WonderPeace

Another Trick to LOCK UP our money by MIW

2012-02-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

Remember HDB reverse mortgage scheme? It is now replaced by lease buyback scheme. Reverse mortgage stinks as we have to pay interest rate! Talk about sucking the elderly dry while in the pretext of 'helping' them monetized their flat to supplement their retirement income. So after their dirty trick is revealed they come with lease buyback which they claim is a govt subsidize scheme.

My take on this is - as there are so many folks who cannot meet the CPF minimum sum which amount used to buy CPF compulsory annuity scheme - they now want us to sell our flat lease to HDB so that we have money to buy annuity. The money goes back into CPF to be lock up forever!

I am disgusted with their dirty tricks which they sell to the citizens as helping the needy. Subsidize scheme? Really? There is very little information on HDB website on this scheme. When I called up, the staff told me because it is new. She is very evasive on details. When I asked when was it implement, she told me a few years ago but cannot put a year to it. If it is a few years ago, why so sketchy on details and expect the elderly to take up the scheme ? Perhaps it is to prevent those knowledgeable social bloggers (like Mr Leong Sze Hian) from analyzing it to unveil the short comings.

When I asked about what happened to the reverse mortgage scheme, at first she said it is discontinued, but when I asked when was it scraped, she changed her mind and said she is not sure if NTUC is still providing it. (She told me NTUC is running the mortgage scheme for HDB). If HDB is concurrently running 2 schemes, should not they tabulate the details of the 2 schemes for easy comparison ?

Is there a need for all these so call 'monetization options' for the elderly if CPF scheme is well conceived and implemented in the first place ? All these schemes come about because many of our elderly do not have enough for their retirement after working and saving for a LIFE TIME. What ever they have, they have no control over their own money in CPF, which is locked up and to be dished out to the owner of the money in amount determine by CPF Board !

It is only in Singapore that we have unique laws to ensure owner of the money has no say as to what he/she can do with his/her money ! It is a third party who has full control over our money ! Is this not abuse of the legal system ? Just pass a law to legalize any policy MIW wants to implement. Common sense has it that many of our current legalized policies are WRONG.

Sam Hui's Hits - Coffee / Tea at Esplanade

2012-02-08T20:54:00.002-08:00

To attend Sam Hui's concert, the tickets are not cheap. There is another way to enjoy his songs without paying a bomb. Ok I am not talking about CD but actual life performance.

Esplanade has this Coffee Morning Afternoon Tea program held once a month at their Recital Studio which has very good acoustic and sound system. The program features local and foreign singers who belt out songs from famous artists.

The recent one had Wilson Wong singing Sam Hui's hit songs (all Cantonese songs). I realized that though many of the songs were familiar and once a big hit, but I have forgotten the lyrics, due to lack of exposure for years. I suppose it could be due to our govt Speak Mandarin policies which kill off anything to do with dialects.

Sam's is a talent alright. His musical scores and lyrics will stand the test of time. They could be more than 20 years ago, but they do not sound like 'oddies'. He has such a good grip on the common lives and emotion of ordinary folks which he incorporated into his songs' lyrics mix with a heavy dose of humour.

If only our local bunch of PAP ministers and MPs have half of Sam's understanding of ordinary citizens, they may have avoided so many senseless and flaws policies.

Wilful Blindness

2012-02-08T20:54:00.001-08:00

PAP is suffering from Wilful Blindness - which is - when they only see what they want to see only. Perhaps this is the reason why PAP is ignoring the obvious and implemented so many flaw policies, stone deaf to the cries from the ground.

It is unhealthy for one single political party to rule us for decades since our independence. Their group think, party ideology, conformity and refusing to lift the party whip in the recent parliamentary debate on ministerial salary - all are signs of their party internal chronic sickness which is surfacing over the years.

The very fact that they need to justify for their obscene pay tells all. Need we say more ?

CAT fed by a CROW

2012-02-08T20:22:00.000-08:00

There is this white stray cat (Mr White) which follows me all over after his breakfast. He only eats dry cat biscuits, unlike other strays which prefer the more tasty wet cat food in cans.

He would sit around cleaning himself and basking in the sun while I exercise. Just the other day, I heard a loud 'tut' and saw something fallen from a tree. As I was not wearing my spectacles, I saw a lump which I thought was some riped fruit. Then there was another louder 'tut'. Mr White went to investigate and to my surprise he started eating it. As he is a fussy eater,that sets off my curiosity on what had fallen from the tree.

It was a fried fish head ! Besides it were another piece of fish meat and the whole fish bone. Next I saw a big black crow hovering around and calling loudly. The crow landed closed to Mr White but dare not approached nearer. It did that a few times before flying off when I cleared away the fish.

The crow must have picked up the fish from somewhere and flew off to enjoy its meal away from the meddling crowds. Unfortunately, it ended up 'feeding' the cat. Its loud call must have been sound of frustration.

Note : It is unhealthy to feed cat with fried fish. Besides the bone which could get stuck in the cat's teeth, the seasoning (eg garlic, oil...etc) used is not good for cat. Cats which have eating problem (teeth issues) can even choke on cat biscuits. They can't bite so they swallow the biscuits whole. So fish meat attached to bone is a definitely NO.

Are Our Ministers 'Talent' ?

2012-01-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

All these excuses for PAP ministers to pay themselves obscene salary link to talent are just that - EXCUSES ! Look at our current bunch of ministers, including PM himself - are they real 'talent' ? Anything exceptional about their abilities ? I would think most of them are just your average Jo only. They definitely NOT talented but perhaps smart. That is why they can come up with so many excuses to make themselves the highest paid politic leaders in the world.

Have they managed to attract any good talented people from the private sectors with their obscene exceptional high pay over the years ? Hardly ! What they manage to get are mainly army personals and those from civil services. These folks become instant millionair the moment they jump into the cabinet. Some ride on the tail coats of current ministers and are not even elected by the citizens. Most of our ministers do NOT draw such high salary in their previous job. Those real talent in private sectors are not taking the bait. So why are they still insisting there is a need for obscene pay to get them in ? Do we want such greedy folks to serve S'pore in the first place ?

All these justifications by PM and his gang remind us of Mah BT's infamous phrase : HDB is affordable. Is a public housing flat costing more then half a million affordable ? Perhaps to our millionair ministers it is, but to an ordinary citizen, it cost us a bomb ! Mah used to write weekly articles in MSM and actively tried to brain wash the us that HDB is 'affordable'. What happen to him and his lies now - they are exposed.

PM is still so foolish and try this same old trick on us regarding the ministerial pay. PAP is doing a lot of hard sell to the extent of pushing it down our throat. But WE ARE NOT BUYING IT this time either !

They are self delusion to think they are 'talent' and worth an obscene amount of pay. They just don't get it. We do NOT think they are talented nor worth the amount they are getting.

We don't believe in 'talent' any more. In the past they have used the phrase 'foreign talent' to let in tons of Tom, Dick and Harry with nothing to do with talent. Now they use the same word on themselves to justify for their greed.

In fact the word 'talent' is a burden. PAP seems to be sorely lacking in common sense, as perhaps they deemed answers and solutions arising from practical common sense is NOT consider as talent. They have been coming up with senseless complicated policies that defies logic. Look at the web of complication in our CPF policies. Even the ministerial pay committee has to employ complicated formula to work the ministers pay. Opposition parties' proposals are easy to understand and make more sense to us.

What we want is responsible leaders who are public spirited. They should not be afraid of accountability. They need to be endowed with a heavy dose of practical common sense to enable them to touch base with us -the citizens.

Has our ministers exhibit their 'talent' in problem solving ? An obvious NO ! After all, every time when issues pop up, they employed foreign consultants to help us investigate and resolve the issues. So what is the point of paying so much for our ministers when they cannot solve problems themselves ? They only know how to use public money to get external help. Anyone can do that.

We are sick and tired of the word 'talent'. It has been used to fool the public for years. PAP era is due for a change. Old dogs never learn new tricks. Their old tricks do not work on us any more. We are no longer daft (as LKY loves to call us) and see through them. Perhaps it is PAP that is daft nowadays.

Food for thought - on Ministerial Pay

2011-12-04T19:58:00.001-08:00

Following SDP public presentation on their recommendations on Ministerial pay on 30 Nov, NSP organised one on 4 Dec. I think the opposition parties are doing a great job to put pressure on the government so the committee under Gerald Ee, which they appointed will be on their toes, instead of just 'wayanging' with the aim to justify for the overly excessive salary of the ministers again. LKY had done it in the 1980s, then Goh CT in the 1990s and current PM Lee in 2007. After 3 rounds of revision, it is a path to millionair and retire a billionair just by joining PAP.

James from SDP was invited to present their recommendations. NSP gave theirs and Tan Jee Say spoke too. Interesting forum as I pick up some new thoughts from the participants who spoke after the panel of speakers. I will share them here, as the press will report what speakers' speech but not the floor discussion.

1) It is PAP as a party that finds it difficult to attract talent. They make it into a national issue instead and use this as a reason to justify for the high salary to attract talent. So it boils down to policies and party alignment. After all we have seen talents joining opposition parties this election.

2) In this election, the new candidates are from the army and civil service and they have not attracted high flyer from the private sector. This shows their reasoning is flaw. Then why peg it to the top 8 earners from 6 private sectors? It becomes irrelevant. In fact, one participant suggested that those top talent in private sector would not join because they do not want to be perceived to be going in for the money - so PAP policy is having the reverse effect.

3) Another participant suggested PM needs to be pay so much is because he has to earn more than his MPs. If MPs work full time, instead of the current part time MPs, they would not have so much time to take up numerous directorship in private companies. Then our PM need not be so highly paid. Those directorship could be paying $50k or more each. Our MPs are known to hold directorship in 10 or more companies. Besides, MPs are also still holding on to their formal career. Added up MP could be earning alot of money. Now we can guess how much they are earning based on PM pay.

4) The bonus and variable components of ministerial salary are counter productive as it could affect policies decisions. We have seen it happening already. The emphasis on GDP growth at all cost and taking the easy way by letting in many foreign workers which jack up GDP.

SDP Recommendation on Ministerial Salaray

2011-12-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

The SDP recommendation papers is fair and well written. Even with the SDP recommendation, our PM and President are still the highest paid leaders in the WORLD. The fact of the matter is that they have paid themselves EXCESSIVELY. The fix component amounts to 16 months. The variable components can be more than 20 mths. This is ridiculous they are paying themselves 3 years salary in a year !

Then 8 months bonus tie to GDP! Ministers can get up to 14 performance bonus from PM, which criteria for assessment is secret! Is it fair that leaders determine their own salary and bonus ? I would call it 'open corruption'. Just because they legalized it does not make it ethical.

Ministerial Pension

2011-12-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

The pension component is not touch on in SDP recommendation on ministerial salary. Not sure if the govt appointed committed headed by Gerald will give recommendation on it. I understand that NSP is coming out with their own papers too on ministerial salary. Perhaps they should focus on the pension part, since SDP has done a great job on the salary recommendation.

My personal take on the pension :

1) Since the ministers are getting CPF, for those who are also entitle to pension, they should be given an option to choose either CPF or pension at age 55. They should NOT be drawing money from both CPF and pension. If they choose pension, then the CPF fund will become their pension fund.

2) The pension fund draw down age should be change to 65 in line with CPF and not the current 55. This has resulted in ministers drawing excessively salary, bonus on top of pension dish out to them while still in service.

3) The lump sum payment option for pension should have a cut off date, perhaps say 5 years. If the pension starts at 65, they have to decide before they turn 70 if they want to have a lump sum. If they don't they cannot opt for it later when they know they are near their end stage. The current system is not fair and leaders determine their own benefits which they take advantage of.

4) Our current President who have served in the cabinet before may be entitled to 2 pension. One as a minister and the 2nd as president. This is ridiculous. This has to be look into.

Our Trains Are Full

2011-11-29T04:50:00.000-08:00

'Car Park Full' signs are common. Now recently we have 'Our Wards are Full' at Khoo Teck Puat hospital. This hospital is a recent addition to the healthcare scene and it is already overload.

So in the near future, we will have 'Our trains are Full' sign at MRT control stations. This will prevent overloading of the platform and stampede. Yeah, at this rate, it is a matter of time before we have a stampede due to overcrowding at MRT station.

Positive reinforcement instead of fine

2011-11-06T20:01:00.000-08:00

The proposed pilot scheme on stray cats feeding requires stray feeders to register with Cat Welfare Society (CWS)and feeders will be fined if they do not clear up within 2 hours. We should use positive motivation instead of negative enforcement to get feeders to support the scheme.

These feeders are compassionate folks. With education and motivation they would make the effort to clean up after feeding. Fine will not work as they would quietly feed and make a quick 'exit' like what they are likely doing currently. Why should they opt to register with Cat Welfare Society which imposed membership fee and then be fined when they failed to clean up?

Some suggestions on positive reinforcement :

1)Pet shops owners be roped in to give a discount on purchase of cat food for registered stray feeders.

2)Get sponsorship from vet clinics to lower medical cost for stray feeders when they bring in both strays and their own pets for consultation.

3)Cat Welfare Society to waiver the membership fee for the 1st year for stray feeders registration.

21% increase in Medical Test !

2011-11-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

Many of us do not go through the details in our medical bills, especially those hospitalization charges with a 'complicated' long list of billing. If we do, likely we are in for surprises. I have been billed wrongly 3 out of the 4 unlucky occasions when I ended up in hospital. Changi Hospital billed me for x-ray which was never done and overnight bed charges when it was a minor day surgery with no overnight observation. KK billed me for item which was not issued to me. Sigh....yes they make mistakes both human and system errors. I learn that Changi system will automatically reflects bed charges and has to be manually 'unchecked'. The nurse will presume x-ray is done if there is surgery.

Then the cost of medicine which I blogged about in my previous post. They are not subsidized ! As the amount is small, most patients thought they are subsidized. But the fact is they cost more than purchasing them from Guardian Pharmacy. Going by the large volume of patients per polyclinic per day - this could work out to a substantial sum !

I am diagnosed with Glaucoma in May this year. I am seeing the doctors at SNEC and applied for subsidy. Glaucoma can lead to blindness. The medical bill will be substantial over the years as the disease deteriorates.

We are at the mercy of the doctors regarding the frequency of consultation and medical tests done. So far I have gone for 5 consultations and 10 medical tests! The best part or rather the worst is one of the tests has 21% cost increase just over a period of 5 months ! As most patients do not go through their bill in detail, likely these so called government subsidized clinics and hospitals can get away with their profiteering at tax payers expense without being noticed. Government is subsidizing patients with tax payers' money, but are these Polyclinics and hospitals really passing on the cost back to the patients ?

Note : The eye test concern is taken as SNEC. It is called Optical Coherent Tomography which charges went from $56 to $68 (21% increase)

Pilot Scheme For Strays

2011-11-03T19:13:00.001-07:00

Caregivers of strays and pet owners welcome the pilot scheme regarding feeding station for stray cats and registering of cat in HDB in near future. However the proposed scheme is likely to see teething issues in these areas :

1) The need for strays feeders to register with Cat Welfare Society (CWS) and feeders will be fined if they do not clear up within 2 hours. Those caregivers from CWS are responsible feeders. It is normally those who are not with any animal welfare groups who mess up the place. What is the likelihood of these folks registering themselves with CWS so that they can be identified to be fined ? For the scheme to be successful there must be active ground outreach program to identify and educate these feeders. Only then can CWS hope to get them to register themselves.

2) Most cats are territorial. Some estates have more profound strays issue than others. In certain HDB estate zones, there are more than 2 strays per block. To have only 1 feeding station per 3 blocks of flat will not work. It is more practical to have 1 feeding station per block.

3) The scheme allows registration of 1 cat per flat. What happen to those who have more cats? If forcefully implemented, then the rest will end up as strays or terminated. This will defeat the whole aim of the scheme which is to nurtured a more compassionate society. For the initial phrase, be more flexible and let owners registered all their cats with the understanding that they need to be responsible to ensure their pets don't give problem. Let this batch live out their live spans. Have a cut of date for registering for the initial batch of cats. After which it will be 1 cat per flat registration.

4) The key to success in this scheme is compulsory sterilization both pets and strays. The current program run by SPCA and CWS for strays sterilization is not 'user friendly'. It involves balloting for limited sterilization vouchers at SPCA or reimbursement and patronizing only approved vet clinics for CWS. If SPCA and other animal welfare group could come together to implement mobile vet services, this could enhance the success of the sterilization program and improve animal welfare.

This pilot scheme is a step in the right direction towards a more compassionate society. It is only when any culture has a sympathy for its animal companions, that it has a chance to become sensitive and caring in all respects.

Subsidy or Profiteering ?

2011-10-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

Are our healthcare and medicines at Polyclinics and government subsidised hospitals really SUBSIDISE? Or is it just playing around with numbers and words just like what happened to HDB flat pricing? Mah BT has been defending his profiteering HDB policies to his last day, insistng that HDB flat is affordable though it cost nearly half a million and 30 years to service one's housing loan. So how does our govt defines subsidised healthcare and medicine?

There has been some commotions in the internet that those so call subsidised healthcare and medicine, are in fact more costly than if you get them private clinic and pharmacy. From my personal experience recently, this is true. We know Guardian Pharmacy is out to make profit. But surprise, surprise - medicines purchase from Guardian cost less than those from Polyclinic. I suffered from rashes and consulted the doctor at a Polyclinic. 20 tablets of Clorphenamine cost $1.40 from the Polyclinic. At Guardian, 50 tablets of the same medicine cost $1.50. So Polyclinic makes more than 100% profit over what Guardian does! Is there any subsidy at all?

They buy in bulk and the discount is there. To a layman subsidy means selling below cost price to us. For example, an item cost $1.50. The Polyclinic got it at $1. The govt folk out 30 cents and it is sold to us at 70 cents. The subsidy is thus 30 cents.

From this incident, looks like they are not even selling it at cost to us, but profiteering tremendously since they are selling way above Guardian Pharmacy price!

Their formula for subsidy must be similar to those used in 'creative accounting' found in those devious financial reporting.

'Stuck' ...'Stifling'...Singapore

2011-10-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

I was on a bus last week and overheard two teenage students talking. They are studying in local government schools as I can gathered from their uniform. One is a Canadian Chinese while the other from India. The Indian girl was telling her friend that as long as her kid brother does not become PR or take up citizenship, he need not do NS. Sigh - her brother is probably around 10 years old and her family is already planning for his escape. The Indian girl then lamented that she is 'stuck' in Singapore, while the other said the country is 'stifling'.

These are the feelings of youngsters from new immigrant families who the government welcome and try to integrate. They are doomed to fail. These foreign students prefer to mix amongst themselves. They miss their motherland and their heart is not here. When they grow up, they will return to their homeland or migrate to some other countries.

Our government is in denial. They are pouring millions into integration programs for new immigrants. They offer generous scholarships to foreign students and subsidies their education in S'pore. All these efforts and money could have been put to better use to benefit local students and the disadvantages.

Our elderly are working in their twilight years, struggling to make ends meet have been so glaring that it not only sadden most of us, but also surprise foreigners. This is a side of S'pore they don't expect to see. After all, the city projects a 'wealthy' and 'clean' image of 1st world country, that even beggars do not 'exist' on our streets.

Mdm Lift & Mr Dirty

2011-10-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Mdm Lift is a ginger tabby which loves to hang around the lift lobby on the ground floor. She will eagerly board the lift with anyone who allow her in. That is how I came to name her Mdm Lift. She is stray cat and a kind hearted one. She shows her compassion to fellow 'sick' cat by rubbing heads with it as a form of greeting.

There is a sick tom cat which salivate badly. I call him Mr Sick. He loves to rub his head against other cats as a form of greeting. But all other strays avoided his friendly gesture,except Mdm Lift. Mr Sick is also a very dirty cat. I have no idea how he got into this state and continue to maintain his dirtiness. I have been actively cleaning him with wet tissues but it does not help. He remains dirty. He has got better over the month, so I renamed him Mr Dirty, as another stray feeder protested that I called him Mr Sick. She prefers the name Mr Healthy for auspicious reason. Personally, I think Mr Dirty fits him better. I never seen any cat as dirty as him. Perhaps it is one of his surviving strategy ? He looks so pathetic that he is always fed first and he gets the choicest food.

Back to Mdm Lift. When I first noticed her, she was not sterilized. When she was on heat, she was surrounded by more than 7 tom cats which flocked to my block from the surrounding HDB. Neighbours were both surprised and amused by the gathering of cats. So we had cat concerto for a few nights. Luckily some kind hearted souls started sterilising the strays. Now Mdm Lift is neutralised and no longer a prima donna.

Waiting Time

2011-10-01T04:13:00.000-07:00

I went for a walk with Nature Society and one of the participants mentioned that her elderly mum walked out of SNEC specialist clinic after hours of waiting. Yeah, it is true, the average waiting time is at least 2 hours even with appointment. It is not uncommon to spend at least 4 hours at the clinic if they send you for test(s).

I have been going to SNEC regularly this year since I was diagnosed with Glaucoma. I can verify that even in specialise clinic, the patient load is very heavy. So one can image what happens in the polyclinics.

Health Care - Overload

2011-10-01T04:05:00.000-07:00

Besides our transport infrastructure being overload, our hospitals, polyclinics and specialist clinics are also badly overload. So now the government is trying to get us to consult our GPs instead. But getting patients to go to their GPs is unlikely to resolve the problem. Even with subsidy, GP consultation will cost more.

MOH should consider having more than 1 Polyclinic per estate. Some estate has larger population than others, and having 1 polyclinic is insufficient to meet the patient load. Bearing in mind S'pore population has increase to more than 5 millions the last decade, the existing numbers of polyclinic could not cope with the demand. For example, the entrance lobby space has been shrink in some polyclinic due to extra chairs and counters set up to handle the patient initial registration. Patient load and traffic increase and yet public space decreases, which resulted in overcrowding.

Then the clinic stops taking in patients without appointment at 10 am though it operates till 12.30pm on Sat. This resulted in many patients being turned away. The reason is it has reached the maximum patient load for the day. This is due to lack of foresight by MOH. Now they try to get GP to lighten the load. But our govt is responsible to ensure affordable health care. Should not MOH starts planning for more polyclinics to be build ?

Great Music or Tone Deaf ?

2011-06-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

This is funny but the truth behind could be S'pore undoing. (cut and paste from feedback on TR)

There was a comedy called “Yes Minister” and later the sequel “Yes Prime Minister”. In one episode Sir Humphrey, the chief of the civil service astutely suggested the reason why England was in such a mess was because the Minister of Finance was a bankrupt, the Minister of Health was sickly, the Minister of Education was illiterate and the Minister of Law was a crook.

In Singapore we have a civil engineer looking after Arts and Communication and an eye doctor looking after Civil Engineering problems. Till today I can’t figure out the logic on what basis Ministers are allocated their Ministries. Maybe the top leadership thinks they are God/s. If so, then the citizens of Singapore are participants in the Divine Comedy. It is one hell of a life.

___________________________________

LKY remarked: “To be the Prime Minister, you don’t have to know every instrument, but you got to recognise, ah, he’s a good violinist, he’ll be the first violinist, he’ll be the double bass. Then you coordinate them and then you have great music. And if you already have a great orchestra, you can put A DUMMY there and you still got great music…”

___________________________________

The only problem is our violinists are trying to play the piano and vice versa. And the resulting cacophony is passed off as jazz. It works great if you are tone deaf.

Flood - Blame it on the weather again

2011-06-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

Singapore is flooded again. Orchard Road shopping malls, roads, basement car parks are the worst hit. There is an article in Today paper that said our minister is doing 5 things to solve the problem. The title give a good impression - the minister is doing 5 things. But wait a minute - what are they ?

From what I can figure out - seems like nothing new and only 3 things are mentioned in the article :

1) proper drain maintenance (isn't this what is expected ?)

2) improve planning (so they have been sleeping all these years and not planning properly ?)

3) make sure roads are still passable during floor (good but how are you going to do it ? Details are needed !)

Minister VB can talk a lot but he has bad track record. Millions is going down the drain again if he is trapped by his own 'psychological' wrong mind set. He is blaming it on the weather even before he has done a full scale investigation on the root causes of the recent floods. Then he is playing mind game with the public - saying there is a limit to what we can do and asking us to cope.

This is poor leadership and setting the wrong direction at the start. It is so easy to blame and weather and appear to be doing something by spending millions on improvement. What is the use if these so call improvements are NOT solving the problems !

Nothing is mentioned on the Marina Barrage. If there is a 'prime suspected cause' this should be the one. What is the point of widening canals and drains when the discharge point is the problem. Water will get build up and back flow inland causing massive floods.

A word of caution, before VB starts spending millions on manpower for planning and upgrade to drainage system - do a ROOT CAUSE analysis first.

If it really points to Marina Barrage - have the courage to face it and tell the public. We know it is LKY's bright idea and pet project, but did not PM says there is no sacred cow ?

It could be just tweaking of the computer programming controlling the barrage discharge flow rate. If there is engineering design problem, then improve it.

Do not waste public funds again doing tons of improvement and at the end of the day - still floods all over S'pore.

We don't buy your lame excuse that is it due to the weather, though we do not deny it is one of the contributing factors.

We don't accept that there is a 'limit' to engineering solution, since our PM is thinking of going nuclear. This is certainly more complicated compare to flood control.

Besides, we do not pay a minister millions to cope with his failing. This is just not acceptable. If VB cannot solve the problem, suggest he tenders his resignation. We can get a foreign talent minister from aboard to do his job. Likely he /she will come better, cheaper and can do the job faster.

A roof over our head But no food on the table

2011-04-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Selective Enbloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) - this is precisely what ordinary citizens like myself is afraid off. HDB policy is a ticking time bomb waiting to kill us with debt in during our retirement years.

It is reported that HDB is buying back some 34 years old blocks for flats for redevelopment. Just imagine the financial stress that after paying off your housing loan, HDB wants you flat back and force you to buy another one at a higher price ! It will be a downgrading of flat for sure in order not to shoulder heavy housing debt again.

So if the flat is older eg 60 years, its value is lower, then even if we downgrade, we will likely be burden with another heavy HDB loan at this current rate of sky high ridiculous HDB price.

The current HDB policies are NOT popular with us ordinary citizens, regardless of what Mah BT thinks. Asset enhancement means nothing to us who just want a roof over our head and not be inconvenience by this SERS. There is sense of belonging and attachment to our home, neighbours and surrounding - that cannot be compensated by money!

HDB senseless policies will leave old folks with a roof but no food on the table. Since more than 80% of the population is housed in HDB, the consequent is very severe if such senseless policy is to continue.

Mah seems to think there is nothing wrong with the current policy. This is indeed worrying as there is none so blind as those who refuse to see.

Casino as S'pore Iconic Representation ?

2011-04-23T04:17:00.001-07:00

Sydney has it Opera House as its icon. It projects culture and artistic refinement.

We are truly 'unique' as we have MBS as our icon ! What image does a casino projects ?

Granted that MBS stands out in its architectural design, but it cannot escape from its predominant image of a gambling casino.

The fancy name of Integrated Resort is coined to soften the casino's image and to make it more acceptable to build not one, but 2 casinos in our country with a tiny land mass.

If we the citizens find it perfectly acceptable to have a casino as our country's iconic representation, what does it says about our change in value system ?

I would rather have Botanic Garden being our icon, though it is 'outdated'. It projects a wholesome image. It is where families can immerse in nature and our children learn about conservation.

MBS is fast becoming our national icon is contribute by its strategic location granted by the govt. Sad indeed.

Besides, MBS totally block out our scenic coastal view. So we are left 'admiring' an man-made structure instead of beautiful sea view.

PAP's Report Card

2011-04-17T23:37:00.000-07:00

We have no idea how PAP comes up with 'good grade' for themselves. Common folks like us with common sense tell us that PAP has failed miserably in their 'exam'. We use realistic and honest grading system to judge their performance. For example :

1) What we see at ground level - elderly folks still working at hawker center cleaning tables and dirty dishes

2) PAP acknowledges that most S'poreans don't have enough for retirement, so we are advised to continue to work forever if we can. Our CPF policies promise heaven but deliver hell.

3) Our transport system cannot cater to the exploding population - it is not only overcrowded, it is becoming unsafe too.

If a governing party cannot even get some of the important basic policies right and implement them well, can they still claim to be doing a good job ? Are they 'A'team? What sort of party will make such claims? A dishonest party!

Why is our current govt behaving like greedy unethical Wall Street bankers? Paid themselves handsomely and still top up with obscene bonus. They are even entitle to pension scheme which they abolished for the civil services.

PM's nonsense

2011-04-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

When PM uses so many strong words – we know something is fishy... " honestly report that the PAP has lived up to its responsibilities.. We don't give ourselves our own report card,..I would say: 'We've passed the exam'."

Sorry PM, we disagree with you. PAP has failed miserably for not living up to your responsibility towards us. You have been giving good grades to your own report cards all along. Such an act is dishonest. We do NOT have confident in PAP since you have failed us time and again. We do NOT trust a party that operates without transparency and accountability.

As for the Lift Upgrading Programme – it is the result of short sightedness in past planning that failed to cater to the aging population. You are covering up for past mistake. We the citizens have to bear part of the cost and suffer years of dust, noise and inconveniences.

You have been claiming that we have the best education systems in the world for years. You still need to do more? So what you said in the past is untrue? If we have such great education system, why are you unable to find talent for your team? Why is our youth politically apathetical?

PAP will not have our mandate this coming election as you have failed in your responsibility towards us.

What is the point of taking care of our national reserves when folks are suffering? Besides, is it not more prudent to instruct Temasek and GIG to stop taking high risk and gamble away billions of pubic money?

NCMP

2011-04-17T00:22:00.000-07:00

I refer to Lee Hwai Jiin letter to The Straits Times's Forum on 16 Apr 2011.

Ms Lee argued that NCMPs do not have voting right because they do not represent the electorate since they did not win the majority of votes in their ward during the election.

She has apparently missed the point Workers Party is trying to get across, which is to have opposition MP in parliament instead of NCMPs. PAP is trying to tell us that NCMP is a good alternative to opposition MP. It is not, and therefore flaw.

NCMP is an unfair system PAP introduced to entice those who are 'sitting on the fence' to vote for them, giving voters the wrong impression that NCMPs could represent them. Thus Workers Party is NOT asking for voting rights for NCMP which Ms Lee misinterpreted. Workers Party in fact wants PAP to abolish NCMP system.

Marina Bay Sands

2011-04-17T00:05:00.000-07:00

It is disappointing that Marina Bay Sands is becoming an iconic representation of S'pore. The 1st time I heard of such sentiment was at a talk conducted at National Museum. The speaker (whose name I cannot recalled) is a local historical researcher. What he said hit a note in me. Yes, it is indeed sad that a casino becomes S'pore iconic structure.

In The Sunday Times (dd 17/4/11) Mr William Lim, a retired architect and urban theorist expressed the same sentiment. He would rather that Botanic Gardens be chosen as our iconic site.

The trouble is, our shortsighted govt has given a prime and prominent piece of land to build a casino on. It is the 1st thing one sees when approaching by sea. In fact, the Marina Bay Sands totally obstructed the beautiful scenic coastal view.

We are a SMALL city but we have 2 BIG casinos, one of which is becoming a iconic building. Which country or city in the world has a casino as iconic building ? Likely we are the only one. Uniquely S'pore indeed and nothing to be proud about.

PAP terrible decision not only ruined our coastal view but our country reputation as well ! S-i-g-h.....and they claimed to be 'A' team amongst the political parties in S'pore !

Netizens

2011-04-17T00:04:00.000-07:00

I refer to Jolly Wee's feedback in The Sunday Times on 17 Apr 11. Jolly said that netizens lack civility and has taken to ridiculing even the president.

Apparently Jolly has forgotten that MM Lee himself, our respectable 'great' leader is guilty of such folly. He has called our formal ex-president who enjoyed alcoholic drinks names (I shall not mentioned out of respect). He has also used rude names on opposition parties and even us ordinary citizens. Should not our respectable MM lead by example ?

Could Jolly ponder over why netizens are respectful towards our previous presidents like Mr Ong Teng Cheong and Mr Benjamin Sheara ? Why do they only ridicule the current president ?

Another Senseless CPF Policy

2011-04-03T00:45:00.000-07:00

Currently share delisted from SGX brought with CPF fund is still being reflected in the various CPF approved Investment Bank statement (such as OCBC, DBS, etc).

This is an unreasonable CPF policy. Investors have already suffered losses and still have to pay the thrice a year service charges to the bank till they could closed the investment a/c upon reaching 55.

This could be quite a substantial sum as when a share is delisted, it affects a number of investors.

Let us presume a 30 year old investor is affected by a delisted share, he has to continue to pay service charges to the bank 3 times a year for the next 25 years before he could closed his account upon reaching 55 ! This certainly
does not make sense.

The bank could not do anything as it is CPF policy. And likely they are happy for the current senseless policy to continue, since they can continue with the service charge for a counter which is permanently inactive due to the delisting.

Should not CPF Board review their current unreasonable policy ? Not surprising the answer is NO. What they suggestion is even more ridiculous. CPF asked you to buy back the share with cash and further more incur other charges such as CPF administration fee, transfer fee and also the bank charges.

This is what our 'productive and efficient' govt policy offers the public.

How our govt skewed the statistic

2011-02-21T04:44:00.000-08:00

This is just one example how our govt skewed statistic - change the reference parameters.

Mr Leong Sze Hian has pointed out that our govt has recently change the data definition and thereby resulting in better numbers. A paragraph taken from his article :

In this connection, last year’s resident full-time and part-time workers’ real income increased by 1.3 and 10 per cent respectively. But these figures may look better because of the change in definition in 2009 to classify part-time workers as those working less than 35 hours a week, instead of 30 hours previously. This may make the part-timers’ income higher because those previously working more than 30 hours may boost up their overall earnings, and full-timers income may also look higher because those working less than 35 hours would no longer be in their category. In other words, the presumably bottom rung of full-timers were moved to become presumably the top rung of part-timers

Budget 2011 – Effective ?

2011-02-21T04:36:00.000-08:00

Our govt is still taking the same old path and patching up pot holes as and when they appeared. In other words, the budget is not addressing the problems facing S’pore adequately. It failed to address the one of the key issues, which is the large influx of foreign workers which has impacted HDB / property prices, wages, availability of hospital beds, public transport... Thus, their patch work will not work but will just temporary ‘relieve’ the problem.

Work Levy
The increase in foreign workers levy will not curtail the demand for foreign workers. It will only fatten the govt revenue and this is the reason they continue to open the flood gate to foreign workers.

What will happen is employers will reduce benefit, cut wages or pass on the cost. S'pore workers will suffer too even if they are able to get the job as their wages will be further suppressed due to competition from foreign workers. Without minimum wage to protect local low income workers, all these patch work schemes will not work.

HDB Grant
The 40K grant looks good on paper only. It is unlikely to benefit the target recipient of lower income earning $1.5k. This is because their earning is too low to enable them to buy a flat in the first place. The price of flat has increase do much that it is basically out of reach for them. With a family to support, they will be heavily burden servicing their housing loan. Even if they are able to keep their job for the next 30 years, they will end up with no retirement fund. The govt is not addressing the problem which they know existed. Most S'porean do NOT have enough fund for their retirement. Are their policies sound ? Why are they still continuing with this 'explosive littered' path ?

CPF
We know older workers have reduced CPF rate. Thus the 'rebate' to employers, which is meant to encourage them to retain / employ older workers is negligible.

As there is no CPF contribution to foreign workers, there will be more saving for employers to use them instead of locals.

The CPF top up scheme for self employed as it so ridiculous. Those who are eligible in the low income group has to top up their CPF in order to receive the govt top-up which is mainly paid into their medisave a/c.

Folks are struggling to make ends meet and have to come up with money. Then the Since most of the govt top up is into the medisave a/c, how can this help them in coping with daily expenses ? Most may rather forego the govt top-up since they may not have the extra cash to top up their CPF a/c in the 1st place !

Education
A total of S$90 million, BUT read on - only $300 per year. This work out to $25 a month ! With inflation, how much can $25 help ? Besides, if my understanding is correct, seems like the family has to top up their child Children Development Account in order to receive the govt 'grant'. All our govt schemes ask citizens to come up with cash out front before giving them 'peanuts'. If folks are struggling to make end meet, they are better off without the 'grant' which basically suck their money first. Is our govt sincere in giving help to the lower income with so much conditions attached ?

These temporary measures they have been implementing over the years do NOT solve the root problem. If they do not WAKE up soon, the problem will balloon till it burst and the social cost will be very high.

Deterioration of Bus Service

2011-02-19T18:59:00.000-08:00

First we have bus drivers who speak only Mandarin and nothing else. Then they took the wrong route. These are as a result of them being 'foreign' to our local scene. Now lately, looks like inconsiderate driving is becoming the norm rather than exception.

On 15/2/11, I boarded bus service number 12 (SBS8295P) and soon find I am in for ‘rough ride’. Every time the bus stopped, commuters are jerked forward and back. As the bus was crowded, those standing had to brace themselves to prevent falling.

The driver also committed a traffic offense during the journey. He let a passenger alight near the traffic junction between East Coast Road and Joo Chiat Road when he realised he missed stopping at the bus stop. By doing so, he was putting the passenger at risk, as she could be knocked down by oncoming motorcycle which normally travels on the inner lane.

They do not seem to be concerned that their inconsiderate driving habit is posing a safety risk to commuters. It would do well for bus service providers to constantly remind their drivers that they are serving the public. Public safety and comfort could be compromised by their inconsiderate driving habit. Besides, they should at least take in drivers who can understand and converse in English at the basic level.

Gone are the good old days of local drivers who can understand and converse in more than 1 language and even speak dialects.

Town Council & HDB - 'Grand Master of Taiji'

2011-02-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

This is an extract from Todayonline - Voices : A friend who volunteers to assist her town council in resolving complaints about cats was recently asked to ''remove'' a cat..

What happen is Town Council and HBD have for years been the Grand Master of Taiji - they have washed their hands clean from issues relating to cat in HDB. They rely on animal welfare groups to mediate and resolve the issue with resident who has issue with cat in HDB. They just want to be the 'good guy'.

The problem with abandon cats in HDB and irresponsible pet ownership lies with HDB outdated policy of not allowing residents to keep cat. So there is no guidelines on it and cats do not need to be microchip as 'officially' they are not allow in HDB.

Lost cats cannot be traced and owners who abandon their cats, also cannot be traced. SPCA has a low adoption rate for abandon cats since majority of the population live in HDB. Besides, most animals taken in by SPCA are put down and only about 10% are adopted. So folks who do not want to live with the guilt of their pet being put down, start dumping them at HDB void decks. Another reason could be it is more convenient than making a trip to SPCA.

More prominent group like SPCA is sticking to their old routine of accepting abandon animals but not addressing the root cause of the problem. They should spend more time petitioning to HDB and gathering ground support to push for change.

What we can do as individual, besides voicing our displeasure with HDB - is to be proactive. There are always some inconsiderate animal care givers. If I see them in the act, I will talk to them politely. Normally they response positively. If I see food remains at void deck - I clear them up. Our little act can help minimise complaints.

S'pore is becoming so sterile with our obsession with cleanliness. Compassion and tolerant can help us adopt the attitude of 'Live and let live'.

Deadly Mistake

2011-02-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

Recently there is an article in Todayonline - Voices, about cats in HDB. Under the feedback section, a reader responded and said authority should do something as cats carried deadly virus and spread SARS.

Sigh...so many years have gone by since SARS and still folks are carrying the misconception with them. Cats do NOT carry the virus nor spread SARS. This 'folklore' is the result of AVA culling strays irresponsibly during that period. Though AVA is supposed to be the expert in animals, they did not have the guts to rebuke the govt (in particular the ignorant Minister who gave the order). They just went around exterminating all the strays inhumanly. Now you know why we called them civil 'servants',- they obey orders 'blindly'.

Our govt is ignorant and they do make DEADLY mistake. The worst is that they never admit their wrong doing and just let this 'myth' continues.

I think one of the reasons folks remember the incident is because our govt scared the shit out of everyone by implying cats which are commonly found in HDB carry the SARS virus. This is inspite of animal welfare groups like SPCA, Cat Welfare Society meeting them to clarify the issue. Is this an act of a responsible govt ?

So let us remember that our govt do made mistakes - often costly and at time deadly too. Their high handed way of dealing with issues is frightening. The incident clearly shows they lack compassion. So is it surprising we have laws that can detain folks without trail and lock them up for decades ?

The Power of Volcanoes

2011-01-22T04:34:00.000-08:00

National Museum held an very interesting and information talk on The Power of Volcanoes in conjunction with their Pompeii exhibit. Pompeii is a Roman town which was buried in volcanic ashes in 79 CE.

Instead of the usual 1 speaker, we had 2 volcanologists addressing the audience. Dr Chris Newhall from Earth Observatory, S'pore started by highlighting how a volcanic eruption in one country could have international impact due to the inter-connectivity of global aviation. We listened to a taped conversation between the pilots of a commercial plane and the airport control tower when the plane was caught in volcanic 'cloud'. We could hear the stress voice of the pilots when the plane's engine stalled. The speaker then related this back to the Icelandic Mount Eyjafjallajoekull’s eruption in April 2010, which caused the greatest disruption in air travel in major parts of Europe and the UK since the second World War.

Dr Antonius Ratdomopurbo, Volcano Seismologist who has spent more than 2 decades studying volcanic activities in Indonesia showed pictures and video clips on the deadly eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Merapi in 2006 and 2010. We learn that volcanoes 'explosive' forces is also classify just like earthquake magnitude. It range from 1 to 8, the higher the number, the more powerful the eruption forces. Each increase in number reflects a multiple of 10 times more the damaging force. The number give an indication of the volume of volcanic lava/ashes and also how wide spread will be the damage.

We were told that though Mount Merapi eruption is consider minor (classify as 3 and 4 in 2006 and 2010 respectively), the damage done by the lava and volcanic ashes which can spread far and wide is severe. Mount Merapi which is in Central Java erupts frequently every few years.

Mount Pinatubo in Luzon, Philippines, eruption in 1991 was considered the second largest eruption of the 20th century. It last eruption was more than 400 years ago. Normally the more powerful the volcanic eruption, the longer the time interval between next eruption. Mount Pinatubo volcanic cloud spread a radius of more than 500km !

We learned that even low tech observation and measurement method could still give an accurate prediction on the likelihood of a volcano erupting. For example, the diameter of the crater increases and the physical contour of the crater changes in shape. The difficulty is in predicting exactly when it will erupt and the severity of damage which affects the area of evacuation.

Prof Tommy Koh was in the audience and he asked the speakers if S'pore could be affected by Indonesian volcanic activities. The answer is yes, if the volcano nearest to S'pore erupts and the wind direction is blowing in our direction. S'pore could be affected by the volcanic ashes up to a few cm thick.

The audience also raised the question of the impact of volcanic activities on proposed nuclear plants to be built in Asean region. Though there is way to protect the plant from volcanic ashes but it is still a danger to have such plant sited in volcanic belt and earth quake zone. Seems like in the past, there has been no guideline on this matter. Hopefully more stringent standard would apply to suitability of nuclear facility location.

Town Coucil Wasting Public Fund

2011-01-16T04:48:00.000-08:00

Recently in my HDB estate contractors have hacked away the base structures supporting the letter boxes. I thought there is a relocation exercise of all letter boxes in the estate. But it is not the case, the letter boxes are only temporary transferred to another brick based structure. They will be located back to the original location.

Is this not a wasteful exercise ? The existing base structures are in perfectly good condition. Building materials and resources are wasted in constructing the temporary bases and then erecting new ones.

I do not know if the same exercise is carried out in other HDB estates. What is the reason for the wasteful exercise ? I heard that they have excess budget and wanted to use it up. I know such things happen both in private and government sectors. They normally overbuget and when there is excess budget at the end of the year, they would try to use it up. If not they have to provide an explanation and would have their budget reduce for the next year. The only difference is some use it wisely, while others, like what the Town Council wasted building materials and resources.

Is it not enough that they lost a substantial sum of money in investment products, which they have no business to be involved in, since their core function is estate management ? Now they are wasting public funds in non value added project.

Animal Liberation

2011-01-16T03:39:00.000-08:00

I attended a Buddhist introduction session recently and was impressed by the society dedication and sincerity in sharing the wisdom and knowledge of Buddhism. They showed a video clip to introduce new comers to the society's activities. There was one section in the video showing Animal Liberation which upset me. Caged birds were released. Often unscrupulous business men profit from capturing wild birds and sell them to folks who want to liberate animals as part of their Buddhist practice. To me - this is a misguided act.

Buddhism teaches kindness and refrain from harming life form. I believe animal liberation arises from this noble concept. However times have changed, and we need to pay attention to the context in which animal liberation is carried out. If not instead of it being an act of kindness, it could become an unintentional act of cruelty.

1) If animals, be it birds, turtles…etc are purchased for liberation, this is not true kindness. The only person who benefit is the business man or pet shop owner who sell the animals for liberation. The animals in fact suffer unnecessary stress of being capture and then released again. Statistic has shown that more than 50% of captured animals die due to injury, stress or ‘hunger strike’. Wild animals when capture may refrain from eating or drinking. Unscrupulous business men may not take care of the capture animals properly resulting in high death rate.

2) Liberation of animals into unsuitable surrounding may result in low survival rate.

3) Animals which are not resident to the area/S'pore could upset the eco systems and resulting in death of other animal species. An example is the popular red ear turtle sold in pet shops which are often released into reservoirs. Red ear turtle are not resident species of S’pore.

4) Those who do not understand the true meaning of animal liberation may be encourage to be irresponsible pet owners. Often pets are abandon when the owner cannot cope. They use the excuse of setting the animals free, when they are in fact committing a very cruel act. In S’pore we often see turtles, tortoise, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs…. release at parks and reservoirs. These are house hold pets, they cannot survive on their own. Some have been breed for decades as pets and need human care. These animals ‘set free’ often suffered a prolong death due to injury, disease or hunger.

Buddhism is against taking of life. But is not subjecting an animal to prolong suffering even more cruel ? This is surely not in line with Buddhist teaching.

Suggestions
No animals should be purchased for liberation. It will only perpetual the demand for these animals and the vicious cycle of animal cruelty.

a) Participate / Support worthy Animals Welfare Project / Causes
The society could instead support or participate in animal welfare projects or causes. For example Resort World Sentose captured wild dolphins and trained them to perform for the public. Many had died and those that survive the ordeal will face a bleak future in an unnatural environment with the sole purpose to entertain the human race ! Animal welfare groups in S’pore like ACRES, SPCA… are petitioning for their release. This is a valid case of animal liberation.

b) Adopt an abandon animal
There is no greater kindness than the commitment to care for and give a home to an abandon animal. Those members who like animals could be encouraged to adopt an abandon animal from SPCA, Cat Welfare Society and other animal welfare NGOs.

c) Take care of the strays
Members could be encouraged to take care of the strays in their neighbourhood. There are always stray cats to be found in HDB and even private condos / estates.

Certainly the above mentioned worthy causes are more meaningful than the empty gesture of releasing animals just for the sake of practising Animal Liberation.

Legalised Corruption

2010-12-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

Private companies and civil service frown upon moonlighting and yet our MPs can take up directorships in private companies knowing full well there is conflict of interest. No wonder they have lost touch with ground level, too busy making money from of their 2nd, 3rd….etc jobs.

Most of them are only part time MPs and they are allow to hold on to their other profession. But many of them abuse this privilege and instead took up directorships in many companies. This shows they have so much time on their hand.

They should either put their heart into their MP job or get out. It is ridiculous to have part timers making important policies and decision on our country. No wonder we have such a large cabinet of ministers since most of them are part MPs.

This is a classical example on how our govt can be perceived as ‘clean’. They are very good in legalising abuse of power which is itself a form of corruption.

This is just an extract from Temasek Review - an online non-governmental citizen website.

MS Lee Bee Wah. Constituency, : Ang Mo Kio GRC
1.Tee International

DR Lee Boon yang :Jalan Besar GRC
1.Chairman of keppel Corp

Halimah Yacob: Jurong GRC.
1. SMRT

Ong Ah Heng :Nee Soon Central
1.comfort Delgro

Ong Kian Min :Tampines GRC
1.Penguin Int’l,
2.GMG global,
3.Lankom Elec,4.
5.Hupsteel,6.Robinson,
7.China energy,
8.Breadtalk,(formerly Osim)

Sin Boon Ann:Tampines GRC
1.Osim,,
2.MFS Tech,
3.CSE global,
4.Transview,
5.OUE

Seah Kian Peng: Marine Parade GRC.
1.Heatec jietong,
2.Soilbuild

Alvin Yeo: Hong Kah GRC-
1.keppel Corp,
2.UIC,
3.SingLand,
4.Thomson medical

Yeo Guat Kwang :Aljunied GRC
1.Japanland,
2.HLH,Koyo,
3.United environtech,
4.Asia Water,

Wee Siew Kim :Ang Mo Kio GRC -
1.ES Grp,
2.SBS Transit

Chan Soo Sen : Joo Chiat
1.Midas,
2.Breadtalk,
3.sunmoon,Cogent,(formerly MDR)

MDN Ho Geok Choo : West Coast GRC.
1.Select Grp

Cult, Common Sense and Powerless

2010-12-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

Our govt is very good at giving seemingly 'valid' reason as excuse not to diverge information that is not to their advantage. It is unsettling that they can go unchallenged and change our CPF policies till they have full control of our saving. The feeling is those money don't belong to us! Common sense has it that something is not right, yet we can't do anything except to feel powerless.

They have built a cult around 1 person and their party - which is unhealthy. Remember Alan Greenspan ? While he was Chairman of US Federal Reserve, he seemed to do no wrong. He was placed high up on the pedestal. Now on hindsight, he is 'credited' with precipitating the 2 major crisis -the tech bubble collapse in 2000 and economic meltdown in 2007.

We know even nonsensical policies can be passed which skewed statistic to make things look good. It happened in the US - Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) took the recommendation of Boskin Commission to use 'hedonic adjustments' which effectively made the CPI look better which in turn distorted the GDP figure. It was implemented in 1995 and only dropped a few years later ! It could happen in S'pore too.

Another famous cult builder is Chairman Mao. During his era he had implemented numerous disasterous policies and yet got away with them. His decades of absolute power over the lives of his citizens resulted in over 70 million deaths in peacetime. Even till now, he is still pretty much a cult figure in China. There is an inherent danger of having a leader and/or political party which build a cult around themselves as shield.

Even Town Council which main scope is estate management could squander away public fund doing what is suppose to be Temasek and GIC portfolio. So what is going on in Temasek and GIC is worrying since they operate like FBI, shrouded in secrecy. Remember Temasek CEO which they head hunted who left 'suddenly' just after a short period of seat warming ? The official reason is hard to believe. What could be the unofficial reason ? Perhaps he is uncomfortable with Temasek policies which he could not çhange ? Perhaps he discovered hidden skeleton which he is legally required to highlight but powerless to do so ? Or our almighty is uncomfortable with him asking too much questions ? So we have PM Lee wife back in her old seat.

Is it not common sense that it is not 'right' to have various members from the same family holding all the key and important positions in the country ? Besides, it is worrying that we too have - a cult builder with absolute power over the lives of its citizen.

PM Lee - Don't Try To Fool Us Again

2010-12-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

PM Lee proclaimed loudly that we must maintain prudence and discipline to avoid massive welfare bureaucracy. Sigh...he should have address the issue of 'maintain prudence and discipline' to GIC, Temasek, Town Councils and even YOG organising committe instead, which 'eaten up' billions in public fund !

S'pore is in no danger of becoming a welfare state, with the bunch of uncaring ministers in the cabinet. With the exception of Ms Lily Neo who actively helped the elderly to be self sustaining. PM Lee and his cabinet will do well to learn from Ms Lily Neo if he wants to gain the respect of S'poreans.

We do not want a welfare state, we just want a caring govt who provide jobs instead of take away jobs and then loudly tell us to be self sustaining and approach our family for help if we are desperate.

Take the plight of our senior Samsui women who are the pioneer construction workers laying the foundation for S'pore. They worked hard and sent most of their earnings back to China to support their family. Now in their old aged, they are left to fend for themselves. This is just one examples. These needy folks deserve help. It is always the NGOs taking the lead, while the govt take a back seat. Should not the Govt take the lead instead and NGOs act as support group ?

There is a big different in a caring govt vs a welfare state. In fact PM Lee tried to fool us with his reasons giving Europe, Ireland...as case example. These have been rebuked as lies by more knowledgeable online citizens (than the PM), as their downfall has nothing to do with being a welfare state.

How to be self sustaining when jobs are not available, be it skilled or unskilled ? It is reported that in OpenNet island wide project, which requires skill labour, they employed foreigners at all levels - from contractors to sub contractors to sub-sub contractors. This give rise to problem as these foreign 'talents' are not familiar with local wiring system.

Is our govt policy on the right track ? Take away jobs from locals and create problem in the industry.

They have lie again to say that locals do not take up cleaning jobs, so we need foreigners, as this has not be substantiated by statistic which shows the unemployment rate for cleaners is high.

But now even skill jobs are also taken by foreigners. Can we trust this govt anymore ?

Missing Strays

2010-12-01T18:27:00.000-08:00

Two of my favourite stray cats are missing. They are so tame, could be easily caught. One is an older cat, a female which has successful given birth and brought up many litters and only recently sterilized. The other is a handsome maturing cat. He is a greedy one as he goes around eating other strays' food when he finishes his. He is told off many times other cats but that did not seems to deter him.

I hope they are not capture by pest control, which only means end of their lives. These pest control teams don't cat if the strays are sterilized or not. They just round them off. Now come to think of it, not sure how they put them down. I heard AVA cannot be trusted in putting down strays. I believe even if they are put down, it should be done humanely with as little stress as possible in the last moment.

I just hope they are taken in my kind souls. People like to pick cute kitten and not adult cats, so unlikely the older cat is adopted. The younger cat is also no longer a kitten.

Another of my concern is they are being 'eaten'. We have a change of cleaners recently. Some of them may come from countries which have no law or social repulsion against consuming cats/dogs. I heard of a case of foreign contractors catching abandon pet rabbit to cook for their meal.

I wonder if those induction courses for foreign workers touch on the topic that it is illegal to eat cats/dogs locally.

Minister or Lawyer ?

2010-11-23T23:54:00.001-08:00

Shanmugaratnam is acting more like a lawyer intenting to 'win his case', rather than to address the concerns of public over the recent hot button issues as a Minister.

Just observe how defensive he was over Mas Selamat escape, pushing the blame to his kins harbouring him, instead of addressing the shortcoming of his own Home Affairs Ministry and the police force.

Then the cheating case by civil servants due to lapses in supervision, audit and procedural system. He thinks the problem is not wide spread even though several people were involved in the scam, lasting over many years and involving hugh sum of money. The public suspected it is the tip of an iceberg, while he just wanted to sweep it aside.

In summary - he chooses to disclose or hide information as he pleases. Don't expect any accountability, after all the famous line from our govt is 'let's move on'.

Appeal to SPCA

2010-11-23T18:51:00.001-08:00

I attended SPCA general meeting last night. I raised some questions and could sense that the Chairperson and Committee were on the defensive side. They were polite and answered the issues raised. However I think SPCA has lapse into a complacency mode, which tends to happen to an established organisation.

Thus, I decided to write an appeal and proposal paper to them and hope they will act on it. The paper is given below :

Appeal And Proposal Paper

1) Set annual goal to reduce the number of animal put down

It is admirable that SPCA has the policy of accepting all animals that come her way. It would be more in line with the organisation name of '..Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' if SPCA sets annual goal to actively work towards the reduction of animals being put down. Euthanasia of healthy animals is still a form of cruelty. Though the public understand the reason for it is due to the organisation constrain, however it does not mean the public accepts it.

The large number of animals handed over / pick up by SPCA constitute the back end of the problem, which SPCA does her best to resolve. But if SPCA does not focus more on the sources of these issues, there is no end in sight as the rate of abandonment out pace the rate of adoption.

Therefore it is suggested that SPCA should give urgency to focus on the sources of the problem which are :

- unfriendly HDB polices towards cats and non pedigree dogs adoption. The animals are disadvantage by these policies and SPCA hands are also tied due to them
- penalty for abuse is too light and law enforcement is weak
- folks treating pets as toys
- urban children lacking contact with animals, may result in unfounded fear which leads to a lack of empathy for them.

With annual goal setting, it would drive SPCA towards planning its education / promotion activities and lobbying for support to achieve the goal of reducing the number of animals put down. It would guide the organisation to rethink its policies.

2) Funds and Expenses – more transparency

a) 2010 Financial Statement
Anyone paying attention to the SPCA 2010 Financial Statement would be alarmed that expenses went up by $166K, while fund raising activities only generated $28K. Then $13.8K was written off, which effectively wipes out 50% of your fund raising effort.

Even private organisation target at cost reduction through reducing operation expenses. Is SPCA doing similar ?

b) Remuneration and HR
SPCA staff should be rewarded for their dedication. If their salary is 10 to 20% above other charity organisations, it is perfectly acceptable. However, if the salary scale of private business organisations is used as reference, this is not acceptable. Business generates profit, while charity organisation is funded by donation.

SPCA has a HR officer, so is there HR policies regarding remuneration, job scope and responsibility ? How does SPCA justify and approve headcount ? For example, the premise and staff strength is not large, is there a need for an office attendant ?

c) Volunteer Pool
SPCA being an established organisation, has a strong volunteer pool. She is popular target for schools community development activities. SPCA could review how she could tap more effectively into the volunteer pool to compliment her work load. This could help reduce operating expenses.

d) Project & Vendor
It is disturbing to learn that SPCA is being cheated by vendor and no legal action is taken. It is not clear why SPCA accepted the vendor proposal in the first place and what action is taken against the vendor. Did SPCA report the matter to the police ? If not, what is there to prevent similar scam from happening again ? Has SPCA tighten or have in place policies for project / vendor review and approval ?

e) Investment
SPCA should aim to be self sustaining with better returns on investment. By doing so, she will have more time to focus on important issues like education and promotion of animal welfare and less time is needed for fund raising activities.

This calls into question how well managed is SPCA $7M which gives a meagre return of $117K, which is able to cover only 5 % of your total expenses of $2M.

Should not SPCA gives more attention how the Ravenscroft Trust fund is managed since she is charged $24K in management fee ?

A breakdown list on what percentage goes into Bond, Shares ..etc together with the detail list of the names of the Bonds, Shares invested in will offer more transparency to how well the Trust fund is managed.

Haze will be around as our Minister is not acting

2010-11-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

George Yeo is in fact saying ...I am NOT going to do anything about it.

Is this the way our Minister address the its citizen concerns ?

If after so many years, the haze problem still exist - common sense have it that you change strategy to address it.

Funds have been wasted in helping Indonesia with her problem and all the ineffective high level talks year after year - basically, they don't work.

Time to wake up and do something more constructive and stop hoping that being a good neighbour will solve the problem.

The fact is S'pore did NOT try hard enough. There should be NO limit what we can do for the health of our citizens and for the good of the environment.

The problem is our minister is so negative that he sets a limit to what he can do ! No wonder the haze problem is still around.

By all means, have the guts and take up the leadership to band ASEAN countries together to take international action against Indonesian.

I am sure even ordinary Indonesian citizens will be grateful for it as they are suffering more than us. Only the few rich plantation owners will not welcome the move.

Looks like it only takes a few rich powerful people to stop govt from doing what it right and good for its people. Sigh .....

Blood Is Thicker Than Water

2010-11-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

The saying, 'Blood is thicker than water' is the reason Mas Selamat's kins helped in his escape. Thus, 'Kin's acts don't reflect on the community' should have been 'Kin's acts is a possible reflection of all communities'

Human nature is the same regardless of race, we know it is wrong yet we still do it. Thus, we have compulsive gamblers, drug addicts.. being help by their families to clear their dept and support their addition. Often the family members themselves need help in order for them to do the right thing from becoming victims themselves.

It is the norm that when we are in trouble we turn to those closest to us - our family for help. Therefore the question is - did not the Home Affairs and the police foresee this after Mas Selamat escape ? I recalled it being reported that 'if he is still in S'pore, he will be caught'. He was in S'pore for many days after his escape, and the troubling thing is, he was in fact hiding in his kin's flat and yet our police officers did not spot him in spite of the extensive island wide search conducted.

Does this not call into question the security system of our country ?

Lesson from the humble strays

2010-11-22T17:18:00.000-08:00

In my previous post, I was saying that we can learn a lesson on living in harmony from the stray cats.

There is also a lesson on assertiveness vs aggressiveness which strays displayed.

From my observation, tabby cats are assertive which don't get them into trouble. Tom cats are aggressive, which get them into trouble.

Due to the increasing number of abandon cats around the area, tabby cats have been observed to be territorial. This assertive behaviour is for survival as food is hard to come by.

Tabby cat will emit warning sound and at time charge at another cat coming into her territory, but she does not go into a fight. Whereas a tom cat will fight it out and continue to give chase even when the other cat retreats. Sigh - they end up with serious wounds and battle scars.

It is sad to note that most abandon cats are the old, unsterilized tom cats. These pet owners are heartless and irresponsible as these unsterilized toms will create more problem by increasing the strays population. These folks reflect the ugly side of humanity.

Civil Service Cheating Case

2010-11-22T17:15:00.001-08:00

Shanmugaratnam is too quick to dismiss the concern expressed by MPs that there could be systemic problem in civil service procurement procedure. The government recent habit of taking up defensive position whenever hiccups happened is only doing the country a disservice.

If Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has been tasked to draw up the scope of audit for procurement, it only means such guidelines did not exist prior to this cheating incident by Singapore Land Authority (SLA) officers.

How then can Shanmugaratnam claimed that 'appropriate rules and safeguards for public sector procurement' ? Besides it is not a one off crime spree, but it involved large sum of money over many years and more than one officers are charged. If this don't ring a serious alarm bell in the cabinet, we the public are really concern.

Adding layers of bureaucracy is not the solution, this we agree. But the issue is, it common in the civil service to have thick layer of red tape which does nothing in making the system more robust as these procedures are not effective in the first play. The recent cheating incident in SLA is evident in itself.

Therefore the solution is to review the whole procedure system and stop just plugging the hole when it appears. By doing so it will only lead to less efficiency with more procedures pile on top of existing weak policies.

Lesson On Harmony

2010-11-17T19:53:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, I brought my 9 years old nephew along with me during my morning round of saying hello to the strays and giving them their 'breakfast'.

Individual cat has its own 'patch' of cat biscuits given to it. There is a family of 3 cats which are happy eating together. The 2 kitties which have reached adulthood still hang around with their mother.

Then there are 2 ginger colour ones, one of which is a growing kitty unrelated to the adult female which eat together. When we approached the 3rd group of 2 male cats, the dominating one refused to let the other male eat, though they were some distant away from each other. He rather forgo his own food and pick a fight with the other cat. Both Tom cats were in bad shape, with wound marks. In the end, both did not touch their food as they were too busy quarreling.

I took this opportunity to talk to my nephew on living in harmony and sharing. Somehow this cat incident brings to mind the recent cases of gang fight in Singapore which resulted in serious injury and fatality.

Cats are like human - some are more tolerant than others.

The dominant cat is sterilised while the other male is not. I wonder if the Tom is really sterlised or someone cut his ear to give the impression he is ? Why is he so aggressive ? Could it be there is a difference in aggressive behaviour if the cat is sterilised before its 1st year and when it is done in its adulthood ? Or perhaps the method of sterilisation, tying the sperm ducts vs removal of the testicles ?

Final questions to SingPost

2010-09-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

SingPost did not answer the question as to how much of their revenue is derive from junk mails. They are not addressing the issue and gave standard answers.

SingPost has failed in their social responsibility as they are indirectly causing the massive littering problem in all HDB estates due to the tons of junk mails being dumped into letter boxes.

Besides they are not supporting the green movement as they are encouraging business to advertise through printed paper instead of using internet and web base advertising.

HDB spent money to upgrade the letter boxes so that they could be lock up to discourage junk mails. This shows that most residents do not like junk mails.

SingPost - if you want to convince the public - do a survey and provide us with evidence and statistic to support your claim.

Why did HDB upgrade the letter box to enable the locking feature then ? Is this not wasting of public fund if SingPost insist upon delivering junk mails to us ?

May I suggest you audit your poster delivery staff to see if they are earning extra income delivery junk mails besides those ''offical junk'' mails assigned to them by SingPost

I suspect the tons of daily junk mails may be contributed by postal staff doing side line work.

SingPost is socially irresponsible and this only harm its corporate image. Look at the feedback and we know HDB residents do NOT like junk mails. It is ridiculous for SingPost to keep asking resident to write in to opt out of junk mails. SingPost should STOP all the spamming instead !

SingPost is the direct cause of vendors who have no access to lock postal boxes to leave all their advertising leftlets at the doorstep individual flat unit which post a security risk. When home owners are on holiday, these uncollected leaflets are an indicator that no one is at home - this is SECURITY RISK to home owners.

SingPost is causing so much problems and yet it is blinded by profit to keep igorning feedback. They should stop giving lame excuses for their social irresponsibility.

Reply from SingPost

2010-09-25T06:42:00.000-07:00

Typical reply which does not address feedback nor answer questions posed.

SingPost Reply by Patsie Tan Assistant Vice-President, Corporate Communications Singapore Post Limited

As a postal service provider, SingPost is obligated to deliver all mail, addressed and unaddressed, that meets the required standards for acceptance. This includes Admail, which is a service provided by postal organisations the world over.

Admail provides consumers with information, choices and offers on products and services. Feedback from residents has indicated that maildrops of promotional offers and savings-coupons enable them to purchase items at preferred pricing (for example consumer goods like detergents), while some residents enjoy reading free magazines/annuals as they are kept informed of the latest trends and ideas.

For businesses, Admail is a viable option to reach out to their customers in a cost-effective and targeted way, supplementing other advertising media like newspapers and TV advertisements.

Government agencies have also found Admail an effective tool to reach out to the general population particularly in the dissemination of information and material in their war against Sars, dengue and bird flu.

SingPost is one of several companies in Singapore that deliver Admail. Many appreciate and patronise the products and services being promoted in these Admail and would not consider such material "junk". Residents who do not wish to receive Admail can call our hotline to be delisted under the mail preference option.

Moving forward, SingPost is working towards more targeted Admail so that residents receive materials that are more aligned to their lifestyle patterns. Such an arrangement will streamline what the recipient gets which will be things they find more useful and attractive.

Can SingPost exercise Social Responsibility

2010-09-25T06:36:00.000-07:00

In recent years, there have been feedback regarding SingPost role in spamming HDB mail boxes with junk mails. Their standard reply is that if we do not want to be spam, we have to write in to them. Where is the logic? They are acting irresponsibily and also being a public nuisance by stuffing junks into our letter boxes daily.

Have SingPost collected statistic on the percentage of junk mails delivered per day ? From my own statistic, and I am confident it applies to other HDB residents as well, junk mails make up more than 50% of our daily mail.

Is SingPost deriving a large percentage of their revenue from delivering junk mail? If not why the reluctant to act on feedback from residents ?

Their action is contributing to the terrible littering situation around the letter box area. From my observation, it is not intentional littering. Our letter boxes are so full of junk mails that they fell off from the pile of mails when residents retrieve them. The bin next to the letter boxes is usually fill to the 'brim'. This only reflects the large quantity of junk mails stuff into our letter boxes daily.

SingPost action does not support the environmental green movement. They are encouraging and indirectly promoting unfriendly advertising method. Has profit blinded their social responsibility ?

YOG - wayang show on Budget

2010-09-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

All these questions raised in Parliament would not shade light on what went wrong with the YOG (Youth Olympics Game) budget. Just another wayang show put up to pacify the public.

I notice that the 79.8 million under Miscellaneous item was not reported in 'Today' newspaper. This figure is reported in 'MyPaper'. Why did 'Today' not captured the figure in their reporting of the YOG breakdown list ?

79.8 million is the 2nd highest amount in the breakdown list. What consitute Miscellaneous ? Why so much of the budget went to Miscellaneous ? Normally it should consitute a small amount not such a large percentage of the total fund. There need to be a detail breakdown on what is Miscellaneous.

In fact, each of the listed items has to have a detail report on where the spending went. Just having a breakdown list tell us nothing if there is misused of fund.

I have personally witness wastage while working in a school which is one of those hosting YOG. Buying lots of unnecessary items and then leaving them to gather dust. It could be small ticket item but if purchase in bulk, the amount could be substantial. Besides many small ticket items add up to alot of money.

This is one area where fund could be misused, due to poor execution and lack of check and balance.

Can SingPost stop spamming us with junk mails

2010-09-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

In recent years, there have been feedback regarding SingPost role in spamming HDB mail boxes with junk mails. Their standard reply is that if we do not want to be spam, we have to write in to them. Where is the logic? They are acting irresponsibily and also being a public nuisance by stuffing junks into our letter boxes daily.

Have SingPost collected statistic on the percentage of junk mails delivered per day ? From my own statistic, and I am confident it applies to other HDB residents, junk mails make up more than 50% of our daily mail.

Is SingPost deriving a large percentage of their revenue from delivering junk mails? If not why the reluctant to act on feedback from residents ?

Their action is contributing to the terrible littering situation around the letter box area. From my observation, it is not intentional littering. Our letter boxes are so full of junk mails that they fell off from the pile of mails when residents retreive them. The bin next to the letter boxes is usually fill to the 'brim'. This only reflects the large quantity of junk mails stuff into our letter boxes daily.

SingPost action does not support the environmental green movement. They are encouraging and indirectly promoting unfriendly advertising method. Has profit binded their social responsibility ?

Japaness Movie Showcase at OKTO

2010-09-10T06:08:00.000-07:00

OKTO channel is running a series of Japaness award winning movies on Sunday at 10pm. It kicked off with a movie title In School with a Pig or something to that effect last week. (pardon my memory)

Interesting movie with a simple storey line. The form teacher of 6 graders came out with this idea of teaching his class about life. He suggested to rear a pig and eating it before they graduate from school. The class was receptive and he got permission from the school principal for the project. The Vice Head was opposed to the idea as pig rearing involved lots of work. What about a chicken ? But this guy insisted on a pig or nothing else as lesson in life must be challenging.

As expected, the children grew to love the pig and it became the class pet. The first hint of trouble to come was when they gave it a name : P-Chan. Some of them braved a stormy night to return to school to ensure the pig was ok. They ate less during meal time so that there would be more left over food which they saved for their pig.

The 1st half of the movie was pretty humorous with parents getting upset that their child returning home smelling of pig shits. Ok they clean up the holding pen, feed it...doing everything and more ...including knitting a scarve to keep it warm and decorating its pen during Christmas.

The 2nd half of the movie is pretty thought provoking. The class changed their mind and did not want the pig kill. So there were many heated class debated what to do with it as they would be leaving the school after graduation. The debate got more emotional as days went by with students crying and furry fights due to disagreement. They voted on a few occassions but session ended with half the class for and the other against.

The arguments they came out with are time enduring and there is no right nor wrong answer to them. Examples :

We need food for survival, so eating meat is ok.
P-Chan is not any pig, it is a pet, how could we eat it - it is just not right.
It is not responsible to leave P-Chan in the school as we are not here to look after it after graduating.
We should look after P-Chan till end of its life.
It had a good life for the year, it would be killed and eaten anyway by now, if it is not kept by our class.
.....

The tilt of the vote balance rested with the teacher who casted the last vote and the class accepted the decision. In the end, P-Chan was sent to the meat center though the students did not eat it. A teary farewell with each student giving the pig its favourite food - tomato.

It is truly an education journey for the kids - life full of tough decision to make some of which can be rather cruel.

Lasksa & Secret Recipe

2010-09-10T04:48:00.000-07:00

It is heartening to learn that the local arm of Secret Recipe (a chain of eatery specialising in cakes and their award winning lamp stew) is starting a new set up to help special needs adults. These folks are currently train and help by various NGOs (non-government organisations) and homes. They will be offer employment in the factory kitchen of the new food chain set up by Secret Recipe.

The CEO of local Secret Recipe, Ms Sim Sin Sin is setting up a chain of eatery in various foodcourts and shopping centers to sell laska - one of S'pore favourite dishes. What makes them outstanding is that they will be offering different types of laska from all over Asia which promise to be a mouth watering rewarding experience for laska lovers. The first in S'pore (though their outlets in Malaysia are already doing it)

The stall name is Laskania (in Hokkien, it means it sells only laska). Do patronise them to statisfy your laska craving. Besides you will be helping Ms Sim in her effort to offer employment to these folks. Being independent do wonder for their self esteem. Let us all do our part to let them stand on their own feet. Eat laska all you can (without compromising your health) or at least once a week at Laskania ! Even if you are not into Laska, give it a try, you may change your mind.

So look out for Laskania openning day - akang datang (likely end of this year)

We do NOT want a population of 6.5 millions !

2010-09-10T03:51:00.000-07:00

As it is, crossing the population mark of 5 millions has seen great deterioration to the quality of life in S'pore. 6.5 millions is plain ridiculous as it is unstainable.

Overcrowding induces stress. We have seen it breaking out in the form of voices of unhappiness over foreign work force. S'poreans used to welcome our foreign friends with open arms. What is happening now is the doing of unwise govt policies. It happens in the natural world. Even same species of animals can turn aggressive against their own kind, (not to mention other species) when there is over crowding and shortage of food and space.

Do a thorough study and stop pushing for the target of 6.5 million. Situitions may have change. But more likely is that there were alot of factors the govt missed out during their conception plan for population growth. Adjust the policy instead of aiming blindly for the target set. Reduce and cap the population to below 5 million mark. The immigration numbers, PR and new citizenship should be adjusted annually based on birth and death rate.

Likely in the next decade, we will have emigration policies to encourage people to leave the country due to overcrowding and lack of housing. The target of such policies will probably be senior citizens - after all our govt always harbour fear of a welfare state and have been very practical to the point of being heartless. The elderly are consider non-productive thus not contributing to the growth spur which the govt has been chasing blindly over the years. So they will be given incentive - a token lump sum to sell their home and stay in a retirement home in our neighbouring country where it is a join venture business between S'pore and our neighbour. The local vacated flat will be the new home of the younger generation as they have difficulty getting housing due to over demand. So the govt is using one stone to kill 3 birds. Reduce senior population, tie over housing shortage and getting elderly into parting with their money by buying into govt retirement home venture.

Unlikely ? It could happen as we have seen lots of policies force down our throat over the years. In spite of our hugh reserve, when it comes to helping its citizen, the govt has been very cautious or rather 'stingy'. The budget amount on healthcare, education for special need children and public welfare is a small fraction of the billions Tamesak, GIC and the various Town Councils had lost over unwise investments. They think nothing of losing public fund on high risk ventures but very adverse to helping its own citizen.

They are famous in giving out token 'any pow' near election time. To buy the 'vote' in the guise of 'reward' or 'sharing' or some other nice sounding words to cover up their real intention.

Enough is enough. We the citizen can see through all these hypocratic acts.

We are not convinced !

2010-08-31T20:22:00.001-07:00

This is with regards to PM rally speech whereby he insisted that we would continue to need more foreigners for the good of the nation.

Our forefathers are immigrants, we have no issue with foreigners. It is the govt policies that we disagree with. Our forefathers came here when population was sparse. They were the ‘builders’ of our nation.

Things are different now. We have limited land and population has grown tremendously. We can feel the squeeze in all aspects of our life at ground level. We are not convinced the current policies will do the country any good in the future. It will likely result in more problems. Statistical model can be wrong, just as they got in wrong last time when they curbed population growth so successfully that they are now doing a drastic U-turn.

The reason that we need foreigners to take up jobs which locals shun, is repeated so often that it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. With so much negative connotations injected, they have in fact indirectly discouraged locals from taking them up.

Instead, they should have redesigned the jobs, upgrade the skill and promote them actively. By taking the easy way out with mass influx of immigrants, they have broken the rice bowl of their own ‘family’ members. Our ‘uncles and aunties’ who used to be working at these jobs cannot compete with the young foreign workers.

Stop giving us lame excuses. We have heard enough and are tired of all these repeated broadcasts. Work on the problem at its root cause instead. Surface decorations which are dish out at PM's rally will not make the issues go away.

Car Park Woes link to Unsustainable Population Growth

2010-08-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

Seems like all the suggestions given in feedback columns of various newspapers and online discussion are more effective than what HDB comes up with, which is to increase the night parking charges from $2 to $4 to solve the car park shortage problem. Increased of about $60 per month in the night parking will not deter drivers. Perhaps it only offers a 'favorable' opportunity for HDB to increase parking fee instead.

Besides COE, there are many others polices and measures in place to curb car population over the years. Looks like all these policies are not effective since the car population has continued to increase substantially. So what has gone wrong?

Shortage of parking space is interconnected to other issues which are surfacing – over crowed trains and buses, increase in housing cost, .....etc which are ultimately link to an unsustainable population growth.

Lack of foresight and inefficient planning, weak policies implementation and over reliance on reactive instead of preventive measures...are all accumulating and surfacing as problems one after another.

Our COE quota drastic reduction recently is clear indication of not acting early until the problem has escalated. Then fire fighting begins.

HDB has to link up with other government bodies for a long term solution to the car population woes. Don't just patch up hole when it appears. Temporary solution will only result in serious 'leakages' in the near future.

Abandoned Animals and Babies

2010-08-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

Some kind soul is setting up sanctuary house for abandoned babies. Its project person lamented that more is done for abandoned animals than babies.

But there must be a fair basis for comparison. SPCA reported an aveage of 10,000 abandoned animals annually. This is excluding those pick up by AVA and strays still struggling to survive out there. In contrast, the sanctuary has 50 abandoned babies todate.

Of course abandoned animals need more resources to help. Even if we take the lower figure of 10K abandon animals, the number of unwanted babies is just 0.5% of it.

Our birth rate is so low, all babies should be welcome by the govt, regardless of their status. Let the govt do its part for the babies since they are so slack regarding animals welfare. They are also not doing enough for our homeless. Instead of helping them, they are chasing them away from their temporary campsites. NGOs are the ones helping these folks.

Now - these babies could be moulded to be their future model citizens. Is this not what they want ? So do more for these poor babies instead of pushing it to NGOs again.

Moral Authority

2010-08-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

Wong K S is not the best person to speak about moral authority. A terrorist escaped from our high security detention center due to lapse in basic security measures right under his nose.

Where is his moral authority when he let those in lower rank take the rap, while he ditched out lame excuses ?

Besides a person is innocent until proven guilty. Mr Shadrake is only being investigated, so why is Wong K S accusing him of malicious attack and undermining public confidence ? Besides, we are famous for winning defamation cases, so why is the Attorney-General asking for an apology to drop the case ? Perhaps there are truths in Mr Shadrake's research ?

Mistrial of cases do happen in other countries. It can happen in S'pore too. If it does, it is good that it is being flushed out instead of being cover up forever. Why is our govt afraid of hearing the truth ? Any truth should be welcome as it gives us opportunities to right a wrong and improve the system.

To understand more go to this link : http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/07/review-once-a-jolly-hangman/

An extract from the article ....on Mr Shadrake's book Once a Jolly Hangman (it is banned in S'pore)

"He documents worrying instances of judges actually calling into doubt the culpability of the accused in their judgments and then going on to impose capital punishment. He tells of cases where differential sentences are handed down relative to the wealth or power of the perpetrator or their family. In one case involving a non-citizen, he suggested that her government’s threat to create economic discomfort for Singapore swayed the trial. In another case, he wrote, compelling evidence was heard from a policeman himself under investigation, and later convicted, of monstrous corruption. He also relates further cases where the mandatory nature of the death penalty binds the hands of the judges regardless of the perpetrator’s youth or clear potential for reform."

'Extraordinary' rainfall ? Really ?

2010-07-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

So now MM has to step forward to try to convince the public to accept another lame excuse - 'extraordinary' rainfall.

Sorry,MM, we are don't buy this one either. It is just a another word to replace :
- once in 50 years
- freak
- unstable weather
- debris
-......etc, etc

It is human fault and NOTHING to do with Mother Nature.

Likely it is the barrage itself couple with drainage management issues and even direct human error. PUB already acknowledge it is due to undercapcity drainage system. If it is so, why is it under design ? This is one of the most serious mistake and very costly too. More tax payers' money needs to pump in for corrective action. How can we be assure they can get it right this time?

This is what happen when number one comes out with what he thought is a great idea, no one dares oppose him. So millions spent on another S'pore iconic project to constuct the barrage. Likely the barrage is one of the teething problems causing the recent series of floods.

Must save face at all cost, let the truth be hidden. Continue using different words to blame Mother Nature.

Risky Spa

2010-07-21T00:27:00.000-07:00

"It helps consumers determine which companies are less risky to sign up with" said an executive being interviewed, regarding compulsory insurance scheme for accredited spa operators.

So signing up for spa package is a risky undertaking. First it is housing agents cheating clients, then private education industry running off with students' money. Now it is the spa industry.

Are we becoming a country full of con men/women ?

How stupid and cruel can one get

2010-07-21T00:08:00.000-07:00

An advertising agency in Russian came out with this stupid and cruel idea of parachuting a donkey down as their promotion gimmick to popularize a beach resort as a holiday destination.

The donkey was screeching in fear all the way down and nearly drown upon landing. It is so cruel to traumatize the poor animal. This is advertising idea at its worst.

It also send shock wave to those holiday makers at the beach. Children were crying in fear hearing the heart rending screams of the donkey. Any pleasant memory of the beach is shattered forever.

How stupid and cruel some people can be.

Car Buffet

2010-07-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

Folks are paying more than $10K just to have a 'car buffet' - being able to drive a fleet of luxury cars consisting of Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche...one after another for a day.

I suppose if you cannot own one, it is another way of getting to sit in them for a while if you don't mind the $10k

Construction of more cycling paths

2010-07-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

Millions will be pour into the construction of more cycling paths. Perhaps this is because our public transport system is to heavily tax that the government is desperate to look into any alternative that comes to mind.

How to cycle all over when S'pore weather is so hot and humid? It will defeat the green movement if we save on energy but jack up water consumption.

Even should we do cycle to work, we will be sticky and sweaty. This is not a conducive condition to start the day. So will the govt be encouraging companies to provide bathing facilities for staff?

Are they leading by example by providing such facilities at all their ministries? Will they be actively encouraging those in civil service to cycle to work?

Could our ministers and MPs also lead by examples by forgoing their private cars and take to cycling during cabinet meetings?

Likely this million dollar project will promote cycling as sport and form of exercise, but will not be successful as an alternative solution to our pubic transportation woes. Even if taken as a form of exercise, there are only certain hours suitable for cycling. Try doing it under the blazing sun, one may end up with heat stroke or higher probability of skin cancer.

Will we be ever told the truth ?

2010-07-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

We need external auditors and/or consultant to get to the root cause of the flood incidents. PUB and the govt have lost their credibililty as they have been giving lame excuses and half truth over the matter. It is easily to make sweeping statement like it has nothing to do with the barrage. Where is the supporting evidence ?

If the Marine Barrage is the cause of the flood, it will be too embarrassing for them and unlikely we will ever get wind about it. After all it is one of the latest 'show case' of our nation, costing millions.

Now our Minister is blaming it on the 'unstable' weather. Likely he has never heard of the saying : Unpredictable as the weather. What is the purpose of planning and designing for redundancy if our relatively new drainage system is found to be under capacity ? Who is the govt body approving the design of the drainage system ?

Investigation is getting to all the root causes of the matter. It is not about coming up with more excuses and trying to point fingers in another direction to distract from being accountable and responsible.

PUB will be installing more flood sensors to give early warning. But exactly how much time people have for flood preparation is not mention. What is the purpose of all these sensors if the preparation time is not sufficient ?

Besides, flood warning system is not preventive measure - it is reactive. Having more sensors may result in more false alarms. When people hear the cry of wolves too often, they may not react when the real wolves come.

It will also jack up maintenance cost. Should there be frequent false alarm, it could cause public inconvenient. Low standard of investigation done will only result in inefficiency and ineffectiveness when addressing the flood problem, as the root causes are not address.

PUB eating their own words

2010-07-20T03:36:00.000-07:00

The official reason given by PUB for the flood in Orchard road was clogged drains due to littering. Then our PM parroted this 'excuse' when making his long delay official statement on the event, which eroded his credibility.

Now PUB does a reverse turn and said that debris only "worsened the flood but did not cause it''. So they finally realize that the public is not buying into their lame excuses. Besides, it reflects their foolishness in making such a statement which gets another govt agency into deep shit. If there is so much accumulation of debris, then NEA officers must be sleeping on their job. PUB has actually redirected the blame to NEA, which is the environmental enforcement agency. Well, we can only guess what happen behind the scene, NEA and PUB 'fighting' amongst themselves.

PUB now puts the blame on the canals not having enough capacity to drain all the water. Why don't they be upfront and say it is under designed instead ? Just beating around the bushes to avoid accountability.

Should it have been a building that is under designed for its load carrying capacity, it would have collapse. The consequences could be very serious.

Under designed of any public infrastructure or facilities should be investigated. It cost millions to construct them and now millions more needed to 'improve' them. Is not our drainage system at Orchard area relatively new ?

The flood in Orchard road has cause massive losses to businesses. S'poreans are so 'tame'. Those folks who have suffered financial losses should have group together to sue the government.

Only then will serious investigation into the root cause(s) be done and the public could have a glimpse into the true facts reveal at the court hearing. If not, all we will ever hear is what they choose to reveal to us.

Another FIRST for S'pore - Death by Hanging

2010-07-20T03:09:00.000-07:00

S'pore govt loves to be 1st in everything. So now we are number one in terms of the highest per capital execution rates in the WORLD ! Sigh...

Yes, those who committed serious crime need to be punished. But life imprisonment would be a better option. Let those who have committed unforgivable crime have a life time to reflect on their wrong doing and hopefully contribute back to society while serving their life sentences.

Execution carries the danger that should a mistake be made, any injustice done will be irreversible as the person has been put to death. We know that it does happen.

Besides death by hanging is so barbaric. Lethal injection has been used in other parts of the world. Why is S'pore still hanging prisoners ? Is it because it is the cheapest method or they are so lazy to change the law ?

An executioner at Changi Prison said he has executed around 1000 men from 1959 to 2006 ! I wonder how a person could live with so many lives ended at his hands. Perhaps he gets immunized against it after being on the job for sometime ? Or perhaps the order to kill is from the authority and so he is just following orders, and this relieves him of emotional burden.

A Peace Loving Feline

2010-07-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

They said neutralized tom cats are not so aggressive. But from my observation, some tom cats are just 'peace loving' even though they are not sterilized.

They are 'wise' as they have found out the secret of happiness - that living in harmony with other felines is better than fighting it out either for territory or tabby cats. It is not that they are weak, it is their peace loving nature. Even their facial features reflect a 'sea of calmness'.

On the other hand, those aggressive tom cats never look good. They either have fierce feature, started or haggard look. They normally have wounds and scars. Those which have been losing feline battles look real pathetic and seems to have lost all their cat confident. I have seen one over the hill tom cat with battle scars that was 'told off' by a youngest just coming out of its 'kittenhood'.

There is this large stray tom which would let another stray eat its food. Even when the other cat behave aggressively ....he just calming walk away. But the aggressor was not satisfied and continued its attack. Well, Mr Calm turned around utter a loud warning, rush forward ....Mr Aggressor fled for dear life. Mr Calm did not fight but he is imposing in his own way when pushed to his limit.

I have a tom cat (used to be a stray). He is 10 years old, consider a ripe old age for a feline. He has never been involved in a fight. He still looks pretty good compare to those aggressive stray toms which are much younger than him. You might say he is a pet, so it is not fair to compare him with a stray. But then our Mr Calm is a stray cat. In fact, Mr Calm is one of the most dignify and confident strays I ever come across. Nothing seems to ruffle his feather, I mean fur.

So if we want to be happy and look good, be peace loving and calm. Aggression does not resolve issue but likely create more problems. Just like what Gandhi said : An eye for an eye, only leads to the world of the blind.

A living nightmare

2010-07-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

My current tenant is nightmare. She is so bad temper that the last straw came when she threatened to punch my mother who is in her seventies. I told her to move out by end of the month.

She has been with us for only 6 months and it has been worrying time for my family. She is a walking safety and security hazard. When she bathes or does any washing in the toilet, the kitchen floor is also wet. There are times it is literally 'flooded' with water and we could not figure out how it could happen. This is because we have place mats and rags outside the bathroom to 'trap' water. Slippery wet floor is a hazard for my elderly mum. We try explaining to her to mop up if she wet the floor and this started her unhappiness as she seems to take feedback personally.

She will leave electric appliances such as heater, fan....still switch on when she leaves for work for the day. Domestic appliances, unlike industrial equipment are not meant for continuous heavy usage. It can overheat and start a fire. If one is unlucky, the electrical switch breaker may not activate and we know fire is merciless.

Then main door is left openned - not sure if it is intentional or forgetfulness. Now we are so worry we make sure someone is at home if not we will have house break-in with such a tenant.

There has never been any issue with my previous tenants who are considerate. They were with us much longer and moved out to be nearer to their work place or share a room with their friends/relative. This is the first time I have asked a tenant to leave.

My previous tenants and my mum got along fine. Mum enjoyed pampering them with her home brew soup and food. I suppose it basically boils down to common sense and consideration when living under the same roof. Simple thing like if you mess up, you clean up. She can leave toothpaste and shampoo stains all over the bath room. They are not only unsightly strains but also slippery hazard.

Initially we give her the benefit of doubt that it could be unintentional forgetfulness. But when her messy and unsafe acts keep up its flow, it is the act of an inconsiderate person who could not understand the impact of her actions on others.

At first my mum would quietly 'pick up' after her. But there is a limit to all these and she began to feedback to her what she has done, hoping things could improve for the better.

Sigh ..this only started her door slamming session. And then this morning, she wanted to punch my mum when mum told her she has left the heater switch on again. Sigh....A woman in her late twenties, still so immature and lack of self control.

Unlike my previous tenants who are normally in after work and during the weekends, this aggressive one is seldom in. But her water usage is consistently exceptionally high, our monthly water consumption has ballooned to 4 times after she moved in. It has not happened before with previous tenants and we thought there is something wrong with the water meter. Then we realize it is due to her habit of turning the surrounding into swimming pool whenever she does her chores. This solves the mystery of the 'flooded' kitchen and high water usage.

It will be a relief when she moves out. I would need to do careful screening of potential tenant in the future. There are personality questionnaires for job application candidates. Wonder if anyone has designed one for tenant selection. It would be useful to sieve out walking time bomb before they move in and become a nightmare.

Cat , Butterfly and Mosquitoes

2010-07-09T06:09:00.000-07:00

I saw a cute tabby at the void deck. Just as I was stroking it, it freezed, stared hard at something in the distant...and then dash off. It spotted a 'prey'. It was a white butterfly fluttering very close to the ground.

The tabby caught it and was rolling on the ground with it in a playful mood. When I went nearer, it left its prey and went about grooming itself.

It has been years since I saw a butterfly in HDB estate. This is after NEA started they frequent insecticide spraying exercise to eliminate dengue mosquitoes. They managed to eliminate all other 'useful' insects but not the harmful mosquitoes. In fact, they indirectly help in the creation a 'stronger' species of mosquitoes which are more resilient to insecticide.

They have since realised their mistaken in taking a short cut easy approach to dengue management control. Lucky for us, as who knows what will happen to our lungs and health with so frequent exposure to poisonous fume if they had continued with their spraying.

The insecticide spray was so intense and heavy that it penetrated the upper floors even though it was done at ground level. I am staying on the ninth floor, but whenever they did the spraying, I had to close all the windows in order to prevent choking on the fume.

...Back to the white butterfly. I have never seen a totally white butterfly before. Normally they are coloured. Likely it was already injured before being caught by the tabby. It was hovering at floor level which made it easy for the cat to catch it.

The poor butterfly had its wings torn and could hardly lift itself up from the ground. I knew what I should do in order not to prolong its suffering from an ultimate slow death which awaited it. But it is hard to terminate something that looked so pure, fragile and harmless. I did it anyway. I rather feel guilty and uneasy than avoid doing the right thing. I have wrote about euthanasia in my previous blog.

Now back to the cat. We cannot blame it. It is just doing what comes naturally - hunting its prey. Well, folks have been accusing stray cats of not 'earning' its keep (wonder since when a stray needs to earn its keep ? It is a stray after all, who is keeping it?). They said strays are so well fed that they do not hunt rats. These folks never care for the strays, how did they know how much the cats eat ?

Just because they see rats around, it does not mean the strays do not hunt them. We have a police force, but there are still criminals around. So does it mean our police officers are not doing their job ? Besides, it is NEA and Town Council responsibility to eliminate rats. They have so many advance pest control equipment, if they can't do it, why blame the strays?

Rats exist because of food - litters left by human. Rats don't exist because strays are not catching them. So we human has to clean up our act instead of blaming the cats.

Cats natural instinct is to hunt. They may not eat their prey, but they will still hunt. Just like the tabby I saw.

Betting on an Octopus prediction

2010-07-08T23:28:00.000-07:00

Looks like soccer fans are going nuts. They are looking towards an octopus, named Oracle to tell them which team / country is winning the next match.

If Oracle chooses the container of food which has their favourite team flag on it, they are in jubilation and Oracle could look forward to more meaty dinner as reward.

Sadly, through no fault of our poor octopus, if he chooses to eat from the 'wrong' container, his fate is precarious, as unhappy fans wanted him for their dinner instead.

This just shows people want to 'hear' what they like. Makes no different even if it is coming from an octopus.

Temasek

2010-07-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

I heard this joke ... likely it carries some truth in it, that any company stock Temasek buys into, we better do the reverse and sell it off, if we have it.

Looks like Temasek disastrous investment losses in recent years have left its mark on ordinary citizens.

It is reported in the papers that Temasek net profit fell 26%, while its portfolio value hit 186 million. It is currently aggressively investing in high risk areas, such as mining business. Looks like it has not learn its lesson inspite of the massive losses.

In the same article, its executive director claims that Temasek is a long term investor and does not enter and exit markets the way a fund does. Long term investor and not a fund? Is not Temasek together with GIC is S'pore's sovereign wealth fund (SWF)? Temasek actions do not support its claims. It has invested in trouble financial institutions giving the reason that it is looking at long term future of those companies. However, within a short period of time, Temasek let go of them like hot potatoes just when valuation was picking up. Temasek has been widely criticised for its poor investment strategy and timing. Besides, there has been no accountability over the whole incident from its CEO, Ho Chin.

As Temasek is one of the investment arms of the country's public fund, should not it be more cautious, especially after the painful losses ? The public is looking for consistent and sustainable returns on public money used in investment. Not excessive risk taking for sky rocket profit and the next moment chalking up billions in losses which wipe out previous years gains.

It is also reported that Temasek is not actively searching for a new CEO to replace Ho Chin. Why ?

In fact the mystery as to the real reason behind the sudden departure of the previous CEO Mr Charles Goodyear has never been resolved. Likely it wishes to avoid another similar situation. You can get away once from explaining the exit of a high profile CEO, but not twice.

After all Temasek's company investment policies and operation are not that transparent. It would unlikely welcome in depth queries in their 'history' and would prefer any new comer to accept things just as they are.

Look at the fate of Chartered Semiconductor which is under Temasek Holding. It used to be a blue chip company listed. Once upon a time it was one of the hot favourite shares being traded. After all most folks think nothing serious could happen to a blue chip share which had large capitalisation. The common perception is : Temasek = government = trust. Well, blind trust could be dangerous as Chartered Semiconductor has been delisted and no longer in existence.

Temasek action speaks for itself.

Visibility vs Charity

2010-07-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

The YOG budget overshot by 3 times, from $104 million to $387 million. Again do not expect any accountability for such poor budgeting and overspending by the Minister concerned. Lack of accountability seems to be the current trend.

The public response to YOG event has been cold and it is unlikely that the event could ever recoup the heavy expenses spend on it. Seems like MOE is the main buyer of the event tickets.

Comcare's budget in contrast is only a mere $98 million, a quarter's of YOG.

It is obvious that visibility is more important than charity for our government. Is it any surprise ? Hardly...sigh...

Is a future population of 6 million realistic ?

2010-07-06T21:32:00.001-07:00

We are at aroud 4.5 million and our public infrastrutures are already busting at the seams. How realistic is it to have a future population of 6 million ?

Our goverment forecast has been way off mark in first telling us we will be overpopulated during the 1970s. Then within the same generation - we find ourselves underpopulated and need mass import of non-locals to make up for the numbers.

What happen if they are wrong again ?

Even Australia with its large land mass and natural resources is reviewing it policy to ensure a sustainable population.

It is time our government take a good look at what is happening at ground level and don't bull doze ahead to another disaster.

Cheaper Transport Fare , really ?

2010-07-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

There has been alot of publicity that the revamp in the public transport fare based on distance travelled will result in saving from many. Again this is another window dressing exercise whereby the public is told partial truth. It is in fact another fare increase in disguise.

For unbiaise reporting on this issue, Mr Leng Sze Hian's article provides a clear picture of how the public has been 'taken for a ride'.
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/07/taken-for-a-ride/

The fare structure is so complicate, it is hard to understand, it only creates confusion. Simplicity is beauty beside being efficient. Any policy targeted at the masses should be easy to understand.

But this is never the case for us. Look at our taxi fare structure - so many surcharges. Then our CPF scheme -getting more complicated over the years. Even the recent CFP Life scheme is so messy that they need forum after forum to explain it to the public.

It is reported that Tiger Airway is considering having standing support for passangers so that they could charge cheaper air fare. Well, seats have been removed from our trains and buses, but there is no reduction in fare.

Is Our Crowded Trains Safe ?

2010-07-04T06:22:00.000-07:00

It is unacceptable for the CEO of SMRT to acknowledge that she knew the trains are overcrowded but not do anything because they have not reached the stage where SMRT needs to employ 'pushers' or 'crush load' level.

This is not the way a socially responsible organisation is run. We do not wait till problem araises before acting. Overcrowding is a safety hazard by itself. Even a minor incident can result in a stampede in overcrowded places. We have seen in happening at football stadium, religious place of worship like Mecca....

We know there is a safe passenger load for all vehicles. What is the safe passenger load for the trains and has it been exceeded ?

It is as clear as daylight that our train stations and trains are under capacity to serve the exploding population. We know there is a limit to the increase frequency of train arrival without compromising safety. Besides even if they can do it, it will create another set of problem as the passagers cannot clear the platform and station in time before the arrival of the next train.

I have seen it happening even during off peak hours. Passengers were still crowding around the platform escalators to make their exit from the station and the next train arrived.

It is time SMRT CEO highlight this to the parliment that there is a need to start planning for an overhaul of the train infrastrature now. This is the least she can do as head of an organisation responsible for public transport.

Orchard Rd Flood

2010-06-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

Our PM lacked credibility when he chose to repeat the lame excuses dished out earlier for public consumption. Again there is no accountability and just all white washing cover up even from the top man himself.

Debris and litter could be an aggravating factor in the Orchard Rd flood, but it is unlikely to be the root cause. The only reason for all these excuses is because the real reason could be another embrassment for the government (just like the Mas Selamat escape episode).

Likely a in depth investigation has been done but they don't have the guts to reveal the truth to us. Human errors in the area of management, system control, lack of foresight in infrastructure design (like our HDB flat lift upgrading project as they forget all of us will grow old)....?

If it is due to debris and litter, then NEA should let us know what have all their cleaners and enforcement officers been doing which resulted in so much accumulation of rubbish to be washed into the drain?

No one is asking for an extensive drainage system, but are the existing ones wide and deep enough in design in the 1st place. If it is not - who is the 'wise guy' who designed them and who approved them ?

Perhaps the lesson is that rapid urbanisation has its cost. We trade in natural water run off with concrete payment and a drainage system which is prone to human errors in design and management.

Does handsome reward check corruption ?

2010-06-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

We are given the reason that our ministers are rewarded handsomely because if we pay them peanuts there will be a tendency for corruption. So in order to have a clean cabinet, they need to be pay a high salary.

In the first place, they were never pay peanuts. Secondly, corruption does not limit to monetary gain. Abuse of power is also a form of corruption. Monetary reward itself does not stop power abuse from happening. So how does handsome reward stop corruption then ?

Power corrupts, absolute power will lead to uncheck corruption. Only a balance cabinet with no one party dominating it will we feel we are in safe hands.

In fact paying a unjustified high salary will only attract the 'wrong' calibre of people - those who do not have service for the good of the public at heart. They go in for the money.

Just like we have seen different calibre of doctors. Some are in for the money and prestige - you can tell from their attitude. It makes no difference whether they are in private practice or government service - you can sense they don't enjoy what they do nor they like serving the public.

In fact, I would think the tendency of corruption would be higher for those who took on the job because of the high remuneration. After all, these are precisely the folks who love money more than public service.

Those who take pride public service, monetary reward is secondary concern. We have seen many examples of such high calibre folks in NGOs and charities groups. Unfortunately theses folks are not interested in politics, if not having them in our cabinet will help ensure S'pore is in good hands.

Typical Govt Strategy - Silent or Window Dressing Statistic

2010-06-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

From high ranking ministers to even low ranking adminstrators, their identification tag as government officials is the typical strategy they employed when things don't work in their favour - refrain from making statement nor answer the question posed or present window dressing statistics, hoping to get away with it.

Our PM silent on the 2 recent major incidents regarding the train vandalism and Orchard flood shows us how he 'leads' by example.

There are many instants of window dressing statistic being dish out for public consumption. My own recent experience is with S'pore Environmental Agency (SEA) regarding their sleeping over the Green Movement for years, which resulted in the tremendous increase in environmentally unfriendly plastic carrier bags being used.

They responded by saying they will be extensively promoting a rebate strategy for shoppers to bring along their own carrier bags. If such strategy works, NTUC would not have been dragging their feet over it for years. (note :NTUC already has a rebate strategy but only implement it on Wed)

If rebate strategy works, Ikea would not be charging their customers for bags(which has been effective and meet with success).

But typical of government officers, they will insist on their way. So SEA avoided the questions posed to examine if rebate strategy would work, but instead answered by saying that NTUC FairPrice has saved more than 43 million plastic bags since 2007 when the rebate scheme was introduced.

They inflated the figure to make it look impressive by taking 3 years statistic. Sigh...typical of window dressing statistic. But they remain silent when question further as to what percentage is this figure compare to the number of bags issued to shoppers over the same period ? Likely the number of bags issues would be shocking figure many times over the 43 millions !

As NTUC only implement this carrier bags rebate once a week and they save 43 millions bags, how many bags have been issued for the remaining 6 days! Besides, we have not taken into consideration other big chain supermarkets like Cold Storage, Giant, Carrefour, Shop n Save......

Unfortunately they often get away with it as many people are too preoccupy with their daily routine to question statistic presented to them.

SMRT is responsible, BUT so is our government!

2010-06-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

I am disappointed that our Minister put the blame on the recent security lapse solely on SMRT. Why is our government shrinking from taking on part of the responsiblilty?

If the incident was not just about the train being vandalised, but a bomb was planted on it and it blew up killing hundreds of passagers during the morning peak hours. Would not the government be answerable to the major lapse in national security and public safety? Why should the government wants the public to take a different view over this incident?

Public transport such as train has always been the favourite target for terrorists in other countries, such as UK, Japan, India.... In fact our MRT had also been the target of terrorists' plot some years back.

SMRT is not just any private organisation. Their depots are gazetted as protected areas show that they are at high security risk. SMRT is the major service provider of public transport. Is not national security and public safety the responsiblility of the government then?

Even with good security management system, it is the people running it that make or break it. Where the system is not maintain and protocol not follow, all will come to nothing.

Should not the government conduct indepenent audits on SMRT to ensure compliance with the 'framework' provided?

Who deploy those police officers at SMRT trains? If these officers are deploy by our police force, then how can the government said that SMRT security is solely the company's responsibility?

Where are all the chickens ?

2010-06-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

Live chickens have completely disappear from the scene in S'pore. It just occurs to me this sad fact that common animals are becoming 'uncommon' - if you exclude those frozen featherless chickens sold at supermarket. In fact the joke is - if you ask a kid what a chicken looks like - likely you will get a description of a frozen chicken as that is only what they are familiar with.

I went for an educational trip to JB,Malaysia recently. There is a 8 year old boy in the group. He was so excited when he set eyes on some chickens at a mushroom farm we visited to have our breakfast. He followed them all over, happily snapping pictures of them. He was more interested in the chickens than his food.

In S'pore after the SARS episode, all rearing and selling of live fowls are prohibited. With exception of the few chicken farms that produce eggs for local consumption. In the past, there used to be educational tour at these farms, now it is banned.

Same for Palua Ubin - the kampong atmosphere has disappeared as the villagers no longer are allow to rear fowls in their backyard. Once upon a time, visitors used to to see farm animals, chicken, ducks....roaming freely around the island.

Over reaction by those in authority is making S'pore becoming a more and more sterile place to be in.

Security Complacency - MRT is an easy target

2010-06-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

We are constantly reminded as individuals to be on the alert and to take security threats seriously. After the escape of our infamous terrorist, Mas Selamat from his detention centre and the recent case of SMRT train being vandalised, it makes one wonders who are the complacent ones?

It was the public who first notice the vandalised train, while SMRT staff do not even realise the train has been vandalised till days later! The MRT staff gave lame excuses for their incompetency by saying they thought it was advertiment bill board...sigh! Looks like it is those whose have the greatest impact on public safety are the not doing what they preached.

It did not take any high tech gadgets or elaborate scheming to execute the escape plan and train vandalism. This is worrying as in the Mas Selamat escape incident, it was due to basic security measures not even in place at the detention centre.

In SMRT case, the low level of security measures implemented at a high security risk target is unbelievable. Have they forgotten that there had been previous plot by terrorists targeted at trains just few years back? Do they audit the security management and system in place? How often is review done on staff security awareness and training?

In both cases, there is lack of accountability of those responsible. Perhaps this is the reason for recurrence of security breach at national level, as those top brass are not taking it seriously. After all there is little consequence even if they are not up to their mark.

Just observe those security personal at SMRT station and the police ‘patrolling’ the train. Do they project a sense of professionalism that gives ones a sense of security? Or are they put there for ‘show’?

I do not see how the police standing idly at the station platform waiting to broad the train and then standing listlessly by the train doors during the whole journey help to improve security. They normally broad the train in a group of 4 men and then all huddle around in the same carriage.

Should they not be actively patrolling the station platform from one end to another to look out for suspicious characters? While on board the train, should not they spread themselves out into different carriages? If the train is not pack like sardines, should they not proactively patrol the train from the front to back carriage?

With the current level of security at SMRT, public safety is not in good hand as the stations and trains are still easy target.

Tighter reins on Charities ?

2010-06-06T03:07:00.000-07:00

There are always black sheep in the flock. After the NKF incident, the rules governing charity organisations have been reviewed and tighten. However, nothing is fool proof, thus further tightening would only hamper the work of those honest charity groups with clean record. Why penalise them just because of a black sheep? It is better to focus on the 'problem sheep' who has amass millons and buying over part of Suntec City.

How to belief in someone who claims he does not draw a salary for years and yet live in lavish lifestyle ?

It has all the hallmarks work of those very professional - you need to be one to get support and continous flow of willing donors who have full trust in you. Another hallmark of a professional is that his supportors will standby him no matter what happen. Why ? Perhaps out of ego, loyal to the group or subconsciously not wanting to acknowledge they have been con ? It is a bitter pill to swallow especially if the person involve is a religious leader. For his follower, denial is much easier route to take.

It will be certainly interesting to see what the investigation will unfold.

Sexual Education In School

2010-06-06T02:04:00.000-07:00

Why do schools need to enage external vendors to conduct their sexual education talk for their students ? There are Science teachers and Counsellors in schools, and at secondary/junior college level - we even have subject speciality teacher for Biology. I am sure the these science teachers and the school counsellors are more than qualify to give sexual education talk to students.

However, the main responsiblity should be on the parents to teach and discuss the facts of life with their children. There are also parent support group in every school. It would even be better to get these parent support groups involve in the sexual education talk.

Whenever such talk is conducted, the school could invite all parents who are interest to join their children to attend the talk. This will enable parents to be kept inform of the talk content so that they could follow up with more personal discussion with their children at home. Besides, these parents could act as 'auditors'.

This is especially important where school employed external parties to conduct such talk. We cannot be sure that these external vendors would adhere to MOE guideline, even though their submitted content pass MOE vetting. During the actual presentation, they could be imparting messages subtly which promote their self-interest. Most of the external vendors engaged by MOE are from religious affiliation. Given the fact, the majority of the vendors selected by MOE is from the same religion is cause for concern.

In fact, one of them is known to hold extreme views and had attracted alot of adverse publicity during the AWARE saga. Their US affiliations action of taking over other religion organisations are questionable. What is worrying is the S'pore group seems to be moving along the same line. Unlucky for them, they kick start their take over at the wrong target - AWARE. Their failure does not mean they would not use their local affiliation arms to penetrate schools to promote their 'brand' of religion.

Milking The Deceased ?

2010-05-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

There has been alot of speculation that the general election is near - likely this year. Why - because there are many signs of it, with all the 'propagandas' we come across in the media. There has been continuous bombardment of 'positive' news and statistic on employment, wage increase....etc, which are mostly not supported by hard evidence. Normally it is via interviews conducted with someone and only God knows how that person being interviewed came out with the 'positive' projection number.

Then recently the extensive coverage of our respected Mr Goh Keng Swee who had contributed much to our nation. For many days, all the local papers devoted many pages on his nation building effort and success stories.

The question is why honour our great pioneer after he is dead? Should not we have done it at those special national events? There have been lots of opportunities to honour him during the past 2 decades National Days, why was it not done? Would not it have been better to show our appreciation and acknowledge the great work of Mr Goh Keng Swee when he was still alive?

Most of us have forgotten about him as after his 'retirement' from parliment, he seems to have completely 'disappeared' from the local scene. We know how things run, those not in favour with the current ruling party will not be 'seen nor heard'.

Such tactic has been so successful that the younger generation of S'porean has not even heard of him! We can't blame them as his name is not mentioned in local history books used in school. Our students are not enlightened during their many years of schooling even after going through all the various courses to get them acquainted with S'pore nation building history and development. The only familiar names they know are that of MM Lee's and his son, our current PM.

Thus, I cannot help but wonder if they are milking the deceased for all he is worth because of the coming general election. Is this not unethical?

However, their strategy may backfire because it only reminds us that the current members of parliment do not possess such high capability and integrity as Mr Goh Keng Swee. Mr Goh had the passion to serve the country. Now ? Likely these folks are in more for visibility, political power and not forgeting the handsome salary.

If only Mr Goh were to head Temasek or GIC during his life time - things would be different. He would have been a better safe keeper of our public fund and not loss billions of citizens' money. There would be accountability and transparency in the way the 2 government investment arms are run.

Those who remember Mr Goh Keng Swee have only respect for him. But this does not necessary translate to respect for the folks in the current political party dominating the parliment.

Luck - the feel good factor

2010-05-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

At times I wonder why so many people like to 'play' Toto, 4-Ds...which just involve marking some numbers on a bet slip. It is not that such activity is in any way fun, exciting or brain stimulating.

I can understand why betting on horses could be exciting, as the animals are racing. It is similar to the excitment in watching sport game to see who is the winner. At least card games could stimulate the mind and be fun and exciting if one is betting with money, which could be the reasons for their additive power.

What is it that makes striking out numbers on Toto and 4-D bet slips so addictive? Beside the chance to win some money - could there be other 'motivator'? It occurs to me it could be LUCK people are after. We all like to be lucky. Striking Toto or 4-D is mainly due to luck.

So besides the prize money, it makes one feel good to be lucky. Perhaps it is this feel good factor that folks are after, even if they may not be conscious of it.

Hurting the Environment

2010-05-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

The civil unrest in Thailand is hurting the environment, besides the country enconomy, stability...etc.

We have been watching newsclips day after day of protestor burning vehicle tires and creating hugh black smoke engulfing the city. Of late they have taken to burning buildings too.

So we have Indonesian farmers burning their land (short cut to land clearing) and causing forest fire in peaceful time. Then we have the Thais burning their city in civil unrest.

Looks like there is no escape for the environment. Mankind is polluting our own breathing space, escalating the process of global warming and speeding up the arrival of our doomday. Sigh..... Likely many animal and plant species will be extinct before us.

How selfish human can be - causing the extinction of so many species which have every right to live on this earth.

Of Owl and Elephant

2010-05-13T05:59:00.000-07:00

Came across 2 good books which are highly recommended for animal lovers.

Wesley - The Story of a Remarkable Owl is a non-fiction book by Stacey O'Brien. Stacey is a Biologist. She adopted a 4 day old baby barn owl which had nerve damage in one wing and could never survive in the wild. The story traces her 19 years relationship with Wesley.

Learn alot of things about barn owl which does not look like those owls we are familar with. It has a heart sharp face with gold and white feathers. The story is written with tendernes and the keen observation of a scientist, making it remarkably touching at the same time funny. Wesley was intelligent and playful doing things which were not typical behaviour of the barn owl species.

The 2nd book is a fictional work about an elephant. Hannah's Dream is by Diane Hammond. Diane was the media liaison for Keiko, the killer whale which acted in Free Willy.

She blended her experience working with the whale and inspiration from a news coverage of a zoo elephant touching parting scene with its long time keeper into her story.

Hannah's Dream is extremely hard to put down as the story is heart warming and captivating read.

For 41 years Hannah has been kept in captivity in isolation at a dilapidated zoo. Hannah is blinded in one eye and thus feel insecure. The only saving grace is its keeper, Sam who treated it like his own child. But he is getting on in years and have been postponing his retirement because he knew Hannah could not survive in such condition without him. He has been having strange dream for years which he believed is Hannah's dream. In his dream, he sees with the eyes of an elephant roaming freely in an animal sanctuary. He wanted to make it a reality for Hannah before his retirement. But Hannah is the zoo star attraction and it seems impossible that the zoo would let go of its main star.

The story has many interesting characters interwoven into its plot. It is irresistibly touching and very uplifting to read about the devotion of Sam to Hannah.

Note : Elephants are social animals and live in herd. Solitary elephant does not fair well in captivity.

Rebate for those with bags & Charge those without

2010-05-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

This letter is written in reply to Howard Shaw, Executive Director, SEC, who still thinks rebate strategy works after all these years of failure to get folks to bring along their own carrier bags for shopping.

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For productivity, we should 'Do it right the 1st time'. The bring your own bag campaign has not been met with much success over the years. Would SEC get it right this time round with their rebate strategy?

SEA mentioned that NTUC FairPrice has saved more than 43 million plastic bags since 2007 when the rebate scheme was introduced. What percentage is this compare to the number of bags issued to shoppers over the same period ? Likely the number of bags issues would be a shocking figure many times over the 43 millions.

Besides, SEC has not clarify on the questions raise regarding :

1) Are there are less folks shopping at NTUC on Wed compare to other weekdays ?

2) What is the number of shoppers who bring along their own bag on Wed is less than those who do not ?

These answers to these questions is a good gauge if the current rebate scheme is effective.

Why not learn from success story like Ikea ? If the rebate strategy works, Ikea would not be charging for the carrier bags. Why reinvent the wheel ?

As mentioned before, we know psychologically people are more adverse with parting with their money than being rewarded monetary. The small token sum of rebate will not entice shoppers to bring along their own bag. However, charge them for it, they would not want to pay for something they have been given free for all these years. As suggested before, the rebate collected could be donated to an environmental cause.

Perhaps fine tuning the scheme to rebate for those who bring their own bag and charge those who do not, will meet with more success.

Drama vs Real Life

2010-05-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder how much of real life is reflected in social drama and movies. For example, watching those Korean dramas give one the impression that Korean women drink as frequent as their male folks and it is a social norm. But we don't see Japaness women drinking away in Japaness drama. We know Korean and Japaness males are heavy drinkers. So it looks like it is more socially acceptable in Korea for women to drink than in Japan.

If we look at the local drama production, one would have thought nobody in Singapore smokes! But we know many in Singapore do smoke and the trend is rising amongst teenagers. Anything not supported the the government is weeded out from the sight and hearing of viewers. They hold the simplistic view that all of us are simpletons and easily influence by what we see and hear over the media.

If we are so easily influence by what we see and hear, then rightly so there should be no smokers in S'pore. After all we are bombarded with the health horror of smokinig. Besides all the cigeratte packets are cover with frightening pictures of cancerous tissues.

Such mentality extend to the other spheres of their 'control' - from media censorship to sexual education in school. What we need is more 'creative governing' in Singapore.

''Hidden'' from public view

2010-05-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

Visitors to S'pore may be under the impression that there are no homeless or beggers in our city. After all, they are openly seen in other countries, including developed ones like US and Japan. But in S'pore they remain 'invisible'.

I suppose this only makes it worst for those who are living below the provery line as they are deemed 'unacceptable' by the government. Begging is an offence and can get one into trouble. The homeless camping at the beach, even though they have a permit, are chased away by local authority when their plight became known and some foreign news media wanted to interview them.

The thing is, what we don't see still exist. The fact that they are 'hidden' from public view only implies that they are being ostrazied. This does not reflect well on the governing party as it only shows a lack of compassion. They need to walk the talk instead of just spewing empty words that in S'pore no one will go hungry as help is at hand. If it is so, it is due to the good work NGOs. Why claim credit for it ? How dishonest politician(s) can be.

Keep an open mind and don't accept those positive statistics they dish out. We know for a fact statistical numbers can be manipulated and skew easily, especially when there is lack of transparency in how they operate. For example, our local investment arm, GIC, is run like a secret service agency with everything shrouded in secrecy, with lack of accountability to the billions they lost even though it is public CPF fund they are using.

Corruption is suppose to be almost non-existent in S'pore. But corruption takes on many forms - abuse of power is one of them. The only thing unique in S'pore is that is it done 'legally'. Yeah...we do have many of smart politicians. No wonder they can get away with paying themselves millions in annual salary to run this tiny island. Our PM pay is substantially higher than US President who runs a country many times larger than ours, besides shouldering much heavier responsibility.

Their productivity call for cheaper, faster and better should start at their own cabinet which is over staff and overpay.

Breathing Space

2010-05-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

There have been many calls by the government for the locals to welcome immigrants with open arms and to appreciate the foreign workers that swarm this tiny island.

I think that most locals unhappiness is not at these folks but at the government policies. After all, our forefathers are immigrants and we are a multi-racial society in the first place.

As an analogy, let say we have a family consisting of 3 generations who work hard to build a home. The house was spacious. The grandfather went around to invite friends and neighbours to stay with them, acting as if he is the sole owner of the house. It will come to a stage where there is overcrowding and lack of 'breathing space'. The initial joy of having a more lively environment with new comers will turn into dissatisfaction amongst the other family members with the action of their grandfather. Even if the new members contribute to the maintanence of the house, it will not lessen the frustration of the family members of having their personal sphere encroach upon. Besides, the basic amenities in the house is overtax, with family members have to wait hours for their turn just to use the toilet and bathroom. Then even in their leisure time they find relaxation almost impossible, as the living room is pack like sardine and noisy.

There are many negative consequences of overcrowding besides affecting the quality of life and inducing stresses. We have seen the lower wage workers hit hard by wage suppression and less job opportunity with the steep competition created by external workers flooding our shores with cheap labour. PMET are also not spared either, even with their higher qualification and expertise due to the influx of so many foreign talents.

There has been wage stagnation even for experience workers. Back in 1990s an experienced person starting pay is above $2K doing administrative task. Now, it is about $1.8K to $2K. It is 20 years down the road and inflation has been substantial, not forgetting our GST has gone from 3 to 5 to 7% !

Our aunties and uncles have almost disappeared from the job market and they have been replaced by foreign workers in job sectors which they used to dominate. So much for active aging and working beyond one's retirement age.

Of this and that

2010-05-02T01:44:00.000-07:00

It was reported in the papers that one of the commuters interviewed said that "MRT is faster, there are no jams or strange scents and is airy and cool."

She was comparing MRT and the public bus when she said this. Recently with the jam pack trains, MRT is neither airy nor cool. In fact some of the train compartments are rather warm. I am not sure it is due to it being pack like sardine or the air-con is not working.

As for strange scent - sigh..there are many occasions I experience this both on buses and the trains. It is a matter of person hygiene. As S'pore is getting so over populated, person hygiene should be included in our courtesy campaign as it is certain not polite nor considerate to subject others to one's body odour.

I understand there are 'induction' courses for foreign workers. I am not sure what is being taught, but I got the impression that recently they included 'no spliting in public' from the TV campaign advertisement. They should also include some of S'pore unique dangerous habit - throwing things from high rise building, our infamous 'killer litter'.

We cannot presume those who have never been expose to high rise living back in their hometown to know about the danger of such habit. After all, we have numerous cases of maids falling to their death while cleaning the windows and hanging out clothes to dry on bamboo poles.

Just that day, I was walking below a block of flat when I was taken aback by plastic pill containers being thrown out of the window from the 2nd story. In a mater of a minutes, the floor below full of litters thrown out from the window.

If these plastic containers were to be thrown from higher floor - should they hit someone, the impact though not fatal, would still cause pain. For example, a little A4 battery which look pretty harmless, if thrown from high rise building could injured a person badly.

I tried to get the culprit attention by calling out, but met with no response as he/she was hidden behind the clothing hung at the window. It gave me the impression that the room was rented out to worker(s).

A sweeper happened to be around and he just quietly sweep away the litters. I tried to tell him to report such inconsiderate act which is also an offence to his boss or town council. He kept saying 'yeah' but I was not sure if my message got through as he was a foreign worker.

The Emperor's New Clothes

2010-04-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Everyday occurrence is a good gauge of the state of 'health' of our local policies. Policy makers have lost touch with reality and folks at the ground. They are in a perpetual state of self-delusion that their policy 'works' in the 'best interest' of the country. Just like in the children story on 'The Emperor's New Cloth', the Emperor just wanted to believe what he loved to hear, regardless of the reality. It is only when he became the laughing stock of all before he realised his self-importance is his own undoing.

We have had quite a number of drastic 360 degree turn around in policies in recent years. From the overweight of importance given to studying of 'Mother Tongue' implemented in the 1970s, to the recent proposal to eliminate 'Mother Tongue' from the compulsory weightage of PSLE marks. Then the punitive measures against family with more the 2 children in the days of population control, to the current bountiful of incentives given to couples who have more children. Reversing of policy is not easy as damage is already done. So to patch up the potholes created, we have import in loads of foreign workers.

It is so crowded nowadays. That day, I waited till the 3rd MRT train before I could board it. The trains are so pack nowadays. Then at the MRT station, crowd of people were at the escalator waiting for their turn to take it. Even before crowd had dispersed, the next train arrived.

It takes only common sense to know our basic transport infrastructure cannot support 6 millions folks, we are not there yet and it is so bad already. You cannot keep increasing the frequency of train without compromising safety. Besides, there will be heavy congestion at the station, before the previous train passengers could leave the station, the next train arrives with another load of folks.

Suggest these policy makers get down to the ground level and take the public transport everday to work for 3 months before they come up with practical changes to 'improve' the system.

Thus, it is important that policies makers do not just sit in their high chairs to come out with drastic policies base on projection numbers. Oftentimes, these projections can be way off the mark. Damage control decades down the road may not undo the harm done over the years.

More on Public Transport

2010-04-30T23:26:00.000-07:00

Is recent propose change to have multiple transfers and do away with long distance bus route motivated more by profit and cost rather then efficiency and benefits to commuters ?

Have thoughts been given to our aging population of senior citizens ? Is it not inconvenient for them to make multiply transfers to get to their destination ? They have mobility problem and with these changes, likely it will discourage them from being active citizens and/or continue working till past 65 years old, which the government has been encouraging them.

Our basic public transport infrastructure has been overtax in recent years due to the substantial increase in population. Making more transfers likely will incur more waiting time, not less. For example our MRT is often so packed, one have to wait for the next train before one can get on it.

Then can we board the 'short' distance transfer bus service is another big question mark. Buses nowadays are packed to the 'brim' even at the interchange during the morning peak hours.

MRT commuters living in the East and West making a transfer at Outram or Dhoby Ghaut station, respectively, to broad the North East train has to walk a long distant in order to boarding platform. It is time consuming and a hassle. Thus, how can this be improving the quality of the journey ? In this case, MRT as a mode of transport is not elderly friendly compare to a a direct bus journey.

Common sense has it that it is more tiring and stressful to make numerous transfers for our daily trip to work and back home, even if we leave the high cost incurred out of the equation.

Do these folks penning policies about public transport know what they are doing? Have they taken public transport often enough to know what the average commuters are experiencing?

Singapore is only a small island. 'Long distant' bus route is the result of poor planning. They should solve the problem at its root instead of creating more hassle for the commuters.

Sense of Pride

2010-04-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

I felt a sense of pride when I read that S'pore will not be renewing one of the water supply contracts with Malaysia which is expiring.

Hurray, we are moving towards the stage of being self-sufficient. Malaysia can no longer 'blackmail' us with our country's weakness of being water dependent.

Our country fair well in the face of adversity. It is in moments like this I appreciate the foresight of our government.

The Birds did it long before us !

2010-04-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

One of the scene that left an impact from the BBC documentary movie, Earth, is the migratory birds traveling thousands of miles and flying over the highest mountain range in the world - the Himalayas. They flew from the north east to India to escape the harsh winter.

They have to soar to great heights and overcome the chilling wind turbulence to cross the mountain range. To see them flapping their winds with every once of strength in their body against the wind is moving. Here we are talking about endurance and determination of the birds that great athletes possess. In fact such admirable qualities are found in all migratory animals. They travel long distant without food or water, overcoming harsh terrains through sheer determination and survival instinct. Their will to survive is so strong it put us human to shame.

They did it long before man boast of his conquest of Mt Everest. They do it naturally, without training, external warm clothing, compasses and tons of equipment to help them.

They just do it from instinct. Talk about the marvel of Nature.

Is Achievement all about making money only ?

2010-04-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

I attend 2 days out of the 3 days of National Achievers Congress recently. The reason why I skip the 3rd day is - I have had enough already.

All the speakers are trying to sell their 'training' package to you - how to make quick buck in a few minutes or a few months.

This is my 1st time attending the National Achievers Congress, which is held annually over the past few years. Likely it will be my last. Surely achievement is more than just about making money. Measuring achievement solely in monetary terms is very narrow. There are great folks who done a lot for the less fortunate and in environment conservation, they don't make money from such work from the heart.

The pulling factor was one of the speakers is Mr Tony Blair, the formal Prime Minister of UK. He did not disappoint. His speech was well received by the audience as it was full of wisdom and humour. Yes, he is very humourous. He is the saving grace for the whole congress. He is the only speaker whom did not try to sell us anything. After Mr Blair session, I left for good.

The organisers kept the speakers schedule a secret. Luckily Mr Blair spoke on the 2nd day, if not I have to endure more of the same boring stuff on how to make tons of money as a measurement of one's success.

I wonder what the turn out rate is like for the 3rd day. Likely many folks share my view and would make their 'escape' after Mr Blair presentation.

EARTH

2010-04-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

This BBC documentary movie, EARTH is being screened only at Lido. A movie not to be missed as there is of plenty of spectacular scenery.

The movie sends a very strong message of the need for environmental protection. It started with a lovely white scene of the North Pole, with a Polar bear emerging from her den with her 2 little adorable cubs. The mother bear had lost half her body weight over the winter period. She still could not rush off to feed as she had to care for her cubs.

Meanwhile the 'daddy' bear was off to his usual seal hunting ground. Unfortunately with the global warming, the ice broke up under his feet and he ended up swimming in the sea. The bear sensing there was no prey if he swimmed back to shore, choose to swim 'forward'. He landed on an island full of walrus.

Polar bear hunts for seal which is its main diet. However being desperate with hunger, he tried to prey on the walrus which is as strong and hugh as him, besides having 2 dangerous tusks. At first he tried attacking the pups, but then the adult walrus quickly formed a proctected barrier around their youngests. The bear then tried to attack the adult walrus with the little strength left.

The movie ended with the sombre scene of the feeble bear dying in the foreground. In the backgroud was the colony of walrus. It is an irony - so much 'food' and the bear died of hunger. The situation reminds one of those lost at sea - surrounded by plenty water but not a drop to drink and dying of thrist.

Many of the animals, like the polar bear could not adapt to the changing environment. Even if some of them can, it takes time for adaptation to set in. But our environment is changing at such a fast pace. Thus, many animals could be facing extinction in our life time. The movie narrator warned that if global warming continues, polar bear will be extinct by 2030.

I was pretty upset by the bear dying scene. I heard a child in the cinema asking her mother in disbelief 'Did the bear die?' I can't help wondering if the BBC crew helped the bear or notified some animal groups to help it. After all Polar bear is an endanger species. Yes, I do understand they are trying to capture the 'reality' on film and hopefully it could boost the environmental cause. But it just did not seems right to not do something about an endanger species and let it died in front of the camera.

The movie captures many species of animals over different seasons and in many parts of earth. Just that I choose to focus on the polar bear scenes and link them together as I believe this is the message the BBC film is trying to get across to the audience.

More on violent

2010-04-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

In my previous blog I was disappointed with a radical religious group for being so violent as to want to kill off a cartonist over his drawing. Now it is reported that another religious group is causing havoc in the well known university which is located in Pakistan. They too resort to violent to resolve issues. They beat a professor till he was unconscious for expelling them for their unruly behaviour.

An intolerant, aggressive minority group is terrorising the whole university of 30,000 students with their aggression. They block music classes, ban Western soft drinks and beat up male students for sitting near female students. Basically they are the one controling the university from its dormitories, cafeterias to snack shops.

They are like dictators, monitoring fellow students movement in dormitories and using religion as an excuse to bludgeon anyone who disagree with them as anti- religion.

These hooligans are using a place of study to perpetuate their 'brand' of faith. The university adminstration has her hands tied as this radical group has political backing. It is a case of a reputable university being ruin by selfish politicians.

Does giving a rebate work ?

2010-04-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

I am delighted to hear that NEA is finally making a stand to require all supermarkets to do something about the tons of plastic carrier bags they issued out to customers each year.

NEA proposal is to get the supermarkets to rebate a token sum to those who bring along their own shopping bags. However, this approach may not work.

We know psychologically people are more adverse with parting with their money than being rewarded monetary.

Thus, charging them for each bag issues will be more effective than giving them a rebate.

NEA could gauge the effectiveness of their proposal through statistic available from NTUC Fairprice which currently only implement the green exercise to encourage folks to bring their own bag once a week on Wed.

The rebate strategy would not work if the statistic reveals that :-

1) There are less folks shopping at NTUC on Wed compare to other weekdays

2) The number of shoppers who bring along their own bag on Wed is less than those who do not.

If either of the conditions is met, it only shows that people avoid shopping because they have bring their own bag and the rebate does not entice them at all.

Thus, for any new green implementation to make an impact, it has to take into consideration people's psychology regarding monetary 'losses' and 'gains'.