Commuters Are Not Entertained

When you have civil servants paid from $300,000 onwards, it's inevitable they miss the disconnect. Instead of looking for ways and means to cut costs and reduce public transportation charges, they are forever cooking up ideas to splurge to the hilt. Any financial relief is welcome now, in the wake of the Medishield Life premium hikes.

Do we really need entertainment videos at train stations when the jam packed coaches afford only views of the smelly armpit of another unhappy commuter, 1 of 3 which is likely to be non-Singaporean? They had a failed attempt once installing mobile video on buses, at an undisclosed cost which was probably passed on to the passengers. When that system was canned, and video service terminated, no fare reduction materialised.

The "heritage videos" they are planning to showcase at station platforms won't be coming in cheap. Keep the propaganda videos and offer fare rebates instead. Commuters would rather have a shorter wait for a ride than hanging around the station for the 5 or 10 minute "content which is meaningful, informational and entertaining."

"Expect more entertainment to make time pass a little faster" seems to be a coded message implying longer waiting time for a train is inevitable, despite all the broken promises to speed up the train service. The congestion at the station during peak hours is barely sustainable as it is, do we need to add buskers to the crowd? Train stations are key to a quick clearing system, so that tired workers can go home promptly to their family and recover from the grind at the office or factory place. As it is, most leave their house before the sun rises, and return only after the sun has set. The only people who would hang around a train station are those looking at it as a novelty, not an essential transportation hub that need to be processed efficiently and speedily.

Medishield Life Bites Hard

At its core, universal health coverage (UHC) is about giving the individual and his family access to health care and preventing them from facing financial ruin that can come from unexpected illness and disability. At least that was what Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck, widely credited as the intellectual father of today's UHC programmes, had in mind when he introduced national compulsory coverage for workers. Profit was never the motive.

Last year, Medishield premiums were quietly increased without much fanfare. Han Fook Kwang himself woke up to discover that his MediShield premium had jumped to $1,589, double what was deducted ($800) from his Medisave account previously. Before you could even contemplate bailing out of the scam, they introduced the compulsory Medishield Life to skim you off for perpetuity.

For a while now, the spiel was about additional benefits, never about whether we need them or are prepared to pay for the extras. They can hide the numbers only for so long. Now the secret is out.

As expected, leopards never change their spots. Medisave, one component of the Central Provident Fund (CPF), is also supposed to be our money, but that never stopped the grubby greedy hands from  helping themselves to the loot. Discounting the placebo of the subsidies, valid only for a temporal grace period, the numbers are higher than present (already inflated) Medishield premiums. The only important table is the set of before and after numbers.

Other than per capita household income, the determining factor for entitlement to a "discount" is the Annual Value (AV) of one's home. The retiree living in his old house with no source of income will still have to pay full rate. Ditto the sickly and handicapped, those in dire need of affordable medicare, will just have to downgrade to the void deck to qualify for a miserly handout.

The key to the grand scheme of things is the MediShield Life Review Committee (MLRC)'s suggestion  to work with private insurers to review the "landscape and features" of Integrated Shield Plans (IPs). You bet these private insurers, working in cahoots with the compliant Government appointees, will be laughing all the way to the bank. And you thought it was all about providing affordable health care. Bobby Chin, the Chairman of the MediShield Life Review Committee has even suggested that those who default on their premiums for MediShield Life should be penalised: "If you don't pay, the government will look into certain enforcement."

Speaking from the safety of several thousand miles away, the prime minister said, "You will have to pay somewhat more premiums but the premiums are affordable." Probably as affordable as those 35 year mortgages for a leasehold public housing unit.

Working Hard For His Money

Settling for second best

The first reports claimed that Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met United States President Barack Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden and National Security Advisor Susan Rice on Wednesday (June 25) in Washington, DC. Later, the statement from the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary said Mr Obama only dropped by Lee's meeting with Ms Rice. The guy in the photo op is definitely not the president of the most powerful democracy on planet earth. No Obama.

Lee met with Joe Biden instead, to reaffirm Singapore-US bilateral ties and exchange views on further enhancing relations, yada yada yada, and Joe promised to visit in November. No Obama.

On Wednesday, Lee was also hosted to tea by US Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), which was attended by US Senators Robert Corker, Marco Rubio and Benjamin Cardin, who is Chairman of the SFRC Sub-Committee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. No Obama.

Shucks, that's like visiting Paris and not get to climb the Eiffel Tower.

But Obama's a pretty busy guy right now. With Sunni militants capturing two border crossings, one along the frontier with Jordan and the other with Syria, and fighters with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) advancing on the Haditha Dam, it's all hands on deck. The 300 advisers he's sending to Iraq better not end up like the 300 Spartans. If you saw the movie, you'll know they were wiped out by the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae. US secretary of state John Kerry has been asked by President Barack Obama to travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday to confer with King Abdullah on the best ways to counter the ISIL advance.

This may be his last term of office, but he's sure putting the pedal to the metal as if it were the first. Whatever Obama is paid, this guy sure works hard for his money.

The Outing Of Dr W

Horror scene from The Stoning of Soraya M

And you thought these things don't happen in the clean city of Singapore.

Wijeysingha narrates, for the first time, of how he was abused by a Catholic priest. When he was 15, we are told, "I came into unfortunate contact with a priest who would engage me in play wrestling and attempt to touch my crotch in the process. He once brought me into his bedroom and took a stack of pornographic magazines from his wardrobe to show me."

"I haven't till now disclosed this sorry incident publicly. It never seemed momentous and, so far, as I'm aware, it didn't damage me. But Archbishop William Goh's pronouncements this weekend prompted me to."  The Archbishop had pronounced earlier that the church does not condone relationships which "are not in accordance to the plan of God".

It was the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of sexual abuse cases involving Catholic priests that first drew the attention of the United States, and then ultimately the world, to the abuse of God's plan. Victims soon came forward with their own horrific tales of abuse, resulting in lawsuits and criminal cases. ("Scores of priests involved in sex abuse cases", Walter V. Robinson et al, January 31, 2002)

In February 2011, two German lawyers initiated charges against Pope Benedict XVI at the International Criminal Court. As one of the reasons for the charges they referred also to the "strong suspicion" that Joseph Ratzinger, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, covered up the sexual abuse of children and youths and protected the perpetrators.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, in early 2014, issued a report and minced no words:

"The committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by, and the impunity of, the perpetrators."

Religion is one of the taboo subjects in our multi-racial society, so it is unlikely the Attorney General's Chambers will want to wade into these waters. After all, who without sin has the cheek to hurl the first stone?

Spot The Difference

The linguistically challenged minister cried foul when Channel Newsasia quoted him saying:
“The best way for Singaporeans to prepare for retirement is to use less of their Central Provident Fund (CPF) money when they are young.”

It sounds so perfectly logical until Lim Swee Say insisted he was misquoted, and provided his original intended text:
"... the less you make use of your money when you are young, the more money you will have for retirement."

For the less devious, this may look like a version of the old kids' game of trying to spot the differences in two seemingly identical representations. Lim highlighted his unique mindset when he expanded:
"It is clear in this context that ‘young’ refers to those who are aged 55."

Maybe the minister feels rejuvenated each time he sees his CPF statement, but only a nonagenarian will consider age 55 as "young". Or the Brad Pitt character in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

But there must be method in his madness. Lim, like the rest of his crowd, seems determined that senior citizens should not be allowed to withdraw their retirement savings at the original promised age of 55 years. Even if Toh Chin Chye had deemed that a breach of contract, and an abuse of the trust placed in a government. Lim also conveniently ignores how many a retirement nest egg has been eroded by the ravages of overpriced public housing, inflated health care costs and ever escalating education charges.