How to balance the "cheng huu"'s account?

Hi friends,

Since I don't have the precise info yet, I am presenting the following discussion in broad strokes on how the govt balance its accounts in 2007. I apologise if some info is not accurate. Pls tell me and I will amend accordingly.

Govt said they will collect 2% more for GST.
Govt said they will also "pay" for the relief package to compensate for higher GST collections.

It will be interesting to know what the relief package would look like. Technically speaking, we could say we are already in balance now.

But things did not stop there. Another string of announcements presents itself.

Govt said they will freeze all fees and charges increase in govt-related agencies for ONE year.

Govt said they will reduce the subsidies by 10% to PR and foreign workers on medical costs.

Govt has withdrawn the concession to defer stamp duty on Dec 15 2006.

Anything else coming?

Increasing costs of doing business in Singapore?

Hi,

I will use this posting to keep track of all the cost increase that will impact businesses in Singapore for 2007 and after.

1. GST increase especially those non-GST-registered businesses.
2. Impact of reduced subsidies (ie. increase medival medical costs) on medical services on companies with at least one PR or foreign worker.

NTUC is calling for CPF revisions in today's paper. If realised, another cost increase.

I am sure I have missed out some others. Let me know.

To blog or not to blog?

Hi friends,

The following is the outcome of Windows MSN survey of more than 25,000 people in seven Asian countries .

1. "51 per cent of online respondents rated blogs as being equally trustworthy as traditional media" --> Thank you and now you can believe what I am writing here.
2. Do you have a blog? 2/3 of respondents in Singapore have got their own blogs.
3. Five in six Singaporeans are aware of blogging.
4. Distribution by age - Four in five of the bloggers here are under 25 years of age. 14 per cent are between 25 and 34, and 3 per cent are over 35 years.
5. Distribution by sex - About 75% of blogs in Singapore are kept by women.

I have always thought I am rather unique. From the above study, it is now confirmed that I am indeed quite unique by age and by sex :)

So if you are reading this, chances are you are a girl in your twenties and have your own blog. Is the survey accurate?

Source - "Pay heed to bloggers, traditional media urged", Business Times, Matthew Phan, 11 Dec 2006.

Commercialism on Sunday

Pic 1 - A restaurant we went to today before the crowd came.

Hi friends,

Season of intense shopping is here!!

In the good old days, a 5% discount would have make us to the end of earth and back for that magical purchase.

In today's commercial world, the discount percentage has to get bigger and bigger to attract our precious dollars out of our pockets. We are talking about 25%, 40% and even 50% discount before we pop!!

Hang on tight as I did today.. Cheers :)

Cycle of life?

Dear friends,

Many years ago, there were a bunch of boys who became friends while being rigorously educated in St. Andrew's.

We went through many stages of life together. "O" level, rugby, girls, "A" level, university, girlfriends, marriage, children, career ... and now 2 divorces among us.

While we met for a meal last night, we were informed by one that his marriage has broken down. I swallowed my saliva while trying to digest the news (between the chicken wings and beer).

I kept silence for I fear of saying something stupid.

Two of us, who doesn't drink much, suddenly said, "Let us drink to it."

Guys, we stand together. Up and on.

P/S - A pic of Phuket from Star Cruise.

Sandy, thanks for the lovely evening

Sandy,

You still got it after all these years. Your charming melodious voice echoes through thousands of us in this vast stadia.

It is those familiar songs that is so comforting yet so sad. Just imagine, you are 26 years old now with Stephanie Sun very big in your life. Many many years later, you go to Steph's concert in Hong Kong where she sings songs when both of you were in twenties...

Thank you Ms Sandy Lam for the memories. Miss you ...

Internet Banking Landscape in Singapore

Hi friends,

For those of you who are regular users of internet banking like your beloved here, you would have been bombarded with info and gadgets on the new security features to be implemented by our 3 local banks.

DBS sent me this gadget that generates a 6-digit number as 2nd level password.

Then I think UOB came to me next with 2 options ie. take the gadget approach or the sms approach of sending my 2nd level password.

OCBC came next with 3 options ie.

• the gadget thingy
• the sms method
• download software into HP to generate passwords

Banks have big commercial interest to remove any iota of security doubt on its internet banking. Banks have waited for years for customers to shift to this new form of SELF SERVICE.

I am a believer of internet banking for so many years for its convenience.

Thus I couldn't understand why some of my colleagues would walk to a machine outside a building, holding several bills and busy punching the reference numbers and amounts while people in queue start cursing and swearing at u while they breathe.

Why don't they pay their bills in the convenience of their home or office and not waste their precious lunch time paying bills?

Security is their concern. Thus the banks must spend millions to overcome this.

Henceforth pray that the adoption rate would go up so that their no. of physical branches and no. of staff would go down.

Chinatown in KL?

[I had wanted to go to bed. When I saw this pic, I have to put this up before my inspiration disappears.]

I was wondering why I took the picture. Then I remember.
Taken in "She Cheong Kai" or Chinatown.

The pic is full of people. Just imagine the street was relatively empty about 15 seconds ago when a police or ala-hawker enforcement agency vehicle cruised through. After the vehicle passed, the stalls re-appeared from all over crowding the street once again.

2nd observation.
Notice who are the hawkers or operators of the stalls. We thought we went to Chinatown but the hawkers are not Chinese. I am NOT the racist sort but where do these entrepreneurs come from, I wonder.

3rd observation
I took picture of rubbish lying unnoticed in the middle of the road as people walked around the pile without a care. Come on, it is not very often we get the chance to take picture of a pile of rubbish. I did it!

Good nite again ...

My KL Internet Story

[With Barry Manilow singing on radio in the background, I write this entry.]

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I took the picture of the guy in white t-shirt. He just sat down in a very nice seat, opened his laptop and started typing away.

Nonchalant to the fact he is sitting in a very expensive real estate, tapping on internet brodband without paying for it.

On a more serious note, many homes in Malaysia still do not have access to broadband internet connection. At best, we are still talking about dial-ups.

So many of our friends in KL are really dependent on broadband access at these drinking joints sprouting all over KL and suburban centres.

I was beaming with joy when I saw a broadband cable in our hotel room. After I plugged it in, the home page gave me the pricing.

"RM$58 for 24 hours"

Hmmm? [I actually comtemplated.]

"No way I am paying that price." Good nite ...

My Food Experiences in KL

Picture 1 - Mun Wah Hokkien Mee

Picture 2 - Mun Wah Hokkien Mee

Picture 3 - Jalan Ah Lor

Picture 4 - Ishq Restaurant

Picture 5 - Best Toast in Puchong

Picture 6 - The Toast itself

The family were in KL for a week. There wasn't any place to go except to relax and eat.

And eat we did.

• Don't eat at stalls where the cook or chef is no longer the original fellow we go there for in the first place. There has been a proliferation of foreign workers doing the cooking while the locals sit back and watch football or count their monies.

• The price of food has increased significantly in KL. A bowl of noodle could go for RM3 to RM4. On a dollar to dollar basis, the cost of living is high in KL.





• Wanton mee in KL is free of ketchup and I love it!! The char siew has that little bit of fat to give me the oomph!!! Hawkers in Singapore are often at a loss when I tell them not to put chilli or ketchup. "Then put what?????"





• My sister introduced me to a stall in Puchong that gives me the best toast at RM3 per piece. The peanut butter concortion aroma and taste still linger in my senses. See pics above.





• We had smoked or barbecued crabs in Klang.





• Imagine eating 60 gigantic pieces of yong tau foo admist thunder, lightning, winds and heavy rain.





• On the high end side, we experienced Indian fusion cuisine at Ishq Restaurant. I had to ask the concierge on the spelling the name of restaurant.

Till the next trip, sigh.... and miss you.

Polonium 210. Huh?

P/S - Hi! I'm back after being away with no and/or very expensive internet connection for about 2 weeks. Felt so handicapped...

P/S - Pic taken admist my solitude onboard of cruise along Strait of Malacca.

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I have learned a new term a few days ago.

Polonium 210 is a radioactive element usually used a trigger for a nuclear bomb. The smallest traces of this toxic poison would render major organ failures and thus death within hours upon consumption or being exposed to it. Can you be exposed to it? Yes, if you are very near to it or exposed to faeces, perspiration, saliva of the victim.

How did I get to know this?
An ex-Russian spy was killed by consuming Polonium 210 as reported over BBC on Saturday 25 Nov 2006. A first such murder in UK and possibly in many civilised worlds. It is alleged that he has been assassinated by Kremlin.

Why do I care?
I am saddened that the world has taken another step, backward.

For the first time in recent years, radioactive materials have been exposed to civilian population.

Imagine the disaster of London being exposed to a dirty bomb!!!

Who inspired me to blog?

The man I am listening to right now should be credited with my formal entry into the blogging word.

I had to be coerced by a dear friend to blog about a year and a half ago. But I couldn't ask myself to express in words for world to see. In those days, I only see blogs where individuals poured their life. It was just a digital diary to many individuals then.

Until this man here demonstrated to me the real potential of blogging. I made a mistake in trying to build a website which had cost me too much time. Thank goodness that effort broke down and somehow went into the blogging world.

Blogging has given all of us a voice, especially to Edgar. The technology is here in my hand. I am blogging with my phone right now. The blogs have encouraged me to open my eyes to events occurring around me to provide the materials to write on my blogs.

The world is changing. And changing rapidly.

"My friends, be involved, quickly and responsibly", I urge you.

Watching football is going to be more expensive!!

In Hong Kong, PCCW bought the broadcasting rights to English Premier League matches for 2007-8. PCCW beat iCable, the incumbent broadcaster, to the deal.

How much?
The Standard newspaper this week quoted unnamed sources as saying the price tag was actually HK$1.56 billion (about $300mio). To give you an idea of the rate of increase, the right was acquired at the price of HK$800mio back in 2004. Almost doubled in 3 years!!!

The cable TV market in Hong Kong is significantly larger than Singapore. PCCW has 650,000 subscribers while iCable, 770,000.


In Singapore, the same broadcasting rights will be contested by Singtel and the incumbent operator, Starhub.

I don't hate animals !!!

Not unless they are "manufactured" as consumer products placed for sale in pet shops.

"Manufactured" means artificially breed to the colour, shape and size to be adored by human beings for profit.

I respect fellow animals and their rights to their domain. But we are intruding into their homes.

Can you imagine human beings spending tons of monies preping their pets eg. shampoo, food and even clothes while millions of other human beings die of hunger and thirst elsewhere?

While I understand that some old or lonely people may need pets as a cure to their emotional void, who else and why do you need pets?

During my ignorant youth, a rabbit and many fishes died in my hands.
I said to myself, "No more."

Are coffee shops for human?

Are interaction with pets reducing the barrier for disease transmission?

Sigh...

Impending tidal waves!!!

Yes, 7% GST is coming !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What will you be buying soon to avoid the 2% higher cost to be borne for the poor consumers like us?

My shopping list:-
- a pair of working shoes
- pants
- socks
- etc

What's yours?

7% GST for Singapore has been announced!

Today in parliament by PM Lee.

Why?

• It is better now when in good times.

There will be a comprehensive compensating package. What is it?

Lookout for Budget Speech in 15 Feb 2007! (a week before Chinese New Year?)

So accounting software developers, students of Jul 2007's batch of ACCA Paper 2.3 and Paper 3.2, retailers, wholesalers and whoever else dealing with GST, IT IS COMING !!!!!

ESPN, please change the design

May I appeal to those guys at ESPN working on EPL programming , to change the design thingy on the top left corner of the screen?

I don't know what the design is intended to be but it is occupying precious screen space.

I want to see more of the football game, the players and the ball, of course.

I thought a larger TV would help, but your design thingy just got bigger.

If it is not contributing to your branding effort, please redesign it.

Much appreciated.

Singtel got to wait for now!

My broadband contract is expiring next month. Singtel has been attempting to get me to recontract through their call centre and today, a sales promo letter.

Why am I hesitating?

• I am not too sure of what the wireless network all over Singapore, to be ready next year, would be for me.
• But I am sure that the prices of broadband would drop, since more than a year ago. Thus my decision then to keep the contract term short despite the heavy promo at that point in time to encourage consumers to sign long term contract.

What am I going to do now?
Wait for the coming computer fair in early December!

A Short Reprieve

I was at this place last evening looking for a reprieve from WORK and traffic jam from the Bull Run and the welcome rain. There were so many human beings and cars.

I finally sat myself down on this comfy sofa with a book and a glass of wine. For those who know and had drank with me, I do cherish a good glass of white wine.

While my official classes have ended for this term, I feel the babies are not delivered until the exam results are out. Thus for those students of mine who have supported me in class, it is time you support yourself by getting that good results.

Take care ...

Curry puff de parfume

Dear friends,

Do you notice that you smell of food after walking near the small little food shops hawking a lot of fried stuff sprouting out at ground level of shopping malls?

I avoid walking along the covered pedestrain walkway of this particular mall in Tampines. Hmmm... I wonder where the smell comes from. As I look around, I see the exhaust outlets just above my head attempting to bellow the fumes of fried bread, fried prawn, fried fish ball etc etc towards the roads but were instead blown back towards the poor souls like me walking along the walkway . See picture for an idea.

The property owners have transformed areas originally not designed for food outlets into food outlets.

Should we insist that these property owners use more of the rental income collected for a better solution?

I hope this will help to raise awareness for you and I don't have to say this to you, "Hei! Are you using the new curry puff de parfume?"