Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Survey: The Stingy Nanny

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Survey: The Stingy Nanny

Here are the results of the survey, based on 35 respondents.

The majority agree with 4 motherhood statements. However, for the statements that show tangible results, the majoirty disagree. The lowest level of agreement is for the statement that the poor in Singapore can live in dignity.

Here are the comments from the respondents.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: MR TAN
You are a genius. They way you present the survey results lead me to see how logic leap is achieved.

It starts from from "simple agreeable statements" (eg Singapore economy grew) and lead people to jump to "something that may not the real conclusion" (eg HDB and education is well subsidized).

Cashew Nut; February 25, 2010 8:00 PM
Tan Kin Lian said...: Hi
I only sorted the survey results in descending order of agreement. I put the statements with the highest agreement at the top. So the results are the "wisdom of the crowds", ie the people who responded to the survey.; February 25, 2010 9:02 PM
Anonymous said...: It's just a suspicion. But I think most of our civil servants in the Administrative Service have a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) rather than the more appropriate Masters in Public Administration (MPA).

And that's why Singapore is run like a business (with employees) and not as a country (with citizens).

Below is a description of the Masters in Public Administration qualification
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Public_Administration

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree is a professional graduate degree in Public Administration. The MPA program prepares individuals to serve as managers in the executive arm of local, state/provincial, and federal/national government, and increasingly in nongovernmental organization (NGO) and nonprofit sectors;; February 25, 2010 9:37 PM
Realist said...: Singapore IS a business!

Your Job and mine are totally dependent on business that is brought in by the Gov.

We do not have minerals or scenery to attract $$. absolutely ZERO.

I dare to say we also lack the brains too. If we did, they have all gotten old and lack the "fire".

Let us not fool ourselves.; February 26, 2010 12:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Our family has a poor regard of civil servants in Singapore, so much so that my children refuse to
work for the Govt, and the Govt affiliated GLCs, where the staff are only paper warriors, and when
you put them out in the wide open
world, they fail. That is why Suzhou Park and Chartered Industries fail to live up to
expectations. These Govt entities
are known here to be overly stingy,
but reward themselves very well
based on keeping costs down, and not based on value generated or
contributed towards the bottom line. And they call it GDP growth.
No wonder my children look down on
these jobs, as they offer no
challebge, they want to join the
private sector wher e there are innovations and new knowledge to
propel their careers, make a pile
of money and leave Singapore to
further pursue their goals. they do
not want to stagnant in the service
service or the GLCs.; February 26, 2010 1:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Interesting indication of "public wisdom".

"Singapore has achieved high growth, low unemployment, high savings and the highest home-ownership rates in the world." - 36% agree

While it is fair to disagree with opinions and arguments (which the other assertions are indeed), what can we surmise from the high level of disagreement with facts which can be independently verified and backed up? (I'm assuming that "high" and "low" are relative indicators with the baseline being the international average); February 26, 2010 9:33 PM
Anonymous said...: To ANON:12.46pm
"Singapore IS a business!"

So if Singapore is a business, then those of us who voluntarily stand up for Singapore (for free) are fools.

In the same way that working for free in the private sector is foolish.

And volunteering in "voluntary welfare organizations" is also foolish.

Instead, we should seek for ourselves, the highest salaries possible. This would be rational if indeed Singapore were a business.

Is this your point?; February 26, 2010 9:45 PM
Anonymous said...: No hinterland? but we got "Petra Branca" in South China Sea - full of Fishes!!!We got Sentosa - Resort World Casino & Sands Casino - all money spinners!

We got GST,COE,ERP,IRAS and Singapore Pools at every nook and corner & to top it all- KRANJI TURF CLUB ........yet we have to be responsible in our own life cycle.; February 26, 2010 11:07 PM