Driving the Taxi Industry

I don't often hire taxis in Singapore. Still, I have had my fair share of experience with taxis and not just as a passenger either. Sometime in the early noughties - that's the early 2000s - I worked on a project involving mobile payments in taxis. We worked closely with CityCabs which was at that time still distinct an entity from Comfort. It was a great project which allowed me to interact with taxi drivers and gain an insight into who they are and what makes them tick.

Backtrack some 15 years before that into the decade of big hair, big shoulders and the best music since the 60s and you will find me working shift hours in a credit card company in Sydney, Australia. Our shifts meant the company provided transport to us in the form of taxi vouchers so two weeks out of three when I travelled around midnight I would have a taxi ride home or to work. These rides again gave me a glimpse into the lives of these hardworking Australians and some of my rides and the conversations during them were memorable ones.

I think we tend to look at taxi drivers in Singapore as a homogenous group of semi-crazed lowly-educated foul-mouthed cretins who whine too much and drive too fast. They're often the subject of abuse, ridicule and vitriol.

I have a different view.

The Cabbie throws some shrimps on the barbie
Sometime ago there was a series on Discovery Channel called City Cabs and there was an episode where the host, Michael Krass, visited Sydney. The episode took me back in time to when I was a frequent taxi passenger.

At one point in the episode, the taxi driver invited Michael to his home for a BBQ. How much more Australian could you get right? The amazing thing was 'home' turned out to a be a sprawling suburban house with a large well kept garden where they had the barbie.

Expressing surprise, Michael asked then learnt that the taxi driver started with a single cab he bought and owned outright. He paid one of the taxi companies a fee for the radio service and livery which his taxi sported. When he'd earned enough, he bought a second cab and leased that to a couple of other blokes. Over time, he'd grown that business to a third (or more) taxis and earned a little from those too.

Thats when it hit me - this could never happen in Singapore. Taxis now are almost all owned by large companies. There are few private taxis - identified by their black & yellow livery - around now. It wasn't always like this of course. In the old days taxis were privately owned and operated. Under the guise of improving service standards and reducing cheating and so on, the large taxi companies began to cover the market. And the small-business owner, the taxi driver, got relegated to a bit part in the play.

Now the norm is that taxi drivers hire their taxis from a company, pay for the fuel and other daily costs such as ERP but nothing more. In return the companies service and maintain the taxis to ensure they work well.

What hit me was the realisation that a taxi driver's profession is the single most dead-end job in all of Singapore.

Taxi driver drives down a dead-end
Consider this: in any other job, if you did well, maybe took some course or other, and generally was liked by your boss, you would have a chance at being promoted and thus getting a higher salary. Doesn't matter what job it is - even a rubbish collector could be the driver of the truck one day. Or the supervisor.

A retail sales assistant could be a supervisor then a manager. A petrol pump attendant could work his way up to be a shift senior or more. A mechanic starts as an apprentice and could end up owning his own workshop. Heck, even a barber at the Sri Dewa chain could one day set up his own shop.

But not a taxi driver. His income is dependent 100% on the fares he picks up which are in turn dictated wholly by the amount of time he spends on the road.  It doesn't take a rocket psychologist to work out that this can lead to driver fatigue which in turn can lead to mistakes which cause irritation at the best of times and accidents at the worst.

In no other job are you faced with the same boundaries. Professionals whose fees are determined by their billable hourly rates don't face the me limits - lawyers charge for more than just their fees including photocopies and affixing their stamps on template documents, doctors dispense medication, heck even photographers can do bigger jobs and thus charge more.

Taxi drivers can't take 'bigger fares' as no such thing exists.

Or do they? What about that extra fee you pay when you call for a taxi? Or when you hail one at a certain time or place such as the airport? These 'surcharges' were supposed to make less-desirable routes or destinations more palatable to taxi drivers. Changi Airport was once deemed so far that taxi drivers needed to be enticed there hence this surcharge. With all the new towns now bordering the airport, I would wager this is no longer necessary. My 12-year old apartment is now only 10-15 minutes away from the airport, for example.

With Singapore being so built-up why do we even need to pay to call for a taxi now? By calling we are assuring the taxi company and driver of a fare. He doesn't need to circle, looking for a fare to pick up. He goes where the call was made from and there is a ready fare waiting for him. The companies say the fee defrays the cost of the system. I say with the system they remain competitive and they should view it as a necessary business investment and stop passing these costs onto consumers.

CBD ERP fees are the most unnecessary fees of all. By not making taxis exempt from this charge, the government in one fell swoop went against the grain of all the other incentives. After all, if I were a taxi driver, I too would not spend $3 (or whatever) to go in to the CBD hoping to pick up a passenger who might just make a $4 trip. The fee they have to pay to go in disincentivises drives who are outside the CBD area from entering to pick up passengers who are, really, in abundant numbers.

More and more taxis - except when you need them
Some years ago, in response to complaints there were never enough taxis in the CBD at peak hours, the government through its relevant authority, ministry or commission decided the answer was to issue more taxi company licences. There were two ideas at play here - the idea that increased competition would lead to better quantity and quality of supply and more amazingly, the simplistic conclusion that not being able to hail a taxi at that time = not enough taxis on the road.

There is an idea in management theory which essentially explains that the solution is not always related to the problem. In this one instance, the problem itself is not related to the problem, as it were.
I’ve already said above what would really help match taxis to passengers at key times so I won’t belabour the point. I will however remind you that the very same people who subscribed to the simplistic equation above also came up with the ill-conceived  idea of restricting taxis in the CBD to picking up and dropping off passengers only at driveways and taxi stands. Apparently taxis stopping along the road were a hindrance to the smooth flow of other vehicles such as buses. They back-tracked soon enough to include minor roads. And now that policy seems to have taken a back seat. Thankfully. For it was the single most short-sighted and blinkered idea to come out of the LTA’s brain in a long time.

While I’m going on about the LTA, I remain confused as to why, when it suits them, they and the Ministry of Transport regard taxis as part of the public transport network. And when it doesn’t such as when declining to exempt taxis from the CBD ERP fees, taxis are suddenly termed 'private hire vehicles'. At least this is the answer I got when I wrote in to the papers some years ago to suggest taxis be exempt from ERP charges. Yet when detailing public transport infrastructure, taxis are clearly deemed part of the public transport network.

Is it fair? Or is it just about fares?
I just read that 4 taxi operators have announced they will raise their fares as well - in line with Comfort Delgro’s and SMRT’s move. We all saw it coming and the initial response was for some to boycott Comfort Delgro and SMRT taxis. I feel this merely hurts the guys who have no choice or say in the matter, and doesn't do a thing to resolve the issues.

So what’s the road ahead? Firstly, let's be consistent and recognise taxis as a form of public transport - and let's do away with ERP for taxis. No, we don't have to do so for buses too as they ply fixed routes.

We can continue by cutting out all the other crap - stop all this business of surcharges. It serves no purpose, confuses passengers, and ultimately does nothing for the bottom line of cabbies.

In a country which often defers to ‘market forces’ I’m surprised we have to meddle so much and so I would also do away with the extra fees for taxi rides after midnight. The demand for taxis tapers off late at night as well so the expected reduction in taxi numbers will probably have no impact. Ready customers = ready supply. If need be, encourage the supply by offering rebates on rental or other fees (maybe through a credits scheme) for taxis running a minimum number of past-midnight-hours.

Next, find some way to cap or reduce taxi rentals, perhaps through reducing road tax for taxis - in fact for all Euro IV-compliant diesel vehicles. The taxi companies then simply pass the savings on to the cabbies.

I'm also for bringing back privately-owned taxis. Let individuals own more than one taxi, and manage their service delivery through the methods we already have in place including vehicle inspections.

Lastly, I’m all for doing away with service taxes and bringing back tipping. I believe this is the thing that will finally make our courtesy campaigns work. It will start with some service providers coming across McDonald’s and fake but over time, people will respond firstly by tipping good service then by reciprocating in kind too and notoriously grouchy and rude Singaporeans may just be motivated to change.

How will this impact taxis? Well, if you tipped a cabbie for helping you with your baggage or your child’s stroller rather than staying seated in his cab, it will only encourage cabbies to behave better and this can only be a good thing.

Fire the lot of them

I’ve wanted to write a bit about how I think the Singapore Police Force has gotten just that little bit useless but just haven’t found the time to until today. A few events I’ve witnessed or personally experienced in the last few years have given me this impression and I will certainly describe them soon.
Right now however, I will relate the events of this afternoon.

Travelling along the PIE on our way back to the office, Joe and I saw a plume of smoke some distance ahead just about the same time cars started slowing down. Thinking it might be a fire, I pulled to the left lane and when Joe confirmed it was a car on fire, I got onto the emergency lane and drove up to a little less than 100 metres from a burning Volvo. A truck had stopped ahead of it and two people - who later turned out to be the driver and her son - were standing on the road shoulder looking on. I grabbed the two fire extinguishers I had in the boot, passed one to Joe and we ran up to the car.

As we passed the lady I ascertained no one was trapped in the car and that the fire services had been called.

I recall seeing one or two people, probably from the truck, in front of the car and I think they had an extinguisher with them. The flames were licking around the cracked grill and the gaps around the bonnet and the smoke was thick and a little acrid. I emptied my smaller extinguisher down low and at the base of the fire around the radiator grill but did nothing to stem the rapidly increasing inferno. Joe’s extinguisher, a little larger, was similarly emptied in seconds but the fire was by now raging under the bonnet.

About a minute or so had passed and with nothing but empty extinguishers in the car I ran back to see if there was anything else I could use in my boot.

A police patrol car arrived just then, crawling along the line separating the slow lane and the emergency lane. They must have been doing about 10 km/h and I waved frantically at them. As they drew abreast, I noticed the front passenger was on his walkie-talkie. I was screaming at them at this stage - obscenities were used liberally, loudly and with some gusto. I couldn’t believe these two cops were proceeding as if it was a Sunday School Parade. No sense of urgency, no rush, no apparent appreciation of the need for immediate action.

I ran past them back to the burning car just to see what else could be done. I left them rummaging in their boot… I have welder’s gloves in my car but I thought it best not to try and open anything up lest I unleash a hitherto oxygen-deprived beast.

At this point the cop who had been on the walkie talkie came up with a larger extinguisher and when he saw how large the flames had become, much to my astonishment he lay the extinguisher on the side of the road and proceeded to do other mysterious police duties. Like ask meaningless questions, talk more on his walkie talkie and walk up and down.

Around this time a motorbike-riding fire response officer came up, dismounted and began unravelling some strange contraption. This turned out to be a great device which seemed to shoot jets of compressed air out in order to starve the fire of oxygen.

As the evidently-trained authorities had arrived I took out my iPhone and started videotaping the next few minutes. Now watch the video and see for yourself why I would fire the lot of the police force.

At about 10 seconds, you see a couple of guys come up with yellow jackets and bearing extinguishers. No, not police nor firefighters. These two were from the official tow truck. They were obviously very panicky and tentative and discharged their extinguisher waaaayyy too far form the fire - someone should train these chaps I think. Whoever was in charge of training them should be fired too come to think of it.

Note how these guys are on the slow lane. Now, at this point, the traffic has not been blocked from this lane! Some idiotic driver in a world of his own and wondering why the left lane was so free and empty (and don’t we know there must be hundreds of drivers like this around?) could have barrelled along and run down these two Samaritans. Not to mention the one guy in uniform who seemed to know what he was doing.

The flames were way too big by this time of course and you can hear me say so in the video.
At this point what do you think the cops were doing? Directing traffic perhaps? Setting up warning signs? Well, from about 00:38 you can see for yourself.

And you can hear me incredulously suggesting they do something useful like ensuring traffic moves around smoothly and safely, and maybe ensuring there is space for the next lot of emergency vehicles to come in.

But no….. taking notes and checking with someone on the walkie talkie is a muuuuucccchhhhh better thing to do in an emergency.

As I am very pointed in my comments, I’ve thought it best to try and cover their identities hence the funny square in the video.

Yes, yes, at 1:00 I was making a note of the cop car number…. Incidentally you can see my car parked behind, with the boot lid up and the hazards flashing.

At about 1:10 you can hear the sirens of other response vehicles approaching. But no, they will have no cops to direct them in….

Instead they have a Land Transport Authority Officer (a Certis Cisco Officer you will note) pull up on his little Gilera 3-wheeler. A Rhino pulls up too - I presume the Rhino was travelling at the speed of the Gilera seeing as it appeared to have been escorted there by it. The firefighters spill out and although we later discover they pulled up too short, I think they did a decent job.

The second Rhino did better though I think.

Then a strange thing happens - at 2:13 the sirens get switched off. Is this standard procedure?

Considering this is a highway and there is traffic going past, and our two cops are still busy taking notes and talking on the walkie talkie, shouldn’t one siren be left on to alert cars? You hear me voice as much on 2:18.

The first Rhino is manoeuvred closer, the big engine begins to do what it does best, the LTA officer stands around relying the flashing lights of his Gilera to guide traffic along… At 2:35 you hear Joe hypothesising that the cops were waiting for the LTA officer or a Traffic Cop to direct traffic and you hear too my exasperated response saying the cops should have the training to do this.

At about 2:50 the mother of the driver and I start chatting. She too was puzzled why the first cop had not used his extinguisher or done more and had opined as much.

At 3:10 you see the LTA officer eschewing his more-visible and safer (considering the circumstances) helmet for a presumably comfier cap. Then at 3:15 you see there are now traffic cones laid out and cars are thus avoiding the area. What isn’t on the video is what I discovered later - the cones were not, as I had originally thought, placed by the cops, but by the tow truck guys. They also eventually moved their tow truck across the first two lanes to act as a stop and buffer in case someone came blindly barreling along.

What is also not shown on the video is our conversation with the LTA officer who came over to us and asked why we were there. Duh… I wished the lady all the best - she wanted my name but I thought that was not necessary and when she thanked us profusely I just told her to please help someone else if she were in our shoes and saw someone in need.

As for our two cops, I didn’t see them after one wandered off in the direction of the traffic cones.
I’m still both astounded and pissed off. It occurs to me now too that I’d heard neither of the cops ask the first question I’d asked the lady ‘Is there anybody trapped inside?’

Here Lies Greatness

What makes a man great? And what makes a great man?

I guess we could say the answer to the first would be his words, his thoughts, his deeds, the effect he had on the people around him and more. The answer to the second could encompass background, education, mentors, faith… the list goes on.

I could think and write a little about all these but I would prefer to write a little instead about a great man I knew. One whose life embraced all of the above. And then some.

He would understand too that I now choose not so much to write investigatively, but to write anecdotally instead. For here was a man whose life was a rich tapestry of stories. And if the measure of a man were the stories he left behind on the lips, in the minds and in the hearts of those whose paths crossed his own, then Mr Sebastian Vincent would be a giant among men.

Indeed to us, he seemed that way - a towering personality who struck terror and humour into our souls at the very same moment. A no-nonsense Physics teacher who took his work seriously and would just as readily take the mickey out of his students. There were those who made fun of him just as he made fun of us. In either direction the gentle mocking remained just that - good humour that never even so much as glanced in the direction of aggression, vitriol, or anger.

In the great play of life that was the lot of the Physics student in La Salle PJ, Mr Vincent was the murder prop - a glinting shining axe that looked menacing and added an edge of fear while being just that little bit incongruously comical. An axe that bound the play together, gave it direction and purpose.

My mother, who made up for lacking the better judgement not to stop at 6 children in the first place, decided that I needed to attend tuition at Mr Vincent’s in preparation for my Form 5 exams. One bad decision balanced out by one brilliant one and so I found myself cramped into this rickety add-on room in No 1 Jalan 5/9B. A room we all thought was partly a stubborn personal DIY project at best (for certainly a qualified carpenter/builder worth his salt would dare not leave this job in this parlous state!), and a physics experiment gone seriously awry at worst.

Still, we trusted the man and figured if the whole shebang collapsed, we would at least get some free Physics lessons while we awaited extrication.

And this would have been, despite the stories we can all tell, a pleasure and a great help.

I had, of course, known Mr Vincent for some years as our families were friends, his wife was my mother’s colleague, friend and church-mate (and my Standard 4 class teacher) and his children were part of my limited social circle every Sunday when we had the SFX Church Children’s Group gathering and mass.

He had never taught me, however, until that moment I stepped into that re-creation of a Black Hole. The immense gravitational pull of his knowledge, personality and sheer presence sucked us all helplessly in. Either that or we had paid good money and there was air-conditioning.

Mr Vincent was a teacher like no other I have ever met. He seemed always to be thinking of something else. A mathematics problem perhaps. Or the mystery of faster-than-light travel. Even maybe when my ancestors actually came down from the trees. This last one was quite likely as really, I sometimes displayed a particularly painful disinclination to comprehending Physics.

When talking to me, I noticed he often failed to make eye contact, preferring instead to look at a point just below my left knee, or a little off my right shoulder. I took this to be a result of being preoccupied with my ancestry of course and never once doubted that though his eyes may not have been fixed on mine, his mind was always probing my own severely lacking version of the same.

And when I opened my mouth to answer a question (usually rather badly) I think now his mind was in hyperdrive, thinking of ways to accelerate to light speed my evolution from chimp to Champ.

One day when the reason I was not making eye contact with him was simply because I was facing the wrong direction and clearly not paying attention in class, I heard my name being called ‘John Cheong’ with the chilling follow-through ‘answer the question’…

I turned to where the voice had emanated and mumbled ‘Me, Sir?’ I had of course just the tiniest idea what the question was, and probably an infinitesimally smaller idea of the correct answer. I think I felt at that moment like a moth caught in a flame… Still, I had to plunge headlong and so when he said ‘Yes - you’ I rattled off a 20-second answer ‘bla bla bla bla bla….’

At the end of which Mr Vincent went ‘Good.’ and I beamed a little crazily at all who had doubted me. Until I heard his voice go ‘More.’
‘More, Sir?’ I stammered amidst the chuckles of the others in class.
‘Yes, more.’
So I plunged further into the abyss… ‘bla bla bla bla…’ I went on for another 30 seconds.
‘Good!’ My relief must surely have been visible despite the almost maniacal edge to my smile then.
‘More.’
My relief fell to earth like a meteor in all its flaming glory, arcing across the night sky. Roarrrrr, boom, crash, pow….
I sucked in a deep breath and ‘bla bla bla bla bla…’ 20 more seconds of sheer agony, fear, imagination, make-believe, prayer, and utter undeniable plain-for-all-to-see complete nonsense and bullshit.
‘Ah.’ he went.
‘Ah? I thought.
‘Good!’ he went.
‘Good?’ I thought incredulously.
….
‘But all wrong’ he added as his final masterstroke, the last nail on my cross of suffering, hammered in with particular glee right smack OUCH! in the middle of my uhm… intellect. It had been wrong from the very first second and he knew it. He knew I would have no hope in hell of rescuing myself in the 3 opportunities he gave me. He was cunning, devious, wicked.

Wickedly funny that is. We laughed. I laughed.

And now, almost 30 years later, I still laugh.

And the funniest thing is that I did learn. And I actually did rather well. For a student not predisposed to the Sciences (well, OK to studies in general) and one who eventually only barely scraped through with passes in Chemistry and Biology, I got the highest Credit pass for Physics - a C3 - and I still wonder about the gravitational pull of Black Holes.

I did Arts in Form 6 and thus missed him. I didn’t miss the stories though and I’d like to recount another here which involves my cousin, Carol Rozario. She attended La Salle for Form 6 and did Physics and it seems Mr Vincent chose to widen his aim to include my extended family too for he wickedly (and deliciously) took the mickey out of her too.

It was just after the first Physics exams of Form 6 and he came in to class with the results. He declared that he would announce all the results out loud by calling each student’s name and their mark out of 100 and should any student not wish to have their marks revealed publicly, they should raise their hands, come up to him and he would whisper it in their ear instead.

Now, I do believe that Carol had her challenges when it came to Physics too - perhaps it had something to do with our common ancestors having only been recently enticed down from trees and introduced to walking upright. Whatever, Carol knew she had done badly so when her name was called out, she waved frantically and rushed up to have her mark quietly revealed in her ear.

Mr Vincent was true to his word and whispered her mark to her, then as she sheepishly made her way back to her seat, he turned to the class and announced in a booming voice ‘Carol Rozario got 29 upon 100 for Physics.’

I wasn’t there but I can just see and hear it in my mind. Utterly, completely, uncompromisingly devilish. And 100% Mr Vincent.

I recently reconnected with an old schoolmate whom I have not seen since 1982 nor communicated with since the late 80s. As early as our second email to each other we wrote about Mr Vincent. We had both attended his tuition class and both felt he had been such a big part of our 16-17 year old lives that now, three decades later, the memory lived on.

When he retired from teaching in our school, we organised a farewell like no other. He arrived in school flanked by schoolboy outriders, in a car with dragging cans and a sign that read ‘Just Retired’, rode in an open jeep through the school field trailed by pretty girls bearing Bunga Manggar and was even garlanded. It was a grand affair befitting of a grand man.

A little later in the year another much-loved teacher retired with much less of an event to which a younger student remarked it didn’t seem fair.

He didn’t know, you see. Didn’t know the enlightenment a truly inspired teacher can bring to even the dimmest minds. Didn’t know that sarcasm could be wielded so effectively and efficaciously. Didn’t know that love can take many forms including patient and dedicated nurturing. Didn’t know that when you’ve endured 2 years of tuition in a ramshackle construction that could also be your tomb, you’d be so glad to see the last of the man who taught there that you’d send him off in the grandest possible style.
He didn’t know.

And I didn’t really know something else too. I didn’t know what Mr Vincent’s life was like these last few years. Well, not directly at any rate.

Some years ago he suffered a stroke while returning from India and eventually came down to Singapore where I live. My brother, Tony, and I went to visit him at the hospital. Tony went up first to his former Physics teacher, now lying in a hospital bed flanked by some of his family. Tony looked down and said ‘Hello, Mr Vincent, it’s Anthony Cheong.’

And Mr Vincent reached out and grabbed Tony’s arm tight. He tried to pull himself up and to say something. The words didn’t come out. They couldn’t. The stroke had taken that from him. As he struggled to tell Tony something, it was instead tears that came. Tears of frustration and struggle.
This man who’d communicated so effortlessly, clearly, lovingly, effectively now couldn’t get a few words out. And cried not from the effort but the failure.

I’m ashamed to say I hung back. I couldn’t. This wasn’t the Mr Vincent I knew. I didn’t want him to struggle for words and to cry. I just couldn’t bring myself to cause him more tears. And I’m ashamed to say that in the following years I failed to make the gesture of a visit to No 1 Jalan 5/9B. I thought of him and asked after him often but at the end I didn’t want to see how he had changed. I wanted to remember him as he had been in the 80s.

I was stupid.

He hadn’t changed at all. Sure he couldn’t talk, or walk or swallow even. But that wasn’t the point you see. The measure of a great man is not just what he is in the present, but also what he was in the past, and more importantly, what he brings to the future. Above and beyond the wonderful stories we all have of him, we have something else too. A mark, a standard, a guide which says ‘Here lies the point at which we know we are on the right track. Here lies dedication and commitment beyond which we discover excellence. Here lies greatness.’

Thank you Mr Vincent for helping me understand Newton’s 3 laws of motion for which I received a C3; and for so many other life lessons for which the rewards are far greater.

RIP Mr Sebastian Vincent (1929 - 2011)

cross posted on http://john-budakkampung.blogspot.com/

How many more will be killed, LTA?

I had promised in an earlier post that I would lay into Raymond Lim on the matter of cycling. That was a year ago and I failed to make good on it. Then a few months ago we had a new minister and I thought I’d give the guy a chance to prove himself.

Then two things happened: the anticipated rise in public transport fares and this morning I read this.

I’ve never heard such crock in my entire life. Well, OK I have but this one certainly sits near the top of the shit pile.

From the short report I gather the chaps who transport their foreign workers on the backs of their trucks as if they were worth no more than sacks of rice, spoke with LTA and said ‘Eh, you ask us make more space ah, means we can take less people you know. Like that very hard do business lah. Already everything so expensive, profit very low lah - you know we not like SMRT can make millions every year’ and LTA capitulated and said ‘OK lah, we’ll review the law’ or something…

There is absolutely no reason to continue to risk people’s lives when options are available. And it doesn’t take a year to act on it.

I see enough dangerous practices on the roads nowadays by drivers who have poor spatial awareness and too much aggression. We don’t need to compound matters by allowing unrestrained passengers on the load bays of inherently unstable vehicles. How many more will be killed before the LTA understands this basic fact?

Your Turn.

I think I’ve given enough reasons why Bersih 2.0 is a cause worth supporting. As of tonight, we have almost 500 people liking our Facebook page. Which indicates at least that support for what we believe in is quite encouraging.

Now I hope that in the last sprint to the finish, we can translate some of that support into contributions to our campaign.

For those who don’t know, we have decided to work within the confines of Singapore law while trying to get a message to our High Commissioner for Malaysia. We figure we have no issue with the Singaporean authorities and, being guests in this country, have no wish to confuse the issue with a distracting side-battle.

What we want to do is this:

1. Send a nice letter to the High Commissioner, describing the Malaysia we all yearn for and seeking his representation to Putrajaya to convey our thoughts and feelings.

2. Attach a poster with this letter which contains as many portraits of Malaysians living and/or working in Singapore as possible, each one bearing a sign proclaiming their love for Malaysia.
Simple, really.

Drafts of the letter are available from our Facebook page.

Now, if you want to be a part of this - and there’s no reason not to if you like our page - then simply do this:

i. Make a sign that says ‘I (heart) Malaysia’ How the heart looks is up to you. Heck, how the entire sign looks is up to you.

ii. Snap a picture of yourself holding this sign up. If you need help, use one of the ready-made signs in the photo albums, put it on your computer/tablet screen and hold that up when you take a picture of yourself.

iii. Send it to us at BersihSingapore@gmail.com. Mark the subject header ‘I (heart) Malaysia portrait.

iv. Tell us if it’s OK to use the picture on Facebook too or just the poster.

That’s all! Couldn’t be simpler, right? Much simpler than going out and marching in KL, right? So, no excuse not to spend the 3 minutes or less which you will need to do this, right?

Thank you - I look forward to seeing your portraits beside mine and the rest of the committee’s as well as the people who have done this already.

"I can't be political - for my kids" Pt 2

I guess I can be a little schizophrenic - zen-like peaceful at times, even armed with a benign smile when some people do silly, angry things. And then I can switch to searing-anger at other times which I reckon might even put Alex Ferguson to shame.

Going through some feedback however, filled me with a whole spectrum of feelings including disappointment, irritation, impatience right through to quiet suffering and on to resigned acceptance.
So many of us are driven or controlled by fear of some form of reprisal. Funny thing is, I can’t help but think that in leaving Malaysia to work here, some of us have left behind the gumption, strong-will and independent streak that most Malaysians possess. We’ve become even more fearful and unwilling to stick our necks out even that little bit.

And it seems that the little bit required to add their face to the campaign is just too much for many to hurdle. They create all sorts of justifications for their actions - or rather their lack of action.
Here’s one point that came up which I thought was rather lame - that even western democracies don’t have free and fair access to the media.

5. Free and fair access to media
Full text of demand:
It is no secret that the Malaysian mainstream media fails to practice proportionate, fair and objective reporting for political parties of all divide. BERSIH 2.0 calls on the EC to press for all media agencies, especially state-funded media agencies such as Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM) and Bernama to allocate proportionate and objective coverage for all political parties.


Well, as I see it, western democracies actually do allow fair access to the media. At the very least they don’t restrict it. And I see one major contributing factor to be the lack of the Printing Presses and Publications Act. This act gives absolute power to the Minister of Home Affairs to grant or revoke licences not just for publishing but also for the very operating of a printing press.

Political parties who wish to publish their own newspapers, or private organisations who exercise some partisanship for opposition political organisations may simply not be able, legally at least, to publish their side of things.

And it doesn’t stop there - to reach the more remote places, one would think of radio and TV as options but these are restricted too. To have completely free and fair access to the media would mean, among other things, repealing this law.

Then let market forces take over. One of the reasons any politician, regardless of affiliation, can get extensive media coverage elsewhere is that it makes sales for the publication. Everyone wants ‘the scoop’. If we applied that idea to Malaysia just imagine what would happen when Utusan published one of their infamous totally fictitious and slanderous reports (of which there are many examples). In the current situation, we get a lot of lamenting by the aggrieved and nothing much else. In our ideal situation, the newspapers would be rushing to get ‘the alternative viewpoint’ and the other side of the story then emerges. Freely and fairly. To some extent at least.


Some ask what Nos 6 through 8 have to do with Bersih’s aims. And aren’t they outside of the purview of the Electoral Commission, or at least the scope of Bersih?
Well, in a word, ‘No’.

6. Strengthen Public Institutions
One refrain you hear is that these institutions must be doing their job fairly or the opposition wouldn’t have won 5 states in the last elections. Well, they didn’t. And if they did, the opposition might well have won every state. I’m not going to touch on the Judiciary, AG, MACC and even the Police. I think I would be hard-pressed to find, even among Bersih’s detractors, one person who can claim honestly, sincerely and openly that those institutions are beyond reproach.

Let’s instead focus on the EC.

The reality is that the EC has not consistently, speedily and committedly acted in the people’s interests. The about-turn on the use of indelible ink is just one instance. The reluctance to act on cleaning the electoral roll is another. The cowardly backing down from acting on clearly documented (recorded on video no less) cases of bribery (including by the PM no less) is indication enough that the EC fails to act independently and impartially.

Full text of the demand:
Public institutions must act independently and impartially in upholding the rule of law and democracy. Public institutions such as the Judiciary, Attorney-General, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC), Police and the EC must be reformed to act independently, uphold laws and protect human rights.
In particular, the EC must perform its constitutional duty to act independently and impartially so as to enjoy public confidence. The EC cannot continue to claim that they have no power to act, as the law provides for sufficient powers to institute a credible electoral system.


This segues nicely into No 7.

7. Stop Corruption
Someone said ‘good luck - this will never happen’

OK let’s forget about all the crap about police speed traps and so on. Those who know me know I have never paid a bribe.
Let’s focus on corruption in elections. I ask you only this: ‘Do you think it happens?’ If you replied ‘Yes’ then what possible objection could you have to having this as a goal of Bersih? The idea that we can never fully clear our system of corruption is fatally flawed - for if we do not set lofty targets, we never leave the ground.

We know the ‘western democracies’ are not totally clean. But when instances of corruption are uncovered, they are dealt with by an impartial court. Impartial. That word again. Didn’t I mention it, oh, maybe a few times? Somewhere a few paragraphs up, maybe in close proximity to another ‘i’ word - independently. Oh, and close also to ‘government institutions’.

Click here to read up on one case where ‘western democracies’ have acted on corruption.

Back to my earlier question - if you had instead answered ‘No, corruption never happens in elections in Malaysia’ I’d ask that you read more than just the Utusan. No, first of course I would throw my hands up in the air, roll my eyes back in my head, maybe scream a little…

Full text of demand:
Corruption is a disease that has infected every aspect of Malaysian life. BERSIH 2.0 and the rakyat demand for an end to all forms of corruption. Current efforts to eradicate corruption are mere tokens to appease public grouses. We demand that serious action is taken against ALL allegations of corruption, including vote buying.


OK? Understand? Now let’s move on to the last point…

8. Stop Dirty Politics.
This brought a laugh from a few people and I realised why - they fail to understand this point entirely. Of course you will still get some low-down comments and stories. Of course someone will dig up some dirt here and some dung there. But we need to rise above what is sensationalist or destructive and demand more.

Such as proper debates of policies by the candidates. Such as a proper scrutiny of candidates’ track records and personal wealth - both of which may require a freedom of information act if certain details are not readily volunteered. Such as proper analysis of policies in the media.

I want to be assured the chap who is seeking to represent me in Parliament is visionary, capable, driven, proven and most of all, I want him to be clean. Yes, Bersih.


So now we come to one last comment I received. ‘I can’t be political. There are implications for me and my kids’

Of course there are.

And that is why we need to do this.

Sure I have the luxury of being self-employed and making my own rules. And I appreciate some of you work for companies which discourage you from taking part in ‘political activities’.

Well, I ask you then to look around your organisation and see if anyone there sits on the board of a PAP driven organisation. Or maybe he does grassroots work? Maybe the People's Association - which comes under the Prime Minister’s Office? Often wears white? OK let me be factual rather than facetious...

Fact is when most organisations discourage their employees or staff from being active in politics they are really saying don’t support the opposition. If you chose to support the incumbent, chances are neither the CEO nor someone from HR will call you up for tea and give you some good advice.

So… think about that for a bit. Then try to resolve that with what you would LIKE to do.

Yes, this is indeed about implications for you and your kids - presuming you want to live in Malaysia again one day. You can stand by and do nothing for any of the reasons mentioned before. Or you can stand up and be counted. And make a difference.

I’ve shot down all your possible objections - and others, more eloquent than I, have covered other objections not listed here. The last step is yours.

Just ask yourself which of these you would prefer:
Five years from now if Malaysia is doing badly would you look your children in the eye and say “I wish I had stood up with x-thousand other Malaysians and made a difference. Things would be so much better now.”?

or this:
Five years from now if Malaysia is doing very well indeed would you look your children in the eye and say “I am so proud I stood up with x-thousand other Malaysians and made a difference! Things are so much better now!”

"I can't be political - for my kids" Pt 1

Bersih is apolitical. What this means is that it has no allegiance to any political organisation. And it serves no direct political purpose. What it does serve though is social justice. This is a basic tenet of a democracy so ultimately, Bersih serves a democratic purpose.

Now although Bersih has no political allegiance, political organisations may agree with and align themselves to Bersih’s goals. And why shoudn’t they?

To examine that question, we need to look at some of the goals again and address some of the responses I have received in my emails out encouraging people to join our positive action.

1. Clean the electoral roll
Simple enough really. There are more than a handful of cases where multiple people are registered in one address - an address they do not reside at even. Cases of phantom voters also include a disproportionate number of names of people over 100 years old (including one aged 118!)

Then there are migrated Malaysians who have given up their MyKads and passports at foreign embassies and still have their names registered as voters. And many more stories - just do a quite internet search for ‘Phantom Voters malaysia’ and see what comes up. In my case it was 2,210,000 search matches.

If you still haven’t figured out the problem yet, consider what would happen when phantom voters actually turn up to vote. Anyone who has control of or access to the system can abuse this issue by letting imposters (‘phantoms’) turn up on polling day and vote for a particular party.

Now I ask - what’s the point of taking the trouble to turn up to vote when your legitimate vote can be wiped out by 20 phantom ones? 

To be fair, no one I have spoken to has disputed this as a good, just and fair demand.

The full text of this demand is:
“The electoral roll is marred with irregularities such as deceased persons and multiple persons registered under a single address or non-existent addresses. The electoral roll must be revised and updated to wipe out these ‘phantom voters’. The rakyat have a right to an electoral roll that is an accurate reflection of the voting population.
In the longer term, BERSIH 2.0 also calls for the EC to implement an automated voter registration system upon eligibility to reduce irregularities.”

So let’s move on to number 3 and get it dispensed with as it is linked to this. I’ll get back to No 2 in a moment.


3. Use of indelible ink

Indelible ink is used elsewhere in the world to prevent, among others, phantom voters from turning up and casting the same vote 10, 20, 30 times, using different identities each time. It is simple, affordable, effective, and more importantly, it has been used elsewhere including Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Gambia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Mauritania, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tchad, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

There really is very little argument against the use of the ink. It gets the job done, and done well.

The full text of the demand:
“Indelible ink must be used in all elections. It is a simple, affordable and effective solution in preventing voter fraud. In 2007, the EC decided to implement the use of indelible ink. However, in the final days leading up to the 12th General Elections, the EC decided to withdraw the use of indelible ink citing legal reasons and rumours of sabotage.
BERSIH 2.0 demands for indelible ink to be used for all the upcoming elections. Failure to do so will lead to the inevitable conclusion that there is an intention to allow voter fraud.”


2. Reform postal ballot
Due to various reasons I will not get into here, many, many, many Malaysians live abroad. And most cannot make it back to vote. They are, however, entitled to vote and a reform of the postal vote allows them the chance to exercise their democratic right.

Besides this, there have been claims of abuse of voting where uniformed personnel have had their votes cast by their superiors. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s wrong with that, and the full text here then becomes quite clear.

Note that the reform means some who have not been able to vote before will now be able to do so, while others will experience tighter controls on their postal voting.

‘The current postal ballot system must be reformed to ensure that all citizens of Malaysia are able to exercise their right to vote. Postal ballot should not only be open for all Malaysian citizens living abroad, but also for those within the country who cannot be physically present in their voting constituency on polling day. Police, military and civil servants too must vote normally like other voters if not on duty on polling day.
The postal ballot system must be transparent. Party agents should be allowed to monitor the entire process of postal voting.”

Again, not much objection here from anyone I wrote to or spoke with.


OK, No 4 is interesting and some can’t understand the need for this.

4. Minimum 21 days campaign period
Malaysia isn’t small and in some areas we’re not any closer to being a developed country now or in 2020 than years ago when the objective was first mooted. There are parts of Sabah and Sarawak where it takes more than just a short drive to get to. 21 days means even the remotest villages get access to all the information they need to make informed choices.

There are well over 1600 polling stations for 71 seats in Sarawak alone - with ballot boxes sometimes being transported by helicopter and boat. Just imagine how remote some of these places are. The residents deserve to vote as much as any Peninsular-based Malaysian. And to vote, they need to know as much as they can about the choices they have, including, hopefully, meeting the people hoping to represent them.

21 days doesn’t seem that long now does it?

I did get a response which puzzled me. The writer claims that 21 days is too long and can lead to social unrest. I can’t figure this one out. On the one hand I can see some of the logic in that, but then I immediately think of the lead-in to the US presidential elections and how long that takes and can see no social unrest resulting from the protraction.

Therefore, the ‘unrest’ must come from somewhere else. Wait a minute… what about law-enforcement? I mean, the guys in blue who are supposed to keep law and order. What if they didn’t do the job they were supposed to, such as standing idly by while people threaten to burn down buildings and so on. Isn’t that more likely to be a potential cause of social unrest?

I say that if the guys whose job it is to maintain public order did the jobs they swore to do, we wouldn’t even be talking about this point.

Oh, and if they failed to do so (which, frankly, has been the case for too long) then I reckon it’s only going to take a day for ‘social unrest’ to happen.

Full text of demand:

“The EC should stipulate a campaign period of not less than 21 days. A longer campaign period would allow voters more time to gather information and deliberate on their choices. It will also allow candidates more time to disseminate information to rural areas. The first national elections in 1955 under the British Colonial Government had a campaign period of 42 days but the campaign period for 12th GE in 2008 was a mere 8 days.”

OK, more about the 8 points and our positive action in my next post.

Let Me Come Clean

Some time ago I was posting all sorts of stuff during the Singapore General Elections. Might have seemed strange to some especially since one hot topic then was the impact of foreigners. Of which I am one here of course. Thing is I understand the problems faced by average Singaporeans and I appreciate how their frustrations could be targeted at PRs and foreigners.

Some people asked why I was even bothered - more bothered (I prefer the term someone used - ‘engaged’) it seems than many Singaporeans.

The answer is simple. Almost everywhere we go, we interact with the society there. We cannot avoid this. Even if we choose to avoid greater society, our act of seclusion means we are interacting with that society - through being an uncontributing component. Think of it as a speed hump or rock-in-the-middle-of-the-road in that society’s journey.

I believe that when we are part of something, we have a responsibility towards that something. If you’re the passenger in a car being driven by someone else, you have a responsibility to do anything from looking out in dangerous conditions to engaging the driver to stave off sleepiness on a long journey.
Well, Singapore happened to be on a difficult journey to many, and it seemed too that the people who mattered had fallen asleep at the wheel. And that happens when society fails to engage fully with The People Who Make Decisions, not just the other way around. And so I needed to be a passenger in that car engaging with the driver - or, to stretch the metaphor even further, the other passengers for I could not vote.

So now we come to the Malaysian scene. Yes I have now lived away from longer than I have lived in Malaysia. However, I still have very strong ties and I still have our family home which some in my family still occupy, 54 years after they moved in. I carry my MyKad and Malaysian Passport with some degree of pride and of course there was my CelebrateMalaysia! bicycle ride of 2007.

So despite the 350km distance, I still feel very much a part of Malaysian Society, and thus the rationale applies yet again.

So, let me come clean. In fact, let me come Bersih.

Yes, I support Bersih. For these simple reasons:

Bersih 2.0 is an apolitical coalition of NGOs coming together to ask for 8 things which will ensure that every Malaysian - that's you and me - has a voice and a chance to vote for the people who will lead us.
This means that an UMNO supporter gets an equal chance to a DAP supporter. Everyone, who is of legal voting standing will get a fair chance - without intimidation or coercion, and without dealing with the imbalance of corruption - to cast a vote in favour of the candidate of their choice.

Now, I don't care which political party you support - I only care that you and I both get to vote in free, fair and clean elections.

This is why a few of us here in Singapore have set up Bersih 2.0 Singapore.

Over the last few days we’ve been busy signing people up for our positive ‘I (heart) Malaysia’ campaign. I’ll tell you more about this in the next post.

I’ll also deal with some of the responses I have received. You see, I sent out emails asking people to support what we are doing and some of the responses have not gone down too well with me. So, I will address them here in this blog and let you work out who makes more sense.

Stay tuned.

Singapore's New Cabinet - my thoughts

I was asked my opinion on the recent Singapore Elections and Cabinet appointments on the La Salle informal alumni mailing list  and decided my answer might be a good post.

The questions I was answering essentially were whether Lee Kuan Yew engineered the recent upheavals, whether Singapore is now truly on the path to being a true democracy in the internationally accepted definition of that or whether all this is just a face-saving move by the Lees.

My response follows (language censored for this post):

Allow me to paint a backdrop first by waffling for a few paragraphs on some history:


The new cabinet lineup was announced yesterday and threw up a few surprises which indicates the possibility the PAP is finally listening to the public.

Out goes Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development (inc housing) who has defended stoutly his policies which have culminated in housing prices rising meteorically (try 30% in 2 years!) and thereby making a 25-30 year loan inevitable for first-time home buyers. Mind you this means their entire CPF savings go into servicing the loan i.e. when they hit 55-60 and are getting ready for retirement, they have virtually no savings in their CPF accounts.

Housing is a complex thing here, a fact not helped by the lack of transparency in setting HDB home prices. Government claims HDB loses S$2 billion annually due to subsidies etc, but when one component of the price must be the land price which the government sets, the calculation becomes a little murky. HDB is supposed to be subsidised housing but flats are starting at S$280,000+ now so we all understand, painfully, that subsidised ≠ affordable housing.

Out goes Raymond Lim whom I dislike. An arrogant man, his Ministry of Transport completely failed to respond to immigration policy and Singapore's 1 million increase in population in the last 2 years (or roughly 20-25% if I am not mistaken). Public transport is inadequate (ha! never thought Singapore would have inadequate public transport, right?) and Raymond's solution has been to set up more and more Electronic Road Pricing gantries, the most expensive of which deducts about S$4. A trip down the Central Expressway from Ang Mo Kio to the the CBD at the wrong time (namely between 8:30 and 9:00 on a workday morning) can cost you S$8.50.

A couple of years ago, when oil prices had gone up slightly, Raymond Lim announced a rise in public transport fares claiming it impacted public transport operators negatively. When oil prices subsequently fell and he was asked why the fares did not come down in tandem, he claimed that oil prices were but a small component of operational costs. Then a year or so later, when oil prices and fares rose in tandem again, he was asked for clarification and he arrogantly challenged the attendees at the press conference 'You want free public transport? Can! I can give you free public transport! But then I have to raise GST to 10%. You want to pay 10% GST?!' If I was there I would have asked him how he, as Minister of Transport, could single-handedly influence the setting of the GST rate and also might have said 'That's a great idea, Minister! I would pay 10% GST anytime for that!'

He is also my MP and when the residents' committee organised a Raymond Lim Challenge soccer competition, I opined privately that if they painted his face on the footballs, they'd be overwhelmed by the response.

Out goes Wong Kan Seng who refused to accept responsibility for the almost comical escape of possibly the most dangerous terrorist in the region. Instead the supervisor and some guards got the sack while he just simply urged people to move on from this mistake. Not a peep of an apology.



And that is what marked out LKY's and GCT's time - no apology for screw-ups while they paid themselves top-dollar.

Besides the salaries they pay themselves, they also get a bonus tied to the GDP. Last year's GDP rose 14% or some astonishing figure like that which meant they all got about 8 months' bonus...

See this article for a good summary of the problems of incompetence and salaries.



So, in general terms, the public has been suffering and probably would have gone right on suffering quietly if not for a few things:

1.    Decreased accountability.
    The ministers mentioned above fucked up, and some did so big-time. None paid the price. This country got where it was because of the idea of accountability and transparency. Sadly, the former has not been in evidence recently. And people have just gotten fed up. Don't forget the Sovereign Wealth Funds Temasek Holdings and Government Investment Corporation lost a combined total of anything from S$90 billion to S$130 billion. We don't know, but we do know no one's head rolled - least of all Mdm Ho Ching's, the PM's wife who heads Temasek.

2.    Decreased Transparency.
    When former President Ong Teng Cheong, acting in his capacity of President and in charge of the national reserves, asked for a list of the reserves, he was given the runaround. For daring to speak up he was shunned and eventually when this much loved figure died (albeit after his presidency), he was denied a state funeral. Even LKY's wife got a bigger funeral...

3.    Increased arrogance
    LKY's statement that if the opposition won the Aljunied GRC tthey would have '5 years to repent' hit a nerve.
    Raymond's Lim's GST statement.
    and more...
    They all point to an arrogant ruling elite who think they know best and everyone else should just 'sit down and shut up' - if you want to know the origin of that quote, ask me - it's another long story...

Fact is the PAP had lost touch with the public and although they were extremely good to and with corporate citizens, at the end of the day it is Siti Bakar who votes, not Citibank.

I think there was no real tipping point here, just a confluence of a few things including the rise of alternative media, how close the average Singaporean is to the edge, clearly flawed government policies, and the very real pain felt by many in Singapore. Think of this: households in the lowest 10% of economy earn S$1400 per month. Households in the upper 10% average $23,700. If that's not an income gap problem I don't know what is.


There were many instances in the recent GE where it was clear the PAP's strategy and philosophy was flawed.

Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister for Community Youth and Sports attacked an opposition member, suggesting he was a homosexual. This lost him the pink vote and amazingly, a lot of other voters as well who thought it was none of his business. He also trained his sights on an opposition politician's S$60 billion dollar Singapore Makeover plan, saying it was no small change, would take years to accumulate that amount etc. This coming from the guy who blew the S$104 million Youth Olympics budget by almost S$300 million. Yes, you read that right - it finally cost almost S$400 million. And he kept his job...

The PAP, in an attempt to appear young, put forward a 27-year old candidate, Tin Pei Ling who made waves for having a cutesy picture of herself with a Kate Spade shopping bag - instantly injecting Kate Spade into everyone's consciousness. And Pei Ling into everyone's vitriol-loaded sights. Her cutesy looks, foot-stamping antics and substanceless motherhood and apple-pie statements made her few friends and many dislikers. Did I just coin a new word there? Hey, this woman, in an interview, declared her greatest regret in life is not taking her parents to Universal Studios on Sentosa Island. Errr her parents are still alive... and did someone mention the poor and starving in Singapore? Or that Marital Rape is still not outlawed?

The opposition National Solidarity Party put forward an even younger candidate who blew everyone away. Nicole Seah belied her 24 years by speaking confidently, sensibly, visionarily and with great empathy and became second most popular politician in cyberspace after LKY.

See a comparison between the two.

Unfortunately, Pei Ling, contesting in a Group Representative Constituency, rode into Parliament on Goh Chok Tong's coattails and now earns S$15000 a month as an MP, while holding on to the Ernst & Young job. The team with Nicole Seah fought against the incumbent, GCT, and cut his margin to 50-something%. Remarkable.


This GE, the opposition fielded very capable candidates which seriously dented the PAP's claim to having an exhaustive, comprehensive, detailed recruitment and assessment process. The PAP also shot itself in the foot when one of their candidates withdrew at the last minute and was replaced by a virtual unknown who waltzed into parliament a day later as he stood in the only GRC that was uncontested. So much for careful, considered choosing.


On the other hand, some candidates from the opposition were high calibre (and in some instances, with proven track records) individuals - one even served as GCT's perm secretary for some years!



OK enough waffling....

Did LKY engineer this? Honestly, I can't see that. I think the old man is so full of himself he really can't accept that things have moved on. His speeches were a liability right through the hustings. Honestly, GCT's speeches were not much better either...

I suspect this is PM asserting himself finally. He has seen the mood on the ground and has been shocked by it. True the next elections is 5 years away and Singaporeans being Singaporeans, if times are OK by then, they will feel very little inclination to rock the boat.

Having said that, 60% is a very low approval rating. If not for pork-barrel politics (much of which didn't work this time around) and gerrymandering, the PAP would have lost more seats. Two constituencies were lost by a handful of votes and there were even rumblings of discontent with the apparent different standards of elections officers at different polling stations and so on.

For all his visionless steering, Lee Hsien Loong is not stupid. I think he senses this is the time to make his mark. And he has a good case - the old methods are clearly not working. If ever there was a chance for him to state his case, this was it.

Yesterday's cabinet appointments indicate that PM is willing to make sweeping and daring changes. Although they've spun it in a predictable way (3 of them wanted to resign before elections, my foot!) let's not take anything away from PM's appointments. There are a couple of questionable appointments, but on the whole we all hope this is an indication that the PAP is finally listening to the people.

Whether the new ministers will implement new policies which drive at solving some of the problems that have cropped up is something else.

Is this a face-saving move? I don't think so - I think it is indeed a calculated drive forward.

And is this a sign of a real democracy? Well, besides pork-barrels and gerrymandering, the media has been much more liberal, and the opposition has been able to get to the people in a way they couldn't previously, so yes, broadly speaking it bodes well. There's some way to go yet, but it seems there has been progress and we should be grateful for that.

At least for the immediate future.

Thoughts on Singapore Elections Compilation 2

OK a fair few days late, but here's the second of two compilations of status updates - most of these on the night of the elections as votes were being counted and results announced.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #13:
The problem with Goh Chok Tong is that his acronymed name is too hard to say. 'LKY' seems lubricated to roll right off the tongue. 'LHL' for some reason makes me almost laugh. 'WKS' is harmonically disjointed but expectorate well. 'MBT' - I think of cycling backwards for some reason. 'GCT'? My tongue gets twisted around each letter, much like his mind around each concept I think.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #14:
Just what exactly is Cooling Off Day and who is affected? I think it's a load of rubbish as the democratic process is an ongoing one. If, as it's intentioned, we are to make an informed decision, surely we need to continue to access information and opinion?

Singapore Elections Thoughts #15:
This GE has shown that political awareness is everybody's right and responsibility, and that the future can indeed be determined by individuals.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #16:
If ever there was an argument against the concept of GRCs, it is Tin Pei Ling's win.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #17:
The highest majority for a PAP GRC win so far is 66.5%. As expected, not a large margin. The days of dominance by one party seem definitely over.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #18:
The CNA coverage is atrocious with the hosts talking over each other often or having nothing very substantial to say when they're not.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #19:
Chiam out. End of an era. One warrior bows out. Wish 'the other one' would too.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #20:
Not only that Wong Can't Sing, he can't give a good victory speech either.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #21:
Oh, why not interview Tin Pei Ling, CNA? I would lurvvvvvvveeee to see her figure out what to say.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #22:
Hmmm Raymond Lim (the transport one) back in... OK the next time you have a football competition, please do print your face on the footballs - I will definitely take part. And I won't be sorry.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #23:
Wah, now Lim Swee Say's turn to say 'sorry'. How many more tonight? And will they even remember the word tomorrow?

Singapore Elections Thoughts #24:
Oh wow, Viv wins too. sigh...

Singapore Elections Thoughts #25:
Well done WP in Aljunied! Booo to CNA for showing George Yeo's speech first.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #26:
Can George Yeo can be a NCMP?

Singapore Elections Thoughts #27:
CNA, please tell your presenter that she's using the word 'contestation' wrongly. No one's disputing the result - they were just 'contesting' the seat.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #28:
Viv is thanking the volunteers. I wonder if they were fed better than the YOG volunteers.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #29:
A fresh-faced team from NSP still got 43% of the vote when up against the former Primer Minister's team. Well done!

Singapore Elections Thoughts #30:
That was close in Potong Pasir. Kinda wish it had been the other way. Rejected votes might have swung it.

Singapore Elections Thoughts #31:
I don't agree with the online petition to remove Tin Pei Ling. If you'd felt strongly enough you should have voted against her. If you were not in Marine Parade GRC, you should have persuaded voters not to vote her in. This is how democracy works.

Singapore Elections Thoughts Compilation 1

Been silent on both blogs for the longest time but slowly getting off my butt and inspired to write again.
Will start here by compiling some of my recent Facebook status comments on the Singapore Elections.

Singapore Election Thoughts #1.
Sometime ago my RC organised a Raymond Lim football competition. I think they would have gotten more participation if they'd had his face printed on every football.


Singapore Elections Thoughts #2:
I find it so strange that it's Vivian Balakrishnan who's making a homophobic fuss as when he first came on the scene (no pun intended!) I thought he was gay.


Singapore Elections Thoughts #3:
The Elections are bang in the middle of school exams. Seems the PAP is going to face a stern test too. What will be their grade I wonder?


Singapore Elections Thoughts #4:
Seeing as we're all expecting (even hoping for) many of the opposition to win seats, would a large PAP win therefore become the 'freak election result'?


Singapore Elections Thoughts #5:
wah, these buggers also got 'talent' what...
SDP Loves Singapore


Singapore Elections Thoughts #6:
Saw a PAP truck going around with speakers blaring and I was tempted to drive alongside sounding my car horn to drown out the cackle from their loudhailers. hmmmmm


Singapore Elections Thoughts #7:
The Worker's Party should design posters with their logo right on the bottom then place these posters just above the PAP ones so it looks like the hammer is hammering the PAP fellas... heh heh


Singapore Elections Thoughts #8:
So what the heck are you afraid of even if somehow your vote isn't secret and you vote for the opposition? It's your darn right to vote for whomever you please for goodness' sake. What could possibly happen to you? You pay higher GST? Already gonna happen, mate...


Singapore Elections Thoughts #9:
Gotta hand it to the PAP - they've done a great job screwing with everyone's minds and equating PAP = Government = Executive (Administrative) = Singapore. So many people I've heard/read confuse the roles of the Legislative and Executive branches of government and actually believe water will stop flowing from the tap if they vote in an Opposition MP. OK I exaggerate slightly...


Singapore Elections Thoughts #10:
Although not a big fan of using 'National Service' as the excuse or reason for all sorts of things, I do agree wholeheartedly that if you are old enough to serve the country, you would, by implication, be old enough to think about who you would like to lead your country.


Singapore Elections Thoughts #11:
A friend thought I am Singaporean what with my interest in the GE. Politics affects everyone personally and we have no choice but to be interested and involved. It is no different from studying for an exam, or doing research for a project, or even looking for the best Mee Siam stall - it affects you, it is your life, so find out more, get interested, and make an informed decision.


Singapore Elections Thoughts #12:
Thinking about the two incidents at PAP meet-the-people sessions. Wonder why the opposition MPs never had such incidents, especially since these opposition-held wards are supposed to be near-slums. Could it be perhaps these MPs are more engaging with their constituents? Just wondering...

A letter to my NS-bound son: I wish you wisdom and strength.

My dearest Mark,

You will be going in to your national service in a short while and I wish I could be there to send you off. Alas this project I am on overseas means we can’t do the father-son driving holiday we were planning for before you enlist.

In the almost 19 years since I became a father, there have been many decisions which were made after deliberating carefully what was good for you and your siblings. Some ultimately proved to be sound ones and others perhaps not so successful, but they were all made with the intention to bring you all up with the right sort of values and moral outlook on life.

This short driving holiday was to have been a great bonding time, the last before you go through what Singaporeans regard as a rite of passage for men. I don’t necessarily agree with all the machismo and so on that comes with that idea, nor with the duration of the whole exercise, but I do accept the part it plays in Singaporean society.

However, this is not a discussion on what’s right or wrong about the National Service.

It is really about the conversations we would have had had we been able to take that holiday. Life is often defined by conversations at critical moments in our lives so let me be take the opportunity from thousands of kilometres away to explore these conversations right here.  It may prove to be a rather one-sided chat and we would be lacking the locale, the beers, the exhausting exploration that goes with holidays, the discovery of hidden treasures and so on, but I think you will understand the motivation and perhaps have a taste of the passion and emotion.

Stand Up for what you believe in
I come from a family that’s never been afraid to stand up for something we believe in. Years ago, your grandmother sat for days in the hot afternoon sun on the median along Jalan Gasing, protesting against the sexually-discriminating practice of paying women teachers less than their male counterparts. As a result, she was sacked and lost many years of service on her record and suffered a drop in her pension. But they finally got their demands met.

Many years later she manned a petition booth at the bottom of Gasing Hill to protest the development of what was supposed to be a green lung for PJ. This time they lost and the condo was built where it still stands today , in my opinion a blight on the landscape.

More recently, she and your Aunty Rosemary became the centre of action when there was a water shortage in Section 5 PJ, with press conferences being called in our family home and the Member of Parliament calling her almost daily to check on the water situation.

In the late 80s, one of your uncles was in the forefront of providing assistance to families of ISA detainees and I provided what little help I could, designing logos and TShirts, taking photos at events and so on. Helping the innocent families who had been torn apart by this draconian and unjust law was just a little thing, but to the families I’m sure it meant more.

Your Uncle Gerard has also made it his life to work for certain causes - he did research in water and resource management along the Mekong, and worked for the UN helping East Timor transition to an independent democracy and more recently has been working on combating AIDs and other communicable diseases in Indonesia.

So, you come from a line of people who perhaps never reached the pinnacle of visibility, but have always tried to live up to certain standards set by your grandparents. It’s not always an easy task, nor a rewarding one (though Gerard does have a nice apartment in a nice part of Jakarta, paid for by the Australian Government!) but it is a satisfying one.

I have confidence in the set of values you have been brought up with and developed on your own. You have always shown yourself to be a good, well-meaning young man and I therefore urge you to live up to those values when you can and when you are asked to. You may not need to do the stuff your grandparents, uncles or even I have done (what little I have) - but I hope you will find your own thoughts and actions through which you can make a stand and push an agenda to improve the lot of people around you. And it all starts with not backing away from the opportunity, and with standing up when those values are challenged.

Sometimes it won’t be easy - and I pray that you will have the wisdom to discern what is right and what needs to be done, and the strength to then do it. Whatever the occasion.

Understand and Embrace failure
We won’t always win. That is the hard truth. There will be things we set out to do which we will fail to accomplish despite our best efforts.

That’s OK. As long as at the end, we can look at things and say, I really did try my best, within the range of things I would ethically do. That last little qualifier is important, I think, as sometimes victories can be won at the expense of our values or beliefs. Whether it’s shifting the blame to someone else, or betraying someone’s trust in order to achieve some goal, I think it’s just not worth it. Through it all, it’s important to be true to your values.

Failure comes in many forms and can be relative to the circumstances. It cannot be measured in certain and absolute terms. Financial richness doesn’t necessarily equate success, for example, as it may simply be balanced out by a gaping hole in other aspects of life. The reverse applies too - that failure isn’t always what it seems.

You’re a creative person and that should ring some alarm bells in this area. For to be a creative person is to shift your values in a direction not many take or appreciate. It may be more important at some point in your life to be true to creative principles and eschew financial reward. Who is to say down which road lies success? Or failure?

There isn’t a clear guide book, an Idiot’s Guide to Failure or whatever. At some forks in our lives when we have to make a critical decision, it may not even be clear then that that is a critical decision with far-reaching consequences. It isn’t that important. What is important is that when we have to make a decision and on one side is lined up our values and ethics and the other is lined up the accoutrements of ‘success’, I hope you will choose the former.

For on the latter side lies momentary gratification. And nothing much else.

Remember I just said there is no clear guide book? Well, there isn’t even always a clear line that divides either side. So here again, I wish you the wisdom to discern and the strength to then stick to your principles.

Remember family. Remember friends.
You’re not really going away. You’re not moving overseas for a few years or something like that. You’ll just be gone for a few months then hopefully we’ll see you every day or every weekend. What you will leave behind is the last vestiges of your teenage life. This experience will change you in many ways, there is no denying that.

You will make new friends, some of whom you will keep for the rest of your life. You will cement some of those relationships with experiences so strong and vivid and life-changing that for years from now, you will recall them with absolute clarity - or hilarity in many cases.

Wherever your life takes you, just remember your family. Remember your friends. Keep both close to your heart where their relationships can warm you.

You never know when a member of your family or your circle of friends will be able to make that little difference in some struggle you may be having. And you never know when you might be that little difference in their life. Either way, do not be afraid to seek help, nor to render it.

That old saying ‘No man is an island’ is absolutely true - and you just heard this from ‘an anti-social b*****d’! Well, that’s what your quiet, pensive father now regards as his personality type! What I’m saying is that you are also defined by the people around you. You may be the trunk, but they are the branches that shape the tree.

And they require work. You need to put in the effort at maintaining relationships. And in this day and age nothing could be simpler. The range of tools at your disposal are phenomenal. You have email, instant messaging, online greeting cards, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, phone calls… You never know when you could make a difference in someone’s life or when they could, in yours.

I once received a call from a distraught friend whose wife had just committed suicide. He called form thousands of miles away, reaching out to a friend he’d not seen in years. To this day I am not even sure why he reached out to me. But he did. And the time we spent on the phone made a difference in his life, just as it changed mine.

More recently I was called by someone who reached the end of his tether and was contemplating ending it all. An hour later he was more settled and his problems have faded away somewhat - not like our friendship which is even stronger.

In less dramatic circumstances, your cousin Joanna will be moving to Australia soon for her university studies. A few weeks later, her cousin Charmaine will swing by Canberra from where she lives in Sydney, just to check on her and make sure she is OK. I remember how lonely I sometimes was when I moved to Sydney years ago and it was great to have my brother Joe, Charmaine’s dad, there for me. It’s so immensely gratifying to see his daughter extending the same courtesy to another member of the family.

Remember family. Remember friends.

And so here I have to end.

There is more to write, but I think I will let you absorb this lot first. After all, life is an ongoing experience and if you lived some of what  I wrote above, we will have many opportunities to explore it together.

In the meantime, I wish you wisdom and strength - two of the most important attributes a person could ever ask for.

Be well, my dear son. And be wise and strong.

With love,
your Dad

Abu Dhabi Part 1

So, here I am in the Middle East, working on a project that’ll take me through until almost the end of February. For someone who hardly travels for work, being away for almost 2 months is a new experience and a challenge.

Whether true or not, Paul and Linda McCartney were said to never have been separated for more than 24 hours until her death. When Mei and I married, that romantic idea came into my head and was promptly dispelled a few months later when I set off on my 5-week Celebrate Malaysia Ride.

It wasn’t so bad then of course as we were in the same time zone and just a few hundred kilometres apart, and then she also flew up to meet me in Penang when we celebrated my friend’s wedding roughly halfway through the ride. This time around Mei is 4 hours ahead and many thousands of kilometres away. 6pm is still very much a working time and chatting by Skype then is not always practical and almost never private enough.

Our project involves a mid-sized team of people and we’re housed in the Aloft hotel next to the National Exhibition Centre where the event will be. The Exhibition Centre is a huge building maintained by an army of foreigners. The smooth tile floors are kept spotless, slippery and shiny with a perpetual waltz of dry-mop heads guided by Bangladeshis and Filipinos. The little toilet near our office is manned by an attendant who keeps the floor spotless and the sinks dry and pristine.

I walked in one night at about 9 and found this solitary attendant wiping the counter top. I’d thought they’d knock off work around 6 but here was this chap still hard at work. Surprised, I greeted him and asked what time he would finish work and he replied ‘11, sir’.

My colleague, Johann has described the UAE as an example of excess and I agree. Perhaps Abu Dhabi has not the overt opulence and grandeur of Dubai, but excess is everywhere and in many forms. We sometimes gather for dinner around the empty tables of the closed restaurant down the corridor from our office. Closed it may be, but every single light stills burns brightly. Now you may know I do know a thing or two about lights so let me tell you that there are row upon row of 50W halogens in this place, and more than a few 100-150 watt CDMs too. It would be no different to leaving a few kettles of water boiling all night long, every night.

This toilet attendant, keeping 3 urinals, 3 sinks and 6 toilet cubicles clean is on duty until 11pm at night when after about 7 the staffing levels drop significantly. Why? If not just a sign of or a belief in excess…

Then there’s that smooth tiled floor… My shoes slip and slide ever so slightly on that floor and that makes walking about this large building just that little bit more tiring than it should be. And for some annoying reason, in some highly polished areas, my shoes squeak - producing a wheezy sound not unlike that of a toddler’s squeaky shoes. Just today I found I could just slide each foot forward in turn, moving ahead in an ice-skater’s manner, without lifting a foot. I kept this up for almost a hundred metres… Which is probably a bit excessive too.

That's Pulau Tekong directly below - see how close it is to Johor and why the protests by the Malaysian government about Singapore's land reclamation affecting the environment are valid? 

Jo's sis, Juli who flies on SIA was actually on the same flight as me when I first got here. She returned a few days later when Jo arrived and brought us a fantastic Indian lunch. Here we are on the rooftop of the hotel enjoying the view... and 3 types of naan, some roti, mutton and butter chicken and palak paneer and...

Solar panels aplenty on the lower roof of our hotel.

There were a few very foggy days. Here is Jo walking a foggy carpark to our office.