Alice Cheong

Today (13th Nov 2011), one of my relative took AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur in the morning. Usually, the immigration white card will be offered in the plane. However, this morning, despite personally requesting for a copy of immigration white card (Arrival/Departure Card (Imm.26) ), my relative was told that there is not a single piece of immigration white card in the plane. My relative was asked to get the immigration white card at the low cost terminal (LCCT) on arrival.

Now, the next turn of event that happened was that there was not a single piece of immigration white card at the arrival hall of the low cost terminal! All the booths where the immigration white cards were usually placed at, were empty. Instead, my relative, like the at least hundreds of other passengers who arrived this morning at LCCT, was directly shepherd by an immigration officer to the immigration counters. This shepherding immigration officer told my relative and all the arriving passengers that “No white card is required”.

My relative, seeing that the passengers in the queue to the immigration counters were going through the immigration passport check without the immigration white card, followed accordingly.

Now, the nightmare happened when my relative tried to leave Malaysia. My relative was blocked from leaving at the Malaysia immigration, as my relative did not have the immigration white card slip. Cash was “requested” from my relative by the immigration officer.

I do wonder what can be done? I am sure many of the at least hundreds of passengers who arrived at LCCT on 13th Nov 2011 morning and are still in Malaysia, will have not only a holiday, but also a nightmare when there try to leave Malaysia.

I hear many comments saying that the Alternative Parties have no concrete plans. That even if they are voted into the parliament, things will stay the same.

I will like to start with posing a question. If a certain Party has the majority seats in parliament, and decided to reward the selected ministers with say $1 trillion dollars, what will be needed? They will need the votes of the members of parliament to approve the bill. Do I get your attention?

In short, the voting power of the members of parliament is the crux to any concrete plans. Be it to pay the ministers say $1 trillion dollars, be it to approve or amend the bills regarding Retirement Age Bill, Income Tax Bill, Central Provident Fund Bill, Rapid Transit Systems Bill, Goods and Services Tax Bill, or Housing and Development Bill [1].

Every PAP MP has to toe the PAP party whip, and votes according to the party whip. (Do note that PAP MP’s can request on a case-by-case basis for the party whip to be lifted. [2]) This means that any party having the majority in the parliament has the power to pass any bills to perform whatever concrete plans.

In short, no majority in parliamentary, all “noise” (aka feedback, debates) in parliament, but no plans are possible.

[1] Bills Introduced, Parliament of Singapore, URL http://www.parliament.gov.sg/publications/Bills-Introduced
[2] PAP whip to be lifted for all MPs at times, The Business Times Singapore, March 21, 2002

As I go about doing my work, a song is stuck in my mind. 小人物的心声. 小人物refers to the commoners, while 心声refers to the voice from the heart. It was the theme song for the 1986 SBC TV Drama Serial芝麻绿豆. 20 years later, it was sung at NDP in 2006.

The election is drawing near, and many questions are on my mind. (A) What are the feelings of the commoners with this election process? (B) What will be the next term’s policies that will shape Singapore on the macro and micro level? (C) How will the election process and the policies impact the direction of the social fabric of the society?

(A) What are the feelings of the commoners with this election process? Do we feel that the candidates are qualified? (Coincidently, any 1987 baby will be about 27 to 28 years old in 2015, 4 years from now. Nobody will raise an eyebrow if there is another 27 or 28 years old candidate for the next election.) Do we feel that近水楼台先得月? Do we feel that the candidates are the “A” team Singaporeans, born and bred here?

(B) What will be the next term’s policies that will shape Singapore on the macro and micro level? Will these policies be in-touch with the commoners? Will the housing price deposit be more than 2 years of a working adult salary? Will the housing price be more than 10 years of a working adult salary? Will the cost of public transport continues to be “adjusted”? Will the public transport be sardine-packed? Will the buses whizzed pass either fully-packed or fan1 pai2? Will the taxi be disappearing or refused to pick up passengers at certain hours? Will the cost of basic necessities increase along with yearly inflation? Will the medical fees in the Public Hospital be comparable to private service in our neighbouring countries? Will the cost of elderly nursing home in Singapore be comparable to those in Johor Bahru? Will there be job security? Will we have to lower our remuneration and compete with lower wage “foreign talent”?

(C) How will the election process and the policies impact the direction of the social fabric of the society? Do we feel price out? Do we feel that we have to slave our entire working life just to pay for housing and living expenditure? Do we feel that it is a dog-eat-dog society? Do we feel that only those with connections get rewarded? Do we get the feeling that the elites show the get out of my uncaring face look? Do we feel that everything is about KPI where the measurements are statistics that can be twisted? Do we feel that an apprentice should be paid $15k per month? Do we feel that any government policy maker should be paid more than a million annually? Do we feel that there is any just? Do we feel the need for any ethics? Do we feel the need for any moral? Do we feel the need for loyalty? Do we feel that this is home and not just another house?

小人物的心声

也许我一个人, 不能成就一番大事业
但我尽力贡献一份微薄的力量

也许我自己, 不能发出万丈光和亮
但我能为斗室带来足够的光芒

我从来都不在乎, 自己不是一个大人物
因为平凡也是一种幸福

看到名人总是忙忙碌碌, 我的时间由我控制
平凡日子一样会充实

The following news catched my eye.

Quoting  ST 28 Jan 2010 acticle “Medisave as a screening option”

Breast cancer screening is affordable – around $100, or $50 in polyclinics, with subsidies. During promotional campaigns, it can cost as little as $25. According to Dr Donald Poon of the National Cancer Centre, response ‘is dismal even at heavily discounted rates’.

Quoting TNP 12 Oct 2009 acticle “Turned away from mannogram promotion”

THE two friends were excited by the promotion. They were going to pay only $25 for a mammogram which usually costs $100. But when the two retirees turned up at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) headquarters on Hospital Drive yesterday, they were turned away. All the places had been taken up, they were told. A disappointed Madam Eileen Yeo, 62, said: “We made the effort to go down on time but we were told it was fully booked. “We didn’t even know there were only 150 places available. It was not stated in their advertisement.”

Hmm… I wonder what is the benchmark for poor response at discounted rate…

Is the figure of 150 undergoing the promotional mammogram considered a poor response, since the absolute number is just a fraction of the Singapore’s female population?

Or is response overwhelming as the promotion was unable to cope with the number of people turning up?