TR EMERITUS

I saw a full page advertisement in the Straits Times from the Ministry of Finance which stated the amounts that I would receive, as a citizen and a senior, under Budget 2023. The amounts are described ambiguously, i.e. up to $X for this item and up to $Y for another item. I find the advertisement to be deceptive. I know that I will get $0 for these items because I own several properties. I am not complaining that I was excluded. I do not need the $X and $Y, but I think that some other property owners may need the meagre handout. I complained that the advertisement was deceptive. It was bad for the government to introduce discriminatory practices in giving out handouts and to take out a deceptive advertisement. I do not complain about the higher property taxes that I now have to pay on the properties that I own. I also do not complain about the higher taxes that I have to pay on my personal income. Having paid the higher property and income taxes, I consider it to be fair that property owners should receive the same meagre handout, regardless of their income or property ownership. I prefer the approach adopted in Hong Kong where every resident gets the same amount, regardless of income and ownership of property. The Hong Kong authority probably recognized that they have already paid their appropriate taxes for their income and properties. I know that many people, who do not own more than one property, will disagree with me, because they see the matter only from their selfish perspective, i.e. they are not affected. This attitude causes divisiveness in our society. I find the system adopted in Singapore to be discriminatory, unfair, convoluted and divisive.   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →

I’ve just finished a six-part Nollywood series called “Shanty Town” on Netflix. It’s been a wonderful experience. The series is a portrayal of human nature at its worst and it is wonderfully instructive on the topic of ruling by fear. Talking about the rule of fear is an especially interesting topic in Singapore because our first Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, once made the point that he would prefer to be feared that to be loved. The late Mr. Lee did a spectacular job in ensuring that the rest of us feared him and we did as we were told. Thanks to Mr. Lee, Singapore is everything a country should be – green, clean and rich. Mr. Lee made no apologies for his use of the heavy hand and when you look at the state of Singapore, its hard to argue against what Mr. Lee did. As a Singaporean, you’re bound to get “what are you complaining about,” looks whenever you say something that’s less than perfect and these days, the people who will tell you off are not from third world countries. Mr. Lee was so effective at being feared, his successors decided to copy his play book. Hence, Singapore, despite all the glitz, remains a place where one treads of the side of caution, particularly if you’re in the business of promoting opinions. Let’s remember that POFOMA and FICCA are very real things that can be used against people who step out of line. In a way, I get the government’s point of view. The argument is that the heavy hand of the law has kept us green, clean, rich and safe. However, there are issues when the “rule of fear” is the only thing that you have to keep people under control and these issues are all on display in Shanty Town. The series focuses on a group of prostitutes who are controlled by a Pimp called “Scar,” who is pretty much the central character. He is, to put it mildly, a disgusting specimen of humanity. He rules the girls through fear and deceit. He has no qualms slapping them around and groping them at his whims and fancies. He is wonderfully unpredictable. He can turn on people as and when he feels like it and everyone around him is understandably terrified of him. In one scene, we actually see him chopping of the head of a girl he has “set free.” However, the truth is that despite his fearsome appearance, the guy is a snivelling coward. While he terrorises people around him, he himself gets terrified whenever his boss, who happens to be a politician shows up. The politician or “Chief” doesn’t need to say or do much. He never raises his voice at Scar. However, whenever he enters the room, Scar gets up and prostrates before him, kissing the proverbial ring: [LINK] In another scene, he gets kidnapped and starts making all sorts of threats when he hears that it’s a woman who has kidnapped him (Scar being the guy who terrifies women). However, when he sees that it’s a woman of great power (another politician), he grovels and begs forgiveness. So, the point here is that people who try to use fear into intimidating “subordinates” are themselves terrified of their superiors. Scar may have no qualms about terrifying the girls under him but when it comes to the politicians, he’s a snivelling little thing. Then, there’s the fact that when the girls finally get the courage to deal with him, they end up taking turns to stab him to death. You can feel each stab he receives is personal and he’s left to bleed to death. Scar is not only prone to using violence against the girls. He’s happy screw them in more ways than one. His usual take is 60 percent and then charges them for protection and rent, which means that they end up with nothing. On top of that, he expects to be serviced. So, not only does he beat them for fun, he robs them. So, once they find the courage to break free, they do so in a violent manner. Freedom from him is freedom from fear, poverty and exploitation and once they cross the line, its legal niceties be damned. It’s ok to have people scared enough to do as they’re told. However, there’s got to be a trade-off, in as much as the people need to see that you deliver the goods and make life better for them. If you only use fear and intimidation to screw people over, you got to be prepared that one day, people will lose their fear and their vengeance will be terrible. Whilst I can understand using fear and heavy handed techniques initially, I believe that you got to move on to other things to sustain what you are trying to create. Heavy fines stop people from littering in Singapore. However, whilst the fines may make Singapore a clean place, it doesn’t make us a clean people. Just take a trip to Johor and trust you me, you will find Singaporeans littering like there’s no tomorrow because – well, suddenly they can. I’ve known educated people telling me that they like littering in other people’s country because they can’t in their own. Having people fear you can be useful in the initial stages. However, if you don’t use that to make things better, you have to be prepared for the day you will fear them.   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.      Read More →

News analysis: Singapore's historical low fertility rate not worrying yet, with clearer signs to come for Year of the Dragon- Today online, 25 February 2023. Today online quoted the above statement from 2 professors, NUS and SMU. I will be straight talking. I cling and even despise their intellectual ignorance and naviety at best and intellectual denial, dishonesty and/or political patronage at worst of those professors. I accept that despite being better educated, still, birth rate among our Chinese child bearing aged women tend to dip more in the Tiger Year than other Chinese horoscope years but Singapore is not a pure Chinese society. I ask if our Eurasian, Indian and Malay communities also experienced a birth dip due to the Tiger Year? The answer is obvious. The harsh and hard fact is that our total fertility rate has been dropping for years and years and years under the pap government... and the pap government, despite being a financially very able government simply lacks the sense of urgency and the political will to tackle it by seizing the bull by the horns, so to speak. Anybody who totally believes and sucks official propaganda that our TFR which now stands at a very, very sorry 1.05 when the replacement rate is 2.1 is due to the Year of the Tiger lalala in 2022 is in the race to win the Singapore's Sucker of the Year Award 2023. I have commented much about our very, very sad TFR situation in the past. Instead of putting in real and serious money and efforts to turn the tide, the pap government opted to make up for our native birth rates plunge through immigration. In so doing, in the short term, the music plays on, laughters uninterrupted and wine still flows etc but in the longer term when many current and past pap ministars have left the scene or enjoying their millions elsewhere and in an increasingly uncertain world, Singapore and Singaporeans are likely, on balance, to pay dearly for its TFR blunder, pap government's incompetence and short-sightedness. Think.   Simon Lim      Read More →