Singapore's fumble

Following Mas Selamat bin Kastari's escape on 28th Feb, under the pretext of going to the toilet while he was being taken from his cell to the family visit room to await his family, journalists from all over the world had had reports on it.

The one that caught my attention was this...Embarrassed Singapore hunts escaped terrorist, it was the word 'Embarrassed'.

As a Singaporean I felt pretty disappointed by the whole incident and it reminds me of the disappearance of the 8-year old China-born girl, Huang Na, back in 2004.

Remember her killer Took Leng How?

He too escaped from the police on the pretext of going to the toilet and after which he managed to get out of Singapore and into Malaysia without any problem! Next he went all the way to Penang and he returned to Singapore to turn himself in.... (information from Wikipedia)

If Took did not return to Singapore, would he be still at large? The Singapore police only managed to arrest him because he decided to return and turned himself in...

Right now, the Interpol were informed and the police are conducting very thorough search for Mas Selamat bin Kastari. I wish them all the best and good luck...I really don't wish to see another Took; that is the fugitive had to turn himself in in order to be caught.

Is the SG govt listening or is the poor making the govt embarassed ...?

Source: Bloomberg

Facing up to stagflation
Meanwhile the gap between rich-poor widens.
Andy Mukherjee. Bloomberg.
Feb 19, 2008

Stagflation has come to Singapore. The focus of the government's annual budget, announced last Friday, was on dealing with the perils of slowing growth and accelerating inflation, a deadly combination less fiscally robust governments may soon discover.

Of the two, the bigger threat is the 4.4 percent consumer prices rose from a year earlier in December, the quickest pace in a 25 years. It is natural then that the word "inflation" appears 43 times in this year's statement.

Last year it wasn't mentioned once.

The authorities are entering the combat zone from a position of strength. The budget has been in surplus in most years for four decades. For two straight years, people in every income bracket have taken home bigger paychecks.

Even the poorest 10 percent of non-retiree households - with a per-capita income of S$180 a month - have increased their purchasing power. But the rich have fared much better. Since 2006 inequality has widened every year.

Singapore's Gini coefficient, a measure of income concentration, overtook that of the US in 2006 and rose to 0.485 last year, with 0 being absolute income equality and 1 perfect inequality, a high level of disparity for a society with an educated workforce.

Inequity may become a problem because growth momentum has suddenly collapsed as the much-expected "decoupling" from the troubled US economy has so far failed to materialise.

On an annualised basis, GDP contracted almost 5 percent in the final three months of last year compared with the previous quarter.

If there's another fall in GDP this quarter Singapore would technically be in recession.

It is one thing to have an unequal society where the workforce is, for all practical purposes, at full employment and income growth is outpacing inflation for everyone, albeit more quickly for the rich than for the poor.

Lopsided income distribution is to be expected in a city that wants more rich people to come to live and work.

It now takes just a week to register a hedge fund from scratch in Singapore, many times faster than in Hong Kong.

Two casinos will open by 2010, and an annual Formula One night race starts this year.

Singapore tends to eschew subsidies to aid the poor, except in education, basic health care and public housing, the biggest source of wealth creation for its average citizen.

However, Singapore has mechanisms for transferring fiscal surpluses to the poor in bad years and ensuring they can get by even on monthly income that wouldn't buy a meal for two at My Humble House, a restaurant that isn't what its name suggests.

What Singapore has resolutely shied away from is giving citizens any handout that may dissuade them from seeking work.

Unemployment insurance, discussed following the 2001 recession, remains a no-no.

That may be prudent, especially in a fast-aging society trying hard to retain competitiveness as cheaper locations in China and India become more sophisticated producers of almost everything that Singapore makes.

But a prudent course may not be popular in an environment of stagflation. When people start losing their jobs while their electricity bills keep going up, there may be resentment against the rich, many of whom are foreigners.

Singapore is too pragmatic to want to use tax policies to fashion a more egalitarian society. Even this year's budget gave a bonus to the rich by scrapping estate duty.

The move is aimed at getting the world's wealthy individuals to move assets to Singapore, with no levies on capital gains and the top rate for personal income tax at 20 percent.

To make sure the poor don't fall further behind, the emphasis of the government's budget this year is on returning S$5.4 billion worth of fiscal surplus to the people, especially low-income households and the elderly.

As a small, open economy, Singapore cannot do much to escape stagflation. As a prosperous nation - average household income from work last year was equivalent to US$50,000 a year - it is going to be under increasing pressure to shield its vulnerable from economic forces over which authorities have no control.

Very creative advertising!

Who is your MP?

It was a Wednesday evening at the void deck of Block 310, Hougang Ave 5 - where Hougang MP, Mr Low Thia Khiang, has been holding his Meet-the-People sessions since 1991.

There were proper lighting, 2 wooden tables (one for registration and the other for Mr Low to use), about 10 plastic chairs for residents to sit on, and of course the occasional refreshing night breeze. Who said that Meet-the-People sessions have to be held in classy, air-conditioned places with higher maintenance cost?

The residents registered themselves, wrote down their particulars and sat waiting for their turn to meet their MP. Some had come from areas such as Jurong, Bedok, Tampines and of course, Hougang.

After the session ended at around 10pm, Mr Low offered to give me a lift home, as my house was located en route.

"Mr Low! Mr Low!" I heard someone shouting, as we were making our way to the car park.

It was a young chap, probably in his early twenties; he was waving frantically as he ran towards us. His face was filled with beads of perspiration and anxiety. Without further ado, we turned back to find out what was happening. And yes, this was a young chap calling out to his MP as though he was calling out to a friend. Amazing! I thought to myself.

"Mr Low, 我的朋友不要回家，他已经好几天没回家了。你可以去劝劝他吗?", the young chap was panting as he spoke.

Without any hesitation, Mr Low asked," 你的朋友在哪里 ?" With that, the young chap, whose name is Daniel, pointed to another young chap who was seated alone, staring blankly into the air.
Mr Low then advanced slowly and sat down beside the troubled-looking young man. I stayed behind with Daniel as I did not want the guy to feel intimidated by too many people around.

"My friend does not want to go home; he said that his father ill-treats him," explained Daniel. "His mother and sister are here to fetch him home. See, they are over there," he continued.

I looked over my shoulder and saw them; desperation was written all over the elder woman's face. Knowing that her son normally hangs around Hougang to play soccer with his buddies, she had come from Tampines to fetch him home.

I looked around me, and saw 5 of his friends there, aged about 13 to 25. They started throwing questions and comments at Daniel:

Who is that man? MP? You mean that's your MP?

I don't even know who the MP of my constituency is!!!

I though he is your uncle, neighbour, or some relative!

Daniel started to explain that Hougang has been under the Workers' Party since 1991, that Mr Low held his weekly Meet-the-People sessions there, how everyone in the estate knew him so well, how often he did his house visits, what he has done for the residents of Hougang, where one could look for him if they needed help, where the Town Council was, the operating hours of the Town Council, etc.

I could hardly believe that all those words were coming from the mouth of a very young chap who was barely 21, someone who was not even eligible to vote! He knew so much about his own MP as compared to his 5 friends from other constituencies.

Daniel's friends looked astounded, and one kept mumbling that he had never seen his MP, that he didn't even know whether it's a he or a she.

I had no idea how Mr Low's chat with the young guy was progressing then, but I could tell that the young guy was beginning to open up to Mr Low.

Meanwhile, Daniel and his friends told me that they had difficulty communicating with their troubled friend, who kept everything to himself. An hour later, Mr Low walked over to us and immediately I introduced Mr Low to the young chap's mother. He then took her to a corner and spoke to her.

Next, Mr Low went back to the young chap again, this time with his mum. The few of us who were seated a distance away thought that all was well and he was going home. However, the guy was still very resistant to the idea of going home. Mr Low then spent another 30 mins coaxing him.

Altogether Mr Low had spent nearly two hours with him and had done his best, but was still unable to change the boy's mind. Eventually, Mr Low managed to persuade the boy's mum to go home first, let him cool down, and hopefully find a better time to talk to him.

With that, Mr Low said to me we had to be going. I looked at my watch and it was about 20 mins to 12am!

"Encourage your friend to look for a job," Mr Low said to Daniel before leaving for the car park. We bade farewell to the group of friends, and left.

I felt quite sure that Mr Low had made the troubled young boy feel much better after the chat, even if he did not succeed in persuading him to go home.

But what stuck in my mind, and actually touched me, was how well and confidently Daniel had spoken of his constituency, the place where he grew up, the MP whom he had known since young and regarded as a friend; someone he trusted and relied upon to make his estate a better place to live in, a place that is full of life, at least to him and his friends.

So do you know who your MP is?

For almost everyone living in Hougang Constituency, the answer is an affirmative "Yes".

This article was first published in 'Hammer', issue: 0801

A day at the beach in China...

OMG...when I saw this I was like...errr... just when one needs to relax and get away from it all!