Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Lucky to be in Singapore

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Lucky to be in Singapore

COMMENT POSTED IN MY BLOG.

I agree that packed trains has a few inconveniences. But I would like to highlight that compared with other countries, we are much much better. Have you tried rush hour in Japan, China, New York or Hong Kong? Too bad for women and people sensitive to body odours because this is the lifestyle of the urban city - the people who complained may be too spoilt and expected everything to be perfect.

One reader mentioned about food. I think it's not too bad - just get the food court/stall uncle/aunty to add more rice for you - you usually get it free or add $0.30 more.

Again, compared this with other countries which has been hit by bad weather or poor economy - please know that they have no food to eat.

Before complaining about Singapore traffic system or inflation, look at the bright side, we are much better off than many countries in the world.

1. It is logical that it costs more to fill up petrol tank. It is a worldwide phenomenon due to rise in old price - supply and due and rising of need for oil in developing countries.

2. It is logical to expect ERP increase as this is due to too many people wanting to use the same stretch of road at peak hours. There are other roads that you can take with using the roads with ERP gantry - the time is longer but you avoid the ERP. I always try to leave home before 7 am and leave work after 10pm to avoid ERP.

3. It is logical parking charges are expensive because lack of parking lot and therefore due to supply and demand, the price goes up. Park and ride system is a good idea too.

Think another way: using our roads cost more means progress for the nation. Who wants to go back to old days of uneven kampung roads with potholes, longkang and no traffic lights?

This progress is the result of years of good governance and the support that the people gave to the efficient and forward-looking government.

The fact that you can see and write on this blog showed that you are better than the other 80% of the world where they don't even have easily assessable broadband, free speech and computers.

The next time you complain about modern conveniences that Singapore has, think Myammer, Thailand, Africa, Nepal, Timbuktu and you will realise how lucky and wonderful we are in this blessed country.

8 comments:

dsowerg said...: It's a matter of perspective, of course. If we aspire to achieve the standards of countries like Myanmar and Thailand, then we're way ahead. But we don't. We aspire to achieve "World Class Transport" (Government White Paper 1996). I would like to suggest the reader use this as a starting point.

I do think that if we stick to public transport, Singapore's transport cost is pretty affordable. Comparing Singapore's and Hong Kong's underground train systems, Singapore's is actually more affordable. However, there are many aspects of Hong Kong's public transport that's superior to Singapore's:

a) real competition in public bus service; instead of the pseudo-competitive, protectionistic "competition" model we have in Singapore (carving out areas for the two bus companies and not allowing private operators to freely offer competing services);

b) the "privatise for efficiency" model ends up disadvantaging the consumers. Government now has an excuse not to subsidise transport and the transport companies rationalise their services based on efficiency rather than convenience for commuters. The toothless PTC (with its rather lax standards) serves as a rubber-stamping agency for fare increases rather than a consumer advocate.

If we want to privatise public transport, then let's go the whole way instead of doing it the half-baked way we have in Singapore. Stop trying to protect SBS and SMRT's market shares! Stop using the excuse of duplication of service and poor quality to hinder the entry of private bus operators. Let the market decide.; November 18, 2007 1:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Yes absolutely agree with you. In the Canadian city where I studied the average bus interval from campus to town was 45 minutes. Here it varies from 10 to 15 minutes. In Tokyo they employ graduates to push people into the train. Here at peak hour you can catch the next train in 5 minutes.; November 18, 2007 1:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Well if you look from this angle i agree that we are very lucky; November 18, 2007 5:02 PM
Anonymous said...: If this is the attitude, nobody is unlucky. Because you can always find someone worse than you. Just to console and reason off the problem. No need for action or improvement. Maybe the government should use this method whenever things are bad, by saying other places/people are even worse so you are lucky. Ha Ha!; November 19, 2007 2:24 AM
Anonymous said...: Mr Tan, I definitely agree with what you said. Instead of complaining all the time, we should really count our blessings. People always complain about the government's policies because you look at things at a superficial level. If you compare Singapore's system with many of the developing and developed nations, you will find that we are one of the most efficient countries in terms of many areas, thanks to our pragmatic and forward looking government.

Hopefully, people will stop complaining and give thanks for the things they have done well.

Like you, I feel lucky to be in Singapore too.; November 19, 2007 7:30 AM
Tan Kin Lian said...: The views are expressed by someone else, who posted it in my blog. I only reproduced the views in the front page to give it a wider coverage.

My own views are more balanced. There are many aspects of life in Singapore that can be improved.

Take a look at the mess in our taxi system.; November 19, 2007 10:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Being someone who has lived in Tokyo and Hong Kong, I totally disagree that S'pore has a better public transport system.

Tokyo's and HK's train systems are a lot more frequent and more timely than S'pore's. Don't forget that S'pore is a tiny island state whereas Tokyo and HK are much larger and their train networks are more complicated. Even with such a complex train network, both Tokyo and HK have train services that far surpass ours.; November 19, 2007 11:09 PM
Anonymous said...: I think one fair way to compare is to compare Singapore now and in the past. Are we better off now than before independence? Our men were chauffeurs to Ang Mohs and our women amahs to the British. Now we have managers driving "foreign talents" from India and China and other third world countries and our ladies are cleaners to these same foreigners. And the number is increasing, we are aiming for another 2.5 million of them, from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, maybe even Myanmar?
Are we that lucky?; November 20, 2007 1:41 AM