Author: Grievous

Hikes are always OK because it’s “still affordable”

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SingPost’s postage rates are affordable despite price hike

I refer to Mr Tan Beng Guan’s letter, ‘SingPost’s postage hike is not justifiable when it is making profit’ (ST Online Forum, 21 Nov 06).

In 2004, when the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was increased to 5 per cent, SingPost adjusted its domestic postage rates by one cent for only the 20g and 40g weight-steps to offset the increase in tax.

The last time domestic postage rates were increased was 11 years ago, in 1995. Throughout the years, SingPost has managed to maintain the postage rates by putting in place various measures to mitigate rising labour and fuel costs, including enhancing staff productivity and optimizing schedules and routes.

Over the past 11 years, operating costs, mainly manpower and fuel costs, have continued to rise.

Although SingPost has invested in automation in sorting and processing of mail to help reduce manpower costs, mail delivery is still highly labour-intensive.

Manpower costs have increased more than 40 per cent. Distribution costs arising from collection and delivery of mail have risen more than 200 per cent, due mainly to fuel price increases.

Additionally, for international mail, terminal dues or international settlement rates between countries have risen significantly.

As a listed company with responsibilities to its shareholders, SingPost has to ensure that its business is viable and that it continues to grow, both for the benefit of shareholders and customers.

SingPost embarked on a diversification strategy several years ago, leveraging on its core competencies and extensive retail network. This strategy is bearing fruit, with new businesses contributing to the overall growth of the company.

In our recent second quarter results, contributions from non-mail business and the one-off sale of a non-core property boosted our net profit. Excluding the sale, we registered an underlying net profit growth of 4 per cent.

Specifically in the mail business, public mail volumes have continued to decline as a result of e-substitution. However, SingPost has managed to offset the decline by focusing on growing direct mail which includes advertising mail. As a result, it managed to grow mail revenue by 1.7 per cent.

SingPost is mindful of its responsibility to the public. As a basic service provider, it takes care to ensure that its postage rates remain affordable and that it continues to provide a high level of service.

In spite of the increase, Singapore’s domestic rates are still among the lowest in countries of comparable economies.

Tay Poh Choo (Ms)
Vice President (Corporate Communications/Customer Service)
Singapore Post Limited

Doesn’t it sound familiar?

Every time we complain about a hike, be it public transport fares or some other shit, the excuses given are always the same.

Must have been some kind of template with a random generator to throw out the follow standard responses: ‘We haven’t done so for donkey years.’ ‘We need to ensure we are profitable.’ ‘Our costs have gone up.’

Is it MY problem if your total operating costs have gone up?! It is your duty to look into keeping your costs down! That’s not mentioning you are profitable now! And if you hasn’t gone for a raise for years, and allegedly absorbed some of the GST, am I supposed to be grateful for that?! It’s not like the absorbed GST is given as some kind of rebates to me!!

Why do we continue to put up with this crap and allow this selfish practice to persist?

The reason is damned simple. Because it is a small loss spread over a large number of people to make it unprofitable for each individual to fight back. After all, the cost needed to fight this will probably cost more than the amount of increase they will suffer individually. Above which, this country doesn’t have the system – be it laws or NGOs – in place to protect the individual, unlike the United States.

CASE in Singapore is a kriffing mofo joke!!

Thank you, 66.6%.

‘Foreign Sports Talent’ Scheme – A Real Waste of Money

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Give foreign-born athletes a break

I AM appalled by the persistent focus on the issue of foreign sports talents versus local.

When foreign-born athletes win trophies and bring glory to our country, we question their ‘Singaporeanness’ and we do not feel proud of their achievements. When they do not perform, we criticise their ability, send them home, and question the whole idea of the Foreign Sports Talent (FST) scheme.

Surely, we should not be so narrow-minded and goal-oriented.

We have to look at the FST scheme in a broader perspective – that of promoting sports – instead of focusing on ‘passport for medals’. As a Chinese saying goes, winning and losing are part and parcel of competitions; you win some, you lose some. How can we expect our foreign-born athletes to be in top form for every competition, and be medal-generating machines all the time?

While our foreign-born athletes may not be winning medals every time, when they train and practise in Singapore alongside Singapore-born athletes, they would raise the level and standard of play.

And if their presence has inspired and motivated Singapore-born athletes to perform better than them, this would be considered mission accomplished by the Singapore Sports Council.

The media should focus more on reporting good sportsmanship instead of putting unnecessary pressure on the athletes, and exaggerating the ‘great divide’ between them (foreign-born) and us (Singapore-born).

Loh Ka Wai

Funny. If it’s all about ‘we win some, we lose some’, then just let local Singaporeans with their dismal standards go and compete, right? Not to mention, are there no other better and more economical methods to promote sports? It’s simply that ‘su bway ki’ (can’t afford to lose) and ‘everything we must be number-one’ attitude that resulted in this (in my considered opinion) completely money and time wasting ‘Foreign Sports Talent’ (FST) scheme.

Above which, it isn’t really true that to have them practise in Singapore alongside our athletes, it would raise the level and standard of play. Why can’t we just arrange for friendlies for our players with overseas ones? Doesn’t it serve the same purpose as well. Is the FST really necessary in that case?

Sure, there is a possibility that our players may reach a certain percentage of the standard of the ‘imported’ foreign players, but the foreign players may as well just never improve because they are always playing against mediocres! And that is perhaps evident in why they at times looked promising and then suddenly crash out of the competition with big losses when our hopes are high! Have these foreigners really motivated our players, or have our dismal standards here destroyed the talent, if he / she is one to begin with?

In fact, I suspect that even if we managed to buy the entire Brazil Soccer Team over, we might not get the World Cup anyway. Surely, they will probably keep trashing our local Ass-League teams. But then they probably trash them so often they start to think they are so damned talented and invincible and they start slacking on training. Will the Brazil Soccer Team still be the team we original bought?

We might perhaps even do better saving that money and help our low income group instead after all, the glory from these athletic achievements are only fleeting. We should stop believing that our nation’s hard earned collective wealth can allow us to just buy just about anything.

Perhaps, the Cut Waste Committee should look into cutting these un-necessary expenditure, along with the elected President, MM and SM posts, and those un-necessary campaigns like ‘Speak Mandarin’, ‘Speak Good English’ and ‘4 Million Smiles’, to help the country save some money.

I suspect with all that cuts, we might even save enough money to help us cut 1% from the GST raise too!

DVD Movies: Quill & Helen the Baby Fox

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From the same maker, these Japanese movies sure hell beats most of that manga and J-pop crap from Japan. It is not very often I am so touched by a movie until ‘an eye full of tears and a nose full of mucus.’ [一把眼泪，一把鼻涕。]

The following two are inspirational movies I would strongly recommend. I have watched the DVD for Quill some time in the beginning of the year and I picked up Helen the Baby Fox only recently. You can probably pick them up from a local DVD store and they will all come with English subtitles and Mandarin voice-over. So, it wouldn’t be a problem watching the movie even if it’s in Japanese.

Note: I recommend looking for them at the DVD store at the ground floor of Funan Centre since it appears to have a large collection of movies there.


Quill [导盲犬小Q]

“On Quill, one rediscovers the long lost love and loyalty.” – These were the comments in Chinese on the DVD box. The movie lived up to its claims, and what is the value of love and loyalty in the ‘me-first’ mentality so prevalent in first-world societies today? Sometimes, even animals showed more humanity than human beings who are nothing more than just beasts in human skin.

The movie is based on the story of Quill, a Labrador trained to be guide dog for the blind. It covers its entire life from a puppy to its death. Quill left its mother as a puppy, went through training as a guide dog for the blind and was teamed with the stubborn Mr. Watanabe, who originally did not trust Quill.

Surprisingly, Quill and Mr. Watanabe a deep friendship deveopled between man and dog, while Mr. Watanabe rediscovers the joy of life and enjoyed Quill’s undying loyalty.

Helen the Baby Fox [子狐物语 / 生命奇迹小狐狸］

“If you love Quill, you will love Helen! And if you do not cry after this movie, then you have no soul.” – These were the comments on the box. And it was true to them. It is hard not to cry watching the bond between carer and animal.

The movie is based on a true story about a baby fox which cannot see, cannot hear and cannot bark. Left on its own, it would die within days in the wild. Came the boy Taichi, who took the fox to the home of her mother’s veterinarian boyfriend, and took care of it. The touching story revolves around Taichi’s devoted care for the baby fox whom he affectionate named ‘Helen’ after Helen Keller who also suffered the same fate. The entire event from Helen’s discovery to its death touched the life of the introvert Taichi, who struggles to adapt to being away from his mother, and his new home in Hokkaido. It also went on to inspire his mother, the veterinarian and her daughter.

Christmas Present 2006: 7% GST

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GST to be raised to 7%: Baby Lee
By Lee Foong Ming, Channel NewsAsia
Posted: 13 November 2006 1832 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Goods and Services Tax will be increased to 7 percent, up from 5 percent presently.

This was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Parliament on Monday but when exactly will be decided later.

Speaking in Malay, Mandarin and English, Mr Lee explained that the hike is necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets, needed to help the lower income group, and he emphasised that the offset package will more than counter the rise in GST.

While Singapore’s current model to tackle the widening income gap is sound, Mr Lee said the government will take on 2 approaches to deal with the new environment – to strengthen the safety nets and tilt the balance in favour of the lower-income groups who do not benefit from the fruits of economic growth.

To do this, government spending will have to go up. The government now spends some 15 percent of its GDP – one of the lowest in the world.

“This is inevitable over the next 5 to 10 years – infrastructure investments will cost money – R&D is to cost $5b over the next 5 years; as medical technology improves, people age and more will go to hospital to get more treatment so spending is bound to go up. As we tilt the playing field across the board, the lower income will be getting another boost not just once in awhile. Therefore its better to start building resources now so that when we spend more,” said Mr Lee.

To finance this, indirect taxes or the Goods & Services Tax will have to go up.

“It will give us precious extra resources to implement social programmes like Workfare later on. Our aim is to help the lower income groups and the elderly, not to increase their burdens. When we implement the GST increase, it’s not just the GST increase, it’s the package which will fully offset the impact of the GST increase and begin to strengthen the social safety nets and tilt the balance in favour of the low income groups – we will not just raise the GST but we will have a comprehensive offset package,” said Mr Lee.

This package will be weighted more to the middle and the low income groups, especially the elderly, and it will more than offset the GST increase.

“It is not just an offset package to deal with the GST. It is a whole set of measures which we are taking in order to tilt the playing field in favour of the lower income group, which is what we have to add and tally in the balance, and my purpose is to help the lower income group. For the middle income, it will be generally about ok; for the higher income, I think the higher income should end up paying more overall. It’s part of being one society. I’m not going to tax 15% on income tax, I’m not going to tax 25% from GST the way the Scandanavians do, but I have to make the adjustments of 2% which I think is fair and I think Singaporeans will support,” said Mr Lee.

Mr Lee explained that it is better to do the increase now when the economy is doing well, rather than wait till later.

This will give the government time to see how this adjustment can be managed, and to cope better with the unknown forces of globalisation over the next 5 to 7 years.

More details of the GST increase will be announced on 15 February 2007, which is Budget Day.

Another change will be the amending of the Constitution to allow the government to tap the capital gains received from investing the national reserves. – CNA /dt

Happy with your Christmas Present for 2006, Singapore?

And this is the funniest part of all: ‘the hike is necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets, needed to help the lower income group, and he emphasised that the offset package will more than counter the rise in GST.’

Touching huh? Weeping yet at the immense kindness Baby Lee has shown to the less fortunate of this country? Raising your hopes that when you reach old age there’s a safety net for you?

Just WHAT kriffing safety nets? The kind which even in death wouldn’t qualify or the kind in which a camel will sooner navigate a pinhole before you will even qualify for a single cent of it?

A lot of asslickers will probably buy this bullshit and think 2% more is ‘sup sup sway’ and not 威力无穷… but keep this up and we 不能不穷！！

For the 66.6% of kriffing cipets who voted Tali-PAP: 此恩此德，俺没齿难忘！！

Sorry, Socceroos

It’s too little and too late.

It was a legitimated tackle by Lucas Neill, and neither was it a late tackle or dangerous play. The fact is that Grosso deliberately dived by tripping over Neill and cheated the Socceroos of their well deserved victory.

And that the acting Shit-talians then went on to win the World Cup right under the nose of Les Bleus is one of those many injustice that is rampant in this sick world.

Shit-taly and referee Luis Medina Cantalejo will pay for this injustice. And it is my curse that for the next 60 years from 2010, Shit-taly will never touch the World Cup again!!

Sorry, Socceroos
Blatter says referee erred in awarding Italy penalty

SYDNEY – Fifa boss Sepp Blatter has apologised to Australian fans – saying the Socceroos should have played in this year’s World Cup quarter-final instead of eventual champions Italy.

Australia’s players and fans were outraged when Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo awarded Italy a penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time after Lucas Neill had brought down Fabio Grosso.

Substitute Francesco Totti converted the penalty to give 10-man Italy a dramatic 1-0 victory over Australia in Kaiserslautern and a place in the last eight of the World Cup.

Debate raged over the decision and Fifa were accused of not addressing the problem of diving and faking injuries in the world game.

In a television interview here yesterday, Blatter said referees at the tournament in Germany “were not at their best”.

He said the antics of players were the real problem for the game.

“I think there was too much cheating on the players’ side,” Blatter said.

“I agree with them and I would like to apologise (to) our fans in Australia.

“The Socceroos should have gone into the quarter-finals in place of Italy … you go into extra-time and you are 11 against 10. But that is presumptuous.”

Football Federation Australia (FFA) officials accepted Blatter’s apology, but remained wary that it came during an interview for Australian consumption only.

“It’s well after the event,” FFA chief executive John O’Neill said yesterday.

“The position he’s stated is what all of Australian football fans felt at the time.

“It’s now four months after the tournament. It’s a nice gesture, but it doesn’t change the result.”

Blatter admitted the standard of refereeing in Germany was not as high as he would have liked.

“I said at the referees’ committee after the World Cup, when compared to the performance of 2002, you have improved, but in my opinion not enough.”

But he added: “But from the quarter-final to the semi-final, then you see the referees were back to being the best.”

Blackburn Rovers defender Neill, who was captain in Australia’s two recent internationals against Paraguay and Bahrain, welcomed Blatter’s apology, but said the situation was worsening.

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