TR EMERITUS

Last month, Huffington Post journalist Andres Martinez wrote a well-publicised article on why Singapore is the perfect country of our times. In his article, he cites how the wisdom of Emeritus Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s leadership has brought Singapore from poverty to a truly globalised Asian state. While there is plenty of truth in his line of reasoning, commenting on Singapore from an outsider’s perspective does not give a truly reflective picture of our country. No doubt that has has built up the only advanced economy in South-east Asia from virtually nothing, the reality for the average man on the street in modern times is far from optimistic: a phenomenon which has existed for over a decade. While LKY has certainly provided strong moral leadership in an era where the literacy rates are low, Singapore has since progressed to become a highly educated nation: with this advancement in education, the need for a such a strong and absolute authority has grossly diminished and the competency and policies of the modern-day ruling party no longer resonates with the average man on the street. In fact, there are plenty of reasons to believe that the ruling party has started to falter: In the area of healthcare, the real number of hospital beds in public hospitals has remained absolutely stagnant from 2001 to 2011 while the population has increased by almost 40% over the same period. What was once an efficient system has since declined to a state where 5-hour queues at the trauma department are all too common. Similarly, there is the adverse impact of mass immigration on the lives of the average man on the street: While the government let in 145,000 foreigners in 2008, they built only 3050 units of government housing. With the resulting shortfall of housing hitting almost 30,000 units, the prices of resale government flats shot up by 15 to 25% in a year, depending on housing premiums over the official valuation. The impact of such a sustained “asset enhancement policy” is disastrous: Not only have prices of public housing doubled in the course of slightly more than half a decade, 9 in 15 youths these days surveyed by the state-run media said they could no longer optimistically look forward to buying a house and a car in the near future. Such a “lack of foresight” in policy planning does not stop there. Much ill-feeling have arose against foreigners especially when stories of workers being replaced by cheaper foreigners have become abundant while a majority of citizens feel that public transport infrastructure has become much worse since the last turning point in Singapore: the General Elections of 2011. If a decline in the living standards is not deemed to be bad enough, there are also issues with the way the ruling party has forced policies down the throats of its electorate: by using the party whip to approve a massive immigration proposal and increasing the minimum retained pension sum without any transparency in the system, a growing number of citizens have shown greater resentment at the only state-approved protest area. The author has rightly pointed out the exorbitant price of owning a Honda Accord, but the shortfalls do not stop there:  Singapore ranks 5th on Mercer’s cost of living rank, but the quality of living drops to 28th place on the same ranking chart. Concurrently, it comes in at a lackluster 49th on the Planet Happiness Rank while the Economist has given it a pathetic 82nd on its freedom rankings. Singapore’s growth story in the early part of its history is indeed tremendous, but the drive factors of growth have since shifted from a self-sustained one to growth by factor imports: Not only does this model lack viability, the reality is that more of Singapore’s wealth is foreign-owned and the average man is suffocating more so because of massive immigration. There is no doubt that Singapore was once a good country, but all that is changing. With such suffering faced by the average man vis-à-vis the rejected calls for more transparency and democracy, the power of such a “paternalistic, technocratic cosmopolitanism” model of governance is surely in jeopardy, come the next elections. J Leow *  Submitted by TRE reader.  Read More →

SBS Transit bus driver I thank The Straits Times for the articles on public bus operations ("Operating Public Buses: Lessons from London"; last Saturday; and "Results of trial to make buses run on time 'encouraging'"; Tuesday) As a bus driver, I notice that the input of the person behind the steering wheel is generally missing in discussions about improving the public bus system. Driving a public bus comes with huge responsibilities. The driver has to be alert for the 7 1/2 hours he is on the road, with few breaks between trips. He has to meet customer requirements, arrive at destinations on time and most importantly, maintain safety by being alert to on-board incidents or road hazards. So his physical and mental well-being is also important when drawing up plans to improve the public bus system. It is never the intention of the bus operator or its employees to hold up arrival times. Such accusations are unjust. Take, for instance, service 178, which plies between Woodlands Regional Interchange and Boon Lay Interchange. The route is about 30km long. There are 34 bus stops along the way and more than 40 pedestrian crossings and traffic lights. The buses are dispatched from the interchange every 15 minutes by a timekeeper. But it can take two to nine minutes from the time the driver clocks out from the timekeeper's office to when the bus actually hits the main service road. This is because the driver has to walk to his bus, safely reverse it out of its bay and drive to the designated berth, where he waits as passengers board. If the bus travels at 60kmh (the speed limit allowed) non-stop from Woodlands to Boon Lay, it will take no more than 30 minutes to arrive. But in reality, it takes 80 to 105 minutes. If the bus is held up by roadworks or traffic congestion, the next bus deployed may eventually catch up if it does not encounter similar obstructions on its trip. One suggestion to avoid this "bus bunching" is to dispatch the next bus only when the preceding bus reaches the first traffic light on the main service route. This is possible as all buses are monitored by GPS. I appreciate the efforts, perseverance and commitment of all parties - from the Transport Ministry to the Public Transport Council to bus operators and my colleagues - for aiming to make bus rides comfortable and convenient. Wong Kam Wah * Letter first appeared in ST Forum, 20 Jun, "A bus driver's perspective".  Read More →

(22 June)     Vice President Jejomar Binay has thanked US tech giant Google after it took down a blog that listed ways to harass Singapore's Filipino population. “I thank Google for not allowing itself to be a platform for prejudice and ethnic discrimination, and I laud everyone from Google for leading the drive in keeping the world wide web free from bigotry and intolerance,” Binay said. Despite the post of the anonymous "Blood Stained Singapore" blog, Binay said, “Singapore and its citizens are our good friends and partners in the ASEAN, and host tens of thousands of our workers, to the mutual benefit of both our nations.” “It is obvious that the blogger, in choosing to hide behind the veil of anonymity, knew he would be held liable for what he wrote under Singaporean law against hate speech. And even as we condemn hate speech, we Filipinos reiterate our well wishes for the people of Singapore,” he said. Last Thursday, police said they are investigating the anonymous blog, which suggested Singaporeans should refuse to be served by Filipinos in restaurants, or "accidentally" shove them in crowded places. In a post titled "Filipino infestation in Singapore -- 5 point guide to showing displeasure without breaking the law," the blog also advised Singaporeans not to help Filipinos involved in traffic accidents.   Source:     http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/06/22/14/binay-thanks-google-taking-down-hate-blog    Read More →