I hope more ministers especially the PM realize this sooner. It could mean if they continue to govern beyond the next GE.
They have been slow to learn because they are just simply too intelligent at reordering the pieces within their boxes.
Observing the government I have learned that wisdom is superior to intelligence. Having too much IQ without wisdom is a liability.
We waited 50 years for wisdom to develop in the old PAP government.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure our children can also wait another 50 years for this current PAP government to develop wisdom.
The mother of wisdom is good values.
Without good values, the birth of wisdom will never take place.
Maybe that's why 50 years have already passed.
And we are still waiting?
Or maybe it's because Singaporeans lack wisdom in choosing our leaders?
You're popping the champagne bottle too quickly.
ReplyDeleteRead KBW's words carefully - "change minimum occupancy period", "reduce lease period". In other words, tweaking and tweaking.
And the most damning words - "the vast majority of people do not have a housing problem. Its only a small minority". In other words, the young couple with 30 years mortgage "does not have a housing problem". ie. Still in denial.
And its only KBW speaking. From time to time, some of the more left-leaning Ministers like Tharman or TCJ have said stuffs that sound enlightened. But doesn't mean the more powerful Ministers like TCH have bought into it. Its OK to "study". Not OK to implement.
Unfortunately, the problems have been left to fester for so long that there's no good solution. Undertake too drastic a U-turn, and thousands of people who've bought flats recently will curse & swear.
Even all these tweaks have not been properly studied for unintended side effects. Eg : <10% of flat to have anyone foreigner group, to avoid forming enclaves. How then does a foreigner rent a flat or a room? He/She sees a flat, sign on the dotted line, kena rejected. Start again. How to know which flat is an enclave, which is not? Result : He/she will gravitate to private housing, pushing rental yields / pricing again.
The bottom-line is this : Its about leadership, the people at the top. If they lack wisdom (or, essentially don't have the right people at the top), no amount of tweaking or "two steps forward, three steps backward" will do.
Its like HP under Apotacker. Fixing HP is not about tweaking. You cannot fix HP without changing the CEO (or more fundamentally, even throw out the whole board of directors).
I still remember aged Tommy Koh commented that PAP never give credit to any one except to themselves!
ReplyDeletePAP listening to SDP?
by atans1
Err didn't the govt rubbish the SDP's idea of lowering the cost of HDB flats by making it a condition of getting cheaper flats that they be resold to HDB?
And didn't Khaw just say that this idea will be studied? But didn't credit the SDP for suggesting it?
http://atans1.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/pap-listening-to-sdp/