The Former Transport minister, who was also the immediate past National Development Minister has retired himself and will be collecting his entitled pension
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Morning Jam at MRT
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The Former Transport minister, who was also the immediate past National Development Minister has retired himself and will be collecting his entitled pension
Guys, why are we belittling our paper generals or ministers? Please understand how our civil service system works. It is based on meritocracy. Almost all our paper generals / minsters are scholars. All of them graduated from the top universities in the world. Who dare to challenge? Are you a graduate from Harvard or MIT or Cambridge, etc. Just look at our region, ASEAN (no need to compare with the world), take a look at their ministers or top brass guys, how many of them are scholars or graduated from the top universities in the world?
Therefore, we have the most brilliant people in our civil service. Hence, we should be confident that they will solve or resolve our problems that we are facing. Like some top guys have mentioned before, paying top dollars is necessary to attract the brilliant people. This is a hard truth. Do you still think that someone will work for free or peanuts in order to solve problems for his/her country? Get real, guys. There is no free lunch.
Therefore, we have the most brilliant people in our civil service. Hence, we should be confident that they will solve or resolve our problems that we are facing. Like some top guys have mentioned before, paying top dollars is necessary to attract the brilliant people. This is a hard truth. Do you still think that someone will work for free or peanuts in order to solve problems for his/her country? Get real, guys. There is no free lunch.
Former transport minister Raymond Lim, a student from Raffles Institution. He was also a Rhodes Scholar and Colombo Plan scholar and holds degrees from the universities of Adelaide, Oxford and Cambridge.
Now the new kid on the board, Lui Tuck Yew, a graduate from University of Cambridge.
Of course, they deserved the heavy payouts. :bsmilie:
It is good to have the inspiration.
But before that, are you a scholar or a graduate from any of the top universities in the world? If not, never mind, did you join the Young *** Wing? If this is also no, then your chance of becoming the transport minister in practically zero.
Nonetheless, I respect your inspiration. :thumbsup:
Well-said. I will support you even though I don't know you. But I support you cos your logic makes sense. I also don't know the General. I thought with all his so-called paper qualifications from top unis and big money he is earning, he should have done a good job. He failed.
Then how is he different from other transport ministers elsewhere in the world who only earn a fraction of his salary?
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Sion
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HK MTR chief Jay Walder is looking for a job.
Get him to run Singapore MRT as he has the reputation of delivery 99.9% on-time schedules. He is not that expensive only US$1.56 million in annual salary and bonus.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/rail...-down-year-before-contract-expires-1405509321
Initial I thought you were joking. But as I read on, it seems you are serious with your words!
Nobody is asking to work for free either here or elsewhere in the world.
Clearly then, you have in fact shown there is something wrong with the civil service system. Just because they were formerly scholars or studied in top unis is one thing. But can they run the country? That's another thing. I think they have just proven that the best academic paper qualifications does not mean they are equally good as leaders of a country.
I seriously don't mind these ministers being paid such a huge sum of money like they are earning now if the situation were much better. Here are some examples:
MRT trains are often crowded. But did they ensure the smooth running and prompt arrival of the trains and crowd dispersion in stations? For many times, NO.
Whiners are those who only know how to complain why the trains are always crowded. I don't think there are many whiners among us.
Property prices have increased tremendously in the past few years. But did the million $ salary ministers ensure that Singaporeans born here will have a good chance of owning affordable public housing of average sized 5 room flats? NO. Instead, they are telling citizens HDB flats are still affordable. How can that be? Simple for them. Cos they now expect buyers to consider only 3 or at most 4-room HDB flats. Can forget about the 5-room or bigger HDB flats. And also, you need to take 25 or 30 year loan vs a much shorter tenure in the past. Seriously, do you need a degree from Harvard or Cambridge to use such a tactics to fool your citizens?
Whiners are those who keep complaining why are properties so expensive. I don't think there are many whiners among us.
So I hope people can distinguish carefully plain whiners and those who have strong reasons to be unhappy with the present ruling party.
I also take the trains in Europe and Japan. Those who have done so will know how efficient and world class their train systems are. But do their transport ministers get paid indecent amounts like ours? Of course not!
Are you also saying Barack Obama is less deserving of a higher salary cos he is not as academically smart as the PM here? Of course not. The US president is running a Superpower country! But yet he is earning a small fraction of SG's PM.
Someone asked LKY once why are SG's PM earning so much more than say the US president? The old man's reply was, because after a US president leaves politics, he can still go on a speaking tour and write books and earn millions. In Singapore, things don't work that way.
But hmmmm... did any of the former PMs here really quit politics for good? NO!!! LKY is forever the Minister Mentor drawing on his millions of dollars salary. Same goes to GCT who is now (and forever) the Senior Minister. So then what justifies their world's highest paid income? No one has given a firm answer. Just because they graduated from R.I. or some top notch Unis? Go fly kite lah!
Imagine, if Barack Obama insists he should peg his salary similar to the top 5% of America's private earners, WHOA!
Just admit it. The HDB flat and MRT problems are the result of the government's policies here. No point arguing. Even the PM himself admitted he had to jump at the opportunity to increase the population without taking care of the infrastructure first. He runs Singapore like a big business company. Of course, those of us who are unaffected by his policies will think many of us are whiners. In other words, the rich will become richer. But I have shown above there is a difference between whiners and those who are rightly unhappy. Has the PM considered about the poor and lower middle class? He is indirectly asking them to downgrade their lives but makes it seem like everything is under control. Then what is so great about such a government? Sorry to say, no Harvard or Cambridge degree will be able to solve such problems.
Sion
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I can't understand the colonial mentality of our countrymen. When they think of getting a top education they head for UK universities.
In fact Oxbridge produces one of the worst leaders looking at the UK politicians.
The best unis are in China e.g Beijing U and Tsinghua U. It's time we send our elite scholars there.
The problem with Singapore is that there are too many management wannabes who suck at management but by virtue of connections. It's the same with the corporate world where there are many CEOs who get to positions of importance through connections and make a complete mess of things and yet get paid handsomely by virtue of contract.
It's all fine and well to say our ministers are top class but remember: the higher paid they are, they bloody be prepared for the harshest criticism if they **** up. So anyone who decries the harsh criticism had better remember that.
It's all fine and well to say our ministers are top class but remember: the higher paid they are, they bloody be prepared for the harshest criticism if they **** up. So anyone who decries the harsh criticism had better remember that.
No difference. They instead return as little Emperors and simply lock up people who disagree with them. That's the CHINA WAY.I can't understand the colonial mentality of our countrymen. When they think of getting a top education they head for UK universities.
In fact Oxbridge produces one of the worst leaders looking at the UK politicians.
The best unis are in China e.g Beijing U and Tsinghua U. It's time we send our elite scholars there.
Oh wait, we used to do that some 20 years ago. SO I guess regressing back to the good o' times must be an improvement for some.
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Sion
Senior Member
We must learn from Deng Xiaoping that it takes an iron hand to run a country well.
He came to Singapore to teach us that.
The day we become too liberal, too soft on opposition and worry about dissenting voices is the day we go backwards.
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So Pai Kwa was good at management... in short term outlook. conversion of land space to malls without additional recurring costs (since they own the station premises ) raised earnings margin significantly. but she screwed up by not ensuring enough engineering staff and maintenance works.
I think she was brought in by virtue of belonging to the Ugly Women's Society where the Society chairperson Whole Jinx championed So Pai Kwa for it. after all, Whole Jinx is also in charge of the beneficial majority shareholding fund for transport operators (yes, plural)...Tumor Sick Holdings
Sion
Senior Member
kei1309, you are right. Somebody is beating on a death horse again. This is nothing new.
Why blame the paper generals or ministers or what ever you called them? If we really want to whine or complain, blame it on meritocracy system.
So what if they are scholars, elites, etc. That doesn't mean they are perfect humans. Paper generals or ministers are also humans; and humans bound to make mistakes in life.
What I am trying to emphasize is the meritocracy system and/or the selection process in the civil service. And such system has already been around for thousand of years if you read into China history.
Put it into another analogy, if 2 candidates go for a same interview, one is a super brilliant chap with super credentials such as a graduate from Harvard, while the other guy is just an ordinary folk. Which one will be selected? The hard truth is the one with lot of credentials. From an employer's point of view, given that 2 candidates are of total strangers to him, he does not know their working attitudes, personalities, habits, etc until the person is officially working for him, then he will know the caliber of the person. During an interview, the prospective employer will just base on qualifications, working experiences, etc, something tangibles. The employer will not know whether this person can solve the company's difficulties, etc until he is being selected. The question is how to and which one to select? So our country uses the meritocracy system in the selection process. That's one of the main reasons why Singapore parents are willing to spend $$$ on their children education, tuition, etc in the hope that the children can be an elite who will have a bright future. Schools fighting for ranking last time, etc. Paper chase, etc. This has drilled into the culture of our society. Parents are worried that their children will be lose out.
This applies to our civil service selection process, the best and the most brilliant individuals will be secondered to the public sector. However, it is does not necessarily mean that they are able to solve the country problems at ease.
Since somebody brought in housing as an issue. I shall state my 2 cents of worth.
How cheap is cheap? Definition of affordability? How to price a HDB flat? Based on the land cost + construction cost? Based on the medium income of our top 100 or 1000 professions? You tell us which is the fairest, and then propose to the government for consideration.
As a humans, you want the cheapest and best value when you are buying, and sell to the highest bid when you are selling? This is a law of nature.
To begin with, the newer generations of Singapore do not understand our government / HDB housing policies since day one, traced back to the late 70's onwards. I don't blame them because they are not borned in that era. If your friends/relatives/family who are senior citizens, pioneer generations, talk to them on how the housing policies have evolved over the last 3 decades.
To some people, owning a HDB is expensive, but to some, it is alright.
As a real example of a friend who bought a 20 over years old 4-room HDB flat in the resale market for $220k. Is this expensive? As somebody had mentioned about taking HDB loan for 25-30 years. Yes, it is true as most people will prefer to stretch a longer repayment period. Guess what? My friend has repaid the outstanding loan in 7 years time even though he signed for the 25 years loan period at onset. He is debt free after 7 years. Of course, this does not apply to everyone.
We also have a CS member by the name of Lawrence who bought his first BTO flat at SengKang for $200k 6 years ago. Again, is this expensive? Lawrence has mentioned that the valuation of his flat has risen to $600k after 6 years.
Will Lawrence sell at $200k + 6 years of interest accrued so that the next buyer can afford it? If all sellers collectively want to reduce their prices to a more affordable level, they can do so but it is only in theory. In reality, it is near impossible because of human greed.
Check with those folks who bought their HDB flats before 90's. Most of them have fully paid their loans. Of course, it is not 100%, there bound to have some people who fall out of the safety net. Hence, government assistance is needed.
Therefore, the argument of HDB topic has been going on for years because there is no clear winners or losers.
How cheap is cheap? Definition of affordability? How to price a HDB flat? Based on the land cost + construction cost? Based on the medium income of our top 100 or 1000 professions? You tell us which is the fairest, and then propose to the government for consideration.
As a humans, you want the cheapest and best value when you are buying, and sell to the highest bid when you are selling? This is a law of nature.
To begin with, the newer generations of Singapore do not understand our government / HDB housing policies since day one, traced back to the late 70's onwards. I don't blame them because they are not borned in that era. If your friends/relatives/family who are senior citizens, pioneer generations, talk to them on how the housing policies have evolved over the last 3 decades.
To some people, owning a HDB is expensive, but to some, it is alright.
As a real example of a friend who bought a 20 over years old 4-room HDB flat in the resale market for $220k. Is this expensive? As somebody had mentioned about taking HDB loan for 25-30 years. Yes, it is true as most people will prefer to stretch a longer repayment period. Guess what? My friend has repaid the outstanding loan in 7 years time even though he signed for the 25 years loan period at onset. He is debt free after 7 years. Of course, this does not apply to everyone.
We also have a CS member by the name of Lawrence who bought his first BTO flat at SengKang for $200k 6 years ago. Again, is this expensive? Lawrence has mentioned that the valuation of his flat has risen to $600k after 6 years.
Will Lawrence sell at $200k + 6 years of interest accrued so that the next buyer can afford it? If all sellers collectively want to reduce their prices to a more affordable level, they can do so but it is only in theory. In reality, it is near impossible because of human greed.
Check with those folks who bought their HDB flats before 90's. Most of them have fully paid their loans. Of course, it is not 100%, there bound to have some people who fall out of the safety net. Hence, government assistance is needed.
Therefore, the argument of HDB topic has been going on for years because there is no clear winners or losers.
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Karl Marx formulated the law of Surplus-Value as one of the driving factors in the capitalistic economical system.
Sion
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Sion
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flowerpot
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why cannot we blame them ? You find the best person for the job, if you ask me, sure I look at qualification, but I also look for his past experience, what he has done in the past, I don't understand your argument of always hiring someone who has better qualification ? Better qualification does not mean he/she can do a better job. We are not going for exams, we are solving everyday problems, real problems. How about a ordinary chap who has been working in the transport industry for many years and work his way up vs some so call scholars who has zero experience to run the company ? Who makes the better person to run it ?
The so call scholars has any experience running the transport company ? He accepted the job no ? He could have say no I don't have the knowhow to run it. If he does not think he is the right person or best person he should admit it. But he accepted the job right. He gets the high pay no ? So he is responsible for it...Simple as that. You accepted the job and yet are not responsible ? Wow I think I tell my boss that.
Also why do we accept that breakdowns are normal and we cannot blame them, can't be help, wear and tear blah blah blah... if you work in the manufacturing industry running 24/7.... you tell your bosses that machines breakdowns can't be help, wear and tear mah, machines old liao sure spoilt can't be help... running 24/7 over load liao... pls ask those working in maintenance, they will tell you there is no such thing as breakdown is normal, is acceptable. Your have maintenance team, do PM(Preventive maintenance), schedule down time to repair/replace the wear and tear parts etc etc to keep the machines running 24/7.
You have UPS to keep the machines running even there is a power failure. And many more. And guess what, machines do run as they should. And best part is, every year, the R&M(repair and maintenance) budget is cut/reduce, and yet the maintenance team is still doing their job ensuring the machines are running. There is continuous improvement etc etc.
And today we have to accept the breakdowns in our transport system is acceptable ? I don't mind running the company if that's the case, not my FAULT what, breakdowns will always happen, we cannot have zero breakdowns, get high pay somemore...:bsmilie:
The so call scholars has any experience running the transport company ? He accepted the job no ? He could have say no I don't have the knowhow to run it. If he does not think he is the right person or best person he should admit it. But he accepted the job right. He gets the high pay no ? So he is responsible for it...Simple as that. You accepted the job and yet are not responsible ? Wow I think I tell my boss that.
Also why do we accept that breakdowns are normal and we cannot blame them, can't be help, wear and tear blah blah blah... if you work in the manufacturing industry running 24/7.... you tell your bosses that machines breakdowns can't be help, wear and tear mah, machines old liao sure spoilt can't be help... running 24/7 over load liao... pls ask those working in maintenance, they will tell you there is no such thing as breakdown is normal, is acceptable. Your have maintenance team, do PM(Preventive maintenance), schedule down time to repair/replace the wear and tear parts etc etc to keep the machines running 24/7.
You have UPS to keep the machines running even there is a power failure. And many more. And guess what, machines do run as they should. And best part is, every year, the R&M(repair and maintenance) budget is cut/reduce, and yet the maintenance team is still doing their job ensuring the machines are running. There is continuous improvement etc etc.
And today we have to accept the breakdowns in our transport system is acceptable ? I don't mind running the company if that's the case, not my FAULT what, breakdowns will always happen, we cannot have zero breakdowns, get high pay somemore...:bsmilie:
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