The Money Problem in Singapore

Hi everyone, it has been some time since I updated this blog.

Recently I came across this article which mentioned how the government pledges the Singaporeans to help them cope with the rising costs. The rising costs, including food, fuel and taxes, is a growing issue in Singapore and it certainly has affected the majority of households that are not well-off.

Feeling glad that the government is taking measures to help us? Yes, but only to a certain extent. The most important thing is that the government has to turn words into meaningful actions.

I wonder if anyone realises that every upgrade in services by the government does seem to affect the overall costs? Take for example, the Distance Fare system as currently implemented by the public transport. The new method of calculating the cost of taking transport does seem to be more appropriate, but it does not actually solve the expensive cost of taking public transport, and I felt kind of being cheated, especially when I live far away from my home. Does anyone know anything about the Distance Fare glitch which "cheated" Singaporeans about SGD $300,000?

Does this device serve its intended purpose?
Picture courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/hxyume/3936819660/

Hence, in conclusion, the happiness of the Singaporeans lies in the abilities of the government to take effective actions to solve the problem of rising costs.

Encountering Someone with Authority? No Fear.

Hello it has been a long time since I last made a post on my blog.

Recently I came across this video about how this young girl bravely spoke up to address environmental issues during a UN conference, even though she herself has no political authority.

What I admire about her is that although she was a young civilian at that time, she had the courage, of which most people did not have, to make a very good point to people having the highest power of authority. She even make a few constructive criticisms about how some countries unneccessarily wasted their resources. Even though the whole world is silenced by her words, I believed that most of the representatives of the countries who attended the conference would be taking her words by heart and willing to change the governing of the country for the better, for the sake of a peaceful world.

Now, because of her, we, the citizens of Singapore, are given many chances to voice out our own opinions regarding Singapore laws and political issues to our government.

Message of this blog: It is not just politicians, but all of you (even if you are not a politicians), who have the ability to change anything.

Wait! Are We Paying for the Government?

Okay, I am at least disappointed to say that Singaporeans who are intending to buy a new car as their Christmas gifts will be deeply saddened at how the price for a COE bid has increased recently (December 2010, Round 1) to its highest record since the year 2000.

So, is it worth to buy a new car now?

Toyota Corolla Altis, taken from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50915680@N08/4796839344/

Okay, let's take a look at the pricing of a popular, budget priced Toyota Corolla Altis 1.6. According to SGCarMart as of 9 December 2010, the model cost $98,488, inclusive of the COE priced at $47,604. Okay, there may be COE rebates or other offers when you buy a new car, but for this post I shall keep things simple and omit other factors. A simple calculation of the percentage of the COE price over the price of the model gives you 48.3%. In other words, if you intend to buy this model, expect around half of your money paid to enter the government's pockets!

My conclusion? Standing in as one of the majority of the Singaporeans with limited monthly income in the entire family, I will say that it is not worth to pay an ultra inflated price for a budget model. However, if you are one of the Singaporeans that draws in many Ks of monthly income in the entire family, looking for a high end car such as BMW 5 Series, I will say that money is not an issue for you, so by all means, go ahead and get one.

Alternatively, you may want to

• Buy a used car. (Do beware of the relevant charges and taxes)
• Take public transport. (Yeah I know that the efficiency of public transport is a tad disappointing, but it is still much better than paying inflated price.)
• Car pool. (If you have a lot of friends or colleagues going to work together.)

Alright, that's all I have for today. But hopefully I wish to see the Ministry of Transport step up to make full use of their government funds to upgrade the standard of public transport. I swear they have more than sufficient government funds to contribute to the society =)

The Idea of Korean Reunification?

In the wake of the war breakout between North Korea and South Korea, I came across an article in TodayOnline, highlighting the idea of the Korean reunification. As I am the one who goes for peace and stability, I decided to give my brief, personal analysis of the effectiveness of Korean reunification.

Pros:

• Increase in overall power in terms of military and economy.
• A step towards world peace and stability.

Cons:

• Tons of differences and conflicts to consider. (eg. Culture, Economy, Politics, Ideology)
• Discrimination may arise as a result of unifying of both govermnents as one.
• Cost about a few trillions to reunify both governments, even beyond the economic ability of South Korea.

A formal handshake, taken from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32490173@N05/3169262303/

Personally I will be more than happy to welcome this miraculous move, but according to my pros and cons analysis, the cons obviously outweigh the pros. My analysis shows why there has been only little development of reunification over the years. Therefore, I think that all related parties (Both Koreas, Japan, USA, China and Russia) should try to work out as many solutions as possible to bridge the large differences of both North Korea and South Korea.

I feel that these are a few methods the six related parties can do to achieve reunification:

• All six parties should try to fund the extremely expensive cost of reunification as much as possible.
• All six parties should try to deeply understand the benefits of going democracy and propogate the idea to the world.
• Both North Korea and South Korea should be willing to make a fair and certain level of compromisation.

However, judging that things are going currently, the idea of reunification might seemed to be more and more of a distant dream. For us, we can only pray for their brighter future.

Political Cartoons

Have you heard of a political cartoon before? If you did study Social Studies in your Secondary School life, then I am sure that you had came across many of such.

Modern political cartoons can comes in various styles and are usually used to express the thoughts of the artists. The content can varies from stereotypical, biased and/or demonizing portrayals of people and event. However, most of the artists have similar purposes - Highlighting the important political and social issues, usually in a comical manner.

Understanding political cartoons is not easy. Usually, the artists used mostly visual metaphors and symbols, and that it is up to you to use your imagination to depict what the cartoons are highlighting about, as well as its actual meaning. However, I do have one website that is able to teach and help you to understand political cartoons.

Personally I have not think of which political cartoon is my all-time favourite. This is because I think that every political cartoon has its own meaning and hence, unique in a way. However, I would like to encourage the artists to feature more of graphical politicians, for example a comic version of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, in their work.

Okay that's all I have for now. Do look out for the forum or the comments and analysis sections of local newspapers. This is usually where political cartoons can be found.

A Side Note of Caution

Hey everyone, do make sure that you exercise self caution. When writing your comments, please be mindful of your words.

I feel that it is important for me to say this out because politics is a very sensitive topic, and that we have learned in our past SIWM lessons that New Media can be easily accessed by any people anytime anywhere.

So when you comment something that is very offensive, and when any of the offended parties chances upon your comment, you will know what kind of catastrophic consequences you are going to land in.

I shall emphasise this again: Please be mindful of what you say. Do you wish to see Kim Jong-Il at your doorsteps the very next morning?

PS: Do inform me immediately if I unknowingly post something that is offensive, so that I can do something to minimise the "damage" done.

Be Cognitive. Be Rational. Be Political.

PM Lee Hsien Loong giving a speech
about Youth Olympic Games.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/

First of all, welcome to my very first blog of my life =)

Some questions for all of you to consider: Do you yearn for a worldwide peace? Or do you wish to for a cut in the rate of GST in Singapore? If you are the one who is willing to improve the society through solving political problems, then this blog is for all of you.

 

For this blog I shall post and update of certain political issues from Singapore as well as around the world, and the reasons behind these issues. Besides these, I will also be posting my thoughts and opinions about the related news. Do feel free to post your constructive comments to my blog post.

 

And lastly, I declare that I only have a moderate level of understanding of politics, not at the very advanced level. Therefore, do pardon any mistake I made due to any of my misconception of politics. And that's why I created this blog for the sake of exchanging useful learning information between us. In short, your support is very important in my sustaining of the blog.

All right, hopefully this post shall motivate you in your first step in raising the standard of society. As the saying goes, we are the future leaders of Singapore. Who knows, anyone of you will be the president of Singapore in 30 years time. So let's get the ball rolling and always do remember,

BE VERY POLITICAL.