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Meet up with an old friend today. He has not been well on and off over the past few weeks and since he’s feeling better today we decided to meet up at Marina Square for a chat. After a long chat, we had a hard time deciding where we should have dinner. We wanted to do it at Black Angus at One |
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My friend then suggested that I should also try out Amirah’s Grill. So, we walked over to the bus stop outside Fullerton Hotel and took bus 196 to the bus stop in front of the Concourse along Nicoll Highway and walked over because both buses 100 and 107 refused to show up. (They did show up, after we boarded onto 196. Bleah!). Surprising, both El Sheikh and Amirah’s were quite ‘deserted’ today. But even the entire SunTec – Marina – Raffles City hall area was empty today anyway, probably because many people were either down at the Natas Fair over at the Expo or have left the country on vacation to avoid the National Day week vacation rush. So, my friend and I was all alone in Amirah’s. Great environment and interesting music – I was told they are in Arab – which I had no clue what was being sung. The decoration is probably Islamic and Middle Eastern, if I am not mistaken. There are also paintings depicting ancient Egyptians and the Pharaohs. Unfortunately, I took only one picture of a part of the restaurant with my Nokia 7390 camera phone because I suck at taking photos. The quality isn’t so good because I didn’t use the flash as I didn’t ask any permission to take photos Again, I ordered the Mixed Kebab – the Turkish one. My idea is that the mixed dish always have all the meat in the same dish so you can sample them all, and if you liked one of the meat very much, the next round you come by you can always order just the kebab with that meat alone. Similarly, if one of the meat is not good, then you can always give it a miss. And if all three is good – as in this case – then you don’t end up missing something good. While all three of the meat from the dish is good, the beef was fantastic. It’s been a long time since I have eaten beef so tender. The last round I had beef that good was back in Shanghai having Kobe beef there. But unlike El Sheikh (just next door) where the sauce comes separately, Amirah had them poured onto all the meat already. In both cases, the sauce goes well with all the meat. The portion is smaller compared to El Sheikh, and I actually liked it because I could no longer eat as much as I used to when I was younger. I strongly recommend this dish to you. |
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For drinks, I ordered a cold Moroccan Mint Tea. It was quite soothing and refreshing and certainly value for money because every single sip I take, the mint flavor is present. I was presently surprised that the mint leaves put there aren’t just for show, unlike a lot of our so-called iced lemon tea with a slice of lemon and you had to use your straw to poke the slice to squeeze every last drop of lemon juice out it to even taste something. Total damage, $51.10, and that include another plate of roasted potato because we finished our carbohydrates faster than we liked. I would say it’s certainly value for money as I believe it would have cost us 20 – 25% more – and probably not as satisfying – if we had taken our dinner at Black Angus. (Do not be mistaken, it is not that Black Angus isn’t good on its own!) Do give Amirah’s Grill a visit when you have time. In fact, we are going to check out some of the eateries at Haji Lane in the near future. |
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Month: August 2008
Transportation and ERP…
I love my country, even though at times I may feel I don’t belong, even when I find some of the things the Tali-PAP do to be quite repulsive…
I have definitely always make noise about what I found repulsive, and some of my friends have definitely heard or read some of my more radical and insane comments. But whatever those insane and dumb comments were, there’s always what can realistically be achieve, and what cannot. And having that realization is what separates me from the insane and the stupid.
Thus, I wrote a post to arguing that the opposition parties are in no position now to take over and it is my considered opinion they should avoid making a fool of themselves by doing that. From the way I looked at it, a people – government gahmen relationship is not that of a girlfriend – boyfriend relationship, but one more akin to an employer – employee relationship. For e.g. when we got our asses kicked out from the Federation of Malaysia, the Tali-PAP’s situation was more like that of a junior staff discovering himself being thrust into the position of a senior and it rose up to the challenge. Was the Tali-PAP ready for that? I doubt so when I remember MM Lee shedding his tears on national TV realizing just what a mess he has gotten himself into, for fighting for a Malaysia for all Malaysians.
But in the case of our opposition parties now, it is more like that of a fresh graduate looking for a job and with nothing much to show except for his FYP (Final Year Projects) or internships. For one to argue that the opposition has nothing to show and thus shouldn’t be allowed into parliament would be equal to the argument that no fresh graduate should ever be given a job for his lack of experience, or having no clue on how he should be doing his job! The fact that both Potong Pasir and Hougang have taken that step to vote in Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang respectively, would say a lot about what they think a people – gahmen relationship should be.
Anyway, let me categorically say: the current system put in place by the Tali-PAP still works, or at least has worked for the past 43 years since our nation’s forced independence from Malaysia. There is nothing seriously wrong yet with the current system for Singaporeans to demand for a change in leadership. But there are kinks in the system that should be addressed, and it is my opinion that feedback over some of the kinks are not seriously address as mentioned in my earlier post here. But do note, unlike some of the unrealistic whiners out there, I am not saying everything I talked about in that post – from town council sinking funds to GIC investments – must be addressed, but rather the gahmen should look into what can realistically be addressed and do so without any serious compromise to our nation’s financial security.
Next, other than the kinks in the system, the gahmen should start treating us with a little more respect. And I am not talking about respect as in the gahmen should cower and fear us, but rather it should understand that most Singaporeans are a reasonable and understanding lot. Treat us as a partner in nation building, since we are clearly educated enough to be rational and logical. For starters, make some serious efforts in telling us why they are doing certain things. Once these things are explained nicely, most of us – with the exception of the unreasonable, irrational and illogical whiners – will really just accept it and find our own ways to work around them. Let me take for example here the ERP (Electronic Road Pricing).
Singaporeans find it really hard to accept ERP because they are sick and tired of the gahmen telling us that the ERP is a traffic congestion measure. Just quit trying to justify ERP’s existence by telling us which other countries have also adopted it. To us, all of that is really total bullshit. While congestion control might be one aspect of ERP, it is not much talked about ERP being a fairer method at taxing all road users for usage. We may have heard some mini$ter$ talk about how road tax has been cut to make ERP as cost neutral as possible to car owners, but it is difficult for someone who takes a cab regularly, or a company with a fleet of vans to see it as cost neutral to their activities. Is our gahmen not aware the cut in road tax has done nothing to alleviate the suffering of a person taking the cab, and a delivery company which has several vehicles passing under the ERP several times daily will hardly find that bearable?
Thus, it would have been just far more acceptable to tell us that ERP will gradually replace road tax as an attrition tax for the maintenance of our roads, and that all road users – not only car owners – are expected to do their part. It gives every road user no excuse from paying ERP and in a way they would be far less unhappy looking at ERP gantries popping out everywhere – even HDB estates – in the future. On top of that, the people may not like to hear it, but make it clear it also served the purpose of driving those people who didn’t like to pay it to use public transports. In short, it would be clearly obvious to a lot of us that ERP as part of a multi-pronged plan in dealing with the transportation matter as a whole.
And to address the complaints of those who are driven to use public transports that the system itself is inefficient, it must also be shown to them that there are plans in place, for e.g. to put in more MRT lines in the next 5 – 10 years. On top of which, it is also hope that the ERP will ensure there will be a steady ridership in the new systems as otherwise, there will be not enough users to justify their construction.
Simply put, the gahmen needs to seriously brush up on its public relation skills. On the top, the big picture maybe clear to the bigwigs, but Singaporeans may not necessarily understand all of them tie in together as they look at ERP as nothing more than a daily nightmare. Having the mini$ter respond to a question here and there once in awhile, or having the news comes out in disjointed parts doesn’t really help us Singaporeans to see the big picture. Just how many of us reads the White Paper or whatever shit anyway? Too many words and it bores us since we are also busy people trying to earn a living. The gahmen should make full use of SPH, and use one issue of Sunday Times or Nanyang Zaobao, to put all these things in simple graphical form to link them altogether to make it easily understandable – just like those pictures in letters informing us why we are getting GST rebates.
I am not asking for the gahmen to please us, but from what I gather from my friends and colleagues whenever we discuss some of these issues, giving us a proper, detailed explanation is what they expected. Do not just presume we can’t grasp something on a bigger scale. That shouldn’t be too hard for the gahmen to do, right?
An Open Letter to Mr Amit Nagpal
I haven’t been reading the Stooge Times Forum since Aug 15 last year, if I am not wrong, because the quality of letters is really disappointing. But the following forum letter was brought to my attention recently:
Home and Singapore, from a PR’s viewpoint
July 25, 2008I REFER to the lively Forum discussion about home ownership in Singapore. As a new Singapore permanent resident (PR) from India, let me respond this way.
First, Singapore is the only country with such a high percentage of home owners. Trust me, your home will never be repossessed because of a sub-prime-like crisis.
In New Delhi, where I came from, government housing is a luxury. Once in two years, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) releases land and builds basic, two- and three-bedroom homes.
A lottery decides who gets to own the flats. Snaking queues, with hundreds of required documents, no salary or income cap and no cap on the number of flats applied for are a few of the scheme’s characteristics. The balloting is fraught with irregularities. Most successful applicants sell the flats almost immediately in the open market for a huge premium.
My parents in India still live in a rented apartment because they have not been successful in getting a DDA flat and cannot afford expensive private housing. These things happen in India because it does not have a system like the Housing and Development Board’s.
Second, I am 33 years old and live here with my wife and two children. I consider myself well educated, worldly wise and useful to my employers.
What am I doing in Singapore, leaving my parents, family, friends and comfort zone back home? Why did I strive to become a Singapore PR, and perhaps a citizen in future? I did it because Singapore is safe, dynamic, modern and conducive to a decent livelihood. Most important, the Government promotes harmonious living and equality for all. Many Singaporeans take these virtues for granted. I don’t blame them because they probably don’t know what it is like elsewhere, including a country like India which may have the world’s fastest growing economy, but is fraught with corruption and an unsafe environment and does not have what Singapore has.
So it pains me when I read letters which say that PRs like me should not be treated well enough. I know we cannot be given the same rights as citizens, but why demand no rights at all?
Now, this is my country too. There is no turning back. So why can’t I buy a flat directly from the HDB? And although I came as a permanent settler, why treat me like an enemy?
Amit Nagpal
Apparently this letter has upset a lot of my fellow citizens on the Hardwarezone (HWZ) forum and it has created quite a storm. Here’s my reply:
My only question to Mr Amit Nagpal is this: What is stopping you from taking up a Singapore Citizenship? As a foreign talent, do you not make a healthy amount to qualify? If it was a matter of insufficient income, I apologise for the mercenary nature of our government gahmen. Even some Singaporeans at times felt they are somewhat neglected and ignored if they are not making enough money.
If not, would you mind share with us what’s stopping you? A lack of sense of belonging, perhaps? You should voice up so our gahmen can look into setting up campaigns – they are damned good at that – to mobilise all of us citizens to assist PRs (Permanent Residents) in integrating into our society and also to explain to you the importance of some policies which might deter you: e.g. National Service for your kids, giving up your original citizenship, and why you can’t withdraw your CPF anymore until a certain age once you become a citizen.
Whatever the case is, I encourage you to renounce your current nationality so you can enjoy the same perks * cough * as the rest of us. In fact, I would be greatly impressed if you would insist in doing 2 years of National Service too even at your age. I am quite sure the Home Team or the SAF can find some use of your talent which our country so sorely lacks.
Anyway, buying a HDB flat is really not a right, but a privilege. If I remembered correctly, if you and your spouse earns a combined income of more than SGD 8000, you also cannot buy anything smaller than an E-Flat. This is part of the policy by our gahmen to ensure affordable housing * cough * is always first made available to the serfs Singaporeans who otherwise do not earn enough money to purchase private housing.
Surely, by now you can already understand why some of my fellow Singaporeans are indignant and hostile to the idea of giving PRs the same privilege as far as HDB flats are concerned? I am quite sure that you, being well educated, worldly wise and useful to your employers would understand that by the simple economic principle of supply and demand, we do fear that even at a discount ‘subsidised’, prices will rise even further if PRs are accorded the same privileges. Above which, the simple concept of citizens first wouldn’t be difficult to grasp for a person of your calibre, right?
While these reasons certainly cannot justify some of the less than dignified and repulsive remarks some of my fellow citizens have made, and I most certainly regret them, I hope by now the source and nature of their anger towards this apparently simple and innocent question is clear to you.
And please do also read another reply to you, as I am not quite as articulate in bringing some of the points forward as my fellow citizen has.