Archive for July, 2008
2 more weeks to National Day… where are all the flags?
Personally, I think the decision of whether to put up a flag is a dependent variable of one’s love for his/her country. This feeling of patriotism is moderated by the individual’s perceptions on whether the government is doing its job to help him/her. (Of course, strictly speaking we must factor in ‘laziness’ but I assume [...]
SM Goh tells residents to check opposition’s town council accounts
In his speech at a National Day dinner held in Hougang, SM Goh urges Hougang residents to “study the annual accounts of the town council to ensure that the funds are properly used”.
Is he insinuating that opposition town councils are prone to misgovernance? What about PAP town councils? Since the ruling party runs the majority [...]
Temasek & GIC suffers over US$10 billion paper loss on bank investments
Edit: It was later announced that there was a filing error with the SEC – Temasek only divested 5 million shares. But the paper loss of $10 billion still stands.
I read on Littlespeck.com that Temasek sold 50% of its holdings in Merrill Lynch at a nearly US$1.5 billion loss.
Including unrealized losses on its holdings in [...]
Why not having a by-election will hurt the PAP more
In Singapore, the General Elections held once every 5 years is probably the only way (some) Singaporeans can display their (dis)satisfaction with the Government. This also means that it’s the only way for the ruling party to get a good idea of the general population’s support for them.
The unfortunate demise of Bukit Batok’s MP Dr. [...]
Singapore ranked 5th most expensive in Asia, 13th worldwide
Singapore is ranked 5th in Asia, after Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Osaka in the Mercer 2008 Cost of Living survey.
I would rather choose to live in Seoul, Tokyo or Osaka than Singapore or Hong Kong, as my impression of these cities are that they are much more comfortable places to live in (I can’t [...]
Making a well-thought career plan
Until recently, I’ve always had the ambition to ‘make it big’ in business one day – I couldn’t wait till the day when I finally graduate and can start my forage into the business world to begin building my own business empire.
My idea of success in life was, I suppose, rather typical – several million [...]
Singapore’s policy makers living in the clouds
Another article in today’s Straits Times was about Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong’s response to criticisms that the government has been too generous in allowing large numbers of foreign workers to invade our job market, directly competing with Singaporeans for jobs.
On concerns about foreign workers depressing wages in the lower end of the job [...]
Singaporeans still not productive enough?
Finance Minister Tharman is telling Singaporeans that pay rises are not the solution to inflation. Instead, lower income Singaporeans should be trained to improve their productivity so they can earn more.
The question is, are lower income Singaporeans really not productive enough? Or, should I put it this way instead – how much productivity is enough? [...]
Busy days
Here are the things I have to work on all at the same time these days:
1. Special term module – ending in early August, and I just failed the mid-term today =( I’ve never failed a single exam since secondary school days… this paper was just too ridiculously difficult, and I suspect many other students [...]
Are Singaporeans apathetic?
I read an article in The New Paper about how 40 passerbys looked on while 3 youths were struggling to rescue a 66 year old handicapped man who fell into the sea near the Esplanade.
This showed just how apathetic regular Singaporeans are – whipping out their camera phones to film the incident rather than lending [...]
