TR EMERITUS

I take issue with Mrs Lily Chan-Wong Jee Choo, Deputy Director (Policy and Property), HDB's reply in the ST article "Singles do get benefits" on 23 Dec 2009. Mrs Chan had made the following statements: 1. "Permanent residents (PRs) do not enjoy any housing subsidy and can buy only from the resale market." 2. "Singles are not allowed to buy new flats as the subsidy included in the selling price is for a family of at least two." I would like to point out the falsity of statement: 1. A Singapore citizen (SC) and PR family nucleus can buy a flat directly from HDB and hence PRs do enjoy housing subsidies. A SC-PR nucleus enjoys the same level of subsidy as a SC-SC nucleus when buying flats directly from HDB. 2. Mrs Chan stated that Single SCs are not allowed to buy new flats as the subsidy is for "a family of at least two". Yet, it is a fact that SC-PR nuclei can enjoy subsidies when buying new flats. Is Mrs Chan implying that the PR counterpart in the SC-PR nucleus is more deserving than a Single SC and hence entitled to the subsidy? Is HDB insinuating that a Single SC is less deserving than the PR counterpart to have a stake in public housing? In the resale market, Half Housing Grants are applied to enable only eligible members of the family nucleus to enjoy housing subsidies. Why was the Half Housing Grant concept not adopted in the sale of new flats to SC-PR families to ensure equity? It is a shame that the person involved in HDB policies is ignorant of the fact that PRs do enjoy housing subsidies and makes such factually inaccurate statements in the press. It would be a tall order to expect HDB to formulate equitable policies when HDB staff involved in policy work are not even familiar with their own HDB policies, much less appreciate the detrimental effects of such ill-thought policies which are felt so starkly by the layperson. Considering that HDB had displayed such poor fundamental knowledge of their own policies, I would not be surprised that the queries in my letter go unanswered. Benson Tan  Read More →

By Tony Pang With a heavy heart, I can relate to the statements made by Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Taking his statements in context (minus all the emotions), I have to agree that there are some levels of truths. "Over time, Singaporeans have become less hard-driving and hard-striving." Hypothetically speaking - If we were to take an average current Singaporean and compare them side by side with someone of our founding forefathers' generation - we do see a distinctive difference. Logically speaking, people of our generation blessed with a significant higher level of living and education and thus should have being better prepared to drive for success - challenging the ideas of the present, forging a road to a better future. Sadly, the truth is far from it. Unlike over forefathers somewhere through the past 40+ years, we started to fear change - we lost the drive and courage to challenge ideas, to chart ourselves to unknown waters - failure in all matters (education, business, career, family) became a social taboo - as a Society, we lost out tolerance for failure. Instead we were reduced to a tamed and conservative bunch - unlike our forefathers, we no longer dared to do things differently - choosing to be the sheep and follow the crowd in all matters of life - any deviations are generally frowned upon and socially strongly discouraged. Note - things like public housing, education and jobs are NOT entitlements. Being a native bred Singaporean, does NOT warrant that you are guaranteed to be able to afford public housing, get the education place of YOUR choice, a choice for the job that YOU want and get the benefits that YOU demand. You have to earn your right to afford housing, study SMART and HARD to get the education places of your choice, FIGHT with the GLOBAL talents to get the job of YOUR dreams. As Singapore progress, things will only get harder as the playing fields get MORE competitive - its becoming more competitive because we ARE moving up the ladder and that in its very essence, attracts competition. Singapore is not alone in this - ALL global metropolis are facing the same situation (i.e. Hong Kong, London, NYC, etc..). In fact a friend of mine working in New York City once joked that, if you throw a stone onto the streets of Manhattan, you will actually have a higher probability chance, hitting a foreigner than a fellow American. Think about it - do you want to compete the entire world and its people in your OWN backyard? Or do you want to compete the entire world and its people in SOMEONE Else's backyard - we are officially playing with the BIG boys now. Its high time for us to grow up and wise up. Somewhere in the past 40 years - something change - maybe its the "successful" PAP "population domestication" policies - maybe we have been getting such an easy life that we have started taking things for granted - etc. I have covered this cause of Singaporeans' downfall in a previous blog entry - you can reference them over here http://tony-gonewiththewind.blogspot.com/2009/12/singapores-dilemma-foreign-talents-my.html There could be a million "maybe"s; but the truth is still the same - the current "us" is a definite shadow of our former selves. *note - this was based on my personal experiences, as a Singaporean growing up in Singapore. I acknowledged that there are exceptions to the above generalizations - but the truth is - these exceptions belong to the minority and not the general masses* Having recently travelled to both our Asian giants - India and China; I was awestruck not by their size, nor by their recent modernization developments - but by the local's desperate hunger for success (especially for the Mainland Chinese), even to the extent of chucking their morals aside. Its evidently clear, that these people thirst for success borders on the margins of insanity - something which our founding fathers had and used, with great effect to build Singapore to what it is today - a success story - a so-called "Pearl of the Orient" Given the current rate, it is no longer a question of "will" India and China become global major economic powerhouses and give the Western nations a run for their money; but a matter of "WHEN" Problem is - Are we ready to accommodate the shift for these 2 giants? Are we able to strategically reposition our littoral state and continue to challenge and reap the benefits from all sides? Mr Lee Kuan Yew was correct in this aspect. We are NOT ready - nor are we even near. But that's NOT the killer blow - its the fact that we continue to be IGNORANT to these global phenomenon, still holding on to the false beliefs that Singapore is STILL better than most part of Asia and is a niche above the rest (pretty much like Hong Kongers before the 1997 Asia Financial Crisis). Singaporeans in general, are still living like sheltered frogs within a well - blinded to the changing forces out in the cold, harsh world. We cannot afford to loft around and be reactive - we as a community, has to buckle up, pre-empt and embrace this global economical tidal wave - channelling its power into our advantage, as our forefathers have done decades back. Mr Lee Kuan Yew has meant well when he made that statement - the problem lies in his communication skills which is surprisingly lacking for a politician of his calibre. One would have expected someone as experienced as him, to be more "diplomatic" when making such points on the global stage (reminds me a lot of Malaysia's Mahathir - then again, they are pretty much "birds of the same flock"). A point to note - though the points and efforts by Mr Lee Kuan Yew are grandiose - they strongly depict the attitude of Mr Lee Kuan Yew (which by de facto, translates to the political stand of the People's Action Party), as someone tremendously out of touch with the concerns of the common men in Singapore. The actions undertaken by the PAP-dominated Singapore Government, though beneficial to the nation - are tremendously strenuous for the local average Singaporeans. Its akin to teaching children how to swim by throwing them, head first into the pool's deepest end - with NO floats. For those who managed to learn and swam, they will survive and emerge stronger - for those that could not learn in time - they will literally drown and its shocking that the Government is willing to stand by and let all this happen. From a leadership standpoint, this is acceptable and even possible to eulogize upon; for it signifies one's willingness and determination to undertake tough decisions for the better good of the nation and ultimately its people - Singaporeans. But the PAP-dominated Singapore Government, in all its "wisdom" (compounded by its hordes of "scholars"); seemed to ahve forgotten a critical foundation block of Governance - the SOCIAL WELL-BEING of its Citizens. In its desperate strive to elevate the survivability of Singapore's economical health - the Government has chosen to worsen the social health of its citizens (i.e. unrealistic population growth, through artificial lax pro-foreigner immigration policies, inadequate housing, transport, education and heath infrastructures to deal with the resulting population, an unrealistic Government-induced inflation that which defies the current global economic health and its totally unsustainable in the long run, etc...) In brief, Singaporeans were treated like trash and shoved around in our very own backyard. In the very same way, where 40+ years of peace and prosperity, have made general Singaporeans less hard-driving and hard-striving - ignorant to the World. 40+ years of unchallenged political rule have rendered the PAP-dominated Singapore Government proud, arrogant and ignorant to the feelings of the common Singaporean - a significant disparity is ever growing between Singapore's PAP leaders and the average Singaporeans. Its correct to state that Singapore needs to urgently handle the global economic power shifts and prepare this tiny nation for the next few decades - but like ALL problems in the world - it can be SOLVED with more than just ONE way. Rather than pushing ALL the blame squarely on Singaporeans' shoulders - a RESPONSIBLE, EFFECTIVE and HUMBLE Government should have explore other alternatives before resorting to the harsh "swim or drown" approach. Mr Lee Kuan Yew, in his blaming of Singaporeans for Singapore's plight - is akin to a "Parent blaming his/her children for their lack of family upbringing." Singaporeans are what we are today - because of the policies undertaken by the PAP dominated Singapore Government, we are a generation brought up in a unilateral party Government - ALL of us have NEVER heard nor experience any other alternate political party Government before. Thus to say "Over time, Singaporeans have become less hard-driving and hard-striving." - wouldn't that mean that over the past 40+years of UNCHALLENGED rule, the Singapore PAP-dominated Government has FAILED? Instead of making the nation and its people stronger, proud to stand tall on the global stage - the opposite has happened?? Mr Lee Kuan Yew - are you trying to tell the WHOLE WORLD that you - as Singapore's FOUNDING FATHER and the most SENIOR minister in the Singapore PAP-dominated Government, have failed? And what you have done over the past 40+ years is nothing but a mistake? Tony Pang Editor's Note: This reply was contributed by one of our reader, Tony Pang to an existing thread on TR. However, we felt that it was very thought provoking and well written which deserves a space of its own and greater exposure, thus we escalated the reply to an article, copied verbatim. MM Lee: “good thing” to welcome so many Chinese immigrants as Singaporeans have become less “hard-driving”  Read More →

OPINION There was much discussion lately in Singapore's blogosphere about a "police report" made by a "Janet Wee" which was also forwarded to other government agencies about a "seditious" article posted on socio-political blog The Online Citizen. Janet claimed that the article was "seditious" because it had accused Singapore strongman MM Lee Kuan Yew of "instigating riots and unrest" in Singapore. The Online Citizen then posted her entire email onto its site including her "name". The immediate reaction from netizens was predictable, with many lampooning Janet for making the "report". From the tone and language used by Janet in her "report", it is quite obvious that it was written hastily in the spur of the moment. Her thoughts appeared to be disorganized and incoherent at some point. Janet is probably some die-hard fan of MM Lee who never heard a single nasty word about him in her entire life which may explain why she got a rude shock when she saw the damning headline of The Online Citizen's article on Google News. Perhaps overwhelmed by her emotions, she instinctively wrote an email to lodge a complaint to the authorities and CC one to The Online Citizen as a form of protest as well. It is pretty clear that Janet did not read the article in its entirety at all. The Online Citizen is simply reporting what was written in "The Fajar Generation", a book published recently by former members of the University Sosialist Club, some of whom were members of the opposition Barisan Sosialist. Janet should have complained to the relevant authorities about the authors of "The Fajar Generation" and not The Online Citizen for the "seditious" remarks made about MM Lee. Technically speaking, Janet's email cannot be described as a "police report" at all. She will have to make a trip down to a police station to make a police report in person with her real name and NRIC number recorded on paper before the police will even consider whether there is a need to take further action. Even if Janet were to make a genuine police report, it is highly doubtful that the police will take any action against The Online Citizen for a simple reason: "The Fajar Generation" was already launched in October this year. Had it contained any seditious remarks about MM Lee, its three writers would all be arrested by now. The Straits Times even carried a full page interview with one of them - Dr Poh Soo Kai last Sunday. Janet's identity remains unknown till now. For all we know, she may be some fictitious character who does not exist in real life at all. One TOC reader had traced "Janet Wee" to a few possible "candidates" including one who is working in the Singapore Press Holdings. What if these Janet Wees are harassed by TOC readers who are still angry with "her" over the "police report" when they are not the culprits in the first place? The Online Citizen need not get provoked so easily by "complaint" emails sent by anonymous readers. The Temasek Review receives similar "threats" like this all the time. We have readers claiming that they have lodged a report against us to so and so, this and that and whatever. For those who don't leave their real names and contacts behind, we simply ignore them. If we were to publicize every single "report" filed against us by our "Janet Wees" to the whole world including their identities (real or otherwise) like what The Online Citizen did, who will dare to send their feedback to us anymore? We will never compromise on the confidentiality of our readers, whether they are our supporters or critics. The Online Citizen's decision to blow up the matter may have increased its readership in the short term, but will have devastating long-term repercussions on its future growth and development. While it can count among a core group of loyal readers for support, we must remember that the majority of Singapore netizens are not only politically apathetic, but conservative, cautious and timid as well.   With a "police report" hanging over its head, it may encounter difficulties in attracting new columnists to write for them in the future. Even some of its existing writers may be having second thoughts about continuing their association with it. On the positive side, the Janet Wee saga has put the PAP on the defensive and create a lot of unwanted negative publicity for them. Netizens will naturally jump to the conclusion that Janet Wee is from the PAP camp regardless of the truth. The outpouring of public sympathy and support for The Online Citizen will probably make the PAP think twice before "touching" another blog again. The Temasek Review has come under a lot of pressure lately after our spat with SPH. With The Online Citizen taking some "heat" away from us, we can finally breathe alot easier.  Read More →