The Prime Minister had made it crystal clear at the nation wide broadcast her million dollar portfolio was a bao-kar-liao assignment - that's dialect for "all encompassing" or "everything-but-the-kitchen-sink". Right off the bat, of course she should expect her phone to be ringing off the hook. If the PM decides to dedicate expensive prime-time television to a fishball stick instead of housing, transportation, health care or immigration issues, it has to be a national priority, right?
Grace Fu begs to differ. By her own definition, the newly launched Municipal Services Office (MSO) is not a "catch-all body, but for complex cases" only, a direct insinuation that a fishball stick does not deserve national attention. Never mind that past attempts to address the "tai-ji" malaise in the system has failed miserably. There was the "Zip-in-Process" (ZIP) initiative in 2000, "No Wrong Door" approach in 2004, "Walls Coming Down" promise in 2006, "First Responder Protocol" improvement in 2012, and the new "Department of Public Cleanliness" set up in 2013. But when a member of the public called the NEA about a serpentine intruder in October 2013, he was asked whether aforementioned snake was slithering in a public park, or in a building, and whither direction it was heading for. If the snake could talk, they would probably quiz it and ask if it preferred to be attended to by NParks, PUB, AVA or the friendly neighborhood police.
Here's how Grace Fu envisages her scope of responsibility: "So, if one knows who to call, of course he can just call the number. But if he doesn't know who to call, I'm hoping to see if I can make it easier for them." Think of it as a high class call center girl, with a compensation package to drool for.
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The fishball fiasco is a real indication of the state to which the country has degenerated into. No problem for these overpaid mandarins. The country has loads of cash to splurge these problems away. For the PM the solution is to put another layer into his kueh lapis administration even if those packed into the PMO make their own rules. If matters deteriorate just add another layer. Remember the number of co-ordinating security Ministers during whose tenure which the disabled Mas Selemat calmly walked away?
ReplyDeletethe coordinating ministries and related bloated estab pee-asses and scholars with high tech gizmos are still there, just the musical chairs have new names on them. And the Ecun-omist magazine recently had an article praising the singapore civil service for rotation between public and private sectors and competitive pay scales of the bureaucrats here, it makes you wonder what kind of money the G (and THL, SIA GLCs etc) have forked out to these international mass media for big expensive full page advertisements, for them to sing the G's praises. Give me an inefficient, 3rd world but cheap public service anytime, why pay more for the same shit?
Deleteya hor, shit sugar coated in honey is still shit right? but then hor, most overpaid financial consultants (soon to be ex-PM??) will have you believe you will need more riders for the same insurance coverage ma!
DeleteWhen I first read it ( I refuse to watch the PM NDR 2014), I nearly choke but reminded myself the reason why I refrain from watching the PM live that Sunday evening . I do recalled Indonesia having Co-ordinating Ministers for this and that . But at least, they can point to their huge population and vast country compared to our Little Red Dot.
DeleteSeriously, as the Master Co-Ordinator among the super well-compensated Political Office Holders in this Island City-State , I say the performance is way below par . GCT of the famous " OB Markers" would have accorded his successor a handicap of 35 , no ?
After the shanghainese insulted old fart that they would check out his credentials for the next shanghai mayor, the scholars at PMO cooked up the idea of having mayors in red dot to prove that old fart is well and above the level of a city mayor. And they never looked back in trying to outdo each other to come up with bigger, hyper-expensive and more bloated garmen ministries which all come with their corresponding empire of civil servants. Hri, where will the money come from, hri boy?
DeleteThis reminds me of the children story of a lady who swallowed a fly by accident. In order to catch the fly she swallow a frog, and to catch the from she swallow..... until she was so full that her stomach exploded. PM may have recalled the story and find the solution simple to follow. One day, the system may just explode but he know that will not happen in his tenure.
ReplyDeleteClearly this PAP government has become too expensive and bloated.
ReplyDeleteAnd no longer able to solve problems anymore, much less serve Singaporeans.
It's time to vote in a new political party to sweep clean all the bloated waste.
Oh I see, we now need a catch-all body for all other cases that MSO does not handle.
ReplyDeleteAnother million dollar minister. Another job to reward his cronies. LOL.
By setting up an municipal office like that just to tackle a fish ball stick, are they not (in another words) telling us that all these years our PAP Govt has become so complacent that they even overlooked how to handle a litter problem effectively and efficiently ? In that case shouldn't LKY's son be sacked for such dereliction of duty since he demanded he is worth paid the salary that he expected ? But maybe it is his another strategic way of trying to fix the opposition by encouraging complaints at opposition wards, what do you think ?
ReplyDeleteJust recently someone recently wrote about 10 obscene 'facts' about PM's salary. Mind you, one can judge for oneself whether they are in fact facts just like the way whether we judge those 'hard truths' as 'half truths'?
Well if you are commanding that kind of obscene salary that you say you are well entitled to, why the hell do you still want us to believe you are really that down-to-earth queueing for chicken wings at a hawker stall ?
Do you have bipolar disorder like Ravi or what ?
instead of queueing for chicken wings to show he can connect with ordinary folks, Hsien Loong should bring his father along to help out those elderly folks working as cleaners at food courts/ hawker centres..
DeleteAiyoyo, don't be so hard on her lah. She sacrificed a lot you know, when she entered politics. Sob, sob.
ReplyDelete"When I made the decision to join politics in 2006, pay was not a key factor. Loss of privacy, public scrutiny on myself and my family and loss of personal time were. The disruption to my career was also an important consideration. I had some ground to believe that my family would not suffer a drastic change in the standard of living even though I experienced a drop in my income. So it is with this recent pay cut. If the balance is tilted further in the future, it will make it harder for any one considering political office."
.."Think of it as a high class call center girl, with a compensation package to drool for."
ReplyDeleteNow thats a job for singaporeans!!
"... I'm hoping to see if I can make it easier for them."
DeleteHoping only. If you call her, you hope maybe she can help. Otherwise call PM Lee. LOL.
Instead of calling the MSO;
ReplyDeleteJust vote Opposition.
- stop arguing with PAP that it is their job to help Singaporeans.
- let's help ourselves by voting Opposition
How did petty municipal issue make it to national agenda? Throughout the NDR, LHL was behaving like a insurance agent, property agent, financial planner, reporter and fortune-teller. Despite being weak in all aspects, he still wouldn't do the job he is being paid for.
ReplyDeleteGracefu must be looking at her boss thinking, "Wahlao eh, compare the work he done and the pay he gets, I am underpaid liao. Still want me to bao swah bao hai? Go fly kite lah!"
If you really think about it.
ReplyDeleteThe job scope of the MSO is same as the job scope of the PMO (Prime Minister's Office).
- everything also bao-kar-liao.
No wonder Grace Fu thinks she is underpaid.
/// There was the "Zip-in-Process (ZIP) initiative in 2000 ///
ReplyDeleteThe correct name for this is, seriously, "Zero-in-process". And it turned out to be an apt name - nothing in process.........
The bottom line is "The buck should stop at PM's desk. Full stop." At the moment there are so may Ministries(with paid Ministers)under the PM's Office. All "Jie-liao-be". PM should stand up and take responsibility and accountability - anything amiss must be answerable!
ReplyDeleteIs this delegation or dereliction?
DeleteWith capable ministers like Dr Goh, Lim KS, Toh CC, EW Barker, etc, there was never a need for LKY to create a PMO staffed with a bunch of ministers-without-portfolio doing fark-all but paid millions. In that era, if a person such as Grace Fu was suggested as having minister material, she would have been treated as a bad joke by the old guards. Lim Swee Say, Lim Boon Heng, Lim HK, etc, etc. are just as bad or worse. HolyShit !
DeleteMSO, I see a fishball stick on a balloon. It's on the grass.
ReplyDeleteMSO: Call Parks.
It's on the road.
MSO: Call LTA.
It's in the drain.
MSO: Call NEA.
It's in the void deck.
MSO: Call Town Council. Call HDB.
It hit a foreign worker.
MSO: Call riot police.
It's flying across the causeway.
MSO: Call ICA.
It's flying back to Singapore.
MSO: Call air force. Call everybody.
I was hiking in the Canadian Rockies a number of years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt was a very remote mountain trail.
Myself and my friend ... both Singaporeans.
And a Canadian (just a stranger but we were making conversation) walking in front of us.
We came upon a lookout point.
There was a discarded Coke can on the ground.
Without hesitation, the Canadian picked it up and put the can into his pocket.
This is what happens when you feel you are a citizen.
And the country belongs to you.
50 years of PAP rule.
And all of us are aliens in our own country.
Singapore only belongs to PAP citizens.
Not Singaporeans.
Canadians have good welfare. Just to mention two.
Delete1. Child benefits in cash for 20 years. Automatic. No need to apply for milk powder money, and only available in a certain part of Singapore.
2. State pension in monthly cash. Automatic. No need to be dirt poor, no HDB apt, no family, then apply for a Silver top up to CPF.
Of course the Canadians feel like they own their country.
And we do not have enough talents that can be selected for Ministerial jobs to help him govern this red dot.
ReplyDeleteHaven't they heard of KISS?
ReplyDeleteMaybe they only know the last S - being stupid :p