Korea bound

We are spending Christmas in Seoul!

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The thought of money behind every smile

Town planning law to be amended

P and I had constant talks about how badly imposed the restrictions are by the City Planning Authority (not just in Bangkok, but the rest of Thailand). City development in Thailand is characterised by commercial developments mushrooming in zones obviously meant only for residential purposes and massive road congestions at peak hours (and despite the bad traffic situation Prime Minister Yingluck insisted the government's tax privilege policies for first-car and first-home buyers should go ahead). Over a casual dinner, my friend convinced me that the problem is not with the lack of law, but the lack of enforcement which is very much link to corrupted officials.

In the recent budget debate, PM said the policies would stimulate the economy and do not cost much money. The policies were promised by her Pheu Thai Party to the people so they could establish themselves with a car and home more easily.

I am not talking about home ownership here because given the current political situation and lack of effective town planning, it is a pandora box. But establishing themselves with a car? I mean seriously, WTF is she talking about? And there is no mention of investing in support infrastructure. If you think that getting into a sardine-packed train is bad, think of getting stuck in traffic jams and then looking effortlessly for parking spaces and then getting stuck in traffic jams again. As least you are given a choice to opt for public transport. Here in Thailand, public transport does not exist.

Homer the Chi

With MM and Ho around, the dog is having alot of fun with his new friends, but also alot of stay at home time since we are away alot.

He's still the usual: playful, and enjoying his solitary time working on the chew toys.

This, he has been doing for the last 15 mins.


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忙里愉闲

我跟老爸说，工作了六年，从来没有这么忙过，也没忙得这么开心过。

我不知道这会不会是最理想的工作，但起码我相信它。如果一个星期七天里，有五天是做著自己相信的事，那人生中的百分之七十，你起码是活在信念中。

短暂忙完。停下、呼吸，蓄势待发。

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Scandinavian countries as learning lessons for Singapore

We have heard from MP Khaw in his untactical attempt to show his point about the worldwide misconception of Bhutan as one of the happiest country in the world (despite being ranked so by Business Week). According to UN's HDI study that is "much more empirical than the GNH Index you will find in Bhutan, which is quite subjective", Singapore is ranked 26th. Still, we are ranked 4th in Asia behind Japan, Korea and Hong Kong despite being the country with the highest PPP in Asia according to IMF.

Norway, ranked top in HDI also has the top 5 largest GDP per capita (thanks to its offshore reserves). Joining Norway in the top 20 countries in the HDI ranking are its Scandinavian sisters Sweden and Denmark (Finland coming in at 22). None of these countries are blessed with great hoards of oil and gas. They are all borderline socialist states, with generous welfare benefits and lots of redistribution of wealth. Yet they don't let that socialism cross the line into autocracy (see The World's Happiest Countries). According to the Failed State Index, they have one of the most sustainable governance model in the world (uses 12 factors to determine the rating for each nation including security threats, economic implosion, human rights violations and refugee flows).

Coming down to key areas of the incumbent concern, which led to great displeasures in the last few years (i.e. the immigration policy adopted by the government as a strategy to prevent the extinction of the population), Norway has one of the highest fertility rates in Europe (1.96 in 2010). Other Scandinavian countries also have higher fertility rates as compared to the rest of Europe. Sweden is one of the very few developed countries experiencing an upward movement in fertility rate in the last couple of years. Studies have been made about Sweden's generous parental leave, (see Parental Leave): all working parents are entitled to 16 months paid leave per child, the cost being shared between employer and the state. To encourage greater paternal involvement in child-rearing, a minimum of 2 months out of the 16 is required to be used by the "minority" parent, in practice usually the father, and some Swedish political parties on the political left argue for legislation to oblige families to divide the 16 months equally between both parents. In Norway a total of 46 weeks is provided: the mother must take at least 3 weeks immediately before birth and 6 weeks immediately after birth, father must take at least 12 weeks (the so-called "daddy quota") - the rest can be shared between mother and father. The introduction of paternal leave, besides the most apparent, also ensure gender equality and equal opportunity for femals and males in the workplace. To provide a fair picutre, I am also providing statistics about migrant population in the Scandinavia: According to Eurostat, in 2010, there were 1.33 million foreign-born residents in Sweden, corresponding to 14.3% of the total population (12.2% in 2011 for Norway and less than 10% in Denmark).

The Scandinavian countries are in many comparative studies ranked on top when it comes to social capital (Rothstein, 2002), organizational participation (Dekker & van den Broek, 1998), and civil society’s vitality (Salamon et al., 2004). Scandinavian democracy is much talked about around the world, warning against the social engineering of people’s lives and pusking for the occasional close cooperation between state and civil society.

The Scandinavians say it all: A country with happy people (that is measured empirically), a thriving economy, good social and welfare benefits and a democractic and participative civil society with freedom of speech and expression is possible. I am not sure if I have missed out anything that is glaringly failing in the Scandinavian system because I hardly (never) hear any political parties making the comparison. Maybe we are too busy being good examples.

Side note: It is not exactly unpredictable for the incumbent to dwell on the poverty and the state of development of Bhutan to highlight the implausibility of the GNH. So I say better chance next time, WP.

How much do we know about you- Singapore?

In a society that is is characterised by widening income gap and increasingly polarised political views, the focus of political parties on "target group" is not an ingenious strategy (think Thailand, read ‘Winning Chinese-speaking heartland key for WP’). As much as we are asking for better representation in the Parliament and Government, and democratic desion-making being practised, I guess we are also trying to avoid  parties/groups taking complete different directions, causing segregation and further splitting the society into halves (think Thailand again).

 

The gist of the debate for an effective two-party system has always been the introduction of checks and balances into the current system and increased in cluster (race, age, income groups etc.) representation that would ensure all voices are heard, taken into account and integration is ensured. The debate on the effectiveness of a two-party system has always been cut short by the incumbent, inducing fear by making references to chaotic political systems around us (Thailand, Taiwan, etc.) and doubts by emphasizing on the lack of sufficient talent. What they do not highlight is that some of the systems are encumbered by corrupted officials and an inefficient public service sector, both we are presently free of; that the current ruling party did manage to attract talents who, due to disagreement in direction and vision left and would have contributed better to national development by forming a coalition of their own that is not hampered in its operation.

 

What really perturbed me is not the foul play in politics (which is natural for a party that has been in power for 5 decades and the incumbent is not shy about), but the usage of national resources (including human resources) for party development (think scholars); the use of brain washing methods (through education, mainstream media, government initiatives) to increase the incompetency to make rational political decisions and decrease the population's sensitivity to political issues; and to deprive us of our right to information, freedom of thought and freedom of opinion and expression.

 

How much of pre-PAP politics do we know? What exactly is the objective of our national education if the principles of good governance is introduced through the 'legacy of the PAP government'? How are we to foster sense of identity, pride and self-respect without knowing our civic rights, the Constitution of Singapore etc.? How are we to make informed choices when 20 years on after the amendment to our Constitution that people are still questioning the role of the President?

The eulogy that makes me smile

For a man who left a legacy, the most admirable is probably his immense passion for life and the affection for the people he loved.

 

Read A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs