Singapore Savings Bonds are now available

I think the Singapore Savings Bonds is a really good idea. It's basically low risk investment for people who are not so savvy at investing.

The other great advantage is that it keeps money in Singapore and not let it flow out.

Taxing the rich to give to the poor

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam is one of the MPs that I respect for his sensibility and logical thinking. There aren't many in the PAP that I know of that's at the same level he's playing at.

This is one of the video that came from the election rally of him explaining the tax system:

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam explains about our tax system and how it has benefited our middle income and low income residents in Singapore at the Holland Bukit Timah GRC & Bukit Panjang SMC Rally tonight.Listen to the end about whether GST will be increased in the next 5 years.Video Credits: Toggle.Sg#GE2015 #PAP4SGGet breaking news, live updates, and exclusive content, on the go, please click: http://bit.ly/pap_link_up

Posted by People's Action Party on Saturday, 5 September 2015

A lot of people have commented that the government should tax the rich more. I feel the same way too but the thing is, the effect return you get from the tax will not significantly increase.

In the video, Tharman explained that the rich are able to move money around. So if you increase the tax, those rich people will just move their money around, reclassify their earnings, or do whatever their tax lawyers advise. At the end, you're not going to get a lot of out of them.

If you don't understand why taxing the rich is not the best solution, then you're probably not in the rich tier. I'm not in the rich tier either, but I do know that, yes, you make money so that they are not taxable.

In the end, it will be the middle income who will end up paying more taxes if more social benefits are to come from the government. Because it's this huge group of people who don't have the financial intelligence to do what the rich do.

Bully on SMRT train

Reference: Action against MRT bully? What about man who threatened Amos Yee?
K Shanmugam Sc's Facebook post
The Singaporean blind spot that gets so glaring at times

The background: Someone who looks like a foreigner scolds a local guy and wants to pick up a fight. The local guy ignores the whole thing and a Malay guy stands up for up by scolding the bully.

I find it interesting that K Shanmugam has come out on Facebook asking for the employer of the bully to "take some action, against him". Yes, there's no law against bullying people in Singapore. Is that why Shanmugam has to imply action to be taken?

Another very interesting article relating to this incident is the one written by Limpeh. It's about how apathetic Singaporeans are. It's so scary it's true. Read it.

MCE accident caused by moron driver

Dangerous drivers should be taken off the road. Simple as that.

PLEASE PASS THIS MSG AROUND!! My brother and his wife met into an accident a few days back, a cut-short video has been circulating around. This is the full video of the incident. Toyota driver is still unknown. To anyone who witnessed this accident or have any information please PM me straight. Thank you!! Your help is highly appreciated.

Posted by Syahdirwan Jumari on Saturday, 11 July 2015

Looks like there's no COI for SMRT's July 2015 disruption

Reference: COI for latest MRT disruption "unnecessary": Lui Tuck Yew

"Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said he did not think another COI - which was convened for the Dec 2011 breakdowns - was necessary."

Yeah, that's because the previous COI was pretty useless as we are still having these problems with train disruptions. How many times are there already? Did anyone count? Was anyone held accountable?

What is accountability? How are the salaries of SMRT management determined? How are the salaries tied to the performance of the transport network?

Amos Yee given 4-week backdated jail term

Reference: Amos Yee given 4-week backdated jail term; blogger is 'remorseful', says lawyer

So Amos Yee has been released because of the 4-week backdated jail term he was given. Good for him. I felt that the length of the sentence is just right. I've a friend who felt that it should be 4 months. But a whole lot more thought that the government was too tough and should just "give chance" (that boat has sailed off long ago).

Anyway, I found it interesting that it is the lawyer who said that the blogger was remorseful. What's interesting is it is not Amos Yee who said that he's remorseful. He definitely looks shaken from all the photos plastered online. But is he remorseful? So far we have not heard a single apology from him. Personally, I hope he has learned a bit of humility and that thing called responsibility.

Anyhow Hantam on Mary Toh & Amos Yee

Reference: Only Mary Toh Can Save Amos Yee

What a smart article. Go read it.

It's rare to find a blog whose author actually thinks analytically.

UN Human Rights Office calls for the release of Amos Yee

So the Amos Yee saga continues.

Following the social media online, it seems that the general consensus is that the government has gone too far to punish Amos Yee.

Personally, I don't think that he's mentally ill enough to be remanded into IMH. Look, he's a smart kid who behaved in a stupid idiotic manner. Stupidity is not a mental illness. There are a lot of stupid people in Singapore, just look at all the type nonsense that are posted on online forums for evidence.

Somehow from somewhere, there's this UN Human Rights Office that has suddenly come out to call for the release of Amos Yee. Just because you say that we should release Amos Yee and we should listen to you? What if you change your tune and say we should give Amos a BMW? When it comes to the law, there's very little leeway for flexibility.

Should the government just drop that case? Would they drop the case? I don't think so. They have to follow through to the end. If not then they are no different from the AWOLED doctor Wang Yinchu they gave 18 months detention to. I mean, you wouldn't like a government that do things halfway right?

Amos Yee tried to refute the charges against him.

Let's see the charges as he wrote on his blog.

1st charge – Charged for deliberately intending to wound the religious feelings of Christians in general and the feelings of Fong Huiling Pamela, female 26 years old and Lim Zijin, male 27 years old in particular (Section 298 – wounding religious feelings of a person either verbally or through an action) Punishment of up to 3 years, fine or both.

2nd Charge – Charged for insulting Lee Kuan Yew and intending for it to viewed by people who would be distressed by it(Section 4(1)(b) punishable under section 4(2)) Punishment of up to a $5000 fine.

3rd Charge – Charged for uploading an obscene image (Section 292 1(a) – distributes any obscene materials) Punishment of up to 3 months, fine or both

The first charge is serious. YOU DO NOT INSULT/PLAY/USE RELIGION FOR ANY POLITIC CAUSE OR WORSE, ENTERTAINMENT, IN SINGAPORE. If you haven't understand Singapore's history enough, it's the the government will do any and everything to keep things stable. This first charge makes the seriousness of the next two charges seem so pale by comparison.

The second charge I think is a bit far-fetched. Is insulting people a crime? How do you quantify those people who are hurt by the insult? How do you measure their distress? And are they made less off that they cannot recover because of the distress? This is a stupid charge. Oops. Did I insult anyone by saying stupid?

3rd charge of uploading obscene image. Amos Yee may not have known that there's this law in Singapore. Sure. I don't doubt that. Tourists who litter in Singapore also may not know that littering is a crime in Singapore. Look, the picture of Lee Kuan Yew buttfucking Margaret Thatcher is clearly obscene. Any reasonable person can tell that. There's no need to write a few paragraphs to refute something that's so clear.

This Amos Yee saga is a sad case. It's sad that it has been allowed to drag on for so long.

But Amos Yee brought it upon himself. He was given the chance to back up. But he even sabotaged his own bailor Vincent Law by claiming that he was molested, only to reveal much later that it was a lie. He has the heavens to thank that Vincent Law did not sue him.

What I find sad about the whole thing is Amos Yee didn't show any remorse. He isn't apologetic at all. Even when he's now a pale shadow of his former arrogant self, he has not apologise to anyone. I know apologies can be cheap, but for Amos Yee to not apologise, it just shows that he has learned nothing from in.

I would think that Amos Yee would gain humility from all these, but now I think otherwise. I have no idea what that little kid wants. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what he wants also.

Pasir Ris One DBSS is wow, plain ugly

Reference: Pasir Ris ONE DBSS – yet another development under fire

When I saw the photos of Pasir Ris One DBSS, I was "stunned like vegetable".

Alright, the exterior is ugly. That's not surprising coming from a HDB project. But the interior really looks like a prison corridor. Unbelievable. So that's the standard housing planners nowadays?

Court gives doctor gets 18 months DB for AWOL

Reference: When a Dream-Chasing Doctor is No Better than an Upskirt Pervert
Longer detention for doctor who went AWOL

This to me is a very sad story.

One month to completing NS, Wang Yinchu AWOLed in order to get into Cambridge to purse his medical education.

Mindef refused to approve his disruption. If you're so powerful, you should be confident enough to approve the disruption and force the guy to continue when he comes back to Singapore.

This article is not about what could have been.

I guess many people would read the story and get caught up by the details. A doctor's whose bright future is now ruined. There are also people who blamed the doctor for his stupidity, claiming that if he could AWOL, he could also walk out of his patients midway surgery (just like how you don't finish your food on the plate).

Some people are angry at the chief military prosecutor for imposing the 18 month detention.

The main point of the story is Mindef is never known to be flexible.

They are not flexible.

You can die and they will still not be flexible. But they will pay for your cost if they are found to be negligent.

I mean that's it.

Regardless of the story, you can always think forward into the future and know the answer. Mindef is inflexible. The details of the story are just distractions.

What I'm more interested now is what the doctor thinks.

Personally, I think we have lost a Singaporean here, in soul even if it's not in body. It may not be the desired outcome, but it's the unavoidable outcome because of Mindef's flexibility.