Saturday, November 12, 2011

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'.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Life is about the choices you make. You do not need to follow any PAP advice if you don't want to. I'm sure you know friends and relatives who have successful careers and families. For those who don't, is it the government's fault or their own choices. Besides mocking and complaining, have you done anything concrete yourself to "help the poor"?

Anonymous said...

U missed the point. The writer is not merely complaining and mocking. He is just stating plainly the fact that hdb is twisting the truth, how can reducing house size coupled with escalating hdb prices improve quality of life!? Totally nuts co relation !

I do think that by thinking out Loud in his blog, the writer has in his own way done something concrete to help the poor !

Kaffein said...

@Anon3:56*
If I tell you have had given $1.2mil of my earnings to the poor, what does it mean to you? And I have put in 8 hours of charity weekly to 'help the poor', does that mean I am qualified to 'mock and complain'?

I do not need to trumpet out my generosity, or tell the media that my salary increase is to be donated to the charity (as a PM did), or be seen as a minister taking public transport in the newspapers which splashed the photo all over.

What I do privately in my own personal space to 'help the poor' is none of your concern. Btw who made you a self-righteous Pharisee to lord over me with such callous remarks? I criticise because I pay taxes. I blog because I care for those young Singaporean couples whose dreams are gonna be busted by the huge amount of debt over 30 years.

Life is about choices I make. True indeed. Let me share with you the most socially responsible action I have done in my life as a Singaporean citizen:

I voted. With my heart. That was a choice.

Kaffein

*Such haughty comments written by Anon3:56 leaves a sour taste. Oh the nerve of it!

Anonymous said...

The jokes were intended.
It was all the jokers that
were sick.
Born with little or no
conscience in them.
Cannot blame them for their
disabilities to empathize.
All at the Top in Sin are
chicken breeders.
Some called them pigs.
And if they are pigs, we
are still chicken to them.

patriot

Anonymous said...

The present CEO is a HongKonger. Note that the previous boss was also an ex-HongKonger - Dr Aline Tan. So you know what I mean? Not to support or to change anything is like not giving face to a fellow ex and in fact indirectly would be saying Wong's policy was WRONG. Such a 'sabo' would never be allowed as it would be like systemically but surely destroying LKY's illusion of a perfect govt. that would cost votes!

Anonymous said...

The present CEO is a HongKonger. Note that the previous boss was also an ex-HongKonger - Dr Aline Tan. So you know what I mean? Not to support or to change anything is like not giving face to a fellow ex and in fact indirectly would be saying Wong's policy was WRONG. Such a 'sabo' would never be allowed as it would be like systemically but surely destroying LKY's illusion of a perfect govt. that would cost votes!

Anonymous said...

I think you are pretty cool. Bloggers should expect negative comments often - and you do deal with them upfront.

Some bloggers will threaten to reveal IP addresses, edit comments to gibberish before replying, or delete negative comments altogther.

Three cheers for you.

Alan Wan said...

Has anyone ever wondered why HDB wants to build a new HDB Hub for themselves and then abandoned the old HDB building only to have it leased out as private office space eventually ?

Is it because they are so flush with obscene profits from the sale of HDB flats that they can afford to waste public taxpayers' monies just like that ?

Obviously building smaller flats share the same motives as private developers in building shoebox apartments - maximise profits, no?

jack said...

Mdm cheong showed you some statistics.. Are they flawed ?
Flats are smaller and there are fewer people in them so living
space is not compromised.
Is there a basic flaw with
this simple presentation ?

Anonymous said...

JFK once said: Do not ask what the country can do for you, but ask what you can do for the country.

Napoleon once said: The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people.

What have you as a Singaporean done for your country? Are you one of the silent lot?

If you think the ruling party is not doing the right thing, perhaps the right thing you should do is to vote wisely to not remain silent and to insist real democracy, political choice, freedom, accountability and transparency for the country. So, who did you vote in the last GE2011?

Kaffein said...

@Jack,
Statistics are for politicians and powers that be who want to push a certain agenda. I am not saying statistics are bad. As citizens, we must be critical of these statistics and read the underlying purpose of these figures.

Coming back to your point - what is the purpose of these statistics Dr Cheong had shared? Why doesn't she share statistics to show a spacious home will increase birthrates?

In my opinion it is a go-ahead for HDB to build smaller flats. Don't be mistaken, I am not saying it's bad. What I disagree is if the space is smaller, why are we paying the same price? Mind you, a 20-30 years loan is not a trifle sum. Moreover the PAP and ministries have often used these statistics to push their agenda.

When they wanted engineers, they publish articles on how Singapore is short of engineers. When they wanted to a large influx of foreigners, they tell you Singaporeans need foreigners to have jobs and to survive.

When they want their salaries increaed, they show us salaries of successful CEOs and how we needed their 'talents'. When they want us to suck it up and take a pay cut, they tell us we are too expensive and 4x Indian/Filipino FTs can take your jobs.

C'mon do you wish to swallow the whole hook, bait and sinker? I hope we can learn to be critical and discern what the underlying agenda is and decide if it is good for us or not.

Kaffein

Kaffein said...

@Anon_11:47,
Whom did I vote last GE2011? And for the matter PE2011?

Obvious, isn't it?
http://kaffein-nated.blogspot.com/2011/08/this-is-your-second-chance-singaporeans.html

Kaffein

The said...

/// jack said...
Mdm cheong showed you some statistics.. Are they flawed ?
Flats are smaller and there are fewer people in them so living
space is not compromised.
Is there a basic flaw with
this simple presentation ? ///

That is not all she said - the key phrase is "Smaller flats do not mean lower quality of living".

First, instead of $35,000 for a bigger flat, you get a smaller flat for #350,000 - does the quality of living not suffer?

In the old days, a single income family can pay off the housing loan within 5-10 years. Now, a double income family can barely pay off the housing loan in 30 years. Is this better quality of living?

In the old days, the flats are one football field apart with plenty of greenery in between blocks. Now, you have units over-looking each other with your bamboo poles almost poking into those from the opposite flats. Is this what you mean by better quality of living?

Anonymous said...

Anyone who stays in Sin for long will be sick.
Sick in the heart and sick in the head, some call it mad, gila or siao.
So, when a sick person speaks, it is normal to him/herself.

Joke Site said...

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