Don't say Goodbye.... I have had friends leaving Singapore over the years but last week was the first time I had to say farewell to 2 friends who are going off in the same week. They are leaving for good, one for New Zealand, the other for Australia. I tried to persuade them to stay for another month so that they can watch the National Day parade of wonderful things in Singapore that might change their minds but they were all ready to go. When I asked they why they are leaving, among other things, they said they don't want their children to go through what have have gone through in life - high stress in our society, NS, lack of a social safety net, etc. These 2 friends in their forties who fairly successful at what they do, have chosen to leave because they were worried the doors will close for them as they get older - many countries have an age limit of 45 yrs old for immigrants.About 10 years ago SM Goh coined the term "quitters" to describe those emigrating and when I first heard it, I thought it was strange to use the term "quit" as if people have resigned from a job. People "quit" when they hate their jobs. The question to ask now is whether the people who listened to SM Goh and became stayers are better off than the quitters who rejected his wisdom. Those who left 10 years ago emigrating to countries without the benefit of PAP leadership must be living in utter misery - after 10 years of poor leadership, their lives must be a total disaster. Now you can see the importance of having a 1st world govt that deserves its top salary..If you look at the pattern of emigration, you can tell that these Singaporeans are not so smart. Their first mistake is to leave Singapore and their 2nd mistakes is to go to countries with societies that our leaders have been warning us about. It was reported by the Canadian govt that about 26,000 Singaporeans have applied for economic visa for PRs (+ family visa the number should be about 40,000) including applications to Australia, NZ, Britain, USA etc we are talking about more than a hundred thousand who have applied to leave, and every other person is thinking of leaving the country. ...and they like to go to countries where there is welfare, democracy, freedom, human rights and all the things that is not good for Singapore. Not only that, they are willing to pay the 20-30% income tax in those countries to support the system. It is obvious the people emigrating from Singapore are really not the smartest citizens, they seem unable to appreciate what our outstanding govt has done for them so they are heading for trouble.Looks like the PAP isn't going to do much about people leaving. I guess they have done their utmost to explain why people should stay put and have more children- but if people still want to leave, there is little the govt can do. What the PAP has done to solve the problem of Singaporeans not willing to have children and leaving Singapore is to import people from Vietnam, China and India to make up for the loss. It is not too hard to convince someone from Vietnam where the people earn less than half the wages in China that coming here will improve their economy well being tremendously. Ready made citizens from Vietnam will save the govt a lot in terms of incentives they have to give to highly stressed Singaporeans to have more children.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Human Rights and Maids.... In the past weeks Singaporeans have been told that human rights are not important. We should not be too "religious" about it. Our esteemed MM explained promoting human rights is all a conspiracy by Westerners "to do us in". Singapore has a lot to be proud of, our high tech airports, magnificent buildings, modern infrastructure and gigantic reserves. Our success is clear for all to see, yet Westerners keep harping on our human rights record.“Human rights has become a ‘religion’ that breeds devotees who border on the fanatic.It would be ‘hypocrisy’ for such people to decide what is acceptable for the rest of society.” - AG Walter Woon..Over the years ...43 years to be exact, our govt has urge us not to be too concerned about human rights, just focus your energy on making money. What is the big deal about jailing a handful of Singaporeans for speaking in public? They are out to harm our society anyway so why bother...not everyone deserves rights . Yes, I'm so glad that after4 decades of PAP rule there is little interest among Singaporeans in human rights."All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."—Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)[2].I'm quite sure that our society has progressed so much with the advanced system of govt the PAP has put in place that human rights are no longer important. Just look at the way Singaporeans treat their maids. I want to urge the courts to show more clemency to people who abuse their maids because they have been told that human rights are not that important in our society and over the years they have been conditioned to ignore the more than occasional violation......It is therefore no surprise that some people would go overboard in their treatment of maids. If we don't believe wholeheartedly and without compromise that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, then we shouldn't be surprise that some people like members of the opposition and maids are treated without dignity in our society."Singapore reject maid's day off" - BBC March 2006.."Singapore refuses to grant maids mandatory days off", AFP 26 May 2008.Our lack of concern for human rights has made our society is very tolerant...... we tolerate huge and growing income disparity. This economic equality has spilled into the wages of our maids....we pay them the lowest wages in the world.... $250, they come here to one of the highest rates of abuse and that says a lot about the type of society we have. They say treat others the way you like to be treated - how would you like to work for $250 a month without a rest day.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. MM Lee: There is a conspiracy against us! I would like to warn my fellow Singaporeans of this conspiracy to undermine our success by western organizations. The recent IBA criticism of Singapore's judiciary is part of a larger conspiracy "to do us in". Instead of studying the great success of Singapore and learning our secret formula for never-ending GDP growth, these westerners are trying to pollute our minds with human rights, freedom of speech and democracy, inferior concepts from western civilization."Human rights groups are simply like religious evangelists - they believe they are helping to bring a good thing to a country that does not have it"- Chua Lee Hoong, Straits Times, Think Aloud 12 Jul 2008.."If human rights is a religion, it isn't PAP's religion...." - Lucky Tan.These western interests are trying to promote human rights and they do it with a religious enthusiasm. Hey what does human rights have to do with the well being of our society? Who needs it? Come on, why are these western institutions on getting our back about human rights?"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." —Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)[2]"Ya..ya who needs all these things when you have the PAP to tell you what to do...."- Lucky TanI believe these westerners are jealous of our success and accomplishments and are out to sabotage us. We did not let human rights hinder us to reach this level of success. If we had human rights in place would we be able to get rid of those harmful opposition members so easily? If they're given the right to speak in public spread their poisonous ideas would we be able to convince Singaporeans that the PAP works for their interests and is the best govt they can ever have? What kind of progress who we have if we have to treat everyone equally, give them the right to speak up and protest, and allow them to choose whoever they want to be their leader? You can be sure our society will be very different if we do that. If our people are empowered, will they be willing to work without medical benefits, without retrenchment benefits and without minimum wages, until they are 70 yrs old...quietly accept all the fee/fare/GST/ERP hikes.......surely our success as Singapore Inc would have been undermined..The best thing for Singaporeans is to shut their minds to what the outside world says about us. We can reassure ourselves with the help of Straits Times and journalists like the Chua sisters that Singapore has been on the right track. You have to believe that our MM Lee has developed a workable system with leaders whose integrity cannot be questioned/ They're chosen by an rigorous selection process for us that will help to preserve the status quo. When the next elections come around, remember that is to show support for the upgrading of your HDB flats.--------------------------------------------------------------There is a conspiracy to do us in, says MM LeeMinister Mentor rebuts human rights groups' criticism of SingaporeBy Sue-ann ChiaROBUST REBUTTAL: Mr Lee at the Economic Society of Singapore dialogue during its annual dinner last night, which was moderated by editor-in-chief of SPH's English and Malay Newspapers Division. -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANGMINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew last night dismissed human rights organisations' criticisms of Singapore's style of governance, saying that they were trying to 'do us in'.In a robust rebuttal of these groups' assertions that Singapore is not a liberal democracy, he said that they had never run a country and did not know what was needed to make Singapore tick.'There is a conspiracy to do us in. Why?... They see us as a threat,' said Mr Lee at an hour-long dialogue during the Economic Society of Singapore's annual dinner.Explaining why these groups regarded Singapore as a threat, he said it was because they saw that the Russians and Chinese have been coming and studying Singapore's success story and picking up pointers.The leaders of these countries ask 'how does this little country with so little talent keep its ruling party in place and run a tight ship, honest, and effective, and make progress?''Can they (the Russians and Chinese) do it? I don't know. But they are picking up points here and there.'INTEGRITY, HONOUR'That integrity and the sense of honour and anti-corruption has remained a characteristic of the PAP till today...... moreMr Lee was responding to a question on whether Singapore needed a Western-style liberal democracy to succeed.He said groups which advocate the need for liberal democracies were prescribing universal rules for the whole world.But he threw down this gauntlet:'My question is to them, have you ever run Singapore? Do you know how we got here? What were we? What we are now? And how we can become better?'We are not stupid people. They give us all these advice... Who are they? Have they ever run a country, created jobs for community and given them a life? We have and we know what it requires.'Nobody (who) advocates this has any idea what they will do to a society if you implement these rules.'Mr Lee believes each country will have to decide which political system suits it best.'Different people have different cultures and forge different consensus and seek different solutions to their problems,' he said.But he was also quick to acknowledge that the People's Action Party (PAP) will not always have the answers:'I'm not saying the PAP government will always be supreme, will always be honest, will always be A-plus.'The day it is no longer honest, it should be out. And another party should come in, with equally honest people.'Turning to the opposition, Mr Lee said:'We are not trying to block them. We are trying to force them to collect a group of people equal in competence...When we fail, they have a team that can take over.'But unfortunately, they can't do it. Because the people with ability, drive, ambition and energy don't want to come into politics. If they wanted to, they will join us (the PAP).'For Singapore to continue to succeed, it needs to find the next generation of top notch leaders.Mr Lee said the present generation of leaders could last at least two terms.But if they did not find talented people with the drive and energy and integrity to match the demands of the job during this time, 'then I say, the future is in doubt'.'The system is there, but it cannot run with mediocre men. You need top men.'The PAP has managed to recruit good people and its leaders had, in turn, won the trust of Singaporeans through their integrity and honesty - values which the PAP still holds true today.He said the task of finding new leaders is no longer his:'I've done my job. I've passed it on to the next generation. Chok Tong has passed to the next generation.'If you have a competent team on board, honest and dedicated, it will last. If you have bums, then even with best of institutions, it will fail.'sueann@sph.com.sgThoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. MM Lee: There is a conspiracy against us! I would like to warn my fellow Singaporeans of this conspiracy to undermine our success by western organizations. The recent IBA criticism of Singapore's judiciary is part of a larger conspiracy "to do us in". Instead of studying the great success of Singapore and learn our secret formula for never-ending GDP growth, these westerners are trying to pollute our minds with human rights, freedom of speech and democracy, inferior concepts from western civilization."Human rights groups are simply like religious evangelists - they believe they are helping to bring a good thing to a country that does not have it"- Chua Lee Hoong, Straits Times, Think Aloud 12 Jul 2008.."If human rights is a religion, it isn't PAP's religion...." - Lucky Tan.These western interests are trying to promote human rights and they do it with a religious enthusiasm. Hey what does human rights have to do with the well being of our society? Who needs it. Come on, why are these western institutions on getting our back about human rights?"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." —Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)[2]"Ya..ya who needs all these things when you have the PAP to tell you what to do...."- Lucky TanI believe these westerners are jealous of our success and accomplishments and are out to sabotage us. We did not let human rights hinder us to reach this level of success. If we had human rights in place would we be able to get rid of those harmful opposition members so easily? If they have the right to speak in public spread their poisonous ideas would we be able to convince Singaporeans that the PAP works for their interests and is the best govt they can ever have? What kind of progress who we have if we have to treat everyone equally, give them the right to speak up and protest, and allow them to choose whoever they want to be their leader? You can be sure our society will be very different if we do that. If our people are empowered, will they be willing to work without medical benefits, without retrenchment benefits and without minimum wages, until they are 70 yrs old.......surely our success as Singapore Inc would have been undermined..The best thing for Singaporeans is to shut their minds to what the outside world says about us. We can reassure ourselves with the help of Straits Times and journalists like the Chua sisters that Singapore has been on the right track. You have to believe that our MM Lee has developed a workable system with leaders whose integrity cannot be questioned chosen by an rigorous selection process for us that will help to preserve the status quo. When the next elections come around, remember that is to show support for the upgrading of your HDB flats.--------------------------------------------------------------There is a conspiracy to do us in, says MM LeeMinister Mentor rebuts human rights groups' criticism of SingaporeBy Sue-ann ChiaROBUST REBUTTAL: Mr Lee at the Economic Society of Singapore dialogue during its annual dinner last night, which was moderated by editor-in-chief of SPH's English and Malay Newspapers Division. -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANGMINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew last night dismissed human rights organisations' criticisms of Singapore's style of governance, saying that they were trying to 'do us in'.In a robust rebuttal of these groups' assertions that Singapore is not a liberal democracy, he said that they had never run a country and did not know what was needed to make Singapore tick.'There is a conspiracy to do us in. Why?... They see us as a threat,' said Mr Lee at an hour-long dialogue during the Economic Society of Singapore's annual dinner.Explaining why these groups regarded Singapore as a threat, he said it was because they saw that the Russians and Chinese have been coming and studying Singapore's success story and picking up pointers.The leaders of these countries ask 'how does this little country with so little talent keep its ruling party in place and run a tight ship, honest, and effective, and make progress?''Can they (the Russians and Chinese) do it? I don't know. But they are picking up points here and there.'INTEGRITY, HONOUR'That integrity and the sense of honour and anti-corruption has remained a characteristic of the PAP till today...... moreMr Lee was responding to a question on whether Singapore needed a Western-style liberal democracy to succeed.He said groups which advocate the need for liberal democracies were prescribing universal rules for the whole world.But he threw down this gauntlet:'My question is to them, have you ever run Singapore? Do you know how we got here? What were we? What we are now? And how we can become better?'We are not stupid people. They give us all these advice... Who are they? Have they ever run a country, created jobs for community and given them a life? We have and we know what it requires.'Nobody (who) advocates this has any idea what they will do to a society if you implement these rules.'Mr Lee believes each country will have to decide which political system suits it best.'Different people have different cultures and forge different consensus and seek different solutions to their problems,' he said.But he was also quick to acknowledge that the People's Action Party (PAP) will not always have the answers:'I'm not saying the PAP government will always be supreme, will always be honest, will always be A-plus.'The day it is no longer honest, it should be out. And another party should come in, with equally honest people.'Turning to the opposition, Mr Lee said:'We are not trying to block them. We are trying to force them to collect a group of people equal in competence...When we fail, they have a team that can take over.'But unfortunately, they can't do it. Because the people with ability, drive, ambition and energy don't want to come into politics. If they wanted to, they will join us (the PAP).'For Singapore to continue to succeed, it needs to find the next generation of top notch leaders.Mr Lee said the present generation of leaders could last at least two terms.But if they did not find talented people with the drive and energy and integrity to match the demands of the job during this time, 'then I say, the future is in doubt'.'The system is there, but it cannot run with mediocre men. You need top men.'The PAP has managed to recruit good people and its leaders had, in turn, won the trust of Singaporeans through their integrity and honesty - values which the PAP still holds true today.He said the task of finding new leaders is no longer his:'I've done my job. I've passed it on to the next generation. Chok Tong has passed to the next generation.'If you have a competent team on board, honest and dedicated, it will last. If you have bums, then even with best of institutions, it will fail.'sueann@sph.com.sgThoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. ERP, Socialism,Capitalism, Crisis, Obama, Change In my blogger page, I have about 15 half written articles on various topics which I didn't finish because I couldn't get to a sensible conclusion..Somehow the recent ERP hikes set off a chain of thought that strung together a set of diverse ideas to form a big picture. ..ERP ..... "Every Road Pay". ERP is one of those great innovations that changed our lives. Only Singaporeans get to enjoy ERP because no other govt in the world has been able to implement such a scheme because they are guaranteed to be thrown out of office if they do. So while other govts struggle with other schemes such as "park & ride" or "car pooling via car pool lanes", Singapore has this powerful solution - the ERP. Whenever, the speed of vehicles on the road slows, the govt simply has to up the ERP rate and magically congestion disappears. You can be sure any other govt visiting will be in awe of this wonderful solution. The govt has cleverly used the basic idea in economics that demand falls when you raise prices to solve our traffic problems. The statistical results are just great, after a few weeks of whining, Singaporeans actually change their driving behavior in response to the rate change and wahlah! magic the roads become smoother. The govt tells us that the ERP is family and business friendly because business save time and money when the roads are less congested....so far so good...."Our wants are unlimited but our resources are limited...." - Economics 101.Our little island is now so crowded, our roads have become scarce resources and the way to allocate it is via a pricing mechanism. Same with taxis - the solution to long waiting times for taxis was to raise taxi fares until some people like myself give up taking them. There is a very capitalistic nature to the way things are done in Singapore - if you have money and can afford it, you get to use the road during peak hours even if you're on your way to relaxing game of golf. The people priced out by the recent hike could be the struggling lower middle class father rushing to work after sending his children to school. With the recent hike in electricity tariffs, children in poorer families may have turn off their reading lamps earlier while someone else uses the electricity to power the multicolored lights in his fish tank 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I'll come back to capitalism a little later...."To each according to his needs...." - leftwing mambo jambo.."Even if the chap is lazy?" - Lucky Tan.In 1957, the industrial output of the Soviet Union exceeded that of America, they sent the 1st man into space and their sporting achievements were the envy of the world. Many Western journalists visiting the country reported that poverty had been eradicated, the people's basic needs were all met and that the Moscow subway station had chandeliers, murals and marble flooring - for the masses to enjoy. The Russsians managed to get socialism working under its communist system. Suddenly capitalism had competition....."In 1976 the PAP resigned from the Socialist International, after the Dutch Labour Party had proposed to expel the party " - Wikipedia..Capitalism performed best under competition from socialism. While preserving the key features of capitalism, western societies begin to adopt important ideas such as worker's rights, welfare and empowerment. Workers were allowed to have unions, they were given pension, decent wages and plenty of power to negotiate. Paul Krugman looked at the 1950-70s closely in his book The Great Unrevelling how the middleclass swelled and the quality of life improved for working class Americans.Communism and together with it socialism began to fall apart in the 1980s. The problem is you can't keep the economy going without private ownership, the productivity of a society under socialism will decline, resources are misallocated and unless you have alternate sources of wealth like oil money (example Libya or Venezuela), your standard of living will decline. That is what happened to the Soviet Union and it went into a long decline and eventual collapse. With communism out of the way, Capitalism triumphed and all the "modifications" removed - unions were dismantled by both Regean and Thatcher, deregulation and privatization started to take place in many industries. Capitalism gradually became unbridled...wage gaps started to rise.Here's a good explanation about how income gap increased and the middle class shrunk by economist Krugman:Economist Ravi Batra explained that wages form the demand in an economy and when wages don't catch up with productivity, the demand will fall and there is excess capacity. This problem was delayed by the expansion of consumer credit which allowed Americans to spend "beyond their means". In the past 20 years, corporate profits as a % of GDP in many countries kept increasing along with the household debt levels. Right now we are seeing the crisis of capitalism as the subprime mess and consumer slowdown threaten to plunge America into a deep recession.Singapore leaders to make sure we are not left out of the money making machine adopted all the "good" practices - workers benefits such as retrenchment benefits, pensions, medical etc were removed. 20 years ago if you worked in a govt department, you would be entitled to pension and full medical benefits today all these are removed for the lower ranking civil servants but the PAP govt retained it for the elites. The PAP did even better than the Americans by importing foreign labor which puts further pressure on wages especially for the poorest Singaporeans. With all this, we were able to achieve the highest GINI coefficient (which measures income inequality) among developed Asian economies.Ordinary Americans under the great economic strain find Obama's message of "shared prosperity" and "fair wages" highly appealing:.It remains to be seen whether Obama will win and bring about change. But the hope of change alone is enough to drive Americans to support him because they feel they cannot continue with the system as it is.The imbalances in the global economy are now coming to a head. The Marshall Islands declared a state of emergency because the impoverished nation can no longer afford to electricity due to high oil prices. Food riots are occurring everywhere as the price of food soars. Inflation is exacerbating the effects of income gap. Precious resources allocated to those who have money rather than those who need it. Here in Singapore we embrace capitalism to created an affluent society - or rather a city so expensive only the affluent can live comfortably. When Minister Mah Bow Tan was recently asked if the petrol tax can be reduced given the pain due to rising petrol cost, his reply was very simple - if you can't afford to drive, drive less or take the public transport....driving is for those who can afford it. He didn't ask the person why he needed to drive. It didn't matter what his needs were ....maybe he needed the car to drive his sick mother for medical treatment everyday. So much for the socialist heart......"The island state has become a rich oasis with pockets of rising poverty, where the homeless sleep at void decks or beaches. Workers in their 60s or 70s clean toilets and sweep floors, instead of enjoying their retirement with grandchildren as is befitting the world’s seventh richest nation (in per capita GDP)."- Seah Chiang Nee in his latest article Poverty Looms in the Isle of Riches20% of Singapore workers earn less than $1200 per month and among this 20% half of them earn less than $900 per month. One in 5 Singaporeans hopelessly poor on our affluent island. When you're poor in Singapore, there is no escape. If you're poor in Kuala Lumpur , you take a bus to Penang or Selengor where they still sell bananas at RM$0.30 per bunch. If you're poor in Tokyo and cannot stand it, you can leave and go to one of the many perfectures where the price of a home is the cost of building a home. Here in Singapore when youi're poor, you cannot run from price hikes, ....there is no escape from this PAP paradise ( a paradise for PAP leaders?) ...."Unbridled capitalism, winner takes all like in America, does not work unless you can cope with an underclass." - MM Lee, BBC Interview May 08.If America, which has high taxes for the rich, gives out unemployment benefits, low income schemes for basic necessities such as water & electricity, food stamps, minimum wages, independent unions and the right to protest any injustice, is practicing unbridled capitalism....what kind of capitalism is Singapore practicing with 70 year old cleaners, jobs that pay wages so low a families cannot even afford basic necessities, controlled unions and leaders who after elections enhance their own salaries which was already the highest in the world to match those of top corporate climbers? The PAP has sunk itself into an ideology based on elitism and authoritarian capitalism that allows it to tolerate this great divide. There is nothing meritocratic about President Nathan making more money in a day than a low wage worker in year - we have allowed capitalistic tendencies to infect our public service. The belief that people are being paid what they deserve within a system distorted by the influx of cheap labor from China & India, monopolistic GLCs, and redirection of opportunities and resources to a small group of elites is a myth. No 70 year deserves to be digging dustbins for aluminum cans for a living when a minister still gets his bonus after losing Singapore's most dangerous terrorist."The human being is an unequal creature. This is a fact. We started with a great propositions all the great political movements, all the great religions, all the great political ideologies say let us make the human being as equal as possible, in fact he isn't - never will be...."- MM Lee (1969?). "..to .build a democratic society based on justice and equality..." - Singapore PledgeI too believe that not all humans are born equal. But consider what Buffett once said - if he was born on an island with tall coconut trees and wealth depends on how quickly one can get to top to pick coconuts, given he wasn't born with the genes to climb trees he would have ended up poor. While we are not born equal, we can create socio economic systems that don't amplify the inequality. Societies that rely on unbridled capitalism to allocate resources very often fall apart when the strain becomes too hard to bear.“We are in a strong fiscal position and if any country in the world can afford to find a better solution to deal with this growing income divide, it is Singapore”- Economist Yeoh Lam Keong.If we're so rich now that can lose billions investing in troubled western banks and then dismiss those losses as long term investments, we should be able to provide a safety net for the poor and help the aged worker retire gracefully. If we don't do it now when we have one of the highest reserves per capita in the world and an income gap comparable to 3rd world nations, we will never do it ...and it becomes apparent that it is more important to stick to broken ideologies than to help suffering citizens...Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Videos from a small country. I found a series of very interesting videos about N. Korea in youtube. Made by a team from National Geographic following a medical contingent specialising in eye operations from Nepal, the video shows the life of ordinary people in N. Korea.Part VII is most interesting.... as each patient had his bandage removed after the operation to see the world for the first time in many years....guess what they did...Interesting methods they have to handle dissent (Part V). N.Koreans think their Dear Leader is great without whom the country would be destroyed (see Part IV)."For me I had a privileged life in that society. But I don't yearn for it anymore. There is one core value which is missing there which I think is freedom....." - Defector who was a former elite officer (see Part VI)."As each (blind) patient regain their sight we were amazed to see them direct their gratefulness to their Great Leader...despite their hardship, He receives credit for everything that happens here. As I watched hundreds of people do and say virtually the same thing ("We praise you!") over and over again I wondered which people had genuine faith and which were acting out of fear....and finally it hit me...here after generations of absolute rule and complete indoctrination, there may not be a difference between true belief and true fear" - Lisa Ling (host in Part VII)Part I Part IIPart IIIPart IVPart VPart VIThoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Singapore has Freedom of Speech.... Our govt has responded to WSJ's editorial "Democracy in Singapore" that totally misunderstood what is going on in Singapore.You can find the response here:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121478977581714883.html?mod=googlenews_wsjThe main points from Mdm Yeong, MM Lee's Press Secretary:1. Singapore has Freedom of Speech subject to our own Singapore laws.2. Chees' court case has nothing to do with political freedom because it is a libel case involving falsehoods spread by the Chees.3. Foreigners like Gopalan Nair and the foreign media should not engage in Singapore politics.I fully agree with Mdm Yeong, once again the wisdom of our ways has triumphed over the foreign media and their hidden agenda to spread their faulty Western style democracy to Singapore.Singaporeans certainly have freedom of speech as long as they don't defame our leaders or speak in public without a permit or insult civil servants. Freedom of speech subject to Singapore laws is still freedom. I guess the N. Koreans also have freedom of speech subject to N. Korean laws.CSJ and his sister's case has nothing to do with political freedom. The Chees are such vile people, they are in court for making false claims against our esteemed leaders. As I recall the Chees said that our leaders are like the people who ran the NKF. How disgustingly inaccurate and defamatory. The NKF was a charity whose head was awarded an extremely high salary, squeezed the kidney patients for higher than needed payment for dialysis while building an enormous reserve from charity shows and suing critics for defamation.All these defamation lawsuits have nothing to do with political freedom but people making false claims against our leaders. You can see clearly from all the cases that they have nothing to do with political freedom:1. Tang Liang Hoong - bankrupted to the tune of $5M . See Tang was called a Chinese chauvinist by our leaders and he denied that insinuating that our leaders are liars.2. JB Jeyaratnam - sued..over and over again. His last case was explained in wikipedia:"..... eleven defamation suits were filed against him for saying the following words in one of the election rallies: "Mr Tang Liang Hong has just placed before me, two reports he has made to the police against, you know, Mr Goh Chok Tong and his people". Goh Chok Tong alleged that his "reputation, moral authority and leadership standing have been gravely injured both local and internationally" - Wikipedia.You can see for yourself that these cases have nothing to do with curtailing political freedom and everything to do with false claims these dishonest men have made against our leaders. It has nothing to do with politics so I would like to caution all Singaporeans - you have the freedom to criticise the PAP govt subject to laws. Remember that if the PAP govt tells you something is good for you, you better believe it...and if you don't you should not say so. Because if you say it is not good, you're calling them liars and you risk getting sued. The correct way to engage our leaders on policy is to ask questions:"I would like to understand how will the GST hike benefit Singaporeans?" rather than "I don't believe the GST hike is needed" or "The GST will hurt the poor." which insinuate that our leaders are liars....since the PM himself said it was needed and meant to help the poor.I'm glad MM Lee's Press Secretary wrote in to correct the views of WSJ readers on the freedom of speech and political freedom in Singapore. Singaporeans are silent not because of a lack of freedom but because they trust their leaders. The govt of Singapore works for the interest of Singaporeans and to say otherwise is considered defamatory. The Singapore govt is efficient, honest, transparent and leads Singapore towards the ideals in our pledge - justice, equality, democracy......to say otherwise is defamatory...------------------------------------------Two Views of Freedom of Speech and Law in SingaporeJune 30, 2008; Page A12Your editorial ("Democracy in Singapore," June 26), relying on a "partial transcript," has misunderstood the issue in the libel case involving Dr. Chee Soon Juan and his sister.The case had nothing to do with political freedom. It was for defamation arising from the Chees' false claims that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Kuan Yew are criminals and corrupt. Despite being advised by a Queen's Counsel, they failed to produce any credible defense or evidence to back up their claims..Having lost, Dr. Chee in open court then called the Singapore leaders "murderers, robbers, child molesters" and "rapists." The Chees also rebuked the judge, ignored her orders and shouted her down. In Ms. Chee's defense, her lawyer could only claim that she was "almost paranoid." This is why the judge sentenced the Chees to imprisonment for scandalizing the court..Many opposition politicians routinely criticize government leaders, but are not sued because they have not uttered slanderous falsehoods. Contrary to your editorial, Singapore upholds free speech and the right to disagree, subject to the law.Singapore's laws must be decided by Singaporeans, not by foreigners like Gopalan Nair, who is a U.S. citizen, or by the foreign media. Foreign media are entitled to report and comment on what is happening in Singapore, but they circulate here subject to Singapore law. They have no right to defame, to give a skewed account of court proceedings, or to engage in Singapore politics, for example, by campaigning for their version of Western style "democracy" for Singapore..Yeong Yoon Ying Press Secretary to Minister Mentor Singapore-----------------------------------------------....another WSJ reader writes.....Thank you for bringing the pitiful and shameful court proceedings in Singapore to Journal readers' attention. We citizens of the U.S. often take our freedom of speech, press and assembly for granted; and at times we assume that such rights are free.Especially in the electronic age and with tools via the Internet and blogs, the power of true freedom in self expression is to be valued and needs to be protected by all citizens of this world. Thanks for sticking your neck out on our behalf.Andrew T. Cheng New YorkThoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Voting the Opposition will ruin Singapore Part 2. I used to think that voting for the opposition will ruin the PAP because they will lose power to the opposition. But thanks to the wisdom of our MM, I'm now convinced that the opposition will ruin Singapore. They are security threats that is why so many of them have been detained by the ISD under the ISA. Singapore no longer use the ISA for this purpose but we have invented more subtle but equally effective means to take care of the opposition - lawsuits, bankruptcy, jail, character assasination etc.After thinking about the threat to Singapore's survival posed by the opposition, I have come to the conclusion that it has become too risky to have elections in Singapore. Not only will we risk opposition members voted into parliament which will lead to Singapore's ruin, the whole election process is a total waste of time. The tea session system that MM Lee put in place to interview and select new MPs for Singaporeans is a far better system that elections....why should we bother with elections? Instead of having ordinary Singaporeans who may "turn crazy" or "vote for the opposition out of boredom", we can trust the judgement of our esteemed leaders MM & PM Lee to choose the best people for us. Ordinary Singaporeans without the necessary qualifications and experience cannot hope to pick the right people to lead them unless they vote for the PAP..I know that many of you may be worried that if elections are eliminated, westerners may accuse us of being undemocratic. Don't worry with Dr. Chee's antics drawing so much attention, we are already accused of being undemocratic even when we have elections ....so what is the difference? Anyway Western style democracy is not suitable for us. Our leaders long for something like what they used to have in China - a scholarship system to select the best mandarins to run the country. Elections are worthless legacies of the parlimentary system we inherited from the British. Although we have made numerous improvements to the election process by introducing GRCs, linking votes to estate upgrading and creating many rules to hinder the ruinous opposition, the whole exercise is still a waste of time and a couple of opposition characters still occasionally slip into parliament to ask "inconvenient" questions in parliament. These elected opposition members cost their constituents to lose out in their estate upgrading thereby undermining the value of properties in their constituencies.I'm surprised that many asian countries have changed their system by adopting Western style democracy. S. Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and now Malaysia. Don't the Indonesians appreciate what Suharto has done for them and the system he put in place for economic progress? What about S. Korea, they used to be under the rule of strongmen and military leaders, now their President has to bow to demand of the people over American beef. See the ruin the opposition is bringing to Malaysia - it is ruining Badawi and the UMNO.,Some of you may be worried that if there are no elections, you won't get the goodie bag (NSS etc) they give out before elections. I want to remind you of the strange phenomena that occurs after elections - price hikes which suck up all the goodies you receive before the elections. .Elections are unless and troublesome. It brings uncertainty to our nation which is now for all intent and purpose Singapore Inc. They don't ask the workers to vote for the management team in General Electric - given Singapore Inc is about the same size as GE and ordinary Singaporeans are really just workers in Singapore Inc, why is there a need for elections?Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. MM Lee : Opposition will ruin Singapore! Now I see....that is why he sued, bankrupted, jailed and imposed so many restrictions on the Opposition to prevent them from gaining power. He was trying to protect Singapore from ruin. I think the world has rarely seen a man as noble as our MM.MM Lee warns us not to vote for the opposition "in a moment of fickleness or just sheer madness" when we get "bored" at some point in the future. Not only is Chee Soon Juan a crazy psychopath, people who vote for the opposition may be suffering from sheer madness. No wonder Singapore will be ruined if the opposition is voted in- crazy opposition members voted in by crazy voters. Because the PAP has done such a wonderful job, it is not possible for the people to vote for the opposition because they have suffered pain from bad PAP policies ....if people vote for the opposition, they have to be crazy, bored or fickle minded..MM Lee has also reminded us that "Western-style" democracy cannot work in Singapore because it is hard to get able people into power when " you are judged in accordance with your persuasive powers". I totally agree with him. We better watch out for people with persuasive powers who try to persuade us the PAP is not the best govt for us and their policies are not the best things that happen to Singaporeans. It is not necessary for the PAP govt to persuade us that the GST hike is good for us, CPF Life is good for us and means testing at hospital is done for our own good. They don't have to persuade us because we already know that the PAP is the best thing that happened to Singapore and we should all be thank and appreciative by not voting for the crazy opposition that will ruin us.-----------------------------Opposition would ruin Singapore: Lee Kuan YewSINGAPORE, June 26, 2008 (AFP) - The Singapore opposition would ruin the wealthy city-state's achievements in five years if they ever gained power, the country's founding father Lee Kuan Yew said..Lee, 84, warned Singapore voters against putting the opposition at the helm of government "in a moment of fickleness or just sheer madness" when they get "bored" at some point in the future.Should this happen, "I think all bets are off because in five years they (opposition) can ruin this place," he told delegates at an international forum late Wednesday..He stressed that, unlike many other countries, Singapore did not have natural resources such as oil, gas, forests, timber and aluminium.."When you are Singapore and your existence depends on performance -- extraordinary performance, better than your competitors -- but that performance disappears because the system on which it is based is eroded, then you've lost everything.".Lee, widely credited for shepherding the underdeveloped port into one of Asia's wealthiest nations in one generation, said younger Singaporeans often tell him he is "playing the same old record" when he delivers his message..Singapore's small opposition has only two seats in a parliament dominated by the People's Action Party which has been elected since 1959..Despite its economic success, local and international civil rights groups have criticised the government for cracking down hard on dissenters and political activists.Street protests are rare and public gatherings of five people or more are banned without a police permit.Lee has maintained that Western-style liberal democracy is not the right model for Singapore.He said one ingredient for a country's success is putting able leaders in government. This could be difficult under a more freewheeling US-style democracy in which "you are judged in accordance with your persuasive powers," he said.Lee holds the cabinet rank of Minister Mentor in the government of his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Dr. Adrian Yeo has passed away.... 2 years ago, I wrote about Dr. Adrian Yeo whose life was completlely destroyed by a CNB sting that involved entrapment tactics.http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2006/06/what-is-worse-than-being-gay-in.htmlI have just found out that the young man has passed away 2 days ago after a viral infection.His wake is at Blk 38 Sing Ming Drive.We should not make criminals out of troubled youths, destroy their lives completely for a single mistake wouldn't have been committed if they were not enticed into it by the people who were supposed to protect us. The newspaper reports in 2006 said "Dr. Yeo threw his future away"...I think he had his future taken from him by the system.I'm still angry about it....and now I'm sad that it has to end so tragically.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. The other opposition party is just as useless... After warning about the abrasive, disruptive and dishonest opposition in the form of SDP, it is time to move on and warn us about the other useless opposition party - The Worker's Party. Like I've often said, there is no such thing as good opposition in Singapore. It is not possible to have good opposition in Singapore.When the Worker's Party published their manifesto during the last elections, they were accused of planting "timebombs and poison". Now they are accused of being too silent and not taking a stand. See the problem with the WP is this - they are no good when they speak up and they are no good when they don't speak up. In other words, they are just no good. The PAP and Straits Times have been very kind to point out the problems with various opposition parties/members so they can reflect on their weaknesses and improve themselves. The way I see it the main problem with opposition parties is that they exist and that troubles our govt. For a govt as good as the PAP, it is not necessary to have opposition parties around to offer alternative ideas - the PAP itself is capable of generating the full spectrum of ideas and selecting what is best for Singaporeans. Why does Singapore need opposition parties? There is really no need when our elections are meant to show support for estate upgrading. Since the opposition cannot offer any form of upgrading, there is really no need for them to run..Singaporeans are lucky to have a newspaper, The Straits Times, that frequently remind us that the opposition is full of flaws, weaknesses, and are devoid of good ideas. This prevents us from being seduced by the opposition when all we need can be provided by the PAP govt. As a responsible citizen, I too will do my part to warn Singaporeans about the opposition.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. The meaning of "Freedom".... Over the weekend I helped a senior citizen/relative figure out what was wrong with his computer. He has wanted to read ISD's release of old copies of "Freedom News" in CDROM but his computer wasn't working. There was a small problem with the computer which I fixed. I had no idea what "Freedom News" was until I was shown the contents. Freedom News was an old underground communist publication that was circulated in the early 40s to the late 60s. ISD has released the old copies of Freedom News along with the English translation when it established a Heritage Centre in 1993. I guess Mas Selamat's escape will eventually form part of ISD's heritage in 2030 when nobody remembers who he is. Few in my generation have heard of Freedom News but it is an important part of our history because it was edited by Fong Chong Pik also know as the Plen. You can read about the Plen on theThoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. ".....old people have the dignity of employment...." Chee Siok Chin was charged for contempt of court. Just listen to what she said in court and you will understand why this woman has to be put in jail.Download here MP3"...Except demonstrating that in Singapore old people have the dignity of employment...the question is irrelevant" - Davinder Singh."....dignity of employment? When you're in your seventies and you're bent over when you have to work because the govt does not take care of you. Dignity? You give a whole new meaning to the word dignity, Mr Singh. Perhaps you can create your own Davinder Singh dictionary" - -Chee Siok ChinOur PM might sound a bit subdued in the recording that is because he was facing Chee Siok Chin an activist who once tried to bite a police woman when arrested. The best moment camefrom Davinder Singh who explained why old Singaporeans have to work. I remember Davinder Singh well from his debating days in NUS, you can put Davinder Singh on any side of a debate and that side will win. I'm so glad he has chosen to join the correct side to help fend off irrelevant questions from these fiece opposition members and defend the dignity of old folks to work. "Do you know what it's like for Singaporeans to squeeze like sardines, smell each other's breath in MRTs and have to wait, sometimes for a half hour, for the bus to arrive?" - Chee Siok Chin"I resent being called a sardine Ms Chee. It took me weeks to overcome the smell and you have to go remind everyone how unpleasant it is to be packed like cattle...." - Lucky TanThe questions asked by Ms Chee were totally irrelevant to assessing the damages. The issue of old folks working and ordinary Singaporeans struggling is irrelevant to the reputations of our leaders. Their reputations are built on solid achievements and you can read about their grand achievements in the mainstream media everyday and about how well Singapore Inc is doing under their leadership. Indeed, it is clear their reputations have been damaged by the Chees and the Chees continue to damage their reputations by asking irrelevant questions in court. It will take quite a few weeks of Straits Times to rectify the damage but the Chees cannot go unpunished. Bankruptcy, jail, and humiliation via the media - the whole country now knows Chee is a nut case and his sister scandalised the court. In Singapore, nobody in the right mind will criticise the govt the way that the Chees did - so it is natural to conclude that they are crazy. In any other country, they would have been just called "critics of the govt" and there are hundreds of thousands of them in S. Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But in Singapore, there shouldn't be any critics in the same mold as the Chees because our govt is so perfect that any harsh critcism thrown at them would be unjust, scandalous, libelous and damages their distinguished reputation. There are 300 million American citizens and not a single one has been sued for defaming George Bush....they have 300 million people but they don't have people there like the Chees - psychopathic, anti-social, scandalous and downright evil. Singapore has jailed so many political dissidents to help stabilised our small island because although we are small we face unique threats in the form of wayward political thinking that western democracies don't have to deal with. Singapore is a safer better place now that the Chees have been sent to jail and the reputations of our leaders protected from harm. Singaporeans can sleep more soundly tonight...our island is safe....Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Strange Inflation..... I've been drinking bubble tea these few weeks. Why bubble tea? The prices have fallen from a high of $2.50-$4 in 2001 to $1.50. The duo-core laptop I was eyeing last year has dipped below $1000 to $890 at the recent PC show. I've been saving close to $300 a month on taxi fares as the fare hike inspired me to switch to taking public transport - yes I've learned to shut off my mind from the crowd and really focus on my free copy Today to timewarp myself so that the longer journey is more tolerable. If you have a lot of time there is a barber in Bedok (Block 631) who offers haircut at $2.80....I have not resorted to that yet I'm still paying $10 per haircut at one of those "Japanese" style 10 minute per cut barbers..Inflation.....what inflation?.The recent CPI report from the US shows a large jump in headline inflation (0.6%) but no increase in core inflation which remains at 0.2%. Core inflation excludes food & energy and is the more important number as it tells us if inflation has begun to spread. In the US as in Singapore, inflation is very much concentrated in food and energy but has not spread to other things.In Singapore I notice that the big jump in hawker price occurred after the GST hike and then stayed there. Similarly taxi fare hikes were one-off, that single hike probably caused demand to fall enough for them not to consider further hikes. I don't think they dare to hike the public transport & ERP cost anymore - the last hike pushed Singaporeans to the threshold of wanting to throw eggs at Raymond Lim. The point I'm getting to is we are not seeing the kind of infectious spread of inflation in the 70s. Business are unable to raise prices because the consumers are so stretched they will trade down, substitute or simply stop buying. American consumers are so stretched due to rising oil prices and declining values of their homes, any price increase will lead to a collapse in demand..The key difference between now and the 70s is the wage-inflation spiral. For the past 3 decades, the power of unions have waned and workers are no longer able to negotiate for higher pay. While this may seem like a bad thing for workers, when it comes to inflation, this lack of power to raise wages is key to preventing inflation from spiralling out of control. The vicious cycle goes like this - inflation = workers ask for higher pay = business raise prices = more inflation...and so on. Today when prices are raised beyond a certain level, demand collapses....the economist call this demand destruction..What about high oil prices?...can this go on forever?On the day when oil reached $139 per barrel, I noticed a few interesting pieces of news:1. Airlines announced withdrawal of a large number of routes due to high fuel prices.2. Indonesia, Malaysia remove fuel subsidy because the govt could no longer "tahan" the cost. Overnight fuel in Malaysia cost 50% more. I guess Malaysians will be driving less.3. I went to a Pasar Malam (night market) and every car was offered with a CNG option that will save the driver 60% in fuel cost. Several of my colleagues were pushed to switching to CNG cars4. OPEC convene emergency meeting.That $139 per barrel flicked a few psychological switches that might has seeded the demand destruction for oil. I've been looking at the cause of increase in price of oil - there are 2 key reasons I believe that have contributed to this. Contrary to what most people think, I believe that OPEC, Chinese & Indian demand are not the primary factors that drove oil prices from $27 to $139 in 6 years. The first reason is the consolidation of oil industry that resulted in the top 6 oil giants now producing more oil than OPEC. It is found that these giants have not increase production & refining capacity and they left a number of leases on oil reserves unused and these were taken back by the US govt. The reason is a 2% reduction in production leads to a 20% increase in prices and once the oil companies were consolidated with fewer independent players, there was little motivation to increase production - since they have much more to gain by not expanding supply, they simply allowed the price of oil to rise to maximise their profits. The 2nd reason is speculation - hedge funds, pension funds have poured billions into the commodities funds which can only go long (purchase) oil and commodities. The oil prices have reached a level that threatens the global economy and governments have no choice but to intervene in the marketplace or see their economies strangled by high oil prices..This is the point they call "make or break". Food and energy inflation will be defeated either with a painful slowdown or some intervention from govt. Already we are seeing riots in Indonesia, protests in Malaysia and S. Korea - it is time for governments to act fast or see more pain...Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Understanding the Gopalan Nair Incident.... US blogger Gopalan Nair is facing charges for insulting Singapore's civil servants. This is a very serious offense and he deserves to be jailed for it. I'll explain why it is so serious.First let me send an email to President George Bush, Condi, US Supreme Court:.President Bush is the worst president ever in the USA. He is a liar and took the country to war on a false premise. He is corrupted by special interests shaping his policies to favor big oil companies rather than ordinary Americans. He is incompetent and his cabinet of neocons are prostitutes to a failed ideology that has weakened his great nation and destabilised the world. His pardon of his crony "scooter" Libby shows that he has no regard for the law or justice. George Bush should be impeached he is a criminal who surrounds himself with corrupted men who serve the interest of the military industrial complex, oil companies and Wall Street financiers. His administration is worse than any kangaroo court in asian countries and is a joke in the eyes of many people. Dick Cheney & Rumfeld are men who have sold their souls and their conscience for money..Mr. Bush look here. I, Lucky Tan, will be in the USA on 10 Jul 2008. I will be within your jurisdiction and that of your corrupt govt and your corrupt cronies. What are you going to do about it?.Lucky Tan,Holiday Inn LA, USA Room 438.10 Jul 2008..What will George Bush do to me? Nothing much, really. He has 20 million other insults on the Internet to handle so it will be a long time before he gets to mine..Singapore leaders and top civil servants cannot be insulted unlike the leaders of other countries. They are protected by law from insults. This is about guarding the reputations and integrity of the people who run our system. They cannot be questioned on their independence, honesty, and competence. So why am I allowed to insult George Bush and his merry men....and get away with it? .....Why don't the Americans implement similar laws to protect their govt men and leaders?The reason is quality. The quality of the people we have as leaders and civil servants are a lot higher than those in USA.Quality is the reason why our media is allowed to attack the opposition in many ways - e.g. calling Chee a mad man, liar, scoundrel and psychopath. The quality of opposition members is so low, they deserve to be insulted, jailed, bankrupted and arrested. Quality is a treasured among our elites who possess so much of it. Quality is what Singaporeans pay for in our leaders - "you want quality, pay for it". American leaders don't have much quality and they don't get paid much.,Let me remind everyone to be appreciative of the top quality leadership that we have in govt. You should find ways to show your gratitude like writing letters of appreciation to the Straits Times Forum or starting a blog like me to help others understand the grand achievements of our esteemed leaders. You may occasionally have the urge to say something inappropriate - perhaps after going through the ERP, or upon receiving your utilities bill or after the GST increase. Let me remind you there is a law in place to protect our civil servants from insults, you should try something else like blaming it on George Bush, the President of USA...he is not protected by law from insults so you can say as many nasty things you want about him. ....that will definitely make you feel much better. Gopalan Nair is guilty because as a US citizen for the past 10 years, he has not learned to vent his frustration on George Bush instead of our civil servants & leaders. If he wrote about George Bush instead of Belinda Ang & MM Lee, he would still be sitting in Starbucks sipping coffee instead of ChangiPrison - he has chosen the wrong people to insult....our leaders cannot take insults..Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Chua Lee Hoong : Chee is nuts! This article (see below), Chua Lee Hoong sets a new standard in investigative journalism. She has found out that Chee is suffering from an anti-social personality disorder. Add that to the list of ailments that Chee is suffering from- a psychopath, a liar, a cheat, a political gangster and unscrupulous man. Now he found to be also suffering from antisocial personality disorder. What a horrible twisted evil person this Chee is. No wonder Singaporeans who have been reading their Straits Times diligently will show signs of revulsion when Chee walks towards them. ...that explains why people walk detour when they see him selling his books. I'm so glad we have enlightened journalists such as Chee Lee Hoong help us to warn us about flawed opposition members.According to Ms Chua, Chee's plight is all his own doing. He got himself bankrupted, jailed and arrested....of course, Chee has free will, if he sit around and do nothing like the rest of us, none of these things would have happened to him. So this is all his own fault - the result of his own actions."According to a medical website, one complication that might arise from this disorder is frequent imprisonment for unlawful behaviour" - Chua Mui Hoong"Oh my, Aung San Suu Kyi, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela have all been jailed for breaking the law, they are all having antisocial personality" - Lucky Tan.In any other country, Chee would have been called a political activist and would be allowed to protest all he wants. In Singapore where the system is so wonderful, you have to be crazy to be a political activist when there are so many weekend sales around to keep you occupied. According to Ms Chua, Chee doesn't have many supporters. It could be that Singaporeans are just shy, whenever Chee turns up, there are all these people with cameras filming the people who come to support him. After that, you might get a free visit from the police or a greeting card to remind you of the behavior of good citizens. Just like this group of young people who joined Chee for the Freedom Walk...... if I were their parents, I will force them to stop participating in these activities and spend more time attending rock concerts and shopping.I want to thank Chua Lee Hoong for her excellent article. It is a reminder that Singaporeans have no need and do not want people like Chee around. We as a nation have no need for Western style democracy and freedom to protest and speak in public.....after 4 decades of PAP rule we have forgotten and lost all desire for those things. What is important is the pursuit of GDP growth....as long as GDP is growing, everything else will take care of itself."But we either believe in democracy or we not. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed... If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought, and no excuse, whether of security, should allow a government to be deterred from doing what it knows to be right, and what it must know to be right... " - Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates, April 27, 1955 (from wikiquote)."Yes Sir, you didn't say whether you believe, IF we believe in democracy....I guess these days the PAP believes in GDP rather than all those things...just like true love cannot be eaten....you can't eat democracy and freedom..." - Lucky Tan.Whatever Chee is, he believes in freedom and democracy. 2 things that our society has already discovered is totally useless for our well being. We do not want to waste anymore time debating this, changing our society and laws so that we can have more of democracy and freedom is just a waste of time. In fact our constitution and laws has been changed and changed again to make sure Singaporeans don't have to trouble themselves with freedom and democracy anymore. Our elections are about estate upgrading and you want to experience the freedom to protests just take a flight to Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei or KL over the weekend. We are so lucky to be living in a society that is so orderly, men like Chee are treated as nut cases. They have to be crazy not to appreciate the wonderful system MM Lee has put in place to preserve what is most valuable to all of us - the esteemed PAP leaders who tell us what to do.---------------------THINKING ALOUDThe squandered potential of Chee Soon JuanBy Chua Lee Hoong,Political EditorToday, one cannot help but conclude that the trailblazer is more a sputtering meteor, and perhaps one with an antisocial personality disorder..MANY people will remember the stir caused by Chee Soon Juan when he first entered politics.The year was 1992; the occasion, the Marine Parade by-election called by then-prime minister Goh Chok Tong. Chee was a psychology lecturer at the National University of Singapore. Just 30 years old, he was eloquent, photogenic and full of passionate conviction.Mr Chiam See Tong, then-leader of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), hailed his new recruit as 'perhaps the most courageous person in Singapore today'. He looked forward to Chee heralding a new era in opposition politics, one in which more well-educated professionals entered the fray.What has happened in the 16 years hence? Today, one cannot help but conclude that the trailblazer is more a sputtering meteor, and perhaps one with an antisocial personality disorder.The SDP that is now under his leadership is no more than a ragtag band, hardly credible as an opposition party..Nowhere was this more evident than in court last week, during the three-day hearing to assess damages in the defamation suit Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had won against the SDP, Chee and his sister Siok Chin..SDP supporters numbered not more than 15 or so, even though the public gallery was invariably full. Of those who started out as neutral observers, I would venture that not a few ended up even less sympathetic to Chee after observing his behaviour up close..Chee and his supporters will argue that the SDP's sad state of affairs is entirely the doing of the ruling party. The latter, they will allege, has used all means at its disposal to suppress the SDP's rise..Such a 'Poor me! I'm a victim' argument will, however, cut no ice with the majority of Singaporeans, who can point to Mr Low Thia Khiang and Mr Chiam as examples of opposition politicians who have managed to get elected in successive polls in spite of the uphill battle.Going by anecdotal evidence, Chee has disappointed an entire generation of voters who had hoped that his entry into politics in 1992 would bring about more substantial debate on political issues here.The disappointment began early enough - barely six months after the Marine Parade by-election in fact, as a series of shenanigans came to light in rapid succession.There was the misuse of university funds to send his wife's thesis overseas. There was the 'hunger strike' during which he drank water with glucose. There was the ouster of Mr Chiam from the SDP that led rapidly to the party's decline.From three SDP MPs in Parliament after the 1991 polls, there was none by the next election.Chee seemed to focus his energies not on getting his party into Parliament but himself into the spotlight..At an election walkabout at a Jurong hawker centre in 2001, he heckled then-PM Goh loudly and persistently, right in front of the dozens of people having their Sunday breakfast. It was my misfortune to have witnessed the incident with my own eyes.In 2004, another rude heckling incident, this time at a Washington think-tank which had invited Mr Goh to give a talk.Last year, there was Chee's performance at the International Bar Association conference at Suntec City, when he used a question and answer session on the rule of law to criticise Singapore's judiciary and focus attention on his own political misfortunes.The attempt to play to an international audience for his own gain did not go down well with Singaporeans..Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim, a speaker at the symposium, distanced herself from him when she said Singaporeans are quite capable of deciding for themselves the kind of country they want and did not need foreigners to 'canvass our agenda for us'.'Singapore is not perfect, and we don't pretend that it is. But neither should we make it out to be worse than it really is,' she said, in what seemed a rebuke to Chee..This Monday, it seemed to be Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam's turn to distance himself from Chee.Acting as Chee's counsel for a contempt of court hearing, the 82-year-old seemed to be making a disclaimer when he said that while he had a duty to present the best case for his client, 'the counsel doesn't have to agree with whatever has been done by the client'.When two prominent opposition figures have problems accepting Chee's behaviour, what more the average Singaporean?.Not that I think Chee will care about this. He marches, at least in his own mind, to a different beat. 'My Christian faith guides me, and it is a faith that compels me to fight for justice and to treat my fellow men and women with compassion,' he said in court last week.Back in 1993, he also cited his Christian faith when talking about his 10-day hunger strike: 'I am a Christian. I came into this hunger strike under the Lord's guidance and am leaving it the same way. My life is not mine to take.'.The question though is whether mainstream Christians will accept his pattern of behaviour as being particularly Christian..He claims to fight for justice but the way he fights has been lamentable.Irresponsible, reckless, impulsive, unethical are all words that describe Chee's behaviour. Interestingly, they are also all words associated with what American psychologists call antisocial personality disorder, which manifests itself in a disregard for truth and for social norms..According to a medical website, one complication that might arise from this disorder is frequent imprisonment for unlawful behaviour.We don't know if indeed Chee suffers from this disorder. If he does, we have got to feel sorry for him. If he doesn't - well, all I can say is, Chee has squandered his potential.leehoong@sph.com.sgThoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Obama has won the Democratic Nomination... I really don't know what Americans see in this feller. A rookie senator who has not gone through proper grooming. He is not even qualified to run for the president of Singapore who needs to have prior experience running a corporation with a turnover of $200M. He talks about "change" and that seems to go down well with Americans. Unlike Singapore, their system is imperfect and needs alot of change.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. ST Forum : Chee's Potshot at Govt diminish our reputation! Another great forum letter (see below). The Chees have diminished Singapore's reputation by criticising the govt. As citizens we should not take potshots at our govt, we should contribute our views through formal channels such feedback sessions and "meet-the-people" sessions. We should not air our negative views openly and in public because the PAP govt listens to the views of ordinary citizens and all we have to do is write in to the ministry or see our MPs.."Character unlike reputation cannot be bought....".-Chee Soon JuanAfter the episode with Chee, I suggest the govt up our rebranding campaign budget by another $10 million to offset the damage Chee has done to our reputation. The rest of the world deserves an accurate picture of Singapore - a dynamic globalised city with numerous opportunities. Any visitor can come and see for himself the true Singapore - the efficient airport, the ultramodern infrastructure and smiling happy people.When Chee criticises the govt, it gives the people the wrong picture. It makes people think that Singapore govt is harsh towards the people - this is not true, they are harsh only to the Chees and their sympathisers. As long as you don't do what the Chees do, bad mouthing our govt in public and in their writings, you will not experience any trouble. Yes, I know some of you are wondering why it is necessary for Singapore to bankrupt and jail people for saying bad things about our govt.....you can find plenty of bad things written about George Bush on the Internet and so far nobody has been arrested. Similarly, you can find S. Koreans openly criticising their President and they cannot be arrested. As a Singaporean, I know that these other govts cannot measure up to the high standards of the PAP govt - that is why they deserve the criticism they receive."In order to make sure that we protect the integrity of the judiciary and people's confidence in "In order to make sure that we protect the integrity of the judiciary and people's confidence in the judiciary is not affected, you have to be very, very strict with anyone who attacks the judiciary in scurrilous ways or calls into question its independence" - Law Minister Shanmugam Singaporeans are lucky to be living in a country where there are laws to protect the reputation of their leaders and top civil servants. These laws help us to trust the system....the integrity of our system cannot be questioned because there is no doubt that they are just. We preserve the system by jailing people who question the integrity of the system. In other countries with less perfect systems in place, the views of people who question the system is used to reshape the system - for example here is a group of Californians demanding electoral reform because they believe the system is unfair : Link. After 300 years, these Americans still can't get their system right and need to change it all the time. In Singapore our system cannot be questioned because we got it right under the PAP govt....there is no need for change and criticism . We have to make an all out effort to preserve and protect the system by catching those who question the system..You cannot question the independence of our courts because you have to believe in its independence without question. How then do you know? You know because the PAP tells you so and if you question the words of the PAP govt, you impugn on their reputation and that will land you in court. As an ordinary citizen, it is best for you to believe and not question....questions can get you into alot of trouble ...just look at the Chees!.----------------------------Chees' potshots at Govt diminish our reputation (ST Forum 5 June 2008)I AM one of the ordinary citizens simmering over the way Dr Chee Soon Juan and his sister Ms Chee Siok Chin have tried to embarrass Singapore by going out of their way to raise their reputations at the expense of the country's.I do not claim to be a patriot but I am hurt when Singapore's reputation is diminished because of the potshots the Chees have taken against the Government.As a union leader, I know this Government goes out of its way to canvass the views of ordinary citizens. The ministries hold frequent conversations with union representatives and I have had the privilege to question leaders and Cabinet ministers including Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.I take pride that my voice is heard. Being heard does not mean being allowed to demonstrate nor riot.There are many ways to engage the Government but the worst way is to drag its reputation down through one's actions.Lim Yao HoThoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. BREAKING NEWS : Man arrested for insulting civil servant! http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/351129/1/.htmlGopalan Pallichadath Nair a former Singaporean has been arrested on the charge of "threatening, abusing or insulting a public servant". Gopalan is now a US citizen but back in Singapore for a visit..Insulting our capable honest civil servants is indeed a despicable criminal act. I'm glad Singapore arrests such people who impugn the integrity of our civil servants. I know some of you may be concerned about people getting arrested for posting highly negative views about our civil servants because you have never heard of any other country doing that (except N. Korea?). I understand your concern but let ask you if other countries have civil servants as good as those Singapore? Of course not, we must have laws to protect them..If you know Gopalan's background you won't be surprise at all with his arrest. He was a member of the Worker's Party - I've told you guys many times these people are nothing but trouble makers. Even after living in terrible country like USA operating under an inferior system of Western style democracy for so many years, he failed to appreciate and acknowledge the superiority of our Singapore system and our govt. This guy is hopeless. Unfortunately, the ISD no longer detain such people for redoctrination - it could be they are beyond redemption and ISD have given up on this type of people..I applaud the govt's prompt arrest of Gopalan. It demonstrates the openness that PM Lee has promised Singaporeans when he took office. We are now open to arresting former Singaporeans who insult our civil servants and govt on their blogs. Looking ahead I see great political progress for Singapore with this move, without such critics on the internet, our govt can only get better.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Predicting the financial markets... 3 months ago, people thought the US$ is a washout and will be trending down. Not only did it not fall, it held steady and gained against a number of major currencies including the S$ & Japanese Yen. Where do we go from here? .....This is the conventional market wisdom that I see quite often in the media:1. The recent rise in stock markets is a bear market rally.2. The US economy is slowing and recession will come soon.3. The stock markets will start to tank ...this rally cannot last.The logic is so compelling, you might be tempted to sell all your investments, wait for bad times to come then buy everything back at a lower price. The other day, an analyst went on TV to say that private property prices will drop by 35% in Singapore. Now that is scary isn't it but will it come true? Should you sell your home and buy it back 6 months from now.The problem with predictions is there are so many factors involved it makes most predictions useless. I find that except of occasional periods of over exuberance (which have unpredictable lengths) and periods of terrible pessimism (which also have unpredictable lengths).....when one may be more motivated to buy or sell....timing the market is usually futile exercise.,What about charts? One of my friends swear by this series of videos, he tells me not only have the been right on every major move, turning points on the markets, they are able to explain everything with great clarity.Watch the video for yourself. They are saying the US stock market will start moving down next week starting on Monday or Tuesday ...and so on. There are a number of economic numbers out next week and there is a possibility of the market making big moves when that happens. However, the technical analyst is saying the market will move down with a greater probability than it will move up. He uses past movement in the market to divine the future. The market may move down just like he predicted ....but it can also move up because nobody knows what the economic numbers will show before they are released. While this technical analyst has been right, does it mean he is able to continue predicting the markets? Was it luck or skill? My belief is the market will end next week up with 50% probability and down with 50% probability. I find it interesting to listen to people's predictions and their views but I've never found anyone able to time the market accurate enough to follow. This feller might have been right for the past few months but going ahead, I still believe his predictions are 50-50. ....For most people the best approach would be to forget timing the market all together. It is a waste of time and energy. Especially when the market has been restored from "crisis" mood to something more "normal" what is known about the global economy - US economic slowdown, inflation, bank losses etc is actually discounted by the markets and built into the prices. The best thing to do for people who are young is to make regular investments in a diversified portfolio and not waste too much time trying to time the markets. Your time horizon should be at least 10 years and in a few years this whole mess with subprime & US housing despite the severity will be just a small blip. In 1998, we had the Asian crisis, in 2000 the dot.com bubble burst, in 2001 we had 911, in 2002 we had widespread corporate malfeasance, in 2003 we had SARS, in 2007 we had the subprime crisis. But if you have invested in the stock market at regular intervals say every month, you would have still beaten the fixed interest rate by a sizable margin.I'm not a big fan of property investments. I don't think people can time this market with any accuracy however, history has shown that if you buy when everyone is buying and developers are marketing a large number of condos to large number of enthusiastic buyers....the end result can be quite painful 12 months later. 12 months ago the showrooms were packed, there was "certainty" that the market can only get hotter and higher. There is no such thing as "certainty" in the markets. 3 weeks ago, people thought that rice prices will keep climbing and a number actually started to hoard rice. The price of rice has been falling steadily because Thailand released a lot of it to the market. Price falls, and those articles on "why there is a shortage because production has been falling" ....disappeared from the newspapers. It is strange but true, there is always a perfectly logical explanation whenever something happens. ..and very often once the explanation is published the opposite happens and the explanation becomes irrelevant.Always treat your investments as something uncertain and risky, you overcome the risk by diversification and averaging over long periods. History will be on your side if you do this. ....but nothing is guaranteed in this world. ...even keeping your money in fixed deposits or keeping it under your pillow can become risky. Just take the recent bout of inflation, it has wipe off more than a few % off the real value of your money in the bank. People end up taking more risk by avoiding risk - the 3.5% return on CPF money has already been wiped off by inflation. Inflation will prompt the govt to now increase the minimum sum because it has become inadequate again....CPF Life is doomed before it even started - it probably won't be enough for Happy Meals when you retire, you can only live on French Fries. No amount of tweaking can get the CPF to work, the only way is to employ the best people to manage the money for Singaporeans to minimize the risk of insufficiency. A responsibility that our govt refuse to take while the govts of Malaysia, Chile, Norway, and numerous pension funds around the world do.......the govt uses our CPF for investments by lending it to the GIC, then it refuses to allow more transparency on what the GIC does with the money. Think hard about this. What is going on here?....Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Ms Chee Guilty of Contempt of Court.... "When all the parties have completed their examination and closing statements have been made and everyone has gone home, it appears bizarre for the court to solemnly announce that it is exercising drastic remedy to remove at once the immediate obstruction to justice "- Mr RaviI'm not at all surprised. Given their bizarre behavior, insinuation that the court was biased and disrespectful remarks, it is expected that they are found in contempt of court. In her defense, her lawyer Ravi asked the judge if she felt that the Chees' action amounted to contempt, why didn't she just say so in court to warn them of contempt and stop them. Ravi also argued that since they were representing themselves and were not trained as lawyers they tend to be more self assertive. Please lah, these are Chees we are talking about, they don't deserved to be warned okay. Our nation will be a lot safer with them in jail..Now that the case is over, Singaporeans can see for themselves the type of people who call themselves leaders and defenders of justice. These people have no regard for the truth and used the court to assassinate the character of their political opponents. I'm surprised Judge Belinda was so patient with them. The behavior of the Chees was simply scandalous. On the other hand, our esteemed leaders showed nothing but courage when they faced political gangster Chee. Although they had nothing to hide and would be happy to answer all the questions, they were not required to do so because their lawyer had pointed out that almost every single question that the Chees asked were irrelevant.....and sometimes they were irrelevant even before Chee could finish asking. It is amazing how the Chees can generate so many irrelevant questions. Not only were their questions irrelevant, their affidavits were also ruled irrelevant..I'm sure Chee will be jailed again. This time his sister might join him. The whole country will know how hazardous political activism is and that is why it is good we are protected by our apathy. You won't see thousands of supporters sending Chee off to jail, just a handful of close associates. Chee should know better - after 4 decades of PAP govt, the people of Singapore are different from those in Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and S. Korea, Singaporeans have learned to mind their own business.....another opposition member jailed, detained, bankrupted? What is the big deal.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. UPDATED : Chee a psychopath, liar, cheat..... "I don't hate you, I feel sorry for you, I think you cut a pitiable figure,"- said Chee of Lee Kuan Yew."Chee, maybe you're the one pitiable after you got bankrupted"- Lucky Tan"I do consider Dr Chee as a liar, as a cheat, somebody who has brought discredit to the opposition in Singapore, but I do not hate him."- PM Lee."If he discredits the opposition for you, he should be your best friend!" - Lucky Tan,"He is near psychopath (Chee), I don't think even Solomon would be able to mediate between a psychopath and sane rational people," he said, referring to the biblical King Solomon" - MM Lee."Mr Lee, don't hide behind your counsel. Come out, be a real leader,"-Chee taunted the prime minister."PM Lee can afford a counsel not like some people who are bankrupt"- Lucky Tan..Yes, I know Chee is a bad person, but I didn't know he is that bad. He is multi-talented in evil. Anyone with more quotes from the court hearing please post in the comments section. I'll complete this post with more material tonight or tomorrow......"The final test is what Singapore was when I became prime minister in 1959 and what Singapore is now," Lee said in court. "We had less than $100 million in the kitty." Today, "global financial services assess Singapore to have sovereign wealth funds of over $300 billion." "But sir, how does global investment services know? You refuse to tell anyone what we actually have. Anyway it is all about money, stupid?" - Lucky Tan"'You will sue me over and over and over again, and continue to make me work to make the money to pay you back so that I cannot concentrate on doing the political work to be able to overcome this system which you have put in place - a system that is undemocratic, a system that abuses the rule of law, a system to ensure that you and your party perpetuate its hold on political power." - Chee Soon Juan."Yep, that the whole idea Chee. You finally got it. The idea is to keep the PAP in power forever" - Lucky Tan."One reason why we have allowed this altercation to go on is because we are leaning over backwards to allow you enough rope to tie yourself up. And you have successfully done that." - MM Lee to Chee."Sir, the rope is long enough for Chee to HANG himself not just tie himself"- Lucky Tan."I don't hate you. To hate someone, that someone must do something big and controversial. Your only claim to legitimacy is that you are Lee Kuan Yew's son. So don't flatter yourself. You are not worth the time and the effort." - Chee to PM Lee.These defamation lawsuits are becoming uniquely Singaporean events watched around the world. You have the US presidential campaign that runs for 1 whole year involving 20-30 potential candidates and not a single lawsuit is filed. That is a country of several hundred million people. It is strange but true according to MM Lee these lawsuits are necessary in Singapore to prevent our system from falling apart and ruin if it allows the integrity of govt to be "impugned". After listening to the court case, I understood what he meant - US, UK, Europe etc they may have one plus billion people in total but they don't have someone as psychopathic and crazy as Dr. Chee Soon Juan so they don't need defamation lawsuits. Singapore is blessed with the best leaders in the world but is also cursed with the most evil opposition members and our laws are crafted to secure our society against this evil..To put everything into perspective, Chee(brother), Chee (sister), Lee(father) and Lee(son) were in court to figure out how badly the Chees should be punished. They have already been found guilty without a hearing and this hearing was to ascertain the damages. The Chees claimed that the Lees run the country the same way Durai ran NKF. Goodness where did they get this ridiculous rubbish idea? The NKF which kept huge reserves and charges its patients too much, pay its CEO excessively, uses defamation lawsuits against critics is nothing like our kind govt with its self-sacrificing leaders. The Chees were found guilty without trial through what is known as a summary judgement..Instead of giving evidence, the Chees spend their time in court throwing insults at our esteemed leaders. Rude and disrespectful is an understatement for their conduct, although they have been arrested, jailed and bankrupted, one should still expect them to behave better in court. They are giving bankrupts a bad name. To contain their behavior, Lees' lawyer Singh objected to almost every question the Chees asked as "irrelevant" and Judge Belinda Ang agreed."Earlier, the Lees' lawyers applied successfully to strike out the affidavits of the Chees and former solicitor-general Francis Seow on grounds that they contained irrelevant and scandalous material and were mainly a way to air the Chees' grievances against the Lees. When Mr Ravi and the Chees wanted to have other documents admitted as evidence to help their cross-examination, Justice Ang ruled against them." - The New PaperAt the end of the day, as expected, the Chees failed produce any evidence would help them in the case. Judge Belinda Ang is now going to punish them for contempt of court..I think the most profound statement made by MM Lee is this one:"The final test is what Singapore was when I became prime minister in 1959 and what Singapore is now. We had less than $100 million in the kitty. Today, global financial services assess Singapore to have sovereign wealth funds of over $300 billion."Now I understand the purpose of this nation is to build reserves. This is the very justification for everything the PAP govt has done and not done resolves around money. The govt can always do with more reserves and Singaporeans can always live on less ...work longer and harder. The final test for this govt is the money it collected. Based on that our govt has been doing very well and facing the most evil political juvenile our MM Lee defended his 4 decades of rule by citing the amount of money accumulated by his govt....at a time when we are told the govt cannot afford to support 80 yr olds so there is a need for CPF Life and the poorest aged Singaporeans are making ends meet selling tissue paper and digging dustbins for aluminum cans. Indeed the final test .....is clear for all to see the PAP has passed with flying colors.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. MM Lee : Subsidies will not solve Singapore's problems! "Yeah but what about removing the excessive fees, taxes, monopoly profits that resulted in our govt accumulating one of the biggest reserves per capita in the world" - Lucky Tan.Subsidy is bad, welfare is worse. If that is so, doing the reverse has to be good - squeezing the citizens for more, huge surpluses etc. The govt of Singapore has done alot of good in recent years. It is easy to argue that subsidies are bad - they result in misallocation of resources, a crutch mentality and very often they allocate govt funds to those who don't need. Subsidies are bad...bad...bad.....lets see..For some reason, I have to bring people to the A&E more often than I want neighbors, family members ...I did it 5 times this year! Many years ago, there was this problem of people going to the A&E when they didn't really need to - one reason was the lack of 24 hour clinics so people with slight fever, coughs and cold problems turn up at the A&E. The problem was you can't turn people away when they go there. To solve this, the fees at the A&E were raised so that it would be a pinch to go there unless you really needed to. So it has been increased from a subsidised rate to $70. $70 is higher than what you would pay if you were to go to a "for profit" private clinic. In order to have an effect, it was raise so that the middleclass would feel the pinch. But what happened to the lower middle and poor people - they actually avoid going to the A&E even when they need to. For them a $30 fee would be sufficient deterent but $70 deters them from seeking treatment even when they need to. When subsidies are not given to people who need it, they do suffer..Subsidies are still bad...bad..if your electricity bill is subsidized, you will not think twice leaving your air-con on all night, you might not be so conscious to buy the "inverter" type air-cons that uses less energy. One colleague actually think of saving power more proactively when a rude awaking electricity bill of $420 hit him last month. So no subsidy is good. Lets do away with subsidy. Lets do the reverse, let Singapore Power make money. So while the poor families are squeezed to saving those precious watts by diming their homes or living in darkness - Singapore Power ends up with a pile of several billions in profits. So we are told that subsidies result in misallocation so they are removed, and GLCs are allowed to make monopoly profits. So where does Singapore Power put its billions - not back in the pockets of the poor folks they have squeezed but buying assets in Australia. So how does that benefit Singaporeans? Isn't there misallocation when billions are made in providing services to Singaporeans are used to invest overseas? Subsidies are bad but at least it goes back to the citizens. Sure the rich don't need it but they also pay more in taxes, the poor need and get it. What about identifying the poor and then giving them a lower utilities rate relative to their income rather than the price of oil? Even some of the most capitalistic societies do that..One cannot discuss subsidy without talking about the "market subsidy" given out by the HDB. You know if subsidies are so bad, why not do away with them for housing. They are there for the simple reason that is the same in every land scarce country/city, if there is no subsidy, you will find many people homeless. Reluctant as they are, the PAP govt is compelled to give this "market subsidy". While Singapore's HDB flats are the most expensive public housing in the world more expensive than private property in many countries, they are priced to prevent homelessness. Unless every Singaporean can afford a private condo, HDB has to keep building these "subsidised" flat. So subsidies are not so bad?...They are bad but necessary? The HDB system is really fine tuned for the poor especially the poorest people. They can't afford to buy flats so they have to rent. HDB checks their income level, as their income rises, HDB increases the rent and reduces the subsidy to absorb the increase in their income. ."Is anyone complaining about the subsidised service Singaporeans contribute when they serve their NS? Subsidies are okay if the govt is the one receiving it..." - Lucky Tan.I guess that MM Lee is right as usual. Giving subsidies will not solve Singapore's problems. But what are Singapore's problems? If you read his speech carefully, the main problem in Singapore is to keep society competitive and grow year after year. The answer to our problems is for ordinary Singaporeans to keep working harder and longer. That has always been the answer - working harder and longer.-----------------------------MM Lee says giving subsidies will not solve Singapore's problemsBy S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 25 May 2008 2021 hrsMinister Mentor Lee Kuan YewMM Lee says giving subsidies will not solve Singapore's problemsSINGAPORE: Singapore's problems cannot be solved by giving subsidies, but by having a dynamic economy, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.Speaking at the Tanjong Pagar Day celebrations at the Queenstown Stadium on Sunday, Mr Lee drew lessons for Singapore from how countries in the region are tackling their problems.The world has moved into years of high prices for food and oil, said Mr Lee. But Singapore does not have agriculture, so people have to earn enough money by working hard and smart to pay market prices for food.He made it clear that Singapore cannot go the way of welfare systems in Europe, which have lowered incentives to strive and excel.The minister mentor said: "I read many letters in the press urging subsidies for all manner of things – seat belts for school buses, food for the poor, medical fees and so on. Singapore must remain a competitive society to generate growth year after year."The government must ensure that everyone has the highest paid job he is qualified to do. If his salary is below the minimum for a decent life, the government will top up with Workfare. When everybody knows the cost of what he consumes or uses, he will spend his money more to his benefit."Mr Lee noted that countries in the region have taken different approaches to worldwide problems.In Indonesia, there are riots over an anticipated lowering of oil subsidies, while in Malaysia, the newly elected government has not reduced the oil subsidy so as not to upset the electorate.In handling natural disasters, Myanmar's military leaders had refused foreign aid for weeks after Cyclone Nargis left millions homeless. But the reaction was different in quake-hit China.Mr Lee said: "Premier Wen Jiabao immediately flew to the quake areas. 120,000 troops were sent by air. The people were united and rallied to help victims by donations, and many went to Sichuan to do relief work."The Confucian habits of communitarian solidarity and mutual help have again surfaced, although Communist ideology marginalised Confucian values for 40 years."The minister mentor added that Singapore does not have earthquakes, tsunamis or typhoons because of the country's favourable geographical location.His call to Singaporeans is to be grateful that the nation has long-term stability, continuing high-value investments and good growth. Mr Lee said he is confident that in five years, Singapore will be a more lively and beautiful city.Mr Lee, who cut short his speech because of a sore throat, said he needed to save his voice for a court case involving Dr Chee Soon Juan on Monday."I've got to save part of my voice to let him cross-examine me. Of course, in the course of the cross-examination, I have a few things to say," he said.The High Court has set aside three days for the hearing on damages claimed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the minister mentor against the Singapore Democratic Party and its leaders.- CNA/soThoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. The economy in the coming months.... "Every recession is different...just like each poorRussian family is miserable in its own way" - Bernanke.I remember the last recession very well. Businesses were spending in like there was no tomorrow in 2000. In those days, a Java programmer was paid $10,000 a month and businesses couldn't wait to spend money. If you look back, it was obvious the dot.com craze was one big bubble but when you were in the midst of it the excitement was contagious and businesses wanted to outspend their competitors. Every thing came to a halt in mid-2000, the crash of Nasdaq and the collapse of several prominent dot.coms knocked some sense into everyone. Businesses became cautious, caution turn into parsimony and retrenchments came fast and furious. If you were a retrenched IT worker, you would feel like the world had no use for you. Things got from bad to worse and when you thought that things were about to get better a group of terrorists hijacked several planes and slammed them into skyscrapers. I had the great misfortune of investing all my spare cash on 10 Sept 2001 thinking everything was about to get better- incredible timing some would say. The economy headed nowhere and had a mild recovery in 2002 only to be hit by SARS in 2003. April 2003 was the bottom and the economy has been growing since...The coming slowdown will be totally different from the 2001 recession. It will be caused by the housing slump in the US and a slowdown in consumer spending. Along with the slowdown we have an inflation problem to contend with. The strange thing about the current slowdown is the unemployment rate in the US is still very low 5% and job losses contained. I remember in the last recession at the same point in time, the US economy was losing jobs by the hundreds of thousands per month. We don't see this happening in the current slowdown. The explanation for this is the US has lost most of its manufacturing jobs in the past decade and replaced them with service sector jobs. Employers are reluctant to fire people from these jobs because they require a lot more training than manufacturing jobs. While the subprime crisis, credit crunch and housing slump probably caused more losses than the dot.com bubble, except for banks and businesses that depend on the housing sector, most US companies will go into this slowdown with best balance sheet in their history (post dot.com bubble many became conservative in their spending). If you take out the banks, S&P 500 companies showed an earnings growth of 10%. In the coming slowdown individuals (US consumers) are suffering while companies appear well-heeled.During the last recession almost every company got hit. How well you do in this slowdown depends on which sector you're in. In Singapore, construction backlog stretches well into 2010 so we won't be seeing a slump in construction, companies involved in shipbuilding have full order books for the next 5 years. The IT sector which was relatively flat when other sectors were booming in 2006/2007 will remain about the same. Companies involved in infrastructure in China + India will keep growing because of the urbanization - something that shouldn't be underestimated as 15 million people move from villages to cities every month. Companies that will do poorly in the coming months are involved in property and banking. I think it is mostly psychological - 1 year ago, the condo market was so hot, people couldn't imagine prices coming down and now we have a small glut. Banks will see a slowdown in housing loan applications and will see slower but still decent earnings..It looks like most of the pain will come from inflation rather than unemployment. The people in India and China are getting richer and would like to live like us. They want to eat the same high quality Thai fragrant rice, they want to drive around in their TATA or Geely cars and they too would like to fill their cities with skyscrapers and they need steel, copper, etc. you get the picture. Mother earth does not have enough for the world's population to live like Americans. We now have to share with a growing middle class in China, India, Russia & Brazil (collectively known as BRIC). Our lives will be worse because we now have to share. You will still have your job but there is less you can buy with your income.We had some exciting times in the financial markets earlier this year. During the turmoil there was little time to differentiate, investors sold their stocks in banks infected subprime along with the shipping companies that are still having blockbuster earnings....I think the markets will face some headwinds in the coming months but we won't see the type of indiscriminate selling we saw in early part of the year. Exactly 1 year ago, the stock markets could do no wrong and everyone thought it was the best time to invest only to be hit by the financial typhoon a few months later. Many investors learn their lesson like this, they pick a time when everything looks rosy to invest which is usually the tail end of an economy boom, then when the stocks they bought falls, they swear to stay away from the stock market forever. I've always maintained that investors should invest at regular fixed intervals to overcome the volatility in the markets - better still but harder to do is to invest when economic problems abound and when there is general feeling of negativity about the economy. Warren Buffett often says he gets an "F" for economics but over time I came to realise that he probably knows as much about economics as anyone else. He also understands that it is useless to invest based on the state of the economy because it is the easiest piece of information to appreciate and discount. By the time you know that the economy is in bad shape, so does everyone else and prices have already adjusted for it. If you look back in time, when was the best time to invest? When everyone thinks the economy is entering recession or when the economy is firing on all cylinders?Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Understanding US$130 Oil Oil is now trading at $130 per barrel. There is a hearing in US to pinpoint the cause of the high price of oil. Yesterday night at 11pm almost every single gas station in Singapore increased their pump prices. My colleagues complain everyday during lunch about their petrol bills.So far the fingers are pointing everywhere:1. OPEC - did not increase production as demand rises.2. Oil Companies - did not increase production.3. China + India contributed to rise in demand.4. USA did not tax oil prices enough to curb demand. In Europe the taxes are much higher.5. Speculators.6. Subsidies in various countries like Malaysia keeps the pump prices artifically low hence demand remain high in those countries.Who is guilty? Why is oil trading at $130 and not $60?The demand for oil is relatively inelastic in developed countries. You drive your car to work so if petrol prices rises by 10%, you still go to work by car. The demand remains about the same regardless of price so is the supply. Supply is close to capacity. There is also no shortage of oil, nowhere in the world are there reports of people queuing up for limited amounts of oil.When it comes to rising oil prices, subsidy plays an important role in the rise. In countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, petrol is subsidised. This means the govt foots the bill as oil price increases and the drivers pay a low subsidised rate that they can afford. If there is no subsidy in developing countries, the demand will fall alot further because the income level is low and rising oil price will make it unaffordable causing demand to fall. In Singapore, petrol is still a small component of household spending, so the impact of higher prices is limited.Are speculators to be blamed? Is there a bubble in oil?Speculators are out to make money and many simply follow trends in price movements. The fact is at $130 per barrel, there has been no significant change in the demand or supply....so the speculators are saying "why not?"...lets push it higher and see what happens. $130 is suppose to hurt enough for consumers to change their habits but they still haven't due to subsidies in developing countries and high income in developed countries.The good news is the Indonesian and Malaysian govts have announced that they "tak buleh tahan" the price increase and will slash subsidies. The Saudis will increase production slightly and the US will stop topping its strategic reserves. More govts are looking at the high price of oil as an important issue that has to be tackled and they are starting to be pro-active.At $130, the total value of OPEC's known reserves is worth US$137 trillion. This means the OPEC nations have more than the total financial assets of the rest of world...the Chinese with all their success being the "workshop of the world" has only $1 trillion in reserves. I'm very sure OPEC nations will be very eager to encash all this selling at today's prices....so supply isn't going to fall even if oil price falls to $80 per barrel.What is needed for oil prices to fall is a slight shift in the demand downwards, this will cause the inventories to buildup as OPEC maintains its production levels and speculators seeing there is no meat left in the oil rally start to sell. This will result in oil prices going down to a "reasonable" level below $100 per barrel.Despite the reports we see frequently in the papers today about ever rising oil prices and analyst predictions that it will hit $200 per barrel, I believe oil prices will cool off soon.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Explaining the UGLY SINGAPOREAN!!! Seah Chiang Nee wrote an article on The Ugly Singapore in his Malaysia Star column. This article is interesting but it lacks an explanation of the phenomena which I've inserted between the lines.---------------------The ugly SingaporeanINSIGHT DOWN SOUTHBy SEAH CHIANG NEE.Have affluent, educated Singaporeans become too self-centred and insensitive to other people’s plights? Can Singapore be considered a First World city with such boorishness? A mature, developed country isn’t defined only by wealth and education; it is also about humanity and concern for others.Mahatma Gandhi once said, "The best test of a civilized society is the way in which it treats its most vulnerable and weakest members". I believe it is the only test that matters because if the weakest are well taken care of, everyone else has to be alright. JUSTIFIABLY or not, the disastrous Sichuan earthquake has sparked off a re-look here at a Singaporean characteristic that overshadows his economic achievement. In a TV interview, a tourist who just returned unhurt complained angrily about his encounter with airport delay and telephone breakdown at a time when the Chinese were frantically rescuing people. One viewer commented: “He kept complaining bitterly as if the whole world owed him an explanation about the airport delay.” Another added: “the man was practically shouting at the camera. His behaviour was really shocking.” In the face of the terrible suffering, the middle-aged Singaporean’s insensitive complaint about his personal inconvenience spread consternation and a sense of shame among viewers.I wonder why MediaCorp did not cut that clip out. Many Singaporeans are so used to whining about everything around them, it is hard to stop even when they are overseas and 32,000 people have just died from an earthquake. This "complain training" starts when we are children. Parents teach their children to complain about cleanliness, delays, etc. Favorite complaints include people not being considerate towards them or civil servants not doing their jobs. Very often it becomes a vicious cycle. Because there are so many complaints no matter what they do, the civil service tends to do nothing until a complaint comes in. As everyone is complaining, you learn to complain louder to get yours heard and the service providers learn to respond to the loudest complaint first. That is why that middle age man was shouting - he feels that is the only way to get his answers but he forgot that he was not in Singapore - in China, they handle complaints by ignoring them. He was probably angry because he had been ignored for several hours. It highlighted a trait often attributed to affluent, educated Singaporeans that they have become too self-centred and insensitive to other people’s plights.Would you be able to get to work on time if you spend a minute with every homeless person you see at the interchange? We have been conditioned to "move on" and are able to walk past the poor homeless folks like they don't exist. Our govt tells us that giving these people welfare will result in a crutch mentality so we don't feel obliged to help them. After years of social campaigns, tales still abound of people rushing for train seats or refusing to give one up to the elderly, ill treatment of maids, littering or inconsiderate driving. Affluent but insensitive?: Commuters travelling on the MRT in this file picture. After years of social campaigns, tales still abound of people rushing for train seats or refusing to give one up to the elderly. Many of the offenders are middle-class, young and educated who seem to have little interest in other people’s feelings. The Singaporean tourist, instead of lending a helping hand, was fuming about his own safety – even after he was safely back home. “Typical ugly Singaporean the sort that makes other people dislike us – totally self-centred,” said a blogger. Others disagree, with one defending it as a normal reaction for a foreigner desperate to escape quickly. “He may have put it badly, but he was scared and obviously wanted to return to his family,” he said. “Realistically speaking, not every one can be highly principled about helping in a disaster in a foreign country,” he added. Most, however, condemned his insensitivity. “It reflects the overall selfishness and self-centredness of middle-class Singaporeans,” said ‘investor’. “My general impression is that they are the second most selfish and self-centred people in Asia, next only to Hong Kongers.” The debate raised the question whether Singapore could be considered a First World city with such boorishness. A mature, developed country isn’t defined only by wealth and education; it is also about humanity and concern for others.We all know what happens to people who speak up strongly for the poor, jobless and exploited in our society. They are labeled as trouble makers and there are laws to deal with troublemakers. Several days earlier, a girl who refused to give up a seat (meant for the elderly and the handicapped) to a pregnant woman, called her a “bitch” because she had stared at her and shook her head.Why is the girl expected to make such a painful sacrifice? She got to the seat first and the seat is hers to enjoy why must she give it up? Singaporeans have to learn to stop demanding painful sacrifices from little girls and their leaders.Some blame it on the environment, especially an elitist, each-man-for-himself mentality. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” is a theme that has been drilled into every child and adult. A whole generation has grown up believing that if Singaporeans get into trouble, they can expect no help from anyone.In Singapore you learn to help yourself whenever you can. Our leaders show the way. They helped themselves to millions in ministers' salary once they were voted into parliament. It may be a good teaching for a small city without resources, but it has also spawned an antithesis: If you can expect no help from others, you also do not need to care for others.Did Seah Chiang Nee not listen to our SM? Helping the people with welfare and subsidies will make them unhappy. The PAP govt has the interest of the people in its heart - they give little or no help because they don't want to undermine the happiness of Singaporeans. “Living in a society where only money talks makes all of us less human and less caring,” says ‘Anonymous’. Another writer said he was a typically an apathetic, uncaring Singaporean until he went to live in the United States. “Two years into my stay there and having been offered help by plenty of strangers on the street, I found myself doing the same,” he said. “The typical Singaporean reaction when they are offered unsolicited help is a suspicious glare. Certainly not encouraging to would-be helpers,” he added.You cannot blame Singaporeans for this. Why? Every time they get something they didn't ask for (progress package) from the govt like they did before the last general electons in 2006, there is a tendency for something else to happen to take it all back (GST hike, ...). The person who has the single biggest influence on how Singaporeans think and behave is Lee Kuan Yew. Many of the current leaders and civil servants as well as older Singaporeans, emulate him.The Minister Mentor has never been too concerned about his own – or Singapore’s – popularity as much as its interests. Giving charity to countries in need, for example, has rarely been its forte. The political elite, followed by and large by the citizenry, takes after Lee’s generally no-welfare, harshly competitive and unsentimental leadership.Who says the PAP is not generous?! Just go ask the foreign students with all expenses paid scholarships given out by the PAP govt. I'm sure many will say that our govt is the most generous they have ever seen. Last year, the “survival of the fittest” type view, believed to prevail among the top elites, burst into a public furore following remarks made by the scholar-daughter of a government MP. Condemning a young professional, Derek Wee, who wrote about the pressures faced by the common people, the student, Wee Shu Min lambasted the critic as wretched, an idiot and “leech”. She appeared to be defending the class divide in Singapore or “a tyranny of the capable and the clever” saying that “the only other class is the complement.” She ended by telling Derek: “Please, get out of my elite uncaring face.” Her MP father criticised her intemperate language, but supported some of her sentiments expressed. A nationwide condemnation ensued. The issue would have ended there if it were just regarded as a teenager’s rants. It was more than that. Because Shu Min was a scholar designed for a possible leadership role and daughter of a People’s Action Party MP (from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s constituency), it instantly became a political hot potato. The critics said it reflected a government perception that a class divide was inevitable and may even be necessary to encourage people to strive harder in life. The target of her invective, Derek Wee, was actually echoing a popular public sentiment when he said Singaporeans were suffering partly because the government failed to understand their plight. Shu Min’s message was that failures were caused by laziness or lack of capabilities, which the persons themselves were responsible – with no words of support or care for those in need.I think Shu Min is only partially right. Failures are caused by laziness or lack of capabilities if we are talking about the failures of ordinary Singaporeans. Our leaders don't fail, they can only make honest mistakes. Nobody failed when Mas Selamat escaped only the guards down the line deserve punishment. Nobody failed when billions are lost in investments such as Shin Corp or Citibank, they are for the long term. Only ordinary Singaporeans can fail and when they fail it is due to their own lack of ability. When they fail, they become a burden for our leaders to shoulder.Thoughts of a contented Singaporean who has lived in Singapore for 40 years. Libya's Gaddafi Confirms Singapore Govt is RIGHT! I guess we don't have that much more to learn from 1st world western countries. That is why SM Goh visited Libya and he learned something important - that the Singapore govt has been right all along on not giving the people subsidies. You see, according to Gaddafi the Libyan people are totally unhappy because they have been pampered by their govt (see article below). When they get married, they are given a 3 room flat, petrol is 14 cents a litre. Education and healthcare are free in Libya. All these freebies have made the Libyan people miserable! Now I understand why the PAP govt does not give subsidies to help its own citizens because they don't want us to be unhappy. In fact the PAP govt has gone to the extent of implementing the opposite of subsidy - the negative subsidy (I'll explain a little later) - to make us happy. See how lucky Singaporeans are to have a govt that secures their happiness by not giving subsidies."Isn't an all expenses paid free education to foreign students a subsidy? I guess it is all right to make foreigners unhappy. Singaporeans get to be happy by paying" - Lucky TanBeing a Singaporean all my life, I have realised my happiness is not free and I have to pay for it. The more I pay, the happier I become. With much of the essential services provided for by GLCs - transport, utilities, etc, my happiness is very much secured as the govt does not subsidies much of it. In fact to make me happier, they have implemented what is known as a negative subsidy. You see the GLCs are usually monopolies that don't have to compete. You don't have much of a choice when it comes to, say, the SMRT which saw profits soar to $150M but had no choice by to increase fares last year. Singapore Power had no choice but to hike electricity tariffs although it makes enough to buy up the major Australian power companies.I know many of you are worried about the subsidies for public housing. Yes, this is a cause for concern and many fear that it will cause us to be unhappy. I would like to dispel all misconceptions and fears surrounding subsidies for HDB flats. The HDB does not give a typical subsidy which is a "cost subsidy". The Libyans get a 100% subsidy since housing is free when they get married. This is something Singaporeans don't have to worry about given our public housing is the most expensive in the world and more expensive than private housing in most countries. What we get is actually a "market subsidy" which is the difference between HDB price and the price you pay for the same flat on the open market. Of course the open market price depends on many things besides the GDP & population density, it also depends on rules surrounding financing such as the use of CPF and 25 year housing loans. If housing loans are limited to 10 years and CPF is not allowed for housing, Singaporeans would be able to enjoy affordable housing at lower prices and retire with sufficient cash because they would have finished paying for their homes alot faster and CPF would be preserved for retirement. Having rules and policies that are favorable for the housing market helps to enhance this market subsidy - a subsidy that doesn't even help the people save enough for retirement."Do Singaporean men subsidise the SAF by serving their NS for a few hundred a month? Surely, SAF with its gigantic budget can pay market rate for labor and do without this subsidy. I guess it is okay for ordinary Singaporeans to give subsidy but it is not okay for them to get subsidy" - Lucky TanThe Singapore govt works for the interest of ordinary Singaporeans. Giving them subsidies will cause them to be unhappy and it is good that our govt has confirmed