Thursday, August 5, 2010

Car Park Woes link to Unsustainable Population Growth

Seems like all the suggestions given in feedback columns of various newspapers and online discussion are more effective than what HDB comes up with, which is to increase the night parking charges from $2 to $4 to solve the car park shortage problem. Increased of about $60 per month in the night parking will not deter drivers. Perhaps it only offers a 'favorable' opportunity for HDB to increase parking fee instead.

Besides COE, there are many others polices and measures in place to curb car population over the years. Looks like all these policies are not effective since the car population has continued to increase substantially. So what has gone wrong?

Shortage of parking space is interconnected to other issues which are surfacing – over crowed trains and buses, increase in housing cost, .....etc which are ultimately link to an unsustainable population growth.

Lack of foresight and inefficient planning, weak policies implementation and over reliance on reactive instead of preventive measures...are all accumulating and surfacing as problems one after another.

Our COE quota drastic reduction recently is clear indication of not acting early until the problem has escalated. Then fire fighting begins.

HDB has to link up with other government bodies for a long term solution to the car population woes. Don't just patch up hole when it appears. Temporary solution will only result in serious 'leakages' in the near future.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Abandoned Animals and Babies

Some kind soul is setting up sanctuary house for abandoned babies. Its project person lamented that more is done for abandoned animals than babies.

But there must be a fair basis for comparison. SPCA reported an aveage of 10,000 abandoned animals annually. This is excluding those pick up by AVA and strays still struggling to survive out there. In contrast, the sanctuary has 50 abandoned babies todate.

Of course abandoned animals need more resources to help. Even if we take the lower figure of 10K abandon animals, the number of unwanted babies is just 0.5% of it.

Our birth rate is so low, all babies should be welcome by the govt, regardless of their status. Let the govt do its part for the babies since they are so slack regarding animals welfare. They are also not doing enough for our homeless. Instead of helping them, they are chasing them away from their temporary campsites. NGOs are the ones helping these folks.

Now - these babies could be moulded to be their future model citizens. Is this not what they want ? So do more for these poor babies instead of pushing it to NGOs again.

Moral Authority

Wong K S is not the best person to speak about moral authority. A terrorist escaped from our high security detention center due to lapse in basic security measures right under his nose.

Where is his moral authority when he let those in lower rank take the rap, while he ditched out lame excuses ?

Besides a person is innocent until proven guilty. Mr Shadrake is only being investigated, so why is Wong K S accusing him of malicious attack and undermining public confidence ? Besides, we are famous for winning defamation cases, so why is the Attorney-General asking for an apology to drop the case ? Perhaps there are truths in Mr Shadrake's research ?

Mistrial of cases do happen in other countries. It can happen in S'pore too. If it does, it is good that it is being flushed out instead of being cover up forever. Why is our govt afraid of hearing the truth ? Any truth should be welcome as it gives us opportunities to right a wrong and improve the system.

To understand more go to this link : http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/07/review-once-a-jolly-hangman/

An extract from the article ....on Mr Shadrake's book Once a Jolly Hangman (it is banned in S'pore)

"He documents worrying instances of judges actually calling into doubt the culpability of the accused in their judgments and then going on to impose capital punishment. He tells of cases where differential sentences are handed down relative to the wealth or power of the perpetrator or their family. In one case involving a non-citizen, he suggested that her government’s threat to create economic discomfort for Singapore swayed the trial. In another case, he wrote, compelling evidence was heard from a policeman himself under investigation, and later convicted, of monstrous corruption. He also relates further cases where the mandatory nature of the death penalty binds the hands of the judges regardless of the perpetrator’s youth or clear potential for reform."