Saturday, October 05, 2013

Improve efficiency and reduce cost of living in Singapore

There are many aspects of Singapore that lead to inefficiency and high cost. I share some of them below:

a) Private tuition. The flaw in our education system make it necessary for parents to engage private tutors for their children. The manpower used in private tutors, and the need to travel to receive or get private tuition on a one-on-one basis, must lead to more resources being put in the education system.

b) Government online services. By saving an hour of the time of the civil servants, the badly designed processes caused the public to send several hours to online processes, including the login and searching for the online form. The total cost to the economy is several times of the attempted savings.

The inefficiency has resulted in high cost of doing business and the high cost of living.

If the problems are not recognized, the situation will continue to get worse. It has already reached a very bad state.

I want Singapore to be better, and will continue to point out the problems that should be recognized and rectified to improve the situation.

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Presenting both sides of the story

Lim Wee asked:
Do you subscribe Strait Times? Don't you think it is a one -sided newspaper?

REPLY
Many people say that the Straits Times is parroting the views of the Government. 
Let me give you an independent view. 
35 years ago, a retired Englishman was a guest in home home. After two weeks, he said, that the Times is rubbish. I asked him why he thought so. 
His reply, "They only give one sided view, and always repeating what the Minister had said. In England, the papers will present the views from both sides, and let people make their judgement. How can people decide, if they only read the views from one side?"

Handling their job well

William Sam asked:
Which current minister is the worst performing one in your view? Which opposition MP has the ability to do a better job than that minister?

REPLY:
The best performing minister is Khaw Boon Wan. He is tacking the housing problem effectively by increasing the supply of HDB flats and also making it affordable through higher grants from the Government.

The worst performing minister is the one in charge of Home Affairs. He is not addressing the problem of rising crime rates and scams. This is the primary duty of the Police.

Many MPs, PAP or opposition, can do the job of a minister. It does not require a super talent. It only needs someone who is in touch with the problem and use common sense to solve it. Look at the example of the Governor of Jakarta, which is reported here:
http://c-onyx.com/page/991

Update law on copyright

SPH sued Yahoo for publishing over 200 articles that it deemed to have infringe its copyright. I find it odd that a newspaper article, which is widely published and read should be the subject of copyright.
The unclarity of copyright will impede the free flow of information, which is necessary for a thinking society. Our Parliament has a duty to discuss and address this issue and update the laws.

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