TR EMERITUS

First off let me just say, I have absolutely nothing against foreigners coming over here to work. From my previous job to my current one, I work with them on a daily basis and I have nothing but good things to say about them. But honestly taking another 80,000 this year? Where the fuck are we going to house them? Traffic and MRT not crowded enough? Our infrastructure is bursting at the seams as it is. Unlike the PM or his daddy, I don’t get around singapore driven in a limousine that is escorted by a police motorcade. No, I have to use the public transport system and honestly I have had enough of it. The PM and his entire fucking cabinet and especially Raymond Lim the transport minister, they should try taking public transport to work and home during rush hour for a year and see how it feels. Click to enlarge For the last 8 years, we’ve been taking PM Lee’s snake oil and despite all his promises, where has that gotten us? Remember the reason behind the increase of the GST from 5 to 8%? Supposedly to help the poor, we only found later out of the billions collected in tax revenue, only a tiny fraction was actually spent on public assistance. From the 60s right up to the mid 90s, whatever you thought of the politics of LKY, the one thing couldn’t argue was that the standard of living wasn’t getting better or that the lives of singaporeans wasn’t improving. You could see it with your eyes. But now when you look back on the last 10 years, you couldn’t really say the same. At least not for the average singaporean. The only people who has benefitted are the rich, the powerful and of course the PAP ministers. So much so, they can look down their noses at us lesser mortals and even their progeny who hasn’t done shit can afford to talk shit in our faces- all the while studying abroad on scholarships paid for by us- the lesser mortals. The old snake oil salesman can promise everything under the sun. All I know is that for all his promises, the income disparity in singapore is still growing and shows no signs of stopping- not that the PM or his team is even interested in doing anything about it. We already have the second highest income disparity in the developed world, but since their pay and bonuses is pegged to the high income earners in singapore, I don’t suppose its in their interests to bring down income disparity. My dad took 10 years to pay off his housing loan- on single income. Nowadays, almost everyone that I know of needs to take a 30 year loan on double income. So tell me, how is that an improvement? People used to be able to afford to retire, now some old undead fucker think we should right up to our graves and that there should be no retirement age in singapore. FUCK THAT. FUCK HIM. When I retire, I want to be able to still enjoy what’s left of my life. I want to be able to still have enough energy and vigor to travel, to see the world and to pursue my interests. You can’t fucking do that when you’re in your 70s and 80s. Not if you’re working right up to that age. If you retire at that age, the only thing you can look forward to is death. NO. I will not condemn myself to such a fate. But like it or not, most people may not have that choice anymore. Not if you’re saddled with a 30 year burden hanging on your neck. Overcrowding, overpriced public housing, growing income disparity, lower standard of living, overstressed lifestyle, first world costs of living on a third world wage standard, a government that is not held accountable for their mistakes- if this is what we get from swallowing the snake oil, this snake oil salesman can take his fucking snake oil and shove it where the sun don’t fucking shine.   Marc @ Insane Polygons  Read More →

I am a newly graduated optometrist. I have worked for 2 months full time in an established optical chain in Singapore. These 2 months have been a tough one and my hopes on providing eye care as an optometrist have since been jaded. I really hope that the Optometrists and Opticians Board can come up with tougher regulations in order to control employers. We optometrist are usually employed under optical chains and more often than not, we are used as tools for contact lens sales. If nothing is done to control this trend. I am afraid that the optical industry would always remain BUSINESS ORIENTED instead of eye care oriented. We are very often caught between the law and our employers. If we choose to abide by the law, we may even lose our job as most optical businesses in Singapore are SALES oriented. Optometrists and opticians have to exercise our professional discretion on our choice of employers, I am afraid many of us would be jobless due to the fact that most optical businesses in Singapore operate not to provide primary eye care but for their own monetary benefits. The fact that we have the certification (Diploma in Optometry). It would mean we are eligible for registration as an optometrist no matter how well we fare in school. This shows that no matter what score/result(GPA) we get during training, we would be EMPLOYED. Most optometrists employed in the retail businesses currently are often used by the employers as TOOLS for contact lens sales rather than professionals to provide proper primary eye care to the public. The current businesses in a retail setting are more often that not managed by opticians because of their long standing experience in prescribing optical correction for patients. However, they(managers) often do not realize the importance of primary eye care and also proper contact lens fitting. Often the statutory rules set by the OOB are flouted. The difference between -Singapore and countries where primary eye care is more successful- is that Optometrists in those countries are the only primary eye care providers who are allowed to perform eye checks on patients and their opticians are merely optical dispensers (eg. Australia, United Kingdom and the United States). The level of awareness of primary eye care in the public is also significantly higher. Over here in Singapore, Opticians are also allowed to check the refractive power of the eyes IF they have a Refraction certification. If more and more optical businesses forgo the sales of contact lenses and just continue the sale of spectacles, optometrist would not be needed to be employed in these businesses. They would only require Refracting opticians employed in their businesses. Therefore, primary eye care would then be slowly losing its importance due to lesser available primary eye care providers. This may also mean that the fact that more schools are training up Opticians instead of Optometrist may be more of a bane than a boon for the primary eye care service. This also shows that it is not the matter of coming up with the numbers for eye care professional but the quality of training they receive. I have since left my work place because I am forced to practice Optometry at a level that I deem unlawful and unethical. If this situation continues, I am sure that many optometrists working in this industry in Singapore, would leave the industry in search for a better career. Many of my fellow graduates have since considered the option of upgrading to a Degree in Optometry elsewhere. However, the current level of practice in Singapore would not deem our degree or higher level of skills useful. Therefore, we even considered not returning to Singapore so as to practice Optometry at a higher level. The tuition grants spent by the government on training up these optometrists would then be wasted due to the fact that many are leaving for greener pastures. I also understand that Singapore is faced with citizens going overseas for studies and end up not returning. This further contributes to the shrinking of Singapore's talent pool. I hope something can be done in the near future to hold these irresponsible business owners responsible for the service that is provided at their establishment. I feel that this is the only way to proceed in order for the primary eye care scene in Singapore to improve and to match the standards of eye care overseas. I hope Temasek review can bring a larger audiece for the current problem Singaporean Optometrists and patients are facing. With that many problems, OOB is not even doing anything to change it.   John Doe  Read More →

Dear Singaporeans, I am writing this with a heavy heart. I have been paying my monthly season parking fees to a friendly and helpful Singaporean car park attendant at a building in town and chatting with her about her work and life etc for the past three years. A few months ago, she told me that she was worried that she would lose her job as there was some bidding by some Chinese nationals for the car park in her building. Fortunately they did not succeed in the bidding. I was elated when I heard that. However, the car park attendant told me yesterday that she might lose her job next year as the building had been sold to another company. She also told me that her management had renewed her contract but had reduced her monthly salary by $250.00. She questioned her management about the reduction and was told that her job was easy and they could hire the Chinese nationals to perform her job. Eventually she had no choice but to sign the contract as she is not educated nor young so she would not be able to find a job easily. Subsequently, she regretted signing the contract and tried to seek redress from MOM and some other departments. However, MOM told her that as she had already signed the contract, they could not help her. This poor lady told me that her yearly increment was only a meagre $10.00 to $20.00 but when the management reduced her pay, the reduction was a drastic cut of $250.00 at one go. She lamented that the prices of the consumables are high and with the reduction of her pay, her disposable income and purchasing power are greatly affected. She also told me that the other car park attendants' salaries had similarly been deducted and they were equally unhappy. She opined that the government did not take care of the people and echoed the same sentiments about our government which I have been hearing everywhere. She also said unequivocally that she would vote for the opposition. I supported her decision and told her that I would do likewise. I offered to expose the exploitation by her management to the public but she declined as she was worried that she would lose her job. This poor lady told me that I am educated unlike her and I would not suffer the same fate as her. As I am writing this, I really feel like crying. What is happening to our society? The government should be taking care of the young, the feeble and the elderly but we see the ministers collecting fat pay cheques and the elderly washing the toilets and wiping the tables. I am always upset whenever I see the elderly performing such chores. I remember seeing one elderly man standing on the banister at a primary school to wipe the windows a few years ago. I was horrified to see that cos his brittle bones would break if he had fallen down. I also remember one of my ex-colleagues, a Chinese national and an accountant by training, telling me that she was shocked to see the elderly cleaners in Sinagpore when she had first set foot in Singapore and commenting that although the Chinese nationals were not as wealthy as the Singaporeans, the elderly did not need to work during their old age and would stay at home to take care of their grandchildren. I also remember seeing an elderly man struggling in his walk to the tables at a coffeeshop and wiping the table. He was slow and was scolded by one of the hawkers for being slow. It is really sad that the elderly man could not retire and stay at home with dignity. Whenever I see the elderly cleaners, I would always tell them to be cautious and ask them why they didn't stay at home and look after their grandchildren. Their common replies would be that they needed the money to buy their medicine and/or their own children have heavy burdens for their own families so they didn't want to impose on their children. Isn't it sad that the elderly have to work and their children can't even support their own parents who have previously toiled to support them? The elderly have to toil for their medical expenses and basic necessities, albeit their medical expenses are subsidised by the government. I was a civil servant for five years before I quit the civil service as I was disgusted with the fact that I must be a "yes woman" in order to get my promotion. I dare to say that I could only identify two individuals who are men of principles and are not bootlickers in my previous ministry. Suffice it to say that I was disillusioned with the civil service, hence my resignation. I shudder whevenever I wonder if the entire civil service similarly comprises of people with the same kind of bootlicking character, self-serving interest and condescending attitude and if so, I seriously wonder where our nation is heading to if the same kind of people with such qualities are leading us...... As it is now 3: 15 a.m., I shall retire for the night and will write to TR again. Thank you for reading my letter.   A Sad Singapore  Read More →