The worst just got worster

Exactly 6 years ago, our then Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan shocked Singaporeans with the announcement that they were planning to increase our population to an unbelievable 6.5 million. After much protest and complaints, he clarified that the figure 6.5 million was “not a target; but a planning barometer”; giving us the impression that things were unlikely to become that bad.

A few days ago, the government dropped another bombshell on Singaporeans; this time projecting that our population would reach 6.9 million by 2030. And guess what Mr Mah’s successor says. Writing in his blog, Minister Khaw Boon Wan clarified; “The projected 6.9 million figure by 2030 …. is the worst case scenario. We hope we do not reach that figure; we may never reach that figure. But as planners, we have to …. blah blah blah”.

Well, fellow Singaporeans; you know what you should do? You’d better make sure Mr Khaw does not lose in the next election. Otherwise you are going to get another MND minister and the worster might get even worse.

Leave them a blue sky

Some time ago, I wrote a blog piece jokingly suggesting that we change our name from the Lion City to the Crane City. Actually, I was lamenting the ugly fact that everywhere you turn in this country of ours, you find construction works and destruction of greenery. Of course, we all try to bear with it hoping in the back of our heads, that things would settle down. But with the publication of the government’s White Paper on Population, and the dreadful news that Singapore’s population could reach a suffocating 6.9 million, all such hopes have vanished. Crane City will apparently be a permanent label for this beautiful city I grew up in.

I really would like to urge our leaders to consider lowering that figure to, say, 5.3 million. We are already bursting at the seams. Please lah ..…  Just dispel that option of a 6.9m scenario from your plans and go back to the drawing board. I have faith in you.

Frankly, I’d rather retire in some obscure town outside Singapore than to burden my children with another two decades of constant knocking down of perfectly good buildings, scrapping of cars that run perfectly, widening of roads everywhere; and noise and crowds and litter everywhere they turn. I want “leave them a blue sky”.

PS – I fully support the idea to have a referendum on this matter. I want to have a say.

GMY Book Contest #2

Regret to say that I received very few answers to Contest number 1; and no correct answers. Maybe the question was too tough. Anyway here’s the answer.

Kampong House #1 is along Tampines Rd, near Upper Serangoon Rd and facing Houggang Ave 1. There used to be several such houses there and this one does not look as if it is being used as a residential home.

Kampong House #2 is at Jalan Haji Alias just beside the Al Huda Mosque.


*********************************************
Never mind. This time, it is an easy one. This is a 1970 photo of me and my eldest brother, Chun Chew. Where is this place? Email answer to: cslam@hoshin.com.sg

I am not 100% sure, but I think this is the exact spot (photo taken on 19Mar2012) where the above photo was taken. By all means, post your comments now as the answer should be obvious.

All contests have rules. And so here are some.


1) Try to give a precise answer; i.e. the exact location.
2) Only 2 winners will be selected in each round. The winner should be prepared to reveal his address so I can send my book to him or her.
3) Judge’s (my) decision is not final. This is because, sometimes, the judge himself doesn’t know the answer, and so he will award the prize to the one he thinks is correct. And if another person comes up with a better answer later, he will win a prize as well.
4) All done in the name of fun and knowledge; so please don’t take it too seriously.
5) If you have already won the prize before, let others have a go first.
6) Open to Singapore residents only – for obvious reason.

Singapore, the crane city

First time visitors to our country can be forgiven if they thought that they have entered the Crane City and not the famed Lion City.

Everywhere they go, they are likely to see cranes; and not lions. Not this type of crane.

Creative Commons photo of Sandhill Cranes by Flickr member, NDomer73


But this type.

Photo of Orchard Road, courtesy of Peter Chan

This photo taken from the top of a multi-storey car park at Dover Road.

I felt like I was in a foreign country

Yesterday I attended a full day conference at the Suntec Convention Centre – the 2011 Business Excellence Sharing organised by Spring Singapore. I decided to take a bus instead of driving to save on the cost and the hassle. I took SBS 174 which brought me through Orchard Road, Bras Basah Road and alighted at North Bridge Road near St Andrews Cathedral. I took the opportunity to take a good hard look at the new buildings along the route. I must tell you, I felt like I was in a foreign country. The two places that looked totally alien to me was Orchard Road where so many new buildings have come up since the mid-1980’s when my office was at the National Productivity Board in Cuppage Centre, and Bras Basah Road where the Singapore Management University campus is located. When I alighted opposite the former Capitol Theatre, I was disoriented for a few seconds and thought that I got off at the wrong bus stop. Expecting to see an open field and the St Andrew’s Cathedral, I was staring at a modern building with a glass façade instead.

Currently, I am reading Simon Tay’s City of Small Blessings, and I am beginning to understand why he managed to connect with many older Singaporeans. The notes at the back cover says that the book is about a Singaporean retiree who migrates and then returns to a Singapore he barely recognizes.
I am not a retiree and have not been out of Singapore for longer than a couple of weeks in the past two decades; and yet the scene captured on my mobile phone camera below made me feel like I was “on the fringe of a city I barely recognize”.

Fine city not the most suitable name for Singapore

Over the decades, our beloved Singapore has earned for itself the rather unflattering name of Fine City. Well, I think that name has lost its novelty and I find that it is not even appropriate anymore because nowadays, we don’t find many warning signs with the threat of fines printed on it.

Anyhow, Fine City is still better than Sin City or Vice Capital don’t you think? But I think a more appropriate name should be Sign City.

Going for my brisk walking exercise in MacRitchie Reservoir the other day, and eager to try out my new Sony Cybershot phone, I realised that there are lots of man-made objects in the form of signs even in a nature park. Below are some examples.

This rather old one does not have a 'price tag'. It was mounted at the water's edge quite far in, near the start of the cross-country track.

PS – with the full mobile phone number portability thing recently, I switched from Singtel to Starhub. The offer was too good to resist. I got a 3.2 megapixels camera phone ‘free’. I do not have to pay a cent for the next 6 months. Plus being an existing subscriber of their cable vision and broadband services, I get $100 rebate and 15% on my mobile phone bill, plus free phone upgrade after 1 year – whatever that means.

But I am getting into trouble with Singtel. They just billed me $250 for “Eqpt Plan Termination” for terminating my account with them before the contract expires. But I went down to the Hello shop at AMK Hub to check before I switched, and the girl there asked for my NRIC no. did a quick check on her pc and declared that my contract has expired! I called up Singtel to protest; and they are still ‘investigating’.

I am no marketing expert, but I find our phone companies’ marketing antics rather silly and unproductive. Instead of ‘sayanging’ (‘sayang’ is Malay for tender loving care) their existing customers to prevent them from being poached, they go all out to woo new customers from their competitors, making their existing customers feel, what should I say, taken for granted.

With all of them employing such progressive tactics, what do we get in the long run ……. a game of musical chairs of course.


PS: Please remember to vote for me for the OMY awards here