Hammered by the Hammer - MP Yaw

Latest update: MP Yaw Shin Leong got the hammer, er boot by the Workers' Party (link here).


Mixed feelings for me. Good call by WP to uphold integrity, transparency and principles. Bad call because he is a good MP.


Who says Singapore politics are boring?!!

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Something I had in mind but never blogged when the case was brought up. Thanks to Redbean's blog that I have put my thoughts in his comments. I'd share it here:

To put the matter straight, I will like to state that I do not condone infidelity. Affairs outside marriage not only affect both parties but immediate families and kids.

Anyway...

It is funny how Singaporeans pick on 'yet to be proven' Yaw's infidelity and go on a witch hunt. Hmmm don't we have anything else better to do than to be judges? What crime did he commit?

Again I stress that I am not condoning his adultery, if assumed he did commit it.

Seriously if the affair had taken place in the past and he had since reconciled with his wife, what is the main issue to bring it up again? If his wife doesn't condemn him, who are we?

This event clearly shows that:

• Singaporeans are generally not 'politically mature' enough to differentiate between political integrity and personal discretion.
• We don't know what constitutes personal space vs public figures, and privacy vs rights.
• We act no better than any paparazzi in digging past faults, and could jolly well end up like the ones who killed Princess Diana. We actually love to see 'blood spilled'.
• We are deprived of good journalism with good insights and smart analysis. We have been fed too much with the MSM's style of dirty politics against oppositions and being the PAP's mouthpiece.
• We have problems seeing our own shortcomings and sit on a high horse to sprout judging words or advice nobody cares. Sound familiar to a 90-yr-old man I once admired.

Stop this nonsense witch-hunting and fuelling useless talks of scandals.

C'mon Singaporeans - we can do better than that!

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Why don't you be the first to 'kee chiu'?

I read with bemusement at what Acting Minister Chan 'Kee Chiu' Chun Sing had said (see article below and in Today).

This is my response to him:

It is so easy for you to waive away the real reasons for joining politics. You are after all on the winning side - the incumbent party that forms the majority of the government. And the grossly overpaid minister.

In case you had forgotten your status, let me remind you - you are already in a position to command the astronomical sum of salary as a minister and receiving that sum of money every month. You are probably one of those who beams with delight whenever you receive your CPF statement.

Yet you trumpet exactly like someone who eats abalone daily and goes about boasting "I don't really need to eat abalone".

*sarcasm on* Gee, you really are so full of humility. *sarcasm off*

Here is my suggestion -
Why don't you grow some 'balls' and volunteer "I really am into joining a team that is not in it for the money. I, hereby declare today that I will take a salary of SGD250,000 annually."

*muted silence* Hello, anyone from PAP camp? *muted silence*

Why don't you be the first to 'kee chiu' and lead by example?

Like the army lingo goes - don't just 'talk cock, sing-song'; talk also must 'walk the talk'. If not it is just NATO (no-action, talk-only). Talk is free and cheap.

Translate: Simply means 'walk the bloody talk', can?!!

Frankly speaking Minster Chan, sir, no offence here -
I lost a huge chunk of respect for you when I heard your maiden speech during the General Elections 2011 last year. I felt you were trying too hard to impress and you definitely did not grow on me.

I was advised to give you time to prove your worth.

With these words you had mouthed in the article, in one fell swoop whatever opportunities and chances of changing my perception were lost. I would not even want to mention your name after this post again.

To me, you are just similar to many-a-mouthpiece I have been listening to all my life. You all come from the same cookie-cutter, 'manufactured source'.

Tell me something new, Minister Chan. If you think I have erred in my words, prove me wrong.

But before that, allow me to predict what the Salary Review outcome in Parliament will be:

Motion passed to accept the Salary Review Committee's recommendation

Is there anything new?

Just like the Transport Fare Review Committee. Just like the recommended $125mil flood map system. Just like "GST to help the poor".

Tell me something new and prove me wrong.

Kee chiu, anyone?
* 'Kee chiu' in Hokkien dialect means 'to raise a hand and volunteer'.


Point of note:
Spare me from your everyday examples like eating at hawker centres. Seriously you PAP suck big time at these because you sound so disconnected these days.


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Political salaries: The key is to find the 'right balance'
Monica Kotwani 

SINGAPORE - Pay is not an issue for the team in government, Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing said yesterday as political salaries took centre stage in the first ministerial community visit held since the General Election.

This has been his experience, he said, when asked whether the expected cut in ministerial pay would make ministers less motivated.

He said: "I don't think any one of them comes here for the money. They come here to provide a better life for the next generation ... One of the reasons I stepped forward was because I knew I was joining a team that was not here for the money."

The key is to find the right balance, he added.

"Money shouldn't be the one (factor) to attract them. On the other hand, money should also not be the bugbear to deter them," he said.

"(For example,) you go to Peach Garden, you eat the S$10 XO Sauce chye tow kuay (fried carrot cake), you can be quite happy, right? Because you're satisfied with the service and so on.

"On the other hand, you can go to a hawker centre, even if they charge you S$1.50, you might not want to eat it if the quality isn't good." (read more)

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Sick joke?

I read the recent article by ChannelNewsAsia "Smaller flats do not mean lower quality of living: HDB CEO" (link here).

The first question that popped into my mind was why are we always told what is good for us?

I have always bemused - why are Singaporeans always told we are not doing enough for Singapore in spite of the sacrifices, and when will we be good enough for the country?

Whenever the PAP or some ministries want to push a policy or make a new normal, there will always be reports of how good it is.

What is your agenda, Dr Cheong, seriously?

For example when the PAP wanted to implement GST, there were waves after waves of articles and reports from financial analysts, economic gurus and intellectual professors who will give their $0.02 worth of knowledge - why GST is good for Singapore.

Ultimately it boils down to 'GST is to help the poor'.

All my life in Singapore, it has never been the PAP's fault when something screws up. It has always been us, the surf citizens. To them, we are the big problem. They are the cure. We do not follow their policies well enough thus the PAP has to make hard-line polices and bitter medicine. For our good, they say.

We don't pro-create, we put too much emphasis on our careers, we want good lifestyle, we want to own a car, we want to get a flat, etc.

But pause a moment and think about it. All these issues we are currently facing can be traced back to bad PAP policies.

Take for example, emphasis on careers. The drive during the 80s and 90s was to be No 1 in everything. When I say everything, it literally means everything. Second is not good enough.

From education hub to financial hub to tourist hub, we had to be the best. Best airport, best seaport, best education system, best politicians (where we had the salary reviews and hikes) and best worker (increase of productivity, cheaper and better and faster).

There were strong undercurrents by the powers-that-be to sell the top professions of doctors, lawyers and engineers. All these were to line graduates up to meet to the economic demands and growth. Every mother's son want to be some scholar, doctor or lawyer. Even my brother was not spared. Anyway I have always been the odd one out but that's a different story.

Another example, owning a place to live. The PAP had a good and well-thought out approach. Every Singaporean will own a flat to live in. A very noble approach and aspiration. At the back of my mind though, I always thought it was for them to take back the kampong lands to free up space.

With the explosive escalation of HDB prices and long waiting queues before getting married (ROM first then ceremony later), our young couples had to work hard to put a down payment for flats they have yet to live in.

Mind you, after a couple of years, who wouldn't want a more reduced pace and enjoy the finer things in life when they have achieved a certain level of income?

With kids coming into the picture, this becomes a whole new ballgame. There is another set of challenges like who will mind the babies while they work, the increase of household expenses, the lack and difficulty to travel abroad and sit back and enjoy the finer things in life. These contribute to getting married later in life so as to enjoy a bit more before the challenges set in.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not saying there are no joys in having kids. I have one daughter for the matter. But with the high cost of living expenses and housing prices, how does anyone expect these young couples to pro-create or start a family? Then we have this discrimination against pregnant mothers... gosh that's another lousy manpower policy that hardly protected expecting mothers.

Not long after we have this ex-PM Woody who sold the Singapore dream of 5Cs. Let's all say together - Cash, Car, Credit Card, Condominium and Country Club membership.

Now would not every young person want to achieve a status in life when my PM is encouraging young Singaporeans to pursue their dreams of 5Cs?

Back to the Today article. We now have this CEO of HDB trying to tell us how to live. Smaller is better, she says, because family nucleus is small.

I'm sorry, lady, I don't buy your bullsh*t. If it is so, why are we paying sky-high monies for a 20 or 30-year loan to get a smaller area that is only leased to us for 99 years?

Is this a sick joke? Perhaps I can second-guess your underlying words and agenda.

Basically this is going to be the new normal for HDB; this is your cue to build new smaller flats. With the justification of smaller area units, HDB can now build and squeeze more units into a block of flat and suck up more of our CPF monies.

This is not meant to be offensive. But sometimes jokers do talk a lot of crap.

Just like 'GST is to help the poor'.

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Thanks for the memories

For the oldies and goodies, here is an article (link here) which will definitely stir up nostalgic memories... memories of a bygone era where life was simple and slower with less 'noise'. Defintely not boring though!

I recently visited a toy museum of the 60s and 70s near Arab Street. There is a small entry fee which I felt was worth every cent. I spent a good one hour there, reminiscing the past. I think it's called the Children Little Museum (link). Photos coming soon.

Address: 40 Kandahar Street Singapore 198895 (near arab street)

I remember we used to make games from ice-cream sticks, rubber bands, plastic bags, match-boxes, drink cans, etc. That was until Game & Watch and Donkey Kong came out.

A few mentions which were not captured in the article:

• 10 cents gum bottle (usually either red or blue) with a white cap and a glue stick underneath the cap.
• Pencil boxes with Gundam or other Japanese cartoon characters. The pencil boxes comes with many hidden compartments and was overlaid with buttons that when pressed will either unlock the hidden drawer or pop a door.
• Tube of gluey, sticky paste that comes with a short, yellow stick to blow. Cover one end of the stick with the paste to blow a balloon which looks like a soap bubble.
• Skipping classes to go game arcades with prominent 'School uniforms are prohibited' signs. I had to steal away home clothes in my school bag and change into them at a nearby toilet. The games cost 20 cents to play.

Thanks for the memories.

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Totally disconnect

Recently I read a blog titled "PAP: Stay Arrogant, Stay Clueless" (link here).

It sums up my thoughts about the recent parliamentary session which led to a conclusion that either Singapore has super-smart ministers and PAP MPs whom we can never understand their polices or thinking, or I have smart-ass ones who are absolutely clueless about the man on the street.

It gets even funnier when I read comments from die-hard PAP supporters. It always cracks me up. Usually these fall along the lines of:

• Singaporeans are arrogant. We should not take the current government for granted.
• Don't just criticise but provide alternative solutions.
• Flippant choice of first or third world countries, depending on subject discussed

First and foremost, the general Singaporeans are NOT taking anyone for granted even less so of the PAP government. Most of us are grateful for what they had sacrificed and done over the past 20-30 years when Singapore was just a teeny weeny swampy island.

But we have to learn to let bygones be bygones. There was an era where we survived the risk of isolation and rejection. That said, it is now futile to keep talking about the past when the very present situation has general Singaporeans struggling to survive or fuming about the high cost of living. All these racial riots and communism unrests have their places in in the 60s history.

For the love of the country, I'd strongly suggest keeping those memories there. In the past. I agree we should (and rightly so) glean wisdom and learning points from these unfortunate events but hey, we really have to move on in restrospect of what the current present situation holds and looking ahead to what the future has in store.

To put it bluntly I call this reminiscing of the past - fear-mongering. Time and time again, my PAP ministers use these historical references to bring about fear of what may happen. We are certainly living in a different time compared to our forefathers' era. The rehashing of our past cripples our forward thinking. It becomes blatantly clear whenever the public attempts to connect with the government on pressing issues or when the opposition members question the current policies, someone from the PAP club is certain to preach about our history.

And this leads to one of the main grouses - we, the public, have been trying to reach out to you by voicing our concerns but you diss us with your 'I know it all due to our track record' attitude.

Having said that, you throw in the spanner with 'don't just criticise but provide solutions'.

Allow me to speak straight into your face. Pay me your million bucks and I'll provide you solutions. How often have you made a collaborative attempt to include our voices into your policies? It is always 'bad medicine is good for you'.

In most solution-delivery processes, one must first understand gather the customers' requirements and needs before attempting solutioning.

In simple basic English - LISTEN. Yet time and again, the PAP-controlled government trips up this simple step. We are often recipients of their high-handed remarks. Quite some time ago someone called us 'daft' and in recent times we need 'spurs in our hides'. Your often haughty, one-rule-applies-to-all policies are shafted down our throats with a 'listen up or ship out' statement.

When we tell you large number of Singaporeans are migrating out, you call us 'quitters'. When we tell you the large foreign influx is affecting our lives, you chide us for not being inclusive and in dire need of a social integration mindset. And you kick off programmes to socialise or celebrate their festivals with our monies.

Gee have you been listening? Your thrust of messages is always we need to do something or we are not good enough. This brings about resentful feelings and apathetic responses in our everyday lives. The icing? Your 'we know it best' attitude brings out the worst of you.

Can you the PAP pause and listen to your citizens who are also your customers? For once take a step back and pay attention. Fundamentally we pay you so you had better 'shut your gap' and listen more.

Yet I'm sure we have these 'die-hard' supporters who still swear by PAP even at the face of death with a gun pointing at their heads. I'd reckon the fart from the posterior end of my highly-esteemed godfather is perfume to their nostrils.

So I give you these words mouthed by my 'smarter than thou' ministers and MPs before some moron start to write comments to give me their $0.02 worth of bullsh*t.

1. Housing is affordable.
2. We are 'deaf' to criticisms.
3. How much do you want? Three meals in a restaurant, food court or hawker centre?

These are 'hard- to-swallow' statements. Reeks of arrogance that make me cringe and spit in disgust. Now you wonder why you had a sharp fall in your popularity ratings. You blame the social media, you blame the young generation for not being grateful to the PAP, you blame global economic crisis, you blame foreign newspaper trying to do you in, you blame oppositions for getting a better crop of candidates... You blame everyone except yourselves.

Now don't go crying to the public asking for alternate solutions when you the PAP did not even bother take time to listen from the beginning.

Last but not least, it never fails to irk me whenever a PAP leader or bootlicker flippantly choose between a first-world or third-world country to bring home a point.

To support their million-dollar salaries, they point to CEOs and top leaders of large corporations when I have the US president earning ONE-FOURTH of your salary! And mind you, he has to handle a lot more than you.

Firstly he manages a country many times over the size of Singapore. He deals with global crisis, implementing policies affecting millions of people and banks. His word moves or tumbles the world economy. He and his team handles catastrophic events of earthquakes and hurricanes. And my minister can't even handle minor flash floods.

Gee I think the US president has a pretty bad deal. No wonder a spokesman from the White House once quipped that he would not mind working in Singapore as a government official.

Then you PAPpies go about saying that the leaving presidents of US and UK have offers to give speeches and write books. Seriously apart from Lee Kuan Yew, I wouldn't give a hoot about my ex-president's book.

Why? Because I have absolutely no idea what he has been doing in spite of his four-million-dollar annual salary. I kinda linked him to 'holding babies', shaking hands and taking photos. Pretty expensive job, eh?

And the happiness index raised by the opposition member Sylvia Lim (fantastic speech by the way, God bless her soul). She aptly reminded the government to re-focus on the needs of the people.

What do my PAP politicians say? They put third-world Bhutan country down and alleviate their status about how good Singapore is because of their efforts.

Goondu or what? Are you opposing for the sake of opposing the opposition? You guys seriously ought to have your heads examined.

After watching some clips of the parliamentary seating, some of you left a very sour taste in my mouth

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This is your second chance, Singaporeans

GE2011 is passed. Whomever we have voted, we live with the results of our votes for the next five years. The elected person(s) hopefully will stand for you and represent you in parliament.

That is your concerted declaration. That is your majority decision. That is your collective voice. We, Singaporeans live with the result.

I can only remind ourselves - do we remember the promises made before the elections? When the elections were over and the din settled, did we see the changes we desired? Or are we now beset with a transport hike and utilities increase in a looming uncertain time? Where is the salary review and justification that seems to take ages to announce? Yet hikes were dish-out as if they had decided before the elections had begun, or were they all for show these reviews?

When Singapore's economic outlook foretold good times, we were 'sold' with tales of that high inflation was a global wave and commodity prices and service costs increases were certain. Therefore a rise in cost of living is expected. With the global recession looming around the corner again, we are now forewarned that jobs may be lost and futures are uncertain. We need to buck up and stay together.

All good and wise words. Yet I do not need to be an economic guru to 'foretell' such motherhood statements.

What is more crucial to a man on the street is that the policies enforced by the government and their vision for Singapore's betterment endures through both good and dark times. Not motherhood statements.

Truly Singaporeans, we have been kicked around far too long.

Just two days ago while grocery shopping, I lamented that the food prices displayed on the shelves had increased. I clearly recall that Singapore dollar is still very strong. Does it not mean we ought to have stronger purchasing power to buy imported goods at cheaper prices? Yet I do not see it reflected so but rather saw a higher price in spite of the 'low-price' tag.

For example, a family-sized Cadbury chocolate bar of 200g now cost $4.45 with a 'low-price' tag. I am certain with the strong SGD, it should not be so. I am certain I could even get it cheaper in Australia just on pure SGD-AUD conversion. Baffling, isn't it?

I fail to see petrol prices coming down when crude oil prices are low. Neither do I see cheaper basic food cost like sugar. All the clamour of basic food prices rocketing high were pretty lame as sugar stocks have hit low for quite a while already. Were we sold silly? You bet.

Now we have a chance. A God-given second chance to see a change. A change we want to see.

After which, it will be another 5 years. I doubt we will get another chance like we had in the recent GE2011 - a slew of qualified opposition candidates to give the ruling party a run for their money. Now we have 4 Presidential Candidates to choose from.

Can we sit on the fence hoping for the best to suddenly pop up? Do we not wish someone can hear our voices of displeasure and stand on our side of the fence? Can we vote in a 'group think' president, or even 'neutral' president? Or do we want put a stamp in our time and in this generation to witness a change -

A real change that actually makes a difference.

If not now, when? We have too many 'yes' men and rubber stampers already. We may not get a second chance if we do not vote someone who is passionate, outspoken and radical.

Give weight to these thoughts, my dear readers. Whatever the results show, it will be for the next five years.

That is your concerted declaration. That is your majority decision. That is your collective voice. We, Singaporeans live with the result.

My vote is with Tan Jee Say.

Food for thought:
Can you imagine a finance director signing off a waiver on the discrepancy findings of an audit check? Would you allow the accounts department to manage the company's audit and sign-off on it? Yet we seem allow an ex-GIC chairman who is aware of $50billion worth of lost investments to be a candidate for the second security key of our reserves. In my honest opinion Dr Tony Tan should not even qualify from the beginning. I'd say he is the worst candidate as far as track record shows.

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Long working hours but also happy

Since the 2011 Election I have not had time to blog. The usual personal and family commitments and also the switch to a new job with a new role in a completely new industry took most of my time.

Anyway I came across this article posted in 24/7 Wall St (read here) which was written quite some time back in June. The title was 'The 10 Happiest Countries In The World'. The Better Life Index is based on 11 measurements of quality of life including housing, income, jobs, community, education, the environment, health, work-life balance, and life satisfaction.

Well you know where this blog post is heading. Singapore has had so many issues and disgruntlement. Many unhappiness expressed are related to housing, jobs, health, education, work-life balance and satisfaction in life. Throw in income earnings as well due to how the FT policies have embraced the influx of foreign labour which depressed our wages. Gee... with the past years of flooding incidents, environmental issues are a concern these days too.

To sum that article up Denmark topped the list. Next is Canada, followed by Norway, Australia and The Netherlands. A couple of years ago Lee Kwan Yew took a dig at Denmark (see here). I wish he hadn't done that. Denmark till today has a continued success in birth rate and happy citizens. It makes us look so petty and silly right now.

Least to say Singapore was definitely NOT in the list but Australia was. Interestingly according to another article found on the same website, it listed the top 14 workaholic countries (read here). Australia was ranked #2 country with the longest working hours! Ahem, I didn't see Singapore in the list.

I have lived in Australia and I know the Melbourne folks generally continue to work from home after office hours. Either the article is skewed or nobody gives a sh*t about Singapore. Currently Australia's birth rate is at a healthy figure (as compared to Singapore) and like it or not, she is ranked #4 in the Happy Countries list. Unfortunately I can't say that for Singapore.

That goes to show that people can work long hours and yet be happy and productive (both at work and family). This is especially so when they enjoy a good, sustainable income (minimal wage perhaps) with supportive social system in healthcare, housing and retirement.

For all that my ministers and MPs 'sales talk' to try to convince me, I'd say it's a whole lot of bullsh*t. I think Singaporeans have been led for a long, long time. We have been totally cowed under a tightly-controlled regime and immovable education/academic system that bring us nowhere in life. If our education system is so good, why are our ministers' sons and daughters going overseas? Why are foreigners taking top positions in companies?

This authoritative-type of ruling tells us what we ought to think, how we ought to act and what we ought to do. The result? We are generally incapable of thinking smartly and creatively (look no further than the recent Lady Gaga steal for NDP song. It should put any doubts to rest), we hesitate to test new boundaries because we do not challenge the norm, and we are crippled with fear to reach new horizons because failure is not an option.

Seriously looking back at the past decade, though we have progressed in infrastructural developments, we hardly progressed in ideas and mindset.

There is an online joke about putting two men with a beautiful woman on an island (read here). The Singaporean men needs the government to tell them what to do. How true but sad indeed...

The Happiest Countries In The World (taken from the website)

What makes people happy? The question, which has been debated by philosophers for centuries, now is being tackled by international bureaucrats and the results are interesting, to say the least.

24/7 Wall St. analyzed the new OECD Better Life Index to objectively determine the happiest countries in the world. The Index is based on 11 measurements of quality of life including housing, income, jobs, community, education, the environment, health, work-life balance, and life satisfaction. We made “life satisfaction” the cornerstone of our index because it is as good a proxy for “happiness” as the survey provides. We then compared “life satisfaction” scores to the other measurements to find those economic and socio-political realities that had the highest and lowest correlation to happiness.

Read The Happiest Countries In The World

The happiest people in the developed world get loads of social services without having to work too hard. Having abundant natural resources, a thriving services sector and a fairly homogeneous population helps as well. The OECD study no doubt would have had different results had it included politically unstable countries in the Middle East or large emerging economies where political unrest threatens to bubble over such as China.

24/7 Wall St. also looked at one critical factor that the OECD study overlooked — economic stability. Our measure of this was total national debt as a percent of GDP. The figure helps determine a country’s ability to maintain present tax levels and social services. Odds are that countries with high debt-to-GDP ratios are more likely to need austerity policies to reign-in their government spending. Otherwise, their debt costs will soar.

Nations with long-term economic strength can also afford to support employment, education, and make health care widely available. Happiness viewed in this way means that people are more likely to feel better about themselves in Norway, which has almost no debt and great social services, than in Greece, which must slash entitlement spending or risk defaulting on its debt.

Old, stable nations of northern Europe took five of the top 10 spots on our list. These include Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark. Switzerland is also on the list and has many characteristics in common with the Scandinavian countries. The resource-rich, English-speaking countries of Australia and Canada made the cut as well. Noticeably absent from the list are any OECD nations in Latin America, southern and eastern Europe and Asia. Many of the southern European nations like Greece, Portugal, and Spain are in economic trouble and have high unemployment. The employment and education opportunities are not as good in Mexico as in Canada, nor is the access to high-quality health care. Japan and South Korea each have stable societies, but the people in both countries tend to work long hours and have limited leisure time.

The happiest countries seem to be places where there is a good balance of work and leisure time. Not all nations can afford to keep unemployment low through government subsidies. Not all countries can afford to provide universal medical coverage. Not all countries can afford to educate almost all of their children, which in turn supports extremely high literacy rates and builds a population of skilled workers.

The ten nations on this list are rich in natural resources or highly developed service sectors. These are assets which are in short supply worldwide, and that bolsters the foundations of the economies in these countries. Money alone doesn’t buy happiness, but it sure helps.

This is the 24/7 Wall St list of the Ten Countries With The Happiest People, most of which have bought and paid for prosperity because their economies have allowed them to do so. (Read more)

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