Ian On The Red Dot

Since National Day is coming up, the stuff on this site might be worth our time to read and know.

The problem with analogies to explain anything is that it rarely is a one-to-one mapping. Sometimes we extend the analogy beyond its usefulness to explain just one concept. I’m guilty of that as are many bloggers. But that’s so besides the point.

Nocturne wrote this. It was a seductive argument.

But there’s one problem. It assumes that the PAP will always want the best for all Singaporeans, the average Singaporean, the Singaporeans in the lower segments of society….

Basically, it assumes the PAP will always be this paragon of virtue.

Assumptions they say, makes an ass out of you and me.

We could just say let’s keep the status quo until the shit really hits the fan. But then what? Shouldn’t we try to be more prepared for the day the shit hits the fan. Shouldn’t we work towards a system that can handle the shit hitting the fan when the PAP is currently a paragon of virtue as opposed to something much much worse (cue Zimbabwe).

This comment sums up the problem:

Interesting. Anyway I was just thinking… I might like all my employees to aspire to be the next CEO, but at the meantime if I only need a Junior Mgr, then I’ll just hire one without the need to hear about his aspirations. Of course, there are those who even expects his truck driver to aspire to be a CEO and have a plan for it.

We as citizens seem to demand so much from the PAP. But we don’t hold our opposition to higher standards. We make excuses for them. Oh, the PAP has done this. The PAP has done that. How can the opposition compete. Let’s allow the opposition to take one step at a time.

Whatever.

We make excuses for them. We apologize for them.

That’s why they will never be more than mediocre.

Update: This really should be the last post on these sort of matters for some time.

Update 2:

This post was written by xizor2000. I’ll just assume the first part on City Harvest Church (I think it would be a fair assumption that’s the church in question) was just a convenient coincidence. Nothing having to do with xizor2000 trying to be snide and doing a cheap left-jab-right-hook. He’s got to be better than that.

On to the second part.

What I am trying is this: be realistic and not idealistic. Many people who achieve greatness or their objectives in the end normally do not let his opponents or any other people determine how it should be done or what the rules of the game is. They look at the reality at that time to make the best of it, or redefine what the rules should be and work towards their ideals one step at a time.

In short, to ask for certain plans to be revealed before the person is given a task is an absurd proposition which only the Tali-PAP Men-In-White can devise to fxxk up the opposition. I don’t even know what to think about the people who would accept that!

Why, oh why, do we always present such false dichotomies? Be Realistic And Not Idealistic? Why not be both realistic and idealistic. They are not mutually exclusive. In fact, if there is any advice, it should be ‘Be Idealistic, but temper it with Realism’.

Now, I don’t disagree with xizor2000’s point about redefining the rules and working towards ideals one step at a time. That sounds like a plan. A damn good plan if you ask me.

The question of course is whether the opposition is doing that. It is of my opinion they aren’t. They are still very much playing by the rules of the PAP. They exist and carry out their actions very much in the context of the PAP. Just look at how they always complain PAP do this, PAP do that so we can’t do this, we can’t do that. Of course, there seems to be an inevitability about their situation. PAP is after all the proverbial immovable object. Sadly, our opposition is far from an unstoppable force.

Like xizor2000 said,

Many people who achieve greatness or their objectives in the end normally do not let his opponents or any other people determine how it should be done or what the rules of the game is.

Sadly, our opposition is letting that (i.e. letting others determine how they should be and what the rules of this political game in Singapore is) happen to them. I call bullshit if you say it isn’t happening. I think xizor2000 is right in saying that’s one way to achieve greatness and objectives - a necessary but not sufficient condition - which really begs the question, where do our opposition stand when measured against this condition.

The last part about,

In short, to ask for certain plans to be revealed before the person is given a task is an absurd proposition which only the Tali-PAP Men-In-White can devise to fxxk up the opposition. I don’t even know what to think about the people who would accept that!

You do realize that it is perfectly normal for one person (e.g. Individual A) to expect another person (e.g. Individual B) to have plans for a task before the task has been given to Individual B. What is crazy is to ask Individual B if he or she has any plans if they don’t even know what the task is. That is hardly the case when it comes to the opposition and the tasks needed to be done for Singapore to make it a better country for its citizens and people who choose to setup shop here.

If you really want an analogy, a company has a desire to construct a new office. The task is to build a sprawling campus the size of 10 football fields. They ask for tenders. What happens then is other people find out the task, come out with a plan and pitch the plan to the company. The guy with the best plan to fulfill the task gets the job.

Happens all the time. And if you are wondering what to think of such people, well, don’t worry your brain cells about that, I’ll just give you the answer here - normal.

There are some places you never go to buy electronic stuff. One of them is Lucky Plaza. There are some other places which I can’t remember the name. Oh, yeah. Orchard Towers is another. When I was in National Service, I finally managed to get a video camera. One day, during a class outing, I ran out of tape. I haven’t bought any until that day because I had been surviving on using the tapes that came with the camera. Anyway, I rushed to the nearest electronic store and bought a bunch of tapes. I didn’t know the price of tapes at that time and only later realized I had overpaid by three times the usual prices.

Moral of the story - don’t go where tourists usually hang out. Orchard Towers is one of those places. So is Lucky Plaza. Actually, moral of the story is do some research before you go and purchase anything but if you don’t want to do that, don’t go where the wolves are. And wolves love to hunt tourists.

HER 12-year-old daughter wanted to buy a Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) to share with her friends.
Click to see larger image
Nicole said that she was overcharged for a Sony PSP that she had bought at a Lucky Plaza shop. — Picture: ADELINE ONG

On 12 July, a 41-year-old sales assistant, who wanted to be known only as Nicole, went with her daughter to shop for one at Lucky Plaza.

After checking with several shops, she found out that the price ranged between $300 and $600.

She told The New Paper that she went to a shop owned by Yeow Tat Trading Enterprises. She said that the sales assistant there was polite and helpful, and helped her daughter to choose a black-tinted PSP.

He advised Nicole to upgrade the software on the PSP, explaining that this would allow her daughter to play more games as well as surf the Internet, among other things.

When Nicole asked him how much the games cost, he told her that they were free of charge.

He added that she only needed to pay for the PSP and licence for software upgrading.

He then took the PSP away to download the games and upgrade the software, she said.

He returned 15 minutes later with the PSP and the bill - a whopping $3,550.

Said Nicole: ‘I was shocked. I thought he had written an extra zero by mistake.

‘I told him that if the upgraded PSP was going to cost as much as a laptop, I might as well get my daughter a laptop.’

Nicole said that her daughter agreed that the PSP was too expensive, and said she didn’t want it anymore.

But the sales assistant told her that it was too late as he had already downloaded original software onto the PSP and the licences were costly.

AGREED TO REDUCE PRICE

He agreed to reduce the price to $3,100, but Nicole said it was still too expensive.

He then offered reduce it further to $2,610, saying that he wouldn’t include anti-virus software.

When Nicole insisted that she didn’t want it, he said she still had to pay for the licences of the downloaded games, which would cost $2,000.

Said Nicole: ‘Although it was crazy that I had to pay $2,000 for nothing, I thought that I could not expect the shop to pay for the licences.

‘I couldn’t walk away as it would be irresponsible of me.’

She asked him why other shops sold PSPs for between $300 to $600.

‘He claimed that the PSPs they were selling were different because the licences for the software were not original.’

Convinced by the shop assistant, she paid $2,600.

But her brother told her that night that she had paid too much.

They went back to the shop the next day and asked to see the licences for the software, but were told it was confidential.

The shop insisted it did not overcharge Nicole, but agreed to waive the service charge.

After lengthy negotiations, the price came down to $1,400. But Nicole insisted the maximum she would pay was $1,000.

She got her way and received a $1,600 refund.

‘It was still very expensive but I did not want to waste time,’ she said.

She later went to the Consumers’ Association of Singapore but was told that because she had agreed to pay $1,000, it could not pursue the matter further.

‘All the while, the sales assistant had an innocent face, and was helpful and appeared sincere,’ she said.

She added that she was not intimidated into paying.

When contacted, Yeow Tat Trading Enterprises declined to comment.

‘My friends all say I’m so stupid,’ Nicole said.

I was reading a newsletter about a speech that was recently given at an investing conference. Anyway, the speaker said this,

Power does not corrupt. It attracts the corrupt.

Not everyone who is powerful is corrupted. Not everyone who eventually gains power will become corrupted. But we can be sure of this, power will always attract the corrupt.

Power is useful. Without power, the good cannot do anything.

But, like the speaker said, power attracts the corrupt.

Sadly, no one lives forever. Power will eventually need to be passed on.

Wolves know how to be like sheep until the time is right.

Not every man is worthy with a pure heart.

Not everyone can pierce into the heart of a man and see the darkness that lies within.

One day, someone will slip through the cracks.

Someone will eventually deceive his way pass the gatekeepers into the halls of power.

Then what?

Reading this post, I see xizor2000’s point. This is the analogy that was used:

But in the case of our opposition parties now, it is more like that of a fresh graduate looking for a job and with nothing much to show except for his FYP (Final Year Projects) or internships. For one to argue that the opposition has nothing to show and thus shouldn’t be allowed into parliament would be equal to the argument that no fresh graduate should ever be given a job for his lack of experience, or having no clue on how he should be doing his job! The fact that both Potong Pasir and Hougang have taken that step to vote in Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang respectively, would say a lot about what they think a people - gahmen relationship should be.

I appreciate his point that just because an individual doesn’t have prior experience in a job (or any job for that matter) doesn’t mean he or she shouldn’t be given a chance to do a job. Like I said in my earlier post, there are a lot of markers to see if a person might be suitable for the job. In this case, to use the analogy that xizor2000 offered, the potential employer can look at the fresh grad’s FYP, internships, resume and grades as an indicator of suitability for a job.

The key thing to note of course is that the fresh grad would most probably be offered an entry level position within the organization. In this case, being a member of Parliament would be the entry level position as opposed to the more senior positions of running a government and being a minister.

Why is the above important?

Because when a party and its members contest an election, they are not only contesting to win seats in the Parliament, but enough seats to form a government.

Well, at least that’s how I think it works in most countries.

In Singapore, the opposition has made it a strategy to NOT to try to win enough seats to form the government.

There are valid reasons for this. One of them is that the voters in Singapore might not be prepared for an opposition led government and thus not vote for any opposition candidate because of the psychological barrier erected by the fear that a freak result might occur and the opposition wins a majority of votes such that the end result is the opposition gets no votes.

So, the opposition thinks some opposition in Parliament is better than no opposition thus they don’t try to win the majority of seats.

Basically, they play to lose the war.

To extend xizor2000’s analogy, the fresh grad goes for an interview where two positions are offered, one more senior than the other. Afraid that he might appear too cocky and then lose out on the more junior position or for whatever reason I cannot think of now, the fresh grad during the interview disqualifies himself from the more senior position by saying,

“Look, I don’t think I’m ready to be in the senior position. It is not that I’m not good. I am. But I want to be fair to you. I want to give you a chance to assess me then if I am really really qualified, you can promote me from the junior position to that more senior position some time in the future.”

The fresh grad aims low. He just wants to get into the company. He sees himself no up. Or rather he assumes that the future employer sees him no up and is afraid to overextend himself in case the future employer indeed sees him no up and holds the desire for the more senior position against him and he gets nothing at all.

So back to the opposition. What I want to see is an opposition prepared to go in not just to win the little skirmishes, or the battles but the whole freaking war. No one should ever play a game already prepared to lose the bigger prize.

I know, I know. The opposition just wants to get one foot in and build from there. Frankly, I think that strategy hasn’t quite worked out.

No?

They should work on their resume before going for the interview, prepared to get the highest position possible. They should be prepared to form the government if they win and should work on more things outside of just being members of Parliament and running constituencies to show us that they can be the government. If they don’t win, they could possibly be more effective watchdogs.

Effectively, they should be telling the potential employers,

“I’m fit for the top job. Hell, I could be the CEO from day one. But if you put me in the entry level position, I’ll be the god damn best entry level worker you ever have.”

But, frankly, that’s not the message they are sending. At least to me. And if they aren’t playing to win the biggest prize or at least sure they can win it, how can I be confident they can be good at anything.

Self-confidence backed by preparation for bigger things, if you must remember, is something employers look for.

How can you tell if a girl can be a good wife? Well, see how she performs when she is married to another guy, if she is good, then steal her from him. Or date her long enough until you feel comfortable she can be a good wife. But then that doesn’t really work. Right? Because when you are dating her, she is only acting in the capacity of a gf. So, what she has proven is that she can be a good gf, and possibly a good wife, but you can never really tell for sure. Right? But a close approximation is really better than nothing.

Ok.

Let’s flip it around. How do you let a gal you really like know that you can be a good bf or a wonderful husband?

One way is to woo her. But what if she rejects your efforts in courtship. Then what? Do you repeatedly keep trying to woo her?

Think about it. The objective is to be the bf because you want her as a gf as well as you think you can be a wonderful bf, possibly the best. Note, both motivations can be mutually exclusive.

The thing is, you don’t need to be a bf before you can show you can be a good bf.

Courtship is really about getting the status to then have a chance to prove that you can be good in that status.

Yet, there are many ways a guy can prove to a gal he can be a great bf without having to be the bf.

He can do well in school. Pursue a career with dedication. Be a loving son. Help out in the community. Have a vision greater than just earning buckets of money. There are many many things an individual can do outside of a relationship to actually show his potential as a good bf.

Which now brings me to this post made by xizor2000.

None of the opposition parties are in any position to take over. In other words, stop asking the baby to come up with a plan to fly like Superman, when the baby isn’t even given the chance to walk. And by that I mean, if you don’t even vote - or trust - the opposition parties in to let them manage your own constituency and town council, why the hell are you even asking them for a plan when they are in no condition to, anyway? Is trust not built bit by bit?

I agree with xizor2000. Trust is built bit by bit. However, this trust doesn’t need to be built only once the opposition enters the government. They got to build it now. And frankly, they aren’t doing it. They are saying, let us in. We show you what we can do. I’m saying, you can show us what you can do even before you get into Parliament. But they aren’t doing that. In my opinion, their only goal is to get more opposition into Parliament. They think they can only show us what they are capable of once they enter Parliament. Which is nonsense. There are so many things an individual or a group can do to make Singapore better without being in Parliament. The opposition should take the lead on that count.

For example, Indignation 2008. The people behind this are trying to make a difference for a segment of Singapore’s society. Actually, scratch that. They are trying to make a difference for Singapore’s society - we all benefit if we can learn to treat these individuals with more respect, value their rights and include them as equal members in our society (although, frankly, they would be lowering their standards to be at our level).

The opposition can take a lead in more of such stuff. But wait! Didn’t they try to protest over rising prices. Those are just side shows. Nothing lasting was created. That’s just protesting instead of working towards a solution independent of government’s efforts.

I made this statement:

‘No use talking about it. You want to fix things then come out with a concrete plan to fix it’

And here is what I meant by it. Plurk isn’t really a good place to convey the idea.

Say you live in an estate. You pay for cleaning but it never happens. You can keep complaining to management why the estate isn’t cleaned. You can talk about all the problems that can happen if the estate isn’t cleaned.

Or you can take a broom and do the sweeping.

Look. I know technically it isn’t your job. You aren’t the one being paid to solve the cleanliness problem. And I’m not asking you to do the management’s job or the cleaner’s job.

I’m just saying when the shit is going to hit the fan, and no one else can take care of you and family, then maybe it is time to come up with a plan to fix things on your own.

Now, when it comes to our government, I’m not saying we should come up with plans for our government to fix things. Xizor2000 is right. They are paid enough to do it and do it well. But if they don’t. Then what?

The citizens should make our own contingency plans. I’m not talking about migrating. I’m talking about us organizing ourselves to fix things on our own.

Small example: I hate traveling back during peak hour. No matter how much noise I make, the transport companies aren’t going to fix things in the short term. So I make my own plans to ensure that my own commuting experience is a pleasant one.

Which brings me to the last point. I truly believe the way things are going, if we vote the PAP out just to get them out, our country has a high chance of dying. Sure, things arguably may not be too awesome at its current state, but if the PAP is out, things will get much worse.

When I say the above, it is not because I think the opposition is truly incompetent that they will lead us to hell. It is because I think they haven’t figured out how to secure the other power bases in Singapore once they get control of Parliament. Those other power bases will still be secured by the PAP and the government would be operating in a hostile environment.

Of course all this is just talking strategy on paper. It is of no use.

But I’m just going to say, if we truly want a better watchdog or a new government or push the PAP to be better than they currently are, we need an opposition to think bigger than their issues with the PAP.

DIGNITY OF EMPLOYMENT!

sigh … if we want to fix this country at a social level, we need to do it ourselves.

Errr, so Street Directory is back with a new maps provider. So what? The site still hasn’t dealt with its clutter. The user interface still is horrible and the information structure on the site is the kind I will only wish onto my worse enemies.

My colleague was telling me about how he was using Street Directory when I suggested to him to try GoThere.sg. He loved it immediately. And guess what, he started spreading the word to his friends. My other colleagues who were foreigners also got excited about Gothere.sg.

I’m going out on a limb and said GoThere.sg was built at a significantly lower cost than StreetDirectory.

Makes you wonder.

Anyway, one of the reasons why I dislike StreetDirectory as compared to GoThere.sg is because of their purpose.

GoThere.sg is here to help us get to places and find places. This is how their site looks:

Notice how the main focus of their home page is the interface to help us get directions and find places.

Not contrast this with StreetDirectory’s home page:

In seems to me, StreetDirectory isn’t interested in helping us. What they are interested in is getting traffic to stick ads into our faces.

So StreetDirectory relaunches. So what?

I have been following the recent spat between Xiaxue and Dawn Yang. I have been following the backlash against DY here, here and here. Even when I didn’t want to follow it, the Straits Times somehow saw it fit to cover this spat. This spat was one of the many reasons I decided to put a pet project on hold until I figured out how to do things different and better. But I digress.

I read the initial post by Xiaxue that triggered the recent saga. I’m not sure if everything Xiaxue said is true, it probably is, but was there a need for Xiaxue to say it. One of the reasons why I do love reading Xiaxue (it is one of my guilty pleasures) is that she is a no holds barred writer. She is the kind of person who doesn’t leave any injured in a fight, only dead bodies. And not just dead bodies, but dead bodies with squashed balls.

But the thing is, Xiaxue is no longer a street urchin. She has fought her way to the top. She is now royalty. She, is to me, the undisputed princess of Singapore blogging. I wanted to call her queen, but I realized she is too young to be a queen. Besides, if Mr Brown is the king, then the queen has to be around that age. But, as usual, I digress.

The thing about royalty, or rather, the thing about royalty to me, is that I think grace is something they should exhibit. After all, they are already in the upper echelon of society.

Xiaxue did not show grace when she wrote that post. She unleashed the dogs of war when, to be honest, it was an issue beneath her position. Maybe Xiaxue isn’t just any sort of princess. She is a warrior princess. Which could be true. But even Xena knew how to show grace and be merciful ( Damn it, I’m ashamed I even know that, but seriously, there was nothing good on TV at that time. A time of myth and legend..When the ancient gods were petty and cruel and plagued mankind with suffering …)

Anyway, so DY reacted in probably the worse possible way in Singapore society. She sued.

And the backlash occurred.

It is like a school yard fight where the unpopular kid has been knocked down. All the cowards around now rush in just to land a kick for the fucking awesome sensation of just causing hurt on someone else.

Here is the thing - so what if she has been lying about the plastic surgery she has had. So what if she has been saying things about other people behind their backs. Fine, it doesn’t say much about her character if all those dirt dig up is true but let’s take pause and think about some stuff.

Plastic surgery. What’s wrong with that? Frankly, I would like a girl to be natural, but in an age where we idolize beauty, do you not think it is funny we attack her for possibly having had surgery.

Of course, the righteous among us may say, well, we aren’t against surgery. We are against her hypocrisy for not admitting to it. OH COME ON! Some of the stars who did have surgery and admitted it are still being bitched about. I’ve seen the forums. Admitting it does not help stay the dogs.

Oh, but we are against her criticizing other celebs who have had surgery. Has anyone ever stopped to wonder that maybe that’s just her defense mechanism kicking in? Sure, it is a flawed defense mechanism but think about it. It isn’t nice to feel your back against a wall.

There was no way for DY to win or at least no way not to lose.

Yes, yes, Xiaxue did surgery and everyone seems to be fine with her for doing it because she is so open about it. SERIOUSLY? I’ve read stuff where people still do bitch about Xiaxue and that nose job and whatever shit they saw fit to bitch about.

The difference between DY and XX is that XX has thicker skin - metaphorically speaking of course.

There was no way for DY to win or at least no way not to lose.

We are all so quick to attack her as some sort of defense for those she has attacked. But are those individuals really that innocent? Just because they don’t blog about it doesn’t mean they didn’t attack first behind the scenes or aren’t any more vicious.

The thing is we don’t know.

But I do know this - human beings have always been cruel. ALWAYS. If there is anything that is consistent about us is that our capacity to be cruel is only matched by the infiniteness of space.

Let’s take pause.

Someone said this on one of the comments thread:

And add that AC guys allegedly described her as “Cover the face, bang the base”

Think about it. Sure, there are a lot of girls who have gone through life relatively unscathed because
they have managed to address esteem issues or whatever shit they might have. But not everyone is so lucky.

And wanting to be popular, hell, wanting just to fit in, is something almost all of us want. Some of us are lucky enough to find a group that eventually accepts us for who we are. Some of us may be unlucky and never find such a group.

And some of us are damned by God to be preyed upon when we search for a place to call home.

Let’s put it simply. Men are sharks. We can smell blood and know who to attack.

The truth is, at least to me, people who are against DY aren’t really against her because of some righteous cause to right her wrongs and protect those she has hurt.

No. We are against her because we are indignant for what she has because we think she doesn’t deserve it. But who are we to say that someone does not deserve whatever good fortune (or in this case bad fortune) they may have.

Even us. The ‘poor’ in Singapore. Do we deserve the relative good fortune to be born here?

The temerity of those who dare rise about their station. The audacity of those who don’t know their place. They belong either with us or at least not with them.

There are those who try to rise above whatever it seems destiny has given them.

Those below despise them. Those above mock them. They are ‘pretenders’.

And if anyone of you for a moment think Xiaxue is not being bitched about by the old rich, you don’t know humans. I’m sure some of them are.

Sure, you say, go on ahead and rise up. Just do it the right way. Just don’t deny your heritage, your past. Wait a minute. We all sound like we all have always been honest about our lives. Let’s face it. None of us ever have. We all tell ourselves our own version of our life stories. She just probably took it one step further.

Take using Photoshop to edit photos. It isn’t just bloggers who do it. Hell, even professional magazines do it. Because we all have some weird consciousness of the sort of lie we all want to believe in.

Now, I’m not saying DY is innocent or what…I think she has a self-righteous streak to her. Just like all of us. I’m saying we are all complicit. It is so easy to be self-righteous, to think ourselves better than someone. I do this, but I don’t do it until like her.

What arrogance we have.

I can’t remember which Chinese philosopher said it, but I vaguely remember a saying about virtue - the virtuous person is one that even after spreading a net to trap animals will leave at least one opening for them to escape. We are not doing that for DY to do so with any shred of dignity left.

In the end, Dawn Yang must die. If not her, then someone, to satisfy all of us.

In case you are wondering, the title is homage to this South Park episode. Below is a clip from that episode.

Anyway, I’m calling this on my blog. If we are all not careful, Singapore will very soon see the first blogosphere related suicide. I hope it never happens. But sadly, I think it will.

Updated: Some people might say DY doesn’t deserve mercy. Errr..That’s the whole point of mercy - giving kindness to someone who might not deserve it.

Lately, high profile, ultra rich PRs have been enrolling their children into premier primary schools through participation in parental volunteer programme (PV). PV normally requires 40 to 80 hours of volunteer work and the children of the volunteers will in return get priority during the registration exercise. As PV is opened to both citizens and PRs, it means that the child of a PR who participated in the PV will have priority over the child of a citizen who has not.

40 to 80 hours of volunteer service takes precedence over 2.5 years of active service plus 13 years of reserved services, does it make sense?

From here.

Switching to elite mode:

Look, stop whining about your NS contributions. The PR also serve contribute in their own way. Ok. It cancels out. So now, basically, the only question that needs to be answered is how you have contributed to the school.

Look, if you can’t even afford the time to volunteer just because you are too poor or too busy, basically, not rich enough to take time off whatever work you are doing or business you are running so that you can volunteer, what makes you think your child deserves to be in a premier primary school.

Seriously. Go and get your kid enrolled in one of those neighborhood schools. The quality there is also good. Remember, we are a meritocratic society and if you work hard enough, doesn’t matter which schools you go to.

Switching back to normal mode:

I’m sad. The above response is not even fictional. I’ve heard similar arguments before.