyclinic to refer her to a public hospital specialist outpatient clinic (SOC) so that she will be eligible for subsidies.

With all latest changes to MOH Health assistance scheme, a CHAS GP still cannot directly refer a patient to SOC without going through Polyclinic? Isn't CHAS scheme started with the aim to off load the heavy patient numbers thronging Polyclinic? It is also meant to make it more convenient for patients to access healthcare service near to them.  So isn't the whole CHAS scheme a failure if a patient still has to go to the Polyclinic in order to be eligible for subsidy at SOC?

I checked with 2 Polyclinic staff regarding whether if a CHAS GP can refer a CHAS patient to SOC directly. One said 'No' and the other said 'Yes'. When I probed further, both either referred me to MOH or another staff to confirm. Good Grief !

A neighborhood GP under the CHAS scheme is a better choice for elderly patients with poor vision and mobility issues as their process is simple.  The front counter hands out the queue number, does the registration, dispense medicine and accept payment. The GP diagnoses the patient and does the necessary tests.

Whereas at the Polyclinic elderly patients have to negotiate a maze of counters and rooms. We spend more than 2 hours queuing and waiting outside 7 counters/rooms at Polyclinic just to get a SOC appointment :-
1. Queue counter
2. Registration counter
3. BMI and blood pressure testing room
4. Doctor consultation room
5. Vision testing room (and back to consultation room again)
6. Appointment counter for SOC
7. Payment counter

We 'escape' the pharmacy counter as there was no medication. My mum was in a daze at the end of it. I think it was the same for other elderly patients at the Polyclinic. Those who do not have children/relative accompanying them will have terrible time.

Why make patients go the hassle just to get subsidy at SOC due to bureaucratic red tape? Or could it be the CHAS GP and Polyclinic staff are not familiar to the latest policy change ?

Besides, it is highly unproductive and a waste of time for all involved !
 

Sunday, August 24, 2014

PM Lee - leader of Low Productivity

No wonder our productivity is sliding and govt faces uphill challenge to boost it. PM Lee as leader is setting a bad example.  He probably does not even realise it and think he is pretty 'smart' by creating a new dept to liaise with other govt depts and agencies.  I am referring to the case of clearing of debris & rubbish from the narrow stretch of footpath, mentioned in his boring National Day Rally speech.

Currently there are 3 agencies involved - one handles the footpath, another the greenery to the left of it and the 3rd in charge of the grass verge to the right of it. So messy due to the bulky bureaucracy until no one seems to know who is in charge of what and 'taiji' becomes the way of life.

Any layman can see how ridiculous and unproductive it is. Instead of going to the root cause, which is due to the bulky bureaucracy, he chooses to layer it with another liaison dept. The fact that a liaison dept is needed indicates the system needs simplifying. 

Just look at his cabinet set up overloaded with overpay MPs and ministers.  Do we need so many of them ? They work only part time and spend the rest of their time, each holding directorship in many private companies. This is a glaring example of unproductivity.  Such bad practice of heavy bureaucracy trickles down from his cabinet to the rest of ministries.

PM Lee paves the way to low productivity by leading it. 

CPF rally on 23/8 at Hong Lim Park

The 3rd CPF rally was held at Hong Lim Park on Sat, 23 Aug. The crowd size was smaller than the previous.  The first 2 rallies had stronger speakers and were more informative.

The recent one had some new faces but unfortunately also weak speech content. Only Mr Leong, Ms Han and Roy were able to hold the audience attention.  Ms Han delivery has improved with each rally. There was more control of voice and slower speech delivery. She is one crowd drawer as she spoke in English, Mandarin and Hokkien - typical S'porean style.

Mr Leong with his humour and statistics make simple, is one speaker I always look forward to hearing. He spoke on the lease buy back scheme which now extends to 4 room-flat. It only means govt skimming off more money from the needy elderly, in the pretext of helping them.  Pretty typical of most, if not all PAP schemes.

Posters with the words -  "They suck you dry and then suck until you die. This is what they call subsidize" - sadly summarize PAP money grabbing policies pretty well.

The 2nd speaker articulation was not clear. The worst part  was he spent the last 10 mins speaking about his God.  Good grief !

The next speaker, a lady - tried to list out all PAP flaw policies. She took up too much time because there are so many of them.  It is rather boring as we are already familiar with our govt ridiculous policies. What she could have done is to highlight one or two and give us real life examples of how they have negatively impacted her. 

The next CPF rally is on 27 Sep.  Hope they could get strong speakers with good content and analysis of the current policies.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

We want right Policies NOT right Politics

There goes PM again, he said they need to get their politics right.  To hear that is scary for us ordinary citizens. Right politics only means they want to remain in power at all cost.

How to get the policies right if protection of party's interest is top priority ? 

Then he goes on to say we must share in order to have a first class transport. Is there a transport fare hike soon?

What makes him think just because the govt is bailing out SBS and SMRT, we will have a 1st class transport ?  Looks like they make the mistake to privatize them. Didn't they just spend millions of tax payers' money to help them get new buses recently. So it didn't work ? Now they have to pour in even more money at tax payers' expense.

Reminded  me of the TV program The Noose. One of the funny parts which we can connect with is :-

A Noose report interviewed a mother with school going children. She said that her child used to wait 20 mins for the bus and it took another 20 mins bus journey to reach school. But with the improved service - the bus came every other min but her child took 1 hour to reach school due to the worsening traffic congestion.

Does PM realised that HDB heartlands are experiencing heavy traffic congestion which used to be in city areas only?

Talking Point on CPF - a waste of time

This week Talking Point over at CNA discussed the current hot topic of CPF.  Watching it is a waste of time. The selected speakers all agreed that the current CPF interest rate is good and reasonable as CPF is risk free.  Makes one wonder if this is a brain washing session or a talking cock session.

If our neighbour Malaysia can give so much higher return and their fund is not even among the top 10 large funds. GIC and Temasek are in the top 10 list.

Even for those who meet the minimum sum requirement in their retirement account when they reached 55, the amount of payout in CPF Life when they are 65 is around $1,200. With inflation, will this amount be sufficient in 20 years time? Worse if you have homemaker wife, elderly parents or children still needing your support. That is why they keep telling us not to retire and work and work.

This is clear evident CPF has failed big time.  It is suppose to see us through retirement, and now we cannot retire as money is not enough.

One of the speakers, a Prof from NTU Economic Division is telling us that silly story again that if they let us withdraw it a 55, folks will spend it at one go and become tax payers' burden.  Please lah, this story don't work anymore. Where is the statistic to show there are so many foolish people in S'pore. No wonder our education system cannot product talent and we have to import them by tonnage from overseas. This is that kind of lecturer we have in our institute of higher learning.  He cannot even articulate and express himself well.

One of the suggestions made during the discuss is to have different rate of return for different risk CPF members are willing to take.  As it is, CPF policies are so messy and complicated already, we should simplify it and not make it messier by creating more accounts.

The very fact that it has gotten so complicated suggest it is not working and they keep trying to patch it up.  So we have :
1) ordinary a/c
2) medisave a/c (medishield, eldershield and coming medishield life link to it)
3) special a/c
4) retirement a/c (CPF life link to it)

So how many more a/c, shield or life we need to create before we can finally retire ?


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

How much compensation to give PM

If PM is looking to 'deep fried' Roy, no amount of compensation will make him happy. After all, through slip of the tongue, we know he will spend time 'fixing' those who oppose him.

Besides, for one earning millions and whose personal asset are likely in the range of 8 to 9 figures, his concept of money is different from us ordinary citizen. Born with a silver spoon in his month and never suffer financial hardship before, a 4-figure sum is definitely small change, peanuts and even derisory to him.

We feel ashamed to have such a thin skin, petty and big ergo leader. Wonder if we have break the genuine book of record for the number of law suits filed by the same family/political party.

Which public figure is not subjected to criticisms ? Even Saint Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi whom people affectionately called 'Mother' and 'Father' respectively, were not spared hard accusations. These great figures never turn vindictive. Gandhi even died blessing his assassin. Perhaps should not have compared him with such great personality, as he is no where near their league.

There is a Chinese saying 'No wind, no tide'.  If PM does not like the rising tide, then don't create the wind in the first place.  Yes, the irony is the wind is self-created by having himself and family members/political party in key positions in all our major financial institutions. Why the insistence of opacity in these institutions and our national reserve management ?  Why keep building brick walls between citizens' access to their own CPF money ?

It is not that we do not understand CPF policies.  In fact, people are getting to understand them too well in recent years.  Policies flaws cannot be explained away, they need to be rectified. Neither will law suit disperse citizens' questions.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Politicians make good liars

There are many jokes about politicians, many relating to how they can lie without blinking. May be to them, they are not lying since they have a different mind set from us ordinary folks.  There are so many ways not to tell the truth - perhaps to a politician that is not lying.

A white lie could be to protect the interest of the citizens/country.  Could it be beating around the bush, playing with words, telling half truth and confusing folks with complicated but irrelevant data .. are not lies?

Why do politicians make good liars - BECAUSE they possess all the criteria needed :
- power (to silent, crush, sue......)
- confident (which is link to the power they possess)
- charisma (good to have but not necessary,  if one has absolute power to oppress)

Why do politicians lie - BECAUSE power tends to corrupt and could be use to protect their self interest and/or gain monetary.  It makes them feel 'invincible' as they can get away with it.  This feeds their power ego even more.

Why are politician 'successful' liars - BECAUSE people tend to trust those in power and authority.


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Cleaner whacking pigeons, kitten in rubbish bin and Otters

It was report in SPCA bulletin that a Town Council cleaner was seen going around whacking pigeons.  He then dumped the semi-conscious live birds in plastic bag.  Seems like this cleaner and his supervisor do not perceive it as an act of cruelty.  Could be because uniquely in S'pore, pigeons are  classify as pest and to be culled.

In London, pigeons are part of the attraction at Trafalgar Square. In the movie, Mary Poppins, the children were taught compassion and encouraged to feed the pigeons in one of its song Feed The Birds. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHrRxQVUFN4)

It was also reported that a kitten was dumped in a rubbish bin at the void deck. It was place in a tied up plastic bag.  Luckily its meowing lead to its rescue.  It was found soaked in its own urine in the bag.

What sort mentality these people have who can commit such cruel act.

Even folks who claimed to care about nature can also be senselessly cruel to one species while claiming to protect another.

At a talk conducted by Nature Society about otters making a come back in S'pore, an audience suggested whacking stray dogs which may intrude into the otters' hideout. These strays are local and have been hanging around that area. The otters are thought to have 'immigrated' from Johor area due to the extensive development recently.

We welcome the otters to make S'pore their home, but certainly our local strays should not suffered because of them. (sound rather similar to our immigrant and FT policies)

The speaker clarified that actually human post a greater disturbance to the otters.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Singapore Corruption Index

Singapore ranks well in the corruption index currently. Will we be able to maintain our good ranking in the future will depend on the governing party willingness to fix the existing systemic weakness.

We know that it only takes a straw to break a camel's back.  All it takes is a single weak link to undo a strong chain and...sigh ...there are so many weak links in the current system.  For example :

1) Having related parties (family ties and/or politically link) holding key positions in both our sovereign wealth funds and MAS

2) Non-transparency in areas our government deems 'sensitive', which sensitivity we as citizens questioned (eg financial standing of GIC and our country reserve)

3) Limitless number of terms our PM can govern

4) Political leaders governing the country need not declare their financial assets before taking office and during their terms

5) PM holding real power is not elected by the citizens, while the President who is elected has limitation in his role to provide 'check and balance'

6) Extraordinary high salary of governing politicians tied to GDP as one of the factors for their extraordinary bonus

7) MPs inspite of drawing high salary, work only part time and running around holding directorships in so many private companies.  Is there not conflict of interest when making policies ?

8) The existence of GRCs and senseless redrawing of electoral bountaries during every election


Friday, April 11, 2014

Most Unpopular - CPF, HDB or SMRT ??

If a poll is done on which is S'poreans most unpopular organisation, which will rank number 1 - CPF, HDB or SMRT ?  CPF and HDB are notorious for their chameleon and complicated policies that are a burden to us.

CPF has iron grip over our money which we have no control over. They dictates how much we need to put in, when we can draw out and how much we can draw out......the list can go on and on.

HDB is well know for their run away housing prices which gallop faster than race horses.

SMRT is infamous for their unreliable and overcrowded trains which breakdown no longer surprises us since it happens so often.

These hese organisations have common problems :

-  complicated and confusing policies which are often flawed and disadvantaged us 
- diverted focus and ineffective execution of policies

Notching up the unpopular rank could well be MOM, ICA, MHA and NEA.


Sunday, February 16, 2014

NEA sticking to its confusing PSI reporting method


Last year when we were badly hit by the haze, it was
crystal clear that our govt and NEA were not adequately
prepared, thought the haze has been returning without
failed annually for decades.

There has been many feedback on NEA complicated way of
PSI reporting which only confuses the public. It is
also not useful as it is based on past historical 3 hrs
and 24 hrs average, depending on which particle size
(PM10 and PM2.5)is used as reference. 
 
What the public wants is spot reporting base on PM2.5
levels as these particles could be inhaled into the
lungs and are known to be hazardous to our health. 
 
When the weather is fine, no one gives much attention
to the PSI reading. However once the haze hits us, all
eyes will be on the PSI reporting. 
 
Playing down the haze issue is not in the interest of
public health, as those PM2.5 which can be inhaled into
the lungs are known to be carcinogenic. From last year
observation, the PM2.5 readings were normally higher
the PM10. NEA average down the PM2.5 using 24 hrs,
while PM10 with 3 hrs.
 
Looks like NEA has not improved its complicated and
confusing PSI reporting method after all the public
feedback. Is NEA and the govt trying to give the
public a false sense of safety with their past
historical data average down to a smaller number?


Thursday, February 13, 2014

Haze vs Warships

The number of hot spots in Indonesia are in the region of 200 to 400.  The yearly haze will be back, it is just a matter of time that the wind will blow our way.  How bad it will be depends on the political will of Indonesia and her affected neighbours.  Most of the time from past experience it is more noise from all sides than concrete action.

So is our nation lungs more important or nation pride ? When the haze hit us, more than 5 million lungs are at stake. Not forgetting that of tourists which number more than 1 million per month, plus all the fauna and flora on this little red dot, I would think our govt should give more priority to the haze issue now before it hit us.  Making noise after we are hit is too little too late.

Yes, our pride is bruised by our neighbour insensitivity in naming their warships. But then LKY placed flowers on the terrorists grave.  At least the Japanese political leaders pay respect to their own citizens whom commit war crimes. But here we have our own political leader paying respect to terrorists from other country who killed our citizens. So what to make of it ?

Besides, our PAP leaders love to say "let's move on" when they make mistakes.  What are they going to do now ? Force Indonesia into a corner with economical sanction ?  If they want to do such thing, I rather they implement it because of the haze to save all our lungs. 

S'pore would be viewed as a 'hero' as we save not only our lungs but that of other affected countries, plus those lungs belonging to ordinary citizens in Indonesia.  Take tough action where it matters and have the grace to accept apology.  Make the right political move to benefit the citizens.

Bruise pride does not kill us, but those minute haze particles which could be inhaled can cause cancer. And we have been inhaling it for decades due to our incompetent govt.



Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Indonesia naming of their war ships

This whole incident just show that diplomatic relationship is better than all the billions of dollar PAP spent buying the latest war 'toys'. Indonesia don't give a shit to all those planes, submarine.....etc our govt bought. These super expensive war 'toys' are just show off pieces with no deterrent power.

Diplomatic relationship is less costly and more effective. But our arrogant govt is very poor at it. When they open their mouth - eg LKY and the current batch of paper generals - they only know how to insult our neighbours. PAP high and mighty attitude is a disservice to our nation.

Our govt under PAP is only good at bullying her own citizens. Their are just meek sheep when confronted by our neighbours. Look at the haze incident and you get the picture of how much weight their words have on our neighbour, Indonesia. 

Friday, January 17, 2014

Healthcare Crunch is exploding in our face

The current hospital bed crunch could be just the tip of the ice berg we are seeing.  After all, most of us know that besides shortage of hospital beds, our healthcare professional to patient ratio looks bad. Upon diagnosis at polyclinic of needing specialist attention, the appointment date for specialists consultation is getting longer and longer these few years. From average of 3 months to 6 months. Now it has been reported that it could be as long as 9 to 12 months. Even if one has an appointment to see a specialist, the waiting time at the clinic/hospital is about 2 to 3 hours or even longer.

At SNEC (Singapore National Eye Center) seems like their consultation appointment is also getting more and more elastic. I am a glaucoma patient and I have noticed that my check up interval have been getting longer and longer...from 3 months to 4 months, ....to 6 months.   Now, it is more than a year!

Routine yearly check up is meant for those without eye disease, whereas patients with chronic eye diseases need to be monitored more closely for deterioration of vision which can lead to blindness. Thus, how can it be acceptable that SNEC patients' appointment be longer than 12 months interval.


I have just received a notice from SNEC to rescheduled my consultation on in Feb to Jul 14. The reason given is "Doctor On Leave" As my last consultation was on 13/6/13, it is more than 1 year interval between check-up!

My appointment had been rescheduled before, but the new appointment was about a month later. This time it is 5 months lapse! Is there such an acute shortage of doctors at SNEC that the existing ones cannot even cover for their colleague on leave ? Besides, it also seems to imply that the doctor on leave needs months to clear the backlog of patients. This is very worrying for a patient as it means SNEC is sacrificing healthcare quality service of patients due to manpower problem.

As far as I know, I don't have a any specialist assigned to me, as I have been seen by at least 5 ophthalmologists from 2011 to 2013. Thus, I find it unacceptable that SNEC postpone my consultation for 5 months resulting in more than a 1 year lapse between checkup.

The current term hospital bed crunch does not accurately reflects the dire situation on the ground.  We are having a Healthcare Crunch, where by all levels of patients care are affected. Besides hospital infrastructure and patient overload, there is a shortage of healthcare professional.

This poor planning reminds us of housing crunch recently, which is followed by a series of major MRT breakdown due to years of overloading.  Compare to housing and transport, healthcare is a more serious problem exploding in our face.  Is it acceptable that our so called 'A' team political party who are paid so handsomely be sleeping at their job ?