A commentor on my previous post mentioned - “Actually.. it may be a little extreme in wanting the government to implement every policy the citizens want by saying its a democratic country.”

It is indeed extreme. I don’t mean that the government should implement every whim and fancy the citizens want… just that sometimes, the government should think about the citizens’ FEELINGS, rather than just plain looking at numbers.

Do you realise that in Singapore we are just a set of numbers?

From the moment you are born, you are an NRIC number. When you go into the army, your NRIC number is your second name. In university, your matric number is what you are to the university.

There is hardly any regard for citizens’ feelings in the way Singapore government form policies. Everything is done for the sake of boosting numbers - improving GDP, improving growth rates, improving population numbers, improving birth rates.

How about the intangible stuff that cannot be counted - such as happiness, satisfaction, pace of life, community values, etc?

I don’t say this without backup. When NUS wanted to raise tuition fees, did they consult the students first? They didn’t, and that ended up in dissatisfaction among students, but the school didn’t care and proceeded with the hike anyway.

Same thing with last year’s S/U fiasco - implemented, then backed down after a strong backlash from the student population. You see it now? They consider our feelings AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT… not in the first place.

The same thing happens in the way our country is governed. Propose to raise GST. Citizens unhappy. Government raises GST anyway, and try to ’soften’ the blow by giving some handouts as an afterthought. But the GST rate is there to stay, and very likely will go up again in future.

Same thing with the FT issue. Do we have any say in it at all? They tell us we can provide feedback… sure we can! We can send emails, send letters to the ST Forum, write letters to our MPs, etc. But who cares? They read, they acknowledge, they give a canned (or poorly thought out) answer, and that’s it. Yes sir, they accept feedback, but they never say they’ll ever consider your suggestions or feelings. No.

Singapore has now come to a point where its top brains are leaving for greener pastures because of the intangible things in life that Singapore is unable to provide - the government knows this problem is there, and their answer to this is to import more FT from India and China… and publicly acknowledging this strategy - again, a blatant disregard for citizens’ feelings. Making us feel as though we are not valued. They can just bring in more talents to replace the numbers lost. Again, it is a game of numbers.

Yes… I didn’t fall off the cliff during my hike in Yosemite National Park earlier today. Just too busy to put up all the photos and trip reports. I will do so gradually…

Just a short reflection for today.

I noticed that the talk of the blogosphere these few days have been about foreign workers in Singapore again. Seriously, the government isn’t listening to native Singaporeans’ views - why can’t they respect the fact that many SIngaporeans do not like our country to be taken over by foreign talent? Instead of telling us what is good for us… why can’t they just respect what the people want?

Pro-establishment people are going to slam me for being myopic, going to comment saying that Singaporeans should be open to competition, it is healthy for the economy, the government always have the best intentions for the people, etc. I’ve had enough of this shit and brain washing. Life is only so short, why should we restrict ourselves to a place where the government doesn’t bother about implementing policies that we really want? True, what we want may not be in the best interests for us… but… ultimately, isn’t is so that in a truly democratic society, citizens get to choose what they really want for themselves?

Our economy may not perform as well if we choose not to allow that many foreign talent to come in, however, if we made that choice, we will be responsible for the consequences. And afterall, is the Singapore economy really doing that well now with all the FT? For business owners and investors, maybe. For the normal and marginalized population… not quite so - I am sure many of my readers out there can testify to.

The most significant choice we can make as citizens is to choose who we want as our leaders - however, the election laws and political scene in Singapore make it difficult for opposition parties to effectively challenge the ruling party. As a result, many constituencies remain unchallenged and many Singaporeans are unable to exercise their rights to vote - is this still considered a democracy? People who want to make alternative choices have no chances to do so…

Some people say that Singapore has few competent opposition politicians. This I agree with. There are certainly lots of competent people in Singapore, and I suspect many with strong political beliefs. However, there is a climate of fear - look at all the opposition politicians in the past who, for some reason or another, have been put out of action. Truly successful and competent people in Singapore will not want to take the risk of openly associating themselves with the opposition - much less to become opposition politicians themselves - it takes a lot of guts and appetite for risk to do so, and in this society where ‘me’ comes first over ‘we’, most people will stay away from that. The general mindset is, when you are already doing well in life, why make things more difficult for yourself?

These are more reasons I have for wanting to leave Singapore. Many of us never had the opportunity to choose our leaders before… maybe even for the rest of our lives we will continue to see ‘walkovers’ in our own constituencies. However, we can choose to leave for somewhere else, where citizens are treated with more respect, somewhere where the political scene is healthier, where the grass is greener.

Having traveled around quite a bit now, I still subscribe to the belief that the grass is really greener on the other side. If you believe in this too, continue believing in it - do not let people put you down, telling you that you’re wrong and Singapore is good for you. Everyone has their own ideas of what is good for themselves. As long as you know what you are doing/thinking is right, then continue believing in yourself and continue to dream and strive for what you want or where you want to migrate to.

I’ve made my choice. And the next step is to work towards it.

Today is my last day in NYC… I’ll be leaving for Las Vegas in a few hours’ time.

NYC is a pretty fun and exciting place, with lots to see and do… however, one would need a substantial budget to go for nice meals, watch broadway shows and go for all the tours and attractions. On a low budget, there wouldn’t be much to see or do, because all the museums have admission charges of $10 - $20.

I bought a 3 day New York Pass (www.newyorkpass.com) for $100 and it gave me admission to ‘over 40 attractions’, but in actual fact only a handful of them are the better ones - having said that, it’s already worth the money, as I managed to use $100 worth of value on the first day alone.

I visited the Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Madame Tussaurds’ Wax Museum; went up the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Bodies Exhibition, and had a 2 hour evening ‘cruise’ on a ferry.

In terms of food, NYC wasn’t as expensive as I expected it to be - one can spend a fortune on food if he likes, but for people like me, $1.25 can get a breakfast of coffee and a chocolate eclair (I think the price was only for a coffee and donut but they gave it to me when I asked =)). That’s an impossible price to get in Canada (except for Macdonald’s $1.50 coffee and muffin).

I don’t have a very good first impression of NYC - I find that people here are pretty stressed out, always rushing for time (just like in Singapore), and pretty much unfriendly and not helpful - except for some street side food vendors who always seem to be cheerful and friendly. It’s certainly a nice place to visit for the shopping, shows and attractions, but it’ll never be on my list of places to work and live in.

Last night I was at a subway station and there were two transvestites dancing and taking off their shirts on the platform, either oblivious to the attention they were getting, or actually enjoying the attention. It was so funny and crazy, and I was telling my friend (whom I met for dinner) we don’t need to pay to go for cabaret or comedy shows… can just get a free show on the subway.

Another funny thing about subways here is that, on every single subway ride that I took (about 6 times), there would be some homeless people who’d hop on the train and start to tell their sob stories and asking for money. Homeless people here are very creative (well, some of their stories could be true, but I am skeptical), compared to those in Canada who just sit on the ground and hold out their hands! Here are some of the ones I remember:

* “Between XXX and XXX stations, somebody stole my wallet. I have no money to go home now, and I need $8.50 to get back. I have $1.85 now, and if somebody can spare me a quarter or any amount at all, it would be great”
* “I am HIV positive and have no ID. The hospitals would not treat me because I do not have an ID. I need money for food and for my treatment”
* The most ultimate one that I’ve encountered… and I gave some coins to… were 2 elderly men who got on the train I was on last night, and shouted “How are you, New York City?! It’s gospel time!”… and started to sing a catchy jingle (I couldn’t make out the lyrics cos I was listening to my MP3), dancing and jiggling across the train. I was impressed! I gave them some coins and one of the chaps gave me a hi-five and said, “you’re an artist”. LOL!

I think they deserved it - they were homeless but still able to ‘work’ for money, appearing cheerful and trying to entertain people… not like the stereotypical homeless people who’d just tell their sob stories and hold out their hands. The latter doesn’t work for me - I (and probably many other people) would think they are just making up stories half the time.

Alrighty, tonight I will stuff myself with a buffet in Las Vegas and finish the evening with a soak in the bathtub - a nice change from the bunk bed I was in for the past 5 nights.