Post-election reflection #GE2020

The mood in the ruling PAP has changed somewhat. The PAP government's PM, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, has now recognised an official Leader of the Opposition and offered the position to Mr Pritam Singh, the Secretary-General of the Workers' Party (WP). This is as it should be. By so doing, it is giving due recognition to the electorates' sentiment that they want a more participative government, not one ruled by a few whose decisions are not to be questioned. This has been the pattern of behaviour among the 4G leadership. I have seen the bullying tactics of the PAP government in and out of Parliament, apparently without realising that the WP MPs' were in Parliament because they were invited to sit there by real voters, real people who live among us. I remember some of these:

1. Presidential "Election"

2. PAP Govt bullied WP over Aljunied-Hougang Town Council matters

3. MRT rail problems

4. Explosion of Public Housing (esp. in Sengkang and Punggol)

5. Population/Crowdedness

6. Mismanagement of COVID-19 (Dorms)

Hopefully, Parliament will be a more civil place where serious issues are discussed and the views of all Singaporeans taken into account. Matters not effectively dealt with in Parliament will spill over into the ballot box. We don't need a bulldozer which act as if its decisions cannot be questioned, and the Opposition's every view is ridiculed. I think this may be one of the reasons for the PAP government's reduced vote-share. That said, the PAP government has had a resounding show of support from the majority of Singaporeans by any global standard, and rightly so because it has always delivered "the goods". The only issue is whether these are the only goods that people want delivered and the manner in which they were delivered. 

I hope I am right that Singapore has just seen a generational change into a new normal, where we have a strong government and an effective Opposition in Parliament from now on. This will make for a more mature decision-making process which will work to the benefit of all Singaporeans.

Majulah Singapura! 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/ge2020-pm-lee-congratulates-wp-for-strong-performance-12923594

A great political speech, said from the heart #GE2020

A friend sent me this. Said it was one of the best political speeches he has heard. I watched and I cannot agree more.

Intent and plans for the future of Singapore #GE2020

In the age of rampant falsehoods appearing on social media, especially on Facebook, it made sense to have a POFMA law. It is widely believed that the last US elections in 2016 was "rigged" by the Russians that led to the surprise victory of Donald J. Trump. Granted that there was a lot of animosity against Hillary Clinton, it was still an eyebrow-raising result. After 4 years, the US is a former shadow of itself in terms of leadership in Science and Technology, and perhaps more importantly, moral leadership in a world that is increasing a dangerous place to live in, and I am not just referring to COVD-19.

When Singapore pushed through its POFMA, many were concerned that it could be mis-used. And this appears to have happened. In GE2020, there does not appear to be any undue influence outside of the country, nor on social media from foreign sources that anyone, much less the PAP government, can point to that would make POFMA relevant. Some what do we do? We train the laws at our own people. I don't think there is any doubt in ANYBODY's mind that every candidate standing for GE2020 loves Singapore and want the best for the country they truly call their home.

So this selective use, or more precisely, mis-used, of POFMA laws proves the fears of detractors to be well-founded. It is not wrong of anybody to oppose the intent or plans that the PAP government may have raised but not subsequently implemented. It is a fair warning to people that a party that has a tendency to think a particular way may not have given up entirely on the idea, and to forewarn people that while these plans have not been realised, it will not be raised again some time in the future, when Elections are well out of the way. Then what?

This is why we must have good people like Dr Tambyah, Chee Soon Juan, Pritam Singh, Tan Cheng Bock and Jamus Lim in Parliament. The GRC is just an irritant, though eventually, probably, decisive. The dice is loaded.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/ge2020-sdp-paul-tambyah-pofma-distraction-covid-19-dormitories-12904928

Explosive news #SG2020

News media just went to town with a report that the Singapore Police Force (SPF) is investigating allegations that a WP candidate in the Sengkang GRC team had written racist and religious materials on social media. These views were expressed as recently as May 2020 and another in 2018. 

If true, then WP's campaign is in real jeopardy. On the other hand, the PAP may have sensed that the ground in Sengkang GRC is not sweet at all, given the popularity of the WP's A/Prof Jamus Lim. This can be viewed as a desperate move by the PAP to sink the WP's bid. If one of those remarks were made two years ago, and it is a serious breach of Singapore's strict laws on race and religion, why bring it up only now? Well, of course it is a timely tactic by the PAP to caste doubt on the WP candidate, and with it, the WP team contesting the Sengkang GRC.

But who knows? Let's see how the matter develops over the next couple of days.

Update:

Raeesh Khan apologises.

Mid-point view #GE2020

Even as GE2020 heads towards its last week of campaigning, the electorate needs to make up its mind soon. I suppose many would already have made up theirs. The rest is just theatre. You can go to for the entertainment or ignore it totally. The PAP claims that the WP's platform is PAP-lite - essentially no different from the PAP, implying that the WP is superfluous. Choosing the WP will make not an iorta of difference in the larger scheme of things. The SDP claims that it has made a difference already by forcing the PAP government to state unequivocally the non-existence of the 10 million population target, and even the 6.9 million target has also been disavowed. I remember 7 years ago, this 6.9 million figure was vigorously opposed by many Singaporeans. It appears to be settled, for now.

The PAP has introduced a whole slate of new candidates. It is using the GRC system, with its slate of veterans, to get these people elected into Parliament - people who have yet to prove themselves. Nothing new, you say. Well, Singapore, why can't that apply to the other Parties too? There are a few good men and women which are worthy of serious consideration. People like A/Prof Jamus Lim who is standing in the newly formed (reconstituted) ward of Sengkang GRC. Yee Jenn Jong and Nicole Seah are standing in the East Coast GRC. Both are earnest and intelligent individuals who I think can contribute to Singapore's future government. Of course, that GRC, suddenly, overnight, had a mini-earthquake and grew a mountain possibly named Heng Swee Keat Peak. Frankly, HSK parachuted himself into that constituency because it was one of the more risky GRC that could fall to the WP. The last time, the PAP won with a low margin of 55%. Low because there were relatively heavy-weight PAP government Ministers standing there then. With all due respect, people must understand that HSK is the PAP's chosen leader. Yes, he opened the country's foreign reserves and doled out billions of dollars. Do Singaporeans think that this couldn't be done by someone else? 

Unless Singapore identifies with the PAP unequivocally and completely, HSK becoming Singapore's future PM is not a foregone conclusion. The PAP would like you to think their thoughts and do its bidding. Are we slaves to a single narrative? I believe the PAP has the depth of leadership to easily throw up an alternative, like Mr Ong Yee Kang, who takes after Lee Kuan Yew more than most in the PAP.

Dr Chee Soon Juan has "matured" over the years and I think he will be a valuable addition to Parliament. He came out to defend his opponent when social media dug into the incumbent MP's family life. Yes, we can expect a lot more debate, which actually gives taxpayers their money's worth. Why settle for less? With his involvement in international fora, Dr Paul Tambyah can also enrich Parliamentary discussions and contribute more to Singapore than most of the new PAP candidates.

Singaporeans have been known for its bargain hunting ways. Why settle for less? Like what the WP said, with a non-PAP MP, you can be serviced by the PAP as well. It won't abandon you! Two for the price of one! Buy-one-get-one free. That's a language that many Singaporeans identify with.

Worth wisely, Singapore. 

Integrity and honesty in government #GE2020

DPM Heng Swee Keat is right that our national leaders must be people of integrity and honesty. This is one of the chief reasons why the Singapore electorate has returned the PAP to government in all elections held since Singapore's independence in 1965. One of things that the PAP has also done well over the years is to root out corruption within its party ranks and civil service, so much so that the PAP is reputed for being whiter than white.

However, it is disingenuous for the PAP to insinuate dishonesty and lack of sincerity in parties opposed to it, especially in the current hustings. The PAP has again said that the SDP lacks integrity and honesty over the issue of the 10 million population issue. I am not sure that I buy the PAP's line on this. This charge is nothing new - it has been saying this for years, especially referring to Dr Chee Soon Juan. Is there nothing else the PAP can say, especially now? The pot calling the kettle black? One of its new candidates withdrew his candidacy due to public disquiet about the person's supposed elitist behaviour and hint of unanswered questions regarding his involvement in respect of some Brazil projects. While the jury is out on the case of Ivan Lim, it seems hypocritical to call into question SDP's honesty and integrity. 

If the SDP has outmaneuvered the PAP in respect of the 10 million population issue, it cannot then turn around and call the SDP dishonest. It just goes to show that the PAP has no effective response to the issue.

Yes, I am beginning to become convinced that we need good opposition voices in Parliament. It will give us the best of both worlds - a proven government which is clean, and opposition voices which will keep the decision-making sharp to avoid the occasional mis-thinking that the PAP has been guilty of, and which may cost the country millions, no billions, of $ of unnecessary expenditure. Even its distinguished former member, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, advocates this.

Majulah Singapura   

Read:

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/ge2020-paps-heng-speaks-out-against-sdps-bogeyman-says-candidates-must-have-integrity-and

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/ge2020-pap-should-not-try-fool-frighten-voters-about-change-govt-says-tan-cheng-bock

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/ge2020-psp-tan-cheng-bock-two-thirds-majority-12894722

An Officer and a Gentleman #GE2020

When a potential candidate receives unsolicited brickbats regarding his personal qualities, he'd be scrutinized and, if found true, run out of town. That was Ivan Lim. 

When another potential candidate receives unsolicited praise regarding his personal qualities, he'd still be scrutinized and, if found true, should be held in high regard. Such is Desmond Tan, former Brigadier General in the SAF and lately, the CEO of the People's Association. We need more of such people in Parliament and the Government - people who can empathise with others and in the process, make a positive difference.

Read this: https://mothership.sg/2020/06/desmond-tan-pap-candidate/

This is why he had to go #SingaporeElection

This is the reason why he had to go. Not opinion, not feelings, not political machinations. He lied, brazenly. And the PAP thinks that it is a positive life lesson. Well, if that is how the PAP chooses and shortlist candidates, the apply has fallen far from the tree. 

Like me at Another Say

On the up and up in Singapore, and crash #GE2020

2 years ago, and 3 years into the PAP's victory in the 2015 GE, the PAP government promised these:

1. Increase in GST rate - from 7% to 9% starting between 2021 and 2025
2. Increase in water prices by 30% starting July 2018
3. Increase airport tax - to build Changi Airport T5
4. Parking charges to be imposed at all public schools
5. Increase public transport fares (as alluded to by Khaw Boon Wan in Parliament in May 2018)

True to form, the PAP government does what it says it will do, baring circumstances like COVID-19 - a once-in-a-century phenomenon.

1. The GST rate increase will still take place between 2021 and 2025, probably later rather earlier. Maybe 2023.

2. Check - done

3. Changi Airport T5 has been suspended because there will not be demand due to COVID-19, so the Airport Tax will not be increased anytime soon

4. Check - done

5. Check - done

What is the state of play in the coming GE 2020?

In 2020, the PAP government spent nearly $100 billion of Reserves to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Some feel that it could have been less, if only it had dealt with the elephant in the room early on instead of soaking in the adulation of the world about Singapore's success in containing the spread of the virus on the island in the early days. This elephant refers to the Foreign Worker community living in cramped Dormitories, which number no less than 200,000 - a figure hard to miss, but was missed. In retrospect, if we had insisted on masks like what Hong Kong has done all along, a couple of 10's of billions of dollars would have remained in the Reserves, and businesses will still have been able to operate for much of the time.

Going forward, COVID-19 will still hog the limelight, at least for another year. Would more diverse voices in Parliament with teeth be needed to see the country through more successfully and saved us a couple of 10's of billion of dollars? Based on what has happened, the answer must be an unqualified "yes".

Like me at Another Say

Mdm President

Singapore has been slow to the game. Many countries have had their female heads of state, whether executive or ceremonial. There is India's Indira Gandhi, Indonesia's Megawati Sukarnoputri,  Thailand's Yingluck Shinawatra, Philippines' Corazon Aquino, Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, and lately, Hong Kong's Carrie Lam. 

Now Singapore has its first female President, Mdm Halimah Yacob. Elected via a disqualification of potential opponents - 4 of them, questions have been raised about her legitimacy. Right now, her legitimacy can only be based on the strength of the ruling government of the day, which set (or changed) the rules to ensure that few, if any, opponent can qualify to stand, nevermind that there would be no contest and, in the same breadth, anoint her as 'duly elected'. If you want to be unkind, Singapore is looking like a banana republic, in the same mould as Cambodia, Cuba, Djibouti and DPRK (yep, the bomb-astic nation). How far the apple has fallen from the tree.

To its credit, LHL and his government is well aware of the disquiet about the whole Presidential Election and the way it has been conducted. Nevertheless, it believes that this is good for Singapore 50 years hence, although non of them will be around to answer for the truth or folly of this belief. We can only say that LHL's government is sincere in wanting the best for Singapore and its future, and their belief that this is the best way of going about it. We cannot fault sincerity. They said that it will be willing to bear the consequences, possibly in the next GE. Well lets see. It isn't going to be 50 years from now, only 4 years, in 2021, or earlier.

From social media postings, both before and after the 'election', private postings, and more private conversation, coffee shop talk and street conversations, some of which I have witnessed and been party to, there is tremendous unhappiness, and even ridicule, over the whole 'election'. And now, a lot of the unhappiness continue to be expressed about President Yacob's decision to live in Yishun instead of the Istana, never mind that tax payers have to foot the bill for the security, the car park space (its not going to be just one car and all of them do not incur season parking fees - wait till the Auditor General hears about this), expenses of outriders and police blocking traffic as the President travels between her house and the Istana almost everyday. Yishun is quite a distance away from the Istana. It is regrettable that the first act of the newly 'elected' President is to impose unnecessary additional expenses and incovenience on tax payers. I hope, sooner rather later, that she will dignify her office by moving into the Istana, or otherwise, get a private and suitably remote location to stay (why not the Istana then?)

Finance (Minister) Recovers

Erstwhile Finance Minister, Mr Heng Swee Keat, appears to have recovered from his stroke. A video recorded his discharge from hospital, all smiles all around. It shows him walking out of hospital, unaided, though unaccompanied. Funny this last, whenever a patient is discharged from hospital, you would expect to see at least a loved-one walking beside that person. The conclusion is that the video is all stage-managed with the objective of assuring Singapore, and perhaps the world financial markets, that all is well with the Finance Minister and that he can be expected to be back at work some time in the future. At this time though, the world is more worried about Brexit but it will be good to have Mr Heng contribute his intellect to this situation in the continued service of the government.

The report alludes to his need for continued therapy, which is to be expected for stroke patients, but he appears none the worse for wear. I wish Mr Heng godspeed in his journey towards full recovery.

Fact, fake and opinion

Mr Chan Chun Sing, Government Whip in the current Parliament, and Member for the Group Representation Constituency of Tanjong Pagar, said that the motion by the Workers' Party to amend the NCMP scheme to transfer the seat vacated by best loser in the last General Election, Lee Li Lian, to the losing candidate of its own choice "must reflect the truth".  This goes without saying. How can Parliament even entertain the thought of passing a motion that are lies? We are, after all, not a banana republic. Yes, the truth must be stated. But the amendments to the motion introduced by Mr Chan is hardly the whole truth, or the truth was not the only thing that was reflected. It contains, yes, some truth (more accurately, fact), but also opinion and innuendo. Consider the amendment that was inserted to the motion:

“...regrets that Ms Lee Li Lian, having stood as a Workers’ Party candidate and received the highest vote share among all losing opposition candidates, has now decided to give up her NCMP seat to another candidate from her party with a lower vote share (FACT), contrary to the expressed will of the voters (OPINION + ASSUMPTION + INNUENDO). And that the WP supports this political manoeuvre  to take full advantage of the NCMP seat (OPINION + INNUENDO), even as its secretary-general criticises NCMPs as just duckweed on the water of the pond (FACT + INNUENDO)."

Given the many lawyers of high standing in the PAP ranks, it is regrettable that the party voted in this amendment as is. The Opposition and NCMPs (who are all WP members) wisely abstained over this vague and politically charged amendment to the motion.

As the saying goes, "All is fair in love and war", even innuendos and fiction disguised as fact and the "truth". tsk tsk tsk.

What is a fault?

The year is hardly over and I have just learnt a new word - "bedding-in". Singapore government officials, in this case, the LTA/SBS Transit engineers, attributed the signalling fault on the new Downtown Line 2 (DTL2) on day 3 as quite normal (Straits Times, 30 Dec 2015, page B2 - "Signalling fault causes delays on DTL2). No, in fact it is even to be expected. It is called bedding-in. Amazingly, the Transport Minister, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, is happy to parrot this reason (excuse?) and leave things be. How long is the "bedding-in" period? We are told it is several months. However this leaves me none the wiser whether it means 2 months or 12 months. Hello, I would expect more precision from engineers, no? A variation of 10 months in an estimate just doesn't cut it for properly qualified engineers, or for that matter, a Minister paid in the million$.

As with all things new, I "asked" Google to "define bedding-in". Usually, Google will respond with a definition in a box, followed by a million or so links. Not so for bedding-in. It couldn't offer anything definite, just 2.14 million possibilities. Neither Collins English Dictionary nor Merriam-Webster could offer a definition. The closest word was "bedding". Only wordnik.com offered a link to its page on the word but even then, declined to define it.

 

Instead, it offered instances where the word has been used, listed on the right side of the web page. Most of its uses related to sports (soccer in particular) and politics. A single instance related to economics. The closest this word has been used in an engineering context is the laying of asphalt for F1 tracks, cited in the same list of examples. But train tracks aren't exactly made of asphalt, nor for that matter, signalling systems. Another use of bedding-in is for brake-pads. God help us if we need bedding-in for the braking system.

Well, I don't know what kind of engineers Mr Khaw has on staff, but they would appear to be soccer fans, going by their choice of word or analogy. I have no problems with new words being used, or words adapted for new meanings, but I do mind if it leads to muddle-headedness and imprecise thinking which gives the game (pun not intended) away.

The last thing that Ministers and engineers should do is fob off on the malfunction with bedding-in reasons. 

P.S. Remember 'ponding'?

Haze thy neighbour

Right now, and for the last couple of days, Singapore's favourite website must the NEA's (National Environment Agency) PSI (not pounds per square inch, but pollution standards index) page which reports the 24-hourly and 3-hourly reading of the air in Singapore by region. The region with consistently the highest reading is the western part simply because it is geographically closest to the source of the smoke emitting from the island of Sumatra, which is one of the largest islands of the more than one thousand that make up Indonesia. But the rest of Singapore is no less polluted with find particulate matter that is harmful to health.

The bloody Indonesian government. It can't decide what to do about it. It can't decide how to stop this annual occurrence, it can't decide if they would want Singapore's help to fight the fires causing this air pollution, it can't decide who to point the blame at - i.e. businesses which practice the slash and burn technique, and even if they do, they cannot decide if they want to act. Right now, one can only say that Indonesia is impotent, really, it can't do anything about the problem, or chooses not to. All they are doing is wayanging away. Singapore is just a red dot and dots do not matter, I suppose. Not today, not ever. They're not going to change, unless their generals and wives visit the island for a shopping spree. But that's it. Its a spree, they are gone like the whirlwind and the haze comes back. And the rest of us, its neighbors, are left to hold the ball and suffer the consequences. It doesn't matter whether Singapore has strict emission rules, from the car to the cigarette, and punishes those on the island who pollute the place.  There's always the island of Sumatra, shaped like a cigar, which smolders away 2-3 months of the year.

I am not going to visit Indonesia for leisure for a long while now, blame the %#4%@&* idiots which calls itself a government.

Can you stand for this?

"I can't standz it no more", so said Popeye. My sentiment exactly, when I read of "Saint" Khaw Boon Wan's words regarding the ongoing problems that the WP has had with its accounts. The latest, of course, is the MND coming out, days before the General Election kicks off, about the WP 'overpaying' its contractor for town council services in Worker's Party held constituencies. He used the word "friends" when referring to the contractor, parroting K Shanmugam without much thought. The word is emotive and brings unsaid compliments or aspersions, as the case may be.

How did Mr Khaw come to the conclusion that FMSS bosses are WP's/Low Thai Khiang's friends? Because they work in the same office? Friends are whom you go out with, share with them your personal thoughts and feeling, help each other out when the need arises, rebuke them when they have done wrong, if only to get to back to the straight and narrow. These are examples of friends. So I don't know what mischief "Saint" Khaw was up to.

The best you can say about Low and FMSS Directors are that they are regular and perhaps trusted partner, but friends? Then again, I do not claim to know their exact relationship, but I feel that if there is a suspicion that a crime has been committed, then the police should be called in, or the CPIB at least. But no, these PAP bigwigs just want to throws stones from the side, to "ka'cheow" the WP. The law, well, it is irrelevant in this instance.

I have told those within hearing that if I were living in the Aljunied GRC, I'd vote WP at the drop of a hat, if only because I cannot stand some of these all-knowing self-serving, and frankly, thoughtless, PAP Ministers anymore. I hope that Aljunied GRC residents share my sentiments.

Development economics - 101

For those of you who are wondering where the free book "UNDP and the making of the Singapore's Public Service" reported in the Straits Time might be available online, I found a copy here: http://issuu.com/undppublicserv/docs/booklet_undp-sg50-winsemius_digital

You do need to sign up to the Issuu site, but it is worth it for the sheer amount of popular publication such as quite current magazines, available for free on Issuu.

Times and Seasons

Election fever is in the air in Singapore, as Defence Minister, Mr Ng Eng Hen announced. What better time to light up the fire of the election machinery of the PAP than in this Jubilee year? And what better year to hold a General Election? There is speculation that polling day will be 12 September 2015, the last day of the Ghost month. Some have even spoken about this date with certainty, as if they have the inside track on the PM's thoughts. But I'd say it isn't a bad bet.

As the days and weeks progress towards that date, the PAP has been revealing its slate of candidates, with many MPs either retiring or moving from their wards. On the other hand, the WP, being the only opposition party, has stated that its sitting MPs are staying put. The PAP can afford to play musical chairs because its proposition, its selling point, has never been about the MP, the candidate. It is about the Party. So it doesn't matter if the incumbent moves away. (Well, I am wrong here. It matters because if the incumbent stayed on to fight, he/she will lose, for sure). But the PAP's spin is that the replacement will be just as good - its a tag team, bro. That's why you sometime never knew that that person is an MP. Let me qualify that - a PAP MP.

While the WP seem to be holding together, and the other pretenders too. However the NSP imagines that it has invested too much into the constituency of Macpherson to back out now and are therefore reneging on its earlier promise. No wonder that its Sec-General resigned! How to gain the trust of the people when a party behaves so dishonourably even before elections are called? Better balek kampong lah.

I want curry

Friends, Singaporeans, countrymen (and that includes countrywomen), lend me your ears. I write not to bury the dying but to comment on those who would seek to muzzle the tongue. I speak, of course, of the Breakfast Network (BN) ceasing to publish because it does not want to play ball with the Media Development Authority's (MDA) requirement for it to register itself. This, so I read, includes the onerous task of filling up a registration form. But more than this, the Breakfast Network, if appears, refuses to list its group of editors and occasional writers (this last was corrected by the MDA as not a requirement) by name. We learn that by refusing to comply, they will have to shut their doors, errr...website, including their Facebook page.

Ms Bertha Henson, who appears to be helming the BN, is not unknown in the journalistic circles in Singapore. According to her bio that can still be found online, she has been with Singapore Press Holdings since 1986, holding various positions such as Acting Editor of the New Paper and editor in  charge of journalism training programmes of English and Malay papers.. I don't personally know her, but her body of work suggests that she is no lightweight in journalism circles in Singapore.

Thus it came as a surprise that the erstwhile  establishment figure is now fighting a battle with the media supremos in Singapore. For now, she appears to have given up the fight. When a hundred pound gorilla wants to block your way, you don't rush head-on. You'd only damage your brain, with nothing much else to show for it. This is the first time I have heard of this altercation, and about the Breakfast Network. So I do not know if the BN will spout nonsense, or offer a credible voice on and about Singapore. I don't even know if it will be aligned with the powers that be, or the ones on the other side of the political divide, or even be a fence sitter. But one thing is certain - it operates within the sphere of social political commentary and she has written about things that may have caused the authorities to squirm in their seats. You see, the authorities don't like to squirm, if they can help it. In any case, a voice has been silenced. The MDA insists that it is not muzzling the voice of Singaporeans. It says that so long as certain rules are complied with, you can proceed to put out commentary and write about Singapore all you want - short of defaming people and engaging in too much negativity that may cause foreigners to think that Singapore is going to the dogs.

Now if Ms Henson had just restricted her website to issues of cooking in the kitchen, she would have been able to spew some oil and add some spice and honey when discussing her cooking in the kitchen. Then we can all have a party.

See: Media bias

How much is that again?

$2.80, $3, $3.20, and now $3.80. Taxi fares in Singapore have gone mad. So too the people who allow this state of affairs to carry on. What are these numbers, you ask? Those in Singapore who have boarded a taxi in the last month or so will know. Just 3 weeks ago, I boarded a cab and was taken aback when the meter read $3.80. I learnt later that taxi companies have decided unilaterally to impose an increase in flag down fares for newer models of it fleet of cars because of the extraordinary prices that these cars were acquired, no thanks to the COE system of buying a car in Singapore. An occasional taxi commuter wouldn't able to determine this type of taxis when they stick out their hands to flag for one traveling towards them. More often than not, they'd just have to pay the going rate because it is still quite difficult to get another taxi. From the consumer point of view, this whole system is blatantly unfair.

Today we insist on fair employment practices, but the powers that be seem happy to let this discriminatory taxi fare practice to take place. I believe all taxi flag down rates need to be approved by the authorities. But their stance is that taxi companies are free to set their rates because they are private enterprises, never mind that other private transport operators such as buses and trains do not have such discretion.

What riles me particularly is that you cannot pick and choose the cab you take in a queue. It appears that there is a gentleman's agreement among cab drivers that the cab in the front of the queue must be boarded first. The ones behind this cab will refuse to take you even though the reason why a commuter would want to do so is because the flag down fare is lower. The only way is to let others willing to pay the higher fare to board first until you get to the desired taxi. What if I am the only one in the queue?

And it is not as if the cab drivers are benefitting from this discriminatory pricing. They don't earn more as the rental of these newer cabs are higher. So who are making away with the increases? The taxi companies of course. But since they pay for the sky high COEs, the one which ultimately makes the money is the Government, no? We're already suffering from increasing costs. Why do the governed have to bear this cost, especially when those who take the cab likely do not own a car?

Fairness is not a hallmark of life in Singapore.

Speaking in tongues

Over the last year or so, the Singapore government has scaled back on the once highly generous policy of giving out various types of employment permits, which has caused the population to swell to unacceptable levels - in terms of exceeding public infrastructure capacity (read crowded trains/buses, skyhigh property prices and crowded public places (eg. Little India)).

The other bugbear is the unease that locals feel when they are served in restaurants and shops. More often than not, they are greeted by foreign-sounding English speakers. Some speak in barely comprehensible English, like yesterday in a hardware store. This local Chinese woman (you know she is local because she spoke in unmistakable Singaporean English) asked about a product she was looking for. The sales assistant was obviously a non-local Chinese, very likely China Chinese, judging by his incomprehensible English and intonation. Needless to say, the woman asked for someone else whom she could understand in English.

Granted this has been happening for some time now. But can we not have some patience in these encounters, I wonder? No matter what one thinks of foregners in our midst, at least you cannot but admire these people who are trying hard to learn the language. In this instance he could have switched to Chinese, as another sales assistant did when he conversed with me. But he bravely attempted in whatever English he knew. Admittedly his English was atrocious, but I could still understand some of what he was saying. Frankly all it would require is just clarify whatever is not clear. My father could not speak a full sentence in English, but he worked for the British for well over twenty years though obviously not in a position that required constant conversation in the language. It is incredible how arrogant we Singaporeans have become. We are bilingual, but never use this ability to bettter understand foreigners in our midst. Sometimes I really wonder what all those years of learning in the rigorous  Singapore education system has produced?

One must admire those who try, and help them become better in that process of learning. Isn't this what we would want our teachers to do for us and our children?