Transportation and ERP…

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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

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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, 2008

I 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.

One step at a time [一步一步来]

6 comments

A discussion on Plurk about this news article took a turn when this comment was made – ‘No use talking about it. You want to fix things then come out with a concrete plan to fix it’

This is the most commonly used comment to stifle criticisms of idiotic policies and I personally loathe this comment. First of all, I am giving my feedback for free when at times it needs to be obtained by spending money to conduct surveys. Next, if we have a bunch of people who calls themselves the top brains of this country and earning $3 million a month, why should anyone even be contributing ideas at all? Will a substantial amount of that pay is given to the person who came up with a better idea? In fact, I recalled Mr. Low Thia Khiang once said something similar to this: ‘You wanna know my concrete plan how to fix it? Just quit and let me show you.’

Then this comment was made: ‘If Tali-PAP ever gets voted out, we will truly really die.’

I tell you the truth. I would buy that if God said so. Otherwise, give me back my choice, and I’ll bear whatever consequences that might come. In fact, let me choose the manner I will die, will ya, and not let the Tali-PAP kill me silently, slowly and steadily. Don’t even think about scaring me with insane extrapolations – like how the economy will shoot itself to hell simply because the opposition takes over because it’s as good as saying I should never leave home as a flower pot will drop on my head and kill me! At the mean time, I am supposed to lock myself in, while there’s a fire outside that cause me to slowly suffocate to death. And that’s not the best part yet… I am even asked to come out with a plan to put out the fire, if I don’t like this insane solution. Come on!!

Enough of my rants… and let me put aside my vehement hatred of the Tali-PAP and look at this situation realistically.

  1. None of the opposition parties are in any position to take over. In other words, stop asking the baby to come up with a plan to fly like Superman, when the baby isn’t even given the chance to walk. And by that I mean, if you don’t even vote – or trust – the opposition parties in to let them manage your own constituency and town council, why the hell are you even asking them for a plan when they are in no condition to, anyway? Is trust not built bit by bit? Would it not be more realistic that during elections, ask the opposition candidates what plan they have to make your constituency better or to run the town? Come on, even the Tali-PAP has downgraded the national election to a town / constituency level by repeatedly blackmailing the electorate with nothing more but estate and lift upgrading on a constituency level, and you expect the oppposition parties to do better?

    In fact, I do not recall that the Tali-PAP ever revealed any concrete national level plans during elections – like raising GST to help the needy, implementing more ERP to ease traffic conditions etc. So why should the opposition even come up with one?!

  2. Most Singaporeans would prefer more accountability – not a change in government gahmen.

    Accountability in the operations of GIC and Temasek Holdings, our CPF funds, and our reserves. In fact, to start with, can the Tali-PAP account for why their well run town councils have millions in sinking funds whereby some of that is used for gambling investments? When did our town councils become profitable entities which derive profits from money we pay to maintain our towns at yet at times the town councils still raise our conservancy charges? Then, can you explain to us why you need to raise GST by a hefty 40% (from 5% to 7%), claiming that there will be a deficit and then making a windfall?

    And when you are done with that, then tell us what drives and who makes the decisions behind the investments made by GIC and Temasek Holdings. How is it that our CPF is paying that meagre amount of interest, and during last year, not even good enough to cover inflation? How much is our national reserves? And in what form are they held? U.S. Treasury bonds? Assets?

In short, cut that bullshit about the opposition being not credible and them having no plans to take over. Who are you to define for me – if not the people – what the opposition’s role should be?

I am merely asking a watchdog with more bite. After all, the MAS requires that banks be audited by an external auditor regularly, even conduct audits on their own to ensure that the banks don’t fxxk up again like SocGen and Barings and also be accountable to the public… then who is there to conduct these audits of the GIC and Temasek Holdings, which manage the fortune of our nation and make sure that this gahmen is accountable?

Let’s not even start talking about having an opposition that could seize power yet, until we can agree on this! One step at a time alright?

Let me dedicate this Mandarin Xinyao [新谣] – 一步一步来 (One step at a time) – to my fellow Singaporeans. Let us take things one step at a time, and ignore that usual bullshit of demanding the opposition come up with a plan to ‘take over’ when they obviously can’t.

Nostalgia: Old Singapore Photos (II)

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Fitzpatrick’s – No more in Singapore!


Cold Storage… somewhere!
Queen Elizabeth Walk

Haw Par Villa
Jurong Drive In Theatre

NDP – 1968
NCO Club – Beach Road

Nicoll Highway
Botanic Gardens?

Old National Library – Stamford Road

Female Cop – no clue where this is.
Capitol – along North Bridge Road

Related Links::
Tim Light: Singapore Through The Ages

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An Uneventful Week (20th – 26th July)

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The past week has been pretty uneventful except maybe for a corny attempt at joking by one blogger which has caused some unhappiness and distress to two other bloggers. Other than that, the furor over a particular blog aggregator has basically died down just like the Chinese Civil War – no truce, no peace, no nothing. Basically, there is really nothing more to talk about and no more flesh left on a dead horse to flog until yet another is killed to provide more entertainment, much like the Romans have their usual gladiator battles in the Colosseum to entertain themselves.

However, before the week was out a very small matter occurred which requires me to make certain things clear. It is generally agreed among my friends and associates that facts are distorted, then the matter should be set straight, unless the person is a moral coward, imagines he is the Almighty God, or the allegations are so true he can’t refute them.

So firstly, there has been rumors that I have a ‘plan’ to attack the blog aggregator by ‘getting people out of the community’ . This is one of the most ludicrous remark I have heard in a long time. The reason being it has been my stand that there is no community because a community means interaction between its constituents and participation. If there are 3000 people in a place but more than 96% of the constituents do not even actively interact or participate in its activities, then all these talk about a community is nothing but a figment of imagination of a delusional mind. That’s not mentioning – get the people out to where? Just who the hell will come out to… nowhere?

Next, I have on several occasions chat with certain acquaintances and friends about the strength and weakness of the blog aggregator in question, and even spoke about possible ‘vector of attacks’ to exploit certain weaknesses, but no concrete plans have ever come about from these chats. I have never insisted anyone act on them, nor do I harbour any delusions that anyone would act upon them. Above which, the participants in these chats are professionals and matured adults and it makes me wonder if it is because the person making the allegations is weak-minded on her own to even imagine that there are people out there who would be as easily swayed.

Anyway, this isn’t going to be yet another post about some blog aggregator’s so-called ‘community’ or any particular person (those have been done on 21st July and 19th July respectively, and I have already closed the chapter even when someone was still sore and talking about it on Plurk last Friday as if I am still at it). This is more about my personal experience of the true meaning of a particular individual’s vaunted ‘neutrality’ , which translates as – I am neutral as long as you accept what I suggest you should do about this matter. Or else…

And this person has made the above allegations without a single nuance of evidence, much like how dk99 was slandered once over coffee after dinner at a coffee shop near Kallang MRT. A testimony that birds of the same feather do indeed flock together.

Let me just say, I can respect a person giving suggestions to resolve the matter in question. I can even accept having a different decision – just ask paced what my stand is over her choice with regard to the furor. However, don’t expect me to accept any suggestions which have no merits at all. Much less after I have pointed that out again and again. In fact, don’t even suggest that anyone has ‘failed to accept criticism’ when you yourself failed to accept the criticisms to your own suggestions. In short, pardon me for feeling rather ironical when you make that accusation.

To end, let me say it is one thing to be ungracious, but another to be despicable. There is nothing wrong with who you want to consort with, but it is morally wrong to profess neutrality on one hand and then take sides in another setting. The ethnic Hokkien have a very specific term for your kind – 狗母蛇 (gau bu zua aka Bitch Snake), and it is definitely quite apt as far as you are concerned.

Now that I have gotten this off my chest, and just in case anyone thinks my blood pressure has shot through the roof, let me share with everybody a hilarious video that Endoh has spent quite a bit of time on.

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