The Moley Prophet

LKY has revealed in a dialogue that the government would very much like to implement a system of free childcare and paternity leave to boost the declining birth rate. This system would create more harm than good for Singaporeans. First, we have to look at how this system could be supported. By deducting the salary of Ministers? Surely they wouldn’t be so patriotic to sacrifice their salaries. They are in fact, mere workers who try to match what they earn with what those in the corporate sector earn.

So, the money could only come from tax payers. Which would be us. The people who slog it out there with our brains trying to make more money. And we had to pay tax to support the sows who just keep giving birth.

In Singapore, people who have several children are either doing relatively well or on the other end of the income scale - poor. Yet, they do not manage their finances properly and continue having more children they could not feed, more children than they could house, more children than they could take in hand and educate properly. What happens to these children? They grow up affecting the society as a whole and take in resources meant for the well being of those whom these resources are taken from.

We are already providing tons of resources for these poor families, including fee textbooks, free education, bursary money. Yet, what have they contributed? More McDonald’s deliveryman maybe? These leechers use the money given to them on nonsense! Cigarettes, PSP, Nintendo DS, et cetera. Why then are we providing them with the money? They deserve to be in the state they are in!

The Swede system would only increase the number of such families. Plentiful of children at home to be McDonald’s deliveryman in the future. Having children is not just providing them with food and education. Beyond those, there are issues of taking care of the baby at night and educating them with proper values. These are things busy parents who are making money do not want. On top of it, companies may not be able to accept the more paternity leave idea. The people who have the ability to raise the children are not doing it and those who don’t will do it even more, I wonder how would Singapore look like in 15 years time.

Certain systems may work in a place, but not in the others. Take China for example, I believe China’s One-Child policy works perfectly there. It restricts those who are not able to support their children to have lesser babies and those who are able to afford to have the number they desire.

I hate Apple! And I hate the people who adore them to allow them going around trampling on others without flouting the Anti-Trust laws. How superior are Apple products? Not at all. The reason why I bought my iPod Nano was because I like the color and there isn’t any player around when I bought it. Get it right, I like that color it came in, not the interface, not iTunes. Why then do I have to put up with iTunes? It is a terrible sub-standard product that is bundled with the iPod forcing everyone who buys the iPod to use it. If that is not enough, they have to bundle Quicktime. An even more horrible product. Just because you didn’t buy the Pro version, you can’t watch the clip in full screen. I used to be able to uninstall this horrible product and substitute it with an open-source alternative. But now, Quicktime is required to run iTunes, if Quicktime is uninstalled, iTunes would not work! This is utterly ridiculous, and all those idiots like Real Media who is suing Microsoft for Windows Media Player, get a life and sue Apple instead!

I used to think that money is the most important reason why I live on this Earth. The reason why I continue to study in a school is for the sake of my future. Money is still important to me. However, I have found that money doesn’t lure me away from betraying myself, my integrity and my own happiness.

Sometime ago, I left a job which I started for a brief period, for a single reason, I wasn’t happy with it. Its concept did not make sense to me to continue working there. Of course, it may have been a different issue altogether if I were the boss. I do not like to be bossed around, I do not like for my work to interfere with my personal time. When I’m saying personal time, I mean working full time during hours when I want to work on other stuff. I’m never bothered about bringing work home but I do not want to be tied at work, especially one which I do not like.

Some people may never understand why I’m happy being where I am today, volunteering full time, and taking on ad-hoc relief teaching. It doesn’t matter to me because they have not understood the spirit of volunteerism. Being not able to grasp this concept is why some people never got out of the rat race. They are stuck in the world of earning that petty salary which they bring home at the end of the month. Money means too much to them that they would never let go of even the smallest amount and they would rather live on that stable income than go for something big. Sorry man, that is not the life I want.

Last week, after the incidents of the NS Men on duty, I wrote my opinions while they were still fresh in my mind. Somehow, the next morning, my blog was infected with a virus that caused me to restore my page to an earlier backup, losing that post. How coincidental.

Nevertheless, I read the papers in amusement as Mindef conducted their useless checks on procedures of physical training. Check? Are you kidding. Would the officers be so dumb to keep records of how they punished the soldiers? I have a friend from the same batch of the guy who died in BMTC and learned from him that running activities are still on even when it’s supposed to be a complete halt of physical training.

And as I have said in the lost post, checking on physical training is bullshit. The problem lies with CMPB. The way they conduct the medical screening is utterly ridiculous. The medics are so complacent with the checks that sometimes they do not bother checking properly. For example, for urine tests, they do not even check the strips. Electrocardiogram tests were nonsense as well. I was repeatedly told to redo my tests until I passed. What kind of crap is that? Any medically trained professional would not do such a thing. I was given a PES C1L1 when my doc specifically stated no combat + no IPPT. If not because CMPB had been dragging my enlistment since the day I returned to Singapore, I wouldn’t even accept this to enter the service as soon as possible.

I would therefore urge Mindef to study the situation from ground level up to prevent further misfortunes from happening. Deepest condolences to the families of our men who passed on in service.

When it comes to collecting money, the LTA could never be better. However, when compensation comes into play, they never fail to push the blame around to keep people confused. Not realizing how hefty it would cost to take the CTE from Ang Mo Kio to town, I followed my GPS and drove through it. For that short distance of less than 3 kilometers (not sure exactly how long it was), it cost me $7. 7 freaking bucks, and of top of that, the road wasn’t clear either - which proves one thing, the ERP is useless in preventing traffic slowdown, because the road is what we call in Chinese “bi jing zhi lu”, loosely translated as “the only way to the capital”. While in the states, I had to take highway which charges tolls occasionally. These highways definitely allows smooth traffic. I have never seen a traffic slowdown on it. On top of that, the speed limits are upped by 10 miles an hour. Guess how much it costs? 75 cents - I heard it has been upped to a dollar though. That small toll fee would save quite a bit of time, and I don’t mind paying, because there are no additional toll charges like there are ERPs everywhere. What’s more, there is no road tax to pay in America.

Recently, I wrote in to LTA to request for some road signs to be put up to a prominent humanitarian organization. The reply was, advertisements would endanger the safety of road users. I was like “WTF?” while reading the reply. What do you mean by advertisements? I’m asking for a freaking directional sign you idiots. People are getting lost on the roads because of the secluded location coupled with a one-way traffic along that road. My reply was: Yea right. Advertisements endanger the lives of motorists, like those hanging on the lamp post along Orchard Road, Penang Road, Stamford Road, and many other areas. And if they do not put up the directional signs, it would really cause a road safety issue when motorists start getting confused. I believe that there is a reason for them to say no - perhaps, they want to charge a fee? I’m only guessing =)

Since they are so eager to earn money, they should carry the liability of compensating drivers who get frustrated by their useless money sucking device. It is only right that LTA compensate drivers who had to be frustrated with a fine, a trip down to LTA to complain, and a trip to a certified inspection center for the IUs checked. You think gas is free? You think time is cheap? I’m sorry, these are currently the most precious resources in the world. To not compensate, LTA is proving to the entire world of how they use their unfairness as an authority to protect themselves from all charges, and placing a huge question mark on the integrity of our legal system.