Anwar Ibrahim acquitted

Our Minister Mentor Emeritus  Lee Kuan Yew crossed path with Malaysia on numerous occasions.
In 2010, he alluded that Malaysia was a "failed state".
He also incurred the wrath of Malaysian Muslims for criticising Islam openly in his book.

Little does he realise (nor care) that Singapore pales in comparison in terms of democratic and civil freedom.
Who would have thought Malaysia had an independent judiciary?
Anwar Ibrahim acquitted!!!

In Singapore, our judges send three Singaporeans wearing kangaroo T-shirts to jail.

And you apparently can't voice an opinion on the death penalty.

I wonder if Singapore's political immaturity will affect the nation's ability to compete both economically and socially.

SMRT and SBS to increase fares.....again

For the whole of 2009, the Hong Kong MTR made US$77 million from advertising revenues. Because this was a significant drop from the previous year, probably due to the '08 financial crisis, the management promised to go all out to bring in additional ad dollars.
Check out some of their digital campaigns here:

If you've been to Kuala Lumpur recently, you will see lively advertising in their metro stations.

Contrast this with SMRT. The billboards lining Tanjong Pagar and Raffles Place stations are mostly empty. These are probably the stations with highest human traffic as they are located in the heart of our business district.
And the economy surely can't be in recession when State Media reported today that Mastercard claimed there was a 49% rise in spending on their cards in the first month of the Great Singapore Sale compared to last year.

Train operators rely on advertising revenue to boost earnings in bad times and to combat rising costs of operation among other things.
That naturally means they need a well trained and motivated sales force to solicit advertising business.
And Singapore is the home to many consumer goods HQ so there can't be a lack of corporate targets.

So why doesn't SMRT (and SBS) appear worried at the lack of ad dollars?

Because they can increase their fares any time they want.
It was reported today that both SMRT and SBS are seeking the maximum fare increase. What gall!
Unlike many cash strapped operators in other countries, SMRT's FY11 revenues grew y-o-y to reach nearly 1 billion dollars.
You can see from the table below that with the exception of FY 2009 and 2010, growth in car kilometres operated did not keep pace with the growth in ridership.
That means SMRT did not adequately increase service levels despite the surge in Singapore's resident population over the last five years.
This would explain why trains are overcrowded, air-conditioning faulty and the numerous breakdowns.

Yet they have the cheek to consistently seek fare increases because they just be bothered to look for alternative sources of revenue like ad dollars or increase productivity?

I wonder what the Public Transport Council (PTC) has to say about the latest request for adjustments.
Since PTC is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport, Lui Tuck Yew and PAP must also be held responsible if the PTC approves the latest round of profiteering by our public transport operators.

But there is nothing out of the ordinary here. Prices and fares of most public services go up after Elections. Thanks to the 60% daft Singaporeans, we should brace ourselves from yet another vicious cycle of price hikes.

In any case, SMRT has lots to learn from a truly world class system--- The Seoul Metro.

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!

General Elections 2016- battle plan?

I was just studying the 2011 electoral boundaries.
While we know that boundaries are redrawn every election, one thing I could conclude is that the PAP has everything to worry about.
Also, if the Opposition can fully get their act together, work the ground alot harder, better strategise where to send their teams etc, the gains could be significant.

If you look at the map below, the red areas are Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC.
I've pinked out those constituencies where the Opposition came close to winning.

My advice to the Opposition is band together and form a bastion in the East. Send your A teams to take down these wards and we could have a solid Opposition base in eastern Singapore.
It's often cited that the Opposition lacks the funds and economies of scale to wage a successful fight. With this scenario, they can consolidate resources by banding these constituencies, which are all adjacent to each other, together.

Now we all know how staunchly PAP is in the West- Jurong, Choa Chu Kang, West Coast (biggest GRC by land area) and to some extent Holland-Bukit Timah.
So if the Opposition can consolidate power in the East, they can use that as a springboard to tackle these more stubborn areas.

For the PAP, they have to seriously consider:

• Who will repalce SM Goh in Marine Parade
• If Lim Swee Say can improve the performance in East Coast,  considering that he faced off with what was essentially, no disrespect, WP's 'B' team
• If they can they stretch Pasir-Ris Punggol boundaries even more to take advantage of Teo Chee Hean's safe status
• If MBT should continue in Tampines

We have a battle on our hands. Looking forward to GE 2016.

PS: Notice how tiny Tampines GRC is. Looks like the PAP had little faith in MBT.