Lost in Translation

I was at Toys R Us the other day and wanted to buy an Elmo soft toy for my daughter. I approached this young chap for help. He was Mainland Chinese.
It's OK if he didn't know Elmo but he didn't understand what a soft toy was. Frustrated, I walked all the way to the counter to get assistance from a local staff.
How many of you have had similar experiences? Being a customer these days can be a harrowing experience because many PRC (and other foreign) service staff, who are employed in droves, do not know basic English.

Please don't get me started on the "effectively bilingual" nonsense. Since when is the national language of Singapore Mandarin? Lee Kuan Yew by his own admission said his insistence on bilingualism is wrong.

Further, the People's Action Party has prided itself for building a multi-racial society. It's one of the "core values". Therefore, there should be a unifying language for the service industry... English.

So I read to my chagrin in State Media yesterday that employers aren't sending their foreign workers for the Service Literacy Test. (SLT)
It's unthinkable that a developed country like Singapore doesn't have compulsory language tests for overseas hires.

Top immigration destinations like US, UK, Canada and Australia require foreigners to undergo some form of English literacy test. Hong Kong also adopts a point based test system for immigration.
Yet the Singapore government continues its arbitrary ways of assessing foreign residents.

A couple of reasons cited for lack of participation in the SLT.
1) Too costly to train for test
2) Too stressful for workers

Let's examine these reasons.
A worker who passes the test is eligible for a $100 reduction in foreign worker levy.
However, it costs each employer between $250-1000 per head for the preparation classes.
And the courses are not subsidised by the government.

Separately, the government has set aside $10 million of public money for programmes to integrate foreigners into our society. Curiously, I always thought the onus is on new immigrants to integrate with the locals.
You don't see the Australian government shelling out taxpayers' money to organise a Burmese water festival. If the Burmese want to celebrate their festival, they are free to do so on their own accord.
Still I'm not sure how splashing water on each other is the best use of a precious resource, considering we are already turning to recycled water for our daily needs.

Isn't the money better used to ensure quality service standards and raise the level of customer service in this country? Make English training courses mandatory and subsidise them.

Nevertheless, it's truly uniquely Singapore that the PAP takes in unskilled workers en masse only to train them on home soil. Shouldn't things be done in a more logical manner where workers are screened before they are given visas or even step onto our shores?

Granted, we are not asking for scholars to take up service jobs but there must be a minimum proficiency in basic English to communicate with our Malay, Indian and Eurasian brethren and our older generation who studied Malay as second language.
My Dad is one of them and he has so much difficulty interacting with PRC service staff in our food courts and restaurants.

Too stressful? Surely every kind of test brings some level of stress. Nonetheless, there have been reports that the SLT is "easy to pass". So it's probably just an excuse.
The reason why PRC workers aren't keen on learning English is because they just don't want to (and not compelled to) and expect Singaporeans to speak their language instead.

And by the way, this goes for Filipinos too. It's a misconception that every Filipino can speak English well. Many families live in poverty and can't afford to send their children to middle school.
And Malaysians too.

The SLT should be mandatory for workers of all countries where English is not the native language.
As I'm not bilingually blessed, eating can be pretty stressful when the PRC staff doesn't understand when I don't want bean sprouts and spring onions in my noodles!

Dr. Tony Tan, next President of the Republic of Singapore?

Presidential hopeful Tony Tan claimed that he is running as an independent and the PAP did not ask him to stand.
Surely, unless you believe raising GST helps the poor,  Dr. Tan can't be a neutral.
Let's take a look. Dr. Tan was an ex-PAP MP. He is still the Executive Director of the Government Investment Corporation (GIC) and  Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) until July 1st.

GIC is a rather clandestine operation ran directly by Lee Hsien Loong that supposedly manages our nation's money. Due to excessive exposure to the financial world, the Wall Street Journal reported that GIC lost close to S$50 billion in 2008. To date, there has been no disclosure of where our monies are invested.

SPH, as we all know, is the de facto mouthpiece for the government. Its journalists are well-trained in the art of spinning, deception and defamation. One of their most valuable players Melvinderpal Singh who writes for the New Paper is a master at these. He's receiving tons of online backlash for some of his work.

When George Yeo refused to run  (which is probably one of the best decision he's ever made), the PAP scrambled to find somebody whom they could trust. A President who could turn a blind eye to Temasek and GIC's activities, one who will not ask for our reserves to be published, one who can condone the worsening plight of average Singaporeans--- in short, a Yes man.

It is little surprise that PAP Ministers have one by one made public their support.  PM Lee Hsien Loong,  Goh Chok Tong and even Mr. Nathan himself have backed Dr. Tan.

He is no doubt the Chosen One.

Never before has the PAP needed to be all hands on deck for Elections of any sort. Like previous General Elections, the last two Presidential Elections were walkovers. And since S. R Nathan is unlikely to run for another term, he will leave office uncontested.

With12 years as uninterrupted Head of State, you would think he should have been able to "unify" the country. Maybe it's my forgetfulness but I can scarcely recall his contributions in this respect.
Instead, the haphazard scramble for imported residents has driven a deep wedge between native Singaporeans and foreigners. It's only a matter of time when Singaporeans will become a minority in their own country, one built by the hard work of their forefathers.
Mr. Nathan said that Singaporeans "just can't distance ourselves from the government".
Actually dear President, it is the PAP who has distanced themselves from the people.

When we say we don't want too many foreigners, we are likely to get another 900,000 on the way.
When many locals opposed building of a casino, we get two.
When we feedback that housing is unaffordable, they let private developers set the prices for HDB flats.
When we plead for some job security, we are told our spurs are not stuck to our hides and its our problem.

Dr Tony Tan is indeed PAP's choice. And with the help of the State Media, he will probably sail through the Elections because there are still too many daft Singaporeans around.

Help, there's a WWII relic in my backyard!

I must admit, despite the below average acting and mediocre script, I do catch the odd episodes of the current Channel 8 police drama. Just call me a sucker for detective stories. Of course, it's nowhere near CSI.

In case you didn't realise, the People's Action Party controls most aspects of Singaporean life. During the late sixties and early seventies, Lee Kuan Yew told people how many children they should have by implementing the infamous "Stop at Two" policy. Third and fourth children were to be given less priority in education etc etc.
That policy has shaped Singaporean family planning. We now have one of the lowest birth rates globally.

He also told us who we should marry. Concerned that the growing numbers of "lesser educated" will "breed" "less educated" people, he urged men to choose wives who were graduates through the controversial Graduate Mother Scheme.

So it is no surprise that the government even uses entertainment to shape our lives a.k.a propaganda. Channel 8 programmes are laced with Party messages from promoting working women to the maritime industry.
The latest dose is an attempt to promote careers in the Singapore Police Force.
Everyone's favourite ex-Minister Wong Kan Seng had touched on the manpower shortage in the Force. Just like how Mah Bow Tan was "caught offguard", Wong Kan Seng totally let his guard down with the Mas Selamat issue and probably didn't take enough steps to ensure the Force grew sufficiently to match the growing population caused by the large influx of foreigners.
Forget UFO sightings. Dead bodies have been turning up in water tanks and reservoirs.

The recent fracas over the Police handling of the WWII bomb relic found in Sungei Kadut has cast new doubts over our Protectors.
Actually, they pretty much left the handling of the relic to private companies because it was found on private property. Isn't the Police supposed to "uphold the law, maintain order and keep the peace" wherever needed on this island? What if the bomb actually exploded?

Last year, there were a couple of high profile cases of gang activity in Downtown East and Bukit Panjang.
Do you actually know that regular police officers have no power to force gangs congregating at void decks to disperse? They can only "advise" them to move away. This is confirmed by one of the Staff Sergeants at Choa Chu Kang NPC.

While I salute the men and women who work the ground, the senior officers making decisions ought to relook their strategies and priorities.
Is it sound strategy to dispatch bus loads of officers to halt a peaceful 2-man rally but not offer assistance when an unexploded bomb is found?

Most S'poreans want to work past retirement age: survey

In 2010, Lee Kuan Yew suggested that there be no retirement age.
I quote “You work as long as you can work and you will be healthier and happier for it. If you ask me to stop working all of a sudden, I think I'll just shrivel up, face the wall and just that."

And he continues, "(When) you have reached the maximum you can do at your age in that position, you move sideways and you take less pay and you move gradually, (getting) less and less pay because you are moving slower and slower, especially when you're doing physical work,"
So he exhorts us to take less pay when we are in our golden years but his pay as Minister Mentor (MM) kept on rising. Who would want to retire when they get paid millions just to do some periodic "forecasting"?

In news from State Media today, a story was published claiming that most Singaporeans want to work past retirement age. This possibly to prove a point that the pressure cooker society is no fault of the government.
They made this conclusion after Ranstad Group surveyed 405 out of over 3,000,000 Singaporeans.
Statistically, this is sufficient for a confidence interval of +-5%.

However, what the survey (and State Media) didn't reveal is the background of these 405 people.

Generally speaking, there are two groups of people who don't want to retire.
1) Those who can't afford to retire financially
2) Those who can afford to retire but want to continue working

I suspect a large number of Singaporeans fall into the former. Why?

A HSBC survey published 20 June found that 42% of Singaporeans DON"T have retirement financial plans.
That's a very significant proportion of the population. And by the way, HSBC's sample size was 1,046.

So if such big numbers of Singaporeans don't have retirement plans, you can conclude that they cannot afford to retire. Hence the need to continue working past the official retirement age. (quod erat demonstrandum)

A Japanese friend of mine visited the country recently. Through the media, he thinks that Singapore is a modern society full of rich and happy people. But his view changed when he saw: (There's a problem with posting videos/pics on blogger. Will get the video up asap. In the meanwhile, please see this).

He couldn't believe that elderly folks were carting used cardboard boxes in the 34 degree heat. He couldn't believe that old women were wiping tables at food courts.
You wouldn't see these things in Japan.
You wouldn't see these things in most developed countries.

Yet State Media publishes a meaningless story stating the obvious. The hard truth is that many Singaporeans fear retirement because they don't have enough savings in their later years.
Instead of probing the government for answers and accountability, our media continues to sweep the harsh reality of life in Singapore under white coloured carpets.

Singaporeans work past retirement age because of failed social and government policies:
1) CPF
2) Depressed wages
3) Cost of living
4) Immigration

Retired Ministers like Mah Bow Tan, Wong Kan Seng, George Yeo etc continue to receive multi million dollar pensions.
Yet the Minimum Sum (which stands at $131,000) has prevented thousands of retirees from accessing their hard-earned money. Just across the Causeway, the difference could not be more apparent. Malaysia's EPF allows full withdrawal without any outrageous conditions.

If citizens can't spend their twilight years playing with grand kids, touring the world, pursuing hobbies, hanging out with friends or just relaxing, then the system has gone horribly wrong.

Housing Bubble confirmed

A few days ago I wrote about Singapore's probable Housing Bubble.
A day later, State Media reported that HDB flats in Tampines were going for $880,000!
If that's not a bubble, I don't know what is.
It is almost like the housing board is challenging itself to the "cool" million dollar mark and they sure look like succeeding.

Minister Khaw Boon Wan then came up with a lame excuse that these were not HDB flats but DBSS (Design-Build-and-Sell Scheme) developments. DBSS flats are built and priced by private developers.
Am I missing out on something here? Public housing built by private developers?

DBSS are in all sense of the word public housing. There is no 24 hour security, exclusive swimming pools and other in-house facilities, enclosed perimeter and you can't keep cats in them.

For similar amounts, you can get beautiful private apartments in St Kilda with your own basement parking, just 6km off Melbourne city centre, Australia! That's even  nearer than Tampines to Orchard Road!!!
Check this out http://www.domain.com.au/Property/For-Sale/Apartment/VIC/Melbourne/?adid=2008997991

And this is Australia, a country with very well documented property bubble.
If Australians knew what we were paying for PUBLIC housing, they would all stop complaining immediately.

So you see my fellow Singaporeans, open your eyes to the world outside this tiny island.
The Straits Times will only have you believe the mythical Utopia that is Singapore.

According to official stats, the average annual household income in 2010 was around $84,000.
Assuming that the average buyer takes out a $300,000 loan, that puts our household debt/income ratio at a mind boggling 258%, way higher than the 130% in Australia.

It doesn't take rocket science to conclude that Singaporeans are being totally ripped off for a piece of 99 year lease (owned by the banks) and property that they can't even pass down to future generations.

You might ask "but what can we do?"
Actually, it is what you did not do. Tampines GRC residents still endorsed then National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan pretty convincingly.
I know of a couple living in the GRC who spoilt their votes even though they didn't like MBT just because the NSP team has no "track record"

Singaporeans will continue to pay dearly for their daft decisions. Pay and pay...

Staff strapped companies need more foreign workers?!

I was at a Fortune 100 company's spanky new premises at Mapletree Business City.
The corporate giant takes up 8 floors, just about half of that building tower.

Like most office buildings, you need to exchange for a visitor pass before proceeding.
The company has its own "security" on the ground floor.
What struck me was that it was manned by two... you guessed it... foreigners with their foreign names proudly displayed on tags.
They were young Filipino women.

I suppose if the weren't hired, then the company probably has to turn away visitors. And this company is so damn sure they absolutely cannot find a single Singaporean to do this job.

You step into Universal Studios and you will find that about half the staff there are foreigners.
The PAP, to justify the building of the Integrated Resorts (IR), said that jobs would be created for Singaporeans. Yet then Filipino President Gloria Arroyo proudly proclaimed they had secured 5,000 jobs for Filipinos at the IRs.

The difference cannot be more apparent in other countries. When the Hong Kong government built Disneyland, thousands of jobs were promised to locals.
And that they delivered. Walking around the park, you see that nearly all the cast members are Hong Kong citizens. Despite proximity to the Mainland, you hardly find any PRCs employed.

What is the evidence that Singaporeans are fussier than Hong Kongers?
After so many years of easy access to cheaper labour, have Singaporeans firms become too lazy to focus on employee welfare and retention?
If certain jobs are "shunned" by locals, is it because the pay is insufficient to maintain basic quality of life, one with long term commitments?
The foreigners displacing Singaporeans hail from developing countries with dismal track record of job creation. Philippines, India and China are struggling to create jobs.
It is not surprising that a second rate graduate who can't find a job back home would jump at a chance to work in Singapore in overqualified positions. You will find university graduates working in Metro, Starbucks and in frontline positions. They also take up administrative roles.

The lower salaries they are paid compared to Singaporeans is still alot better than no salary back home.
Most of them also don't have as many long term commitments like housing, raising children, taking care of elderly etc.

Our government must stop saying that Singaporeans are fussy. The onus is on them to encourage companies to make jobs reasonable to Singaporeans. The onus is on the government to implement a Minimum Wage to ensure locals are not exploited. Hiring and firing laws must skewed more towards employees.

Singaporeans have the right to demand better jobs because our Ministers are the highest paid in the world.
Lee Kuan Yew boasted in 2007 that Singapore is entering its "golden period".
Goh Chok Tong, another one of our psychic politicians, promised to achieve Swiss standard of living by the turn of the century.
You can't paint such rosy pictures without ensuring that quality of jobs keep improving.
Do you want a "first world" country where its citizens continue to be cleaners earning $450 a month?

So there's a fine line between being fussy and the right to proper jobs.
And we certainly don't need Angmos to tell us which is which.

Singaporeans' purchasing power or lack thereof

In the August 2010 edition of the world famous UBS "Prices and Earnings" study, Singapore was ranked a dismal 48th out of 73 countries in terms of domestic purchasing power. (DPP)

DPP is calculated using gross and/or net hourly wage divided by the cost of the entire basket of commodities

excluding rent.

In the same edition, Singapore was also ranked the 9th most expensive city if rents are included.

Putting two and two together, it means that Singaporeans would struggle more financially compared to even cities like Kuala Lumpur and Moscow. It also alludes that Singaporeans need to work alot harder to obtain  the same standard of living as many of its peers globally.

In a study by the International Labour Organisation which was published in The Business Times last year, Singaporeans clocked the longest work hours on this planet.

Which explains why most Singaporeans feel stressed all the time.
Which also explains why workers in Raffles Place use tissue paper packets to "reserve" tables. There is simply no time for a proper break. Hence the "Kiasu" society.

In the State Media today, a survey by HSBC found that most Singaporeans will hardly have sufficient funds when they retire. An obvious cultprit could be the unaffordability of housing

In April 2010, a paper from the National University of Singapore researched by Mr. Ng who then was pursuing a Doctorate in social policy, claimed that 68 per cent of annual CPF contribution is spent on housing, while health took up 18 per cent and pensions 14 per cent.
Needless to say, the paper was immediately refuted by then Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Vivian Balakrishnan.

Singaporeans must wake up and realise that we are indeed a long long way from Swiss standard of living..... 47 places to be exact.

Our government has set in stone policies that combine to depress our purchasing power and make us work Cheaper, Better and Faster so that our Ministers can continue to justify their multi-million dollar salaries.

The lack of independent Unions, influx of foreigners, sky-high housing prices, expensive medical care and the general lack of social welfare has inevitably stagnated our wages and living standards.

It's little wonder that we've been accused of being "champion grumblers".

Double Standards

The case of caregivers at Nightingale Nursing Home at Braddell abusing a stroke patient is a stark reminder of the kind of society that our government has created.

Again, the perpetrators are not punished by law and the nurse/s in question continues to work at the home. As always, the relevant Ministry will only do so much as to conduct "reviews".

In a separate incident, a deliveryman caused an uproar in cyberspace when he posted in a forum that he was proud to have beaten a Singaporean Malay in a traffic scuffle with remarks laced with racist undertones. To date, despite numerous police reports filed against him, we haven't had any official word of any police action.

These two events, while totally unrelated, his one commonality. The offenders are foreigners.

In January last year, a PRC family "hijacked" an SBS bus for over fiver hours when they refused to disembark because they weren't allowed to bring a wheelchair on board. The police just stood and watched and SBS eventually chartered a cab to drive them home.

In 2009, hundreds of Bangladeshi and Chinese workers protested outside the Ministry of Manpower Building on different occasions and none were arrested. In a country where the right to peaceful protest is outlawed, the police inaction is perplexing.

Contrast these to the incidents involving Singaporeans.

In March 2008, a small group of protesters and their families (including children), were hounded (some arrested) for planning to protest against the unbearable cost of living on World Consumer Rights Day.

In May 2008, a Singaporean was promptly arrested after a couple of people lodged police reports against his alleged racist blog posting.

In January 2009, two Singaporeans were charged with criminal trespass for protesting outside MOM. Remember they didn't lay a finger on the hundred foreign workers who did the same.

We appreciate that every country has its own legal systems and practices.  I fully applaud the PAP for trying hard to stamp out racism. I fully understand that public demonstrations can cause problems to society if unchecked.

What I cannot fathom is the apparent double standards when it comes to foreigners.
Drawing parallels, what I cannot accept is legislation that is applied at the whim of the ruling party.
The SDA team contesting Tanjong Pagar GRC was unequivocally disqualified for submitting their forms 30 seconds late.
Yet Tin Pei Ling, then candidate for Marine Parade GRC, appears to have escaped unscathed for breaking the law when she posted a sarcastic remark on political rival Nicole Seah on "cooling off day".

There is an aged old proverb that goes "All are equal in the eyes of the law"

Have they forgotten?

Singapore Housing Bubble?

The PAP announced today that it will release more land sites for new homes to meet demand for housing.
A record 17,000+ homes are expected to be built.
You kind of wonder what the former Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan was doing all these years.

But will increasing home supply solve Singapore's housing woes?
Yet again, the PAP is failing to address the root of the problem

What are the reasons for sky-high public housing prices?

1) Like all the other social problems in Singapore, our housing bubble is a result of sudden surge of demand due to PAP's lax immigration policy. Lee Kuan Yew remarked in April this year that we need another 900,000 workers cramped into this tiny island. Even if 17,000 more homes are built, where do we house  these foreign workers? And it's not like houses appear instantly as in Sim City, it takes 3-4 years for their construction.

As of mid 2010, data from United Nations put Singapore's foreign population at almost 2 million or a whopping 40% of the population!
Similar data for other developed states: South Korea (1.1%), United Kingdom (10.4%), USA (13.5%), Australia (21.9%), Hong Kong (30.8%)

2) Cash over valuation (COV) is what a buyer agrees to pay the seller when he feels a particular flat is worth more than its valuation.  A friend of mine told me that he recently got a foreign couple offering $60,000 COV for his flat in Bukit Panjang. Many richer foreigners from China and Indonesia can easily afford outrageous COVs for resale flats. A young Singaporean couple will have to "outbid" COV or wait several years for a Built-to-Order flat. This overinflates the value of the resale market.

The above is taken from the HDB website. The resale price index has shot through the roof and is at an all time high! It has even easily surpassed the 1996 peak. And we know that prices of new HDB flats do trend the resale index.

And to debunk the PAP's claim that housing is affordable to ordinary Singaporeans, this chart clearly shows that resale flat prices has oustripped median household income by 2:1 in the last two decades.

In November 2009, Member of Parliament Chiam See Tong asked how much HDB flats cost and the profit margin added to the cost when selling the flats to which then National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan replied in Parliament:
“The total cost of building flats varies based on when we build, where we build and what we build. It includes cost of land, as well as cost of construction of the flats and ancillary services. It varies from $230,000 for a 3-room flat in Punggol to $530,000 for a 5-room flat in Tiong Bahru.”

But in order to make a fairer assessment of the costs, we need a breakdown of cost of land and construction which the PAP has refused to do.

Since the government owns most of the land, there is no excuse not to do so.
Besides, the Land Acquisition Act empowers the President to acquire land cheap for public purpose, except that it is not always the case.
There have also been unconfirmed reports that land has been acquired, left barren for years and then sold to private developers to build condominiums, obviously at a handsome profit to the government.



In any case, PAP policies could very possibly lead the country to the point of no return. Although never mentioned in our state controlled media, there is a housing bubble waiting to burst.

In 2008, it was reported that 33,000 or about 8% of HDB households defaulted on their payments. That is about the same scale as the sub-prime crisis which plunged American homeowners into the abyss. Many Americans were (and still are) in a position of negative equity- a mortgage debt higher than the value of the property.

The one and only reason why the Singapore housing bubble hasn't burst is because waves of foreigners come in the shore up demand for flats, this at the same time where the Ministry of National Development has deliberately kept supply low. The result is that property prices continue to trend higher.

So what good will raising supply of housing do when immigrant numbers continue to swell?

And what will happen to home prices when 60% of Singaporeans finally wake up from their slumber and decide to vote for policies that will see significant reductions in foreign residents?

Unfortunately, there is no pain free way out of this mess that PAP has created for Singaporeans.
And as the saying goes, what goes up must come down.

For the sake of restoration of social sanity and to pursue a Singaporeans first policy, and in the interests of our future generations, we have to bite the bullet hard.

This country cannot sustain the uneven proportion of foreigners in the long term as our physical infrastructure and cultural fabric is already at breaking point.

The housing bubble will burst...but when?

"How to run your train system?" by Bukit Panjang LRT

There was yet another disruption at the sprawling Bukit Panjang LRT system yesterday.
Oh wait, it's just a 7.8km light rail system actually.

Before that on May 17, another disruption took place.

Before that on April 19, another disruption took place.

I will run out of blog space if I'd posted all the disruptions.

In January this year, it was reported in Straits Times that between Jan 2008 till Jan 2011, there were 32 major disruptions at the LRT.
That is about 1 disruption per month!

SMRT, which runs the LRT line and effectively monopolises nearly all train lines in the country, was fined $400,000 in 2008 for a horrific maintenance accident that left thousands stranded.

From time to time, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has also imposed earth-shattering $100-300 fines for lapses in service provision either by SMRT buses or trains.

What is the effectiveness of such fines?

Let's figure- SMRT is about 50% owned by sovereign fund Temasek Holdings. LTA is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport.
Common factor: Government>>> PAP

The only way we will see service quality improvement from a monopoly is if real competition is introduced.
If you carefully study Hong Kong's public transport system, arguably one of the best in Asia, you will find that from buses to trains and taxis, there is a very strong private sector participation.
This forces the previously government-owned MTR Corporation, which runs Hong Kong's biggest metro system, to stay customer focused and vigilant.
Commuters also have viable alternatives.

Singapore's public transport woes are only getting worse. If you can't stand the squeeze in the MRT, you can take the bus or taxi.
However, Comfort Delgro runs most of the buses and taxis in the country and the company is also more than 50% owned by Temasek Holdings.

Thus, the entire public transport system in Singapore is operated by and owned directly or indirectly by the Singapore government aka PAP.

In a situation like this, lots of groupthink happens in the strategic decision making of our transport system and the best we can get is the ERP, and now, Satellite ERP.

While the May 2011 Elections is a watershed in many ways, it seems the PAP is sticking to the same old ways in the manner it runs the country.

From the Tanglin flooding to dead body in water tank, PAP Ministers and officials are only working hard to shirk responsibility.

Heaven forbid if we continue to get a President who only toes the ruling party's line.

PUB continues to fail Singaporeans

El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO causes extreme weather (such as floods and droughts) in many regions of the world.........The expression of ENSO is potentially subject to dramatic changes as a result of global warming, and is a target for research in this regard.

Well El Nino is a phenomenon that is known to man for years. It seems the CEO of the Public Utilities Board (PUB) Khoo Teng Chye isn't aware of this.
Hence, heavier than expected rainfall in Singapore has continued to wreak havoc annually and even started to devastate our main shopping district.

In a country where it rains half the time, you would have thought PUB and the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources would have taken action at all costs to solve a potential disaster in the making.

Shopowners have lost millions of dollars due to our inept drainage capacity and design. Has the government granted any compensation to them? Greedy landlords only care about raking in the profits and would never spend hundreds of thousands on improved anti-flood measures.
Taking the cake though is Mr. Khoo who said that  "The other alternative is to really create a diversion canal from where this pond is to the Singapore River. But given Singapore's built-up situation, these are very, very expensive schemes."
So there is actually a physical solution to the floods!! But PUB won't spend the money, which in any case is taxpayer funded, because it's expensive?
The amount of damages caused to hapless shop owners and businesses isn't expensive?
I guess it's OK for Temasek to lose billions while beefing up our flood safety is too expensive.
Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan in principle, did the right thing by visiting Tanglin Mall on Sunday. But his comments to the media raised more questions than answers.
He was quoted thinking aloud "has the weather changed?"
How can a country rich enough to pay its Ministers the highest salaries in the world and one that can shore up shaky US banks not invest adequately in weather research?

Today, the Orchard Road Business Association came out to say they are disappointed with PUB.
My question to you guys is how many of you endorsed the PAP in the May Elections? How many of you supported the former Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim?
It is he that should shoulder most of the blame for failing to ensure that the PUB took corrective actions after last year's once in 50 years flood.
Also, CEO Khoo and the top brass at PUB must also be held responsible.

60% of Singaporeans allowed PAP to continue ruling for another five years.
What did your votes stand for?

A 15 year old Indonesia boy is a casualty in the latest series of floods. How many more lives do we need to lose before the government starts to do something meaningful?

Isn't the loss of human life more expensive?

Indian doctor wants to end hostility against foreigners

Many PAP supporters have labelled Temasek Review Emeritus and its readers as a boisterous band of hooligan just out to criticise the government.

It's probably because they don't actually read the content of the site.

The comments on this thread about another Indian "FT" giving his two cents' worth (rupees actually) are rational and most of all, intelligent responses.
It proves that netizens who prefer alternative views are educated and can contribute good ideas for the purpose of nation building.

I've picked out some random comments:

"The way I see it, India Health Care is in an even more “dire straits” with many poor unable to seek treatment. So what is your motive for coming here instead of staying back in your country to practice and help out the poor?"


"The issues are not of racism and discrimination but one of qualifications. Countries like Australia, UK and NZ are stringent in their acceptance of foreign-trained doctors. In NZ, the medical degrees have to be recognised by the Medical Council of NZ, there is a need to have passed approved medical registration exam, the need to have work in a country with a health system comparable to NZ for some years….and other conditions to be satisfied. So, even if the doctors had graduated from top Indian Colleges (which by the way are not recognised in NZ) and have experience working in India, they cannot work in NZ. They would have to go for re-training and work under supervision before being able to get registered and work as a medical practitioner."


"It is absolutely understandable that you “don’t know the solution”.
It needs to be a “native” Singaporean who has gone through political thick and thin and with a conscientious character to understand the problem first before thinking of the solution.
The hostility is not really the FTs. Much less, you as a medical practitioner serving the sick Singaporeans.
It is the tyranny and nepotism in Singapore politics thrusted into the citizens over the past 50 years coupled with the policies and attitudes of the evil regime that gives rise to this phenomenon – hostility towards FTs/foreigners."


In any case, I mentioned in my previous post that the PAP, through the myopic grow-at-all-cost policy of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's team, has caused severe harm to our medical system.

It is unimaginable how then Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan failed to sufficiently expand our medical resources during the decade-long loose immigration policy which saw over a million foreign residents make Singapore home. Was he not on talking terms with then Manpower Minster Gan Kim Yong?

Worse, instead of addressing the root of the problem, which is uncontrolled immigration, the PAP sees fit to lower requirements for doctors and as a result, a wave of medical professionals from third world countries flocked to Singapore for a chance of earning strong Sing dollar and to live in a community where foreigners are sometimes treated better than native citizens.

If the intention was to benefit Singaporeans, the Health Ministry should have hired well qualified doctors from Western nations. But the centrepiece of PAP's masterplan is to depress wages so that greedy government linked companies will continue to rake in supernormal profits.
Healthcare is no exception.

My reply to this Indian doctor's comment is this--- Admit that you are working here for the money. If you were as noble as your profession would make you out to be, you should be treating the millions of poor in India who desperately need access to basic healtchare.

As such, come down from the moral high-ground you are standing on and keep your thoughts to yourself.
Do you think a Singaporean will go to India and publicly tell Indians what to do?

He would probably get mobbed.

Lee Wei Ling steps up for Singaporeans

A couple of days ago, someone wrote to ST Forum accusing Singaporeans of becoming racist.
I don't think Singaporeans are racist.

I think Singaporeans are more cowards than racists.

Why do we not even make a noise when half the people in our office are foreigners? Because we are cowards.

Why do we accept the unbearable squeeze in our trains, buses, hospitals and malls due to the massive influx of immigrants without a single protest? Because we are cowards.

Why do we allow almost 2 millions new citizens and PRs to go without a single day of national service and not confront our MPs about this? Because we are cowards.

Kudos to LKY's daughter Lee Wei Ling for writing a letter to the ST Forum arguing that Singaporeans are not racist.
In her letter, she mentioned that nearly a third of doctors from the National Neuroscience Institute are Indian nationals!

For years, NUS, a government university, has refused to increase the intake of medical students.
This despite the desperate need to train more doctors to meet the burgeoning demand for healthcare caused by the sudden surge in foreign residents and a fast ageing population.
The PAP has also been positioning this tiny country as a medical tourist hub for rich foreigners and as many as 200-300k flood our hospitals annually.
Obviously,our former Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan must have been "caught off guard".
His solution, like all his counterparts in other Ministries, is to import more foreigners.
They even went to the extent of expanding the list of recognised foreign medical schools, including several from India.

What's worse, and I quote
"Foreign-trained specialists now need only to complete two years of supervision, compared to three previously, while for foreign-trained non-specialists, the duration has been halved - from six years to three."
It doesn't take an expert to conclude that we are playing with fire here and the chance that the quality of medical care will fall is very high.
If Singaporeans were less cowardly, they will take the Health Minister to task.

I for one would not trust an India trained doctor...not even for $8.




Two days ago, a PAP supporter Yap Yien Li wrote to the ST Forum accusing Singaporeans of becoming more ‘racist’ based on comments posted on a TR Facebook (started by fans) about a photo showing three expat Indians sitting in strange positions on a SMRT train.
An unlikely public figure came to the defence of Singaporeans – Lee Wei Ling, the only daugther of PAP paramount leader Lee Kuan Yew. In a letter published in the Straits Times Forum today, Lee who is also the director of the National Neuroscience Institute argued that Singaporeans are not racist.
Using herself as an example, Ms Lee wrote that two of her best friends are Indians and she has many friends who are of mixed Indian-Chinese heritage.
She then made a shocking relevation that 27 percent of doctors in NNI are Indians:
“At my hospital, the National Neuroscience Institute, we have a disproportionate percentage of doctors who are Indians – 27 per cent. There are many Indian doctors in other hospitals. By and large, race is not an issue for patients, except for a few among the less educated and the older among them.”
Ms Lee did not reveal the number of expat Indians among them, but MOH has been increasing the intake of Indian doctors with M.B.B.S from Indian universities to make up for the shortage of local doctors in Singapore.
Besides working in unpopular specialities in public hospitals like Neurology, many expat Indian doctors are also deployed to work in the polyclinics. One polyclinic in the central part of Singapore has 6 Indian doctors and only one Singapore doctor among its staff.

Did Potong Pasir residents elect a snake?

What kind of HR practice is it to terminate employees only for them to reapply for the same jobs?

This comes hot on the heels of the termination of a  Jurong Town Council Employee for allegedly supporting the Opposition.

Can we still trust the PAP?


SINGAPORE: A dispute has broken out between the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and the People’s Action Party Member of Parliament Sitoh Yih Pin over what was allegedly promised for the leadership transition at Potong Pasir Town Council.
At the heart of the wrangle are the 16 town council employees, who were last week offered re—employment and deployment to other town councils by EM Services, the managing agent newly contracted by Mr Sitoh to manage the town council.
Out of the 16 employees, three were retained in Potong Pasir Town Council. According to employees whom MediaCorp spoke to, the remaining 13 were issued termination letters.
Mr Sitoh explained that the termination letters were issued "in accordance to" the employees’ contracts and the terminated staff were asked to re—apply with EM Services. So far, only six had submitted their re—application forms, said Mr Sitoh.
One employee in his fifties said he knew of at least three colleagues who have decided not to reapply, as they were "unhappy" with the arrangement.
The arrangement is not what Mr Sitoh had promised Mrs Lina Chiam, his SPP opponent at the recent General Election, claims the Opposition party, whose second assistant secretary—general Benjamin Pwee has drafted a "request letter" to the Potong Pasir MP.
MediaCorp understands that Mr Pwee will deliver the letter to the town council on Thursday.
According to a copy of the letter obtained by MediaCorp, SPP claims that Mr Sitoh had pledged, in front of SPP and PAP counting agents in the early hours after Polling Day, to "keep all the staff at the town council" after Mrs Chiam had expressed concern about their jobs at the town council.
When contacted on Wednesday, Mr Sitoh refuted SPP’s claims.
"At that time, I didn’t know the inside workings of the town council and how many staff there were, so my exact words to her, "Since you asked, I’ll try my best to see what I can do"," he said.
"And I think I’ve kept to my word: I negotiated with EM Services and I must give credit to EM Services. They said, "Don’t worry, we’ll take the staff"."
As for his decision not to keep most of the town council employees at Potong Pasir, Mr Sitoh said he could not keep everybody, as he has to abide by EM Services’ regulations.
"It has its own way of doing things that is developed over the years, which is why I adopt this system. My paramount interest is the Potong Pasir residents, so EM Services has to bring in its own people. I can’t compromise on standards of services I deliver to residents."
He added that EM Services will probably have to train some of the Potong Pasir town council employees under its own training programme.
Town council employees whom MediaCorp spoke to expressed concern about the situation, especially after they were told that when re—employed, they would be put on a six—month probation under EM Service’s terms and conditions. When asked about the probation period, Mr Sitoh said this was standard human resource policy for all EM Services staff. He added: "If they’re good performers, what’s the worry?" —

Foreigners- be thankful

An Indian "FT", in a desperate attempt to justify his existence in Singapore, commented on a Temasek Review Emeritus post:

"There is nothing that an “FT” cannot do here that he cannot do back in India or China."

Let me correct this to " If an employer cannot prove that Singaporeans cannot fill a role, then "FTs" cannot be employed"

Actually, the phrase "foreign talent" has been over abused. 10, 20 years ago, the foreigners we employed from Western countries were indeed foreign talents- they were expatriates who brought skills and knowledge Singaporeans had very little of.
Today, the foreigners you see here are mostly just foreigners.

In the same period of time, Singaporeans have acquired these talents that should enable us to manage and lead on our own, unless the PAP's much touted education system has failed. To date, we have yet to hear any admission of failure.

It may be argued that the cream of the crop in India and China prefer posh government jobs in their own countries or head for US and UK.
Indeed, A Chinese publication stated that most of the top Chinese scholars end up in the US.
So what talents are we really attracting?
Are some of them here on fake qualifications?

It is totally unacceptable that mediocre foreigners are employed to do jobs that Singaporeans want to do, especially in the PMET area.

For any foreigner reading this, these are the only reasons why you are here:

1) Your mere presence would add to GDP growth. Our Ministers' bonus are tied to this

2) HR managers are foreigners themselves and so the affinity to hire their own. In some countries, HR managers must be locals

3) You are happy to work for lower salaries because you don't have long term commitments that Singaporeans have and the Sing dollar is alot stronger than your home currency

4) Our Ministry of Manpower does not properly scrutinise foreigners and there are lapses in due diligence. My company has an application for a foreign hire approved in ONE hour

5) You could somehow decide to turn citizen and add to the ruling party's voter base

My advice for foreigners is that be thankful for getting the chance to live in a modern, clean and safe country that Singaporeans have built over 40 years.
Be thankful that hundreds of thousands of Singaporean men sacrifice their time and careers to protect you if the inevitable happens.
Be thankful to know that for you to stay in your job, a Singaporean has by default made way to accommodate you.
Singaporeans are more than capable bankers, strategic planners, project managers, IT specialists, academics, sales leads etc etc.

Dating results

The Unstraits Times poll have closed for the most datable politicians.

Fan favourite Nicole Seah is the most eligible bachelorette, garnering 50% of votes.
With 34% of votes, guys also felt Workers' Party's Glenda Han as someone they would want to catch a movie with.
Cougar Sylvia Lim also got a few nods.

"Celebrity" MP Chen Show Mao is the ladies' choice. He has continued to touch our hearts with his compassion and humility and of course, that smile.
It was a close fight for 2nd place as Dr. Vincent managed quite a few last minute votes to trump Low Thia Khiang by a whisker.

Personally, I find Mr. Low strangely charming, especially during rallies. He would get my vote.