Frankly, I have very little to say about this year's NDR. It was, if anything, safe. Perhaps its the election year, but not too much of things for me to holler at.


Firstly, the rally started with topics on the economy. Please expect wage increase but not too much, we dealt with the financial crisis well, productivity above all. Nothing new, perhaps the new example on the Keppel and the Oil Rigs.


Secondly, Immigration. I'm very surprised at the state of the situation despite having dwelled upon it for so long. We understand the potential problems of immigration and of course, the main reasons why the government must still continue as an open economy. For those people who still are in the debate and still am arguing about these, you should perhaps join a primary school debate competition.

Rather, I believe that the question now is rather, what is the benchmark for setting the number of immigrants that would be allowed in Singapore? We see numbers coming from the government, but, what exactly determines these numbers? The crux of the issue is not just about the value, but also, what is the benchmark to adopt when determining the number of immigrants? I believe that that is the clouded part of the issue that must be cleared up before it can continue any further.


Whole chunk on immigration that is quite common sense, imo. And it moved on to transport. Happy to finally see the increase in frequency, I know its not possible to ease off the squeeze completely, but at least they're trying. Was surprised to hear nothing of the distance fares within the rally. Would have taken the chance to blast it upside down, but that can wait for another day.


Housing issues came next. Rising property prices are the hot issue, and fingers are pointed at the immigrants for increasing the demand. Obviously, that is quite unlikely, but example that property prices fell in the first half of last year despite increased foreigners is not really a good one either. It is comparing the prices between 2 completely different situations in time; one where there is low liquidity from the crisis and the current times where everybody is looking to invest again.

HDB will never be too much of an issue, but private properties seem to be the problem in the foreseeable future. Will talk more about it when I understand more.


Education. Maths and Sciences remain the pillars, with soft skills being cultivated more. Was amused that PSLE got a part in the speech for no apparent reason but perhaps the recent Chinese fiasco, and surprised that the whole Chinese fiasco wasn't even mentioned.

Oh... IP. Well, to put it short, IP is stupid. To say the least, I'm disappointed that it is going to be expanded in the near future. Please refer to this for my thoughts about the general IP system.

But back to the happy things, I am glad that more attention has been placed on the weaker students than the strong ones. In the end, the education system seeks to educate the masses, not just the best. However, with the expansion of the polys in the near future, one wonders if the 500 places in the SIT is enough.

Also, another worrying trend is that universities will soon be admitting at least 30% of the year's student population. While 30% is still a reasonable amount of university students, it is clear that if the trend is to continue, we have to worry about the possibility of the depreciation of the value of a degree. It would be sad when the day arrives that the degree would be worth less than what you paid for it. Less can be said about the futures of non-graduates. This situation has happened in Taiwan last year, let us hope that Singapore has the foresight to guard against it just in case.

Happy for the new medical school in NTU, helps to ease the need for medical professionals in the future. Just amused at the fact that I don't even know how far the nearest hospital will be.

And fund raising for universities also made the speech. Surprising...


The Singapore Spirit to end things off. Who would like to be drunk at the end of the party?

Nothing much to say about the heartwarming end to the speech actually. But the part seemed to address more about the skeptical views of the ability of youths nowadays compared to the actual Singapore spirit. Also emphasized about remembering and honoring the past. Finally, it was topped with a serving of the YOG, which really does deserve its own post, but will have to wait till I'm less lazy.