In my earlier post on What benefits do Singaporeans enjoy?, I wrote about my sentiments on performing National Service for a country that doesn’t treat us locals much better than foreigners. Today, I will blog on my observations on other NSmen sentiments.

I had the benefit of spending my nearly 2.5 years in a reservist unit as a clerk. In my time there, I dealt with reservist matters, met many of them and chatted with them on the topic of serving NS.

I can say out of 10 people, a conservative 7 or 8 of them disliked NS and just hoped to get over and done with reservice as soon as they can. Some of them were lower-ranking officers (usually the higher-ranking ones love coming back for reservice). They talked about how NS has disrupted their careers and lives, and why they couldn’t care less about it.

One of the most oft-heard comments was, “Singapore is so small, if anyone wants to attack us we won’t be able to do much about it no matter how many reservists we have”. It is certainly not a nice comment, but it isn’t entirely untrue. Although a strong reservist force can deter enemy forces, however, due to the impassiveness of many of our NSmen, any war is already half-lost.

Can’t really blame NSmen for feeling this way. NSmen in Singapore have obligations to serve up to 40 days of reservice every year. That’s like 2 whole months worth of full-time work disruption. Alright, usually there isn’t so many days of recall, but theoretically, one is liable of up to 40 days. This translates into a lot of work hours lost and many opportunities lost too.

Also, there is this rule that says NSmen got to notify MINDEF every time we want to leave the country, or face penalties for not doing so (yes, a fine). I’m not sure why in today’s connected world they can’t integrate Immigration’s computer systems with theirs to capture exits. Personally, it makes me feel like I’m on probation or something, that I got to inform the govt wherever and whenever I want to leave the country.
In recent years, we have seen news reports on increasing numbers of female executives rising up the ranks faster than their male counterparts in Singapore. I would think that NS obligation plays a part in this. Imagine if you are in the running for a promotion against a female colleague. The final decision by managment will involve looking at your work performance. However, you got to go for a 10 days reservist exercise in a couple of weeks’ time. Even if your managers are very understanding about it, you have lost 10 days of opportunity to show your performance. You’ve given 10 days handicap to your female colleague, courtesy of your NS unit.

I must once again say that I am not against serving NS. It is right to protect one’s own country. And it is true that Singapore cannot rely on a small number of regular servicemen to protect the nation. However, I do feel that the policies are very unfair to NSmen, who had already wasted 2.5 years of their full-time lives and still got to continue to serve for at least 10 years thereafter.

2.5 years is a damn long time indeed. In the 2.5 years I lost to NS, some of my female poly classmates have already been in the workforce and are now planning to buy HDB flats and getting married with their savings. Others have graduated from university and are now in well paying jobs.

I still got 2.5 years of education to go, and I’m still in debt due to the poly tuition loan I took years ago. My girlfriend who is one year younger than me is already working and I feel bad about it sometimes, that I will only have the financial capability to tie the knot and plan a family with her only when we are both reaching 30 years old (assuming I need to work 2 or 3 years after I graduate before having the money).

C’est la vie. Can’t blame anyone. Just my luck that I was born a Singaporean. (Well, I also remember to count my blessings too. I know I’m still lucky compared to many other people both in and outside of Singapore).
I hope I’ve managed to bring out some of the deepest grievances of NSmen here in my article. I know it won’t change anything, but just wanted to highlight the pains that NSmen go through after their 2.5 years.

The weather is killing me nowadays. I love the coolness that rainy days bring, but my lungs cannot take it for much longer.

You see, I’m an asthmatic. I used to have childhood asthma, but I thought I more or less recovered, till I got admitted in hospital for pneumonia last year. My doctor there told me that my asthma had returned. At the time I thought, oh well, no big deal. My childhood asthma didn’t cause me much trouble or inconvenience.

Only this time, it’s different. Come rainy or humid days, I feel like an old man. I get short of breath, chest constriction and lots of phlegm. Even on normal days the phlegm still don’t go away and I still get occasional chest constriction episodes. It sucks. It makes me feel like a sick old man. I’m only 24 this year.

I can’t enjoy cold drinks, desserts and ice-cream as often as I like to, or as often as I used to. They make me feel worse, especially on wetter days. By right, I can’t take too much spicy food too because I noticed that my phlegm gets worse after having a spicy meal. But that’s one luxury I still give myself, because I think food is bland without the spices. Even so, I’d cut down on super spicy stuff like Laksa, which I used to have often.

The worst thing is… coffee makes it worse. And I love coffee. I’m one of those who can’t live without a coffee at least once in a couple of days.

And the funniest thing is, before I got pneumonia I used to smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day. Nowadays, I can’t even take it if there is somebody smoking around me. I’m like one of those aunties who’d go “Aiyo, so smelly!”, pinch my nose and get out of the smoker’s way. Sometimes I wonder, what will happen to me if I ever go back to smoking again. I think I’d probably die.

I’m supposed to be on twice daily medication, but I don’t follow the regime. I don’t really like the idea of being on long-term medication. Maybe I should just give it a try and take the medicine faithfully for a couple of months to see if the situation improves by then.

I’m also thinking of taking Traditional Chinese Medicine or perhaps going for acupuncture treatment. I think TCM should be quite effective, based on what I heard from other sufferers. While western medicine can only treat the symptoms, TCM supposedly can cure the aliment for good. However, these are pretty costly as they tend to take a longer time to work.

I think for starters I’ll try to be a good boy and take my medicine first.

我要花儿开个不停陪我们永远年轻
每朵花代表了纯净的爱情
我要种出一个森林陪他听落叶回音
陪它看雪花融化了的宁境
我怎能不相信飞舞的流星
正是为了实现我和花儿的约定
看满天的星星写出我心情
正好代表着我和你拥抱的生命
也许云端里有精灵窃听我的心
就让我们一起闭上眼睛

月光请听我诉说寄望
若果这世界只得这样
请准许将我心
在月夜下埋葬
就此抛弃这冷冷世上
飞到星河新生方向
拥抱明月再哭笑一场

Today, I received an email annoucement stating that tuition fees will not increase this year. By the wording of the announcement, it sounded as if they were doing us a favour by not raising fees.

The decision to freeze fees was taken in view of the proposed increase in the goods and services tax (GST) rate. While the costs of running the University’s programmes will rise with normal increases in staff salaries and general inflation, NUS will absorb these increases for the new academic year.

This seems to imply that tuition fees should and will be raised every year to keep in line with “normal increases in staff salaries and general inflation”.I thought MM Lee recently announced that the income gap will decrease as a result of lower wages for professionals due to more competition from foreigners in these positions? Why is the University increasing staff salaries then? Also, I think they should cut down on building facilities and offices that look like 4 and 5 star hotels. A good example will be the University Hall. This should save a substantial amount.Or, how about increasing the fees for foreign students? It’s only fair for them to pay much more since they are enjoying the benefits of our education system and economy… while Singapore students have to pay back to the economy in terms of future income taxes as well as National Service (for males).

Ok, not the first time I’m saying this and not the last either… I really must get down to exercising. I’m getting fat, and Chinese New Year’s approaching fast.

Somehow, I always seem to have excuses for not exercising. Does anyone have a good idea on how I can motivate myself?

If you are thinking of donating some of your hard-earned cash away, better think twice about who you want to give it to. In the wake of the NKF and more recently, Youth Challenge scandals, many people are starting to wonder who are the real beneficiaries of charities. Just how much of the money that generous Singaporeans donate goes to directly charitable causes?

Here are 2 types of charities that I’d advise people to stay away from:

   
Donation Ticket Salesmen
In recent years, there has been an increasing number of companies that claim to organise donation drives and pay commission to students who go around in public persuading people to donate. These typically come in the form of donation tickets that cost anything from $2 to $10. As I understand, commission usually goes up to 50%. Another bulk of the funds goes to the company for their ”administrative costs”. Out of $2, there can be as little as $0.20 left for the charity.

These companies usually place jobs ads in the newspapers offering opportunities for job-seekers to “be paid for supporting charity projects”.

It isn’t hard to identify those pesky salespeople. They are usually teenagers, and they often wait for their prey at crowded MRT stations. They are there on weekends and occasionally weekdays, especially during school holidays. They will usually approach passerbys and give a presentation on the charity organisation that they are supposedly supporting.

  
High Maintenance/Low Productivity Organisations
For those who are considering making a significant donation, please do your research beforehand. Nowadays, many charities put their financial statements on their websites. Take a look at the figures, particularly the amount of donations collected vs. the wages paid out.

I done a little bit of research and found a certain charitable organisation with total receipts of over $400,000 in 2006 vs total wages paid of $288,000. This shows that either the organisation’s staff were not productive enough in collecting donations… or, a more likely reason would be having overpaid staff.

Nowadays, anybody can start a “charitable organisation” and collect donations from the public. However, we really don’t know who are the real beneficiaries… The sad thing is, when the average person on the street parts with his $2, he trusts that the organisation will eventually do good with his donation. What he doesn’t know is that most of his money will go into the pockets of the organisation’s founders and top executives with more attractive pay packages than senior civil servants.

Having looked at some negative examples, I’d like to share some of the better causes to donate to:

• Children’s Cancer Foundation - an amazing $0.86 out of every $1 in donations goes to directly charitable causes. That’s a fantastic amount, in my opinion.
• Disabled buskers, Elderly tissue paper sellers - How about having 100% of your donation going straight into a good cause?
• Lady in wheelchair selling tissue at Outram Park MRT - Back in 2005 when I had to go to SGH frequently to visit my late father, I often saw a cheerful lady sitting in her wheelchair selling tissue paper. Occasionally I would buy from her, not because I needed the tissue but because I admire her for her optimism, whatever illness she may be suffering from. She would smile at everyone passing by, no matter whether they bought anything from her. As we all know, most people wouldn’t bother. I haven’t been to Outram MRT for a long time, so I don’t know whether she is still there. I hope she is doing well now.
• Funding a Bursary or Scholarship - This is what I intend to do if I am able to get a good job after graduation. I like to give something back to society, being a recipient of a scholarship myself. I feel that funding a bursary is very meaningful, because 100% of the money goes to a student who needs financial assistance. A bursary can cost anything from $1,000 to $3,000. I do think it is an affordable amount, especially for fresh graduates who do not have many financial obligations. In NUS, if you donate a bursary or scholarship the university will disburse the money to a deserving student on your behalf. You can even name the bursary after yourself (for egoistic people).
• Hospice Care Association - This is not very well-known compared to other organisations such as NKF. However, they have been doing good work taking care of terminally ill people. I personally know someone who volunteers there. Also, when my father was ill a team consisting of a doctor and 2 nurses would visit us at home every couple of weeks.
• Renci Hospital - Providing free services for the chronic sick and elderly. Has an impressive track record.
• Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society - Few people would have heard of this, but they actually run over 50 welfare services all over Singapore, including Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital, Welfare Homes, Family Service Centres, Senior Activity Centres, etc.

Of course, there are probably many other charities out there that deserve our help, I don’t know about all of them. I hope by highlighting these, more people will think twice about where their donations are going to before dropping money into donation boxes. Please channel your donations to more deserving organisations.

In recent years, the gov’t has been trying to get its citizens to speak up and voice out their concerns on governance and social issues, through proper channels. They call it “active citizenry”. However, it hasn’t been very successful, despite great efforts made to publicise several initiatives such as the Government Feedback Portal, which has recently been given a makeover to become the REACH portal (www.reach.gov.sg).

I checked in on the website today and realised that the forum had a grand total of 10 messages posted today. Quite a laughable number considering that over 60% of Singaporeans use the Internet.

Why is it so? Are Singaporeans really so ‘bochup’ about our society and government policies? Not so. There is a growing number of blogs discussing such topics, which means that the interest is there. This goes to show that the “proper channel” is not a “popular channel” for citizens to voice our concerns. Why? Let me take a feeble attempt at dissecting this phenomenon.

1. Fear of persecution - Singaporeans are “kia si” (so am I). We are afraid to voice our concerns on… controversial matters because we have seen numerous people getting persecuted for stoking the wrath of powerful people with their remarks. That’s probably the last thing anyone wants to happen, after dying.

2. Lack of quality response - We have heard many stories about friends, relatives, aquaintances and strangers writing in to gov’t agencies to complain or bring to attention certain issues that are bugging them. However, responses from these agencies typically come in the form of “Thank you for writing to us and we will look into the matter” kind of messages. And that’s usually the last you hear from them. Sometimes, one can spend hours writing a letter or email and then receive a one paragraph response that doesn’t address the issue at all. What’s the point?

Sometimes when this happens to me, I feel quite angry at the person who responded. But thinking about it, we can’t really blame them. They are just workers like any other person… just wanting to do their jobs and take their salaries home.

Unfortunately, this is a deeply-rooted problem that goes beyond the individual or organisation level. It’s a unique characteristic of our society. I would think it boils down to the issues of compliance and job security. It’s always safer to stick to the notion of not going beyond the call of duty (i.e. complying to standard operating procedures all the time) … this is the best method to protect oneself.

3. Lack of time & energy - Singaporeans are a busy lot. In the education sector, our students are always busy competing on grades due to an over-empathsis on doing well academically. In other areas, workers are often overworked and underpaid (this is especially the case for lower-income earners). Executives have high stress lifestyles. When we are finally free from work or studies, we are tired and just don’t want to bother ourselves with all the mundane stuff anymore. Especially since we are probably not going to get satisfactory responses anyway.

4. Legality - In many countries (both first and third world), protests are legal. Or, at least, the authorities are slack on the matter. The power of crowds have been able to move governments on certain policy matters, and have even been able to play a part in the downfall of a gov’t (as we see in the Thai political arena). That’s not the case in Singapore. Granted, security and safety are certainly matters to be concerned about when talking about protests. However, that’s not a good enough reason to disallow mini protests of a few persons.

Of course, I must say that I do not think protests are a good thing… And I don’t support the idea of taking to the streets. That’s probably a last resort for people in other countries who haven’t been able to get themselves heard and understood from official channels. I hope there won’t come a day when Singaporeans who cannot take the repression anymore, take to the streets and risking getting themselves or other people into trouble.

Having said all these, I think a best way to describe the whole issue will be, as the title suggests… Silence is Golden. It’s better for everyone to just keep quiet and live in our own worlds. Forget about speaking up. Spending the time to think of how to make more money is a better prospect.

Nowadays, I have been wondering - what benefits do Singaporeans enjoy from the Government, compared to our foriegn friends (i.e. Foreign Talents, Permanent Residents)?. Do we really enjoy so much more benefits compared to foreigners that we have to be so indebted to the nation and (for the males) serve 2 years of full-time NS and 13 years of reservice thereafter?

Most undergraduates will be concerned about tuition fees. An undergraduate in Singapore universities pay about $6,000 a year in tuition fees. Our foreign counterparts pay only a few hundred dollars more, provided they sign a 3 year bond to work in Singapore after their graduation. This is a dumb policy. First let us look at what nationalities are we attracting. Mainland Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysians, Burmese, etc. These countries’ economies are generally not as good as Singapore’s. The earning power of graduates there aren’t as good as in Singapore too. Naturally, students from these countries are more than happy to sign the 3 year bond to work in Singapore, then after that either apply to become PRs or go back to their countries as well-to-do people.

How does this affect local students? After we graduate, we have to compete in the job market with the foreign graduates. They are usually willing to settle for lower pay, and that’s what’s driving the lowering starting salaries in the job market nowadays. The government always insists that this is to ensure a competitive economy and that Singaporeans should be less demanding and picky.

However, they neglect to observe that most Singaporean (male) graduates, by the time we graduate, are already about 24 or 25 years old. It’s time to think about paying up tuition fees loan, saving up to start a family and buy a HDB flat. Why are we demanding better salaries, compared to foreign graduates? Simply because the cost of starting a family and buying an apartment is many times more than what it costs in those other countries. Is it our fault that we are picky? No. It’s because the government does not protect us from foreigners, allowing the job market to be ’spoilt’ and allowing foreigners to work in jobs that could have gone to locals.

In many other first-world economies, the governments protect their citizens by making sure that foreign students leave the country within a stipulated time after graduation. Singapore is probably, if not the only one… one of the few that invites foreigners to stay on, regardless of their profession and expertise level.

Some people would argue that we will enjoy the benefits of a good economy that the government has created later in life. That’s why we should be grateful and protect the country by serving NS. How about foreigners? They too are enjoyin the economic benefits, but they can just leave as and when they like. One day when Singapore’s economy goes down the drain, they will just take the money in their banks and go back to their own countries and lead comfortable lives. While us Singaporeans continue to slog our lives away until the retirement age of 60+ years old (which some of us wouldn’t reach anyway). Or, one day when Singapore gets involved in a war, us Singaporean males will have to risk our lives and fight for a country that doesn’t treat locals much better than foreigners, while them foreigners will go back to their own countries.

Recently, the government has kind of realised the unhappiness of Singaporeans at having to compete in all areas with foreigners. So came a new policy regarding school fees. From next year onwards, school fees for foreigners will increase gradually. It’s about time. However, this really doesn’t do much for Singaporeans. Increasing school fees wouldn’t stop foreigners from coming to our ‘world-class’ universities. I suspect they are more interested in the 3 years work opportunity than in education. As long as our government continues to open it’s arms wide to welcome foreigners in to our job market, Singapore citizens will continue to compete with more people who are willing to work for less. As long as the cost of HDB flats and starting a family continues to remain the same or (more likely) go up, we will not be willing to settle for less.

I know, I know… can’t really put all the blame on the policy-makers. Most of our ministers come from elite backgrounds and they never had to bother with all the problems that lower-income families have to deal with. So, they don’t understand our pains. They think that textbook economic policies are enough to fuel Singapore’s growth. They think that a perfectly competitive job market is good for the economy. Yes, good for the economy. Good for enterprises. Good for those people that own the enterprises. But not good for people way down in the food chain.

That’s why the income gap is increasing. Rich people are earning more, while poor people are competing with foreign workers to keep their jobs.

Our government thinks that the best solution will be to introduce a so called ‘workfare scheme’. This ‘rewards’ lower income workers with a few hundred dollars every year, and serves to supplement their wages. Instead of depending on handouts, why not just introduce restrictions on foreign workers such that lower income jobs will be kept for Singapore citizens? I would think Singaporeans rather work for their money than take handouts, like beggars. We are not beggars, we are Singapore citizens. A government should protect it’s citizens from external threats. This is the most basic. Otherwise, what is a government good for?

Today, I read in the papers 2 things. First, company tax will go down. I don’t know whether to be happy. Rich people will continue to get richer, while wages for lower-income workers remain more or less the same.

Second, MM Lee is telling Singaporeans that the income gap will be narrower in the future. I was actually misled by the headline. I actually thought there will be some schemes put in place to ensure lower-income earners will earn more. No… that’s not the case. He was actually referring to a continuous influx of capable foreign talents who will take away more executive jobs and willing to work for lower pay. OMG. Flabbagusted. And he told Singaporeans to face the reality. Wow. Is this what a government should do for it’s citizens, tell them to face reality and compete with foreigners?

I’m very sad at the direction in which our country is moving towards. Having Singaporeans as 2nd class citizens and foreigners as 1st class guests.

I guess for me a rainy day is like a love-hate affair… on one hand I love it because it´s really cooling and I love the sound of raindrops hitting the ground. One the other hand, I hate it when I have to go to school in a heavy rain. I got to walk quite far to the bus-stop and usually I´d get all wet.

Today, I was almost late for my SEP interview cos of the rain. I arrived right on the dot, huffing and puffing and sweating profusely cos I ran from the bus-stop.

It was over in a jiffy. Less than 3 minutes. Perhaps 2. It went like… ¨So have you ever been on exchange before?¨, ¨Why do you want to go on SEP¨ and the interviewer was like only half-listening while she flipped through some papers. But I was given some hope when she said my results look quite good and told me that I should encourage my juniors to join SEP when I come back to Singapore… wow. Looks like a sure win? Or maybe she was just fooling me… Nevertheless, I am actually quite confident because in terms of grades I am OK. And in terms of my other competitors… quite a number of them were Chinese nationals. Hmmm, I think I read somewhere that priority will be given to Singaporeans (rightfully so… I wish the gov´t accords Singaporeans priority in other issues too) .

Don´t know when the results will be out though.