Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

The newly unveiled measures to encourage Singaporeans to have more babies is about the best that the government can offer to help couple remove financial hesitations with regards to having babies. Of course, some people will say that more can be done and should be done but I think the government has offered a fairly generous and reasonable package of incentives and there really isn’t much left that can be done.

While money is no longer a big obstacle to having babies given the rather generous handouts, there are other concerns that I have which the government cannot possibly address, and I don’t expect the government to even try. It’s a personal battle that I have to fight together with my wife.

Unlike a few generations ago where the mentality towards having kids leans towards “have them first and worry about bringing them up later”, I think these days, particularly among the more highly educated Singaporeans, the mentality has reversed. One can point to many factors that cause this reversal but the point is, the reversal in mentality is here to stay. And, I am unable to (at least not yet) convince myself to adopt the mentality of the folks from my grandparents’ era towards having kids.

There are a couple of personal reasons for this. The biggest reason is the high level of competitiveness in schools and I’ve seen for myself the kinds of tremendous negative consequences such competitiveness have on people I know. I will not provide details to protect the identities of the persons I am referring to but it scares me. Seeing such cases have enlightened me and while I might not pressure my future kids in school, the level of competitiveness in schools might just make my kid voluntarily pressure himself/herself.

I would hesitate to blame the education system for providing pressure on students, though. I think it’s more of parents who are causing voluntary pressure in kids. Some parents send their children for all kinds of tuition and enrichment classes and children do share such experiences with classmates. If the majority of the kids in the class have extra tuition and enrichment classes, kids who don’t are going to be seen as an anomaly and they will feel pressured even though these kids might have enlightened parents who are trying their best to avoid pressuring the kid. Such a pressurized education environment isn’t something the government can address with policies.

And of course, there’s National Service for boys. I’ve been through National Service and it’s not completely bad. I learned quite a few things out of it. However, I didn’t have a choice. And I want my son (if I have one) to have a choice. If I cannot let him have a choice, then I rather not have him in the first place. I understand the rationale for having compulsory military service but I don’t want to have my kid already have the decision made for him. I didn’t have a choice and I don’t want him not to have a choice as well.

So, the bottom line is that while there are no financial disincentives, there are other personal reasons not to have kids. The quality of childhood life is an important consideration in having kids, and now that I think about it, it is perhaps a more important reason than the financial cost of bringing up kids. I guess Singapore is a great place to work in but when it comes to raising kids, I am not quite certain.

Anyway, I think I still have a few years to think. Maybe I will change my thoughts in time to come as I experience more and learn more but right now, I don’t think I want to have kids, at least, not here.

The quote by avid cyclist and Safe Cyclist Task Force (SCTF) member Leo Tan in this newspaper report kind of irked me. According to the report, he supposedly said the new signs that are going to be put up to alert drivers to cyclists ‘stand as symbolic recognition by the state that motorists must share the roads with cyclists‘.

He seems to imply that motorists do not want to share the roads with cyclists and therefore the state has to give symbolic recognition that cyclists do have a right to cycle on the roads. I don’t have a problem sharing the road with cyclists. But, I have a big problem with cyclists on the road because from my experience, many of them do not follow traffic rules.

I have lost count of the number of times I’ve had to jam the brakes in order to avoid hitting cyclists who beat the red light. I’ve also seen a number of cyclists on the road who cycle and talk on their mobile phone at the same time. And, some cyclists are obviously inexperienced and swerve left and right when cycling but they insist on cycling on the roads anyway.

Seriously, if we want to allow cyclists on the roads, they need to learn AND obey traffic rules. Cyclists who do not obey the rules not only endanger themselves, they endanger other road users. Cyclists are not covered by motor insurance (at least to my knowledge). If they cause accidents, they inconvenience other people because the motorist cannot make claims against them. And if cyclists do get into an accident, the probability of serious injury is higher because many of them don’t seem to want to wear helmets.

I think cycling is a good alternative mode of transport but until there is a proper mechanism to regulate cycling behaviour on the roads, for their own safety and for the sanity of motorists, please take the cyclists off the road. I’ve had enough scares from nonchalant cyclists who think that they are exempt from traffic regulations.

It’s been more than a year since I’ve gotten married (you would know if you’ve been diligently looking at the counter to your right), and it’s more than half a year since I’ve got a place of my own and moved out. I’ve also graduated for a year now and have been working since I graduated.

Looking back at the past year, a lot has happened, and the transition from being a student to a working adult is certainly a big one. When I was a student, there are many things that I never had to concern myself with but now that I’m a married and working person, I realise there are many things to juggle by myself which my parents used to take care of.

A large number of things that hit you when you’re working and married concerns money. When living off parents, mortgage repayments, utility bills, conservancy charges, tv licenses and other expenditures are in the furthest recesses of the mind. Only when you move out to a place of your own you realise how much all these add up every month, and you wonder why you have to incur so much costs each month just for being alive.

And before you even start wondering about incurring these monthly expenditures, you are already hit with the 10% down payment for your home and a five-figure renovation bill (these days, given inflation and all, the cheapest renovation will set you back at least $10,000). For someone who just started working, you find yourself penniless, or worse, in debt because you have to take a home renovation loan.

It gets even worse if you took a tuition fee loan and computer loan during your university days. Now that you’ve started working, the financial institutions are all too eager to start you on your monthly repayment. The end result of all these is that you never seem to be able to accumulate much in your bank account. The pay comes in and then in a week, 50 percent or more is gone.

When I was young, I wanted to grow up so badly. Now that I see and feel the price of growing up, I wish I can be a permanently carefree teenager.

Since this week is National Day week, I’m going to write another entry regarding National Day.

During the National Day parade, Singaporeans at the parade location are always decked out in red. However, members of the PAP are always dressed in white as far as I can remember. This is something I find very interesting. Why are they not dressed in red?

Of course, half the national flag is white so it really isn’t a problem to be decked in white. However, I just think that being National Day, everyone should be united and wear the same colour, and that includes politicians. It gets a little discomforting when leaders try and differentiate themselves from the rest of the populace on National Day.

And, it doesn’t help matters that white is the party colour of the PAP. In wearing white on National Day, are the PAP members trying to subtly hint that the party and the country is one?

Of course, the list of possible interpretations can go on but I think it would be nice if PAP members switch to red during National Day parade. It may be a symbolic gesture with no practical purposes but it is a nice gesture. At least I would appreciate it.

It seems one of the counter arguments Singapore’s political leaders like to make when responding to criticisms about Singapore is that critics, particularly those hailing from “Western” styled liberal democracies, have no experience at all when it comes to running a government.

So, to the Singapore government, the only way critics are allowed the license to talk is when the critics have had experience with governance. It seems that experience is pretty much a pre-requisite to the government.

That being the case, why are Singaporean ministers being paid millions? In order for our ministers to talk about and formulate policies for majority of Singaporeans, shouldn’t they experience what the average Singaporean experiences in order to make policies that makes everyone better off?

For starters, the ministers should get a massive pay cut to 5% of their current salary. Next, we should house them in 4 or 5 room HDB flats, depending on how big their family is. Next, they should be banned from owning a car so that they can experience being sandwiched in overcrowded trains and buses. Maybe the water and electrical supply to their homes can be cut from time to time too.

Without such drastic measures, our ministers cannot possibly be experienced enough to formulate good policies. We really should give our ministers the best possible experience of being an average Singaporean.

Addendum:

Someone said to me this entry sounds like an angry rant. Actually, it is not. Look at the tags.

I’ve stopped watching National Day Parades for a long time. As a kid, I used to be very excited over them. However, as I grew older, they got boring.

Sure, the organisers try to do something innovative every now and then but these are just cosmetic effects. The boring thing about NDP is that the story is the same. It’s the same old fairy tale of how Singapore climbed from third world to first by overcoming tons of obstacles and adversities under the capable leadership (of the PAP). It gets really boring to hear the same old propaganda every year.

It would be perhaps a little too much to compare NDP to the kinds of massive, feel good parades that Hitler used to do for his fellow Germans more than half a century ago. However, I cannot help but feel some similarities. At each NDP, the “Singapore Story” is replayed over and over again, but which version of the story are we hearing? My take is that we are hearing what those in power want us to hear and hope for us to believe in the story.

Unless I need some mental anesthetic, I’ll probably not watch NDP ever again.

I’m not a history expert but from my limited knowledge of Singapore’s political history, there are a couple of precedents.

The first way to get sacked is to engage in corrupt practices. Teh Cheang Wan, former Minister of National Development is an example, although he was never formally charged and sacked because he committed suicide before any proceedings could be brought against him.

The second way is to be an alcoholic. Of course, the ex-president Devan Nair was not a minister and neither was he sacked from his presidency but apparently, he resigned from his position as Singapore’s President to get treatment for alcoholism.

So, as long as you don’t take bribes and you don’t drink alcohol excessively, as a minister (or any other high ranking public official) in Singapore, you will never lose your million dollar job. I wish I had such a diamond rice bowl.

Is there a Dummies’ Guide to becoming a minister in Singapore? I need one.

No, I am not doing a survey but rather, someone contacted me and requested help in getting survey participants. If you are kind enough to assist, please help her out. The details of the survey are as follows:

A NTU Masters student is conducting an Internet survey on “Internet Users’ Perceptions of Socio-Political Blog Credibility in Singapore”. The survey comprises of 19 questions and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. This survey will run throughout May 2008 and respondents stand a chance of winning $200 cash.

If interested, please click here.

PM Lee apparently said the following in an interview with Retuers about the level of disclosure of assets GIC is willing to tolerate:

“We do not want to tell people exactly how much we have, so people can take a run on the Singapore dollar.”

Well, uncertainty is indeed a good strategy to fend off speculators. Couple that with a money pact with an oil kingdom, Brunei, it would almost be crazy for anyone to even think of trying a run on the Singapore dollar.

Just as currency speculators are clueless as to how much money the Singapore government has, Singapore citizens are just about as clueless. Of course, the average Singaporean (myself included) does not need the information to go about our daily lives so not knowing the information really doesn’t make much of a difference.

However, for all we know, we could really be engaging in a game of bluff and there is no problem now because no one dares to call the bluff. I hope no one tries to, though. It would be devastating if it was really a bluff all along.

I just have to get it off my chest. I almost crashed my car 30 minutes ago because a idiot/moron/imbecile/bonehead/dimwit ran across the AYE. Here’s what happened.

I always get on the AYE in the morning via the Pioneer Road North exit to get to NUS. This morning was no different.

I exited the roundabout underneath the flyover to get on the slip road that leads onto the expressway. There was a Mercedes cab in front of me. As the slip road is quite long, by the time you enter the leftmost lane of the expressway, you usually would have accelerated to about 70 km/h or even more.

I kept a distance of about 3-4 times the length of my car from the taxi in front. I saw that the taxi was reaching the end of the slip road and was going to merge into the leftmost lane of the expressway so I looked to my right to check if it was safe to merge into the expressway as I would be reaching the end of the sliproad in a matter of seconds.

When I looked back, I realised that the taxi in front of me was grinding to a halt and I was less than 2 car lengths behind at a speed of about 70km/h. I jammed the brakes but it was obvious I wouldn’t be able to stop in time so I swerved to the right, narrowly missing the taxi. Thankfully, there were no cars in the leftmost lane of the expressway (I had already checked earlier and I knew there were no cars but I am still thankful because if there were cars, I couldn’t avoid crashing the car at all).

After bringing my vehicle to a stop, I looked to my left to see what happened and guess what? There was a man who was walking on the road shoulder towards the expressway exit. My wife, who was freaked out, said later that she saw the taxi driver gesturing somewhat obscenely at that man. I guess what probably happened was that dude ran across the expressway.

Honestly, jaywalking an expressway? You got to be kidding. It’s bad enough to jaywalk across a major road such as Orchard Road but jaywalking an expressway takes the cake. That man seriously has balls of steel (and a heart of iron too). And nevermind the fact that he has the guts to jaywalk an dual-carriage expressway of 3 lanes each. It is damn bloody inconsiderate to do that because he can (and he almost did) cause an accident.

I still can’t believe that someone actually jaywalked an expressway during morning peak hour traffic.