Archive for May 2013

I had been giving the boss lifts to work for a couple of days because his car broke down. We were in earlier than usual this morning, no one else was in. Barely 5 minutes upon arrival, the dark clouds which shrouded the entire Perth sky throughout our 30 mins drive finally unleashed their might and sent rain pouring. It would be one of the heaviest rain I had experienced since my arrival. Billions of raindrops smacked mercilessly on the color bond sheets 4m above me, raising the decibels comparable to those in Singapore. Somebody ever told me it never rains like Singapore over here and my respond was the somebody never gets out often enough.

I received a call from the hospital who asked for my agreement to bring forward my first post-op follow up at Royal Perth Hospital. It would be better if the girl had told me it was brought forward because someone else cancelled his appointment and there was a slot. Instead, she had to say, 'The doctor wish to see you earlier.' That was enough to make me worry for the next two weeks. That new appointment date is today.

This morning, I received a long email from a fellow Singaporean brother residing in Sydney, all but one year older than me who generously shared with me his own ordeals with cancer over the past 2 years. The colleague at work who told me not to "stress yourself over the company" was back to the "you have to do this and that" mode soon enough. Unlike colleagues, friends and probably even family, who will get used to the fuss and eventually forget that I ever had cancer, only cancer patients such as the sender who asked not to be named truly understand how I feel all the time. That wasn't a bad thing. I didn't want to be reminded as a cancer patient and be treated like a handicap. I am the only person responsible for my health and nobody else should be troubled my own negligence.

The amended appointment date, the storm and the email all fell on the same day, a gentle wake up call to coax me out of blissful land and face reality. By late afternoon, I will expect my lab results and the doctor's recommendation to put me through whatever I needed to.

From TODAY,

SINGAPORE — Ten local news websites, with “significant reach” here and which report regularly on Singapore-related news, will now fall under a new licencing regime regulated by the Media Development Authority (MDA).

The news websites all belong to major broadcasters or publishers in Singapore, which are licensed, with the exception of Yahoo! Singapore News, which does not yet have a media licence.

Read the rest of it here [link]

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Heng ah. Only online news websites need apply licence to ~~report facts~~ publish news. You socio-political sites must be heaving a sigh of relief. Will they stop at this and leave 'alternative new sites' alone? Don't hold your breath. If When that happens, it will be time for naughty bloggers to worry as well. Not me though, I'm safe - unless they bring down the criteria to 50 unique visitors a month or something. I'm not gloating here. In fact I feel disappointed with the Singapore Government yet again - I'll tell you why.

What does this new license regime do? In a nutshell, it allows MDA to remove any content on any 'licenced' website within 24 hours from an MDA directive. Any content that they find to be in a "breach of standard." This is 2013 so let's not kid ourselves. This is Singapore, not North Korea. Can Singaporeans please ask themselves why did the staff of MDA spent manhours of taxpayers' money to derive a new policy that only affects 10 parties namely:

1. Asiaone.com
2. Businesstimes.com.sg
3. Channelnewsasia.com
4. Omy.sg
5. Sg.news.yahoo.com
6. Stomp.com.sg
7. Straitstimes.com
8. Tnp.sg
9. Todayonline.com
10. Zaobao.com

of which 9 of these websites belong to SPH except 1 which was, not surprisingly, "unlicensed"? Can MDA justify their cause as a move to serve their citizens as they are supposed to be paid to do so? Or is this another Government-serving, anti people policy? We saw this coming believe it or not, just by looking back at recent history where SPH made their move on Yahoo!

Barely a month later, Yahoo! struck back,

When the objective cannot be achieved by legal means, it seems all but a coincidence that Yahoo! has a regulatory issue now. How very surprising. TODAY online provided an explanation of prohibited material as any content that is "against public interest, public order, public security, national harmony and public morality". I can't believe they added in morality. Sociologists have spent centuries debating morality but it seems that MDA has successfully define morality. The special new regime that affects only 1 entity seems to suggest MDA sees Yahoo! as a anti-security online terrorist.

Singapore is ranked 149th on the Press Freedom index in 2013. Obviously this is an area where the Singapore Government has no intention of claiming their usual number one spot and makes no apologies for it. Do Singaporeans deserve anything outside the propaganda they have been fed for decades? Can Singaporeans condone this or will they be happy to continue living in the matrix?

Never forget our roots, they say. So we do not. Lest we forget.

19 August 2002

Ng Boon Yian
Tan Hui Leng

Last night, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong held up a mirror and showed the state of the Singapore soul. It was a disturbing and somewhat ugly sight. Griping has almost turned into a culture. The unemployed are fussy about new jobs and many who are employed treat their jobs with disdain. A mean-spiritedness greets the achievements of the foreign-born who are doing their bit for Singapore.

The demands on the Government are endless and they are matched by an almost casual threat to leave for some other country.

In another age, another leader - the late US President John F Kennedy - told Americans:"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

Mr Goh did not resort to such rtherotic nor did he make such demands.

His love for the country shone through as his voice cracked when he said:"For me, this is home because my family, my friends, my people are here. My memories are here."

But his frustration was also apparent as the usually jovial and mild-mannered Prime Minister used his National Day Rally speech to pose some harsh questions.

"Has the younger generation of Singaporeans gone soft? Look in the mirror and ask,'Am I a stayer or a quitter? Am I a fair weathered Singaporean or an all weather Singaporean'" he asked.

Then he pondered:"Which other country will they run off to next when bus fares go up in Australia?"

These were jabs at the heart that Singaporeans can hardly ignore. Yet, the fact that these questions even arose point to a dilemma of Singapore's economic development.

Said Mr Goh:"The more we educate Singaporeans and the more economic opportunities we create for them, the more internationally mobile they will become. The more they gain from subsidised HDB housing, the more money they have to buy cheaper houses in Australia."

What is the way out of the conundrum? Educate and develop less? Of course not. Cultivate deeper rootedness? Yes. But how? What more can be done to nurse a sense of belonging?

The Singapore heartbeat. Building the heartware. Home versus hotel. All these metaphors have been used and repeated, but still, some want out.

Even though Mr Goh believes that most Singaporeans are committed to Singapore - "As we say in Hokkien, pah see buay zao"- his emotional delivery shows that it is an issue that many still have to grapple with, especially as labour becomes more mobile.

But what is it so hard to foster this Singapore heartbeat? Many a time, people have argued that the Government has made it hard for them to love this country with its tough but unpopular policies such as transport fare hikes and the Goods and Services Tax increase.

Some protest with indignant letters, others with cynical humour by changing the lyrics of the national song from Stand Up for Singapore to "Fare Up for Singapore" and We are Singapore to "We are Chin Kang Kor", Mr Goh noted.

The Prime Minister who has done his best to provide a helping hand to Singaporeans, showed how things looked from the other side of the looking glass.

"The more the Government provides for Singaporeans, the higher their expectations of what the Government should do," he said.

Even adversity no longer brings out the best in people as it did in the turbulent 1960s. A woman retrenched from a factory quit on the fourth day of her new job as a kitchen help. "Her reason? Washing dishes was not good enough for her pretty hands," said Mr Goh.

And some see the Economic Downturn Relief Scheme (EDRS) to help retrenched Singaporeans as a source of free money.

A woman asked Minister without Portfolio Lim Boon Heng for an EDRS grant to help pay her handphone bill, which was $800 in arrears. Mr Goh recounted:"When Boon Heng asked her to give up her handphone, she replied, 'Cannot, must talk lah'."

A minority of workers show a bo-chap attitude and gripe constantly about everything.

He said that has to be nipped in the bud. And just because the Government decided to go ahead with the transport fare hikes as it was the best step in the long run, a radio show caller was indignant enough to say, 'This is not my country anymore".

And while people refuse to take pain, how quickly they forget the help. A rueful Mr Goh rattled off the list: CPF Top-Ups, New Singapore Shares, Economic Restructuring Shares, Economic Downturn Relief Scheme, off Bugget measures, ultities rebates, S&C rebates, Edusave grants and awards, Medisave Top-Ups. Then he asked rather animatedly:"Have you forgotten them?" This, from a man who had gradually steered the Government into a less stern, more giving organism.

His disappointment was palpable. He took a swipe at would-be "quitters".

"You will not feel this same sense of belonging anywhere else. You may enjoy a physically comfortable life. But only at home here in Singapore, can you control your destiny... As (comedian) Jack Neo explained in his recent interview,'Here, I'm the number one wife. Elsewhere, I'm the concubine'."

Hey Nix

Hope you and your family are doing well! I chanced upon your blog while researching on migrating to Australia. It was lovely to read about the experiences and tribulations of a person who’s been there and done that, risked everything to dare to live his dream. I respect you and I am determined to do so as well.

I came back from Australia just a month ago. I was there for 10 days with my family, visiting my sister in Uni of Queensland in Brisbane, touring the Great Ocean Rd at Melbourne and visiting Gold Coast. I am at the crossroads of my life, having just gotten out of NS, ready to start university. So I have been thinking hard for 2 years about what I truly want from life. After going through NS I did some travelling to Japan, Taiwan and Australia, using my savings. I have always had wanderlust and really wanted to get out of the little red dot to see what life outside Singapore is like. I love travelling, and activities such as sky diving, surfing and bungee jumping are things I hope to enjoy in my life. I loved the Japanese culture and consideration for others, but the working culture seems quite stifling, similar to Singapore. Taiwanese are a great bunch of people, but stress is high too with long working hours too, although the scenery is great. I found Australia to be absolutely amazing. The people are friendly and laid back (most of them), great weather, lovely scenery and good work-life balance. I liked Australia the most out of the three.

Thinking hard, I compared my projected future life 15 years down the road between Singapore and that of Australia and I realized that no matter how hard I work, I can never get what I want from Singapore that I could in Australia (good work life balance, open space to roam and explore, conducive environment for family). I am not afraid of hard work. I am afraid of bad returns for hard work. I don’t think I can ever achieve my dreams in Singapore, slaving away at a job to pay for my flat which costs 600k, dealing with competition and increasing population density and infrastructural strains. I also wonder how my children will survive in the competitive education system which focuses on results as opposed to learning. I found Australia to be balanced, as they reward tradesmen and white collar workers with degrees alike, so everyone can pursue their interest. I also disagree with the government’s policies – they rely too much on economic reasoning, in so failing to account for negative social aspects. From my observations, PAP is only interested in making us attractive to MNCs, foreigners and investment from overseas. In 1965 when Singapore just started out, PAP focused on attracting MNCS and foreign investment as a means to feed that first generation of Singaporeans. But eventually the means superceded the end, and the lives of Singaporeans have become increasingly unbearable while PAP becomes more entrenched in the system it has created, wooing foreign talent, cheap labour, while suppressing freedom of speech to maintain a stable environment for MNCs and investors to be confident in. Singaporeans’ roles are simplified to providing security (NS), and a technically-capable workforce (accountancts, lawyers, doctors, managers) which can support MNCs operations. In such a system, I can only see the Singaporean paying more for property and getting less out of their efforts (In contrast, foreign talent get to buy a bungalow in their homeland after a few years of work) I do not forsee myself nor my children to be able to reach for their dreams. I don’t want to be just a cog in a machine, working till I wear out and become useless. I want to live life by my own terms, and I am not afraid of hardship, only if it gets me to my dreams. And I don’t give a damn about social status or bullshit prestige.

Thus I told my parents about this option that I am considering and decided to do more research on migrating to Australia. My parents are pretty open minded and they too agreed that Singapore is becoming unliveable and unsustainable. My current plan is this: I will complete my degree in Accountancy in NUS, work three years in an accountancy firm (Big 4 if possible) and get accredited as CPA. Thereafter I will apply for PR in Australia with my 3 years savings.

However I have some questions. Since you have been in Perth for over a year, I would like to know if the demand for accountants is good? If so, which type (e.g. Tax accountant, auditor etc). This is so that I can realistically gauge whether I can practice in the profession I am trained in. If it is not in demand, will studying a Masters in Finance in one of Australia’s universities aid my PR application and employability? If not, I shall consider enrolling for one of the 2 year courses to become a tradesman (as I have read on Hardwarezone), so that I will have two skill sets to fall back on. Which type of tradescraft/skills are in demand?

I am pretty sure that this is the path I am willing to take, and time is on my side as I am still young. I shall try my best to save up for money in Australia and perhaps even be able to afford a downpayment for a property in Australia by the time I get CPA accreditation.

About the CPA accreditation in Singapore, do I need to be a member of the CPA in Australia or do I just need to have my accountancy skills assessed by one of the assessing authorities for Accountants (e.g. CPA, ICAA, CPAA) for PR application?

I will greatly appreciate it if you can highlight areas I have to find out more about if I were to migrate. I will be reading www.immi.gov.auvery closely.

Thanks for taking your time to read my email, I am sure you are busy.

Regards
J*

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Hi J*,

We are pretty good here, thank you. Hope you are doing great there too. How did you find my blog on the internet? I only sent it to my friends. Well, I'm just a nobody both as a citizen and netizen so I thank you for your good opinion towards my story. That being said, there wasn't anything that I did that you couldn't do if you want to.

I have never visited any part of Australia except Perth and you have seen more of Australia than me by now. That is a good thing for sure, having the chance of seeing more at age of 21. Your friend here only took his first plane trip after his mid 20s to Bangkok. I always hear people say that a 'tourist's view' is always rose tinted. What do you think of that? Come to think of it, I have to agree with that to an extent. If we look at our homeland Singapore from a tourist point of view, what will we think of it? Heaven is a place on Earth, perhaps? Don't get me wrong. I wasn't belittling your research work and observations. I am sharing this because I can see myself in you. However, every dream starts with over-simplified visions. Should we look at complex details too early, it drowses the enthusiasm before we can even try. The habit of projecting life into the future is a curse. Believe me, I happen to know what I am talking about. Perhaps, I shouldn't call that a habit, it is a form of survival instinct. To those who understands, it is a necessity.

I felt a surge of sadness for Singapore when I hear the pessimism from someone like you. You are young, very young, well schooled, just completed NS and should be looking forward to starting your career in excitement just like many of your peers (or so I thought). I always thought I have reason being a failed product of the Singapore system, to look for a chance elsewhere. You have not tried and failed like me. I don't mean that you should if you are certain there is no future for you. I don't want to lie to you, I wished I saw that coming at an earlier age. Thus, I don't want to be a hypocrite and tell you all the politically correct crap. You didn't write to me for that, I'm sure. But I am a Singaporean, I grew up with fond memories of the land. I can't help feeling sad to see people in their late twenties such as J and MJ trying to leave Singapore last year and then now I have a 21 year old young man with a supposedly bright future ahead of him who doesn't buy into the vision sold by the MIWs. If many of your peers are like minded, I'm afraid the future of Singapore doesn't look good.

Anyway, I don't want to judge you and I am not in the position to do so. Everyone has their right to pursue what they want. Let me cut the crap and give you my dangerous opinions to my best knowledge. Firstly, you have the support of your parents. I supposed that's half the battle won. Your plan sounds almost identical to another guy in his mid 20s (now you see why I am alarmed) who contacted me a year ago, get the degree, get into Big 4 and get the CPA asap. Then get out, funded by whatever you can scrimped by not going after girls too much during the three years. (I mean, this part was his plan, and not necessarily yours). The sentiment of people around me in this field was that accountants and taxation seems to be hotter here in Perth than external auditors. Allow me to persuade you to look at the visa application and employability separately. Though they appear to be correlated, both are actually very different things. For example a mining engineer may be able to get a PR visa granted without a problem today but he may not find related work in WA in today's market. Does that mean he should not have taken a mining degree? This decision has a profound impact on your future and doesn't come with no risk. At the current standings, I don't see the need of getting a Masters for merely the purpose of your visa application but don't let that stop you if you have the interest and motivation in pursuing that. As for employability is concerned, it is impossible to tell the future performances of sectors given the global economic instability of today. From my point of view, accounting is a traditional field to go into, as compared to sexy ones like Biofuel Process Engineer, Natural Healing or Criminal Psychology. If there isn't employment opportunities in WA, there are always the Eastern states to look at. If there isn't a need for accountants in any capital cities of Australia, I have to say we have either moved to the Antarctica or turned to barter trading. It is up to you if you are game to join by then. Since the future is unknown, I will advise you to focus on getting the PR first and worry about jobs demand later. Since you mentioned that you are willing to get your hands dirty to go the tradesman route, why worry about what you will be doing here at this stage? The possibilities are aplenty. At your age, the sky is the limit. Who knows you will be a hot-air balloon pilot or something here? So remember, focus on getting your PR - just that for now.

There are a few people around me who can answer your question regarding CPA accreditation. One of them is my wife. Unfortunately all of them are asleep now and I am not going to wake any. How about taking CPA (Australia) instead, that was what my wife did so the accreditation pain was saved. As far as I know, it is not necessary to have a CPA to be eligible for the PR application. Unless the rules have changed again, your degree + the required years of relevant work experience are sufficient to get you through. This will be the most important area I will highlight as your migration homework. Keep your eyes glued on the changes at immi.gov.au all the time.

Good luck and feel free to update me.

asingaporeanson

What if the trees in your garden can uproot themselves and walk off to the next orchard while you are asleep? I know I would get real pissed off - if I could recover from the shock. Human migration on the other hand, is nothing new. It has been ongoing perhaps since the beginning of the human race. Many of our forefathers in Singapore were migrants. For a country like Singapore which has no natural resources and land size to fall back on, human as a resource has been the most important building block behind our pillars. Therefore the quality of our people is extremely important to our survival.

If we can take a lesson from plants, we will observe how many seeds they sow. That will be way more than what nature expects them to grow and eventually mature to. More than half of the seeds will not germinate. Another half of the seedlings will not survive beyond their first months and only a handful manages to reach maturity to continue the cycle. In many ways, the population of many nations follow the same pattern as nature, not in terms of survival but the ability to mature and contribute meaningfully to their country. In most countries, it is accepted that there will be a segment of people who will fall behind and be unable to contribute. These presence of these groups are expected and included in the calculations.

In Singapore, we do not believe in this. Since our independence, our government has turned their back on welfarism and never looked back. All of us are expected to help ourselves, excel and contribute to the country. Failures are not part of the statistics. That puts a unique level of pressure on the people of Singapore to do extremely well, for mediocrity is not acceptable. I would not fault the government for creating such as environment. I believe there is little choice but to expect an unnatural percentage of excellence from the people for a small limited country like Singapore to achieve what we have today. We wanted to achieve this vision together, that was what we wanted to be. The government, in fact, delivered.

Now that we reach where we want to be, can we live with the consequences? We do not have adequate people to strive for the greater heights we voted for, we imported foreign people to fill the gaps. Other than quality inconsistencies, there have been integration issues, inflation, overcrowding and social problems. Stress has hit record levels, along with property prices. Even the government is feeling the heat from increasingly disgruntled citizens who begin to question their authority and leadership.

It will be an eventual inevitability that the system we put our faith in like our religions will implode. Will we slow down before that happens and perhaps, learn a lesson from nature and recreate an environment where although every seed matters, not every single one of them are expected to blossom?

I felt I had to write this post after Miss Lifen sent me this article [link] about sugar. She didn't leave a message so I assumed she wanted me to read it and I did. She's a kind soul and want me to know what exactly a sugar addict like me should be avoiding. Under the "better than sugar" (the lesser evil) list, I saw Stevia and that brought back some recent memories.

Robert gingerly dropped a lot of Stevia seeds into my hands 2 weeks ago. I ended up in his garden after Jen popped a small portion of its leaf into my mouth and gave me a large grin. It was a leafy herbal taste for first five seconds, then a strong sugary after taste followed.

I knitted the brows, frowned and asked Jen, still wearing the large grin, "What was that?"

"Stevia, go to the garden and take a look." So I did.

"The taste is still in my mouth Rob," when I told him I had a very small dose two minutes ago. Robert then proudly introduce his Stevia plant to me, along with the rest of his home produce such as Sweet Basil, Broccoli but nothing as impressive as the Rosemary hedges abutting the wall along his swimming pool. Those bushes were anyone's lifetime's supply of Rosemary. Make that 3 generations. The fruit trees were great too but the spotlight is on the herbs for today's topic.

Ah. So I went back reading about Stevia after Rob's virtuous wife Shamirah told me more and got me interested. This plant has a low germination rate, perhaps about 2 in 10. Thus it may be hard for me to produce anything despite the generous amount of seeds in my care. It looks like stem cuts are the way to go, just like I did for the Thai Basil plant I pinched from Patrick's yard at his new rental place. I managed to root it in just tap water and it appears to be growing well at my balcony.

Any chance with the Stevia? I didn't have a good record dealing with seeds but we never know do we? A week ago, I couldn't cook a decent chicken breast chunk and now I can. These Stevia seeds are so fragile, they can be blown away like Dandelions. Hardly hardy at all. To my surprise I managed to get a sprout last night. It may be still early stages because a seedling can very well die within an hour if transplant to a proper pot does not go well. Take a look at what I saw last night anyway:

Can you see 'em?

The signs of life

Author of Musings from the Aotearoa [link], aka the star man of the long ago post, "Another Crazy Singaporean Son," [link] will be back! His fans (including me) can look forward to more insights about his incredible adventure in New Zealand. He have since returned to Singapore to hatch his next plan and we have been keeping in contact. Believe me, J will make it to where he wants to go. Although I have never met the man in person, I just know. He is the kind of person who oozes intent and you can feel that even 4000km over emails.

Without getting his permission, I will rudely reveal the sneak peek to the great things coming;

Hi Nix,

Want to update you on my camera situation. Just received it in my mail 2 days ago and been playing around with some data recovery software on its sd card. I had managed to recover roughly the last week of my camera photos before it got stolen. Of course, not all of the photos had been recovered. In total, I got around 300 photos back. Will be checking out the camera functions this weekend to check if it's still workable.

I also found out the reason why it was delayed, due to the camera having a litium battery which according to international air shipment guidelines is considered dangerous goods. I believe when the airline or postal service find out about it, they returned it back to the NZ police, hence the delay. In the end, NZ police has to discharge the battery totally and packed it outside of the camera before they could remail it to me.

Will be looking at continuing the blog and currently back on working with the draft posts although don't expect much as majority will still be without photos. Maybe will put some posts up before June ends.

J was devastated when he lost his camera which was an important source of the precious memories of his NZ adventures. He was disappointed enough to stop blogging altogether. I can fully empathize with that for I stopped blogging twice myself when I was indignant. Meanwhile I will look forward to reading his new posts. Great pictures, great place, great stories. What's there not to be excited about?

The guy arrived last night with his beautiful wife for his first trip to Perth. She shivered in the cold Autumn night while her husband busked under the moonlight in comfort. Within 5 minutes of the pick up, he commented we had the longest conversation in English since we knew each other.

"Channel 5 ok, Nora is here," simply said I.

"Hey, it's ok, she knows Chinese," came the reply.

I raised my eyebrows, kept the doubts to myself and began to give my buddy a quick navigation lesson.

"Look here, that's where you will enter the ROE highway tomorrow, keep going for 15 minutes until you reached the end where it will forked to the north and south. Keep left and you will hit south, no chance for error."

I repeated the instructions twice more to make sure he understood. At the back, Nora acknowledged and recited the plan. Smart woman. It looked like they were a good team. They would make it to Margaret River on their own without a GPS. I made a mental note to loan them our trusty map. Jen and I had never used a GPS during any of our trips to the south. We felt that was part of the fun of a road trip and we were not alone. My buddy would do exactly that the next morning with the same, "So be it if they get lost," attitude that Jen and I had. They were going to have fun, I noted.

"Nice place," was his first comment when he reached the 2nd level of the townhouse.

I made them made themselves comfortable after I showed them their room for the night. It was already past midnight and I wasted no time to make them a quick sandwich meal. As I warmed up their bread, he lifted his clothes and pushed his tummy out to the maximum. A customary sign of friendship between us. It was bizarre yes, but that was just the way it had been and I had no idea when or how. I stole a glance and noted he broke his all time record. Like a stock market index, the size of his waist fluctuated widely over the years, due to his fine fitness and fervent passion in sports and his love for food. My own tummy used to give him a run for his money during the peaks and wouldn't be too far off the mark even at the troughs. Last night must be the biggest gap of our tummy sizes, just like the gap between his soccer team Man Utd FC and my club Liverpool FC in the league table of the season which just ended. After a few rubs on his tummy, looking pleased, he finally let down his Arsenal FC Jersey.

Yet he was the biggest Man Utd supporter I had ever knew. He could recite his past teams, honours and intricate club details backwards if you cared to challenge him. "I have a Man City Jersey too!" He quipped. That was how quirky he was. We were classmates, soccer team mates, scoring partners (on the field) and soul mates. It was almost surreal to see him here in Perth. 5 years ago, having a conversation with him on Australian soil would never even make it to my imagination. I didn't even habour a thought of living and working in Perth. Man proposes, heaven disposes. Who knows where I will end up another day? Who knows where you will end up one day? Never say never too quickly.

We went through his itinerary as both of them munched up the delicious sandwich I made for them. Yes, it was delicious and I knew it, even if I didn't take a bite. By 2am, our meeting ended. He knew exactly what to do even if our communications would be cut out for the next two days.

"You need a map, I will get Jen to pass it to you the next morning. Good night and don't wake me up."

"YOU don't wake me up," came the retort.

I turned around, gave the lazy wave and attempted to claim my precious 4 hours of sleep without delay. I went to work while they were still sleeping. Work was, of course, made tougher without adequate sleep. During the day, Jen sent the message, "Your friend rented a 4x4!" Hmm. Typical of him. If there was a tank for rental he would have done that. Alas, another round of babysitting awaited me when I finally made it back home after work because Jen was called up last minute to do some once-in-a-blue-moon accounting work for somebody. Great timing. Fortunately Albany was cooperative and enjoyed the dinner I did and fed herself in a reasonable amount of mess. I was lying like a piece of rag on the couch by the time Jen's keys came twinkling at the door.

"I made it, it was easy!" came his message on whatsapp. "And there is WIFI here." He didn't even bother to get a local sim card to communicate with me. Unlike one of our mutual friend, who would be equipped like a scout going for war at every trivial endeavor. Before long, a picture of his bed and his hairy legs followed up.

"I still hope to try my brother's cooking on Saturday. Can I have a beef steak?" He was a great cook himself so I couldn't see the sense of 'trying my cooking'. I didn't give him a reply though I planned to do it. Many times I wondered why did we get along despite our obvious differences in personalities. I think it was his constant proactive efforts to engage his very, very passive buddy along the years that kept the friendship alive.

Very well brother. Welcome to Perth and see you on Saturday.

Splashed on Propa Times, preparing Singaporeans of the next coming

Someone sent me the little picture above this morning. I wasn't sure when was this copy published, it could be a long while ago. Doesn't matter, will discuss anyway.

Have any one of you ever stopped to think what Singaporeans expect of government policies? What do you expect of a sound policy? My criteria is simple;

1) Feasibility

2) Prudence

2) A mutually beneficial, win-win situation for the nation and its people.

Am I asking too much from my government and their statutory boards? I don't think so. I think many of you expect more.

Before I go into Satellite ERP, I would like to highlight an example of LTA's track records. Take a look at this bus stop below.

Many of us old farts will recognise one of these as part of our lives. We grew up with them. Have any one of you ever wondered why we spent millions of dollars to demolish and rebuild these again and again? Was it because old bus stops were not structurally designed to last more than 10 years? Was it because some of these bus stops were in poor condition. If so, I agree that would be a good reason to do so. There should not be a compromise where safety is concerned. But how do we explain one of these bus stop shown below?

Unsafe? Not functional? High maintenance? None. Bear in mind, since Singapore's independence, we have seen more than 5 waves of bus stops renewal. Take a look at this site [link] and be impressed. Do yourself a favour as a tax payer and ask yourself a simple question. Is bus stop renewal scheme feasible or prudent? Does it benefit you? How does it benefit the nation? Can you live with older bus stops? Improve tourism? Get real.

Let's get down to the stuff in proper. Satellite ERP. The advantages of a satellite ERP are as follows;

1) The redundancy of the present physical ERP gantries will translate into cost savings for the government in the long run. 1 ERP gantry costs around 1 million SGD.

2) It is capable of a large array of functions that the current ERP gantries fall short of. With its real time tracking, ERP pricing can be responsive and flexible according to road conditions.

3) These new functions can be extended to tracking speeding offences, deeming both mobile and static speed cameras redundant. It can be used to replace the current parking system entirely, a completely gantry-less, coupon-less system.

4) It can be used to track hit-and-run criminals, though that will be one of the last thing on the agenda for LTA's policy department.

Every policy department of the government must consider a new policy beginning with the end in mind. What do we want to achieve with ERP Satellites? What is the ultimate aim? The convenience in charging road tolls or the reduction of traffic congestion? Can we reduce traffic congestion by increasing the current ERP charges to $50 per beep? I am willing to bet my last dollar with the Minister Lui Tuck Yew that it will do the job. Save us Satellite ERP. As a citizen of Singapore, it pains the heart to see our current batch of gantries which cost 1 million bucks a piece become white elephants. Does any one wants to estimate the cost of demolishing these gantries? How about considering leaving one behind as a relic? Improve tourism, yeah? Can't wait to see tourists posing around the surviving ERP like how they do it at the leaning tower elsewhere.

Why are we spending millions on new ways to divert traffic where over-population is the real issue behind our road congestion? As mentioned earlier, a new exorbitant ERP charge with the current gantries will deter users from the roads to public transport, which is also bursting at its seams already, if anyone of you noticed. How will Satellite ERP solve the problem of congestion differently than the current system? Does it benefit the citizens better? The LTA should come forth and explain their objectives, reveal their feasibility studies, cost-benefits analysis and properly engage the people to understand their real needs instead of charging forward in their usual high-and-mighty way. But they will never. Remember, did anyone ask YOU if you need your bus stops replaced?

A Singaporean In Australia

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