You litter I litter Everybody Litter

The current debate here is of course the littering problem. Some people are asking why after many years of successfully keeping Singapore clean, it has gotten so bad. Actually, in my opinion, the littering problem has always been there. It just got swept away (pun intended) by a task force of cleaners.

When the PM first talked about the littering problem at the recent Laneway concert at the Garden by the Bay, a lot of fingers were pointed at foreigners. But really, is it really the foreigners that are contributing to all the litters here. I sorry and sad to admit that it is likely not so. The way I see it, most of the litters here except for certain specific areas where foreigners of similar nationality hang out, most of the litters are generated by us local.

I talked about the smoking and littering problem outside my office previously. The people who hangs around there and smoke are from the 2 office buildings next to it. Some of them are my colleagues as well. And 99% of them are locals. In fact, I once saw the security guard at my building dump his breakfast bag there! Beats me why he couldn't throw it into the bins in the building?

On my runs during the weekend, I often see litters left behind by people who had appeared to stay overnight at the park. One time there was a whole lot of Macdonalds wrappers and cups at the Punggol Waterway. Then there is the perpetual lot of rubbish at Alexandra Arch. Beside it being featured prominently in the papers, on the 2 occasions that I was there over the last 2 weekends, the litters were at the same place. Obviously somebody must have decided to have a overnight picnic there. Foreigners? I don't think so. The domestic maids will have to go back to their owners' place. The construction workers all have curfew and definitely have no money to drink so much. And even if they do, they are at Little India, Beach Rd, Tanjong Katong but not the neighbour parks. Rich expatriates? I don't see people like them hanging out on a overhead bridge in the middle of the night. A good example is the void deck of HDB flats. Who hangs out there overnight talking and drinking until the wee hours? And leave everything on the table for someone to clean up thereafter? Foreigners? I think most Singaporean know the answer to that.

And it is the same scene everywhere. At the beaches, at the bus stops, in the cinemas, in the parks and even in the trails. I think the big problem we people here have is not, contrary to what the press is saying, that we have this thinking that somebody will clean up after us, but is that we are by and large selfish and inconsiderate and ill bred. The littering problem persists because us Singaporean do not care. Simply bochap about the environment. Just wait at the bus stop and observe. See the student drinking? Watch when the bus comes along, just leave it on the bench and board the bus. Same with the uncle fisherman at the beach. Catch the fish and leave the small fish, newspaper, drink bottles behind. Same with the kids who drinks at Clark Quay and Alexandra Arch. And after every movie, look at the amount of trash left on the seat and floor. At my place here, there is a resident who will leave his/her trash in the corridor! And the central rubbish bin is like another 10 steps away! Fact is we have a first class economy but a third class mindset.

To lick the littering problem, another round of campaign is not going to work. People are too well educated nowadays for this type of goosebumps inducing campaign. What we need is more enforcement, heavier fines and more prominent Corrective Work Order. The only way to nit the problem. Fine them and shame them. Sad but the only way to go.  

Not in my own backyard again? But....

When the news first broke about the ruckus concerning the temple and columbarium in Fernvale, Sengkang, I though not again. These not in my own backyard thingy again! What is the big deal? After all, many temples and even some churches in HDB estates have columbarium and provide funeral services. So what is the big fuss about?

Then upon further reading, I realised that this one is different.

The "temple" will in fact be run by a private entity and not a religious organisation. In fact, it is a company listed on the Stock Exchange of Australia and the business of the company is providing funeral services. In fact in its announcement to the ASX, it stated clearly that "securing the land is integral to Life Corporation's expansion plans and strategic direction to provide a full suite of premium funeral services. Life Corporation intends to embark on a exciting new project to construct a Chinese Temple with an integrated state of the art columbarium on the land"

From what I can gleaned from this short sentence, it looks like it will be similar to the Nirvana columbarium in Choa Chu Kang in concept with the main emphasis being the provision of columbarium services rather than religious services. After all, providing religious services is not going to make money for the company. Selling of niches and providing the ancillary services like prayers on occasions like the Seventh Month and Qing Ming will. The other thing that reinforce this view is that the published photo of the proposed building certainly do not resemble any Chinese temples. If anything, it looks like just any state of the art building which, looking at the brighter side for the affected residents, actually might just mitigate the issue a little bit.

The HDB has now come out to state that it does not restrict any type of organisation from bidding for land zoned for religious purposes as long as it is ultimately used for that purposes. But this is drawing a fine line here. If this trend continues, other companies with deep pocket will also set up division to bid for land parcels meant for religious use and use it to provide for profit business. What they just need to do is to throw in a little sweetener like employ a full time priest to do some prayer now and then and volia! Sit back and watch the money roll in. After all, nothing is as certain as taxes and death.

Bidding for land for religious use should be restricted to registered religious organisation and charities. Private companies should not be allowed to participate in such exercise. If not, soon all temples and churches will not be able to build new buildings as I don't see how they can outbid commercial business. 

Of course now that the tender has been awarded, I don't see how HDB can do an aboutturn so what they need to do now is to strictly ensure that as stated in the press release, provision of ancillary services like the columbarium will be kept to only 20% of the total land use. Also the MP for the area has stated that the place will not be used for funeral services. If that is the case, I will foresee that the place will not be able to generate enough revenue to cover the cost of the land and the construction of the facility and will not be profitable and if that is the case, whether the company will still want to go ahead with the project. After all, if a funeral company cannot provide funeral services, what other things can it do there to generate income?

Of Rats, Cats and Dogs

The rats at Bukit Batok have been hogging the headlines for the past week. The authorities and pest controllers have been blaming the people there for the infestation. It seems the people have been feeding the stray dogs and the leftover food have attracted the rats which it seems is enjoying life there. Of course the people who are feeding the dogs are denying that the problem was caused by them..

The way I see it, the rat problem at Bukit Batok is the same as the monkey problem at Bukit Timah, the stray dogs problem at Punggol and other places and the crow problem at food centres. What they have in common is that all these are caused by us human. 

Like the monkey problem, we human have encroached into their territory. While that would have ordinarily driven them further into the remaining forest, we human decided to feed them. And when the monkey got used to human food and human presence, they start to move into our area and the conflict with human then begin.

Ditto the stray dogs problem. Most of these dogs are the offspring of previous house pet kept by people living in farms and kampungs. When these people were resettled into HDB flat which does not permit keeping of large dogs, the dogs were abandon and left to fend for themselves, Left alone, the dogs starts to hunt and breed and become progressively aggressive as they fight to survive.

The cats have the same problem. But fortunately for the cats, there are many cat lovers who feed the cats daily. So all the cats need to do daily is to sleep and eat.

Which brings me to the rats and crows. What has these got to do with the monkeys, dogs and cats. I believe in the theory of the survival of the fittest. My theory is this:

• Human feeds the monkey, stray dogs and cats.
• The monkey, dogs and cats become well fed and indirectly "domesticated". Because they are well fed, they lost their ability to forage and hunt and with more time on their hand, they end up doing what comes naturally to all living beings - reproduce.
• So we end up with 2 new problems - growing population of monkeys, stray dogs and cats
• And the growth of pests like the rats, crows and cockroaches. Why? Because the dogs and cats are well fed, they no longer need to hunt. Here in Singapore, there is not much other creatures down the pecking order below the dogs and cats excepts the birds, rats and  cockroaches. And since the dogs and cats are not eating these pests, they are allowed to breed with no natural prey to curb their population. 
• Compound that with the indiscriminate feeding of the strays with leftover not removed which means a steady stream of food source for these pests, what we have is a blooming growth in the population of rats, cockroaches and even crows and bingo, problem like those at Bukit Batok!

Nature has its own way of dealing with problem. But when human steps in and upset the eco system, what we get is nature goes haywire. And we see it everywhere all over the world - leopards going into villages, snakes creeping up toilet bowls, locust infestation, 

The way to deal with the rat problem after the pest control has done it job? Stop feeding the stray dogs and cats. Certainly the weaker animals will die. But the stronger animals will be forced to hunt. And when they start hunting, they will have less time to mate. Which means less strays. And they will also eat up the pests which will help to control the population of rats and crows and other pests. And over time, everything will balance out. 

Just take a look at this video. This is what I mean when we allow Mother Nature to do its job.

The Sim Lim Saga

Like everybody else in Singapore or rather those on the good side and not the dark side, I feel very pissed off that the law as it currently stands is allowing scumbags like those shop owners in Sim Lim, People Park, Lucky Plaza and even Peninsula Plaza to get away with scams and high handed tactics. While I don't really like the idea of vigilante justice, I think this is one time that I am glad some people has took it upon themselves to help Singapore get rid of these scum while our politicians and government twiddle their times and do nothing but make empty threats. 

The only thing I don't quite like is these people exposing the identity of the relatives of the Jover Chew guy. Was it really necessary to get at him through his family? Surely it would have been easy enough to just go after him. Collateral damage is not always a good thing or a necessary evil.

Sometime I think if our city is not so guai and law abiding, we could have got a few gangster, go into the shop with baseball bats and smash everything inside the shop to pieces. And while they are it, maybe a leg or two as well. Problem solve. But we are not, and short of amending the law which is gonna take another few generation of procrastination by our politicians, is there any other way to stop people like them? I think there is if CASE is more assertive and take the lead.

1. For starter, instead of just putting up notices at the entrance of the mall and on its website, CASE could with the co-operation of the MCST put up notices outside the shop premises where shoppers will be bound to see it. As these notices are in the common area, the shop owner will not be able to remove it.

2. CASE can also persuade the credit card companies and banks to cancel the credit card and electronic payment facilities to these business. As the scam involves mostly tourists and foreigners, this will impact a significant chunk of their business

3. Work with the telcos to install proximity devices near the shop and to send SMS alerts to shoppers within the vicinity of the shops.

4. Police can also be more pro-active. Obviously even no matter how stupid our policemen are, I am sure they can smell a scam when they see it. Just that more often than not, they are too lazy to do the dirty work. Instead of telling the victims to file a civil complain or take it up with CASE or the Small Claims Tribunal, why not invite the errant shop keepers to drink kopi. Do it often enough and these people will get the message.

Of course I doubt CASE will do all of the above. After all, it is just a toothless cat (I don't even consider it a tiger). Sama sama the Police. Or at least until one day when an angry victim turn violet and somebody gets physically hurt. Meanwhile, our politicians who are twiddling their thumbs must be very proud and happy that we made it onto another international list. The "Advisory Warning List" of some countries. I am quite sure that  this is another first for us and something to add to our growing list of "accolades".

The Ugly Side of Us

At the just concluded Hello Kitty Run, there was a big hue and cry over some perceived "faults" created by the event's organiser. But is it really the fault of the organiser? My take on this event here but in general we Singaporean can be pretty ugly and downright unreasonable.Let me relate some personal encounters with these people.

Now as most people who have attended AGM knows, there is a big group of shareholders who are super horrible in their behaviour at the buffet table. Take this AGM that I went to recently. The company had put 4 servers to each table to serve the food. I understand this was necessary because in previous years the shareholders "tabao" the food even before everybody else had eaten. So the server were distributing the food and even the utensils. But did that deter the shareholders? No. One man stood in front of the dessert section and just used his hand to keep picking up the kueh and eating it there and then. And despite the server's polite request to queue up, he continued to just stuff his face like a hamster with the kueh! Another lady went straight for the fruit and in her rush to get the fruit, she toppled the whole plate onto the floor! Another man went behind the servers and stood between them and help himself to the food! And many other just use the toothpick on the finger food to pick up the other foodstuff because the cutleries was being distributed last! It made me sick just to see them eat. One shareholder even commented drily that they were shareholders and not beggars but nobody seem to be listening or feeling ashamed.

Another time at an outdoor event, it started to pour just like in the Hello Kitty Run. The place was crawling with children and their parents and everybody rushed into whatever shelters that were available. One of the tent was reserved for VIP and guests but did the people care? No, they didn't. They just went in. Of course because the rain was so heavy, the security personnel did not turn the public away and so what did the public do? They started eating all the food that were meant for the VIP and the guests. At another tent, a sponsor had prepared some food for some children from some children home. A few parents just snatched the food for themselves despite being told that the food were meant for the children from the homes!

Another time another event. Participants had to produce a coupon to redeem a gift. Those who did not tried their luck anyway but were  turned away. It got so ugly with one lady even throwing money at the poor chap giving away the items and saying she has the money to pay for it so why can't she get one!

So when I read all the unreasonable demands that is popping up in social media on the Hello Kitty saga, somehow I don;t think it is the organiser's fault but the problem lies with the people themselves!

The Vocal Majority vs the Silent Minority

It would appear that the whole Singapore is unhappy with the policy on CPF, the transport system and generally everything about the PAP government judging from the numerous rantings on social media. And practically every social political web pages are anti-PAP. So it would seems that way doesn't it?

Likewise in Hongkong. Judging from the thousand of protesters gathered in the various places in downtown Hongkong, it would seem that the whole of Hongkong are with the students and want the China government to give Hongkong more independence. But then somewhere along the line, some detractors have came out strongly against the protesters so it looks like not everybody is with the protesters after all.

We were in Scotland during the last 2 weeks leading up to the referendum vote for independence from the United Kingdom. Everywhere we go, we see people campaigning for the "Yes" (independence) camp. There were street rallies, marches, flags, posters everywhere, on the street, in the shop, at farmland and we even saw a Yes sign in the middle of a farmland and the sea.

These are just some of the photos we took of the campaigning.

In contrast, we can hardly see any campaigning for the "No" camp. There was this brave chap who could go up to people with the YES sign and try to speak to them. All he got was nasty looks.

So it would seems that the majority of the Scots want independence. But yet we know that was not the case cos in the end the referendum motion was defeated by a majority vote. And a quite significant margin too. 

So things are what it seems when there are a lot of people who kpbu everyday. Never ever underestimate the power of the silent majority.

There something called "Choice"

Our little red dot is making it to the international media circuit again. Probably apart from Brazil, we are getting the most laugh internationally for all the things that are coming out from our shore. And I am not talking about the STPB made in Philippines' video or the National Council on Problem Gambling.anti gambling during World Cup 2014 advertisement.

The National Library's decision to withdraw 3 children books in response to public feedback that they are not "pro-family" is getting a lot of flaks from angry citizen and a lot of ridicule from the rest of the world. And in what must be a first for the government and the NLB, some writers are withdrawing their support and co-operation with the NLB in protest against the actions by the NLB.

Of course as in everything, there are 2 camps for this saga. One side is the so called "pro-family" camp who I suspect are actually not so much pro family but anti LGBT. The other  camp surprisingly is not the LGBT camp but the anti censorship camp. There have been arguments thrown back and fro - in the main steam media, social media and debate in companies and coffee shop. The gahmen has weighed in that the NLB was only responding to "community noms" whatever that mean.

Personally, I haven't read the 3 books and probably never will. But I am pissed that the NLB is allowing a few individuals to dictate what the rest of society can read. To me its not about the content of the books. It not about the LGBT movement. In fact I am very much anti-gay because I think the gay community is predatory and engage in sexual grooming of the young kids. But I don't care which hole they want to poke and what they want to suck. Its their lives after all.

But when some individuals hiding under the disguise of  "pro family" try to dictate what the larger community can read or watch, then it is not right. Just what exactly is pro family anyway? Isn't a single mum with 2 kids, 2 parents living together a family? How about 2 orphaned brothers staying together? They not family? So I find this demand by these people very silly and disgusting.

There will be always something that we don't agree with. Some of them are pure illegal - like porno, drugs and bomb making - these are things that should be banned for the greater good of the society. But where do you draw the line when it comes to other things that are not so clear cut? This is where there is something called "Choice". Yes even in dictatorial Singapore where the gahmen dictates most of what we can or cannot do, we still can make a lot of choice.

So we can choose to read a book or choose not to read it if we don't like its contents. We can choose not to watch a movie if we don't like the subject, the actors or the plot. We can choose what radio program to listen to and so on. Singapore is already stifling enough. We don't need any moral policeman running around telling us what we can or cannot read. If this continue, we end up like some Middle Eastern countries where there are characters going around telling women what they can or cannot wear.

So to those morons who keep writing to this agency or that to complain, you have a choice. If you don't like the naughty deejays on the radio channels, there are at last count at least 6 other radio channels to switch over to. Don't write in to complain every time you hear one of them made a dirty joke. If you don't like a particular movies because there are scenes of people doing things that you do not like to do to your partners, don't ask for it to be banned. Just don't go and watch it. And if there are any books with contents that offends you or may "corrupt" your children, pick another book. The NLB has millions of  books. 

And talking about corrupting the children, some of these people have argued that their children may pick up the books themselves, read it and get the wrong idea. Therefore they must be protected. Get real people. Children especially those who goes to the Children section are too innocent to understand the contents fully. Using the Tango book as a example, the children will be thinking what wonderful penguins the 2 male penguins are to take in an orphan. I am very certain that they are not going to wonder whether they will become gay just by reading the book. 

But the other thing is, as parents, it is our responsibility to teach our children the right values. We cannot protect them from all the evils in the world. Our job is to teach them how to discern what is right and wrong. And if they innocently stumble on something that is undesirable, rather than try to brush, use the opportunity to discuss the situation with the child. Don't try to will it away because it will never work.

Of Strange Requests and Rude Customers

Recently, the Minister for Foreign Affairs shared some quirky demands of Singaporeans made at the overseas missions. He described this as the "entitlement mentality" of some Singaporeans. 

The people at the embassies and missions are not the only people who have to deal with such unreasonable demands. In my almost 30 years of working, I find that more and more people are behaving very unreasonably and demanding. As people becomes more educated, their expectations and demands increases and woe befall whoever gets in their way of getting what they want or should I say, demand. They will threaten to complain to Senior Management, the Authorities, write to the press, go to the MP ......

Dealing with unpleasant people and situation is part of my job but still sometimes these people get me so pissed off that I will return as good as they give. And I don't take kindly to threats of any nature. I for one do not subscribe to the thinking that "the Customer is King". As far as I am concern, if a request is reasonable and can be accommodated, we will try but there is a limit to what we can agree to. Let me share some examples of unreasonable demands that I got from customers in the past few years.

1. A customer was at the banking hall to perform some transaction. By the time he completed the transaction, it had started to rain. He then demanded that the teller give him an umbrella.  People always assumed banks have umbrellas to give away as gift but that is not always the case. At the time, the company had no umbrellas to give away so the teller was not able to accommodate his request. There and then in front of other customers and staff, he started yelling and shouting and threatening to complain to the authorities. But there was no free umbrella to give away and in the end he walked away empty handed. Sure, the staff would have loan him one of their own but that was going beyond the call of duty and not expected of them. 

2. One of our branch has safe deposit box facility. The facility closes at 4.30 pm sharp in line with our business hour. About 4 pm, a customer called the branch and informed that he was on the way to the airport in the evening and would like to access his safe deposit box at about 7 pm while he was enroute to the airport. Naturally the staff at the branch told him the branch closes at 4.30 pm and they could not wait for him. But regardless, he still turned up about 6.30 pm and demanded to be let in. By then, there was only 1 staff left and there was no way for security reason that he could open the facility for him. He kicked up a big fuss, accused the staff of poor service and eventually wrote a letter of complaint to Head Office. 

3. A customer had bought a property. She managed to sell it soon after but like all property loan contracts, there was a lock in period where a penalty has to be paid if the contract is broken. She asked for a waiver of the penalty. We perused her contract, worked out our costs and looked at her sale contract and determined that we will lose money on this deal if we waived the penalty. Furthermore, she had made a tidy sum from the sub-sale of the property. So we turned her request down. That was when from a polite voice over the phone, she turned into a witch. She cursed me since I was the one speaking to her, cursed the company and told me that the day my company closed down, she will be standing outside our front door cheering and clapping! 

4. in the past, when a person wants a loan, he will go to the bank, sit meekly before a stern looking officer to make a case why the bank should lend him money. Nowadays, that is not the case. Of course, nowadays there are no more stern looking officer. What we have now are "relationship managers" but they still do the same job. They have to evaluate the client's request and ensure that the 1001 legal requirements are met before they can give in-principle approval for the loan. In the past, if you don't get the loan, you walk away with your head hung low, despondent as to how to raise that money. But nowadays, customers don't take no for an answer. They scream, shout and threaten the officer. And when all else fails, they write letter of complaints to the authorities or go and see their MP. We even had people getting lawyers to come and sue us claiming that our refusal to grant them a loan results in them losing business deals and thus causing them to suffer loss. Good try but no go. But still they try.

5. Just yesterday, a customer described me as the "worst bank officer" he has ever met. And all because he was unable to pay a debt which we were chasing. That was uncalled for but something that I am so used to that I don't even blink an eye at such "compliments". Now if only there was an award for the most number of rude comments received, I think I will surely win that award!

Jekyl and Hyde Transport Policies

Yesterday for the first time in my life staying in Pasir Ris, I ran into DPM Teo. At the Pasir Ris Bus interchange and he was giving out flyers! This not being election year, it comes as a big surprise. More so, considering that I had stayed in Pasir Ris for more than 15 years in total and had never bumped into him and his entourage all these times - not even during election times.

Turned out he was there to promote the launch of a new shuttle bus that will complement the existing shuttle bus being run by SBS. This is part of a new initiatives launched by the government to augment the current services being provided by SMRT and SBS.

And today I managed to get on one of this shiny new buses. 

Actually it is more a luxury coach than the typical bus. See the interior is just like one of those tour buses that we take to Malaysia.

While I am appreciative of the effort to improve the bus situation, I cannot help but wonder whether the government is getting its public transport policy right.

A long long time ago when policeman worn shorts, the bus companies were private companies. Then the government decided to take over the running of the bus transport system and set up Singapore Bus Services to take over all the routes. And rightly so. The private bus companies were only interested in running profitable routes. The buses were rickety affairs and irregular. When SBS took over, there was a big jump in bus standard. Those days, every time SBS introduces something new, it was always with the commuters in mind. From my home in Margaret Drive, I had direct bus to Orchard Rd, Serangoon Road, Chinatown, Jurong and almost every part of Singapore and all within a 5 minutes walk. Such was the convenience. Then the government decided SBS was a monopoly and hived off the Northern part of Singapore to a new company, TIBS. That was the start of the many weird policies that LTA comes up with since then. How does setting up a new company operating mainly in the north creates competition? I think to this day nobody has any idea.

Then the MRT came along. And this time ostensibly to reduce overlapping routes with the MRT, major bus routes were withdrawn. My bus accessibility to almost all part of Singapore dwindle to almost zilch. And to get anywhere further than the immediate neighbourhood, I had to take a 15 minutes walk to the nearest station. Oh well, the comfort and speed of the train was a fair trade off I suppose, though I still think it weird that the government would deem bus routes to be in competition with train routes.

And as the trains begin to get more crowded as more people are forced to take the trains due to the inefficiency of the buses, the grumbles and complaints started to come in louder and louder. The problem was the buses were not making money as rider-ship went down. And because it was not making money, the bus companies were only willing to ply profitable routes leaving many part of Singapore without any public transport. I had a personal experience once when I was going to Senoko. I took the train to Woodlands to transfer to a bus. After checking the bus guide panel at the bus stop, I set down and wait. And wait. And wait. After over 30 minutes of waiting I checked the board again only to realise that the bus to where I was going only ply during the morning peak hours. So how was people going to go to the area during off peak hours? I took a taxi in but that was not the end of the problem. How do I get out of the area after that? I had to walk! No taxi will come into the area and so I had no choice but to start walking and hope to get a cab along the way. Luckily for me, a lorry stopped and the kind driver gave me a lift out to the nearest train station. And I understand that is the situation for people going to Tuas, Sungei Kadut, Neo Tiew and many other far flung areas and even Marina South. The bus operator simply put priority over profits rather than being a responsible corporate citizen. And I don't blame them. After all, they are private companies and their priority is profits for the company to pay directors' fees and shareholder's dividends.

So after the complains become louder and louder, what did the government do? They allowed the bus companies to run "premium" bus services that ran almost parallel to the train. Errr... wasn't that the reverse of the reasons they cited when they withdrawn the bus routes earlier? To make sure no overlapping! Now the premium buses are charging an arm and a leg to get commuters to town and of course probably making big fat margins in the process judging from the number of such services popping out.

And because the 2 main bus operators refuse to operate the non-profitable routes and refuse to increase the number of buses plying a route, to satisfy the commuters, the government now has to step in and allow private operators to run parallel services like the aforesaid new shuttle bus services. So it looks like we have gone one full circle and is now back to the era of policeman worn shorts again!

So I don't understand the government's policy on our public transport. It is pandering to the whims and fancy of the 2 bus operators. If the bus operations are unprofitable, they should jolly well use their profits from the other divisions that is earning megabucks from advertisements, rentals and private hiring to cross subsidies the non-profitable bus operations. After all, that is what most private companies will do. And if the bleeding continues until they cannot tahan, they should get out and let other companies take over. Asking the government to bail them out with a new financing scheme is tantamount to asking the public to bail out the bus companies. While I agree generally with the new scheme that the government is going to put in place, I hope SBS and SMRT will not automatically be allowed to be part of the scheme and will have to bid for the new routes like all the other companies. Than at least we will see some real competition and hopefully then we will get a good enough public transport system that will really make us think twice about owning the most expensive car in the world!

Your Money or My Money?

What is yours is yours and what is mine is mine, Right? Well in a normal case of ownership, that is true but many times what is so obviously yours is actually not yours. Confused? If something belongs to you, you should have the right to use it any way you want, throw it away or give it away. Right? Err actually not necessarily. I was reminded of this when talking to a colleague. She was pissed off that her adult son had given away his handphone to somebody.  Apparently, it was given to him by her and she was angry that her son did not consult her or ask her permission before giving it away. But I argued, "you gave it to him, shouldn't he be free to decide what he wants to do with it?" But she still insisted that as she was the one who gave him the phone, she has the right to make the decision on what he does with it.

So it is with many things in our lives. The things we have which we think we own, we may not necessarily have full control over it. Like our house. There are rules and regulation governing its usage - from the type of renovation to who can stay in it. Like the money in a fixed deposit in a bank. You are bound by the terms and conditions and cannot suka suka withdraw it without forfeiting part of it. And like the money in our CPF account.

Which is the crux of the kow peh kow bu in town over the past weeks. The gahmen said CPF is our money. But it also said you can only use for certain purposes and you can only withdraw the money when it (the gahmen) decides you can do so. The gahmen also decides how much you can draw out, how much to keep aside and what type of annuity you have to buy with it. Which leaves me kinda confused. So is it our money or the gahmen's money? It kinda sound like my wife when she gave pocket money to the children for their school aeons ago. She will give each one X dollar and then dictate what they can buy with it (only food and drinks). I remembered one particular instance when one of them spent part of it on some stationery items and she kicked such a big fuss over it. So did the money she gave the children belongs to the children or her?

Anyway, back to the is CPF money our money or the gahmen? If we follow strictly the definition of ownership, then it is not our money because we have absolutely no control over its usage. So if it is not ours, then it must be the gahmen right? Well not exactly. At the end of the day (maybe when we die), the gahmen is duty bound by law to give the money to us or our dependants if all the conditions are met. So in that sense, the money belongs to us and is being held in trust for us by the gahmen. Just like a trust fund. So it is our money after all. Just don't dream of touching it unless you need to buy a property, buy insurance, pay for your own/children's education in the local universities, buy stock and shares, unit trusts, invest in gold, pay for medical bills....

Actually hor come to think of it, can use for quite a lot of things leh. Let admit it, without CPF, I dares said the majority of us wage earners will never be able to afford to buy our home, pay for Class A ward in hospital and when we retire, take that lump sum that we are allowed to withdraw and spend it all within 1 year or less on pretty little er-niang in some foreign country. 

So why so much unhappiness? 

Those N95 masks from Temasek

Temasek announced 2 weeks ago that as part of its corporate social responsibility, it was giving away 3 N95 masks to 1.2 million household as well as more to charity homes.

This has got to be the most ill conceived public relation exercise. I don't know which idiot in Temasek came up with the idea of giving away N95 masks to all Singaporean. I suppose the idea behind it is sound but the whole exercise smacked of a failure to plan and think through the process and idea behind it.

1) Why 3 masks when the average household size is 4?

2) And why all households when those more affluent households can afford them?

3) Are these masks part of the stockpile that the government has built up and is distributing now because they are near its expiry date?

4) Why now of all time when there is no haze in sight?

Frankly while I appreciate the gesture, I think it was really not necessary for Temasek to give to every household. I can afford to buy the masks but I know there are many other who can't. Likewise, I am sure those people staying in private properties can afford to pay for them. 

Instead of giving 3 to every household, what Temasek should have done is to send more to those more needy household. Maybe using room size as a guide - say 3 rooms and below. Additional stocks can be given to charity, resident committees, town council, resident committees and community centres to hold and distribute to those who ask for them. That way there will hopefully be less wastage.

Its just a movie!

There is a new movie in town and there is a mini hooha surrounding it. The movie in question is Noah. The Christian are up in arms against it for depicting Noah as a swashbuckling hero. The Muslim in the neighbouring countries has gone one step better. They just ban the movie! 

I find all these chest beating about a movie amusing and yet at the same time irritating. Why are people so sensitive and read so much into a movie. To me, a movie is pure fiction and for entertainment only. I do not think any producer will want to weave a hidden message or retell a historical story without shouting the message out loud like in the movie, Passion of the Christ which was the last movie about a religious figures that claims to be true to its source.

In the current movie Noah, which I must confess I have not watch yet, very obviously from the blurb and what has been put in the trailers, it is not meant to be a faithful retelling of the story of Noah. So I don't understand why everybody who is slightly religious, be they Christian, Jews or Muslim are making so much noise about it.  It just a movie for goodness sake. Just like Transformer, Harry Potter, X-Men, Bruce Almighty and the last movie about a modern day Noah, Evan Almighty.

If people can watch a movie and accept that pig can fly, cars can transform into robots, there is a parallel world where wizard lives with modern day mankind and God is a black guy, then why can't they accept that the Noah in 2014 is not the Noah in the Bible? Just like the monk XuanZang in the 2013 Journey to the West movie is a totally fictitious character from the real monk of the Tang Dynasty.

I find it real sad that people read so much into an innocent movie - like the Golden Compass which was supposed to be anti-Christianity or anti-religion, the Da Vinci Code which offended the Catholic with its so called exposé on Jesus Christ remaining living "relatives". Even the Teletubbies (gay) was not spared!

Seriously for those who really want to watch a real show about some religious guys, go watch a documentary and leave the rest of the world to watch our movies in peace.

Who Hijack MH370?

Now after 7 days the Malaysian Government has finally came out to say that MH370 has been hijacked. But the identity of the hijacker is still unknown. Likewise, the plane and its passengers. Everybody has their theory on what happened to it. Uncle me, however knows the truth.

Generally, in current time, the terrorists are mainly from the African and Middle East area but Malaysia is a friend to the Arabs and so should not be a target of the religious fanatics there. So we can discount the terrorist. Lets go back to the week before the plane disappeared. What major thing happened in Malaysia. Who did the Malaysian's offended? Can't remember?

Maybe this will refresh the memory: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/south_east_asia/AJ201403080041. Yes Ultraman! And what happened after that? Yes the plane disappeared without a trace. How can a plane with so much modern communication technology disappeared totally without a trace. If some terrorist has hijacked the plane, I am sure some passengers will be able to sneak through a phone call or the pilot could have been able to send some secret signal. But the whole damm plane just disappeared off radar.

Me think the only way this can happen is if some supernatural force took it. Like some alien. But we all know ET already went home. And Lt Ripley and the Avengers killed the other aliens. So no more aliens. . And since the Malaysian offended Ultraman King, he took his revenge and carried the plane away. He with his superior skill will be able to jam all the communication equipment on board and carry the plane away. Logical right? 

So the next step is to go to Ultraman land and demand the return of the plane. Problem solved!

Draft Master Plan - Our Future Our Home

I really excited about the draft Master Plan by the URA. For one, golf course is no longer untouchable. The gahmen has announced that it is willing now to let the leases for the golf courses expire if the land are needed for other purposes. But what got me more excited is the attention that is being given to "nature" which comes under Recreation.

Here are some highlights of what the public might expect:

1. 2 new nature areas.

I must admit I have no idea where is Jalan Gemala and Pulau Unum & Betting Bronok but if it means new place to explore and run, I am definitely going to track them down, where ever they might be.

2. A more accessible Kranji Marshes

I have not been here before even though I been to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve many times. Somehow I can't seem to locate this place but hopefully once they make the access easier, I can go there more often. 

3.An extended Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Has the new extension been completed? The poster seems to suggest it has. I going there soon. Time to check out the place again!

Is NS nowadays really that bad?

I was attending this course and somehow the talk turned to NS. One lady started relating her son's story and the lecturer added in with her own son's woes. There were a lot of negativity about it with the main complaint being that their sons were being "victimised" and how bad it was. The lecturer's son even told his mum that NS was National Slavery!

Is NS really that bad? I have been through it more than 30 years ago. My son would have completed his by now had he not signed on. I daresay NS during my time was a zillion time worse than what it is now. After all, I have my son who can keep me in the know about current NS life compared to what we went through 30 years ago.

Those days, we had change parade (now banned). We also had to do star jump (banned), full battle order obstacle (no more), unlimited number of push up (now restricted to 20?) per time. I also understand now the soldiers have to wear arm guard, knee guard when doing field training involving crawling on the ground! My son told me during his BMT, whenever it rain, they have to walk under shelter, and if they are sitting in the field and it gets too hot, the instructors have to move them under shade. And where got such thing as Cat 1 lighting in our days? Recruits no longer have to wash their own plate, do camp area cleaning etc etc and I can go on and on and on.

So what is it that makes it more tough nowadays? If  not the physical part, the mental? Anybody who think the kids have it worse mentally have never met the crazy instructors from the SAF Boys school or the Hokkien spewing instructors where every other word is a reference to some body parts. Try carrying an oil drum (empty no doubt) running to the nearest tree and kissing it! Just like my predecessor before me said NS life during our time was heaven compared to theirs, I think what our kids have now is akin to a holiday camp. Ok maybe boot camp or Outward Bound School.

Nowadays the kids can complain about everything and they got mummy to talk to the PC, OC and even MP whenever they have to do duties, take extra or burn their weekend due to training. My son related to me about one of his BMT mate who cried when he was assigned to do duty on his birthday! My course mate said her son was being victimised and she had to talked to the OC but the bullying got worse after that so she went to see somebody who knew a minister and the bullying ceased after that!

NS has not become tougher. Kids nowadays have become softies. They are so pampered at home and never subject to any punishments or even scolding that they cannot take the rough and tumble life in the military. And with mummy trying to cover their assess whenever something cropped up, I fear for the day when Singapore has to fight a real war. Can we count on these softies or do we have to depend on our pool of Blanga cleaners and Pinoy maids to fight our war?

And oh, please don't tell me NS is a waste of time because Singapore will never have a war. Can anybody dare to say never ever? Try telling that to the Kuwaitis who thought they were good pals with neighbour Iraq until Saddam Hussein decided to steam roll his way into their country!

The Sad Story of Tammy the Puppy

What if Tammy is not a dog but a little child, a toddler? Will we see a statement like that one day?

"Doctors have a responsibility to consider not just the welfare of the patient, but also the concerns and circumstances of the caregivers. Doctors will provide medical advice and administer the necessary treatment to patients, and may at times be called upon to euthanize a patient for various reasons, such as to alleviate their suffering, or if they are aggressive. This is also the practice of the medical profession in the [insert name of countries]

All doctors are trained on the ethics and techniques of euthanasia using the most humane method that is internationally accepted. Before euthanizing a patient, the doctor will conduct the necessary professional assessment and satisfy himself that euthanasia is a reasonable option considering the circumstances. The doctor will ascertain ownership of the patient and discuss with the caregiver the various options available so that the caregiver can make the final informed decision. The decision, however, is ultimately the responsibility and right of caregiver.

In advising the caregiver, the doctor, has to also be mindful of the implications of not acceding to a request for an aggressive child to be euthanized, such as the client's potential distress and safety threats to the caregiver, his/her family, another unknowing adopter or the general public.

MOH has looked into the facts of the case in the media reports. The caregiver had considered alternatives such as putting the child up for adoption before deciding to have her euthanized. The clinic, The [insert name of Clinic], had followed protocol before putting down the child, including discussing with the caregiver the alternatives.

The clinic experienced first-hand the aggressiveness of the patient. Prior to the euthanasia of the child on 7 Oct 2013, other doctors in The Clinic, who examined her also found her behaviour to be hostile, and in subsequent visits the degree of her aggressiveness escalated. On her last visit to the clinic on 7 Oct 2013, she could not be pacified by clinic staff and needed sedation for procedures that required more handling.

While the arrangement between the Orphanage and the adopter is a private matter, MOH would like to stress that only children of suitable temperament and health should be re-homed.

MOH urges calm by all parties concerned, and advises the Orphange to recognise the adopter's good intentions when adopting the child in the first instance and to settle the matter amicably."

Where is our soul, our compassion? Must we cull and kill everything that gets in our way? Monkey, wild boars, dogs, cats... the old and frail? the people of no value to our society? God forbids that we will ever see these days when our society become so callous but sadly I think it will happen. Hopefully, I won't live to see or be one of those who had to be euthanized because I had become "too aggressive" in my demented old age!

Religion and Law

October is Pastor Appreciation Week or so I gathered from my friend in US. Unfortunately, here in Singapore, it will appear that October is pastor bashing week. Or rather, one pastor in particular who has single handledly in one move, wipe off whatever remaining goodwill towards Christianity that the non-Christian has left after the sad saga of the CHC and Lighthouse. 

By now everybody will have known of the challenge that is being mounted by Faith Community Baptist Church against the Ministry of Manpower and the Minister's order to the church to compensate a pregnant employee for their termination of her from her job in the church. For those who are still living in dah dah land, here is the short brief of what happened so far.

There was this married man and this lady. Both worked for FCBC. They had an affair and the lady got pregnant. The man quit the church. She did not. She was asked by the church to forget the man and move on. She refused and after some heeing and hawing, she was fired from her job. One reason given was that she did not breached the implied rule of the church. Another reason was that she was working in the marriage department of the church and her state of affairs was a bad example for other married and to-be married couple. At that point in time, she was already 7 months pregnant. The church did not compensate her for the firing. The lady complained to MOM and after some "investigation", the church was ordered to pay her slightly over $7,000.00 as compensation for wrongful dismissal. The church paid up but has now launched a court action to get a review of the decision by the MOM and quote "the Courts can give guidance on where we stand with reference to the constitutional rights of religious bodies in the management of their religious affairs, which we believe include the hiring and dismissal of staff, the moral standards expected of staff at a level that reflects the ethos and values of the organisation"

The sacking of the woman had already given Christianity a bad name. Where is the compassion, the forgiveness that is always being preached? But having said that, to be fair to the church, I think the church has every right to sack her. She has breached the "rule". Sexual indiscretion is a major no no in many companies notwithstanding that it may not be spelled out in the HR manual. They have counselled her, given her a chance and a choice and she did not bite. So they rightfully terminated her.  But where they went wrong was the failure to compensate her for in lieu notice and in following labour law on termination of pregnant employee. The church argued that its rule book do not allow for compensation in the case of termination. That to me, is pure bullshit! The senior pastors or any other bosses in any organisation will surely have the discretion to waive this and pay out of compassion or pity or whatever reasons they can make up but they failed to do so. Where is thy compassion? 

Now having been slapped in the face by the government, the church like an indignant son who felt he has did not wrong is spoiling for a fight. The thrust of its argument is that the church has a constitutional rights to the management of their religious affairs etc. In simple words, it is saying that it has the right to behave as it deem fits within the rules of its own religious code.

And this is where I find the argument absurd. Let suppose that the Court agrees with the church's argument and rules that the church has the power to enforce its own spiritual code of conduct over its members and employees and that its own law override the country's law. So in this case, the employee sinned (committed adultery) and was fired. Case closed. 

I can imagine what's going to happen next. The Jehovah Witness movement will now come forward and restate it case against its members serving NS. SThe Mormons will said it is their religious rights to practice polygamy. The Islamic movement will want to enforce their hudud laws against their members and the list will go on and on. Is this how we want it to pan out?

The FCBC has stirred a hornet nest that was already buzzing from the CHC crude attempt to finance the Crossover Funds. The rest of the Christian community don't really need this type of adverse publicity. The mega church has grown too big for its boots and is becoming a social menace. Maybe the CHC case and this case is good in the long run if eventually the government steps in to see what really going on behind these million dollar enterprise. 

The Grass is Greener over the Fence?

These days I stopped going online to those social media sites especially those who blog about Singapore. Even on Facebook, there are always people complaining, saying something nasty and bad about Singapore. I mean, if Singapore is really so bad, why then are these people still hanging around? Why don't they migrate and if they migrate, why don't they shut up and stop criticising Singapore when they don't know the true state of affairs here! And if these people think that they want to make a difference, then they should really go and make a difference like join an opposition party, join some non political social group etc and do something to influence change!

Anyway, I too have certain things that I don't like but on balance I think we have a much better deal than the rest of the world and that include the US, Japan etc

1) Housing - Housing prices too high. Too long wait for flats etc etc. Everyday there are people complaining about being price out of owning a flat. These people wants a 5 room flat, condominium right from day 1 instead of upgrading slowly. And many more want to own more than 1 to get investment income. And they compare prices here with properties in say the new Iskandar project in Johor and use that to justify their grouse. Yes I do admit property prices here is ridiculously high but that is to be expected in a land where we have limited space. For those who think prices here are to high, instead of comparing prices here with Malaysia or the outskirt of say Australia, why not compare apples with apples - New York, London or closer home - Hongkong and Japan?

2) Transport - I know the brunching of buses can be frustrating. Waiting for 6 minutes for the next train is a pain in the ass. But hey, we don't need people pushers on the platform to push us in. And unlike property, we compare our transport fare to that of Malaysia and Thailand and claim our fare are expensive. Funny isn't it, how we select countries to suit our needs? But give me our nice clean air con buses and trains any time. Frankly, you couldn't catch me in any of the public bus in our neighbouring countries.

3) Employment - I think the complain here is not so much about lack of jobs but too many foreigners. But then the government heard everybody loud and clear, step in with some measures and now we have a different set of complaints - from employers! Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. The government can't win. I admit I am uncomfortable with the 6.9million projection but I think I take that over the unemployment that is going on in Geece, Spain and many other countres. How many people do we see sleeping on the streets here? I sure there are a few but just go to Japan and walk around Tokyo after dark!

4) Transparency - The government is not transparent. The government does  not consult the people blah blah blah. I agree totally. Sometime, the way the government implement policies leaves me gnashing my teeth in frustration. But honestly, I take our government, high pay and all, over say the UMNO government or the fight loving parliament of Taiwan.

5) Freedom - The government control the press, the government dictates what we can see, what we cannot see, the LGBT has no rights ............. and the list goes on. So much so that people overseas seem to think we live in a police state. But is that really the truth? Do we want to have so liberal gun laws that people are massacred for no reasons other than that some mad people have easy access to guns. Do we want to see man getting married to another and bringing up children in a non-traditional household? Do we want our children to walk into "legalised" porn or marijuana shops? Even in the land of the free, is there true freedom? Phone calls, emails are tapped. Government spies on their own citizens. Newspaper tapped the phone calls of celebrities! Do we really want this type of freedom?

I think the majority of us will agree that despite all its fault, Singapore is still probably the best place in the world to live in. Sure we have no lush lands to hike, and you cannot buy guns and drugs freely but you can walk alone in the streets at night and feel safe. Just for this, I say give me Singapore anytime!

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Gone with the Haze

Along with the haze that came and went, the very loud and visible public over the haze came and disappeared just as fast. Just barely 2 weeks ago, it was as if the whole of Singapore had been stricken with the Ebola disease or the Black Death. Anyway, I think the people has gone into panic mode. In fact, one blogger even claimed in her very eloquently written blog that the haze was worse than SARS! And of course all the anger at the haze were directed at, not surprisingly, the whipping boy of Singapore, the PAP government. People were blaming the gahmen for everything and I sure somewhere out there somebody might actually be accusing the gahmen of starting the haze!

To summarize, the poor gahmen was being blamed for

- failure to anticipate the haze

- lack of a emergency response plan

- impotent and useless in dealing with the Indonesian

- refusing to declare a stop work order and last but not least

- shortage of N95 masks

May be yes the gahmen should have anticipated the haze. After all, it is a yearly affair and I think the gahmen like everybody else were caught flat out by the severity of it this year. But so what if the gahmen had anticipated it? What exactly did the people expect the gahmen to do? Maybe the gahmen should have built a dome over the whole island. I think we are small enough to make it technically possible. So when the haze came, just press a button and the dome will close up like the dome over the new National Stadium. But seriously, what can the gahmen do even if it has anticipated the haze?

People started accusing the gahmen of not knowing what to do. No action plan, response was in bit and pieces. Just like the gahmen expect business to have business continuity plans for all sort of scenario, the gahmen should have one for haze. Really? Like maybe haze hit 200 psi, do this, hit 300 psi do that and so on. Maybe the gahmen do have one but for one reason or another, did not activate it. Or maybe they were really caught flat out. But this is the first time Singapore encounter something like this so next time round will be more prepared.

One thing that pissed people off was the seemingly impotency of the gahmen in dealing with the Indonesian. But I really don't know what the people expect the gahmen to do. Just fly our fire fighters to the Riau Island and put out the fires? Or invade the country and force the Indonesian gahmen to do something? These people don't  seem to realise that this is not a typical HDB neighbour to neighbour spat. If the Indonesian gahmen doesn't want to do anything or is too slow to do anything, there is nothing the gahmen can do other than to continue with diplomatic overtures. Or are these people expecting the gahmen to impose trade sanctions, cut diplomatic ties? 

Some people wanted a stop work order to be issued and got pissed when that did not materialise. I don't understand this demand. Stop work order for who? The whole country? Haze or no haze, life has to go on. So if there is a stop work order, who does it apply to? Only those people who works in offices? Surely not, after all the people who breath in the most haze are those who work outdoor like the transport workers, construction works, police etc So if these people all get to stay at home, who is going to make sure the rest of us office workers get to and from home? And another thing I am puzzled about? Exactly at which level of psi do the people want the stop work order to be issued? Above 300? Say the PSI hit 301, rhe gahmen said stop work - all go home. Reached home 1 hour later (assuming the public transport workers ignore the stop work order and sacrifice their health for us), the PSI drops to 250, everybody goes back to  work? Definitely the gahmen cannot use the hourly or 3 hourly PSI reading to issue such an order. There has to be some consistency and certainty and  based on the 24 hours average reading, there was no ground to call for all. Oh wait, some people are accusing them of manipulating the PSI chart. Why will they want to do that in the first place.

And the elusive N95 mask. I find it funny that people were rushing all over the place to track down the mask. Why do they want it in the first place when they don't even know how or bother wearing it properly. I seen people wearing it with only the top strap, some wear it so loose maybe because it is so uncomfortable that it defeats the whole purpose of wearing it. And the only reason there were not enough mask was because people were hoarding it, buying more than they need and scalpers hoping to make a quick kill. Some people even calculated that the gahmen stockpile of 9 million was insufficient based on their flawed calculation of how long the mask can be worn. Whatever it is, the gahmen do have a stockpile. Just do them expect them to floor the market with it the minute the haze appear. There has to be an orderly distribution of the mask and only after the retail shops have run out which should not be the case if people did not buy more than they need.

Anyway, when the haze returns which it certainly will, hopefully the people will take it in their strides and not blame the gahmen so quickly. After all, they will be just affected as we are.

Pawnshop and Money Lenders

How things have changed. In the past, there were few pawnshop. Most of them like this one here are imposing looking with iron bars, high counter and old man peering down at the customers. 

I have walked past many of these pawnshop and thank goodness, despite our family situation when we were young, we never had to resort to them to get money. Over time, the number of pawnshops went down as young people shun them because of the stigma and turned to easy bank loans.

Then in the past few years, a new breed of pawnshops have sprouted. No longer confined to the older city neighbourhood of Chinatown, Jalan Besar and Geylang, these new breed of pawnshops are in the HDB heartlands and shopping malls.

These pawnshops have glitzy shopfront more like jewellery store and are fronted by celebrities making it sound cool to pawn things. And judging by the number of them mushrooming all over, it is very profitable too. At least for the pawnshop owner.

Along with the pawnshops there are now a new breed of money lenders. Money lenders used to be just a small little cubicle in a shopping mall in Chinatown or Geylang and do not advertise their services. But in recent years with the relaxation of the Money Lending Act, illegal money lenders hiding under the cloak of a licence are openly touting their services and getting away with obscene interest rates.

And what is the real reasons for the rise of these new fanged pawnshops and money lenders? In the past, the people who goes to such places usually do so as a last resort - to borrow money to tide over the month or to pay for some urgent unplanned for expenses.

But according to a friend who works in a pawnshop, the new breed of customers are not the old people who are not comfortable in such glitzy places but the PMEBs. And why are these people going to such places? Clue: these places started sprouting only in recent years after the opening of? Why, the 2 "integrated resorts". Yes our 2 world famous casinos are the sole factor behind the rise of these places. According to my friend who works in the pawnshop, their busiest time are Thursday and Friday where customers walked in to hock their jewellery and of there to the casino. If they win, they come back and redeem their stuff and if not, it is a drive to the money lenders to borrow some money to tide over until their next winning!