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?

Goodbye 2014 Hello 2015

2014 - A year of adventures, joy, sadness and mishap and grief. A year of contradictions.

In 2014 I finally managed to check off 2 off the bucket list. 2014 was also the year of first for many things and the year where I got to know many wonderful new friends.Up till October, I would have said this was the best year ever in my slightly over 52 years of living. except for the year I got married and the years the kid came along. And then things went horribly wrong.

But lets recap from the beginning. 

I went mountain climbing in January. That was the first time I attempted a real climb up a real mountain even though this wasn't terribly high. But it was tougher than I expect but I had a lot of fun. But best of all, I got to know a bunch of swell fellas and thereafter for the rest of the year we spent a lot of time together crazy things together - like climbing Mt Kinabalu and going for a "Prawn Mee Marathon".

In February, I broke my vow not to do any more full marathon and ran the Tokyo Marathon. This is probably the only marathon Majors that I can ever hope to do in my life. Check one off the bucket list.

In June, I climbed Mt Kinabalu. Another one off the bucket list. Unfortunately, while we came back from this trip unscathed, a promising young man that I got to know during the first climb in January didn't. He climbed the same mountain in December but did not managed to come back home to his family here in Singapore. He passed away in Kota Kinabalu of a massive brain haemorrhage probably induced by the climb. 

In September I went for the longest trip in my life. All the way to the United Kingdom. And while there, I also ran the longest distance race ever. 50 km to be exact. Not very long distance by some ultra standard but long enough for a lazy bump like me.

But things started going horribly wrong thereafter. Inexplicably I did 2 very dumb things that were totally not in character with my usual self. 2 things that I will remember forever and yet which I cannot do more to rectify in this unforgiving culture. And of course there was the death of my friend. And the diagnosis of the dreaded C for Mum and a minor health scare for me which hopefully will remains just that.

Not the way I had hoped for a wonderful year to end. But I guess that is life. What is going to lie ahead im 2015? The signs isn't exactly good. I spent the last day of 2014 and first day of 2015 mainly in bed, down with a body ache that saps me of all my energy. Probably sign that I am going to come down with something soon. What a crappy way to start the year.

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.

Claustrophobic!

I never thought I be scared of anything not least being claustrophobic. I was quite sure I had no fear of anything or at least none that I know of yet. That was the question the radiographer asked me and I assured him that no I wasn't claustrophobic. But like they said, hindsight is always 20/20.

Anyway, I got myself prep up for this procedure. Not that I not been through this before so when I saw the gleaming machine with its tunnel like chamber, it was a familiar sight. So was the loud sound. As instructed, I put my head into the head holder. The guy put 2 paddings on the side to keep my head in place and told me not to move. He gave me a buzzer thingy to hold and told me to press it if I need help. I was like - are you serious?

Then the cover came down over the head. There was a glass panel for me to see through so I wasn't in darkness. The guy told me to close my eyes, not to move and then the machine started. The all familiar sound came on. The ear plug I had inserted didn't seem to help much though but actually the sound was rather reassuring. Then it happened! I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe. There was a queasy feeling in the stomach and I thought I was going into a panic attack. I had never experience something like that before. And to make it worse, I couldn't move at all. Actually I could move but then the procedure will have to be prolonged until they can get a proper reading. So I stuck it out. I opened my eyes and immediately I felt better. So I choose to keep my eyes open and look at the shadows, the little bit of the lab that I can see from the little glass panel. I also found that trying to swallow help but was worried that the slight movement of the mouth and throat may affect the reading. Every now and then the urge to scream and push everything away came but I fought hard to resist it.   So this was how it was like being buried alive. I thought to myself. Fortunately, my time is not up,

But eventually after what seems like an eternity, the radiographer came in. It was only 30 minutes but this was probably the longest 30 minutes of my life.

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!

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.

Our Petty Authorities

Ok I take back my words that our authorities don't enforce the law. They do they really do - like fineing this school girl $400.00 for charging her phone in the MRT station using one of the wall sockets in the station.

Frankly I didn't know MRT people are so freaking on. I seen people drinking and eating in the train and nothing happened. Once, a lady in SMRT uniform walked past a girl eating inside the train and she didn't even pause in her steps. Maybe it is a new culture now. With all the fines they getting for the breakdown, look for extra income from other sources. So maybe the next time somebody eat or drink, or get into a full train, they will get fined!

Also, if you happen to be a trade show vendor, better think twice setting up a stall in Hougang area. Chances are if you are in the Workers Party's area, you will get fined for illegal hawking, hawking without a licence or maybe just being in an unauthorised area.

Anyway, whatever it is, just don't get on the wrong side of our petty authorities! If you do, don't get caught and if you have to pay a fine or give away money, give it in an ang pao to somebody who will appreciate it.

Happy New Year! 恭喜发财

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!

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!

Go the Extra Mile for Service?

Recently there was this survey on service staff commissioned by the 'Go the Extra Mile for Service (GEMS) Up' project, a joint movement involving SPRING Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, the Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University, and the National Trades Union Congress. The result of the survey shows that 56 per cent said workers in places such as restaurants, transport, shops and hotels performed "below expectations" when it came to doing more.

Why am I not surprised? My personal experience bears this out.

Recently, a group of us went for dinner. It was about 8.30 pm and we were at Citylink Mall. We walked into a ¾ empty Japanese spaghetti restaurant. As far as our eyes could see, there were only 3 tables occupied and the staff were cleaning the place. The group of us asked for a table for 7. One of the staff told us to wait. Initially I thought we had to wait while they join the smaller 2 seater tables together but as the wait dragged into the minutes without the staff doing anything, we got impatient and repeated our request. The staff than told us we had to wait for the table in the corner which was occupied by a small group of 6. But the place was practically empty and we failed see why they couldn't accommodate us by joining the other tables together. And then while we were still standing there, another staff told us rather curtly to wait outside. 

Of course, we got pissed off and we went outside - to another outlet! There was no way I was going to spend good money on this type of place with such poor service. 

On another occasion, I was browsing at a camera shop at Funan. I had just finished my run and was in running attire. I saw a bag that I thought I might like and wanted to take a closer look but since I was dripping in sweat and rather smelly after the run, I decided to go and change first and come back to the shop. It was around 8.15pm then. After changing, I came back and walked into the shop but before I could do anything else, the salesman told me curtly that they were “closed”. I was stunned. There was no customer earlier on when I was inside and still no customer now and since I had come back a second time, any good salesman should have smell a sale here but instead of doing that, he chased me out! What the fuck!

Coming back to the survey, my 2 examples show that despite all that retail bosses have said about training and good service, the message obviously have not sink into their staff. What I suspect in both cases was that they were on the verge of closing for the day and did not want to stay back later than necessary, not even for a sale. Got sale or no sale, it is their boss’ problems and they still get paid come what may. So indeed like the findings of the survey, service staff here are not going the extra mile. Like that how can we hope to become the shopping capital of Asia?

The Foreign Labour Dilemma

Although I am not an employer, like many of them, I too feel that Singapore need all these foreign labour. There was a time when I was in charge of a department which was always in need of staff. Every time we put up a ad for staff, we get applications from mainly foreigners. M, said the same thing too. Whenever she has an opening to fill, she always get applications from Filipino and in recent years even Australia and New Zealanders even though she was just looking for conveyancing clerk!

My friend who runs a chain of retail outlets employs mainly Filipino because he said he can't get Singaporean or even Malaysian. Nobody want to work in the retail line because of shift work.Some of  my clients also complained about the same thing. Singaporean don't want to dirty their hands and want to be supervisor and manager immediately upon graduation! 

And I can imagine the look of horror on parents face if their children were to said they want to work as construction workers or cleaners! Hell, even I couldn't want my kids to be in retail, food and beverages  or any sort of work that requires menial labour.

So employers got no choice but to turn to foreign labour right?

Wither COE?

So the gahmen got its desired effect after the dramatic measures for cars. COE is generally down from the incredible high where a stupid piece of paper cost more than the selling price of a car in most part of the world. 

But this doesn't seem to please anybody. Nobody I spoke to is happy with the new measures especially the cap on the financing. Not car buyers since now they got to fork out more cash, not car sellers since there is now a smaller pool of customers to sell to and not the financial institutions since they cannot do more financing. And I guess, even the credit companies who are not bound by the MAS imposed cap, are complaining. The sudden surge in interest will drain their resources and draw the attention of the authorities on their largely un-supervised operations. 

For us in the industry, we were expecting some sort of measures to be taken after COE continues to rise. With the many "feedbacks" from the public, it was only a matter of time before the gahmen bowed to the pressure and do "something". Most of us guesstimate was a restoration of the financing curb to 70%/7 years financing. But what none of us expect was the deep cut to 60/50 and across the board for new and used cars. We had of course not expect any major change to the COE bidding process itself. That is after all, a cash cow worth over S$2 billion a year and therefore untouchable.

But then again, with so many silly and impractical suggestions for the COE, it is any wonder the gahmen is not going to do anything about it. Those people who write in to the press to offer their suggestions. I think they think through their arsehole. Imagine a suggestion to limit car to 1 per household! How practical is that? And what about allocating COE base on needs? Who is going to play God and decide who has the greater need? Me think these people are only thinking of themselves when they put pen to paper. They never thought how absurd or impractical their suggestions were. Of course there are some sensible suggestions but these are not going to make any impact to the COE so what's the point? Like reclassifying the categories. Where there money to be made, motor dealers will still be smart enough to beat whatever system the gahmen can throw at them.

In my opinion, there is only one way to curb the ever increasing cost of the COE and that is to take the car dealer out of the equation. Right now, the way I see it, it is not the amount of financing or any other reasons that cause COE to go up to this level. It is because the dealers are the one bidding for the COE. And the dealers with the biggest margin can bid highest hence we see the continental cars people doing so well. What the dealer do is to package in the COE into the selling price. Then they go and bid for the COE. Once successful, the buyer pays for the whole package through a financing. To clinch the sale, the dealer will bid high knowing that they need to only pay for the lowest successful bid.

Now take the dealer out of the equation and make the buyer bid for the COE himself. Which car buyer in his sane mind will bid high for a COE? And if it is not package into the car price, there will be no financing so that will curb the impulse of the buyer to bid too high as he has to cough up the cash for the COE. To make it work even better, the successful bidder will have to pay based on his/her bid amount. That will reduce the temptation for buyer to anyhow bid hopping to pay the lowest successful bid. With the COE in hand, then the buyer can approach the car dealer to buy his car. Car dealer will no longer be able to profit from the manipulation of the COE and will have to sell the car at a transparent price of OMV+taxes+profit margin.

This I think is the only way to really get the COE to come down but I don't think it gonna happen any time soon. The gahmen is ain't never going to lose that S$2 billion cash cow!

6.9m? Don't Worry Be Happy!

I wasn't going to talk about this but since the whole world (yes whole world) and not just Singapore is talking about it, I think I need to put in my 2 cents worth too. Just to be "in" with the crowd, you know.

Anyway, Singaporean and even foreign born converted Singaporean are crying father crying mother over the projected population target of 6.9m by 2030. Everybody is super worried and pissed off about this humongous increase in population. "Where we going to stay?" They cried.  "Are we going to have to employ people pusher at our train stations to get the people into the trains?" Another group screamed. "And how are we going to get jobs?" 

Me? I think our people have too little faith in our gahmen. You think they stupid is it? Our gahmen you know is the highest paid gahmen in the world.  Therefore must be smart otherwise they won't pay themselves so much. They have the greatest foresight - like how confident they were of keeping Punggol East in the latest By-Election. Of course we cannot blame them if they make a little "mis-calculation" here and there. Like telling people to "Stop at Two" and now telling us we don't have enough people to fill jobs. They are human after all and human are not perfect.

Random Musings

Got so many things to write about but yet don't know what to write. Shall I blog about the new food places that I went to recently like Salta, the Argentina restaurant or the nice dessert at Chinatown which I have been patronising for the longest time but somehow never got to write about. Maybe the Teochew porridge at Ang Mo Kio which I keep asking my friends to try but never blog about here?

Or how about what has been going on in this little red dot? The Punggol East by election? Nah, too common. How about the nightmares that keep me awake at night: 6.9m population; $90,000+ COE; sky high properties (wait I think I wrote about that) and golf courses; my pet peeve. Oops I also wrote about that.

Talking about the latter 2, I can't believe that I am so "chun". A few days after I blogged about the properties prices, the government announced Cooling Measures No 7! That blog post alone garnered 674 views, a record for this blog considering that it was up only since 9 January this year. Then on 17 January 2013, I talked about the acquisition of the fish farms in Pasir Ris and why they should acquire golf courses instead. I followed this up with another piece on golf courses and concluded that golf courses are scared cow and untouchables! Then I read in the papers today; that in order to cater for the nightmarish 6.9m population in 2030, the government will set aside 5,600 hectares of land. Unexpectedly, the MND announced that apart from Bidadri, Bukit Brown, Tampines North and Tengah, it will also acquire golf courses! It doesn't said how many or which golf courses but al least there is now signs that golf courses are no longer "untouchables". Hurray!

So me think I should write about something else that matter to me like maybe the stratospheric COE. Maybe then the government will surprise me a 3rd time with an announcement to manage the COE prices?

Finally before I go off for my holidays, I going to end this posts with some amusing English translations of Chinese text from Facebook posts of a friend who love to post in Chinese. Hope you have a chuckle!

Original FB post                                    Translation by FB(Bing)


踏破草鞋无觅处，得来全不费功夫！ Step broken straw sandals find no, delaiquanbufeigongfu!

开饭喽!                                             The meal myself!

来了个邮差叔叔。。。不。应该是个邮差小伙子。斯斯文文，彬彬有礼。讲了一口充满北方腔的普通话。我可没问题。但是他要怎么去跟我的马来和印度族的同胞们沟通呢？他说他那儿来了好几十个人啊！
The postman ... Do not. Should be a postman, son. Lie downin and polite. Full of cavities in northern Mandarin-speaking. I don't have problems. But how he wants to talk to I'm Malay and India fellow family communication? He said he was there to several dozens of people!

这场雨来匆匆，去得也匆匆。。。      The rain rush, go up

Our Poor Kids

I am amazed at the way parents nowadays mollycoddly their kids. Teacher cut the kids hair. Run to MOE or worse report to the police! And it is so common to hear parents yelling at their kids not to run, not to jump and not to climb at the playground! For heaven sake, its the playground. What else are the children expected to do? And after all that, they wonder why their kids only want to watch tv and play games on their phone, computer and game console!

Just the other day, I read this post where this guy was whinning about MOE and the police refusing to take actions after his Primary 6 son was bullied in school. Frankly, I have no pity for the parent. I think MOE and the police have better things to do than go after school bullies. Sure, I feel sad for the kid being bullied but isn't that what school is about? To teach us not only about serious stuff like history, maths and languages but also about growing up and getting along with others and building characters?

As an old uncle, I know people hate it when I said, "long time ago when policeman worn short", but it is a fact that in our days, our parents will just leave us to take the knocks and pick ourselves up. Where in the world do they find time to go to school to complain, make police report? I still have a scar on my hand from my primary school when me and a classmate were using our metal rulers as sword. Did my mother kick a big fuss? No, put a plaster over it and that's it. And how can I forget the fights in school? Although I was not involve in any (in primary school anyway), everytime there was a challenge, the whole school except the teachers will know about it and all of us would turned up at the location to witness the fight. The winner gets to goad about it, the loser simply pick himself up to fight another day. I never see any police coming in to investigate not even when one time one boy got hurt so bad by a stone that he had to be sent to hospital to stitch up his head.

Ok maybe that was 40 years ago. But I adopted the same lais·sez faire attitude towards my kids when they were in school. Better that they learn from the school of life than to find out the hard way many years out that they have been inadequately prepared for life.

If our kids cannot handle a little bit of bullying, how are they going to fare when they go on to secondary school, tertiary, NS or work? The guy who wrote that letter, I not too sure whether he is a Singaporean and has served NS before, but if his son goes to NS and get picked on for being a wimp, is he going to the Chief of Defence Force for justice? Me think instead of running to the authorities, he should train his son to stand up to the bully and sock it back to him!

Singtel Project Silverline

I almost choked on my coffee when I read about Singtel Project Silverline. According to the press release, Singtel is asking for used Iphones and they will distribute it to senior citizens for their use. Singtel has also came up with some related apps for these seniors.

It is a great idea except for one very big problem. If even people like me can find an Iphone a teeny weeny bit complicated to use, how do they expect the really needy senior citizens to know how to use them. My mother already find it so complicated to use a normal handphone. Can she and others like her manage one?

The other thing is, if this senior citizens need to rely on donated phones, it will mean that they are from the lower income group. Can they afford the monthly charges after the 1st year? I am sure for these people, they have other priorities than paying for a smartphone.

If Singtel is really sincere in helping these people, then it should give each needy household that these senior citizen come from a free fixed line. It can also help the various aid agencies to install gps based tracking systems and other more useful devices for them rather than go for such fanciful but ultimately white elephant project.

Poor Teachers

By now everybody will have heard about the mother, the teacher, the $60 haircut and the police report. Seems like nowadays parents seem to think that the mata very free and file police report for all the slightest reason. Just like this guy. Daughter kena scolding by teacher - file police report. And if it is not the police, then its the Ministry of Education. And there are more. Like this case.

Poor poor teachers. I really wonder how teachers can do their work nowadays.

Most teachers I know are really dedicated and went beyond their call of duty. In my primary school days, there was this teacher who was so sweet. She invited us to her house during Hari Raya. Another teacher took a bunch of us poorer kids to the movies. In secondary school, there was this teacher who was so kind to us especially the kids from the poorer household. In JC, I had a tutor who was widely deemed to be a tyrant but actually had a heart of gold. Despite my bad behaviour in my 2nd year, she did not scold me but counselled me.

Of course, not all teachers are angels. 

I remembered when I was in secondary school, we have this lady teacher who used to throw chalks at us. Another male teacher walks around pinching anybody who didn't do their assigned work properly. I can't imagine how many police reports would have been filed against these 2 teachers if they are still teaching today. And when my kids were in primary school, there was this teacher who threw the children's exercise book out of the window when they failed to do their homework.

In the good old days when parents were not so educated, the parents will gladly let the school take over the discipling of their children. Child misbehave in school? Go ahead and cane. Child hair too long? Go ahead and cut. And the children? They will be too ashamed or too scare of the additional punishment they will get at home if they go home and complain they been punished by the school!

Now teachers not only cannot discipline the children, generally they do not get the support of the Principal and the Ministry. Students are now more like customers with the parents the paymaster. Is it any wonder that teachers are leaving just barely a few years after teaching, disillusioned by the reality of teaching in Singapore.

Anyway, to all the poor teachers out there. Take heart for every foul mouth police happy parent, there are 9 other parents who are grateful for the valuable lessons you teachers impart to their children. For every child that misbehave, there will be 9 others who will be a joy to teach and will remember you many many years later for your dedication.

Finally, to all my relatives, friends who are teachers past, present and future,  happy Teachers Day. Enjoy your day and these jokes:

http://www.workjoke.com/teachers-jokes.html