So there has been a drop in Minister Salaries.

Never really have seen what the big deal was regarding this. In these abundant times, when we can afford it, why not just pay them well?

Some people argue that the high pay may just attract people to try and be a politician just for it. Thus, we end up having incompetent people at the helm.

To that I say, really? People will take up possibly the most scrutinized job by the general public when they could be earning perhaps slightly less somewhere else? And do you honestly think that political parties would pick people like that to join their party anyways? If its an independent running just for the dough, then why not just not vote for him?

Did you even realize that the whole point of the high pay was to get competent people in the first place?

I would agree though, that the high pay would likely lead to situations where unsuitable people end up with the job. But incompetent? No.

However, I'm still not fuss by how much we're paying our ministers. I believe that the team we have now is more than suitable, and that money is quite honestly secondary.

The respective ministers/ministry performances during the recent problems are of much more interest to me. I honestly don't care how much I pay them so long as they get their job done well.

I headed down to Westfields today with Xin Jie and Jieru for a bit of Boxing Day shopping today, and it being the first time that I've actually done so despite having been in London for the past 3 years, I was looking out more for the experience that would come with it rather than any good buys that I might make on the day.

Eventually, an interesting thought did manage to cross my mind during the afternoon, and it came from perhaps the most unprobable place possible.

While we entered the Build-A-Bear workshop on the ground floor of the shopping centre, Xin Jie went about his stuffs, while I was left to browse about the place. To be honest, the items about are rather cute, and would very much appeal to kids, irregardless of sex. I was even more so taken aback by the plethora of accessories that accompanied the bears. The range started from clothing, to shoes, and even glasses and fishing rods.

As I moved along looking at the prices as well, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the average amount spent for a dolled up bear would be easily above 20 pounds, perhaps even 30. And as I looked up around the store, I noticed 'punny' phrases printed around the top, such as "Be the Bearer of Good News" or "Paws for Thought". What that caught me was "Clothes Make a Bear Feel Special".

What a blatant phrase to put in the shop to get kids to spend more money, isn't it?! I was rather disgusted as thought about how capitalism would taint something that seemed so pure. How dare they pollute even the minds of our young children with consumerism with such pure and good feelings? Will they grow up undermining the effort required to earn money?

And then, on the very next moment, a laughing girl, with a stuffed polar bear in one hand, and a bunny in another, bumped into me, smiled, and stumbled off.

Then I realized. Well, if the kids are happy, why not right?

I remember when I was a kid that whenever I wanted a toy or a game, my mom would say, "You don't always get everything you want in this world." I was brought up with the mentality that life can drop lemons on us anywhere at anytime, and nothing is rightfully ours until it has been consumed or utilized.

While using the Internet today and watching some shows, I found myself getting annoyed at the speed at which it was loading at, and even more so when it stopped halfway saying that I had reached the limit for the day. After a while, I became amused at this. How fast does the world owe me something, that I couldn't wait for these miracles of technology to function, for free?!

We live in a era of abundance, when only scarcity is rare. We were introduced into a time when advanced technology already existed, and never had to experience the life before.

I should take a step back and think sometimes. You don't always get what you want in this world, and you don't usually need it anyway.

The recent news of the SMRT was been rampaging all over Singapore, and even outside Singapore for the past year. Trains breaking down, people fainting and now the transport services are under the intense scrutiny of the public eye through the press, and will be for the coming months.

However, that's not interesting to talk about. We all know that the initial problem with the trains is a technical one, and something that Singaporeans are used to handling without problems. This post is dedicated to the reactions to the problem from the people, rather than the problem itself.

Given that I had the opportunity to speak to many people about the problem, it being a conversation starter recently, I have found that it follows a very interesting pattern. Firstly, the anonymous netizens online would ask for a drastic action, such as the firing of the CEO or a large fine on SMRT, and then friends on facebook would join in, echoing the same frustrations. Immediately after that, the rational people would then come in and defend that the situation is not as bad as it sounds, and that our system is still much better compared to other countries out there. A short argument would occur in the comment box, and usually ending with the former person either accepting a partial point, or just rejecting the rational notion outright.

So who's right? Is it obviously wrong to take an extreme view? Is the situation normal enough that rational views still work?

Me, I'm just sad that in this commotion, everyone just wants to be right, and forgets about solving the initial problem at hand.

Many things have been going through my mind lately, but yet, I realize that I'm absolutely unable to pen any of those thoughts or feelings into words. It almost seems paradoxical that I could still easily speak on issues of current affairs with friends, but be unable to talk about my thoughts or feelings about everyday experiences when reflecting with myself.

Sometimes I sit down and stumble though the mess, and come to a vague sense of enlightenment, but it makes me wonder if I'm even getting any thought done, when I can't really put them into words when I wanted to.

It can hardly be a fault with the language, can it? Is it just an inability on my part of expressing myself? I wonder,

This post in itself was quite difficult to write already.

First, I begin by apologizing for the lack of postings. Obviously I have not been keeping my promises of a post a week, but then again, I’ve been much busier in Singapore than the UK.

And so, the time of the National Day Rally is upon us. I’ve only recently finished reading the full speech and I find it much better than listening to the man, able to get far more information out of it. For this post, I shall attempt to type out my thoughts in the chronological order in the speech, just because I can’t be bothered to group them together properly.

The first of this few situations were linked with the rise of foreigners in Singapore.

Housing

The policies introduced was that there would be an increase of HDB income ceiling, and a concurrent increase in supply of HDB flats to quell this increase in demand. There is also an introduction of 7000 rental flats to keep the supply up, and postponing the demolition of SERS blocks.

We all understand that the prices of properties have been rising recently, but I would like to question the roots of the issue at hand. What exactly is the problem here? I hazard a guess that the issue might not be just a case of demand and supply, but more of an issue of different goals for different groups of people, specifically home owners and people looking for a home. On one hand, the government would like to reduce the prices of HDB flats so that potential home owners can afford it, yet on another, they would like for the worth of the HDB flats to remain at a respectable value, so that flat owners feel that they have a stake in the country, as well as being a source of income for them in the future. The price of the HDB has to be low, but respectable at the same time. Certainly contradictory.

Education

2000 places will be left for local students, and the cap on foreign students will remain as it is today.

There was a story of a mother whose child was trying to get into a university but did not get a place. I begin by stating that if she looked for PM Lee for help because she did not have enough money to send her child to SIM or such, or some other special reasons, then fair enough. Otherwise, if it was simply a plea for help because her son was unable to get to university due to bad results, then I say, I have absolutely no sympathy for you. I’m sorry, but your son has not done well enough for his studies, be it A-Levels or Polytechnics to qualify for a place in a university. The idea of Singaporean First does not justify the fact that your son had not work hard enough or put in enough effort to push himself towards qualifying for a university education. To accept your son is to ridicule the meritocratic process in the country. In addition to that, there is a reason why students were chosen by their academic abilities. Say what you want, but if your son has not done well enough in post-secondary education, the likelihood that he would perform exceptionally well in university examinations is extremely unlikely. Look at it this way, it he came from polytechnic, he would be applying for a similar course as he did, and would probably score similarly. If he came from a JC, then shame on him even more, as he had more opportunities to take the A Levels in the 2 years in the army to redeem himself, an opportunity that he either took and further prove an inability to cope university work, or did not take at all.

I admit that Singapore has a low percentage of a local cohort per year entering university annually, but given the competitive nature of the universities in Singapore compared to other countries, I would say that it was probably for the better, until mindsets start to change in the system. Also, students and parents in Singapore should start to consider applying for university in terms of a cost benefit analysis, rather than simply trying to get their children in without much thought. In the end, a university education carries with it opportunity costs. One’s child might be better off working for 4 years then slugging for a university education and only coming out with a mediocre result.

Labour

Nothing new added. Just stating why we do the awesome things we do.

Since he has broken the groups into low, middle and high quality professionals, I shall do so too. First, on low quality professionals, I agree that tightening is called for, especially when it forms the largest group of people coming in, and that the growth of foreigners in Singapore recently has caught the infrastructure within the country off guard. 20 years ago, it was at 10.2% of the population and today they stand at 25.2%. There has to be control for the infrastructure to keep up, and the low quality side is where the government can exercise control with the least repercussions. Regarding middle quality professionals, on one hand, I agree that there must be a degree of competition within the nation. As the world globalizes, the domestic markets of every country would be soon shared by the world, and so will the labour markets. Looking at the trends, perhaps the recent crisises might slow the pace of globalization down, but since protectionism would get them nowhere anyways, it would never stop. On the issue of high quality professionals, there is a stronger call for competition, however I would like to leave you with an interesting tidbit. Only in Singapore, will they ever name a dean of a university that is not Singaporean, or almost the CEO of a sovereign wealth fund of a country. What you take from that, I leave to you.

On a side note, what’s up with that China example? Seems too close to a scare tactic for my liking, though quite a possible situation in the future.

The next few posts are hinged on the idea of social safety nets. Most of it made plenty of sense, so not too much thoughts about it. I’m just quite surprised that there was no further information about the push for more doctors and nurses within the country to cope with the aging population. Otherwise, there have been no surprises as this part is shortly followed by a rhetoric portion about the Singapore spirit.

I generally thought that there was a general sense of 'warning' in this rally. Foreshadowing the trials and tribulations that would come in the future rather than giving new plans as solutions for these problems. The speech is centered more with the message of, "Hey guys, shit's gonna go down. Here's a shovel, do your part." I question if this is a good idea from a political point of view but then again, you can't blame him for laying it down.

And less jokes too. Sad.

There really isn't much in current affairs these days that I can find myself giving a view that someone else hasn't already said already, which pretty much puts me off writing about anything. Even as I read hard and long about many articles, it just seemed as it is, and nothing interesting comes to mind. However, I feel compelled to return to writing a piece a week, especially when I'm back in Singapore for summer.
I wasn't really able to comprehend the speed at which time started to pass at the moment I stepped out of primary school. It was excruciating how slowly time passed back then, and I remembered getting irritated by the pace at which life was going every day. It was as if god purposefully slowed down time when I had nothing to do, and sped it up when I was playing games with my friends, just to mess around with me.

As we move on from there, the perception of the amount of time in my day shortened. Speed of life in secondary school increased, and furthermore so in junior college. Now, there never seems to be a point in time in my life when I ever feel that time is ever passing slowly. I wonder if this is a physical phenomenon, but I do like to believe that it was just probably because I managed to find more and more things that I like to do as I grew up and promptly filled up my time with them.

Now in university, I lament that time is passing far too fast for my liking. The day tomorrow always seemed to be shorter than the one before. It was not a matter of how much time I have to relax or work, it is more of a complaint of a seemingly shorter perception of time as it is. Perhaps this might sound extreme, but it reminded me daily of my mortality, that life is really not as long as you made it to be back when you were 7. Hitting the big 20's did not help much as well.

I tried to slow down, take time to relax and do nothing at all, perhaps a bit of planning for the future. I was disappointed to see that time seemed to move as fast as before. Even when studying for hated topics in Mathematics, time seemed to move at a quickening pace. It was no longer an issue of whether I liked the activity anymore, time just simply seemed to move a lot faster.

I wonder why I'm constantly this bothered by this shortened perception of time. It was not as if I was actually robbed of any at all. Nor it is that I'm unhappy at having not enough time to complete all my activities. I just feel... shortchanged really. This was not what I expected when I was in primary school.

Then again, I guess in the end, life is not about counting the hours of the day, but making the hours of the day count.