I used to pay conservancy fees for my apartments using GIRO. For some reason, the GIRO stopped. I received a reminder letter including interest charges. I had to make payment to the management company in the old fashion way - write a check and send it by mail. There was no convenient way to make an online payment.
My friend told me that when he first entered USA in 15 years ago, 99% of people make payment by check. Today, Americans hardly make payment by check, as there are many convenient ways to make payment online.
My friend in China told me that he does not use the check at all, as there are many other convenient and low cost ways to make payment.
Singapore used to be far ahead in the use of technology, but today, we are way behind many countries. We are outdated and expensive. When businesses and banks have to incur the heavy cost of administration, they have to add the cost to consumers. This is why cost of living and of doing business in Singapore is now very high.
Who is responsible for this sad state of affairs in Singapore? Should the blame go to IDA (who is responsible to encourage the use of information technology) or the MAS (who supervises the banks) or the Ministry of Law (who writes the law to enable change to happen)? In Singapore, we have the culture of pointing fingers around from one agency or another - so many changes cannot happen.
There is only one party that is responsible for all of these agencies - the Singapore Government. I hope that our leaders in the cabinet will be aware that changes have to be done.
