Friday, August 21, 2015

A Story Of Singapore

The story of Tanjong Pagar is the story of Singapore, so sang Chan Chun Sing. But when one reporter asked who will be taking over the horrible person's Tanjong Pagar division, the ex-major general said that will be decided after the election. The reticence is understandable, given that this is the season of the roaming hungry ghost, no one is prepared to walk in any dead man's shoes. Meanwhile, invoking his name in every political spiel seems to be the order of the day.

It is ironic that Tharman Shanmugaratnam should ask us not to judge politicians on their soundbites or soaring rhetoric, but on their "mundane, unexciting" contributions on the ground. He, who offered up the trampoline instead of a safety net for those who are falling through the cracks, knows too well the right word will immortalise or bury the speaker. Nobody wants this engraved on his or her tombstone:
"(For example,) you go to Peach Garden, you eat the S$10 XO Sauce chye tow kuay (fried carrot cake), you can be quite happy right? Because you are satisfied with the service and so on. On the other hand, you can go to a hawker centre, even if they charge you S$1.50, you might not want to eat it if the quality is not good."

We worry not about this type of entertaining contribution, but the "mundane, unexciting" policy making that is hell bent on ramming up the population target to 6.9 million and beyond. The taciturn Liu Thai Ker is even more tenacious, "Forget seven million. Think ten million people, if you want this city-state to succeed."

Like the parable of the frog in the simmering kettle whose survival instincts are geared only towards detecting sudden changes, Singaporeans only woke up when foreigners have snapped up their houses, jobs, and seats on the public transportation system. A few years back, when Mah Bow Tan was still minister, a well connected civil servant expressed surprise that Mah unwittingly exposed the (then) 5 million population target. It was their closely guarded secret. Yesterday Lim Swee Say revealed another well kept secret: two-thirds Singaporean core a firm target.

One who was intimately involved in quietly turning up the heat is Sim Ann, who worked in the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD)  under the Home Affairs minister. You won't find her name in the unsigned Population White Paper (PWP). Given the mike at a dialogue organised by the National University of Singapore Society, she shredded her unexciting persona to take a vicious bite, casting aspersions about money lost in accounting lapses ("But in the case of AHPETC, I’m not too sure,”):
“I wish that more answers had been forthcoming from AHPETC. Then I think we would have wasted much less time on the issue and I think the population would be much the wiser.”

For folks who profess preference for "mundane, unexciting" undertakings, that has to be stirring up an hornets' nest. The population is much the wiser, and the incumbents face a Herculean task in attempting to stuff the rot back into Pandora's box.

46 comments:

  1. Two third my ass.

    Been doing this little test every time I take the train for the last few months. At any given time, never fail to notice there would at least be 4 or 5 of out 7 seats are non Singaporeans. How do I know? You know from their spoken language, reading material or way of dressing/looks. Anyone can do this simple test. Just look around how many international schools moving into huge premises etc and you will know. We don't need the 2/3 thrashold to know they are lying. Even at work place, the trend has reversed the other way round for a long time now. And they are playing fast and loose with "residents" count that just include Singaporeans and PRs.

    Lim Swee Say the deaf frog is cooked and ready for frog leg stir fry. Voters should retire him so he can stop shamelessly plugging for a restaurant and have time to go tooth picking permanently.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. // Been doing this little test every time I take the train for the last few months. At any given time, never fail to notice there would at least be 4 or 5 of out 7 seats are non Singaporeans. How do I know? You know from their spoken language, reading material or way of dressing/looks. Anyone can do this simple test.//


      Mb foreign talents more frugal mostly if not all take public transport.

      Sinkies phua kay like to take taxis, driver big cars, or take Uber cabs.

      Looks like the spurs have not taken sufficient effect and much more spurs are needed and needled into sinkies till like porcupines then sinkies will wake up the lazy idea and be more hard driving and work up to 21 hours per day like one agongkia to make an honest and decent living.

      Delete
    2. Some IBs paid by paper general to fight war in every corners found their way here to spread more fabrications. They are not confident enough to do their mundane and unexciting works for the people and let voters do the thinking. Tatler, feel like to wipe parasites off the earth.

      Delete
  2. The best candidate in Tg Pgr GRC after old man exited the scene, holistically, could be SMOS Indranee Rajah. It was no surprise old man trusted and entrusted her a lot when he was still around. It will not be any surprise if she is being made a full minister after the next GE or in the coming years ...... She is the better ones among the incumbents. Old man won't have someone so close to him and helping him in his later years if she is not of good standing and super-woman calibre.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How can lackey like Indranee Rajah not be better when ? Since when lackey that is the mirror of old fart is not good ? Are you greenhorn ? Did you even check what of illogical nonsense Indranee Rajah has given in the past ?

      Delete
  3. // The taciturn Liu Thai Ker is even more tenacious, "Forget seven million. Think ten million people, if you want this city-state to succeed." //


    When office holders need at least $5 million per year ( salary and bonuses etc included) to do a job, it is no surprise they can't do more with less. Productivity has to go off the cliff. A mature economy like Sinkieland needing more low end and cheaper labour to drive economic growth cannot be a more flawed economic undertaking which has a huge price to pay down the road. It is unbelievable so called world super talents embarked on such economics long term suicidal route and still shamelessly demanding out of this world remuneration and strutting around like peacocks when they are despised, hated and disrespected by many in the midst.

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    1. PAP under LHL could absorb hard truths by LKY but is unable to inscribe his own reality. That is the tragedy of this man, his son. Will always be in his shadow. Just like a an exam smart A-scoring student. Is no wonder even a tiger mum from USA wants to come here and make money off the 1 billion tuition market.

      Our education system, Huat ah!!!!

      Delete
    2. This cha bor u mentioned is already 52 YOs but still look relatively younger than her age. Looks, gift of the gab ( not gaping ....... pls, ha ha ) and taking advantage of the sinkies kiasu, kiasi mentalities would likely spell ROARING biz ( kaching, kaching, kaching $$$$$ ) for this TIGER mum ....... Even a Yale Law professor, world famed Tiger Mum and mother to two Harvard educated daughters eyes sinkieland's fat, juicy cash cows ( aka buffaloes in the wild ) with the eyes, focus and stare of a predatory Tigress.

      Delete
    3. Forget seven million, think 10 million.

      When you have politicians or architect with such conviction in this time and day, it really send shivers down my spine. Is like déjà vu all again. What do these people think they are? Playing God?

      When A young Greenhorn like LKY tell a nation <2m to Stop at Two, and punished those who had 3 or more, it set back an entire generation of growth, not to mention new births! He then had the gall to insult her people and attempt at eugenics, preferring onky smart educated women and their smarter kids. All that resulted in a massive screw up and drop in TFR which he got away from! And now, his party is once against attempting another massive round of social engineering by playing hard and fast with populations demographics with a know-it-all attitude that it is for our own good and survival! The excuse that we didn't have enough resources is no longer a problem. So who is asking them where is the resources to feed, clothes, house the 7-10m to come from? Why should the populace buy into another of their bunkum with "another wrong move and we will squandered our chance doomsday scenario? "

      Enough is enough, and I think the people have every rights to demand for organic growth and respect the cycle of life that has its own rymthe and up/down. We never know what future technology will is capable of. So what is their real reason for the rush at all cost, on matter that concerns death and birth? The PWP must be shot down and we need 2/3 of non PAP in parliament before they run nazi on us again. I am guessing the other 1/3 are the aristocrats foreigners who can lord over us which is not spoken or mentioned.

      Delete
  4. Choosing any Incumbent Rulers

    is

    like frog choosing to swim
    in slow boiling water feeling
    'SHIOK'(enjoying so to say).
    Then heads for heaven.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Any proof?

      Delete
    2. I, too, was observing Lady Sim Ann at the NUSS dialogues couple of days ago.

      She said that since 2009, while she was with the NPTB, the Govt has been slowing the intake of
      foreigners. Was this really true?

      I thought the opposite is the truth. The Govt has accelerated the increase of foreigners since 2009 with the consequential increase in property prices and congestion in public transport.

      Delete
    3. Pls lah, main driver of property prices since 2009 was the near zero interest rate. How much demand can the low level workers create for the private property market? If what Lady Sim Ann said is not true, why the private residential rental market is so weak and so many vacant units ....?

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    4. Bullshit low interest rate is cause of housing bubble. If you were around in 1996 the interest rates were far higher than now, still they had a bubble. The slow down is because the MAS got cold feet with the housing bubble collapsing and imposed 7 rounds of "cooling measures"? Minister cow himself admitted the measures were working and won;t go away, at least until after election. Then they open floodgate again to hit 10m.

      Delete
    5. Exactly! Near zero interest rate often spawns liquidity trap. Consequently, the use of money supply as a monetary tool loses part of its efficacy. Housing prices rose partly due to an "inverted J curve" phenomenon reacting to initial policies. Beyond the tipping point, prices have to fall with each passing quarter when the market does not reflect economics fundamental. The "inverted-J" curve has a long and steep down slope. At some point in time, policy tools would attempt to invert it back to a normal "J", whether via one round or ten rounds. This process sometimes is called macroeconomics stabilization. No prize guessing which smart people make plenty of $$$ and not easy to predict which group of (daft and kong cum ) sinkies would be impoverished by the "man-made, artificial market biz cycle" ....... lol :)))))

      Welcome to the real, high tech, rapid change, high speed world!

      Time and tide waits for no man ( and daft, kong cum sinkies ).

      Delete
    6. yup, ah kong gave themselves chance to punt and gamble with official backstop called the population white paper. Then when even the sell-side analysts are calling bubble, they realized they created a monster bubble so the cheese is taken away overnite, replaced by heavy stamp duties etc. Low interest is still there, bubble turned into whimper, and soon into rout. But don't worry the brokers are still serving kool aid to the long queues at choiced locations at Yishun and Sengkang!!

      Delete
  5. // The taciturn Liu Thai Ker is even more tenacious, "Forget seven million. Think ten million people, if you want this city-state to succeed." //

    The scholar meritocrats are sold on the idea that if people live, work and play at Jurong, they are not going to travel to Changi, and so 10 million people can be packed into this city-state. If the trains are crowded, it is the fault of the people that they travel all at once.

    If you pause and think, how many times had a certain minister who could not balance the budget for a youth sporting event, reminded the population at 5+ million that they have to save water? Go ahead to import up to 10 million. These "wise" guys may not be around to answer for their failure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. // These "wise" guys may not be around to answer for their failure. //

      Do we have a choice?

      Election is about choosing a lesser evil.

      When u have nudist, fetish people and jokers as alternatives, better stick with the known evil lor .....

      Train more crowded, so be it.

      10 m so be it.

      Better than ruled under fetish nudist and jokers... Will our daughters and wife be safe?

      Delete
    2. By your daft definition @1143, we should keep Michael Palmer as speaker of house so our wives and daughters are also safe lah. Why not set phey yew kok a free man too?!

      Delete
  6. If you believe people who have confiscated a million dollars of your CPF, you are really asking for it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CPF helps to pay for the monthly pigeon hole installments and any hospitalization bills including health care insurance such as medishield. Medisave also can pay for many other medical services and medication in polyclinics, GPs, specialist clinics, etc.

      Best housing and healthcare services in the world.

      Can alternatives do better?

      Delete
    2. Alternative:

      CPF was supposed to be retirement money, a.k.a. pension fund in other countries.
      Your take home pay should be divided into
      food,
      house mortgage or rent,
      transportation,
      contingencies like medical expenses
      entertainment activities like phone, tv, internet, holidays etc

      When you dip into CPF to pay for accomodation or medical needs, you are depleting your retirement nest egg. Commit to a 35 year loan for your flat, and you are staring at an empty bank account at age 55. You may not even have enough for the minimum sum. And if you miss your Medishield Life premium, it's straight to jail.

      Delete
    3. Oh boy... if our social system, managed by millionaire minister talent were that good, that SAM-SUI lady featured in one of the NDP would not have to jump off a building in her twilight years.

      Delete
    4. If I recall, even the PM's own Samsui nanny prefer to go back to China and retire. She didn't buy all that swanky shiny hardware buildings, because she knows old coot and his team is not able to know what heartware is about. Why do you think all that talks about kampong spirits sprouted by Sitoh in PP is stolen from?? Those PP people didn't buy their abalone porridge until last GE.

      Delete
  7. Hehe....!

    One frog is here seeking
    companions or mate.

    Some love frog porridge
    and some love fried frog legs.

    But, please do not eat too
    much frogs. You are likely to
    drive up the price. It is expensive
    stuff hor.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @ Anonymous 8/21/2015 12:18 PM
    "Hehe....! ....... Some love frog porridge....."

    Abalone porridge proven to win more votes, at least in PP in 2011.

    Dun be silly.

    Abalone helps the leg become stronger so the oldies can never catch the strong legged frogs.

    Hee hee.

    Btw, not interested in any old rubberish skin texture mates .....

    Young " spring chickens" maybe can consider and need apply .....

    HeHe ....

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh! When The Pigs Get Voted Out
    - sung to the tune of When Johnny Comes Marching Home
    ------------------------------------------------------------------

    Oh when the pigs get voted out
    Hurrah! Hurrah!
    The Sinkies will all come home
    Hurrah! Hurrah!
    We'll give them a hearty welcome then
    The men will cheer and the boys will shout
    The ladies they will all turn out
    And we'll all feel gay

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tattler, your blog got so many IB busy spreading the "hard truth" to con "daft" Singaporeans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Halo, "con" 很难听leh.....

      Helping to educate sinkies about the pitfalls of possible rogue alternatives lah .....

      一失足成千古恨,5 years of repenting too late liao....

      Old man is right ......

      Aljunied residents have learnt it the hard way ..... They have been given 4 yrs + to ruminate and reflect on their follies.....

      In a contest of the ugly, a known lesser evil on hand is worth at least twice the unknown angels in the bushes .....

      Delete
    2. And its the high-calibre IBs as well... Lol. You can tell when they try to communicate in both Chinese and English on the same post, and then claim natural aristocracy over the common folks. 傻B.

      Delete
    3. In a contest of the ugly, a known lesser evil on hand is worth at least twice the unknown angels in the bushes//

      Yo conman, why don't you take that sentence back to your master, start with Ms Sim Ann and remind her to apply it on the 7m immigrants they are eyeing?!

      Delete
  11. It's the ghost month. However, there is one spirit that is free to roam any other month and for a few millennium and that's the business spirit.

    No one has beaten the business spirit out to devour your soul.

    Oppositions are naive, delusional or simply conniving when they offer you a better way out.

    You need to visit the red light district to understand why the oldest profession is still thriving and men in white enjoys conducting services to entertain these nice people every Sunday.

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  12. Evil people resides in the least suspicious places.

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  13. The key is not the word "hard", The key is every company is free to determine what is "core". The "core" for most companies hiring all foreign workers is simple: the 2 local directors are core, the pinoy, Indian bangla and PRC workers cannot be "core" right? So their core is 100% Singaporean core lor! 1+2=3 ok!

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  14. And soon, people will also get used to seeing 2/3 of soldiers in crowd control whenever trains breakdown to help farking private transport company!!

    You can't say this is not a good chance for martial law practising. Definitely a new meaning to BMT - basic mrt training on site. KNN somebody please unvote the paper generals. I shudder to think what other great ideas they can come up with. What's next? Hello kitty queue marshals?!!!!!?@?@&#%#^

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  15. If a $1.50 carrot cake from hawker center is not good enough is because they couldn't afford to buy an expensive food ingredients like XO sauce and still pay high rent and charge low prices! What's the point for all that hard labor work to keep our heritage alive when somebody can just create a whole new middle tier layer of so called hawkers run by mercenary NTUC or private entities who give bland food cooked by foreign workers but only elevated and patronized because they have better ambience and air conditioner? Why don't smart policy makers decide to upgrade and improve the ventilation and environment of the real hawkers who are the true heritage keepers instead of letting private enterprises erode the space, and end up pushing them to the bottom chain??

    ReplyDelete
  16. If PAP had already targeted for a 5 million population by 2010s, how come they never tell us in their election manifesto a few GEs back then ?

    So were our PAP leaders being completely dishonest with us then in contrast to the complete honesty they still want to bluff us now ?

    ReplyDelete
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    1. “I wish that more answers had been forthcoming from PAP. Then I think we would have wasted much less time on the issue and I think the population would be much the happier." Just ask Sim Ann why she and her team didn't come upfront with the planning parameters ? If Mah said it was 5m, and then we are told After GE2011 is 6.9m , and yet we are already at 5.4m, can you still trust them on the numbers of two third core? Two third by when ? 2050 when they can convert enough into New citizens?

      Delete
    2. Pappies talking cock about caring for the Senior Citizens as they are asking for time and patience for everything from remedies to past mistakes which should not had happened had they been careful and caring.
      They are also saykng everything for long term to materialize.
      BY THEN ALL THE CURRENT SENIOR CITIZENS WOULD HAVE BECOME ASHES AND DUST.

      CANT BEAR TO LISTEN TK THEM ANYMORE.

      patriot

      Delete
  17. My apology for the Many
    Typo mistakes.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
  18. Is anything but mundane and unexciting when it comes to giving out goodies as it's the favorite part of every politicians. These days, not only do they string guitars, song and dance and give our food buffet while announcing new candidate, the Getai has officially started.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You forgot to add that they also give out pay increments nowadays ( abt 9% pay rise for more than 30,000 teaching staff ).

      For most people, before they close their eyes for the final time, they would want to see their close family members.

      For sinkies, going by the rate the pork prices keep going up by the barrels and supposingly at least 56 years to put together the accounts ( when asked by ex-President OTC previously ), their last wish to see their whole life time hard earned CPF monies and at least give it a good bye kiss and hug likely would remain Unfulfilled when they close their eyes for the one last time. 死不瞑目!

      Delete
  19. And pork prices have increased by the barrel. Just need to open your eyes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha ha,

      What else would the PAPigs offer other than pork by the barrels?

      No need open eyes big big. Closed both eyes also can smell thousands of miles away ..... typical piggy modus operandi as old as (P)rostitutes (A)ncient (P)rofession.

      Delete
  20. I love to see busybodies and know it alls try to population engineer because their grand schemes all ultimately fail. First they command two is enough, then they decree that only tertiary educated can have more kids, (by the way, now higher education is not important) then they try to engineer the correct number of professions via university admissions focusing on electrical engineering and missing the internet. Now, smartypants Goldilocks of the PAP thinks 10mm is just right or 2/3 core is perfect. Somehow, other Asian tigers who have done better got to where they are without these almost godlike moves. After repeatedly getting it wrong, they persist to tell us what to do - the breath and scope of their arrogance is phenomenal. Who is to say the by the time we reach 10million, most of the MNC jobs have shifted elsewhere via telecommuting or A.I.? Or worse, what if there is a recession and we discover we have too much immigrant labor capacity who are unwilling to return to their home countries triggering massive unemployment The social disruption will be huge. Of course, by then the common man will have to pick up the pieces as usual, because the scoundrels will have long packed up their money bags and gone. Sayonara, I got my big bonus from GIC/Temasek/whatever ministerial job already and thank you for all the fish. Good luck, you selfish, short sighted, vote yourself to extinction Sinkies :-)

    ReplyDelete
  21. The story of singapore can be summed up as below.
    ============================================

    1. “Singaporeans first policy would not benefit the economy in the long term.”

    2.“It’s not the government’s duty to love Singaporeans.”

    3.“Contrary to public perception, the White Horse classification is not to ensure that sons of influential men get preferential treatment. Instead it is to ensure that they do not get preferential treatment.”

    4.“Retrenchment is good for Singapore. If there is no retrenchment, then I worry.”

    5.“NSman’s service to Singapore cannot be measured in dollars and cents.”

    6.“Well, everybody has a car, we have two — my wife drives one, I drive one. We are both professionals, we need to travel.”

    7. “If you’re lazy and work less, you’ll have less Medisave.”

    8.“Save on one hairdo and use the money for breast screening.”

    9.“If the annual salary of the Minister of Information, Communications and the Arts is only $500,000, it may pose some problems when he discusses policies with media CEOs who earn millions of dollars because they need not listen to the minister’s ideas and proposals.”

    10.“Some cardboard collectors treat it (collection of cardboards) as a form of exercise and activity rather than being cooped up at home.”

    11.“How much do you want? Do you want 3 meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?”

    12.“It’s not for the money (multiple directorships) because some of the companies pay me as little as $10,000 a year.”

    13.“People use democracy as a free-floating abstraction disconnected from reality. Democracy in and of itself is not necessarily good. Gang rape, after all, is democracy in action.”

    14.“It would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin.”

    15.“CPF is not your money.”

    16.“If chicken is expensive, eat fish.”

    ReplyDelete