Happy 2008

Happy New Year folks!

Time seem to flies faster and faster.

Normally I don’t make any New Year’s resolution but for 2008 I wish to:

Have a healthier life style
Spend more time with family and friends.

Simple goals, but hope that I can achieve them by the end of next year.

Dog problems in Singapore and our well paid Civil Servant

Dec 19, 2007

AVA checks estates and acts on tip-offs on dogs

I REFER to the letter, 'Check estates, parks to spot unleashed dogs' (ST, Dec 10), by Ms Goh Ee Ca.

Upon receipt of feedback from the public on dogs straying or dogs not being muzzled, officers of the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) will request details such as the usual time and location where the dogs are observed to stray, as well as the address of the dog owner, if available.

Such information is useful in helping our officers conduct a thorough investigation and take appropriate action. Even if a caller is unable to tell us the address of the dog owner, our officers will still visit the site to investigate and take enforcement action where needed.

In addition, AVA also conducts routine inspection visits to housing estates and other public places.

Last year, 135 dogs were found straying and appropriate enforcement action was taken against the owners.

We would like to remind owners that all dogs must be leashed in public places. In addition to being leashed, the following breeds of dogs and their crosses must also be muzzled in public places: Pit Bull (including the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and American Bulldog), Akita, Neapolitan Mastiff, Tosa, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, Boerboel, Bull Terrier, Doberman Pinscher, Rottweiler, German Shepherd (including the Belgian Shepherd Dog and East European Shepherd Dog) and Mastiff (including the Bull Mastiff, Perro De Presa Canario, Cane Corso and Dogue De Bordeaux).

Any person who contravenes the leashing and muzzling rule shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding $5,000 for each of the offences.

Goh Shih Yong

Assistant Director Corporate Communications for Chief Executive Officer Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority

Recently there are many argument on our Main Stream Newspapers regarding dogs being free to run about in pubic places.

In Singapore, dogs are to be leased when in public places. However these law is not really enforced fully.

Recently there had been a attacked on a young girl by a dog.

This sparks off debates between dog lovers and the general publics.

AVA does not seem to do anything about the situation. They just tell us, the law is there so blame it on your people if you got killed by a dog since you did not report him in the first place.

Check out the standard of the letter to the forum by a senior civil servant from AVA.

Firstly I think the letter does not serve any purpose except telling what the public already knows.

In the 1st paragraph Goh Shih Yong just states what AVA will do when they receive a call from the publics on dogs. Note if you see a dogs not being muzzled or leased in the park. Not only you have to note the time and places at that moment, you also have to ASKED THE OWNER HIS ADDRESS. How clever is that?!

So if not address given by you. Then you can’t blame AVA for not following up when you kid is being mauled by a dog.

The letter then went on to tell people what AVA is doing and also petted themselves on the back by telling people they found 135 straying dogs.

Then the letter ends with a long list of dogs which must be muzzled in public places.

Consider this scenario:

You: Excuse me sir, I notice your dog is not muzzled. May I know what species it belong to?

Dog Owner: I not going to tell you.

You: After check the “breed of dog” book which I happen to be carrying with me now. I think you dog is a Perro De Presa Canario. And under the law and AVA guide line, you dog must be muzzled in public.

Dog Owner: I don’t want leh. What can you do?

You: In that case, I have to call AVA and report you. May I have your address please.

Dog Owner: Max KILLED!!!

Life is good?

Looks at how worst off we are in 2007.

More good years? It all depends which ends of the bell curve you fall in.

SMRT To Raise Taxi Fares From Dec 21
by Channel NewsAsia 14 Dec

Top Public Sector Officers To Get 4% To 21% Pay Rise In January
by Channel NewsAsia 13 Dec

ComfortDelGro Overhauls Taxi Fare Structure
by Channel NewsAsia 10 Dec

Singapore Economy To Slow Next Year
by Associated Press 08Dec

Price Of Chickens Goes Up By 50 Per Cent In Singapore
by Bernama 03 Oct

Electricity Tariffs To Go Up Because Of Higher Oil Prices
by Channel NewsAsia 25 Sep

Singapore's Inflation Highest In More Than 12 Years
by Bloomberg 24 Sep

Bus Fares To Go Up By 1 To 2 Cents From Oct 1
by Straits Times 11 Sep

Singapore Home Prices Rise To Decade-High In Q3
by Reuters 01 Oct

Inflation Hits 12-Year High In July
by Associated Press 23 Aug

Suicide Rate Climbs Despite Good Times
by The Star 18 Aug

Electricity Tariffs To Be Raised By Almost 9% From July
by Channel NewsAsia 15 Jun

GST Hike 'Unlikely To Raise Hawker, Cooked Food Prices'
by Straits Times 08 Jun

CPF Minimum Sum Up To $99,600 From July
by Straits Times 07 Jun

Singapore Auditors Find Irregularities In Ministries
by Reuters 25 May

The Ministeral Salaries Are Going Up... And Away
by Whispers From The Heart 14 Apr

Are Top Global Companies Really Dying To Hire Our Ministers?
by Mr Wang Says So 14 Apr

Singapore PM In Damage Control On Salary: Analyst
By AFP 12 Apr

Top Civil Servants Will Get A Pay Increase Of Between 14% And 33%
by Channel NewsAsia 09 Apr

Singapore Ministers Set For Million-Dollar Pay Hike
by Reuters 05 Apr

SPF at it again

SDP pair again contest charges Accuse police of 'selective enforcement'
Today Online
Wednesday • November 28, 2007

ANSWERING charges of speaking in public without a permit for the third time, Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan and party supporter Yap Keng Ho yesterday accused the police of "selective enforcement".

The duo, who represented themselves in court, claimed that they and about nine other SDP members, did not flout the rules by promoting their party newspaper in front of Causeway Point on April 8 last year.

Comparing themselves to hawkers who peddle their wares in public without permits but are not prosecuted, they questioned if the action against them was "politically motivated".

Cross-examining the first witness, Mr Loh Zhen Hong, a former police officer who had reported the incident, Yap tried to show there was "unfairness in enforcing the law between the ruling party and the opposition".

He used examples of banks holding roadshows to promote their credit cards and people who sell their products with loudhailers to argue that the party's activities on that day were "nothing out of the ordinary".

Yap also grilled Mr Loh, who was off-duty when he spotted the SDP's activities, on whether he would have gone to the police if he had seen members of the People's Action Party or Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew making speeches.

Mr Loh said that he would have done the same thing in those instances.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur cut off Yap several times to remind him that his cross-examination should focus on proving that Mr Loh "had ill motivations to report to the police".

After the court was shown the video clip of the SDP's activities that day, Yap contended that the police, by filming the proceedings, had already assumed the party had committed an offence.

The court also allowed the footage to be released to the duo to help them prepare their defence. The hearing continues today and is scheduled to last till next Monday. If convicted, the pair face a maximum fine of $10,000 each.


More from Singabloodypore on Coporal Loh's performance in court:

http://singabloodypore.rsfblog.org/archive/2007/11/27/witness-might-not-have-called-police-if-sdp-event-had-a-roof.html

Asked if he had come across other people promoting and selling products (such as credit cards) along Singapore streets (such as Orchard Road), the witness replied in the affirmative.

Question: Did you think they had a permit?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why?Answer: Because they have a booth. SDP's did not have a booth, no roof.

Question: So if there's a roof, you think that it's legal?

Answer: Yes.

Mr Loh added that he might not have called his police colleagues if the SDP had a roof at their event.

Dr Chee, who is also acting-in-person, then asked the witness that if he saw other people talking and selling products without a roof, would he call the police?

Mr Loh said yes. (Joke of the Day!)

Dr Chee then asked the witness if he had seen hawkers and street vendors selling and verbally promoting their ware "without roofs", to which Mr Loh said no.


I bet my last dollar Mr Loh WILL DO NOTHING if he saw the ruling party making a speech in public.

Also police corporal Loh claims that’s if he saw other people talking and selling product without roof he would have call the police. The reason he did not do so yet is because he had not seen one yet.

Corporal Loh not only telling us he is a liar but also blind since he claim he had never in his life see people selling product without roof.

Also if indeed calls are made whenever from a police, no matter whether was he on or off duty, when he see anyone selling stuff without a roof. Then our police are really busy man!!

Anyway can’t the police just admit that it was a selective discrimination? I am sure we all can accept this fact in Singapore.

Noise on Public Transport

Bus, MRT and Chinese restaurant among S'pore's noisiest locations: Survey
TODAY Online 27 November 2007

SINGAPORE: Taking a bus, getting on the MRT or having dinner in a Chinese restaurant - everyday activities that we hardly think twice about. Yet they may cause damage to your hearing, according to the results of a Reader's Digest test released on Monday.

In its June test, Reader's Digest measured the sound levels in public spaces in four Asian cities for five minutes at a time, using a certified sound level meter.

The magazine visited places such as shopping malls, restaurants, train stations and streets in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong.

The results were staggering. Nearly all locations, tested mostly during office hours, registered sound levels above 70 decibels.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) considers this as the threshold beyond which hearing may be damaged if a person is continuously exposed to the noise.

Someone speaking in his normal voice would register about 50 decibels, while music played loudly would typically reach 80 decibels. In some cases, the sound from the headphones of a music player can reach a deafening 120 decibels and cause physical pain, according to the magazine.

Dr Lynne Lim, a consultant at the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck at the National University Hospital, said high noise levels could lead to "permanent hearing loss, ringing sound in the ears, stress and difficulty concentrating and resting."

She said noise levels at 85 decibels would be dangerous if a person is exposed to them continuously for eight hours, while "permanent hearing loss can happen after 15 minutes" of noise at 115 decibels.

People also need to be aware that different loudness levels affect people differently, and young children and people with illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension are more susceptible, she said.

In Singapore, the Reader's Digest team found that the average sound level was 80.5 decibels on the MRT from Paya Lebar to City Hall and 81.3 decibels on a bus in Orchard Road.

This is markedly higher than the 60 to 65 decibels in a typical office here, as stated on the National Environment Agency's (NEA) website.

The average sound level inside a Chinese restaurant here was 76.7 decibels, but it peaked for three seconds at 109.5 decibels.

"At 110 decibels, that's like standing next to a jet engine," according to Mr Jim Plouffe, editor-in-chief of Reader's Digest Asia.

An NEA spokesperson told Today that the results of the Reader's Digest test "would not be conclusive" since it measured noise levels for only short periods of time. The WHO recommends that the measurements be taken over 24 hours.

"In Singapore, there are control measures put in place to protect the public from being exposure to excessive noise. For example, the NEA regulates noise from factory premises and construction sites. It is also built into the licensing conditions of public entertainment outlets that licencees must abide by noise control regulations, the NEA said.

Frequent MRT commuter Jason Chia, 38, told Today he felt the noise on the MRT was "quite okay", while 53-year-old Shok Lin said the noise levels "could be lower". Diners Polly Poon, 47, and Marcus Ong, 15, said noise levels were "okay" at their food outlets.

But this does not mean our ears are safe. We may have gotten used to the noise, but "our bodies are reacting to the situation as though we are being attacked", Mr Plouffe said. "Noise pollution is like an infection you are constantly battling … weakening the body to other infections."

I love the crap reason given by NEA. So if they think the result is not conclusive, then shouldn’t they do a more conclusive measurement since they already know WHO recommendation? Why wait till Reader Digest to do the survey?

I guess none of the Elites class take the MRT or Buses that’s why.

These days the noise level on MRT and Buses can be quite unbearable especially when you get teenager blasting their $#$ Music HP at maximum level or a “dear” man speaking on his mobile.

Wonder why they don’ t name that NEA idiot, then we can ask him to take a ride on our World Class Transport System for him to find out how serene it is.

Also NEA is avoiding the problem, instead of admitting further study need to be carry out, they went on to quote how noise at other area are being regulated.

To me this open up another can of worms, Why don’t NEA regulate noise at restaurants and Public Transports?

Idiot

PSLE

'Shattered' by Maths paper, but they did finePass rate for subject not much different from previous year, says a director from examinations board
Today online Friday • November 23, 2007

ONE parent said his son returned home "shattered" and countless others concurred.But after the uproar caused by the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) Mathematics paper this year — which many parents had described as exceptionally difficult — all seems to have ended well following the release of the results yesterday.

At St Hilda's Primary School, most parents Today spoke to approved of their children's grades. "He did all right, even better than he had hoped for," said Madam Ivy Ng of her son, who scored an A for Mathematics.

But concerns remained for others, such as Mr Satish K Khattar, one of the parents who had written to this newspaper regarding last month's examinations.

Although his son managed an A for the subject in the end, he did not feel the commotion last month was an overreaction.

"As parents, we have the right to worry about whether our children are prepared for their exams and not unfairly thrown off by something they are not prepared for," said Mr Satish, a copywriter.

"It's not about the final result ... In principle, it is still unfair, even with moderation, to the average student if they have been set questions that they haven't been prepared to handle.

"For administrative officer Lisa Mak, her daughter's Mathematics grade was "disappointing", but she acknowledged that it was not a subject that her child was strong in.

"The toughness of the paper is still a factor, but I understand that other students have managed to do all right," she said.

Ms Piyali Roy, a freelance teacher, said her son had achieved an A star — much to her surprise.

"He was devastated after the exams," she said. "But even though he did well, he was so affected by the maths exam that he couldn't concentrate on his two other papers and that affected his grades for those."………….


Yesterday was the release of this year PSLE results. As usual yesterday news are bombarded by So and So is the top scorers…follow by some sort of interview blah blah blah.

But I was thinking… So what? Is the result day such a big deal that our local news have extensive coverage? There are other more important things happening in Singapore and the world.

Looking the the new articles…. Primay School student these days are “shattered” just because they did not achieve what they think they deserve in their grads. These young kids are being taught to do well no matter what! They cannot accept failure!!

Yesterday some guy in my office told us that his son cannot sleep the day before he get his PSLE results. I was thinking what happened to Childhood in Singapore?
At the end of the day, doing well in school doesn’t mean you are smart. Also certainly does not guarantee that you will turn out to be a nice person.

Stupid Standard Chartered Bank Still at it.

I wrote to Standard Chartered Bank CEO on 10th Oct.

http://javertworld.blogspot.com/2007/10/stupid-standard-charted-bank.html

Its regarding the haressment I got from their 3rd party agents.

Their Customer Experience Manager called and assured my data had been updated into the "Do Not Call list". I insisted she send me a letter to back their claims.

Last week, I again received calls from Standard Chartered's agent on the 14th and 15th.

Bravo you stupid Bank!!

I also called and the stupid Manager is on leave and her collegue really cannot make it.

I wrote to the CEO again on Friday. See what they say this time.

So people help spread to your friends how Screw Up Standared Chartered Bank is and ask them to cancell all theri credit cards or accounts.

NOTE:


CODE OF CONSUMER BANKING PRACTICE

17. Safeguarding Your Information

Your bank will:

i. treat all your personal information as private and confidential;

ii comply at all times with the Banking Secrecy provision of the Banking Act (Cap.19),Last Update -10 Oct 2001;

iii. stop using your personal information for its own marketing purposes if you inform your bank that you object to this practice;

Yet another effort for babies.

Baby-making: Get on board earlier, says woman MP
Straights Time Nov 11, 2007

AS people look set to live and work for longer, women ought to consider putting their career on hold to have children as they will a lot of time to focus on work later, said a woman MP.

Making the pitch to young couples on Sunday, MP Josephine Teo (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) urged them to include both work and family in their lives.

Mrs Teo, who has a son aged nine and twin daughters aged seven, was responding to PAP members who raised concerns during a dialogue with PAP leaders about the low birth rate, despite national efforts to boost it.

The efforts have included a slew of cash and tax incentives - including a parenthood package of $575 million in 2005.

But the increase in the birthrate has been small: there were 400 more babies in 2005 than the year before. Last year, 36,200 babies were registered, 700 more than those in 2005.

Mrs Teo urged young couples to relook the conventional approach of putting career before children, as lifespans stretch.

'If we think of...85 and beyond being a likelihood, what is the hurry to do the things that can be done later?'

'I would arrange my life so that I have more children, start a family earlier, start it sooner, and then when the children are a little bit older, I can put my heart back to work,' said Mrs Teo, a human resources director with the labour movement.

But putting children as a top priority was no easy decision, she conceded.

In fact, she and her husband, had made a tough call to give up careers in Suzhou, China, to return to Singapore, so Mrs Teo could tap on their families to care for the babies.


Once again we see yet another articles of our government trying to con (encourage) Singapore couple to product babies.

Why are they so eager? Again in all boiled down to workforce replacement. So the gahment will still have enough people to tax tax tax and tax.

Again I like to stress that if a couple really want kids, they will just have it no matter what the government says. Infact, I think these constant efforts from our government will only backfired sometime.

I already am sick of these millionaires trying to convince the peasants (people) to have babies.

Look how careful they select the right MP to give the speech. Josephine is a good “role model”, with a successful career and 3 kids.

Note these following female MPs are single or have no kids.

Indranee Thurai Rajah, Single, 44
Ellen Lee Geck Hoon, Married no kids, 50
Sylvia Lim, Single, 42
Low Penny, Single, 40
Ng Phek Hoong Irene, Married no kids, 44
Eunice Elizabeth Olsen, Single, 31
Thio Li-ann, Single,39

So my point is, we all choose the way we want in life. Not all people love children or like to be near one. So the “carrots” our gahment are dangling will only attract a small portions of those couple that are still deciding whether they want to have babies or not.

If the gahment truly wants Singaporean to have more babies the I urge them to seriously do something about it.

Some things my non-million dollar brain can think of:

1) 6 months maternal and paternal leaves.
2) Free childcare
3) Free basic medical for pregnant women.
4) Childcare center open 24 hours.
5) Companies which sacked pregnant women are to be fined.

Also I also try to come up with some reason why couple are not having babies:

1) High cost of living.
2) Need to plan for retirement.
3) Lousy child-care.
4) Lousy education system.
5) Not family orientated workplace.
6) Freedom – Couple with no kid and just go oversea tomorrow. Try to do that if you have kids.

Tokyo 2007

Just took a week holiday to Japan.

This time I stayed in Tokyo City throughout the whole trip.

It’s actually quite interesting to see how different and similar the people in other country behave when compare to Singaporean and also what is different in the Society.

Firstly some facts:

Tokyo : Area 2,187.08 km², Population 12,570,000, Density 5796 /km²

Singapore : Area 704.0 km² Population 4,680,600, Density 6369.2/km²

Look like in Singapore we have less personal space then in our friends in Tokyo. But of cause we must remember there are lots of people who work in Tokyo actually does not live there, they usually travel from the suburb or even from nearby city like Yokohama.

What I like about Tokyo:

1) The have the most amazing trains system.

The trains are incredibly on time. And I don’t have to wait more then 2 min for a train during peak hour and not more then 4 min during off-peak. And judging from the complexity and the number of the lines and company Singapore's transport sucks big time.

2) People actually stand on the left of the escalator no matter where

They are doing this in shopping center, subways….etc etc. I shall say anything about what is happening in Singapore.

3) People are skilled walkers and you don’t see bloody baby prams around.

In a crowded area, I don’t get people banging in me not like in Seoul and Singapore. And people don’t bring their prams to crowded areas. One reason I find is that most parents prefer to carry their babies and they could rent prams at most department stores. In fact the only pram I saw in Shinjuku belong to a Singaporean’s couple.

4) Nobody talk on the mobile phone in the public.

I find this really amazing. People actually do respect others people rights to a quite train ride. Nobody, I repeat nobody talk on the mobile phone in the train, nor do they walk around talking on the phone. Their phones are normally on silent on the trains and when they need to talk on their phone, they actually stand at a secluded place to talk. In Singapore? We get teenagers blasting their music or ring tones on the MRT daily.

5) Prices are fairly fixed.

Prices for most items are quite standardized everywhere. You won’t be afraid of being conned since you are a tourist.

6) Cheap Toys and Food.

One of my main objective for my trip this year is to get some toys. Looking at the prices of some toys by the 奸商 in Singapore, I am laughing my way to the bank. Also for the same quality of food in Singapore, I find it cheaper in Japan.


What I like about Singapore:

…………………………………………………..

Stupid Standard Charted Bank

Been receiving tele-marketers calls on behalf of Standard Charted bank quite often these days.

They are different 3rd parties companies working for SC and they can be quite persistent.

Heard from other sources that Standard Charted are one of the more aggressive telemarketing bank around.

Told SC to removed my name from their calling list for 3 times already, and also wrote a couple of complainst to their website and I only got a lousy standard computer generated reply.

I also wrote in to their CEO but don’t seem to get any reply leh.

So folks do help to write to the CEO is you receive hard selling tactics from Standard Charted.

Geez….. I thought there are some law against spamming.

Lim Cheng Teck
CEO
Singapore
Standard Chartered Bank
6 Battery Road
#05-00
Singapore 049909

Singapore Police At Work

Check out this clip showing the Singapore Police Force Filiming people outside Burma Embassy.

Look carefully at the police with the video cam.

I was trying very hard to see but the at the polo T he is wearing seem to have a Singapore airlines logo and word at the back just bellow his collar.

Wah SPF so poor have to wear a company T-Shirt.

One blogpost for Burma

Greed

Just 3 days after the fare hikes and we see this. Good info.

ST Oct 3, 2007

Bus and train trips hit record levels

SMRT and SBS Transit could earn $20.7m more in fares as average daily rides rise to 4.4m

By Christopher Tan

SINGAPORE'S bus and train operators are reaping the benefit of a surge in public transport use that has sent ridership to record levels - despite fare hikes. (What other choice we have? Walk to work?)

The country's growing population, higher tourist numbers and booming economy are behind the marked increase in usage.

An average of 4.363 million rides were made on buses and trains each day in the financial year ended March 31, said the Land Transport Authority.

This pips the previous high of 4.358 million daily rides in 2001.

And figures from SMRT and SBS Transit show that daily ridership has hit 4.438 million in the April to June period of the current financial year.

Financial second-quarter numbers are not out yet but preliminary data from the two firms indicates that ridership is set to cross 4.5 million.

The striking increases - they even caught financial analysts by surprise - have reversed a worrying sign of two years ago when ridership slumped to a seven-year low.

An appreciable rise in Singapore's population - which grew 4.4 per cent to 4.68 million at the end of June - is a key factor behind the ridership growth, which in turn will swell the coffers of transport operators.

Based on average fares, the extra rides, if sustained, will translate to $20.7 million more in turnover for the two companies - a $12.4 million rise in bus revenue and an $8.3 million increase in rail revenue a year.

Analysts had factored in the positive trend but were still taken aback by the increase.

ABN Amro Asia Securities analyst Fera Wirawan said in a report on ComfortDelGro, the parent company of SBS Transit: 'Bus ridership in the first half of 2007 has exceeded our forecasts for the 2007 financial year by 2 per cent, while that for rail has almost reached our target.'

She is now projecting bus ridership to grow by 3.3 per cent for the 2008 financial year.

Citigroup Singapore strategist Lim Jit Soon said that besides the growth in Singapore's population, a higher employment rate and more tourist arrivals are also driving ridership numbers.

SBS Transit spokesman Tammy Tan said more people moving to Sengkang and Punggol has boosted ridership on the North-East MRT line. The system carried 307,062 passengers a day in July - 56 per cent up on July 2004.

Ms Wirawan expects ridership on that line to continue chalking up 'double-digit growth' for at least two more years. (Yeah more profit!)

But observers point out that the two transport operators would have to earn their keep.

The Public Transport Council (PTC) has just raised service standards for buses, which will mean more vehicles will have to be put on the road to meet them.

The council wants at least 80 per cent of bus services to run at frequencies of not more than 10 minutes during weekday peak hours, down from 15 minutes now. (Easy they just have to reduce the frequency during off peak.)

Bus companies have two years to comply. (Why 2 year? Shouldn't they comply before the fare hike?)

Rail standards are not under the PTC's purview.

Analysts said the transport companies will also continue to face cost pressures from rising fuel prices, higher Central Provident Fund contributions and a higher Goods and Services Tax rate. (I thought a listed compnay can claim GST from the gov? Correct me if I am wrong)

Ms Wirawan said: 'In a buoyant labour market, you need to raise salaries by more than usual to keep people.'

On top of the revenue growth from rising ridership, SBS Transit is expected to gain $9.3 million from the latest fare revision which took place on Monday, while SMRT will reap $3 million. (Bloody blood suckers)

Reminder

Just to remind everyone how F**K our public transport system is.

From yesterday, I am $0.02 poorer per day or $7.30 more profit annually for SBS (at least).

Project for Blogger on 4th Oct

Something for you guys to post on the 4th Oct.


http://beautifultobehold.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/free-burma/

第一次

闲着没事做就想试试用中文写个POST.

没想到这可不简单啊。

平常都没有机会写中文，结果花了很长时间才写了这短短的 POST。之中还用了一些英文。

感想是：如果不常常用，不管你当时有多厉害，都会有功力消退的一天。

Brainless Act

Something I notice:

When my colleagues who seat next to me are not around,s ometime their phones can just keep on ringing and ringing and ringing…

I just wonder does the caller have brain at all.

Firstly, if I am on my desk and if I can answer the phone, it will not take me 3 minutes of ringing to decide whether I want to answer it or not.

Come on, it does not take you more then 5 rings to know that the person on the other side is either:

1) Not at his desk
2) Couldn’t answer your call at the moment as he is busy
3) Don’t want to answer your call
4) Is irritated by your persistence and therefore see point 3)

Persistent ringing not only waste your time and it also cause the people around the “recipient” office to go crazy.

Same thought

Live webcams not the way to speed up queues at clinics

Thursday • September 20, 2007
Letter from Lim Boon Hee

I urge the relevant authorities to tackle the perennial problem of unacceptable waiting times in our polyclinics, A&E departments and specialist clinics once and for all.

Showing real-time waiting times online is simply skirting the issue and not going after the causes of the problem. It is ludicrous to expect that a patient under the care of one particular polyclinic to go to another just because the waiting time is shown to be shorter on a computer.

Instead of spending money and resources on this, more doctors, pharmacists, nurses and clinics should be employed to solve this medical services crunch in an environment with a growing "greying" population that requires more medical facilities.

We should be examining why the waiting times are so long.

Is it because there are:

1 Not enough doctors, pharmacists, nurses and clinics to serve a burgeoning demand?

2 There are too many patients due to an ageing population?

3 Inefficiencies and procedures that are not streamlined enough in the polyclinics resulting in long waiting times?

4 People flock to polyclinics due to a lack of subsidies for long-term medicine for chronic illnesses and denied subsidised specialist care if private clinics refer them?




Look like somebody agreed to what I commented on Camera installed at Polyclinics.


https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=23081753&postID=9184593088441764287

SBS at it again

ST News Sep 11, 2007

Bus fares to go up by 1 to 2 cents from Oct 1

By Christopher Tan

BUS fares will go up by one to two cents from Oct 1, the Public Transport Council announced on Tuesday.

But there will be no increase in train fares.

Senior citizen concessionary EZ-Link bus fares, which are flat fares pegged to the lowest adult EZ-Link fare band will also increase by 2 cents, up from the current 65 cents.

However, because they are flat fares, the same 67 cents fare will apply regardless of the distance travelled.

'The PTC has to strike a balance between safeguarding commuters' interests and ensuring the financial viability of the public transport operators so that they can continue to improve their services over time and sustain their capital investments,' Chairman of the PTC Gerard Ee said.............



ST Forum Sep 13, 2007

Woman flung off bus seat: Son upset with SBS staff

LAST SATURDAY, my elderly mother and aunt boarded SBS service 133 (vehicle No. SBS 312B) in Rochor Road. Both took a seat in the second row behind the driver. During the journey, the bus was travelling at a high speed.
At about 4.25pm, the driver made a fast and sharp turn at the junction of Lavender Street and Serangoon Road, flinging my mother from her seat. She landed flat on her back and couldn't get up.

A short distance away, the driver halted the bus - only to glance in the rear-view mirror. Two kind passengers, however, helped my dazed mother to her seat. The driver did not inquire or give assistance to my mother, and continued to speed off on his journey.

On reaching Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange at about 4.45pm, my mother and aunt approached SBS Transit Passenger Office and reported the incident to two officers at the service counter.

The male officer took down my mother's feedback and particulars. My mother and aunt then identified the driver at the office. The driver denied any incident had occurred during his journey. The female officer even warned my mother of false allegations and demanded that she bring in other witnesses - apart from my aunt. She even claimed my aunt was not a 'reliable' witness.

My mother later complained of back ache and I took her to a GP, who referred her to Changi General Hospital. There she was diagnosed with a fractured lower back and tenderness over her left shoulder and upper limb.

I am aghast at the actions of the bus driver. Nor do I condone the behaviour of the SBS counter staff. Till now, no one from SBS has called to inquire or follow up on my mother's feedback.

Stanley Lim Chee Hoe



These 2 articles speak for themselves actually.

How screwed up our public transport system is these days. All are profit orientated and it will be interesting to see if SBS ever response to Stanley.

Bravo to our dear Public Transport Operator

A380 evacuation test

This video shows the evacuation certification for the new A380.

Basically any new aircraft type need to meet the safety standard set by the authority before it is given go ahead.

This test was done about 2 years ago and they are all Airbus employee. If I remember correctly it went smoothly with only a couple of people suffer from broken bone.

It is quite amazing actually.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weOcrP7u7Y8

National Service

Disappeared for a week due to my reservist.

Look like I will not get to finish my 7 highs and 3 lows before my 40th Birthday. I guess SAF are cutting cost and keep calling us back for lows and seldom the highs.

Low keys in camp used to be quite relaxing. It usually is some form of in-camp training and seldom moves out to the field. But this year it was different.

Look like they are trying to compact some field training into your annual one-week stay with SAF.

I got to say it is actually quite nice to go back to the camp that you spend two years of our life in. There are new buildings and also buildings that never change. You also get to see you old bosses and colleagues.

But can really say the way people work has any improvement.

Something new this year! They gave us a set of feedback form after our one-week in-camp training.

They’re this question (Can’t remember the exact word but the main point is the same):

“Will you go to war and scarify your life for Singapore?”

Well it got me thinking.

Is there anything in Singapore worth for you to scarifying your life for?

Try taking out the family aspect from this question.

Yes I guess we will all defend our family with our life, but let say your family all migrated or are no longer in Singapore. Is there still something in Singapore for you?

Think about it…………….

SBS Response to my 2nd Letter

Yesterday I received the reply.

Well you read and tell me how sincere is it....haha...

Look like a template response, I wonder how much they pay Tang May May.


Dear Mr Sir

Please refer to the feedback received on 13 August 2007.2

2.We regret to learn of the inconvenience you experienced while using Service 89.

3 Although our records revealed that our capacity provision is adequate to meet demand, we will remind our despatcher to ensure both the runs and bus types are according to schedule. We will also remind our bus captains to advise passengers to move to the rear when space are available so other passengers at the bus stop can board the bus.

4 We have noted your suggestion to publish the time table of Service 89 and will review the matter for future planning.

5 We apologized for any inconvenience caused.

Thank you for your feedback.

Yours sincerely
Tang May May for
Deputy DirectorCorporate CommunicationsSBS Transit Lt


SBS replied on 13th July:

1.Please refer to your feedback regarding Service 89.

2.We are sorry to learn of the inconvenience caused while waiting for this service.

3. The Manager has noted your concern on the frequency of the service and is monitoring the situation closely. Rest assured that, where it is within our control, we will ensure that buses arrive at regular intervals.

4. Bus captains have also been reminded to try their best to adhere strictly to their time schedules to ensure service reliability.

5. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Yours sincerely
Tang May May for
Deputy DirectorCorporate CommunicationsS
SBS Transit Ltd

Note the similarity between the 2 letters.

They are all summed up within FIVE points.

Also note point 2 for both letter are 99% the sane! This prove that it is a standared template. Well at least Tang May May borther to type in "89" in her 2nd letter.

Point 1 - They will acknowledge your letter.
Point 2 - They apologise
Point 3 and 4 - They pacify you and tell you they will do what they can.
Point 5 - The thank you.

This kinda stadard and the still dare to increase the bloody fares.

Can even response to a feedback sincerely.

Sad.

Retirement

Official retirement age is going higher and higher, faster then the speeding bullet.

Face it! We may never be fully retired till we officially retired from this world. (Even so you may still need to work at the place you are going depend on your God)

So we should start thinking what actually is retirement.

Let say if I retired tomorrow, what I will I like to do then?

After some thinking, I listed below some of the things I would like to do:

1. Spend more time with family or pet.
2. Pick up some new hobbies.
3. Travel the world.
4. Watch Movie / Surf net / Hiking.

But hey! Actually we can start doing these things now and don’t have to wait for our retirement.

There is not point of “working towards your retirement” anymore. No point working long hours ignoring whom and what is around you daily. Simply your retirement may never come and if when you are rich at say 65, you may not be healthy enough to do the things you like.

We can never know when we are going to die, but we can, at least to some extend, control how we live.

So think of what you like to do when you retired and start doing some of them, if not all of them, from today onwards.

NDP Rally 2007

Yesterday our PM delivered his 2007 NDP rally on all Singapore’s channels.

So I guess this is the compulsory blog entry to it.

http://app.sprinter.gov.sg/data/pr/2007081905.htm

I just wonder what is the logic of showing them on Channel News Asia, Channel 5, Channel 8, Channel U, Arts Central, Suria and TV mobile.

The only reason I can come up with was to forced you to watch it or forcing you to subscribe to Cable TV.

I didn’t really manage to sit through the whole thingy but I did managed to read through his speech.

I like to touch on the issue of Ageing Population which result to Working Longer which result to Delaying Withdrawal of you CPF.

Singapore just like any other developed countries are facing this problem. People are living longer and are just not having enough babies.

Lets face it, when you are old; you are a burden to the government. You are not contributing to the GDP and the government hope you will died before your CPF money run out or they could export you to Batam.

The government had been trying to encourage people to give birth to more babies but I still think they had failed to tackle the root cause and that’s the main reason they failed. In my opinion, I think the root cause of people not having babies are the rising cost of living and the un-proportional increment of Salaries. I guess they know this but since there is not quick fix to it they just try to brush it off.

Salaries are being kept low down (unless you work for certain political party) to makes Singapore attractive to foreign investor. As living standard are high, increasing bus fares, GST.....etc etc. Therefore dual income families are necessary. Childcare system are also not very established. Working hours are not flexible at all and there are no compulsory paternal leaves.

So you see, Singapore is just not a very family orientated country.

Therefore the quickest solution to this is to import “Foreign Talents”.

Currently it is still under control but I sense dormant Social Problems will surfaced in a few years time.

More workers = Good GDP = Good taxes for the Government. Yes we are a Rich country.

We need to maintain the number of workers working and pay their taxes!!

Easy solutin?Raise the retirement age.

How to keep the cost down?

Easy, offer you a lousier job at a cheaper price.

Say today you are a Manager drawing $8000.

At 62, by law the company has to offer you a job. So they offer you a Clerical position at $1200 a month. You have to take the job as you still can’t draw money from you CPF remember?

See where the cheap labors come from?

Personally I don’t mind the raise the retirement age, but I think you should still keep the same pay and benefits if you can’t still perform. I believe this how American Companies (and our cabinets) are doing it.

Today at 62, you retired and draw from you CPF say $700 monthly. You look for a cleaner job which pay you $700 monthly, so you take home $1400 a month.

In the not so far future, at 62 your company offer you a clerical position which pay you $1200 monthly. You have on choice but to take it as you are not drawing any money from your CPF. Total you get $1200 a month.

Are you better off?

The only benefit is the government, they are delaying the payout of your CPF and hope you will die before your CPF runs out.

I foresee the retirement age will be raised to 70 so let say your CPF can last 20 years. You can draw monthly payment till you are 90.

Remember life expectancy is 81. So the government had immediately bought 9 years buffer for themselves and I guess not many people can live up to 90 compare to 81.

The odds had turn favorable for CPF board just like that.

Blood Donation

Few months ago I actually am contemplating to donate blood.

Being a first time donor, I did a little surfing on the net to find out where and how do about doing it. And guess what… I am not eligible to donate as I spend a couple of years in UK. Look like I can never be a blood donor.

So if you are poor Singaporean who never visited Europe. Then we want your blood to save people who had been staying in Europe. Haa… my propaganda.

· Donors who have spent three months or more cumulatively in the United Kingdom from 1980 through 1996 (i.e. from 1 January 1980 through 31 December 1996) will be permanently deferred from any type of blood donation.

· Donors who have spent five years or more cumulatively in France from 1980 to the present will be permanently deferred from any type of blood donation.

· Donors who have lived cumulatively for 5 years or more in Europe (excluding France and UK) from 1980 to the present will be permanently deferred for whole blood donation but they can donate plasma by plasmapheresis only (Provided wt >51 kg and Haemoglobin >12.5 g/dl).

Source From:

http://www.hsa.gov.sg/internet/dcController?next=i_donorcare_question

I find the last point a bit "cock". Say if you go Europe every year for holiday or work for 2 months cumulatively every year. So after 30 years you cannot be a blood donor.

My 2nd Letter to SBS today

With regard to your computer generated replies:

"Our Ref:2007/Jul/0463 Toll-free: 1800-287 2727 Mainline: 6284-8866 Fax: 6282-5204 Website: <http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/>

13/07/2007

Dear Mr Lee

Please refer to your feedback regarding Service 89.

2 We are sorry to learn of the inconvenience caused while waiting for this service.

3 The Manager has noted your concern on the frequency of the service and is monitoring the situation closely. Rest assured that, where it is within our control, we will ensure that buses arrive at regular intervals.

4 Bus captains have also been reminded to try their best to adhere strictly to their time schedules to ensure service reliability.

5 Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Yours sincerely
Tang May Mayfor Deputy DirectorCorporate CommunicationsSBS Transit Ltd"

The service level of Service 89 had not show significant improvement.

Between 0740 and 0810 today there are 3 buses of which 2 are single deck with people standing at the step of the front door when the buses arrived at Bus stop 77019.

Again please response to my query as per my pervious feedback letter.

Please published the time table for service No.89 as this was no where to be found on your website.

Please explain why single deck buses are used during peak hour.

Please advice is a wait of 45min at peak hour for a passenger within SBS transit KPI.

I hope SBS transit will show some sincerity by replying the letter without using the standard template.

Sick

Last week I was sick for 2 days. A case of gastric flu.

It started on Monday evening, feel a little tummy arch and didn’t really think much about it.

Woke up in the middle of the night as the pain is getting worst but its still bearable. So I decided to go see the doctor the next morning.

Got a day MC and didn’t feel too bad after all.

However things got really bad when I reached. By then my stomach was so painful that can’t moved from the sofa. Try to take the medicine but threw out everything.

It was really like hell I tell you. All together I vomited 4 times in the afternoon and didn’t eat anything at all.

It only got better in the evening.

The next day was better but still not fit for work. So I took another trip to the clinics.

Singapore Penal Code

I like to recommend this website. It is the Penal Code for our country.

http://agcvldb4.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_retrieve.pl?actno=REVED-224&doctitle=PENAL+CODE%0A&date=latest&method=part

It could be an interesting read and it is also good to know some law which interest you.

Check out Penal Code 121B

121B. Whoever compasses, imagines, invests, devises or intends the deprivation or deposition of the President from the sovereignty of Singapore, or the overawing by criminal force of the Government, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to a fine.

You could be imprisoned for life just by imagine the deprivation of the President!


Penal Code 277

Fouling the water of a public spring or reservoir.
277. Whoever voluntarily corrupts or fouls the water of any public spring or reservoir, so as to render it less fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine which may extend to $500, or with both.

Careful next time when you want to pee into the reservoir!


Penal Code 279

Rash driving or riding on a public way.
279. Whoever drives any vehicle, or rides, on any public way, in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life, or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months, or with fine which may extend to $1,000, or with both.

Good for all the drivers to know about this.

Graciousness in Singapore?

ST Forum 27th July
What's become of our youth? Many young people don't care to give up seats to a pregnant woman

THE most uncomfortable moment of the day comes when I am on board the MRT train.
The passengers of the whole cabin would instantly close their eyes. You may have guessed it, they saw me, a pregnant lady, boarding the train.

There is a thread in a 'motherhood" forum that discusses the topic of the difficulty in getting a seat on the train. I was mentally prepared for all what I had experienced, but the fire in me pushed me to put my feelings into writing.

Wouldn't it be comforting if someone could graciously stand up and volunteer his/her seat to me?

Through the experiences over the last few months, the sad truth is that such a probability is extremely low.

Surprisingly, students and women are the people who do not bother to lift their eyes to look at you, what more giving up their precious seats.

If Singapore could put great emphasis on encouraging childbirth, I believe an equal amount of effort should be made to educate our next generation of young leaders on how to be gracious.

I was standing right in front of a student one evening in the train cabin. She looked blankly at me and closed her eyes. When it was time for her to alight, she did all she could to hide her school badge from me.

How can we depend on such people as future leaders? Even if they achieve No. 1 in all aspects, they score zero in compassion.

Since young, my parents had taught me the right values of greeting the elderly and giving up my seat to those who need it more. I also put myself in other people's shoes and console myself that the women around me in the train cabin may be pregnant in their first trimester. It is not convincing, but I feel better thinking this way. Give them a reason to justify their behaviour, I thought.

But what about the students? I cannot seem to convince myself. Tiredness? I was a student before but being considerate was of a higher importance than given the opportunity to rest at the expense of another person's comfort.

What a great difference the new generation is. In other words, great disappointment.

Chai Juwin (Ms)


I would recommend you to read the Straits Time Forum online instead of reading them from the paper. Not only does it has a additional Online Forum section for letters who are not published.
They also have new feature for reader to post their comments with regard to a certain letter and some are quite good.

See some of the response to Miss Chai letter below:

I think if Ms Chai looks like she needed the seat, there will be those who would offer it to her. In most cases, I have seen pregnant ladies or old people who actually do not expect to have a seat.
Some of them prefers to stand, maybe. But most of them do not have the attitude of "I am pregnant, it is my right", or "I am old, you stand up".
While I think it is a gracious thing to give up my seat if I see a pregnant lady, I do not think it is mandatory. I have very bad chronic headaches, and sometime, I just need to seat and close my eyes on the train to rest. But if someone needs the seat more than me, I would stand up for him or her, if he or she would ask politely.I am not defending the selfish people. But I think that instead of pouting over it, try something else. Do not push all responsibilities to others unless you have make an effort too.Maybe next time, if you feel that you need a seat, ask politely. You will be surprise how many people would give up their seat. As the saying goes, " Ask, and you shall be given".
Posted by: jasoncbk at Fri Jul 27 11:57:16 SGT 2007

Lets be open about it. Being pregnant is difficult but it does not neccessarily mean that you have to sit all day. In Singapore, the MRT/LRT longest ride would be about 40mins? (sorry hv been overseas too long) So that 40mins, would be an alternate to some exercise that doctors encourage pregnant women to have esp closer to delivery date. I guess look at things on the positive side, at least you have some exercise rather then stand 40mins fuming about who is giving up a seat to you. Your baby will be affected by your mood.Cheers!!
Posted by: tony1971 at Fri Jul 27 11:31:22 SGT 2007

Maybe the sitting passenger was tired? Sick? Leg hurts?What disturbs me more is the tendency of people to jump into a 'moral-police' mode and judge a person guilty by default. The sitting person may or may not have valid reason, he could jolly well be simply selfish, I don't know. Since I do not know, I shall not judge. The sitting passenger is not obliged to explain to anyone also.
Posted by: John.Hooi at Fri Jul 27 11:21:39 SGT 2007


I shared the sentiment of some of the readers here.

Being pregnant does not give you the rights to have a seat. Everyone on the train paid for the tickets and although it would be a nice gesture if someone offer you his or her seats but they have no obligation to.

Personally I think old folks have more rights to be offered seat rather then pregnant women.

Being pregnant is a choice and we all should know by now that Singapore is not really a Family friendly place.

The government want people to give birth, but they don’t re-look at a flexible working environment.

Owning a car too expensive for normal Singaporean, Taxi companies sucks and MRT and Buses are there to rack up profit which result in the long waits for over crowded buses and trains.

In school we are taught it’s the survival of the fittest and in society where we needed to be reminded to flush our toilets, I don’t think there is much social grace left in us.

Its every man for himself out there, even our goverment told us they cannot take care for us forever. (But somehow they like to keep our CPF for us.)

Cosmetic Solution

We all know how notorious the waiting times are at Singapore Polyclinics.

They acknowledged it and instead of tackling the root cause by introducing more staff to speed up the diagnosis times, they decided to add in cameras at waiting area.

http://polyclinic.singhealth.com.sg/OurServices/Queue/

This way you could go online and choose to check on the waiting time before you decide where and when you want to go down to you “friendly” polyclinics.

Firstly, most people who visit polyclinics are the older and the poor Singaporeans.

Do you think the majority of them are internet savvy?

Secondly, I don’t need to go to the web to find out that queue are the polyclinics are long.

What a waste of tax payer money again this time….must be another scholar’s project.

Transfomers the Movie

Went to watch Transformers last Friday. Was actually quite surprise that it was a full house despite it had been showing for close to a month.

If you are not a Transformer Fan then this movie is quite entertaining with lots of actions but for a Transformer Fan like me this is actually quite disappointing.

I felt that the producer should not change the design of the Autobots and Decepticons.

Optimus Prime look like cock with his human face but did saw a bit of the shielded face mode when he was doing his final battle with Megatron.

Starscream still look ok as he maintained his fighters look. (Upgraded to F22 from F15)

And yes, Megatron look like a big COCK. Wau lau… look like a bloody gorilla.

I am also Bumble Bee ended up as a Chevrolet Camero and not his original Volkwagen Beetle. I guess the American try to make all cars theirs. (SAD!) Take a look at the chart below!

Bumble Bee Chevrolet Camaro(Movie) Volkwagen Beetle(Original Form)
Jazz Pontiac Solstice (Movie) Porche 925 Turbo (Original Form)
IronHide GMC C4500 Pickup (Movie) Nissan C20 (Original Form)
Ratchet Hummer H2 (Movie) Nissan C20 (Original Form)

Found the reason! "The other Autobots also became GM-owned vehicles in a product placement deal that saved $3 million"

The transfomation of the Transformers are quite cool but again the camera was panning all over the places making it difficult to see. I guess Michael Baywas trying too hard?

I think this is a movie not for Fans but are more appealing to the general public.

Anyway for information, there already plan for 2 sequels of the movie and I hope they change the director for the new two movies.

National Flag

I was just wondering a few days ago, when I saw the National Flags being displayed by the RC all over the island, why are they are flying the flags so early this year?

I remember the government did states only to fly the flags in the month of Aug.

Well look like they just amended the law this year, now you can even wear the national flag!!


From http://app.sprinter.gov.sg/data/pr/20070717984.htm

To keep pace with these changes, and to encourage Singaporeans to display their pride and loyalty to Singapore, MICA has taken steps to amend the Singapore Arms and Flag and National Anthem Act. The notifications were published in the e-Gazette, Subsidiary Legislation Supplement on 16 July 2007 and take immediate effect.

Flying the Flag during the National Day Celebrations period

a) The National Day Celebrations period will be extended from 1 July to 30 September each year (instead of 1- 31 August currently in force), during which the Flag may be flown without a flagpole and night illumination.

b) National Flag decals and stickers, posters or other visual images may be displayed freely. Additionally, the National Flag may be flown on vehicles (both private and commercial) during the National Day celebrations period.

c) The National Flag may also be displayed on costumes and personal attire during the period with the requirement only that the Flag be treated with respect at all times.

SBS Response

SBS replied on 13th July:


1.Please refer to your feedback regarding Service 89.

2.We are sorry to learn of the inconvenience caused while waiting for this service.

3. The Manager has noted your concern on the frequency of the service and is monitoring the situation closely. Rest assured that, where it is within our control, we will ensure that buses arrive at regular intervals.

4. Bus captains have also been reminded to try their best to adhere strictly to their time schedules to ensure service reliability.

5. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Yours sincerely
Tang May May
for Deputy DirectorCorporate Communications
SBS Transit Ltd


To me this letter is so lame..

It did not state whether was there any investigation done nor does it answer any of my questions.

Just a standard template I guess. A give away is at point 2. (this service, can't she just response service 89?)

May May just have to fill in the service number and also note these point form answers can be used to reply to any compliants.

Sad... a service corporation should take customer feedback more seriously since they bother to give feedbacks.

But again I guess SBS Transit has not much of a competition in the market so they can affort to give you such a lousy response.

Day Light Robbers

A sample of how the price of some food in my office canteen post 1st July. Remember GST is only up by 2 percentage point.

Hum chin Pan up from $0.50 to $0.55 (10% increment)

Chapti up from $1.50 to $1.60 (6.6% increment)

Coffe-Si up from $0.50 to $0.60 (20% increment)

Breakfast set up from $1.50 to $1.60 (6.6% increment)

My letter to SBS Transit today

I must congratulate SBS Transit for making it to the top on my list of worst public transport operator in Singapore.

I commute to work from Pasir ris Bus stop 77019 to Air Freight Terminal daily by Service number 89 in the morning.

I reach Bus Stop 77019 daily at about 7.40am and trying to get on board Service 89 has always turn out to be an impossible mission at that time.

However thing had improved as there are a fairly empty bus arriving at about 7.40am daily to pick up passengers stranded in Pasir Ris as I believe this bus does not start its journey from Hougang.

But as good thing never last long. For the whole of this week, service No.89 at 7.40am disappeared miraculously with the introduction of GST increment on 1st July.

Service No.89 is impossible to get on board at Bus stop 77019 between 7.40am till 8.15am with passengers packed the brim. Worst still SBS Transit had changed one of the service bus to a single deck. Please explain the logic of introducing a single deck bus at peak hour.

The situation of Service No.89 had become even worst with the introduction of No.89E. Hooray for passengers living in Hougang and Sengkang but as the bus does not stop at Pasir Ris and these 89E had made the wait for Service 89 even longer.

SBS Transit must be grateful that pubic bus routes in Singapore are heavily regulated as no 2 bus company are allows to service the same route. As I certainly will not take and SBS transit service if I have the choice.

Please published the time table for service No.89 as this was no where to be found on your website.

Please explain why there are only 2 frequency of No.89 are Pasir Ris between 7.40am and 8.25am.

Please advice is a wait of 45min at peak hour for a passenger within SBS transit KPI.

Holiday in Seoul

Just came back from a week break in Seoul.

Weather was rather warm for the first few days and the Sun was pretty strong. Then it got cooler towardes the end of the week. Started to rain and the temperature was hovering around 28 C.

Some interesting things I’ve notice about Korean.

1. They are still in the “couples dress alike fag”

2. They love to buy stuff onboard. (I notice the cart was 90% empty when they are done!)

3. Good girl friends like to hold hands

4. There always someone doing big business in the toilet.
(Yes! 80% of the time I visited the public toilets there are someone doing it. Even start doing on board the aircraft. I guess it’s the food, I did my business everyday there.)

5. They love to stand really close to you.

6. They more or less respect the elders.

7. They like to “fight” for the bill.

Conspiracy Part 2

Guess I was right after all…

Yesterday happened to drop by NTUC and it was really crowded.

Guess everyone just give the first Wednesday of the month a missed these days.

Conspiracy

Yesterday was the 3rd Bring You Own Bags Day at various supermarkets.

Again there were publicity on the news last night with these supermarkets claimed a drop in plastic bags usage by 30-80%.

Think the failed to see the main point.

The drop is usage merely shows that more people are avoiding to shop on BYOB days.

Update

Not been blogging for a while now. Busy with many stuff…haha…

Should be able to update more often for the coming week before I am flying off to Seoul for holiday on 16th June.

Can tell that this is the star to of school holiday just by judging the traffic on the street in the morning. This week I have no problem of finding a seat on our world class bus and also the traveling time shorten significantly.

Its amazed me how much of our citizen life are revolving around their children.

Yet another quick solution

ST Forum
April 25, 2007
Some suggestions on how we can achieve a plastic bag-free society

WE HAVE been talking about using fewer plastic bags to help save the environment for sometime now and we have finally put words into action by declaring every first Wednesday of the month as Bring Your Own Bag day.

In addition, some participating stores are also starting to charge the customers 10 cents per plastic bag. A good start but not enough if you are hoping that it will be a stunning success eventually.

In fact, I find this half-hearted effort is doomed to fail in the long run - the reason being that it is too much a hassle for affluent Singaporeans to remember to bring their reusable bags on every first Wednesday of the month in order to save a few cents.

I have some suggestions.

>>Instead of charging 10 cents, why not charge the customer $1 for the reusable bag which can be refunded if he returns it on his next shopping trip.

>>If he forgets, charge him another $1 for another reusable bag. He can also accumulate up to five bags and use them in exchange for goods bought.

>>It is more palatable for customers to pay if they know that no extra charge will be incurred at the end of the day as long as they cooperate and make the system work. The customers must also be told that the bags must be returned in good condition for reuse.

>>We can start off this scheme by getting all the major supermarkets to come together to agree that they charge the same price for each reusable bag and that they can be returned for a refund at all participating outlets.

If we can produce Newater, I have no doubt we can be equally successful in making Singapore a plastic bag-free society and in our own small way help to save the environment.

John Voon Zoon Choong


The talk of the town in Singapore is going plactic bags free.

We see several ass kisser supporting this move to “save the Earth”

Let me paint you a scenario, Mrs Tua JuaLong, stays somewhere in Tampines and she use to take a bus to IKEA Tampine to make her purchase. However after IKEA start to charge $0.10 for each plastic bag, Mrs Tua decided it will not be economical if she keep being charge is she need to purchase several item. So she decided to DRIVE to IKEA instead, this way she can go completely plastic-bags-less as she only need to put the IKEA cart to the car park, dump everything into her car boot and drive home.

Plastic Bag 1
Emission 0

Now how environment friendly is that?

What I am saying is that there are much much more needed to be done to really make Singapore an environment friendly country. We should be work more on education and have a efficient re-cycling system.

I am using plastic bags to line my dustbin and in a way I am re-cycling them.

If there are no free plastic bags available in the future. I still need to BUY MORE PLACTIC BAGS to line my dustbin if the waste disposal method remains the same.

Why is this harping on charging customer plastic bags? This is not tackling the root cause of the problem but only a quick way of making “grocery” plastic bags consumption go down. But soon we will see sales of dustbin plastic bags going up….

Greed?

Too much had been written on the nets on the recent Ministers Pay Hike.So I will not write on what all Singaporean should already know about their government that they voted for.

After all these sagas over the years, I am wondering what are the benefits of being a Singaporean after all? And what the government is doing for the “Stayers”?

When I look back the years, I see fares of public transport going up countless time, GST went up from 0% to 7%, medical cost going up, people being retrenched and got a pay cut during SARS and 911, people found new ways of killing themselves with the MRT, gross management of charities (NKF, Youth Challenge), plan to increase our population to 6millions with Foreign Talents, cost of basic food stuff are going up……………..

This makes me think more seriously on migrating… I may be a second-class citizen in another country but I may be better of being a “1st class” citizen in Singapore.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was watching this charity drive on TV. They got several patients to relates on national TV how poor they are and how they need the help from the man on the street with donations. Yesterday, just saw the first wave of the gross increment for our government. How ironic…

“The world has enough for us, but not our greed”

Flag Days

April 3, 2007
Many turn blind eye to Flag Day collection

MARCH 31 was 'Flag Day' - a day for all St John cadets, island-wide, to go around collecting donations.

My squad mates and I set off for various places with positive attitudes, hoping to collect donations, only to face disappointment and frustration.

My senior and I were positioned outside Queensway shopping mall. The human traffic there was fantastic. But whenever I approached any of them, they shunned me and quickened their pace in a bid to avoid me.

Out of 20 people, one came forward. There were some people who turned the other way when I was walking towards them. This left me shocked and appalled.

Would it do any harm to come forward to make a donation, regardless of the amount?

There were even passers-by commenting that we may be the second NKF, and our motive was to con them. I was utterly wordless upon hearing this.

I hope people will take on a more positive mindset when donating and let bygones just be bygones.

Lim Jia Yan Jasmine (Miss)

I got to admit I have stopped donating on flag days.

One reason is that I find the government is not doing enough to help charity organisations. Instead they are giving themselves a fat paycheck.

Also there are too many flag days in Singapore. We used to seem them on Saturdays only but now sometime weekdays are swamped with flag days.

I also wonder how many of these charities are properly managed.

I can suggest a good solution. Get the cabinet to donate 10% of their monthly salaries to a pool. Member of the public can also donate as well.

Then which ever organisation need to raise fund, they can write a proposal or report to the group managing the pool of money. The goup will then decide how much to give to this applicant.

Why should the poor man on the street give when the rich man in the room don’t?

I think we should think about this before complaining on the poor response on flag days.

Why not to have a Nokia

Was at Wheelock place on Saturday afternoon. (One of my rare weekend in Orchard road, can’t stand the crowd.) And walk passed Nokia Service Center.

The place was really packed!

I concluded that either there are many Nokia Phone user in Singapore or the phone are not reliable.

Look around… how many of your friends are still using Nokia HP?

Vegetarian at McDonald's?

ST Forum
March 24, 2007
McDonald's should lower price for 'vegetarian' meal

BEING vegetarians, whenever we go to McDonald's, we would invariably order a meal without the meat patty.

Invariably McDonald's would charge us the same price even though the meat portion of the meal costs the most.

Can't it charge a lower price in these instances?

N. Nageswaran

This is quite amusing…

Question: Why is a vegetarian doing in a McDonald’s restaurant and complaint about them not selling a burger without meat at a lower price?

Firstly McDonald is not a vegetarian’s restaurant. And Mr Nageswaran can always visit the restaurant with a non vegetarian friends and he can just give or sell his portion of “meat patty” to his friend.

Simple solution.

Aero Soarer

Got this TOMY aero soarer from HK recently. Haven’t really got the chance to fly it yet.

Cost me about HK$130 which is about S$20plus. Cheap! Saw they were selling the same thing in HK Toy R Us for HK$300!!!

Gosh you really have to know where to shop.

Basically it is almost the same as my helicopter, to be used indoor only. The plane is really light and is made up of Styrofoam and you charges it before you fly by attaching it to the remote control. It suppose to give you about 10min of flight time per charge.

How to beat the GST rise?

Somehow I knew this is coming.....
I just can't help whethere does the term "Public Services" meant anything to them.

Paying the (super)market rate
Wages of ministers, civil servants to go up as Govt seeks to keep its talent
Friday • March 23, 2007


TO KEEP pace with the growing salaries of the private sector, the Government is revising the pay of its ministers and civil servants.

For officers of the Administrative Service — the cream of the civil service — this is the first time that an adjustment has been made since 2000.

A formal announcement on the changes will be made in Parliament on April 9.

The worldwide hunt for talent is intense and to remain an attractive employer, the Public Service, too, had to keep pace with the private market, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.

I wonder what is the turn over rate in our Public Services.

Speaking at the annual administrative service dinner and promotion ceremony, Mr Lee, who is also the Finance Minister, cited the Administrative Service as one of the many services that had "fallen behind".

He described two key salary benchmarks that the Administrative Service, which employs some 230 officers, uses in calculating its salaries.

The first is the "Staff Grade 1" rank for senior Permanent Secretaries, especially those leading the larger ministries. This benchmark is also used to determine the salaries of ministers.

This is done by first tracking the top eight earners in each of six professions. Their salaries are arranged from No 1 to 48. The benchmark is pegged at two-thirds the salary of the median — the 24th earner.

Using the data from private sector incomes in 2005, Earner No 24 took home $3.29 million, so the 2006 benchmark for minister salaries would be 66.6 per cent of that — or about $2.2 million. Historically, ministers have been paid less than the benchmark.

Today, senior Permanent Secretaries and ministers in this grade are paid $1.2 million a year, or 55 per cent of the benchmark. Back in 2000, they were earning 71 per cent of the benchmark.

In a statement by the Public Service Division (PSD), it said these six professions were picked because they are "alternative professions" that the Government's top calibre senior civil servants could have otherwise joined.

On top of their main jobs, senior civil servants hold concurrent appointments such as chairmen of statutory boards or government-linked companies.

More reasons to increase their salaries.

"We recognise that the nature of work in the public and private sectors are different and there is some personal sacrifice involved in public service," said the statement.

I can think of any. Maybe you don’t have the fun in taking the public transport to work?

The job security of ministers was also highlighted by the PSD.

"Ministers are not in guaranteed long-term jobs — they face the General Elections every five years. Similarly, our top civil servants are put on fixed term appointments once they are appointed to a top position," it said.

Another main salary benchmark is the "SR9" — the lowest Superscale grade at which officers in their early- to mid-30s enter the senior ranks of the Administrative Service.

This benchmark dipped between 2001 and 2004 because of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks and Sars in 2003, but has since climbed to $361,000 — just below the $363,000 benchmark set in 2000. Last year, an entry-level Superscale officer was paid a salary amounting to 103 per cent of the benchmark — or $371,830 a year.

Explaining that these numbers were based on incomes earned two years ago, Mr Lee said the private sector salaries "have most probably risen further" since then.

Most probably? I am sure the gahment know exactly what is going on in the public sectors.

Describing the talent squeeze as an urgent problem, he spoke of how the civil service needs to provide challenging assignments for its staff.

Singaporeans are in demand not just here but the world over. Mr Lee gave the example of a Middle Eastern country that dropped feelers about buying the whole of JTC!

And hinting that money is not the route to all solutions, he said the civil service leadership must excite and enthuse its staff to see that they are helping to make a difference to Singapore's policy-making.

If not then why the high salaries?

In the early 1990s, the Administrative Service lost "entire cohorts of good officers", and having taken many years to recover from the loss, the Prime Minister said it "must not happen again" in future.

The resignation rate in the public sector rose to 5.7 per cent last year, up from 4.8 per cent in 2005.

How many of these people resigned due to low pays? Or could there be other reason that they resigned? Like too many red tapes in our public services? Lack of empowerment, job satisfaction? I think the gahment should seriously look into it. Increasing pay in not the only way to stop people from quitting the public services.

"Besides civil service salaries, we are also reviewing salaries for the political, judicial and statutory appointment holders. It is even more critical to keep these salaries competitive ... to bring in a continuing flow of able and successful people to be ministers and judges," said Mr Lee.

In this latest review, the new salary structure is expected to tie salaries more closely to performance, in line with private sector practice.

In his speech, Mr Lee also outlined another pertinent problem — that of encouraging Singaporeans to venture overseas, while at the same time ensuring that there is enough talent in Singapore to grow the economy.

He said: "How will Singapore businesses recruit talent and grow into first-class companies? How will we create the jobs and opportunities for the less successful Singaporeans, who cannot seek their fortunes in China, India or the US? How will the Public Service maintain a first-class team that can lead Singapore into the future?"

Looking ahead, Mr Lee challenged the Public Service to benchmark itself to top global companies, such as Google.

"Google receives 1,300 resumes a day. The Public Service must strive to have that same cachet. The whole tone of the organisation must exude confidence, energy and purpose," he said.