Category: Rants

Daily Discourse – Priority to the Local Worker

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This must have been the most pleasing thing that Lim Swee Say Shee Shee has said [see below], even though I have said this back in Oct 24. The only difference is that I am a nobody and I ain’t paid a million. Maybe they ought to fire him and put me on his job for half the pay.

Labour chief urges employers to give priority to local workers
Channel NewsAsia – Friday, December 5

SINGAPORE: It may make more business sense to let go of foreign rank—and—file workers rather than Singaporean workers if retrenchment is unavoidable, said Labour chief Lim Swee Say at the Singapore Tripartism Forum on Thursday.

The secretary—general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) said: “We’re talking about rank—and—file workers who are, by and large, replaceable. Our message is — Give priority to the local workers. Not only will you help us minimise unemployment in Singapore, but more importantly, it makes business sense for your company.”

Mr Lim said if Singaporeans are laid off, companies may find it tough to re—employ them when the economy improves because they will be sought after by companies which must fulfil a quota of local talent first, before they can hire foreign ones.

At the same time, foreign workers are necessary for companies to keep costs down and to avoid a scenario whereby local firms choose to relocate overseas.

Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong related a conversation he had with a company head.

“If he were asked to employ only Singaporeans, his costs would have gone up and he would have had no choice but to shift the whole company out of Singapore to China,” said Mr Gan.

A recent survey of employers showed that about 60 per cent of them were freezing headcount and a few planned to retrench workers.

Stephen Lee, president of the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), said: “Many companies choose to do the easier one first — freeze hiring. And for those who have left by natural attrition, they don’t replace. The next step is non—renewal of contracts and that will mostly affect foreign workers.”

The labour movement stressed that retrenchment should be the last resort. And despite the current economic gloom, employers and employees should help one another and plan tactics carefully so that Singapore can rebound quickly, once the economic downturn is over.

— CNA/so

Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, one can figure out with a rat’s ass the effect of this is going to be negligible!

First of all, foreign companies may use this excuse to just leave Singapore for good, be it to set up at a new place (no matter how unlikely). Alternatively, they just wind down their operations here in Singapore to so-call ‘concentrate on its core competencies’. And this appears to be the fate the buyer has installed for my current employer once the acquisition is complete …

Secondly, PRs don’t count towards to quota which companies need to maintain to keep a foreign worker. So technically, a company can still retrench a Singaporeans and keep the job for a PR, who in essence is nothing more than just a foreigner.

So, Lim Shee Shee can say whatever he wants and it is unlikely that it’s going to have a great effect in helping some of us keep our jobs anyway. And it’s not like the Tali-PAP ever really give a shit whether we have a job anyway. After all, they’ll just blame us for not being qualified enough to get employed.

In simpler words, when there’s a problem it’s always our own fault!

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Trivial:
On June 22, 1941, Soviet archaeologists working in the Samarkand crypt opened the sarcophagus to study the body of Timur (Tamerlane) and found the inscription: “Whoever opens this will be defeated by an enemy more fearsome than I.” Hours later, Hitler invaded Russia. Five weeks after the great Emir was re-interred in 1942, the Germans surrendered at Stalingrad.

Random Discourse – The Concept of ‘Wa’

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Singapore talks much about a gracious society – such as giving up seats to old people and pregnant ladies, letting people first alight from a train before boarding, allowing people to exit a lift first before entering and standing on one side of the escalator.

I think Singapore misses the point. What we need to be is not a gracious society but a harmonious society [和谐社会]. Because it is my considered opinion that in a harmonious society, everyone would be necessarily gracious. That brings me to the Japanese concept of ‘Wa’ [和], and I did a little wee bit of reading up on that.

Wa – The most valued principle still alive in Japanese society today is the concept of ‘wa’, or ‘harmony’. The preservation of social harmony dates back to the first constitution in 604 AD and the teamwork needed when living and working on collective farms. In business terms, ‘wa’ is reflected in the avoidance of self-assertion and individualism and the preservation of good relationships despite differences in opinion. When doing business with the Japanese it is also important to remember the affect of ‘wa’ on many patterns of Japanese behaviour, in particular their indirect expression of ‘no’. [1]

~ ~ ~

To much of the world, however, the notion of an immutable self is considered rather odd. In Japanese society, for example, acting untrue to one’s inner beliefs is not only accepted but is it’s own moral virtue. The most important of all Japanese social values is ‘wa’, or harmony. If achieving wa requires a bit of play-acting, then so be it. The Japanese distinguish between ‘honne’ – one’s true feelings – and ‘tatemai’ – the face one wears in public. When your honne is at odds with the harmony of the group, a mature, virtuous person is expected to rise above his or her own selfish feelings and, for the welfare of the majority, put on a good face. To ‘stick up for what you stand for’ is not a Japanese ideal. Most Japanese understand there’s a difference between this public play-acting and reality, but nearly everyone is agreed upon its importance. In other words, what Americans may perceive as hypocritical, dishonest behavior is not only tolerated in Japan, but esteemed as good citizenship. [2]

However, my vision of a harmonious society and my concept of ‘Wa’ is inspired by the Japanese but not exactly the same. After all, we are not Japanese.

In my concept, there is a individual / personal ‘Wa’ and a social / collective ‘Wa’. When one becomes oblivious to the world around them, someone else’s personal ‘Wa’ will inevitably be disrupted. For e.g. when a inconsiderate moron blasts music from his walkman phone in the cabin of an MRT train, the few people in the vicinity might become upset. Even though there is no real physical intrusion to their personal space to really upset them, they simply might not like the music and their individual ‘Wa’ is thus disrupted. These people may suffer in silence and just fume inside. But that will be the extent of the disruption if they get over it.

However, one or more of these people may then raise a ruckus by confronting the inconsiderate moron who insists that it is his personal right to listen to whatever music he likes because it’s a freedom of expression. It will result in a fight – be in verbal or physical – which will result in the further disruption of the collective ‘Wa’ of all the other passengers in the same cabin. The ‘Wa’ of some MRT staff may also be disrupted and the police may thus be called it to restore some order – the real world extension of the collective ‘Wa’.

Alternatively, the fuming person may write an angry post on an online forum or to the newspaper which result in more like-minded people getting angry, and there might now be calls for punitive action by these unhappy individuals – more regulations or laws that none of us would like.

The example above is simple to show that how disrupted individual ‘Wa’ may also cause a ripple-effect disruption to the collective‘Wa’. We live on an island with an increasing population and thus a decrease in personal space. Yet, most of us tolerate the shrinkage of our physical personal space as long as the last bastion of that – i.e. our personal ‘Wa’ – is not disrupted. While each of us may have a different tolerance level and thus a different opinion of what we would consider a disruption of our personal ‘Wa’, what we need to do is first avoid doing to others the things which will upset our own personal ‘Wa’. Once we are set doing that, the next thing will be to stop doing the things that disrupt the collective ‘Wa’. Usually such things are just socially unacceptable actions like:

  • blasting your walkman phone in the MRT;

  • taking forever to answer your mobile phone ringing with super loud and irritating ring tones;

  • talking loudly over the mobile phone in the cinema in the middle of a movie;

  • doing multiple transactions on an ATM despite the queue;

  • walking at crawling speed or stopping abruptly in a congested / narrow passageway;

  • walking in a line abreast in a congested / narrow passageway;

  • slowing down on the expressway to look at an accident / breakdown vehicle;

  • putting your knees on the back of someone else’s chair and rock it;

  • putting your feet onto the seat facing you on the bus;

  • smoking in the lift; or

  • even smoking in the next toilet cubicle while you shit.

(Basically, you read about these things on the newspaper, online forums and even blogs all the time!)


In summary, it is futile to promote gracious living when none understands what is achieved with that. What we need to promote is harmonious living – i.e. promote personal behaviour with social responsibility. Once the individual ‘Wa’ of every individual is less disrupted, it will inevitably result in less disruption to the collective ‘Wa’.

Simply put, it is my considered opinion that when one first consider the consequences of his actions and avoid disrupting THE ‘Wa’, then gracious behaviour would inevitably result. You will not have morons walking in a line abreast in a narrow passageway, or morons standing still on the walking side of the escalator anymore.

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Review with Photos

Daily Discourse – SMRT… again.

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My friend SanNiang sent me an sms message telling me the ridiculous justification SMRT gave to remove seats on the trains. So, I checked with Aaron who mentioned once to me whether I had read the article. He was kind enough to send me the forum letter (see below).

MRT seats removed after public feedback

WE THANK readers for their feedback on Wednesday on modifications to SMRT trains to allow more standing room by having some seats removed.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SMRT jointly developed the initiative to remove some seats on some trains based on feedback from commuters about increased crowding during peak periods. We agree wholeheartedly with suggestions to explore adding more carriages or increase train frequencies. We wish to assure readers that this has been fully exploited. Currently, the number of cars per train is already at the maximum of six. Since February, SMRT has added nearly 900 additional train trips a week.

To put the initiative in context, of the more than 100 trains in service on the North-South and East-West lines, only 10 trains will have 84 out of their 300 seats each or about 30 per cent removed. These modified trains are deployed mostly during peak periods. The objective is to create more standing room in train cabins, so doorways will be less congested, and commuters will find it easier to board and alight.

LTA and SMRT have monitored the situation and gathered feedback. In a survey of over 700 commuters conducted after deployment of the modified trains on Oct 31, nine in 10 commuters on platforms and seven in 10 in trains preferred being able to board a train quickly to having a seat. Most commuters also felt it was important to have more standing space in the cabins. And six in 10 felt that LTA and SMRT have modified the correct proportion of trains.

We fully understand that the removal of seats may be an issue for commuters with special needs, such as the elderly, parents with young children, pregnant mothers and the mobility-impaired. Hence, LTA and SMRT have ensured that all train cabins will continue to have seats; even modified train cabins will still have 36 seats each. As far as possible, these modified trains will not run consecutively at any station platform, so commuters with special needs who prefer the unmodified trains can still have adequate access to seats.

Aside from seats, other initiatives to better manage crowding have been put in place. SMRT has deployed service ambassadors to encourage commuters to move to the ends of the platform and the centre of trains, an initiative which seven in 10 commuters found effective.

Geoffrey Lim
Deputy Director Media Relations
Land Transport Authority

Bernadette Low (Ms)
Manager, Corporate Marketing and Communications, SMRT Corporation

I get a little annoyed with SMRT’s and LTA’s incessant justification that everything is done on feedback. First of all, for odd reasons I have had no indication of a survey being conducted. I suspect the results would be very much different if they conduct the survey at Pasir Ris, Boon Lay or Woodlands, only on the eastbound, westbound and northbound train respectively, especially after work during peak hours. And is 700 participants good enough for this survey?

Next, is it really true that the participants of the survey really reflect the sentiments of most commuters? Everyday I see people rush in without waiting for people to alight and most of the time these kiasus aim straight for the few available seats in sight. And if commuters really just want to board the train quickly as the survey claims, how is it that I regularly meet commuters who after boarding, stops to decide whether to go left and right regardless of the horde of commuters still waiting to board from behind? Face it, SMRT, if that was truly what is wanted by the commuters, why is there an uproar now that requires this explanation?

Furthermore, wanting more standing space in the cabin would indicate that the trains are too packed and an appeal by commuters for more trains during peak hour – not create more space to pack in even more commuters! The fact is, trains in Hong Kong runs at intervals of 2 – 2.5 mins during peak hours. Over here, we get trains between 3 – 4 mins.

Now, comparing our population density with that of Hong Kong, that 0.5 – 1.5 mins shouldn’t mean much. But when we look at our town design, we will realise that commuters travel almost the entirety of the MRT line (in any direction) before they alight. That simply means there’s always a net gain in commuters at most of the stations – except certain key ones like the interchange stations, the ones along Orchard Road and Bugis for e.g. – contributing to the trains being even more packed as it goes along. That’s very different from the subways of Hong Kong or Shanghai, as I noticed a large turn over of passengers every few stations.

The fact is, without an efficient alternative system to complement the MRT, the problem cannot be solved. I once tried looking for an bus equivalent to the MRT to travel from Raffles Place to Boon Lay and I found none that could match it in terms of travelling time.

In short, SMRT can remove all the seats on all of their trains and commuters will still be complaining about them being packed. And it might not be a bad idea after all… because commuters may now actually queue up nicely, wait for everyone to alight without rushing in. After all, there’s nothing for them to rush for anymore!

Just too bad for the old folks, the sick folks and the pregnant ladies!

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In Memory of Ms. Lo Hwei Yen

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7 years ago, on September 11 2001, I watched in disbelief as the WTC Center in New York collapsed before my eyes. I could only think of my friend Brian who is working in New York at that time. I didn’t have his number so all I could do was hoping that he would get online, or that he would respond to his email soon.

When Brian finally replied, I was relieved because he is safe, and his brother had a narrow escape. Yet at the same time I was sad, and in rage. The reason being someone I knew had come so close of being taken away, and several thousand lives were snuffed out all of a sudden. Yet, I never thought I would experience the same feeling again.

When the news of the Mumbai attack was on TV, I didn’t really felt much – since there had been more attacks since 9-11 – for e.g. London and Madrid. But as I watched on TV the news of the death the Ms. Lo Hwei Yen, a fellow Singaporean whom I do not know and have never met, everything I had felt back in September 11 2001 came back full force. While I normally wouldn’t have paid more attention to the passing of another Singaporean other than that of a friend or relative, I was both sad and angry listening to the news. For the first time, a Singaporean has lost her life because of an act of terror.

I mourn the wasteful loss of such a young life. Now Singapore truly stands together with those countries which have lost innocent lives to the savages. Evil perpetrated in the name of religion brings a bad name to any faith. The savages may think they are acting in the name of God and doing something for their religion, but they are doing nothing more but the work of the devil! There will be no virgins for these barbarians in heaven, only the eternal fires of a unforgiving hell.

My condolences to her husband and immediate family.


To also express your condolences, check out this facebook group.

Daily Discourse – Joo Chiat

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Looking at some old news, I recalled I wanted to write something about this for more than a month.

Oct 22, 2008
…

The guest of honour at Monday’s ceremony was MP for Joo Chiat Chan Soo Sen, who delivered a speech in Mandarin and English.

Contacted afterwards, he said he had been invited by a grassroots leader and accepted as he wanted to encourage the habit of life-long learning.

Told that WCU* was unaccredited, he said he had not been given any information about it. ‘If my presence there had given the university credibility, that was not my intention,’ he said.

* WCU: The unaccredited Panama based university West Coast University – a dubious outfit that sells degrees with little or no corresponding obligation on its students to clock class time.

Chan Soo Sen… This would have been one guy I would have swept into the rubbish bin of history. I remembered just how he failed to put an end to the Everitt Road neighbourhood dispute, which was full blown in 2002, and how Joo Chiat turned into Little Saigon – full of Vietnamese call girls. That’s not mentioning the bloom of sleazy 28-dollar massage parlours that sprouted along Joo Chiat Road for a brief period before the 2006 General Elections. All of these happened during his tenure as MP of Joo Chiat and it would appear to me he either never walk the ground, or he placed no effort whatsoever in solving the problems of his ward.

Nevertheless, I would not have paid more attention to him since he will be the problem of the people of Joo Chiat, who re-elected him as their MP with 65.01% of the votes. It was however no surprise that his votes were lower than the national average of 66.6% and also that of the 2001 elections (83.5%).

If I were him, I would have wonder whether that 18.49% which now voted for the opponent were not merely just votes showing their displeasure with my dismal performance. However, I recalled when Chan was asked about his shrinking majority, he showed no sign of reflecting upon his performance. In fact, if I recalled correctly, he said something about the people turning to the TaliPAP when the going gets tough, and how they felt more comfortable to give the opposition some opportunities when times are better. There was no self reflection on what had gone wrong and no talk about how he could serve his constituents better. If one often read between the lines, it would even seem like the voters are simply… being ungrateful!

I began to have a very bad impression him, and yet when I thought this is the last I will hear of him, I read about eastcoastlife‘s case (which was first mentioned on this blog here) almost a year later.

Eastcoastlife’s encounter adds yet another record to my bad impression of Chan. And just as I thought 2008 could be just another year without another fxxk-up for my record book, Chan managed to meet my expectations again with this WCU fiasco.

Does he actually believe his presence does not lending some credibility to the shady university? Even if that is true, is he not even concerned that by being at this event, there will be some damage done to his own reputation? After all, when someone put his own squeaky clean compatriots together with anything that might even hint of any improper behaviour, that poor bastard is sued in a court of law til bankruptcy even if he hadn’t meant anything insidious! Simply put, is Chan not aware that ‘I don’t know’ is just not good enough to explain this fiasco?

Anyway, it’s time for some accounting, Mr Chan. It’s has been more than two years since the last election. That means more than two years since he promised to clean up Joo Chiat. Since I did not read anymore about the prostitution problem in Joo Chiat anymore, I had thought Chan has eliminated the problem completely and restore some wholesomeness to Joo Chiat over the past 2 years. On top of that, I recalled some measures put into place to stop new pubs from obtaining licenses and lease in that area.

Sadly, I was terribly wrong because only last week (Nov 17) I read about the new measure that will only take effect on Jan 1, 2009. The measure bans all hotels in the Joo Chiat area from offering hourly rates. In simpler terms, it will now be more costly for anyone to take a prostitute to any of these hotels for a quick bang. A few friends who frequent the place tells me that while it appeared to them no new pubs have sprung up in the area, there are a few still operating there probably because their lease are still running. If I am not wrong, either Eastcoastlife or an old friend mentioned to me that the Hotel 81s and Fragrance hotels sprouting up in the area have done wonders to wreck the property prices as no one would like to own a property in an area known as a de-facto red light district.

I won’t ask why it took Chan so long to get this implemented. But the real question here is, how are they going to enforce this? Are they going to spot check the hotels frequently to ensure that none of them are offering rooms at hourly rate? If so, what impact will it have on the hotels and their true guests? And what measures will be taken against violators?

But again, the wise crack who came up with this idea may have thought it unnecessary to conduct any checks at all. All they need is to spot check the pubs to catch desperate customers getting their rocks off within the pub premises, and then they can legally force the pubs to close for license violations.

For Chan’s sake, I hope it won’t take too long for this to happen. Otherwise we would be reading about hotel owners in Joo Chiat complaining about the checks causing an impact on their business, or residents themselves writing in to the Straits Stooge Times Forum about the lack of action in removing the cancer / eyesore in their neighbourhood.

And if that happens, it’s definitely time for them to vote Chan Soo Sen out once and for all, provided that Joo Chiat SMC doesn’t suddenly disappear into Hong Kah GRC just like how Braddell Heights disappeared into Marine Parade GRC.

For those who are scratching their heads… I do know Hong Kah GRC is nowhere near Joo Chiat. Just don’t worry because the brainiacs at the Electoral Department or something will find a way to make it fit in there.


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