Asian Idol

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This must be the single hottest topic for the past 24hrs as it makes up 6 out of 10 of the top 10 posts on ping.sg. In fact, I think it has make a record on ping.sg itself as one post by haney actually had almost 750 pongs when this screen capture was made

This is not going to be a congratulation post to the winner, Hady Mirza. Nor will this be a post talking whether he deserved the title or not. There is nothing fair, or unfair in a popularity contest, but it is almost a foregone conclusion he will beat the 5 other contestants from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

First of all, let me just categorically say that none of these ‘Idol’ contests has anything to do with talent. All these are popularity contests and all popularity contests is a competition of personal charisma and influence. And one’s influence would of course has a lot to do with his community – i.e. his race and his nationality.

Anyway, according to Wikipedia: “The voting procedure for Asian Idol requires viewers to send SMS votes for two favorite Idols, thus allowing contestants to receive votes aside from their respective countries. As consideration on population size among the participating countries, tabulation of votes are done through an ‘Equal and Even Cumulative Method’, wherein the total votes of each country are converted into percentages. The winner was determined through 50% viewers’ votes and 50% judges’ scores.“

When that’s the case, it is no surprise that Hady will win in spite of Singapore’s small population compared to that of his competitors. The answer lies in the per-capita penetration of television and of course, mobile phones. It is also decided by the nation’s affluence.

In simpler words, if you have a really large population, but only many of the people do not have a television, then you have a large number of people who won’t be voting. And the people who have television may not even be interested in watching the program in the first place.

Next, if you are watching the program, you must also have a mobile phone to SMS and vote. And while there are those who would truly vote for the talented, I am in the opinion that this is only a very small percentage. Most would vote along the lines of their community – i.e. nation and race.

Now, how often you vote, and how much votes one would get, would depend on their affluence. After all, you need that spare cash you can spend to vote.

And, thus, this is my superficial analysis on why it is a foregone conclusion that Hady will win. Many would probably disagree, but I am entitled to my opinion… even if it might be seriously flawed.

Hefty Pay rise in January… Just not mine!!

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According to the Stooge Times: $ingapore’$ mini$ter$ and top civil servants $erpent$ will start the New Year with a pay increase, ranging from 4% to 21%. This is the second phase of an increase that was decided on in April. (Details at a glance, refer to the chart above.)

Also in the same article: For instance, mini$ter$ at the entry grade of MR4 will get an average of 9 months performance bonus, on top of the GDP bonus, which can fall between 3 and 8 months, depending on economic growth.

What?! 9 months of ‘performance’ bonus? What ‘performance’ bonus? Do show, talk cock, sing song? And 3 – 8 months of GDP bonus some more, which can be a max of 17 months of bonus?! Just how many people gets bonus like that? Do we ever get bonus or a pay increment that’s even marginally close to how the company is doing?

So, while there used to be a time when I would at least expressed a little gratitude to these bastards for what Singapore has achieved and where we are today, now I will give them none of that. And this is why:

With this kind of pay you mofos are already paid in full. Respect and gratitude will not be part of the package. Be glad I haven’t include your family members in my morning curses.

I normally would have much much to say about this matter… but I guess this guy ‘oldmaster’ said it best in the comments following the article on the Stooge Times:

Each time I see the ministers justifying their own multi-million-dollar salary, I just feel so sian….

Actually, I wrote quite a bit after the word sian, then I erased them all.
The hokkien have a way to deal with this – ‘mai-go-gong’ (don’t say any more).

As to what I think about their justification to their pay is all said in this article taken from Yazhou Zhoukan (亚洲周刊), which I post in May this year. (If you cannot read Chinese… too bad.)

Singaporeans will likely forget all these by the time of the next elections but I won’t. And if the Opposition will stop abandoning us Westies, I will at least go and listen to what they want to say, and even if they don’t get my vote, it won’t go to the Tali-PAP.

南京大屠杀 70周年

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1937年 7月 7日，七七卢沟桥事件后，日本侵略军占领了北平 (现 北京) 和天津。日本皇军总部扬言 三个月内灭亡中国。

面临日军沿平汉铁路南下夺取汉口，中国长江下游一切政治与经济命脉落入日军手中，并失去西撤建立大后方的基地的危机，蒋介石决定在上海开辟第二个战场。1937年 8月 13日开始，展开了淞沪会战。这场战役的主要是将日军主力由华北引到上海，诱迫日本把原本由北向南的作战方向改变成由东向西，避免日本将中国纵断为二，以图将战争持久化来拖垮日本。

1937年 11月 12日，在经过三个多月的战斗后，淞沪会战结束了，日军也占领了上海。但恰好打了三个月淞沪会战粉碎了狂妄的日本皇军无敌的神话，也使到日本 三个月内灭亡中国 的梦想破灭。这场战役让中国将东南沿海地区的战略物资和人才迁移到西南大后方，奠定了持久抗战的基础。然而这场战役里中国投入 70个师 (约 70万) 的兵力 (几乎是当时国民政府所有的精锐部队) 但是中国的军队仍然一败涂地，近 30万 人伤亡。虽然达到了战略上的目标，也向日本表明中国不会再继续任由日本宰割，但是中国付出了非常惨痛的代价。

上海全部失陷后，中国军队撤退到了上海以西 300公里 外的南京，着手首都南京的保卫作战。12月 1日，日军开始进攻当时中华民国的首都南京。十二天后，在七十年前的 12月 13日，日军攻陷了南京。随后的六个星期里，日军在南京周围抢掠，奸杀妇女，并屠杀了中国 30万 的战俘和平民。(战后，远东国际军事法庭认定至少 20万 以上。)

历史上称为 南京大屠杀 (Nanking Massacre)。

我们不要仇恨日本人，但我们不能忘记这个日子。

No Comfort Here (IV) – New Fare Structure

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The wonderful PTC has once again done its usual rubber stamping to approve the fare hike by ComfortDelgro, ostensibly to ‘assist’ cabbies in defraying the increase in cost they are bearing as a result of the rise in diesel prices… by passing the cost to us. According to the People’s Daily Straits Stooge Times, that would be a 10% to 49% (!!) more in overall fares.

Well, it wasn’t that long ago that it was 10 cents very 225m (i.e. 20cents every 450m) before they reduced it to 210m, right? Now you only get 385m out of that almost the same 20cts. Impressive. However, I ain’t so unhappy about that since comparatively, our metered fares are actually quite competitive when you compare it with that of other cities.

In fact, I have always been for a drastic increase in flag down rate and also a more competitive metered rate without the jumble of freaking surcharges as a first level attempt to deal with the demand. After all, a low flag down rate in itself creates a unnatural demand on cabs. That would say a lot about what I think of the change of the peak hour surcharge from $2 to 35% of metered fare, so let’s move on from there.

Next, to addressed commuters’ concern on the difficulty in getting a cab in the city in the evening, it reduced call bookings to ‘better match the demand and supply of taxis’ by 50cts. Now that’s really ‘great news’. Are you on your knees weeping in gratitude yet?
Click here for the origin of the ‘No Comfort Here’ Campaign

I have said this before and I will say it again. LAN CHEOW!!! (Sorry for the vulgarities. It was simply the most direct way for me to express my feelings right now.)

If you are wondering why I am actually outraged about something that has gone down, let me explain. It’s simply because reducing call booking would have done nothing to affect the bottom line of the cab companies at all, since they still get their cut per call. Above which, we still have a cab per capita figure higher than Hong Kong so just why is there even a need to call a cab? Anyone calling the cab company to inform the cabbie where his business is, when logically the cabbie should be out to ‘cari his own makan’ (i.e. find his own ‘food’), is actually doing the cabbie a favor, isn’t he? And here you have to pay when you do someone a favor!

Wow, that must be another first for Singapore!!

You might scream and say that it isn’t easy for cabbies to make a living but hey… was it any easier for a whole lot of us to make ours? So why in the world should we be going out of our way to make it easier for them? How often is your pay adjusted when living costs go against you, huh?

Anyway, enough on that. Let’s look at the one ‘pro-driver’ move: For drivers who are afraid of paying ERP charges to enter the city and risk not getting a passenger, ComfortDelgro says it will even pay an ‘ERP rebate’ to cabbies who cannot land a passenger within 15 minutes of entering an ERP zone.

What a wonder cost-free PR gesture!! I wonder which guy with a world class pay came up with this ‘for show’ idea because realistically, how the hell is that even possible when on one hand you have long queues at the taxi stands, and then people who can’t stand the wait calling for a cab?! Just do away with the freaking ERP on cabs, for goodness sake, and just make sure we have no problems flagging a cab. If we have problems flagging one and the reason is cabbies not wanting to enter the CBD, then the problem is either the ERP or the cabbies so fix either one of them!

I am not for denouncing this hike and calling it useless straight away, but I am looking forward to seeing the blog postings talking about just how much the situation has not changed. And if the situation is the same old story again, then let’s revisit this issue with a vengeance. At that time, I would suggest that the heads of a particular CEO, whoever who did this so-called ‘in-depth review’, and members of the PTC roll to pay for this.

After all, we are running a meritocracy, yes? So, with world class pay, I will expect world class performance and not world class excuses or failures coming from these mofos.

No Comfort Here (III)

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Our useless gover-min which believes that everything can be solved by raising the costs and passing it to the people who use the service is at it again. This time round, it is raising taxi fares. (Read about it here.)

There will be an adjustment of the flag down rate by 30cts – i.e. normal cabs will now start at $2.70 and the so-called green cabs will start at $3.00. It is said that the distance and time-based charges will be adjusted too and the surcharges will be streamlined as well.

Will that be any good to us commuters when the only real change is that people are going to hurt more in their pockets? And whether they continue to use if they think they can still afford it, or take the MRT, it probably will have no effect on the transport companies’ bottom line. And that maybe the real reason for the hike and what this money faced gover-min cared about, isn’t it?
Click here for the origin of the ‘No Comfort Here’ Campaign

It is said this is done to help cabbies. But will the lot of our cabbies improve or get worse? We can only tell when cabbies start fighting over a passenger flagging on the road side that life has become really tough for them. Other wise, I am really not surprised if it more stories start flooding this site. The problem with disappearing or loitering cabs, or bad attitude cabbies is unlikely to go away any time soon, and meantime we will be forced to continue to award some of the bastards as if our money comes any easier.
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