A ball of a discipline

Today (28th Feb 2006) reported that the erstwhile missing Singapore footballer, Agu Casmir, has been fined $20,000, banned from playing for Singapore and had his pay from his new club, Woodlands Wellington, docked by $2,000 for 10 months while the club re-pays the US$20,000 (S$32,438) sign-on fee (which Agu has already spent) to the Indonesia football club, Persija. If this is punishment for going AWOL for a month, breaking your promises to a club you willingly signed for, spending their money and betraying your adopted country, I would be over the moon.

"These suckers. I'd just have to shed a few tears as icing and all will be forgotten", he'd say.

Consider the punishment:

1. $20,000 fine - can easily be paid off with the salary he'd earn at his new club


2. Banned from national soccer games - greatest loser: Singapore, for not being able to use his services (after giving him citizenship so easily). Greatest beneficiary: Woodlands Wellington, his new club, which will enjoy uninterrupted services from their new signing.


3. US$20,000 debt re-paid for him - hey, somebody actually sponsored his delinquency


4. Docked $2,000 for 10 months = $20,000 total - "Hey thanks, Woodlands Wellington, for subsidising my debt to Persijia. Too bad the US$ is only 1.62 to S$ now. Next time I sign on for another foreign club, I'd remember to ask for more sign on fee", I imagine he'd say.

Further, by limiting his contract period, Agu plans to get out of this mess EARLIER rather than later if he had signed on for 2 years.

"This is a great country for football. I'd get some of my buddies in my country to come over asap", I hear him snigger.

Something is wrong with the people who administer Singapore football.

Compare this to National Coach Avramovic's action: he kicks two good players off his team for breaking curfew one lousy night...

There is a smell of favouritism in the air...

Singapore Video Girl

A Singapore Girl has gained some sort of international notoreity in the past few days and search engines have been working overtime on the phrase "Tammynyp" or "Tammy Nyp" or just simply "Tammy". No, this Singapore girl doesn't fly on planes though I suspect that right now, she just wants to 'fly away' and be forgotten. She probably isn't even past 20 years old, belongs to a local Polytechnic - Nanyang Polytechnic, to be exact, and her claim to fame is over a video she shot with her male partner showing them having sex. According to the word spreading around, its a full ten minute video, and contains both straight and crooked sex, if one can use these words.

The thing that takes the cake must be that the video was shot using a mobile/cellphone phone. So not only has the video been uploaded to the internet, where it has gained a worldwide interest (it is offered on eBay, although I don't know why as it is available FOC on the World Wide Web), it is also doing the rounds from cellphone to cellphone. I know this because some Singapore students have been caught with the said video on their cellphones, which were transmitted to them from another cellphone, and another cellphone...ad infinitum. In Singapore, these materials are considered pornographic and anyone in possession of pornography is violating the law. So if you are one of those in possession of this video in your cellphone or PC, erase it immediately before you are visited by the lawman in blue.

It used to be that porn was out of reach to the ordinary guy on the street as Playboy and Hustler are banned in Singapore. Heck, even their websites are restricted by the MDA. They still are, although its quite meaningless nowadays when you have locally produced first-hand porn 'drama'. What's more, its all free. Times - they are a'changin...(Dylan).

That said, there is raging debate whether to pity the girl or not (why not the guy at all, you wonder?). It looks like she was a willing party to the video shoot, so I can't see how anybody can sympathise with her. On the other hand, I feel that young and impressionable kids nowadays possess technology so sophisticated that, if used wrongly, will hurt them for a long time to come. So before any parent gives a top of the line cellphone to his/her child today, the parent must make sure to explain the consequences of its mis-use. Otherwise, the child will be sorry of the day they first received that cool gizmo called the cellphone - 3G no less.

"We, the citizens of Singapore"

So begins Singapore's national pledge which all Singapore students from the Primary, Secondary to the Junior Colleges, without exception, make every school day. I said this pledge, like every student today, in my own time as a student, for 12 years. It is a pledge that is familiar and rings true to this day, if only because it is like a mantra - something you would perform because you have come to believe in it, which was exactly what its creator, Mr S Rajaratnam, originally intended.

The man who penned this pledge has died. Mr S Rajaratnam, who for more than 3 decades, was Singapore's face and voice to the outside world, died yesterday at about 3.15pm. I learnt of his death on the bus home from work, on a TV mobile ticker tape. He had been out of sight for a long time, so learning of his death didn't come as a shock, rather it was one of sadness and a sense that part of your life and experiences as a person growing up in Singapore is now past.

He was absent at the launch of a book on 40 years of the Singapore Foreign Service due to ill-health. Of all people, he should have been present, having created the Foreign Service when none existed. But we now know that he has been in ill-health for quite some time. Mr Lee Kuan Yew, erstwhile political boss and long-time friend, revealed that Rajaratnam did not recognise him as early as 1998, some 8 years ago. Dementia had already set in - a condition many old people suffer from, including my father.

Farewell, Mr S Rajaratnam. A nation mourns your passing.

Channel News Asia's Farewell to Mr S Rajaratnam

News Tease

A contradiction in terms is what Singapore's Mediacorp practices. I suppose there is no more interesting local event to report last evening that it has to resort to breaking old news on its Prime Time 9.30pm News Bulletin.

Last evening, Mediacorp TV reported Mr Wong Kan Seng as saying that the General Election will be held sometime before the end of this year. Well, this is old news. Senior PAP people such as Mr Goh Chok Tong, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Lee Hsien Loong have said as much already, so what is new that Mr Wong has said that is even worth reporting? Or has Mediacorp jumped on the PAP bandwagon and is going around town practicing news tease?

Come now, Mediacorp, you have more dignity than that! Viewers expect greater integrity and objectivity from you. After all, after swallowing MediaWorks, you are the only broadcast station on this island.

Santa Clause came to town - again

The Singapore government unveiled its annual budget yesterday. As expected, it is a generous budget with something for everyone - an important thing given that the government is expected to call a general election soon (I speculated earlier that this election will take place this March). This is not the first time that money has been re-distributed from Government revenue with such generosity, and the formula hasn't varied a lot from previous cases.

Outright cash is still distributed based not on income level, but on the type of house you own. The assumption, of course, is that the greater the value of the house you own and live in, the better off you are, and vice versa. So people like me get only $200 - the low end of the cash gift bracket (the highest is $800) - because I own and stay in a private apartment. Those who qualify for the $600 - $800 cash gift are those that stay in public housing of the 3 - 5 room types. People staying in executive type public apartments, which I used to own, only get $400. Needless to say, these assumptions tying wealth to type of housing are not always valid. Some wealthy businessmen who drive around in Mercedes-Benzes live in 4-room public housing (for one reason or another). So they get a bigger cash gift compared to many who earn considerably less, but stay in a executive type public housing. I have been on the wrong end of this ironic situation since day one, so I have become cynical over the entire cash gift exercise practiced every year by the powers that be.

All these make the government look either like Santa Claus, or the Lottery where everyone wins, some more so than others. Somehow, the second imagery is more in tune with the times, but I'd rather think that Santa is a, ahem, cleaner image.

Would I be less inclined to vote for the ruling party in the next election? Time will tell.

A crook(ed) Science

Once of the reasons why Malaysia wants to demolish the Causeway and build a suspension bridge in its place is so that their contractor, Gerbang Perdana, can proceed with the building of the Southern Integrated Gateway - a contract which is worth S$1.09 billion. This Gateway apparently calls for a suspension bridge that can be designed to fit into Johor's planned customs facilities. Now, it must be said that Johor Customs seems to be clearing travellers faster that the Singapore Customs, according to recent experience and press reports. With the Johor's new customs facilities, this is set to improve leaps and bounds. But coming back. So far, Singapore has not agreed to this new bridge and thus the concept of the crooked bridge was born.

Now, with political negotiations at a standstill, Malaysia is using another way to get the project to move forward. According to the Hydrologist employed by Gerbang Perdana, Dr Low Kwai Sim, the Johor Causeway is a source of pollution of the Straits of Johor. Therefore to improve the situation, the Causeway should be demolished to solve this problem. Of course, Singapore's own hydrologist disagreed and gave a robust defence.

It seems to me disingenuous that Malaysia should use an 'expert' who is contracted by Gerbang Perdana to provide the scientific basis (read rubber stamp) to their plans to do away with the Causeway. Would the opinion of the 'expert' be any other than in support of their cause?

Symphonic handphones

In Singapore, handphones (or cellphones as they may be known outside of Singapore) are almost ubiquitous. The penetration rate last year was 96.2% and is expected to rise marginally to 97.2% this year (3G subscriber base seen doubling) By 2008, this will hit 103.8%!

Singaporean's change handphones often (sorry, I don't have the statistics). Of course, new models generally have better features and are smaller in size. But one of the features that is always a bane to some must be the myriad ringtones that users choose for their handphones. First, there were the single tones which then gave way to polyphonic ringtones. But of late, ringtones, if they may still be called that, have become passe on new phone models. These newer phones employ 'symphonic' tones, which is even more irritating.

The symphonic 'blast-tones' are actually pop songs, although I don't think they are those that have won any awards. Its so irritating to hear such songs blast themselves out of handphones to alert of an incoming call and being cut off almost abruptly the next second when the person responds to the call. I wonder, why have such blast-tones anyway if you are not interested in listening to these songlets? Perhaps people carrying such phones are either near deaf (that's why they need the blast of music) or they really want to irritate others.

Whichever it is, I am now genuinely irritated by them. And we may be in for the long haul on this as MP3 converge with cellphones - well, this has already happened.

A crooked relationship

Surprisingly, Malaysia is reportedly proceeding with its plans to build a half-bridge on its side of the Singapore-Johor Causeway. This idea was first mooted a couple of years ago by the Mahathir Administration during one of the worst periods in the relations between Singapore and Malaysia. Post-Mahathir relations have improved considerably, with the idea of a half-bridge put back onto the negotiating table.

I guess a reason must be that Malaysia has become impatient with the progress of the talks and think that such a drastic action will help kickstart this aspect of its negotiations. Whatever it is, if such a half-bridge were to be constructed, it will be a distinctive landmark and probably a freak show of the extent to which sour relations between two nations can lead to. Heck, from a Singaporean's perspective, Malaysia is much much larger than Singapore, and its potentially much much greater than the small island state. It doesn't need Singapore's lands, or its national's money currently locked up in the Singapore CPF system. I am speculating - does it want unimpeded sea passage through the Straits of Johor so that its Tanjong Pelapas Port and other ports it may have in mind along the Johor coast can become more convenient for shippers?

When, and if, the Causeway is demolished, another part of Singapore's historic landmark will also disappear. That is a lot to pay for benefits that are speculative at best.

Profiting from good news

SMRT Corp is reported to have made 26% year-on-year rise in 3rd quarter net profit due to higher fair revenue. That is good news for SMRT, and probably both good and bad news for commuters.

Bad news because commuters now may feel vindicated about their suspicion that SMRT has all along been making a lot of money from them by raising its train fairs a few years ago. Many will feel now that they have been taken for a ride (no pun intended).

But it is good that the corp is making money off train fairs because there will not be any good reason for fair increases now, at least for the next couple of years, I hope. I just can't imagine how its $30 million net profit (obtain in only one quarter, mind you) can be dissipated into costs except through raising wages to exorbitant levels, or skyrocketing fuel costs. Even if there is no further growth, the land transportation business in Singapore is fairly stable and predictable, so the profit will not fluctuate much.

There will be even greater sceptism now if the other major transportation provider, SBSTranit, were to clamour for fair increases any time soon. Which is a good thing.

So cheers to the profit reports!

Staircase to heaven

What is wrong with civil architects, designers and engineers in Singapore today? They build spanking new public buildings, or refurbish old ones, like one in Chinatown, with mechanical escalators to boot. But there is one problem, there is only one escalator, and it is either up-riding or down-riding at any one time. Mediacorp reported on site that people didn't know how to get down to the ground floor after they took the escalator up. Apparently, the staircase wasn't that obvious or visible either. Obviously, this has annoyed many people who visit Chinatown. Who will have expected that a spanking (albeit refurbished) building will take a step back in terms of useability? Why are we paying taxes for?

This is not new. In one of its unique civil developments in Sengkang central - the Integrated MRT/LRT/Bus Terminal/Compass Point/Compass Heights development, built about 4 years ago, there is also only one escalator at the end of an overhead bridge which is connected to this integrated development. The escalator is almost always up-riding, and there is only one of them. While finding the staircase in this instance is not a problem, it is positioned AWAY from the bus stop. This means that people who need to reach the bus-stop from Compass Point must walk a much further distance. Sometimes, this can mean the difference between missing a bus, the consequence of which is at least a further 10-minutes wait for the next one.


What is surprising is that these developments were designed and built in the 21st century and in Singapore too, which is renown for its civil housing programme! We've built hundreds of thousand of houses (albeit skywards) over the last 30 years. There seems to be a regression in standards, ironically, in the new century. The designs are certainly not well thought through - a 'crime' if I can call it - after all those years of experience. What do they teach in civil design / engineering schools nowadays, I wonder?

Will there be a tomorrow?

On Monday, 16 January 2006, Singapore's Defence Minister, Mr Teo Chee Hean, proposed to Parliament to amend the relevant laws that will increase the punishment to those who default their National Services duties. This is both fair and sensible. Fair because we cannot allow defaulters to go away feeling that they have cheated the system by paying a relatively light penalty (S$5,000 and/or bond), which can easily be recovered in less than a year of hard work while also at the same time accumulating relevant working experience.

One of the most moving points he made was whether there will be a Singapore to return to if its able-bodied boys are given exceptions to 'opt-out' of serving in the National Defence force. This point bears repeating here:

Several Members have expressed sympathy for Melvyn Tan. Sir, I ask them to consider: who will shed a tear for Singapore if there is no Singapore for such people to return to, because the institution of National Service has been undermined, young men do not serve, no one defends Singapore and Singapore is no longer there for them to return to? Who will shed a tear? Mr Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Defence in his speech in Parliament. See below.

Surely, this is the most important point of it all. Defence is a shared responsibility. I protect your house and family and you protect mine. Who will protect the families of those who have willfully evaded their obligations and left the country, perhaps leaving their aged parents to fend for themselves? Worst, does the evader expect others to do that which he is unwilling to do? We need to be ready at any moment to defend our land, our homes and our families, come what may, because we have no other home to go to.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

What does talent count for if there is no conducive environment to nurture it, and display it? How much talent was lost in the World Wars last century we can only speculate, but you will agree with me that it is not insubstantial. The first order of things, surely, is the protection of our livelihood. Talent, and the opportunities that will grow and nurture it, will then naturally follow, will it not?

Those who are overseas and who do not want to serve, then like some MPs suggested, let them leave and only return on the pain of serving a jail term and a fine. That is only fair.

Defence Minister's Speech in Parliament on this issue

The White Elephant Rolls

Well, at last, the Buangkok MRT station was opened yesterday, not a moment too soon for the residents who live around that area, it seems. Many were filmed rushing towards the faregates for their first...errr...ride? Heck, haven't these people been riding on the subway trains for well over 2 years? So why the rush? The scene reminded me of the day when Windows 95 was released in the US. People just rushing up to pay money for the next new thing.

Taking the train yesterday was certainly not free. The place may be new, but the novelty of the place will soon wear out. And there are no prizes for being first, unless you feel that being featured on the News that evening is a good enough prize. Unfortunately, the first person attempting to enter the faregates had some problems, either with his farecard or something else. He had to have some help from the station staff. Well, so much for a smooth start to the service on the first day.

One thing is for sure, we'd probably have a bigger crowd now when people commute to the office. We are told that about 3,500 additional people will be added to the crowd. Well, let's brace ourselves for a squeezy ride.

Actually, we should call this station the Elephant station for the notoriety gained through the White Elephant incident. It looks white from the outside, anyway.

Picture source: ChannelNewsAsia.com

Open Sesame

George Soros is on record as saying that "Singapore does not qualify as an open society". This remark was made at the Raffles City Convention Centre during the Singapore Perspectives Conference organised by the Institute of Policy Studies on January 11, 2006. Singapore's Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) pointed out that if Singapore were not open, George Soros would not have had the opportunity of making that remark in Singapore, much less at the Raffles City Convention Centre.

Many other more sensible rejoinders have been expressed, by Professor Tommy Koh, Dr Catherine Lim and even Mr Vivian Balakrishnan of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. But I thought that MICA's remarks were a tad defensive and really, stating the obvious. MICA said:

If we were not an open society, George Soros would hardly be able to make the comment at an open forum in Singapore, and be reported in the Singapore media.

It gave the impression that MICA didn't really appreciate the central message that Mr Soros, and others, were making - that open-ness covers a wide spectrum, that Singapore just hasn't covered it all yet. The choice here is not between a totally open society and a police state. So there was really no need to say anything, reply to anything. But government departments have been conditioned (obligated?) to rejecting and replying to any and every criticism that it has become predictable and formulaic. I don't think people would miss anything if MICA had kept its peace.

As all growing people, and nations, know, changes happen over time. Attitudes and behaviour yesterday may not (will most likely not) be the same tomorrow. That's a sign of movement and hopefully, progress. Ariel Sharon's political moves in recent times is a prime example of this. I think we are opening up gradually. Only those who are figuratively blind or literal babes are not able to see or appreciate the shifting social environment toward more open-ness in Singapore.

For the original report, see this TODAY report

Whistling in the wind

One of the expected consequence of the (old) NKF saga is a tightening of rules and oversight procedures in the affairs of institutions of public character, or more commonly known as charities. Governance issues have already been raised and addressed in the corporate sector for some time now, particularly since the Enron debacle through the Sarbannes-Oxley Act.

This is all well and good. People just should not go off and spend the millions given in good faith on any and everything that the charity thinks is justified. There must be regular accounting, not creative accounting that misleads the donors and stakeholders. That was what happened in the old NKF. However, there are some who are now suggesting that a process of 'whistle-blowing' - that of telling on the 'wrong' practices of an organisation or person in that organisation - should be institutionalised. The authorities have so far very wisely resisted this move. A whistle-blowing culture is a stifling culture. When is an action considered illicit? Who decides? What if someone, in all good faith, uses an unconventional way of bringing good to the organisation as a whole and in the process, benefiting the mission and purpose of that organisation? In a whistle-blowing culture, such unconventional practices will attract suspicion of wrong-doing, and the consequent blowing of the whistle. So somebody who is imaginative enough to do things differently will be penalised.

Whistle-blowing has a stifling effect on people and innovation. It supposes that there is only one way of doing things - the tried and tested, conventionally accepted way. It brooks no deviation. It will be the death of progress and improvement. We shouldn't swing from one extreme of unfettered excess to the other end of sterility and immobility.

General Elections, they are a'comin

In quiet little Singapore, where there are no protest marches, loud signboards or placards agitating for a particular cause, General Election rumours are going around quite loudly. The incumbent government, through its constituencies and wards have, of late, been announcing grand and ambitious civil works over the next few years that will add to the people's enjoyment of their neighbourhood. At the national level, the government has promised to give a once-only subsidy to poorer sections of the population, identified by the type of government housing that they live in. Furthermore, SBSTransit has relented (through government persuasion, perhaps, and certainly through the hard work of Mr Charles Chong, MP for the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) and will open its Buangkok MRT station (closed for over 3 years) earlier than scheduled this Sunday, 15th January 2006, which will add 3,000 commuters to its trains everyday.

Good news rarely come in such a gush or should I say, a torrent. The only conclusion is that the General Elections are coming. It is due 2007 anyway. The Straits Times speculate that this election is going to come sooner rather than later, most likely in March 2006. March is when all the holidays are over so that vacations will likely not be disrupted (an expensive thing from any angle), the students settled down in their schools, and government school teachers are available for election duty for a week in March. Further, we never know how the world economy will be doing in 6 months' time, so the government would want to catch the 'feel-good' factor while it is still there.

I suspect that every opposition party is gearing up for the fight. I expect more new faces to show up in the opposition camps. It will be an interesting General Election - if nothing but to wake up sleepy 'ol Singapore - politics-wise.