Breakfast Network closes

One of my favourite websites writing on Singapore news — they mainly write opinions — Breakfast Network has to close because they chose not to license under the Broadcasting (Class Licence) Notification as required by MDA.

The main site has posted the closing notice, but it seems the BN facebook page is still active.
Breakfast Network (BN) was run by Bertha Henson who used to work at The Straits Times. I didn't want to refer to her as an ex-journalist like some websites do because she's still a journalist, except not writing for print.

It's a sad day.

As Mr Brown says, "Gahmen licenses Breakfast Network website to death". That's as close to the truth as it can get.

Here, we have BN who is trying to do things the right way by registering themselves as a business entity. Then MDA asked them to register.

What's the big deal? They could just register but that would mean they have to go through the paperwork, and name every single person who writes under the name of BN, even volunteers. BN explained their rationale.

Meanwhile, websites of poorer quality, bad writing continues to live on, just because they did the right thing by not being legally recognised. It's sad because the public won't care whether they are legal entities. The public will just think those lousy websites are the real deal because there are so many readers. And they will continue to get more readers to the point that they will be a problem to the Government in the future.

There are more reactions below:

• http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=8610
• http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/kitchen-closed-161623269.html 
• http://blogging4myself.blogspot.sg/2013/12/breakfast-network-canary-died-but-only.html 
• http://blog.freedomfromthepress.info/2013/12/10/online-freedom-time-to-revise-the-singapore-report-card/

SMRT bus drivers' strike

It's interesting how the SMRT bus drivers strike has evolved. When I first read ST's headline "SMRT bus drivers protest against pay", I was surprised that they didn't call it a strike. I went online and found out that other papers also didn't mention word of a strike. This puzzled me to the point I had to go to dictionary.com to check if my understanding of the word is still correct.

strike (noun) a concerted stopping of work or withdrawal of workers' services, as to compel an employer to accede to workers' demands or in protest against terms or conditions imposed by an employer.

By refusing to call a strike a strike, one really has to wonder what these newspapers are trying to do. Mr Brown also made fun of the choice of words.

Get over the anti-foreigner and xenophobic mentality

Within the community, though, Mr Lee said there are "troubling signs". He spoke of disputes among fellow Singaporeans, and something a little bit more difficult to manage -- relations between Singaporeans and new arrivals.

The prime minister said: "I think it's fair enough to express concern or disagree with our immigration trends or oppose our immigration policies. That's part of the democratic debate.

"But I am worried by some of the nasty views which are expressed -- especially online and especially anonymously. When a foreigner says or does something wrong, especially to a Singaporean, response is overwhelming.

"But bad Singaporean behaviour often goes uncriticised and a good deed by a foreigner often goes unnoticed."

Mr Lee said such incidents reflect badly on Singaporeans, damage Singapore's international reputation and give the impression that the country is anti-foreigner and xenophobic.

He called on both Singaporeans and new arrivals to show a generosity of spirit to one another. "New arrivals must also embrace our values, commit themselves to Singapore and integrate into our community," he added.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1222260/1/.html

Get over the anti-foreigner and xenophobic mentality.

The situation has been with us for so many years already, and will continue to exist into the future. Looking at our fertility rate, it's not too far in the future for Singapore to reach a 1:1 ratio of Singaporeans vs Foreigners.

So prepare yourself for that likely scenario.

Most people are still harping on this issue when they should have moved on long time ago.

Better get used to the reality and future now.

A Cyclists Eye View of Singapore Roads

Cyclist killed in collision with lorry

Stephen Choy: My Friend is Dead

So some cyclist died and his friend wrote to the minister asking for a 1.5m bicycle lane.

If you watch the video above and think that drivers are driving badly, perhaps you've missed the point. They are driving normally, badly is the normally in Singapore.

Drivers do not give a damn about bicyclists on the roads. They don't care about other drivers. They even ignore basic stuff like signalling before changing lanes.

If a traffic accident happens, it's just a traffic accident. It's not a criminal offense. You break an arm or leg, or lose your life in a worst case scenario but the driver will only get a fine, maybe have their driving license suspended.

I will be surprised if the cyclist who posted the video don't die on the road if he/she continues riding like that. Not through his/her own fault, but you can never underestimate how callousness drivers can be.

How many more should die before action is taken?

As many as it takes to make it statistically significant.

The true cause of Singaporeans not wanting babies

Everything's changed.

It sure has. Singapore today has higher cost of living, higher population density and a more stressful life as a result of those two.

Articles online have been popping up regarding the fertility rate.

See

• Solving the low fertility problem
• Low birth rate: We must decide
• Why would people want to have kids in Singapore?

Even LKY recently said, "If we go on like that, this place will fold up, because there'll be no original citizens left to form the majority, and we cannot have new citizens, new PRs to settle our social ethos, our social spirit, our social norms. So my message is a simple one. The answer is very difficult but the problems, if we don't find the answers, are enormous," said Mr Lee.

So what's the cause?

It's definitely not the stressful education system. Singaporean's don't think that long term. When you want to have a baby, it's unreasonable to predict what will happen in the future.

Is it the cost of living?

In the past, I thought it was not. People who want to have babies will have them anyway. But nowadays, I've changed my mind after looking at the inflation and home prices.

I went to PropertyGuru.com.sg and did a search for a 2 bedroom HDB flat. It's around $300,000. With a 30 year loan, you'll be paying $833 per month (not including interest). Is that good or bad? Depends on how much you're earning, and how much you want to pay for your flat.

But recently, I've changed my mind again. I wondered if there's a radical way to sell HDB flats at cost price. Would it affect the fertility rate? People will have more cash to get themselves a bigger place, a more conducive place to have kids. Or will people take the money and go for more holidays? It's the latter that made me change my mind.

Do the educated people today want more time for themselves or for babies?

Babies are important to Singapore. With a per capita of $49,270 (in 2012), third in the world, each baby is worth that much. And every baby essentially guarantees GDP growth because of consumption that comes from education, housing and the basic necessities of life. The baby is Singapore's most important GDP unit. People are.

More importantly, each baby will have a higher chance of staying in Singapore, thereby locking the money used to buy housing in Singapore. If there's going to be too many non-Singaporeans, chances of money flowing out the country is higher, and more significant. This happens when people don't want to retire in Singapore. And Singapore isn't a good place to retire in.

So up until now, we still don't really know the cause of the low fertility rate. Someone should interview people on the ground to find out the true cause. The answer is going to be very interesting.

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. - Albert Einstein.

Population.sg

And so it has began, making videos to help improve birthrate.

Here's a serious video.

And here's a not so serious video.

I don't sense that Singapore is that desperate yet. Yes, the birthrate numbers are incredibly bad. But until I see some policy changes, I can't say that Singapore is serious enough to tackle the problem.

For goodness sakes, start with making housing prices affordable. Sell them at a profit over cost, sure, but don't peg it to the market. If buyers want to resell their flats, have them sell back to HDB at the same price.

If you have more money to spend on a larger home, then it's more likely to have more children. Heck, you'll even have more time to spend on them too because you won't be so busy working for money to pay off your HDB debt. I just went to a friend's new home and it wasn't big considering the price. If it were me, I'll not have more than one children given the space. Never.

In the meantime, keep making videos and websites. I'm sure they will have a great return on investment.

Treat Singapore like a hotel and all the complaints go away

Reference:
Even new citizens and expats think Singapore is having problems. Are you listening Sir?
Singapore must pause and reflect

If you treat Singapore like a hotel, there won't be so much complaints.

The issue is citizens do believe and wish that Singapore is their home.

Will 6 months of maternity leave for mums work?

From Straits Times, 22 Jul 2012

This is an incredible push for more babies. You can almost sense the desperation. But we're not that desperate yet. Not yet anyway.

It's quite incredulous to imagine that this would work.

If you're running a business, there will be a huge disincentive not to hire these women. Of course, you won't be able to predict in advance who would be pregnant but that's always going to be on your mind when you hire people.

For big companies, it might not be so much on the financial expense, but more on who would cover the work left behind by the mum-to-be? Would the boss pay double and hire another part-timer because the job important and can't be left unattended?

A company exists only to make money. It just doesn't make any business sense to pay someone who's not working.

I suppose if this is implement, then women in the civil service will benefit most from it since the government has to walk the talk.

A more flexible work-hour would be more helpful.

Lucky STOMP staff got sacked over SMRT train door photo

Reference: Stomp staff sacked over false 'MRT open door photo'

In a potential legal situation, you never ever say sorry or admit liability — e.g. in a traffic accident.

You know how bad it is when SPH apologizes. The lady is so lucky she's protected by Company Law and only got fired.

And this isn't technically citizen journalism as the lady is an employee.

Should we watch our students master the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years

Source:
A call to relearn how we teach our children

Now the Education minister has come back to say that parents need new methods to teach their children.

So I was right in my previous article, parents are becoming more stupid.

In actual words of Education Minister Heng Swee Keat:

"The question for us really is: Do we want to stick to syllabus and teaching methods that we are used to as parents when we were students 20 to 30 years ago, or should we watch our students master the skills that are needed for the next 20 to 30 years of their life?"

What specifically are those skills that you are talking about?

Do you see people using advanced math in our daily life?