Here’s an old clip of Singapore’s Dick Lee giving his very own version of “Count on Me Singapore”.
Have a good laugh and enjoy the holiday! =P
Category Archives: In the Heartland
The World’s Highest Paid Politician is…
Yesterday, UK Times published a report on the top 10 highest paid politicians in the world. And it is not too difficult to guess who tops the list.
It’s none other than Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.
Read the report here>>>
On a seperate but related matter, here was PM Lee’s most recent reply when queried by BBC if he was worth all that money:
“I am not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings. We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent – what is the job worth, what is the quality of the person whom you want.
We need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you are pretending and you just say, ‘Well, we are all in it for the love of King and Country’.
We want it to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money. But at the same time the sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have.”
Interestingly, this part of the interview was not published in our mainstream media.
So where’s the “open, honest, transparent” part which PM Lee had boldy talked about?
Read more about the BBC interview here>>>
Early April Fool’s Joke?
I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read the headline of the above article on the Straits Times dated 31 March 2009.
On the onset, please do not mistaken me for being disrespectful to our leaders. Nothing against them, but I am merely flabbergasted by the use of ’depth of leadership’ here.
In my personal opinion, depth is built over many years of trials and challenges to mould a leader’s character, capacity and competence.
In Singapore, it seems our leaders are identified and measured mainly by their academic achievements over the ‘trials and challenges’ in our educational system.
Take a look at Barack Obama, Mahatma Ghandi, Lee Kuan Yew, Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King, they started right from the bottom and fought courageously to earn the spot on the top.
Honestly, what credible and proven track records are there in our present leaders to measure their quality of depth? And what depth of leadership do they exhibit when everything is so conveniently handed to them?
My Valentine’s Day SMS
During the Valentine’s Day weekend, I was greeted with a SMS from MINDEF!
As a guy growing up in Singapore, it is as if we are married to our government.
This love-hate relationship begins when we are at the ripe old age of 18 years old. That’s when we go “honeymoon” for two years serving National Service.
After ORD, we still have our regular 1-2 weeks “tryst” or reservist training. If that’s not enough for her, then there’s remedial training!
Damn tough being a guy in Singapore sia… No wonder we don’t make enough babies… LOL
But on a seperate and serious note, read about this latest disturbing news about the world’s youngest boy dad with daughter at 13 years old in England.
Some Change from Budget 2009
Now for some political updates on our own shores with yesterday’s Singapore Budget 2009.
Against an unprecedented economic uncertainty, many businesses and households were anticipating for some change (pun intended) from our government.
Unfortunately for many, the Budget merely dished out loose change. You can read some feedback and learn about the Budget’s key initiatives.
Though I found the Job Credit Scheme a creative incentive for employers in order to retain employment, but the rest were expected measures that were necessary for any downturn.
Some of these measures included corporate tax cuts (from 18 per cent to 17 per cent?!) and 15 per cent rental rebates for JTC/HDB/SLA tenants. However, we know that this is not any ordinary downturn that we are experiencing today.
Hence, it is natural that more help is expected from businesses to cope with the financial crunch especially since their survival will benefit our economy and livelihood of Singaporeans with gainful employment.
MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, Inderjit Singh was reported saying: “We did not do enough in the area of cost reduction and this is a very urgent issue. Freezing government charges alone was not sufficient. We could have reduced and also looked at other initiatives to help companies reduce their costs.”
Nonetheless, this year’s Budget seemed to have more heart for Singaporeans such as the lower income group and disadvantaged. But how these measures will translate to direct help remains to be seen.
Read a related news report from Wall Street Journal here>>>
My Wish-list for My Singapore 2009
This may be wishful thinking, but I thought to myself, “What the heck! Anything is possible rite???” LOL…
Here’s a compilation of nine wishes for a better and more fun Singapore to live in for 2009:
- Change the repeated and boring format of our annual National Day Parade (NDP). Cut the “show-off” parade and bring back SWING Singapore!
- Housing Development Board (HDB) to make housing more affordable for Singaporeans with a non-for-profit approach.
- Abolish the People’s Association (PA) as a needless organisation since there are already so many communities and clubs available for Singaporeans and they can do a better job in helping residences.
- Emergence of a visionary, credible, competence and rich political leader and party to take on our ruling party on leveled ground.
- The liberation of alternative voices with another mainstream paper to give another perspective from the ruling party’s- The Online Citizen goes mainstream. Yes I’m biased. Ha ha…
- Singapore and Malaysia re-merged as a sovereign nation giving our elderly more choices to decide where they would like to retire. And also encourages a diverse and synergistic economy.
- More flexibility and control over our CPF savings. Being able to decide when we want to use it and how we want to use it. E.g. Capital for starting a business.
- A new current affairs talk show that highlights some of the societal gaps in Singapore as we work towards nation building. This is a great form of feedback for our government. But I reckon they’re not so ready for open criticisms and discussions of their shortfalls in full display on national tv..
- The retirement of our Minister Mentor. Though he has my utmost respect, I think he should let the Prime Minister be the Prime Minister for his generation.
Which of these do you think will happen first??
Being Grass-ROOTED to the Ground
Picture taken during the official opening of the Clementi Heights Resident’s Committee graced by MP Arthur Fong on 26 October 2008.
Re-thinking Our Economic Expectations
Recent news have been filled with retrenchments, retrenchments and more retrenchments.
It’s quite disturbing to read how companies have heartlessly ‘axed’ their employees who they deem as excessive expenditure in order to ride through the slowdown.
Judging from the recent comments by NTUC’s Labour Chief, Mr Lim Swee Say who conveniently also happens to be a Minister for the Prime Minister’s Office, it’s clear that we should expect no one to owe us a job or pay check; not even from our government.
I’m not sure about you, but seeing of these unfolding each day has triggered me to seriously think about my career path
Everything increases except our pay
It is not uncommon for us to bemoan how daily expenses for our standard living have rocketed, but the truth cannot be said of our monthly income.
From a globalised marketplace standpoint where Singapore is competing with low-cost labour countries like India and China (without even mentioning our regional neighbours), I think the harsh truth is that by increasing our income level any higher would erode Singapore’s competitive prowess and business appeal.
This is the reality that we’ll need to firstly come to terms and accept. We need to renounce the ‘crutch mentality’ and make best out of what we have.
If we really do have any sort of increment regardless of the economic situation, we should learn to be more grateful.
Nonetheless, salaries do differ exponentially across the gamut of industries available and the type of job we are in. So this might not apply to you if you are in a niche industry like the Oil & Gas or Civil Service working as a Minister.
The way out is…
After managing your expectations with our reality and you find that you are a person that is easily satisfied with whatever you have and have no qualms in having others determining your worth and job security, then you can choose not to take any action.
However, if you desire to earn more and do not want a ‘glass ceiling’ to your income level, then some practical actions might need to be taken in order to get to that ideal position.
From my opinion, I think there two routes we can consider in ‘escaping’ from the system. One of it is to start our own business and the other is to switch to politics and join PAP sales where much of our salary is dependent on sales commission.
I think both these routes are career paths that reward us fairly according ly to our efforts invested and performance delivered.
Maybe some of us can take the opportunity of the approaching year-end by taking a ‘stock check’ to re-evaluate our careers.
We can seize the opportunities that are there for the taking in this situation by planning ahead how we can take our career to the next level in the coming New Year.
More Traces of Melamine Found
Seems like this melamine saga is far from over. Now more products have been found tainted with melamine.
View the latest list here>>>
Of Milk and Malady
Who’d have thought beneath the gaudy glory
the pomp and pleasantry of Beijing Games
A game of conspiracy was brewing its
Own media maelstrom of milk and malady
These malevolent manufacturers
There’s madness in their methods surely
Four babies dead, thousands more sick maybe
No longer just a tragic footnote contained
in faraway China, in Singapore
thousands more madly ring service hotlines
shouting hotly the hottest buzzword – Melamine
Poem composed by Betsy Tan
Nation Building or Party Building?
Some time ago, I came out from a Grassroots Induction Programme feeling intoxicated after being overly-fed with PAP-ganda.
This was a session organised by the People’s Association (PA) and I was there to discover more about the overview of the association.
Interestingly, the PA’s vision is “to be a leading organisation in building an active community where all contribute readily to the nation.”
However after listening to the speeches and reading through the handed materials, I concluded that the vision of the PA should be more accurately communicated as “contributing readily to the PAP”, and not our nation.
In fact, after understanding that the PA’s existence was to achieve a political objective- “namely to strengthen the Government’s presence among the people” to counter the communists’ stronghold, it seems that this association is some what a white elephant.
With the communist threat out, why do we need PA?
The PA- Party’s Association
Isn’t the PA supposedly a people’s association? Apparently, all of their board of members are PAP politicians led by the chairman, PM Lee Hsien Loong.
Mind you if the PA is indeed for the people, I think it would have been appropriate for representatives from the opposition parties of Potong Pasir and Hougang to be part of the board in contributing to our community.
Well, it looks quite clear that the PA is just another one of the PAP’s lap dogs to propagate its party’s agenda (please note party, not nation). Another top-down approach.
More down-up approach
Even the NTUC, a union set up for workers is no longer for workers. This is apparent when we see that the core leadership is headed by PAP ministers.
Presently, Mr Lim Swee Say who holds a ministerial portfolio in the Prime Minister’s Office is the union’s Secretary-General.
Such institutions such as the PA and NTUC should be voicing the opinions of the people. But these days, the reverse of the government talking down to the people is more obvious. When this overly happens, we need to be wary as the people like you and I will be least heard more and more over time.
Here is an excerpt from a letter in ST Forum that best describes the unhealthy socio-political state we are in:
“Instead of CASE taking up the cause on behalf of investors, it is former Income chief executive officer, Mr Tan Kin Lian.”
Mr Chua Sheng Yang
I really wonder how CASE being affliated and part of the NTUC family forgot to protect our consumers’ interest? Maybe if you know the answer, please share it with me.
Enough PAP-ganda
When I wake up, I am in my HDB flat. I make sure I switch of my SP Power-ed lights before I leave my home to take either the SMRT or SBS Transit transport to work. If I am late, I would call for a Comfort Delgro cab on my SINGTEL mobile. My route to work will pass by POSB, SP, ITE, NUS, NUH, ST Kinetics, JTC, AH and A*Star. And work gives me money to contribute to CPF and GST, and also to relax and watch MEDIACORP tv and read SPH papers.
Every where we turn, we see them. I believe fellow Singaporeans are getting sick and tired with each passing day by being “talked down” in what we need to do and what not to do.
“Marry early”
“Make more babies”
“Put money in CPF and can take abit out when 55″
“Put off retirement and work till 65″
“Pursue education”
Every where we turn, we hear the same party’s voice.
If it is not enough that we have to leave full decisions of our nation into the hands of the ruling party, it is equally disturbing that when we choose to speak up and voice our opinions we stand a high chance in getting slap with defamation like Dr Chee Soon Juan or the late JBJ.
So the question begs to be answered: Is what we’re claiming to be building for our nation or for a party? I leave that answer for you to decide.
Blogger’s Note: This entry was also published on The Online Citizen (TOC) on 28 October 2008
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