TR EMERITUS

Written by Chia Ti Lik 12 November 2008 Year 2008 is a year of change, of forced consolidation and rebirth. Out of university in 1998, I entered the workforce in 1999 fresh with memories of having to work part-time throughout my practice law course. The economy was still feeling the effects of the Asian financial crisis. Still reeling with pessimism and anxiety of the unknown, I structured my financial life around life insurance policies that I thought would give me protection and future income. The result was low liquidity which mandated low expenses on my part. Aiming to have low expenses was itself noble and I had long given up dreams of a big house and a flashy car. I did, however, managed to pamper myself a little with my hobby with audio systems which led to a further depreciation of the contents in my wallet.   Through these disciplined times, I carried the faith that life may be austere now but my retirement should tend towards being easy and comfortable. Through the past 9 years, in good times and bad, I kept the faith and stayed the course. Until now, that is. Read rest of article here  Read More →

If you look here (http://www.cabinet.gov.sg/CabinetAppointments/index.htm), you can see the beaming smiles of all of our Singapore (male) ministers who draw a combined tens of millions in salary each year. I say that in these trying times, when money should be spent prudently (why else can you explain that St Nicholas Girls school got no funding to repair leaky damp classrooms?), we should turn to our Cabinet to take the lead in cost-cutting measures. Well, if our premier government-backed bank DBS can retrench 900 staff this early, so we should turn to our Cabinet to see if there’s any ‘wastage’. There are 20 Cabinet positions. If Singapore is indeed run like a ‘business’, than 20 executive directors seem too top-heavy, no?? Let’s dissect the numbers: 15 of these ministers have Ministry-based portfolios. Since these 15 ministers lead ministries, I suppose they can stay since their job-scopes are well-defined. The Prime Minister does not lead any ministries, but he is the head honcho, and I suppose he gets to stay also. Read rest of article here  Read More →

By Fang Zhi Yuan, Chief Editor SPH journalists never fail to amaze me with their incredibly thick skin to profess themselves as the PAP spin doctors to the public without realizing what a fool they are making themselves out to be. Eugene Wee's desperate attempt to insult Singaporeans' intelligence by obsfucating "competitive politics" as "exciting" in a propaganda piece titled "When it comes to politics, boring is good" more suited to be published in Petir than a mainstream English daily speaks volume of the quality of journalists SPH is recruiting nowadays. Politics was never about emotion, passion or excitement which come about as a natural by product of the entire process. The millions of young Americans who serve as volunteers in Barack Obama's electoral campaign, staying up late into the nights to man the phone lines, traveling miles on foot to knock on the doors of strangers and donating every single cent they have to him - are they in this just for the fun of it ? Mr Eugene Wee has unfortunately exposed his shallowness and ignorance in belitting his American peers who have thrown in their lot with Obama not because of his sweet talk, but because they realize their country is heading in the wrong direction after 8 years under the inept Bush administration and the urgent need for a change. When it comes to politics, competition is good, not excitement or boring which is completely irrelevant to the topic in the first place. To those of you who have the experience of buying a car, do you test drive different models first before making a decision or do you buy one simply based on a review in a car magazine ? Similarly in politics, elections is the baptism of fire through which aspiring holders of public office are put through, tested, challenged and put under intense scrutiny by the electorate. Without various choices to compare with, we will never know who is best suited to lead us. The use of Malaysia and Thailand as examples to warn Singaporeans the pitfalls of "exciting" politics is totally inappropriate and lame with the intent of misleading the audience. In case Mr Wee does not know, the infamous kris-waving in Malaysia was no more a political gimmick by leaders from the ruling UMNO party to consolidate their support from their core Malay electorate. The absence of mass protests in Singapore does not mean that the government is doing a good job and we do not want to rock the boat. It is just that we have adopted a different way of expressing our displeasure and frustrations through the internet instead because of the restrictions the PAP has imposed on our civil liberties. Whether our government is good or not is not up to Mr Wee to judge, but to Singaporeans as a whole. To our fellow countrymen who are struggling everyday to make ends meet, what will they say of the PAP government ? What are the hallmarks of a good government ? Certainly I count competency, transparency, accountability, empathy and compassion as essential attributes of a good government. May I ask Mr Wee the following questions: Where is the competency when a dangerous terrorist Mas Selamat is allowed to escape from his lockup and still remain at large today ? Where is the accountability when the Minister in charge did not step down to take responsibility for this atrocious error and get his subordinates to take the rap instead ? Where is the transparency when the PAP Town Councils are still reluctant to reveal their extent of losses of public funds in failed investments ? Where is the empathy when the pay of our ministers are going through another round of hike at the end of the year at a time ordinary Singaporeans are feeling the pinch of a slowing economy ? And where is the compassion when a majority of our elderly population are still working well into their twilight years because our government prefers to spend billions of dollars to bail out foreign banks ? My fellow Singaporeans, this is the government we have. A government which tramples upon our rights, take us for granted, lead us by the nose, never listens to us, insist we follow their orders with flagrant disregard for our feelings and at the end of the day, dare to ingratiate themselves as a "First World" government and demand us to pay them the highest salaries in the world. Should we not change such a government ? Isn't it time we boot them out of office ? Don't we deserve leaders who are not only capable, but honest, transparent and understanding as well ? Years of "boring" politics have made the PAP treat us as serfs to be at their beck and call. It is time we inject some "excitement" into our politics and make them pay dearly for their arrogance, insensitivity and complacency. Five states of Peninsula Malaysia are now under opposition rule. New Zealand just have a change of government. And U.S. will now have a new President from a new party. Did their economies collapse overnight ? Only superficial and unthinking Singaporeans like Mr Eugene Wee himself will be bothered by frivolous matters like this. Whether Singapore elections remain boring or exciting, it is about time we give the PAP some serious competition.  Read More →