ReCap: Is The "One Bite Of The Public Housing Cherry" For Citizens Fair?
Let me reiterate how bad a deal true blue indigenous citizens are getting in the public housing department. In fact we are beginning to look and feel like the Red Indians of the Americas and we all know what happened to their lot and to their fate. They got booted out and gradually died out.
First, almost every single housing scheme is extended to SPRs and in many cases, the citizen named could actually be a naturalised citizen.
Even Non-citizens can partake of our public housing project in the resale (otherwise known as the secondary) market.
Then to make matters worse, even the HDB concessionary interesr-rate loans benefit our SPRs or Non-Citizens should one of their ranks eventually become a naturalised citizen.
Single Citizens do not have many choices and as far as policies go, they have only three recourses : the Single Citizen Scheme, the Joint Singles Scheme and the Orphan Citizen Scheme.
But wait till you get hold of this: the Orphan Citizen Scheme needs both our sets of parents to die while the Citizen(meaning naturalised citizen)/SPR Siblings Scheme allows theirs to be alive and they can visit for 5 long years. Almost as good as a permanent residency.
Now for the BIGGEST CABOODLE BANGA our housing authority slaps into our face.
When they permit this ruling, that means the Citizen/SPR siblings own one set of housing asset here while their parents own another back home in their own native land. Be it China, Indonesia or Malaysia. Not to mention, how our very rich SPRs probably own multiple housing assets all over the world.
And here we are, our housing authority questioning the kind of assets (private residential, commercial and industrial) and the number of such assets we own before allowing us to own a slice of the public housing pie and extending a concessionary interest-rate loan.
I can't see how the logic of the "one bite of the cherry" goes, can you? And we probably have to relook the same chanted-to-death mantra in every other educational, healthcare and employment policy our administrators have espoused.
Foreigners/SPRs/Naturalised Citizens Can But Native Citizens Can't
The Sunday times yesterday featured a rich Delhi-born, US-educated and green-card holder who eventually became our naturalised citizen.
I know of many such foreigners, SPRs or naturalised citizens among us, engaging in some sort of entrepreneurial work or activity. And it seems, usually with almost complete ease. Mind you, some are just operating out of a base here and they travel the world.
Whether they are creating job opportunities for locals or not remains a myth but
my guess is that the numbers are so small, it is probably a figure to be sniffed at.
You have proof how we citizens are being increasingly marginalised.
Do you need more?
When In Singapore, Do Not Do As The Singaporeans Do (A Short Reflection On What A Sunday Times Reporter Wrote And Of The Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum)
Hymns Of Praises Or A Room For A Lot More Improvement?
That is precisely how that diversity is gonna help us progress.
A foreign pair of eyes probably sees things here very differently. Sometimes for good, sometimes not so good.
Sure show respect for the host but constructive criticisms help. And especially if they are true.
I don't think our urban planning and design have been that fantastic as we have bragged about time and again but then it is comparatively better than some others.
Yes, let us not outdo ourselves on the topic of food either. Food can be just as lousy here. We can boast of a great variety of food, and ethnic food at that. But as to whether they measure up, that is quite another issue altogether.
Why Can't Gays Set The Tone For Society? How Do You Term Openness Anyway?
Are we any different from you? Only sexual preferences and sexual likes are different.
In fact, gays like myself, are advocating a better kind of society.
An open society. Not a society that is open to moral decline but one who is open with communication. Open to one true self. Above all, open to the truth. Open to what is REALLY happening out there. Not some of your ivory-tower, figment of imagination living. Because you live in charmed circles, that is why.
Our open-ness here has been associated to bar-top dancing, men's clubs and topless dance shows. What I will term the sleazeball openess.
But we are closed when it comes to so many matters of greater importance and good. Like allowing stable but different kinda family configurations. That of gay domicile partnerships or marriages.
Just Another Different Kinda Family Configuration
Let us face it, there are already many kinda different family configurations these days.
Divorcess or separatees living in with their new-found mates, thus creating step relationships. Older and younger copulations. Even foreign ones. We have chosen to sweep all these under the carpet and not talk about them
Is This Education Or A Prison Sentence?
We are as closed when enforcing discipline, rules and regulations in schools. We are so preoccupied with looks and appearances while overlooking the real function of education - opening up the heart, mind and soul.
Decency, no doubt, is called for but seriously, look at some of the kinda enforcements. Totally ridiculous.
Let Us Hope The Test Is Comprehensive And Suss Out And Tests What It Should
With all due respect, I cannot help but not concur with a reporter here. Maybe she was writing the exact opposite of what she really thinks.
Yes, certainly a short test of sorts about Singapore will help determine if a foreigner is worthy of being one of us. Let us just hope the test covers a lot more about the kinda life and expectations here. And it is just a test, nonetheless.
Maybe a writing test at a more profund level, closer to the Singapore heart topic would be more in order on top of short MCQs that should cover almost all of our history, culture, food and lifestyle.
Standard English, Singlish And National Integration
There is at least one thing I can agree with to some extent.
We can all lapse into our Singlish among our friends or among ourselves. There is no SIN to that. That does distinguishes us in some respects.
But to consistently do that especially when the occasion doesn't justify its use, is JUST putting ourselves at a HUGE disadvantage. During schooltime and when dealing with foreigners would be such occasions.
That is when it calls for some command of Standard English.
And yes, the new immigrants need to integrate and not live in enclaves of their own. That is a surety.
What We Can Be Thankful For, I Can Only Think Of One At The Moment, So Blow Me Down
An almost paperless society, everything going online or cashless. A true Computer and Information Age.
I will get back to you on the rest.
Shenanigans Revisited
Not only do the same few staid shenanigans dominate public, civil and corporate lives, they monopolise public discourse as well.
It is just like our media. The same few oft-repeated and safe topics have been reported so many times, Donald Trump's marriages and remarriages probably couldn't keep up.
And yet again, the same few angles and views are espoused and the same few ideas tossed around. Nothing new, nothing note-worthy, nothing incisive and worse, NOTHING TO HELP US PROGRESS away from the dark ages.
Shenanigans are everywhere.
I can name you the same few "popular" white-based ones dominating the English-language programs here in schools or in private. When I look at some of their handouts, it is certainly nothing much to crow about.
And yes, ex-teachers/educators/co-stewards and stewards of schools, who now run their own little private consultancies and companies, are favored too.
Shenanigans move from one public life to another. Then they plonk their fat asses onto boards of public-listed companies either as independent or alternate directors or some such appointments, even in active management roles.
Need I say more?
A Brainwashed And Psychoed Population That Can Only Mean Harm To Ourselves
That is what we have all become.
A nation psychoed and brainwashed into thinking we are not what we really are.
All the bigwigs (the state, religion, the media and schools) of our times have helped shaped this.
40 years on and I have not really seen a shred of change for the better among us, have you?
Kampung Days Are Here To Stay, So It Seems
I remarked to my sister how the pathways we were treading on were so awashed with puddles and sand and soil, it was almost like living in a kampung all over again.
I thought the one sole reason why we had chosen to live in an urbanised environment was precisely because of this but HOLY COW, aren't we like living this all over again?
Maybe Foreigners? Ok So I Don't Really Know But Hey Ain't Exactly First World People I See Here
And I commented to her how I don't see a shred of change in mannerisms or behavior or language spoken here when I look at the people around us. This is 40 years of "evolution".
Has education changed anything?
What Of A HIP Or NRP
Noise, dust and debris. Blockaded hot and stuffy living quarters, pathways, intrusion into our living spaces and contending with foreigners in our midst.
Water, gas and electricity shut-downs.
Can you blame me if I rather pick a new town? 5 years or more that is.
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