SMRT dismissed two staff involved in 22 March accident

SMRT sends emails to staff, defending its decision to dismiss two staff involved in fatal accident on 22 March

I read SMRT's letter in full and it seems that they are going by the book when it comes to dismissing the train driver. That's even though it seems that the train driver wasn't at fault. At least to me he wasn't because there was nothing he could have done to prevent the accident. His job is to control the train. He was fired because of bad luck -- being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Wow.

To me, it's another case of I-can-do-what-I-want-and-don't-really-care-what-you-think.

Property Soul: An insightful property blog for those in Singapore

There's this blog called Property Soul that I've been reading for a while and it would be to the benefit of those in Singapore to read it before investing in properties.

The lady writer is knowledgeable, substantiates what she says and her articles are quite inspiring and enlightening.

Singapore to monitor Pokemon Go. For what?

Reference: How can the Singapore government monitor Pokemon Go?
I can’t believe I’m defending Minister Yaacob Ibrahim’s Pokémon Go comments

This is what happens when there's a business so powerful that it can cause disruption in Singapore. Just like when Airbnb and Uber entered Singapore, they had to be monitored. Now we're monitoring a video game.

Rather than thinking of how we can MANAGE these technology disruptors, why not focus our resource on how we can create these businesses instead? How can we promote creativity and entrepreneurship in our country to come out with business that make an impact around the world?

Lives in USA are worth less than gun laws

So there's another shooting in USA, in an Orlando nightclub. People are angry, people are sad. However, Orlando is just one of the many shootings that day, it's just that more people died which is why it's on the news.

Whenever there's such shootings, you'll see forums and comments of people who support the right to own guns.

The thing is, people believe what they want to believe. Whatever anti-gun argument you use, I'm pretty sure they have a comeback, and it may be a reasonable comeback, one that's totally substantiated by facts, statistics.

Those people who are arguing for the right to own guns don't really care about other people who are getting shot. They may be sad about the Orlando shooting, but that's not going to change their behavior and attitude of owning guns themselves.

Let me put it this way: lives of people in USA are worth less than the gun laws. If lives are actually precious, they would have done something to stop innocent people from getting killed. And it's such a shame that no one in the government has the guts to do what's right. They just accept life as it is today. If people can own guns so easily, statistically, there are going to be shootings. It's just another shooting that won't change anything.

If the lives of those people are important, the US government would have done something by now. Columbine shooting was in 1999.

Food rage lady should have been dragged out of the mall

Source: Food rage lady gives her side of the story, says she had a cold that day

When talk and reason fail, perhaps it's time to call the security to drag her out of the mall. This is to maintain the harmony and peace of other customers who are eating. It's a private property after all.

NTUC FairPrice and the rats at Kang Kar Mall

Source:
NTUC's initial response on taking legal action
NTUC FairPrice, FB user trade words over rats at Kang Kar Mall

It is unfortunate when entities abuse their position to bully the weak. That looks like the case to me when Sun Yu Ming posted photos of bread that had wrappings chewed through by rats, and NTUC FairPrice retaliated on their Facebook page.

It's also unfortunate that some people really can't think well even if they are in management. I'm referring to the person who wrote the post on NTUC FairPrice's FB page and the person who approved it. Can you not think properly?

People on the Yahoo page linked above have properly called out that the rats and the shortchanging are two different issues.

Here's some advice, for NTUC FairPrice and also other commercial entities.

When people make a complaint against your company, thank them for their time to provide feedback. They obviously care enough to actually give you some feedback. There are companies out there that are paying people to provide feedback. And you're getting this feedback from Mr Sun for free!

Next, find out what happen and use that feedback to improve your company.

Don't be afraid of bad news. Every problem is an opportunity.

What and how you do in a situation like this reflects who you are. Do you want to be a moron or a responsible person in the mind of the public?

Khaw blames management for rail woes

Source: Khaw blames distracted management for rail issues

I've never been had a positive impression of SMRT management even since the major disruptions in 2011. That was went things really went downhill.

I still remembered their inability to handle the crowds. They didn't know what to do during the disruptions. It's not unexpected. They weren't prepared for this sort of situation. But that does not explain why they don't have the ability to handle the situation as it happened though.

Then there was the SMRT bus driver strike in 2012 when the management failed to contain unhappiness of their drivers even though the issue was already made know to them in advance. The management should have handled that better and not allow it to progress to a strike.

After that, we had more train disruptions. The one on 7 July 2015 disrupted the NSEW line. I read with disbelief when the news appeared on social media.

And remember how the two engineers died on the tracks at Tampines?

And recently there's this "Rise in major breakdowns but MRT gets more reliable: LTA" story. That's a headline led to many people scratching their head. I was like "what the hell are they trying to say?"

Now Khaw blames the management.

Not only that, Khaw wants to set goals to catch up with Hong Kong and Taipei's rail system. It's great to set goals. Any achievement made by our rail network is applauded. But before we compare to other countries, why not just compare our system today with the system we had years before? And only after we surpass ourselves should we look towards comparing with other countries.

I'm cynical about the whole situation though.

So what if they don't hit the target? It's not like anything bad will happen. Life still goes on. SMRT is still profitable. Salaries will still get paid at the end of the month.

ST vs Lee Wei Ling (2016)

The current saga of Straits Times vs Lee Wei Ling is just stupid.

This is a perfect example of airing dirty laundry outside for all to see. This is when you could have washed the laundry properly first before airing it.

Lee Wei Ling said ST censored her article on Facebook.

There are some arguments and counter-arguments on Facebook.

Now, ST has replied with a respond to why the article wasn't published.

Let's see how stupid the situation has become.

If you as an editor had told the writer that there's plagiarism in the article, it would have been made clear that the article cannot be published. Also, the editor would have been able to educate the writer about the concept or plagiarism. The ST editor should have educated the writer in the first place. It's your job. It's plagiarism. You put your paper at risk by not telling the writer because if she continues to write, there's a chance in future you might not catch the mistake.

As for the writer, one that has written so many articles for ST, to not know what plagiarism is... That is just MIND BLOWING. When I read the words "intentionally plagiarized" in her facebook post, I was like "OMG, are you serious?"

Now both parties are made to look stupid and unprofessional.

Student killed herself after getting 2 Bs for O-levels

Reference: Student commits suicide after getting two Bs for O-levels, mum takes own life 3 months later

This is a tragic story.

The student decided to kill herself because she wasn't able to live up to expectations.

In exams, you can score a maximum of 100 or As. In life, you can score however high you want to. There's more to life than just exams. I hope that all parents who have read the story can take something away.

Comparing your kid against other kids who are performing better is the most silly thing to do in my opinion. You're just going to make your kid feel inferior and what does that achieve? So that he/she will do better in order to avoid being inferior? Why not encourage your kid to learn for the love of learning which will eventually give your kid a better life.

Every parent have their own way of teaching but to make your kid feel bad is not the right way.

Man in seat storm

Reference: Man caught in seat storm says he has heart condition & has not been feeling well

Lady’s rant against man who wouldn’t give up seat leads to heartwarming reunion

So now the seat for the disabled and needy has become the seat of morality and ethics. If you're on the seat and refuse to give up to someone that's shown on the sticker pasted above the seat, you have bad manners.

Says who?

Everyone can have their opinions, sure. But who are you to judge who's the right one to deserve the seat?

The guy already said that he's tired and that's a good enough excuse that he needed the seat. The woman carrying the baby also needs a seat. So how do you choose?

Take me for example, when I board trains, I don't sit even when there are empty seats. If I am tired and happen to sit at the new morality/ethics seat, I'm likely not to give it up too. I stand for most of my trips so that I can give other people a place to sit, whether they are abled or not. If one day I sit and the some moron took a photo of me, and paint whatever picture that moron wants to paint, is that an accurate picture?

In short, if you want to sit, sit. Want to give up the seat, do so. But don't turn this into a freaking morality test and go judging people.

And stop using the "ownself check ownself" or "you voted for this" arguments. Those are just excuses for your inability to argue with facts and sensibility. People using shortcut arguments are killing their brains without knowing so.

Knowing your rights at the airport

I saw this Facebook post pop up. It's quite interesting.

The guy in the story, PJ Wong, was stopped the ICA officer for a spot check. Wong questioned the intent of the officer and basically questioned all the procedures. Wong even started taking videos. The police officer tried to snatch his phone. The supervisor was called in and Wong was left off.

Here are some thoughts, the officer is doing his job and is within his power to carry out the search. The questions are unnecessary and the officer don't even need to give him any reason. The police officer has no right to take away the phone. That would be stealing. The situation can turn extremely ugly. Luckily for the officer, he did not get the phone. If I'm in the same situation, I would proceed on with the search. What's the big deal? By the way, Changi Airport is not a public area. Many people mistake places where public have access as public area. That's not true. The property owner has the right to remove you any time from the premise.

Update: There's now a facebook page to support officer Eugene Ng.

Khaw Boon Wan vs UberX

Reference: Brace yourself, UberX. Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan is coming for you

I seriously do not understand what is meant by "leveling the playing field".

This is competition. Competition helps lowers the price of taxi fare which is too bad for the taxi drivers of course. Competition also improves the service by getting more cars out to work as transport vehicles. It benefits more passengers than taxi drivers.

So how does "leveling the playing field" generate positive utility for the economy, or even benefit passengers?

Will taxing the rich make Singapore richer?

Reference: S'pore's total tax collection hits record high of $43.4b

So there are now 4,557 people earning more than $1 million each.

Their combined income came to $8.63 billion and they paid about $1.6 billion in income tax.

That works out to be 18.5% tax rate.

Singapore's total tax revenue recorded the 12 months before March 31 is $43.4 billion.

Those 4,557 high earners are only contributing 3% of the total tax revenue.

Say for example if we were to tax the hell out of those rich people at various tax rates below
30% - 2.59b in tax - 44.39b tax revenue - 5.8% of total
40% - 3.45b in tax - 45.39b tax revenue - 7.6% of total
50% - 4.32b in tax - 46.12b tax revenue - 9.3% of total

The rest of the so-called lower earners contributed $41.8b.

Say we increase the tax of the rest by 1%. That will give us an additional $4.18b.

To get that amount with high earners, we had to increase the tax level of high earners to you're-going-to-piss-them-off 50% level.

That's the law of large number. You will get a more significant result when you increase a small percentage that affects a large number.

Indonesia's comments on the 2015 haze

Shocking statements from “senior people” in Indonesian gov’t: Shanmugam

So what can you do, Singapore?

Nothing would be quite an accurate answer.

I can't stand all these wayang that's playing out on the international stage where politicians are ALL TALK NO ACTION (NATO). It's the biggest wayang playing live right now.

Shuqun student bullied for 5 months

Source: TMG Exclusive: Teacher knew about the bullying, teen was bullied for 5 months before video

There's this Shuqun Secondary School student who was bullied for 5 months before anything was done.

The teacher has failed to protect the student who was unable to protect himself. There should have been follow-up to see if the initial verbal warning to the bully is actually working. Apparently not in this case and the victim has to suffer because the teacher is incapable of teaching discipline and conduct to the bully.

Parents can avoid this type of behaviour by asking their kids about school and work occasionally. It's most important to foster an open-minded culture where kids can talk freely and won't be afraid to talk about this type of things.

This case reminds of the SMRT bully case where someone else has to stand up for the victim because the latter choice to suffer in silence.

People need to stand up for yourself because nobody else will do that for you. Your happiness should not have to depend on others.

The ball is round

"The ball is round" is the most stupid answer you can give to any question.

Do you want to pay more taxes?

Another great post I spotted on Facebook, written by a sensible person. In short, she wants her CPF money back.

CPF is a savings instrument. It's supposed to pay you a monthly allowance when you retired.

So the reason she wants her money back in lump sum is because? Or is it because her CPF account is not giving her enough money monthly?

One of the main reasons why you can't take out money is because the government don't think people have that responsibility to manage their own money. If you look at the number of people who post irresponsible comments on Facebook, you ought to be scared. What will these people do if they do get back their lump sum CPF payment?

Say someone tells you that there's a good stock you should buy and you bought it and one year later you lost 10% of your money? 10% of your life savings is a lot. Put in another way, you lost 10% of your life. When you have a lot of money and don't have the financial knowledge to handle them, it's dangerous. People are greedy and like a good deal. When you see a good investment, you will want in. And if you're not savvy, then the risk is high. I recently bought shares and it went down 25%. The money I used, I can write off 100%. But when you're old, and you lose 25%, your heart will sink and you'll never forgive yourself because you won't have the luxury of time to earn them back.

It's not like the government wants to be a nanny state. In fact the opposite, they want you to be responsible and independent. Besides CPF, have you not been saving money outside? If you only depend on government to save money for you using the CPF system, you might not be in a good situation. You could be a low wage earner and cannot save money on your own, sure. But without CPF, as a low wage earner, you won't even be able to save anything without CPF.

Personally for me, I never depend on CPF for my savings. I treat it as an invisible savings account. On my own, I work from 9am to 1am. I work hard and save money while I'm young. I don't want to have to depend on CPF when I'm old. But it will be great if there's a monthly allowance from CPF when I'm retiring. Also when I'm buying a flat, or as many people say leasing a flat, the invisible money suddenly turns into something I can use to finance the purchase.

Source of the story below: Facebook

This is the standard question we get asked when we question if we should give an allowance to our old folks, provide them better healthcare or get our CPF back at 55.

Almost immediately, and almost always, the answer is a straight no. It is so easy to predict Singaporeans, it becomes sad.

When I just started work, Singapore was not a tax haven. Our personal income tax rate could go progressively up to 33%. In my first job as a non-executive, my basic salary was $1,100 but I had to pay 12% income tax.

25% of our monthly income went to our CPF account, and our employers paid another 25%. Singapore was not a developed country, and unlike today, we didn't get the kind of respect and admiration from people all over the world. We strove hard to put our country on the map.
It was tough, but we didn't mind. I don't ever remember complaining about tax. To me, it was a privilege to have an ability to earn, and paying tax was and has always been a responsibility.

Singaporeans were a much happier bunch, then. We understood there were children's education to pay for, and we wanted to build a nation that is strong. We saw the airport move from Paya Lebar to Changi, and then in the 80s, Terminal 2 was built. Now, we have Terminal 3.
When the MRT roared into town, we were curious how fast it could travel and would sometimes race against it. We were impressed how it made life so much more efficient. It cost us billions. Yes, it cost us, the taxpayers, billions.

In a few years, I'll be reaching 55 years old. It is supposed to be something to look forward to. For all the financial sacrifices we made in our younger days, we were looking forward to that delayed gratification.

We were promised that we could have our money back after loaning it to the country for decades. Three decades. But now, we are told we are not capable of managing our own money and we cannot have it back or the government might increase tax to feed us if we squander it away. Me? Not capable of managing my own money? Joke.

As if it is not enough to take away the right to our money, they must take away our dignity as well.

And you think this is right. You, the ones we put into schools for a proper education. The ones we give up well paid jobs to teach, the ones we care about. The ones we built the MRT, the best airports and harbour in the world as assets to grow your GDP for.

And worse, you think it is fair that the old folks collecting cardboards do not deserve social welfare. They too contributed to your expensive lifestyle. You think it is right that the tissue sellers should carve out a living on their own. Just so? Just so you need not face the possibility of higher taxes or a run down of reserves that WE and THEY built up?

What happened to the CSR hours that you put in? Has the education system that we paid for to educate you taught you that you need only live with clear conscience just once a year?

Yet, I am fortunate that I am only in my late 40s, and I can still feed myself, and I can still run my companies. What about those from the pioneer generation? How do you expect them to fend for themselves when they don't get their promised CPF, are too weak to work, and cannot afford basic healthcare? You really think they are pushing cardboards, tens of kilos a day... for fun?

No matter which party you favour, have a little conscience, have a little heart. Don't be too cruel with your words to those who built the country for you. Don't be too selfish and claim all glory to yourself.

We are a country, and when we were young and able, we did not calculate the tax monies we paid for your education, your parks and your sporting facilities. It is beginning to look like by making you prosperous, we have created some monsters without any sense of social justice.
Everybody grows old and will become helpless one day. I will, and so will you. Karma is something I don't ever mess with. What about you?

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.