Oppression of the people by officialdom

I am disturbed. I am profoundly disturbed. A news reader of the Straits Times wrote to dispute a Ministry of Finance officer's (a civil servant) claim that charging GST (a Value-Added Tax which was recently raised from 5% to 7%) on a tax item (the Water Conservation Tax) in an Electricity / Utilities bill was normal practice and therefore correct. The letter writer disagreed and backed up his point by citing examples and pointing to the Inland Revenue's website that stated unequivocally that a tax on a tax is wrong. Actually, we don't need IRAS to tell us that. Any right thinking and fair-minded person would have agreed with that principle. The writer, to his credit, cited the example of buying cars in Singapore, where the tax component is huge, to show that taxing tax is wrong. He then appealed to the Government to review the situation, suggesting that such anomalies may also exist elsewhere in the government.

Well, I disagree. I disagree that an appeal should have to be made. What have the people done wrong that an appeal is warranted? It is the people who are being shortchanged. What we, as the people (and consumers) of the country who pay its taxes, no less, should do is to complain to the Consumers' Association, much as one would do when we find ourselves overcharged. Well, you say the Consumers' Association can only go so far because it lacks teeth in effecting change. If the wrong is not righted, an alternative is to commence a class action suite against similar government practices where it may have occurred and may still be happening.

I shudder to think that millions of dollars have been collected wrongly on taxes over taxes over the years. How else is the government giving the short end to its citizens, albeit inadvertently, I wonder?

'A' levels not on the level

Sir Peter Williams has come out to say that the GCE 'A' level examinations - a British institutional exams adopted by Singapore for decades - have been getting easier over the last few years. No wonder Singapore keeps churning out so many students with straight As. Compared to my time, one would have thought that our children are getting smarter. In fact, it's not so much our student getting smarter but the exams getting 'more stupid'. Sigh, and I thought we have made great advances in our education system.

I'd imagine now that the egos of students (and their parents) who have gotten fantastic 'A' level results to be deflated somewhat by this news from the horse's mouth. It also assuages my ego to know that my 'A' level results were not all that poor compared to our kids' today.

Watching movies with my cat mio

Singtel splashed across the Straits Times newspapers today announcing the immediately availability of its IPTV services for the consumer market. Called mio TV, it uses IP technology. With its already extensive telephone network, it is already all wired up to deliver video on demand. The thing that made me sit up was that you don't have to be tied to a contractual period to enjoy the service, unlike most other telco service plans such as those from Starhub, M1, PacNet, and even Singtel/Singnet.

So I was mystified when, on the same announcement, there was mention of 1 month and 12 month plans for the mio TV service. As all people do nowadays, I surfed over to singtel.com/miotv to check the details yesterday morning. After presenting the home page, that site just didn't work. It just took ages, for example, to load the Promotions page, the Programme Guide Page, and the Channels & On Demand pages. I gave up. I suppose that newspaper announcement must have aroused the curiosity of so many people that morning that the website was just overwhelmed. Now this is good news for Singtel because it showed that people are looking for alternative sources of video entertainment, which so far has been provided by Mediacorp and Starhub. Starhub has never really lowered it prices - it keeps its customers by giving them great gifts and, at the same time, locking them up for at least 2 years (through term contracts). I have always felt, and hoped, that their prices could be lowered, but I have waited in vain all these years. Perhaps with mio TV, things will change?

On the other hand, the inability of Singtel's website to handle that morning's load is cause for concern. It has promised dedicated bandwidth for mio TV, but until mio TV takes off, it remains to be seen. A chicken and egg problem in the making?

In any case, I like it when businesses compete for my money.

End of the wizard

Today, the last of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, went on sale worldwide. When you consider the logistical effort it would take to simultaneously release the book across the world while keeping its contents under wraps, you must give credit to the publishers. But then, they may have had Harry Potter and his magic wand's help, so you'd be forgiven if you thought it was no big deal. But the hype was.

People lined up across the world to be the first, or at least the earliest to buy the book. Many camped outside the bookstore overnight. This is reminiscent of the time when Microsoft's Windows 95 was first released. But really, was it necessary? The wait has already been a long one, what difference would another hour or two make? If you had placed an order with Amazon.com (and there was reportedly more than 2 million orders as of yesterday), you'd have to wait even longer to get your hands on the book.

So I am not so sure that those people who spent their lives in the early queue were making good use of their time. I strolled into Popular Bookstore at about 9am and bought the book. I didn't make a special effort to be early. I usually go out for breakfast at this hour. As it turned out, I was only the second person in the queue and there weren't anybody else in the store except the sales staff. When I left the store, one other person strolled in, probably to buy the HP book.

Perhaps all this craze is evidence of Potter's strong magic? Sadly, there will be magic no more, although the way the story ended suggests a sequel some day... That's being commercially sensible quite apart from having a relatively tearless ending.

Don't you hear the whistle blowing

So goes a line in that old nursery rhyme, "I've been working on the railroad". Today, whistle blowing refers to something more controversial, and requires a lot more guts from the person doing it. Corporations can be quite messed up today, and its people may not be behaving ethically. So unless there is a system to weed out such improper behaviour, somebody has to do the whistle blowing. This is when the systems and processes, and more especially when the people who are supposed to be the guardian of proper corporate behaviour are not doing their jobs, not to speak of the guard himself stealing the cake.

Apparently, this also happens in the Armed Forces of Singapore. 2Lt Li Hongyi, erstwhile son of PM Lee Hsien Loong, whistle blew on his superior officer for his improper conduct (going AWOL) when his initial complaints got no response from the army's chain of command. He then let fly an e-mail that he had addressed to no less than Mr Teo Chee Hean, the Defence Minister, detailing the failings of his fellow officer. Normally, this whistle blowing would have been the right thing to do. But what 2Lt Li did wrong was to copy that e-mail to persons that may not need to know about the case. After all, this is the Armed Forces, and you don't go shooting off your complaints so the whole world will know that the Forces stink in some parts. As an officer, he should have had better judgement.

E-mail, as some have pointed out, is so insecure an instrument that I wonder why the Armed Forces allowed it as a channel of communications on Army matters right up to the Defence Minister. Today, it was whistle blowing. Tomorrow, some classified information can be leaked, to the benefit of all our enemies and the detriment to our country. Now, some crook or spy can take a leaf from the 2Lt of how to communicate in the Armed Forces, since that channel does not seem to be restricted.

2Lt Li may have done the right thing, but he certainly did it the wrong way. The Army was right in reprimanding him. He should reflect on the error of his ways.

But let us also give credit where it is due. PM Lee did not shield his son in any way. He let the military law to run its course and, in the process, punish his son accordingly. Now, this one action refutes many aspersions cast on the 'Lee' dynasty. We are a country ruled by law, not 'Lee's' law, but Singapore law. As a Singaporean, this is something to be proud of.

Funny people

The world is still not ready to accept 'funny' people, you know, those people who like their own kind and have relationships with one another? Not even royalty, it seems, or one with an OBE. Although the erstwhile CEO of BP did not resign because of his relationship with a gay, it pretty much started the, ahem, ball rolling.

Well, here in Singapore, a senior political leader, one who had been known for his strict opposition to same sex relationships, has consulted some doctors and come to the conclusion that he had been wrong all along. We need creative people, so we need the homosexuals in our society. I do not know what difference it makes that they are not already secretly homosexuals as against 'coming out' into the open. Would this openness herald an era of unmatched creativity that is outside of the ability of people who are 'straight' in their relationships? How many of the inventors and innovators in history are gay? I am sure there are some, but do they make up the majority? What kinds of creativty do gays dominate in? Have they enriched society in a lasting manner, or has it been merely fleeting?

Well, I don't have the answer to my questions, but one thing I can say it, I don't hate the homosexuals but I certainly do not condone their behaviour (remember how AIDs came about). They will be there whether we like it or not, just not in the open because it may be against the law, as in Singapore. Even if there were no law against homosexuality, gays will still feel the need not to publicise their relationships and sexual preferences.

There was a recent public forum on the topic, with a government official/PAP politician, an NMP, a former Anglican Bishop and a gay rights activist weighing in on the issue of repealing the Singapore law that makes homosexuality a crime. Not surprisingly, a majority of those present, including the government official/PAP politician on the panel stated that they will put their vote to repealing the law, if possible. It looked like he was playing up to the gallery. Well, the only thing I have to say is, "Be careful what you ask for".

Will we be acting like the ostrich which puts its head in the sand so as to pretend that something doesn't exist? Probably, but I see no need to give license to these people to display such behaviour in public. Consider - if they did it in a strict Muslim society, they might be castrated - and this would be the least of their worries...

Rise and rise of prices

Well, its 14 days since the GST was raised from 5% to 7%. The Singapore economy is red-hot at the moment, chalking up no less than 8% growth in the last quarter. Government economists have consistently underestimated economic growth. It is probably better to err on the side of caution. To the man in the street, such as I, these numbers are both a boon and a bane. A boon because, as a civil servant, I can look forward to good bonuses at the end of the year. A bane because all these growth comes at a price - an increase in prices to be precise. What has gone up?

For one, the hop-on price of a cab. It now costs $2.70. Previously it was $2.40. 2% GST increase? You do the Math. It used to be that taxi transport price increases used to be debated hotly, but since deregulation, increases now just happen. But the waiting time for a taxi remains just as poor. You wonder what the increase is for.

I used to get a plate of rice with servings of 2 veges and 1 meat at $2.50 (yeah, that's cheap) but today, it costs me $2.70. And the quantities are the same. Some do not raise prices. Instead, they shrink the size of their products. Those of you who read I-Weekly and 8 Days cannot not have noticed that their sizes have shrunk. Of course, Mediacorp copywriters and editors explained how a smaller magazine kept up with the times (yeah, they are spot on on this), and all, but the fact is, the price may not have risen, but the portion has shrunked, which amounts to the same thing, no?. Don't need to do the Math on this. You and I know that, actually, size matters.

Taking these into consideration, my bonus at the end of the year will actually not be as much as last year. Prices have gone up and somebody has to pay - you and me.

Fact of life.

Grab those goods

Today, retailers must have laughed all the way to the bank. Never mind that the banks are opened only for half the day. Retailers can still swim in the cash that keeps pouring through their tills. What is happening here?

Well, today is the last day that retailers will charge 5% GST. From tomorrow onwards, this rate will be increased to 7%. So the penny-counting public just went out to town to soak up as many of the big ticket items as possible in order not to have to pay 2% more from tomorrow. Those who couldn't think of any big items to buy bought anyway - and made up with it by buying huge quantities of small ticket items. A cabby told me today that he had picked up a women in Bedok who purchased 15 cartons - yes that's cartons, not reams - of paper (probably A4 sized paper). The cabby said he told the woman she should have commandeered a truck instead of taxing his taxi.

Was all this rush really necessary? I am sure it is not. Some shops have already increased their prices ahead of the GST increase. For example, a double-bottle of Glucosame+Chondroitin was priced at S$138 several weeks ago at Watsons. Today, when I checked, that same package is priced at S$140. That's slightly under a 2% increase, but the price has already gone up, before 1 July 2007. Moreover, some retailers have made it known that they will absorb the 2% GST for periods varying from 1 month to 6 months. So there is really no need for this stampede.

But you know, Singaporeans are a kiasu lot - afraid to lose out on a bargain, unwilling to have to pay more. So I saw many people carting away boxes of printers, microwave ovens, toaster ovens and witnessed shopping carts filled to the brim at supermarkets. The taxi stands were longer than usual, so taxi drivers also cashed in on this spending spree as more people needed their services to get their purchases home. Retailers probably never had it this good, though tomorrow is another matter.


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Don't touch that potato

According to an Institute of Policy Studies' (IPS) 'yet-to-be-completed' study, there are not many blogs in Singapore that are 'really politically engaged'. This is in spite the fact that Singapore is probably one of the most wired-up country or metropolis in this world, the study continues. Of those that are, yawningbread and mrbrown were cited as a few of those that are seriously political engaged (what a mouthful!).

Without taking away credit for much of the 'liberalisation' that has taken place at the highest levels in the Singapore government in recent years (e.g. greater tolerance of 'gay' themes), the political environment in Singapore, as far a writing goes, remains dicey. Not too long ago, Mr Brown's Today column was pulled because he wrote a piece that was critical of some government action. Some in Singapore thought that writing that column was his bread and butter and his being 'sacked' from Today would lead to hardship for him. So there are perceived serious consequences when one writes something that the government does not agree with. Well, yes, the government doesn't actually run Today, but the pressure on the paper's editors must have been that the 'sacking' action by the paper was inevitable.

So, really, it is no great mystery why bloggers do not want to be engaged in the political discussion in Singapore 'seriously'. If nothing, they fear for their rice bowls and careers, and consequently their families. This one incident involving mrbrown's Today column set back the budding political discussion on the Singapore blogosphere, which is such as pity.

Resuscitating life

It is said that a promising young man died doing what he liked - the triathlon. The 17 year old youth collapsed at the end of his trials, which he had come in second place. He died of heart failure at a hospital less than 2 hours later. Many people have weighed in on what could have been done to have given him at a better chance at life, including the administration of CPR and the use of a defibrillator. More people questioned why a defibrillator - an expensive equipment costing $3000 - $4000 - was not available, as if it is THE equipment that could have made the difference.

As a Certified First Aider, I think that the 3 persons on the scene who claimed that they knew CPR should have done what they had been trained to do. Performing CPR has the same effect as a defibrillator - only it takes much more effort, but, when done properly, is just as effective. If the 3 decided that CPR was not necessary because the victim had a pulse, then even if a defib is available, do you think they will use it? I suspect not, but we will never know now. So the availability of a defib is an albatross.

Let's not blame the equipment. It is the process that is wrong. And a young person paid the price for it.

Clobber 'em

I didn't know, until it was reported in Today, that SBSTransit Bus drivers gets "slapped, punched and even kicked". What is society coming to nowadays? Sure there may be occasion when you'd feel like figuratively 'clobbering' one or two of them, but to actually physically abuse them? That's going too far and is inexcusable.

Having said that, I must admit that I once got so angry with a bus that came so late that I shouted at the driver for being late. And it seems like a problem that SBSTransit can never solve in spite of the countless public feedback in addition to it being aired in Parliament. Often two of the same SMRT bus service would have passed before a single SBSTransit bus service would come by. This was what happened yesterday along Clementi Road. I had stepped up to the bus stop to wait for an SBSTransit bus service no. 151. That was about 6pm. The next 151 that came by (not the useless Express 151e ones) was 6.25pm - a full 25 minutes for a bus during rush hour. And that is assuming that a 151 just left when I reached the bus stop. In any case, I gave up and took the SMRT train - that's money into SMRT's pocket and money out of SBSTransit's. That is why, whenever SBSTransit wants to increase bus fares citing higher operating cost, I sniff at it. What they neglect to tell us is that they are losing ridership to SMRT because of their lousy service level.

But it appears that SBSTransit will NEVER improve the timeliness of its service unless one or more parties comes by, without government restriction, to compete with it head-on. It is not obvious that fares will increase. Competition tends to improve service while bringing the price down. And I don't believe for a moment that buses are late because of the traffic situation. Look, the bus is either late consistently, because jams happen consistently at the same time unless it is due to traffic accidents or unusual days, such as holidays, or they must be more or less on time, whether punctually or late. While bus lanes help, the primary problem with inconsistent service is because SBSTransit drivers are not trained enough to be punctual in setting off on time. Those who do so are the exceptions.

This is not surprising. Generally more people show up late than are either early or punctual. This applies whether we are talking about meetings, gatherings or wedding dinners. Why shouldn't it NOT happen with bus drivers? It would be a miracle if every SBSTransit bus driver can set off punctually, but then, that is where we need to resolve the problem. My sense is that, having lived and worked among them for well over 40 years, Singaporeans tend to have a very poor sense of timing. Before SBSTransit refutes me, I challenge it to conduct a 'mystery' audit at its bus interchanges on the frequency of bus drivers leaving late. They might learn a thing or two about improving its service level.

On the other hand, I have very little to complain about punctuality and availability of buses that are run by SMRT and, previously, by Trans Island Bus Service - TIBS. It would appear that SMRT bus drivers are exceptional. I wouldn't mind paying more for service that is more predictable.

Is it any coincidence that the Today report never mentioned SMRT bus drivers being wacked? Food for thought indeed.


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Your choice

Someone has observed that many people in Singapore work long hours - often only having dinner at 10pm, sleeping those few hours (with hardly any interaction with the family) before they start the grind again the next day. In some societies, this is a good thing because it means that there is work to be done and overtime pay to be earned. But in Singapore, people who are under such regimes are probably executive types who are not entitled to overtime pay.

So why do people stay at work until well over the end of the official hour of 5.30pm or 6pm? Regrettably, many do so because of the boss. When I was working in the Raffles Place area more than 4 years ago, I was one of the few who knocked off work on the hour - 6pm. Even if some work remained for me to complete, I always felt that it was another day's work. My family mattered just as much, if not more, than my office. But I did notice that many of my colleagues DID NOT DARE to go off on the hour because they are afraid that their bosses would see them in the lift lobby and think that they are not as dedicated to the company - unlike those who stay until 7pm - well past the official working hour. So Singaporeans stay in the office because they are afraid that their punctuality at leaving the office will be perceived as a liability when time comes for promotions and bonuses.

In other words, if one only gets to have dinner at 10pm, I'd say they have only themselves to blame - not the company - not even their hardworking colleagues who have no life outside of the office. If staying late everyday is a demonstration of devotion and dedication to the job, then it is not sustainable. Something will give - the family, your health and your own sense of meaning in life, a better salary package at another firm, etc. Indeed, I agree with the parting shot - "I want no part in it". But, truly, it is really a choice only we can make. We need to overcome that peer pressure, and weigh the benefits of getting promoted and saddled with more responsibilities that in turn requires longer hours, or be satisfied with a certain standard of living and live a fuller and more happy life.

We have to ask ourselves honestly if we really need to live in a condo, or drive that car, or hob-nob with the trendy in that club house. Why isn't the beach near that much larger HDB apartment (compared to any comparable condo) with easy access to the MRT station not good enough?

The choice is really yours to make.

Image source: http://images.stockxpert.com

Blogger sites hanky-panky?

I am up in Beijing, China now. For some reason that I am obviously not aware of, I cannot access any blogger blog sites at all. Any xxxx.blogspot.com site just times out because it 'took too long' to load.

I can go to yahoo, google, and most other sites - no problem. I wonder if the Chinese Authorities have filtered out all Blogger blogs, and if so, why? I can still access Blogger per se and blog - just that I cannot view the blog I just created.

Odd.

Educating educators

Singapore's effort to become an educational hub took another big knock with the troubles at the Froebel Academy - a privately run school that provides mainly Early Childhood programmes as well as its flagship Chinese Diploma in Pre-School Education.

Following so closely on the heels of UNSW (Asia)'s closure, it is no wonder that students at this academy are alarmed at any sign of irregularity at the school, such as unpaid salaries, delayed certificates, etc. The breaking point came when students found the school closed for unknown reasons, although the operators seem very much to be alive and kicking, though invisible for now. It is probably better that they do not make public appearances lest they get pelted with eggs and cause a riot in the process.

Privates businesses, even in education, can fail or close or both, just like in any commercial enterprise. But if the government is serious about making Singapore an education hub by riding on the good track record of its education system that has been established for more than 30 years, then it must exert greater supervision over any and all private educational institutions or academies sprouting up all over the island nowadays. At this point in time, the government is taking a hands-off approach, preferring to let bodies such as CASE validate the trustworthiness of these 'schools'. Beyond registering these schools, the MOE does not seem to be monitoring them as closely as it would seem necessary.

Look, Singapore's reputation for the quality of its education sector is well-deserved. But I would hate to see a few high profile failures bring down this reputation overnight. The powers that be needs to do something, and do it fast, though not in the manner in which UNSW was coaxed into setting up a full-service campus on the Island just to be closed in one semester. This must be a world record of sorts, though one that Singapore certainly does not want to be known for in the long run.

Meanwhile, the Froebel Academy saga continues...

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Pissed by the law

Its the law again, and sadly, it is rearing its ugly head in, of all places, Singapore. And we thought that lawyerly shenanigans can only happen in Malaysia and Thailand, where it has taken place right up to the top of the legal hierarchy. Not that the law firm that issued the demand letter to tomorrow.sg was behaving improperly, that is. It is merely acting on the instructions of its client, one rather pompously identified as the "Grand Seasons International". For a moment there, I wondered why the 6-star Hotel chain that goes by that name was involved with a Time-share company. Well, my mistake, its the "Great" one and not the 6-star "4" one.

First off, let me say that it is bad to libel anyone. No, it is wrong. By that I mean to say or write about things that are unsubstantiated, or at least, that will likely not hold up in a 'legal' court of law. That's why professionals, like SPH, have an army of people to make sure that it keeps out of harm's way as it spews out tonnes of news and opinion. But even so, they got sued by the NKF, though they were vindicated in the end.

What about citizen journalists, or bloggers, as they are more commonly known as? Well, we are not so legally-savvy, and we tend to speak our minds most of the time. It doesn't really cross our minds that we need to have all the facts straight and that we have corroborated every piece of information before we form a conclusion and blog it for the world to read. So bloggers live dangerously, which is why anonymity is such a necessity. When the lawyers couldn't quite figure out who Gecko was, they turned to a source which likely had this information - tomorrow.sg. Some feel that tomorrow.sg is a victim here, but since it allowed its members to put up posts that originates from elsewhere, it is a publisher and therefore probably equally liable to the act of defamation - not that I am suggesting that it is guilty as charged - or that I am a lawyer.

Nothing can be further from the truth. Its just that sometimes, the pen is indeed mightier than the sword, and some people do not take kindly when that pen goes through their heart.


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