Sim Lim Square and Govt Indecency

To me the plot is very simple. The government has for decades pretended not to see what's going on.

In the early days our government was like a young mother who was driven out of the family - think evicted from the Federation. And like those HK movies produced at that time, the young mother was forced into prostitution in order to feed the children, an indecent but perhaps necessary decision.

But we are no longer poor even if we always have reasons to be afraid that we could be very quickly given how vulnerable we are. Unfortunately the habit forged in adversity is stuck with us. All we wanted is to get as much money from foreigners as possible. The latest and publicly most successful were the two casinos. We want foreigners to leave behind their cash but discourage locals from patronizing them. To digress as I can't help myself, Sheldon and Genting understand the gamblers better and knew it would be hard to keep out many locals. The government was indecent, and its casino partners were worse. The whole gambling business, the government should stay out of especially if they think long term.

A shop assistant can make 20 grand a month scamming mobile phone customers. Most of these are foreign money. You get the picture? As long as the money stays in Singapore, it didn't matter how it is got. Really indecent.

As the kids grew up the wise mother knew she must leave the sex trade or risk losing everything. Not only is it time to quit being so indecent, it is actually really late.

Reclaiming our values: Ban on Shisha

They are finally coming around to getting rid of the shisha. Good!

Together with the two casinos I have always viewed allowing shisha smoking here as myopic and emblematic of a money minded government selling out on our values.

I don't know who gave the go ahead then. It was a politically inane move. There are just things we don't sell for money especially our values.

They must know all along that shisha smoking is addictive and bad for health. Even as an individual I knew that when we were living in Dubai. Unfortunately too many among us did not and so it came in. So in Sisha and a few things else and out our trust in the government. Was it worth it? I think as a society we are better off as we respond by forming civic groups to study the issues independently of the government. For the PAP it was a stupid move. Fortunately for them they are not bad at learning from their mistakes.

Mni Steamboat returns to the East

I thought they had moved from Parkway Parade to Toa Payoh Central? It is nice to see them returning to the East. I saw this today as I was driving along my usual route along Tanjong Katong Road.

Looks like they are still outfitting the place. Come to eat there when they are open.

Escorted Obama, then got fired

I feel quite sad reading this story in the NYT.

From the article, I don't see that there were grounds for firing him. If anything, the Secret Service and this fellow bosses deserve to be fixed.

I hope this story would have a happier ending. We shall see.

MOM bad idea: Hiring PR experts

The first thing on my mind when I read this article in the morning was MOM didn't learn from Anton Casey who had a PR agency failed him big time, and numerous other examples I can't completely recall.

MP Baey Yam Kheng with PR background hasn't been a glorious example for the other MPs and Ministers to communicate with the public.

Why use the PR firms, they are not good for reaching out across the spectrum. They are only good for clear and targeted audiences on specific issues.

I hope this is not a money wasting exercise.

Flipping up prata prices

Prices of pratas are up 10 cents. I don't believe they flip the thing more times or cook it with more care.

At Swensens they have been confidently upping prices ahead of most others but in return they now give you better sky juice. Not more fresh from the tap taste.

Doctors, Lawyers and their fees

I have been skipping most of the news articles because I had been busier than usual. But I still read the headlines and if you add large graphics, I would notice them too.

My retina detached slowly when I read of  Dr. Susan Lim's charges to Brunei's royalty. My eye balls popped out when I see these lawyers' fees. MP Alvin Lim looked real bad and that bad brush is used to paint the PAP as well.

Yesterday NUS Law Dean contributed this to the ST and he took the opportunity to add a few lawyers' joke. As such jokes persist and we know humor is frequently just dressed up truth.

This is what Professor Simon Chesterman said,

Typically the line is invoked in jest - a shorthand example of the many jokes about lawyers that accuse our profession of being something that society would be better off without. (What's the difference between a jellyfish and a lawyer? One's a spineless, poisonous blob. The other is a form of sea life.)

and one more,

Singapore is not particularly litigious, though it appears to be growing more so. (God and the Devil are having a fencing dispute between Heaven and Hell that escalates until God says he will take the Devil to court. "Ha!" scoffs the Devil. "Where are YOU going to find a lawyer?")

and he is not a good lawyer if he had failed to defend the indispensability of lawyers quoting Shakespeare,


But Shakespeare was also highlighting the role that lawyers play as the guardians of stability and order, standing between society and the unruly mob. If you want chaos or to start a revolution, getting rid of the lawyers is a reasonable first step.

His point is lawyers are just simply a reflection of our society. So please stop the lawyers' jokes because we would just be pointing a finger at them with three digits pointing back at ourselves. Lawyers are insufferable.

What the majority of us do is to stay away from lawyers as much as possible except of course, to encourage your offspring to be one in order to make good money. I discouraged mine from reading law but it wasn't necessary as she had on her own also concluded it was a bad idea. I told her there there are a ton of lawyers out there who shouldn't be and are now regretting their choice. Law is a worthy pursuit if entered with the right reasons and especially love. A good lawyer must at least be a private practical philosopher. That's why he/she isn't a philosopher but a lawyer. Don't forget there were lawyers before there were universities and what did those revered colleges teach then? Theology and Law. From there we had our studies of  moral and natural philosophy which we now call the Humanities and Science.