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.

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.