Public support for the military

RE: Earrings not allowed for soldiers in uniform

I am enjoying every bit of my United States experience and I bet that I will continue to learn and enjoy. Just like being a Soldier in Singapore, there is a continual need to manage the public impression of Army and taking good care of the soldiers. After all, they are main the structure that supports the military mission; the need for defence and deterrence.

I was having my daily news diet and find that SAF is in the news again. This time, a STOMPER, caught a soldier traveling in public transportation wearing earrings that makes him looks “girly” in uniform. The important impression is that a Soldier must look “gungho” and there must not be any suggestion of “weaklings” in our Army, as suggest by the news clipping. I feel that the more important aspect of this is much more than the impression that we portray as Soldiers; discipline. It has been mandated since the formation of SAF that earrings, bearing long beards (unless for religious reasons), smartness of uniform in public, or for so long it does portray an unprofessional Army, it will not be tolerated. So the rationale of this image upkeep is explained.

My experience in US has brought a new lesson and an important one; public support. It is just simply amazing on how much the public appreciate the military. To them, military is the reason for the freedom they enjoy. There is once an elderly man I took the lift with, turned around and asked me, “Are you from the military?” I replied, “Yes, I am”. The next response then brightened my day, “Thank you for protecting the country”. Wow, I felt great purpose and pride in me for that split moment. Every other big store I visit, including key tourist spots like winter sports area, Vail, Colorado, there are military discounts to appreciate the presence of military that protect their freedom. How amazing is that? This naturally gives the Soldiers the pride and morale push to continue to do well in the military.

In contrast, Singapore has not reached a stage that public recognise military is playing a huge part in freedom that the country enjoys; Who can blame them anyway for we have not come in serious military conflicts nor military threats from others. There might be something that maybe related to; upbringing. Structure drives behaviours, the public education system has also perhaps played a big role in our society expectations. Parents are protective over their child in school; scrutinising the teachers’ behaviour, teaching methods and treatment, just to list a few. Our younger generation thus grew up a more self-centered environment; and these male citizens will serve the nation and the military eventually. This leads to this complicated matrix of public expectations with the same upbringing surroundings that our soldiers grew up in; expectations of their own. I personally do not see that the public will change their expectations toward the military in the near future but one thing I am sure; while there is a change in demographics in the Soldiers we enlist, there is no change in the purpose of our existence, the quality of training that we put in and the readiness for armed conflicts.

Stop the whining about MND

RE: Blinkymummy – The Problem with Urban Redevelopment & Consultation

Graphic courtesy of URA Singapore

I was reading the news and blinkymummy’s blog on the ever noisy property related news.  It was the expectations of property prices and so on, now it is the complain about the need for consultation for any shift in URA’s plan.  I share the Blinkymmumy’s beliefs that "high handed" approach has brought us to where we are today. Politics elsewhere has evidently shows that being too populist to gain votes will slow the nation's progression. There will be too many opinions to consider; afterall how many out there is seriously interested to say "yes, this policy is good for the nation though it will hurt me very much". There might be a handful, I hope. I have grew up in the south-eastern district but was relocated to north-eastern district in the late 1990s when the government chose to redevelop the land that I grew up on; I have live happily since. There are always pros and cons to every single policy out there, more importantly, pros must outweigh the cons.. It is the same for simple decisions made everyday.

Since the internet fever from the General Elections in May, people jump at the slightest voice that the ruling party makes. Not that I am pro-government in every aspect, there is a need to rationalise. The expressway is not something new, but of course, it will be painful to those who had spent half of their life there. Since every other motorists who stay in the north are complaining about the heavy traffic during peak hours along CTE. Something and someone has to give way, right? So if the complain does not from the residents in the south, it will be the residents from the north.

I stress again that I am not pro-government is every aspect but there are situations that we need to take a step back to consider the next step ourselves and not rely on the "parents" to think for us, and when is not what we feel like, we shout.  It’s high time that we stop whining and make plans to move forward.

Property Expectations

RE: No good reason to shrink new HDB flats

RE: Making Good Progress with First-timers

RE: Rochor residents unhappy at lack of dialogue over move

RE: Government Gives Go-Ahead for Alignment of Northern Segment of North-South Expressway (NSE)

Image from propertyguru.com.sg

Property, property and more property news.  The sudden steep appreciation of public housing prices in recent years and private housing seeing an average 2 bedrooms shooting through the 1 mil mark, has taken a toil on Singaporeans.  Not only has it hogged the headlines for months, it has also took center stage in the recent May general elections.

With the change in leadership in Ministry of National Development (MND) after the elections, numerous measures ranging from increased public housing (HDB flats) released in a single tranche to measured pricing of new flats have been implemented.  All these measures are aimed to cool the property market and provide affordable housing for our people, especially young couples.  Patience is perhaps, a distant language for most of our people.  While the ministry with new leadership is trying their best, people do not understand that these measures will take a while before we can see the impact on the property market.  Afterall, we do not build new flats overnight.

Expectations of our people and expectations is a function of measurable reality.  Our government has done a tremendous job trying to keep the nation strong despite its size and almost absolute zero natural resources to depend on.  But did the government try her best to make housing affordable for all? I did some research to give myself some reality checks.

1.  Home Ownership rate.  Singapore has come a long way to ensure that most of our people own a property, an asset. We have been achieving high home ownership rate with a steady increase from 58.8% in the 1980s to 87.2% in 2010 (extracted from Singstats).  Let us compare a city on our side of the globe. Hong Kong, with current population of about 7.1 mil, has raised the home ownership rate from 35% in the 1980s to 69.5% in middle of 2011(public and private).  These statistics can easily mean that we have more people in our country owning an asset compared to our comparable neighbour.  Take it to the economic powerhouse, US has about 66.3% (3rd quarter, 2011) of its people owning a home.  This is some statistics to show where we are.

2.  Shrinking size of HDB flats.  I do not think anyone can contest the fact that big countries has bigger apartment on average.  Though it has been repeated on numerous occasion, let me say again, Singapore is a small island and land is scare.  Having smaller flat would also means more affordable housing for our people, but will it sacrifice the quality of life as mentioned by Paul Chan (RE: No good reason to shrink new HDB flats)?  My opinion is, quality of life is a function of how people make it out to be.  Allow me to draw comparison Hong Kong, though it is larger, their populous area are comparable to us.  Even so, Hong Kong has only 8.9% of its public housing with floor area of 60 sqm or more (Hong Kong Housing Authorities) and we have 56.6% of 4 rooms or bigger HDB flats (HDB). Even some of our 3 rooms flats are bigger than 60 sqm.  Have they lost the quality of life?

3.  Prices index.  Are we a victim of our own success?  The natural result of strong economic growth is increased population for commercial interactions.  The increased population increases the demand for housing has inevitably shot the prices up.  In a similar economic standing and geography, Hong Kong domestic index has grew about 100% since 2005 (Private Domestic - Price Indices by Class (Territory-wide) (from 1979)) while HDB has gains about 80% in the same period (HDB Resale Prices).  It is a global challenge and China may be next to see the bubble bursting.

These are reality checks for property and I appreciate that MND is working something for everyone, notably for the young families. While we are going through a period a tension over the accelerated property price increment, we must remember that Singapore does not live off property industry alone but a complicated combination of various factors in global economy.