TR EMERITUS

There were no reports of flooding on Thursday, despite rain falling in many parts of Singapore for most of the day, reported the Straits Times. But with heavy rainstorms forecast for the next few days, the authorities are bracing themselves for floods over the weekend. National water agency PUB told The Straits Times on Thursday that it has placed some 90 staff on a 24-hour standby, in anticipation of any flash flooding. 'PUB's contractors are also cleaning and inspecting drains around the island, with 360 contractor staff on standby, ready for activation at any time,' said a spokesman. The National Environment Agency (NEA) said the southern parts of Singapore received the most amount of rain yesterday, with Sentosa and Orchard recording 82.2mm and 50.8mm of rain respectively. It added that the wet conditions yesterday were due to a Sumatra squall, which developed on Wednesday night around Sumatra or the Malacca Straits, bringing thunderstorms and heavy rain.   Source: Straits Times  Read More →

Within a period of few months, Singapore was hit by a spate of damaging floods, causing millions of dollars in damages to residents and businesses alike. Many areas were flooded, including but not limited to the tourist attraction commerce belt Orchard Road where cars in carparks were submerged in waist-deep water. When the first damaging flood hit Singapore on 19th Nov 2009, Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim dismissed it as a "Freak Flood" which happens once in 50 years", Singaporeans 'swallowed' his explaination bait, hook and sinker. Unfortunately, 50 years came and go in a matter of months and Singapore was hit by damaging "Freak Floods" again on 16th June 2010, 25th June 2010,   1st July 2010 and 17th July 2010 respectively. A massive public outcry then erupted over the incompetency of the ruling party to prevent the frequent floods which forced them to respond 'accordingly'. Responding in a speech made on 26th June 2010 at Lower Seletar Reservoir, PM Lee remarked that it is very 'costly' to keep Singapore “flood-free.”  He pronounced that given Singapore’s “tropical climate”, any attempt to “wipe out” flooding in Singapore would require "plenty of money and land" without providing any concrete evidence or statistics to substantiate his claims. (PM Lee to Singaporeans: Impossible to expect “flood-free” Singapore, TR - 26th June 2010) When Orchard Road was seriously hit by "Freak Flood" on 16th June 2010, the national water agency PUB admitted that they were "caught offguard" and made a sweeping statement that the "Freak Flood" was caused by a "blocked culvert".  This was later found not to be the case after 'intense investigation'. (PUB: Oh wait, it wasn’t a blocked culvert that caused the flood, TR - 21st July 2010)  Commenting on the same flood, Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim promised Singaporeans that he will: " .....learn from this, improve upon it, and assure Singaporeans that we’ll do our best to prevent this as much as possible”. In Parliment recently having returned from his 'learning experience', he impressed Singaporeans with his latest 'findings' that "Floods are caused by Intense Storms" which drew nothing but 'resounding praises' from Singaporeans. (Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim learnt that “floods are caused by intense storms”,  TR - 20th July 2010) In the same Parliment, Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim repeatedly emphasized that it was “impossible” to keep Singapore completely flood-free. (Yaacob Ibrahim: “Impossible” to keep Singapore completely flood-free, TR - 19th July 2010) He went further to promise that more 'studies' will be conducted on the floodings but gave no concrete solution to the problem. He even presented figures from 'studies' to suggest that the floodings may have been caused by Extreme Climate changes, which this writer already covered (Singapore could be in “deep” trouble by the end of this century, warn experts,  TR - 18th July 2010) long before the 'findings' were released. Following suit, in an interview with reporters on 23rd July 2010 at the Kallang River, MM Lee commented:  (Lee Kuan Yew: No amount of engineering can prevent flooding, TR - 24th July 2010) ".....when we get extraordinary rainfall like we had recently, no amount of engineering can prevent flooding. There is a limited amount of space that you can dig underground, limited amount of space that you can have run-offs for canals.” To sum up the respective response in a nutshell, the ruling party, CANNOT  (Ref: "impossible" according to MM Lee and Mr Yaacob) and/or WILL NOT (Ref: "too costly" according to PM Lee) do anything for the floodings which plainly translates to YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. HOWEVER, Singaporeans should feel slightly relieved that an Early Flood Warning System is being setup by PUB to warn of possible floodings which should keep Singaporeans from getting their feet wet. (Early flood warning alerts, ST - 19th July 2010) With the Early Flood Warning System, Singaporeans need only remember to retrofit their cars to function as a submarine, nail and glue their TVs, Fridge, Beds, Chairs, Tables, etc  to the wall and floor. It will also be a good idea to get an inflatable Rubber Ducky Float or a Dinghy handy in case the Early Flood Warning System fail to function because of the floods. :( No Rubber Ducky Float or Dinghy handy? Make it a priority to get one soonest possible because reknowned Meteorological Stations around the World (except Singapore) have forecasted that Singapore will be experiencing Thunder Storms these few days.     by Forecaster Extraordinarie II   Recent Floods: 1) 19 Nov 2009 – Bukit Timah 2) 16 June 2010 – Orchard Rd & other areas 3) 25 June 2010 – various parts, island-wide 4) 1 July 2010 – MacPherson & Tai Seng 5) 17 July 2010 – various parts, island-wide   Read More →

Our goverment's policy of maintaining cheap money/low interest rates (below inflation) for the last few years is really punishing (there is a more accurate word starting with "s" ) retirees/savers and making it easy for speculators/banks to borrow cheap money and make big profits to pay huge bonuses. When we were young our leaders tell us all the time to save for old age, and now we, who have saved and supported this govt. for decades see our savings earning less than 1% p.a. while inflation is running at 2% to 3% ? Of course monetary officials don't care as they earn fat salaries and do not rely on interest income to meet expenses. How do we live ok with less than $5k interest on $500k deposit ( even if we have this amount)? Several neighbouring countries with less robust economies than ours have already increased interest rates, in the case of Australia 3 times ? Our officials ? They let the Singapore Dollar rise ! Who benfits ? foreigners speculating in Singapore properties/shares because besides capital gains now they have exchange gains. The BBC TV documentary "CRASH" identified that the main cause for the last Lehman financial crisis was due to TOO LOW INTEREST FOR TOO LONG.. People fed up with miserable interest income, started taking unnecessary risk and speculated on mini-bonds, derivatives etc. So, when will we start looking after our older savers/citizens instead of foreign talents for a change??     Jimmy Ng  Read More →