Ian On The Red Dot

Who cares about productivity?

Bosses aren’t saying – raise your productivity and we will pay you more. They are saying, raise your productivity, if not, we will hire someone cheaper or someone who can do more for the same pay.

Minister Lim Swee Say:

“Job is the best welfare, full employment is the best protection for workers and productivity gain is the best driver for wage increase in the future…”

The statistics show that Singapore’s GDP has grown.
The statistics also show that Singapore’s income inequality has also grown.

So, what makes the minister think that if a worker increases his or her productivity, the company will pay the worker more? What makes the minister think that those with wealth will be more willing to share the wealth in the future?

There seems to be too conflicting messages here:

1. Raise productivity or lose your job because we can replace you with a foreigner.
2. Raise productivity so your value increases and the company will pay you more.

We know companies are doing 1. We also know they are NOT doing 2.

So telling workers to increase productivity is of no consequence in helping them if companies aren’t willing to share more of the pie. It is also of no consequence if foreign workers who are willing to increase ‘productivity’ (do more for less, do more for same by putting in more hours or taking less pay) are also allowed to be employed.

Bosses’ idea of productivity = Amount Of Work / Pay
Worker’s idea of productivity = Amount Of Work / Time

Different formulas. Think about this for a moment.

The problem is that the ministers are asking workers to bite the bullet first. Prove your worth and trust us (companies, government) to take care of you.

The correct way would be to get companies to pay more. Once you have to pay more for a worker, you as the owner of a company have many more incentives to put more systems and processes in place to get more from the worker. Or you could just overwork him in terms of hours. So the government would need to manage that abuse of overworking.

And it is not just about the company being forced to get their workers to be more productivity, for SME’s, for the want of a better word, it buys a lot more loyalty.

And what does loyalty get you?

More on that tomorrow.

Double-barrelled racial classification … What will our government think of next? Don’t they realize they are making it harder for us IT guys. Like way way harder.

Two conversations related to mixed heritage and this change:

Conversation 1 with my busty Indian friend.

Busty Indian Friend: I’m not pure Indian. A part of me is actually Chinese.

Me: Which part is Chinese?

Busty Indian Friend: Definitely not the top part.

Conversation 2 with colleagues.

Setting: In the office, discussing the implications of the changes in classification on IT systems and the confusion that might arise when people start filling up forms.

Colleague A: So let me ask you. What do you call a person whose father is Indian-Portuguese and mother is Chinese-Malay.

Me: Beautiful.

The Temasek Review was the first internet news site to report on the news, well before any of the newspapers owned by SPH and Mediacorp (read our article here)

The matter would have been kept under wraps if not for the wild speculations and rumors circulating in cyberspace after we published the news which finally forced Straits Times and Channel News Asia to report on it two days later.

The writers for Singaporean online sites that purport to be alternative source of news, opinions and analysis should really try to tone down the beating of the chest every time they think they have trumped the mainstream media owned by SPH and MediaCorp.

They really should stop defining themselves in terms of the other.

They really also should stop thinking of themselves as ‘alternative’. They should just focus on being a credible source of news, opinions and analysis.

Maybe then, they can start being the mainstream.

Singapore lost to Iran last night 1 goals to 3. The players kept giving away possession like it was still Christmas.

Naive defending all around.

1. First goal caused by a defender trying to play the ball out of defense. Sure, the penalty was dubious, but the Singapore defender allowed the situation for the Iranian attacker to go down easily in the penalty area due to the recovery tackle.

2. Second goal caused by a square ball played across the penalty area. I’m not a professional football player and even I know you don’t do that. Especially under pressure.

And look, why are the 2 central defenders in line with each other when 1 of them is under pressure. The other defender should back, to create a better angle for his partner to make a pass while being charged down.

Gosh. Defending 101.

Defending 102. Why is it that our players all like to do sliding tackles? They’re not Ryan Giggs, and even Ryan Giggs doesn’t always get it right. You do a sliding tackle, and if you miss, the opposing player has skipped pass you, or cut back the ball to his other feet, and is now away from you. Sliding tackles should really be last ditch desperate attempts.

To defend – stay on your feet and shepherd the opposing players. Once you are on your butt, and if you fail to get the ball, you can’t recover.

Gosh. Plus you already know the opposition players are falling too easily and the referee is making very dubious foul calls against the Singapore football team. So why go down and make it easier for the referee to give a free-kick to the opposing team.

Gosh. Naive.

Why is it that the FAS website has such scarce information on the players. I’m trying to figure out who number 2 is.

That guy was a total piece of crap. Look, if you want to wear ’special’ bright colored boots then you jolly well be the best player on the pitch. Not the best player in the team.

The best player on the pitch.

It is fine if you can’t dribble pass every opposing player. A heavy touch is forgivable. Not knowing how to cross properly isn’t a sin.

But when the opposing player has laid off the ball to his teammate, you better track his run. Which number 2 rarely did. No discipline at all.

And now about the fans. Except for the moments after Singapore scored a goal, the fans were relatively quiet. It seemed like the only time we actually made any noise was to curse at the referee, to scold our players, to boo the opposition, and to shout down the Iranian supporters.

Look. Being a fan is not only cheering when the team gets things right. It is also cheering when they are down. We’ve got to be the 12th player in the stadium. No coordination. I miss the crazy conductor who used to lead the stadium in the Kallang Wave and cheers.

Do Singaporeans only know how to tear things down instead of build things up?

The Iranian supporters were superb. We could learn from them on how to cheer a team (which they did before Iran had even scored a goal). And after Singapore went 2 goals down, the local supporters started taunting the Iranian supporters. It was to their credit that the Iranians responded with grace. They ignored us.

And for a football crazy country, the stadium was pathetically filled (or rather not filled).

Singaporeans who love football should really come down and support our Singapore Lions. Sure, at times they can play like amateurs. Sure, we might disagree with the foreign talent policy. But once they go onto the pitch, they are wearing our flag over their hearts.

WE SHOULD BE SUPPORTING THEM.

And yes, they will probably keep breaking our hearts. But that’s what love is all about. Allowing yourself to be hurt, for that one moment, when the object of your affection comes through for you.

I’m not sure how much we are paying the people involved with the FAS and those others who are tasked with the improvement of the football scene in Singapore, but it seems a little too much. Something is rotten with how Singapore football has progressed over the last decade, if you can call what has happened progress.

What’s wrong with Singapore? And this isn’t a moot question. Name me 1 person that is easily identifiable by a wide segment of the population as a locally born home grown hero. Fandi Ahmad? Who else?

We have a distinct lack of heroes. A distinct lack of people who inspire.

Invictus is the movie to watch to understand how sports can have a positive impact on the nation. We used to have that in football.

Experimenting with tilt-shift effects:

Aiyo, why everyone so dulan with this Eric How?

He a little bit insensitive but his points have merit.

Just like God who causes rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous, the PAP’s policies applied to those who have been successful and those who have not been successful.

If you’re growing up now having to suffer, or rather suffer relatively to other people, then clearly your parents must not have been successful. So obviously they are the people to blame cos they cannot make it, not like Eric How’s parents. If your parents can make it, you will be driving car too. No?

Remember people, we live in a meritocratic country. A country which rewards the best people who play the game best.

Meritocracy does not mean everyone will have equal chance to win because not everyone will start with the same resources.

So if your resources are less, of course you have to blame your parents. Blame the genes they give you. Blame the nurturing they give you. Blame the financial backing they couldn’t give you.

Because,

Like God who causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, the PAP’s policies applied to Eric How’s parents and yours. The PAP’s policies apply to you and Eric How the same way. The big difference between Eric How and you is Eric How’s parents. His parents can make it. Yours can’t.

Blame Karma. Blame Lady Luck. Blame the crazy nurse Rebecca who switched the babies at birth (if you watch Korean drama, you will know this reference, and if you’re a guy, shame on you).

But seriously

Sure, our parents may not be as awesome as Eric How’s. But it would be a meaningless exercise to blame them for who they are not, ungrateful to fault them for what they have not given us. It would also make life very very sad.

Our parents like us are human (unless you a a demon spawn or the product of an immaculate conception).

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Best to be grateful for how far they have gotten us. It is up to ourselves to be wise and learn from the mistakes they have made, to be honest about our current resources, and be bold in forging our own paths.

And finally,

While I won’t consider myself exactly in the position of having been extremely blessed (but then again, how do you measure blessings*), I always remember something my spiritual mom focused on – to whom much is given, much is expected.

Luck, fate, God are capricious creatures. Best to have humility with what has been given to one, and in the time one has been blessed, one should help as many people as possible and not mock those who may not have been so lucky. And yes, while it might seem like the correct advice (or the morally superior thing to do from the extremely high ivory tower) to tell people to stop whining about the system and try to win within the system instead of trying to change it, sometimes it is best to keep one’s mouth shut if one has no heart to notice the despair of those who ‘whine’.

*Just to remind myself:

How do you measure blessings? I mean, how does one consider himself more or less blessed? If you have parents who love you even though they have ‘failed’ you, a sister who loves in her own way, a gf/wife who accepts you for who you are, friends who care for you, a spirit that can imagine possibilities, a mind to plan the turning of dreams into reality, health to work …

Gollum.

Singapore Idol is about what?

Singing abilities. Check.
Dancing abilities. Check.
Stage Presence. Check.
Performing abilities. Check.

Nothing to do with race. Nor gender.

And maybe nothing to do with any other physical attributes?

So, here is what we do. We use the same avatar for every single contestant.

I mean, think about it, we do have the technology right? Look at the CGI for Avatar. Look at the CGI for Gollum.

Let’s hook up the top 24 contestants. Their singing will be what comes out of the avatar’s mouth. The actions of the avatar their actions. The facial expressions their facial expressions. The avatar’s gait their gait.

Then let it be a contest judged purely by merit of singing, dancing and performing abilities. After all, all the contestants will look the same. But who cares right? It is really about singing, dancing, and performing abilities. The physical context means nothing, only the abilities.

Something seems wrong with this picture?

I wonder what?

Because he got the most votes.

Duh.

But why did he get the most votes?

Was he really a better singer?

Was he really a better performer?

Possibly.

But I think the real reason why Sylvia Ratonel lost was because like Sylvester and Jonathan who lost to Taufik and Hady Mirza respectively, she was not a significantly better performer than Sezairi Sezali.

So here’s the deal. If somehow you end up in the final two, and one of the finalists is a cool Malay dude, and you’re not the cool Malay dude, then you jolly well be a way better singer and performer, otherwise you don’t stand a chance. For the last 3 seasons of Singapore Idol, it always seemed like either finalists had an equal chance to be the Idol based on singing and performing abilities. And that’s why for the last 3 seasons, the Malay dude always won.

Why?

I have a few theories.

Reason 1 – Gender.

You got a good looking male singer. You got a good looking female singer.

Female singer appeals to girls who want to grow up to be like her and guys who want to bang her.
Male singer appeals to guys who want to grow up to be just like him and girls who want to have his babies.

Girls who want to have potential male idol babies > (any other group of supporters)

Girls who want to have his babies is the only group that will vote with any significance. Somehow women tend to get more invested in their male idols and actually spend money supporting them. Guys, well, we just jack off.

Reason 2 – Race & the Mendaki effect.

Now, because race plays a part in the voting patterns doesn’t mean Singapore is a racist country. In fact, it is because most Singaporeans aren’t racist that the Malay dudes keep winning.

I suspect that if only 1 of the finalists is a Malay, then he or she automatically gets almost all the support of the Malay followers of Singapore Idol.

Look at Mendaki, Sinda and CDAC. Our government organizes help along ethnicity lines. They actively encourage it. Adding to this environment, the Malays think of themselves as the minority, thus they tend to support each other more.

Don’t believe? Guys who have done National Service can be testament to how the minority races organize themselves.

So, when the Malay community sees a young Malay lad, they start thinking,

“We got to support our bro.”
“We got to support this boy, almost like our son.”
“We got to support this boy, he is one of us.”

Because Malays see themselves as the minority race in Singapore, the effect of this “let’s help one of our own reach his dreams” effect is stronger than in the Chinese community under normal conditions.

So what happens is that as the non-Malay finalist, you really only can fight for the non-Malay votes. For this discussion, let’s focus on the Singaporean Chinese – the majority. Since both finalists won’t have much to differentiate themselves, then the Chinese votes get split down the middle.

One assumption is that regardless of race, a supporter will vote the same number of times. In other words, a Malay fan will vote the same number of times as a Chinese fan. It would be interesting to see if race and socioeconomic backgrounds have any impact on frequency of voting.

So, since the Chinese votes get split, and the Mendaki effect is in play, it is almost inevitable that the cool Malay dude will always win if he is the only cool Malay dude in the final.

So, how can Singapore have a non-Malay Singapore Idol? This isn’t a matter of prejudice in the sense of not wanting a Malay to win just because he or she is a Malay. There are more practical concerns. The last two Idols have barely made a splash internationally and it seems that despite Hady’s Asian Idol win, it is still arguable if he has achieved any significant impact regionally. It would not be too presumptuous to assume that the marketing potential of another Malay Singapore Idol who appeals to similar demographics will also luck out. In terms of finding a local talent that we can export, it might help if the Singapore Idol is not another cool Malay dude.

So how can the next Singapore Idol not be a cool Malay dude?

I have some suggestions.

1. Market a strong Christian singer. The Christians are another voting bloc that is just as strong as the one created by the Mendaki effect.

2. Test the SINDA effect.

3. Paradoxically, make the next Singapore Idol season to be a battle between two cool Malay dudes. Place heavy emphasis on the rivarly in marketing the season. Split the traditional voting bloc for the cool Malay dude. Ensure that there is signifcant animosity between the two camps such that if one of them is voted out of the final two, the supporters will not shift support to the remaining cool Malay dude in the final. Weaken the traditional support base of the cool Malay dude by having two cool Malay dudes. Don’t try to have the first female idol by pushing for more female talent to be in the finals. Underplay the first female idol card. Have less females so the votes don’t get split.

A probable undesirable effect of overt marketing of Singapore Idol as the battle between two Malay dudes will be the galvanization of the racist elements in society. A play on the perception and fears that Singapore Idol is really Malay Idol could be effective in ensuring that Singapore Idol will not have another cool Malay dude as the winner.

At the end though, having all the 3 Singapore Idols being Malay is a good sign. If Singaporeans are voting based on racial lines, then at least it shows that the Malay community has the economic power to carry their guys forward, so we know they aren’t being left behind. If Singaporeans aren’t voting along racial lines, and voting for talent, then the Singapore government’s efforts to promote racial tolerance and harmony is working.

Frankly, I rather things be left the way it is – no strategy to force a non-Malay Singapore Idol. When the day comes that we actually have a non-Malay Singapore Idol, one who actually overcomes the voting patterns by sheer force of talent, we would have someone who is so awesomely talented that keeping him or her in Singapore would be impossible.

Note:

After the performances ended, I got ready to leave my gf’s place for home. She asked why I wasn’t staying for the results. It was because I knew who the winner will be. That cool Malay dude.

The Malays really do have a stronger sense of community, at least based on my experiences growing up living in a HDB flat. When I was younger, my Malay neighbor would cook satay along the corridor and shared the food freely. When I moved to my new flat in Sengkang, my neighbor prepared a rather hearty meal to welcome my family.

Further thoughts:
I wonder what the voting percentages were like. Did Sezairi keep scrapping through and avoided enough elimination rounds until all the other Malay contestants lost and then built up significant voting power when their supporters shifted to him.

To be fair, though it may seem boring that we have another Malay Singaporean Idol, he did hold his own against Sylvia, in fact besting her for at least 1 set.

If the people’s trust is valuable to our leaders, then it seems to me that they would be wary not only of actual corruption but the perception of corruption.

One of the reasons why Minister Mentor took some of his adversaries to court was because he felt they had defamed him. It would seem, at least to Minister Mentor, that perception matters and there is a real cost if perception does not sync with reality.

Example:
Minister Mentor is not corrupt.
Someone without any factual basis alleges wrongly that Minister Mentor is corrupt.
Minister Mentor has been defamed.
Minister Mentor took the opposition to court wanting compensation for the damaging perception that might have been accepted by the public.

Why?

Because perception matters.
And because the trust between the leaders and those they claim to serve and lead is important and fragile.

The recent coverage of grassroots leader Sear Hock Rongs by Temasek Review is interesting not so much because there is actual corruption but because people perceive that there might be shenanigans going on.

Let’s get this out of the way first. It does look like there are some conflicts of interest but conflicts of interest can be mitigated and dealt with by the correct processes. Arguably such processes have their limitations but these limitations are not evidence of corruption.

The truth is this. If you want to serve the community, then sometimes, though it may seem unfair, effective compartmentalization is needed.

Let’s say you have a company. A great company. You provide awesome services and products. So awesome in fact that you have a lot of clients. Yet your company is still a young company, and you are more than happy to get as many projects as you can. Your company is after all still growing.

Say you also volunteer in an organization and by the grace of God, the organization needs the products and services your company can provide. This is a win-win situation. You can give the organization a great deal, get some business and make some money.

You need to compartmentalize. You need to make it only a win situation for your organization.

How?

Using your expertise running a company that provides such goods and services, you get quotes from other companies, and ensure that these companies provide similar if not better products and services at the same prices you could have offered. After all, you run a similar company. You know when they are bullshitting you on the quotes.

Now, it may be painful to lose a business that really could have been yours. After all, you aren’t overcharging. Nor are you providing a shoddy product or service. For all intents and purposes, you will probably be as good as the company that eventually wins the contract to deliver the product or service.

But that’s why being a grassroots leader isn’t the same as joining the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. It isn’t about being close to potential business. It isn’t about getting contacts to improve your network.

It is about service.

And service comes with sacrifice. Sacrifice of time. Sacrifice of more money.

Sure, you aren’t corrupt. The organization you serve isn’t corrupt. The committee you are part of has processes to ensure, if awarded the contract, your company is deserving.

But life isn’t fair.

And the trust between you and those you claim to serve is so valuable that you are willing to lose that extra dollar to prevent even a false hint of impropriety.

Trust. It is so fragile, a false whisper can destroy it.

The old guard earned it. Don’t squander it for that extra buck.

The government is slowing trying to move the chess pieces to ensure a flawless checkmate once we move into the next elections proper.

So, what are we the citizens who are concerned about the next elections and a fair playing field doing about it?

More specifically, what are we doing about it online?

We have SingaporeDaily.net that aggregates posts from blogs. We have blogs offering an alternative voice.

It doesn’t seem enough. It doesn’t seem like we are preparing enough.

What sort of preparations might be needed?

Sidetrack.

It seems to me that the pro-PAP/pro-government people who try to do things online are clueless at best and indifferent at worse. It is like they feel they have nothing to worry about the online space. Could it be that they think that they have the mainstream media all sewn up?

On the flip-side, the general Singaporean online is too lenient towards the alternative voices on the web. Being an alternative voice to the mainstream media does not mean being a constant dissenting voice against the government.

I feel that the online space, with regards to political matters, is moving towards the direction of just being solely dissenting.

Where are the non-partisans online?
Back to the question. What sort of preparations might be needed?

Above question isn’t rhetorical. Do any of you have any ideas what preparations might be needed? Preparations done in a non-partisan way.

How is that possible you ask?

One of my favorite television shows, and ironically enough a credible source of news, is Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show. One thing that amazes me is how quickly they can write jokes that parodies or satirizes the day’s event. More importantly, the thing that really impresses is how they are about to spot topics, events and issues that will really resonate with the audience.

I don’ think it is just a bunch of cool dudes and babes sitting around a table deciding what funny shit to say on television.

I actually think they have a dedicated team collecting data from the newspapers and television news shows. Some, probably obsessively compulsive, intern is scanning and taping. Cataloging. Note Taking.

I think we need that for Singapore.

We need a, cue the buzzword, crowd-source way of pulling in every single coverage of our MPs and potential candidates leading up to and during the next elections. Scans from the ST. Screenshots of the online papers. Scans from New Paper. Everything that is available. Recording of Channel News Asia. Recording of the evening news. In English and in Mandarin. And in Bahasa and in Tamil. With subs for the non-English recordings.

Why?

Not for us online folks to have more source material to rant or write funny posts.

For possibly something greater.

Any thoughts on how such a base of information that is cataloged properly (admittedly, properly is such a vague way of describing the organization of the information) can help?

Now, some people may read this post and think, IanTimothy doesn’t like the government, so he must obviously like the opposition.

To that I answer, why can’t I dislike both?

Here is the problem as I see it with the opposition,

The government is like the kid with rich parents who can afford to buy him a football. Since he is the only one with a ball, when he goes to the basketball court, which in Singapore is obviously meant to be for playing football, every kid wants to play with him. And if no kid wants to play his game, well, he can afford to pay them to play with him. The opposition is like the kid who occasionally gets bullied by the rich kid. The kid who instead of training up and learning how to fight properly so he can defend himself, runs to the parents and other kids to cry and complain. Life is so unfair this weak little kid likes to say.

The truth is, for the next elections, I’m really sitting on the fence. And it is really true what the wise Chinese man says,

He who sits on fence hurts his balls.

Back to something greater.

Intuitively, I have a feeling I know what the PAP candidates always talk about. But won’t it be better if we can have proof?

Something along the lines of, based on the information we have, PAP candidates spend 50% of their time telling us how screwed the opposition is and 70% of the time, the opposition whines about how PAP screws them.

And then, maybe we have something like, based on the information, we know that PAP Awesome Hand Picked Candidate Number 1 spends 10% of the time talking about Foreign Talent and 90% of the time talking about how PAP has helped the poor in Singapore (without actually talking about how they have helped). And Opposition Super Underdog Candidate 1 spends 90% of the time talking about how PAP doesn’t give him the right to freedom of speech and only 10% of the time addressing the impact in the reduction of Foreign Labour in Singapore.

Something like that.

but the size of your flat will get smaller as the Price Per Square Foot increases…

also, do note that your wages have not increased by the same percentages even though HDB prices have increased by astronomical percentages…

but the economy is growing and doing well so the cost of your flat has to increase…

that’s how you benefit from the growth, even though you don’t actually have more money to pay for it…

even though when you sell your flat, the price of every other flat is also that high…

so when you buy a new place, you actually might have less than before, or more than before but in a worse flat/environment…

also, well, now we let your borrow more money….

that’s how something becomes affordable…

we let you borrow more… bond your life to us longer….

this is your home. COMMIT TO IT.