geraldgiam.sg - Page 58 of 89 - Alternative proposals for a better Singapore

Install fans on MRT platforms

SMRT should install fans at all above-ground MRT station platforms, with LTA co-funding if necessary.

I hope SMRT will seriously consider installing electric fans on all above-ground MRT station platforms. I have written twice to SMRT over the past two years to make this request. Both times I received the same reply: Platforms have sufficient natural breeze and there is no need for fans.

Most of my fellow commuters will attest that this is not always the case. Some above-ground MRT stations are sandwiched between blocks of flats or shopping malls, leaving little chance for much breeze. With the introduction of the new platform safety screens which are made of solid plexiglass, commuters will now have to endure stuffy platforms that are often overcrowded with people.

One of the bugbears of taking public transport in Singapore is getting all sweaty and sticky en route to one’s destination. After walking from one’s flat to the MRT station under the tropical sun, we often end up waiting on wind-less platforms, getting our clothes drenched with sweat. While there’s nothing we can do about Singapore’s weather, I believe it is possible to cool down the waiting areas on the MRT stations with the installation of fans, in order to provide a more pleasant overall commuting experience.

If cost is an issue for SMRT, I would like to suggest that LTA (Land Transport Authority) co-fund the installation of these fans. If the Government is serious about getting Singaporeans to switch to using public transport, this is a small investment in that could reap surprisingly good returns in the form of increased ridership and improved commuter satisfaction.

(This is the original letter that was sent to TODAY newspaper. It was published on 9 September 2009.)

MediShield should cover congenital illnesses

If CPF Board can cherry pick who to insure and who to reject, then what makes it different from any profit-oriented private insurance company?

Two letters to the Straits Times forum in the past week shed light on a little known fact that our national health insurance scheme, MediShield, does not provide the universal coverage that many Singaporeans would have expected it to.

On September 2nd, a parent wrote in to express dismay that his newborn daughter was refused MediShield coverage because she was born with a suspected cyst in her lungs, a condition diagnosed during pregnancy. He said the CPF Board, which manages MediShield, denied her coverage, citing “the higher insurance risk posed by her pre-existing health condition”.

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Civil servants: Take better care of your Minister’s bosses

Take care of your Minister, by all means. But take better care of your Minister’s bosses: The people of Singapore who elected him, pay his salary (and yours) and can fire him (at the polls) if he performs poorly.

A blog by Straits Times correspondent Christopher Tan (“Pre-empted by the Internet”) revealed some interesting behind the scenes excitement that took place when the big announcement of the revisions to the Off-peak Car (OPC) scheme got leaked on the Net two days before the Minister for Transport could announce it.

The LTA (Land Transport Authority) gave a closed door press briefing last Friday, banning any recording devices and ordering journalists to embargo the news until Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced it in a speech at a grassroots event on Sunday. But lo and behold, the news got leaked on the Internet that very night.

With this leak, the ST wanted to run the story on Saturday, but was not given permission to by the LTA. So it got run on Sunday morning — still ahead of the Minister’s speech.

What I find disconcerting was the journalist’s description that “the authority’s (LTA) panic was palpable. After all, the leak had stolen the thunder from a Minister’s Sunday speech.”

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76-year old cardboard lady in Singapore

This AFP news clip has appeared in several other blogs, but I think it’s worth re-posting it here. It’s so sad to see this. Is this the way our nation treats the people who helped build it?

To provide public assistance to all elderly Singaporeans in this situation will be but a drop in the bucket for the government. Instead the criteria for receiving public assistance is that you have to be completely destitute and without any family who can assist you.

Despite all the need out there like the old lady in the clip, there are only 3,000 people in the whole of Singapore who are receiving public assistance to the tune of $260 a month. That adds up to $780,000 a month, which is much less than a Minister gets paid in one year.

The necessary privileges of citizenship

I was invited to be a studio guest on Channel NewsAsia’s BlogTV on 27 August 2009. This was my second time on the show. The topic for this discussion was titled, “We want more… privileges!”

This article first appeared in Hammersphere.

I was invited to be a studio guest on Channel NewsAsia’s BlogTV on 27 August 2009. This was my second time on the show. The topic for this discussion was titled, “We want more… privileges!”

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Suggestions to MINDEF regarding Record V recommedations

The Fifth Committee to Recognise the Contribution of Operationally Ready National Servicemen, or Record V, has made 18 recommendations to MINDEF (Ministry of Defence). As an NSman myself, here are my reactions to them and further suggestions to MINDEF.

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The Pledge is not an aspiration or ideology – it’s a PROMISE

This article was first published in Hammersphere.

I have been following the debate in Parliament and outside about the National Pledge and how it should be applied to Singapore’s laws and policies. The debate was sparked off by a motion and a speech by new Nominated MP Viswa Sadasivan, and amplified when MM Lee Kuan Yew stepped in to weigh in with his views.

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Reduce abortions by helping pregnant mothers financially

Medical doctor Ng Liang Wei wrote a letter to the Straits Times forum today suggesting that a fund be set up to help mothers to defray the cost of their pregnancies so as to give them less reasons to abort their babies.

I fully support this idea. I have blogged about the issue of the staggering number of abortions in Singapore before. I think for too long, the debate on abortion (at least in the US — we haven’t debated much about it in Singapore) has been centred on pro-life vs pro-choice. Pro-lifers say abortionist are killing babies, while pro-choicers say anti-abortionists are restricting the freedom of women to do what they want with their own bodies. The argument goes on and any attempt to find common ground is squashed.

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Go tie yourself to a tree, judge tells homeless man

I was saddened yet at the same time angry when I read this news report:

Straits Times, Aug 18, 2009

Jailed for living in illegal tent

By Sujin Thomas

HOMELESS and unemployed, Noor Mohammad Yassin Ismail pitched a canvas tent at East Coast Park in May, 2007, and lived there for almost a month – without a lease or licence to do so.

He was discovered on June 26 of that year, after he was apprehended by park rangers.

In court on Tuesday, Noor was asked to produce his Identity Card or passport but he said that he had lost both items.

It prompted District Judge Mr Shaiffudin Saruwan to retort in jest: ‘I suggest you use a bicycle chain to tie yourself to a tree or you may lose yourself as well.’

Pleading for leniency, Noor, who is tanned and skinny, said that he seldom ate, only doing so if friends gave him food.

He added that his mother is paralysed and looked after by a younger sibling, while an elder sister does not care about him.

He was fined $800 but could not afford to pay the fine so he was jailed four days instead. He could have been fined up to $2,000.

Jailed for living in illegal tent

By Sujin Thomas

HOMELESS and unemployed, Noor Mohammad Yassin Ismail pitched a canvas tent at East Coast Park in May, 2007, and lived there for almost a month – without a lease or licence to do so.

He was discovered on June 26 of that year, after he was apprehended by park rangers.

In court on Tuesday, Noor was asked to produce his Identity Card or passport but he said that he had lost both items.

It prompted District Judge Mr Shaiffudin Saruwan to retort in jest: ‘I suggest you use a bicycle chain to tie yourself to a tree or you may lose yourself as well.’

Pleading for leniency, Noor, who is tanned and skinny, said that he seldom ate, only doing so if friends gave him food.

He added that his mother is paralysed and looked after by a younger sibling, while an elder sister does not care about him.

He was fined $800 but could not afford to pay the fine so he was jailed four days instead. He could have been fined up to $2,000.

It is bad enough that this poor (literally) man who doesn’t even have food to eat and a place to stay is jailed, but when I read what Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said to him as he sentenced him, I was completely aghast! Does the judge have no compassion whatsoever? He jails a destitute man and then insults him.

What is my country coming to? A land where the powerful elites sneer at the weakest members of society instead of helping them?

I thank reporter Sujin Thomas for highlighting this case.

Insensitivity at our void decks

I was shocked to hear the story related by PM Lee in his National Day Rally speech in Mandarin about the Malay wedding and the Chinese wake. For those who didn’t tune in that early, here’s a rough translation:

A Chinese grandmother died. The family decided to hold wake at the void deck of the next block. But without waiting for approval from the town council to hold their wake there, they proceeded to set up their wake. Coincidentally, that void deck had already been booked by a Malay family for a wedding. The invitations had been sent out. Now they discovered their wedding location had been snatched by another party. The Malay family of course felt very unhappy. The town council staff attempted to resolve the matter by asking the Chinese family to relocate their wake to another void deck. But the Chinese family was unwilling to accommodate. They felt that even though the coffin had not arrived, the wake had already been set up and tearing it down will bring bad luck. So a problem arose. Obviously the party in the wrong was the Chinese family. But they were unwilling to move. Fortunately, with the intervention of the MP and town council staff, the Malay family very graciously agreed to move their wedding to another block. As a gesture of gratitude, the town council waived the rental charges, and also helped them put up signs redirecting wedding guests to the new location. This happened last year.

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