in my opinions, since singapore only resource is manpower, everything revolves around it. what keeps our country going is working people, more working people will keep our country growing. so u c if we are to maintain our quality of life and to ever improve as ‘they’ say, more financially free people will mean lesser people working and domino effect will follow. money is needed for developing the country so as to attract investors, as will lead to more jobs then to country growth. money source from tax, gst, erp best from ‘their’ views, this way ‘fair’ as distribute among everyone. in the end, aid to poorer people will be providing a job for them-benefit both sides.

nothing best can do in really solving everything as it will serve as bad karma to society system (flawed)-if u can c now all domino linked ya? in solving road congestion, usual thing ‘they’ do to serve as comfort, more erp gates(example) to show some actions have been done. who knows? maybe the fare hikes real reasons serve as offset to inflation, maintenance, petrol, increased wages but most likely still be increase in profit in the end for the top management ya?

no offences really, anyone please correct me if i m wrong, thanks.

In which situation u think that the government is moving towards greater accountability?

In the case of Temasek Holding doing a wrong investment?
The case of Transport company given the freedom to “roam” and increase their profit year after year?
The case in which Minister pay is increase?
The case in which Poor people welfare cannot be increase because more money will lead to them been over dependent on governement?
The case that our “poor man” company (NTUC) is earning millions and can afford to build a building in the most expensive area in Singapore?
Or any other cases that i might have forgotten…..

Can you kindly highlight which is the case that show our great government accountability?

I do not agree with you on every point, but I see what you’re trying to say and I must say some of them are quite compelling evidence of the lack of accountability on several issues. But still, like I said, I think they are accountable enough. Definitely not 100%, and there are a lot more that can be done, but it is not an opaque governance either. If anything, we can take heart at the fact that, willingly or unwillingly, the government is moving towards greater accountability (albeit slowly).

Thanks for the long comment!

If such term is acceptable, why not simply tell your boss about your honest mistake ? A mistake is simply a mistake, nothing honest and dishonest about it.

And sure, how much can you tolerate honest mistake by gov at the expense of you and the public ?

How about sending useless and old people (could be us since we use up our CPF, money) to Batam for retirement because Singapore become an expensive place manned for the rich and elite only ? Is this consider an honest mistake because eventually lot of young talented and sensible Singaporean will migrated because they know eventually they be treated as shit after they expire their prime time ?

Ppl vote for gov and yet in the gov want to vote us out.

We need freedom not oppression.

As long as ppl not willing to do anything beyond just commenting in the blogosphere, gov will never change its stand because the gov think that’s not much the ppl can do anyway. The many recent laws set by gov prevent protest, incur fear into public etc. The foreigner is even warn against going local domestic affair !

Case in point :

EDB writing off NSW loans of $17.3 million, so what can public do ? Gov seem smart to find a distraction of auditing to find some fault to pacify the public. Unfortunately, those audit is more reactive than proactive ! What is a probably a fake $2millions loss compare to $17 millions ? And still those figure remain non-credible because no one who read blogosphere trust the gov. No actual document is ever reveal to public only words, nothing but words.

Minister’s pay and president’s roles is just long forgotten suddenly and never mention by ST again. Why need a good=for=nothing president who waste so much tax money of $3.1 millions ? These are our hard-earn money and we don’t have a say in it ! Incredibile !

ShinCorpse issue is now just non-existent for the gov. It become a urban legend.

etc.

It doesn’t really matter if gov say it not deliberately hide the truth (but then, do you believe that ?) as long as the action show otherwise.

The gov long accept the fact that blog and ranking doesn’t do much because as long as the Lee’s family still in control, everything seem secondary. Sure, you find something mention in newspaper talking about blog issue once a while, but that’s about it. The gov just move on without giving you an answer. Remember the famous elite girl and his Stanford MBA MP father ? Well, the case is forgotten and never mention again and keep well as recorded memory in blog. But that about’s it.

Forget about fair election, as GCT has say “It’s just politics”.

Pandemonium, what I trying to convey is, as long as the people on top remain the same persons and nepotism, nothing has really changed. The form has changed but substance still remain the same.

Have you see the youtube video of Sylvia debunking the nomination of members by PM into constitution and than accuse by MIW of conspiracy ? So, Pandemonium, tell me what has changed ? This issue is again forgotten by gov and move on. No answer to me and you, but just a constant reminder that gov can accuse you and walk away as nothing happen but not the other way round.

Has Sylvia say that gov has conspiracy, all I can imagine is that LKY and his cronies will start giving deflamation lawsuit against Sylvia and prevent her from ever stepping on politics again just she post a threat to Lee’s regime.

Could I blame the MIW, probably no. They are smart to work with the system and get their huge pay. Public ? Forget about it, the public are not even willing to help themselves but just whiner and complainers as the MP will glad to tell you.

After all these years, where China and India and third world countries are growing, Singapore is still trying to reinvent itself fruitlessly. Why ? Just because Singapore did not liberate itself but rather tolerate such society as normal and be flexible to accept as such. In the end where MP migrate after reaping millions from taxmoney, the public still say “No choice la”.

Indeed, we are still very same old Singaporean mentality even the world has changed around us.

Well, many say that this has nothing to do with LRT, and other gov’s body, but you can’t deny the fact of politics’s and Lee’s power over decision make in gov’s stepboard and companies.

It’s probably because of LKY, that GLC companies never has accountability and responsibility towards the public, though I feel that once LKY go to heaven (All dogs go to heaven, don’they ?), the situation will probably change.

“but if you understand what I’m trying to say, you’ll see that it is not the primary consideration here.”

Thanks! Indeed, car owners are bound to protest against this increase, and one method to prevent this unhappiness is to use some existing tax as this tax I’m talking about, though, truth be told, it is highly unlikely for that to happen.

In any case, it is an increase either for the public transport users or the car owners; i.e. an increase either for the poor or the rich.

David:

True, a government has to be transparent and accountable to the people for that to work, but if you understand what I’m trying to say, you’ll see that it is the primary consideration here. If an increase is inevitable, should it be placed on the public transport users or the car owners?

Anyway, it may be a surprise to you, but I do think that the government is accountable enough. The incident of the error in the percentage of foreigners in the local universities is, I believe, a mistake. I do not doubt that the statistics released in general as true; it is the interpretation that we must be very careful of. It is utterly foolish for the government to fudge data and modify statistics… it is too risky a task. Skewed interpretations, selective release of statistics, yes, but deliberate changing of data, no.

In addition, there are already numerous watchdogs on the government, both international, and local (i.e. blogs like these). The government cannot get away so easily as one might think.

Pui Yee:

When I talk about the spirit of the free market, I’m not really comparing it with any market, but more in absolute terms. That is, whether the public transport market is free or not, I still object (to a certain extent) any policy that contradicts the free market spirit. Yes, this way that I’m carrying it, it is a principle, but that’s the way I am.

Anyway, you mentioned about the opening up of lines for private bus companies to use. This has been dealt with, to my satisfaction, by the PTC in the following argument. The two bus companies in Singapore are given the profitable lines. In exchange, they are also required to ply non-profitable lines. Unless those private bus companies are committed to the same rules, it won’t be fair to let them to operate on profitable routes while larger ones must run on routes which makes less profit or even losses.

you talk about the “spirit of the free market”… lol what makes you think public transport in sg is a free market sector? pls. if ptc wants to be fair and support free market principles, private buses would be plying the same routes as tlc protected smrt/tibs buses.

free market in sg??? lol. nothing, NOTHING IS FREE in sg, not even “free-dom”. lolololol

I seen that in long term, this may not be workable. It is workable if the gov tell us the truth and we believe an honest gov. What if gov tell us half-truth statistic and data that skew towards their benefits like those recently uncover by percentage foreign talent in university etc? Do you trust gov body’s statistic ?

For one, I don’t, and most likely, ppl who read blog more than newspaper will probably don’t likewise.

In the worst scenario I view is that without been openedly honest from gov, the greatest burden lies in poor people and middle people who own cars get penalised because gov will charge both way, one from poor people, another from those who own cars. Remember the initial purpose of ERP where it main claim is to resolve traffic congest ? ERP is now way to make money from public that even gov admit.

For your system to work, the gov’s body have to accountable and responsible about the data they gave, not just give any figure they like to pacify themselves.

As long as gov remain unconvincing in their act, whatever they do to raise price will be subject to public uproar.

That is definitely a “thinking-out-of-the-box” idea. An interesting one. The idea would, of course, be premised on the assumption that car owners would not be up in arms about effectively paying for something which they do not use.

Also, I think car owners are already being taxed quite enough – if what my car-owning friends tell me is true.. :)

Fair enough indeed, if the profits are hundreds of millions, it is too much to raise fares. However, as I remember from last year’s fare hike arguments, it was pointed out that the profits which the companies reap from local operations is low. But of course, this serves to complicate arguments, as 1) it is even hard to determine if their local profits are reasonable, and 2) if it the company should use overseas profit to “subsidise” local profits?

In any case, I have been entertaining myself with the idea of using private transport to subsidise public transport. It goes like this: since public transport is generally used by the poorer people, raising fares will heave a greater burden upon them, while richer people who own cars are spared of this raise. It is then not possible to link a form of tax on cars to a subsidy on public transport, such that the fare hike is placed on car owners (who are richer anyway). In this way, if carefully planned, the usage of public transport over private transport can be regulated indirectly. It is also stable (at least in appearance), in the sense that if there is an increase in car owners for some reason, then the subsidy will increase, thus lowering public transport fares, resulting in an incentive that will counteract the increase in car owners.

The only objections I can think of is that this regulation is against the spirit of a free market, and that it might lengthen administrative red tape.

true enough, they should make profit, but aren’t profit the transport company earning in term of hundred millions more than reasonable consider that they are using taxmoney to build infrastructure and upgrading ? How is the money spend on profit is not even indicated and accountable ? Those are profit not revenue, and having such big profit consider that it is not fully privatised but gov’related is unhealthy. We know that we having a bad dose of gov’s own mismanagement recently (EDB, ShinCorp etc,) that gov has successfully erased us from these by focusing on other distraction ?