Simulated 13% swing from PAP

I predict the swing against PAP to be 13% (allowing for several factors) plus another 10% for TCB party.

The PAP will lose 30 seats and their two thirds majority in Parliament.

See the result here:
https://tklcloud.com/Democracy/show_sim.aspx?id=732

The key factors that will cause a swing at the next general election are shown here:
https://tklcloud.com/Democracy/swing.aspx

You can submit your vote here and win 5 points:
https://tklcloud.com/democracy/vote_swing.aspx

You will also be helping to improve the accuracy of the scores in this page

Non PAP politician with a black mark

If you look at the history of any non PAP politician, you are sure to find some black mark. Should you allow this black mark to affect your decision to support this politician? Read my view here:
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1052

Remember to vote (agree, disagree) to my view.

Improve the grants scene in Singapore

The two cheating cases - a senior executive duping Spring Singapore and the SkillsFuture scam - sum up the dismal state of the grants landscape in Singapore (8 more charged in $40 million SkillsFuture fraud case, Jan 12; and Spring S'pore exec admits to duping agency of $155,000, Feb 1).

In rolling out a series of programmes and grants designed to help Singaporeans upskill and local businesses strengthen their capabilities, the Government has unfortunately bred grant officers who have never worked in the industry and therefore lack experience in evaluating whether there is true value-add as a result of the grant money spent.

This had also led to entrepreneurs whose key business strategy is to leverage government grants. For many of them, the outcomes do not need to be sustainable as the funding takes care of the costs.

As a result, despite the millions of dollars in grant money being dispensed over the years, our country's productivity and innovation needles have barely shifted, and Singapore companies continue to struggle internationally.

I propose the following:

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1063

WOTC - GST vouchers

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

Is it fair for overseas Singaporeans to receive GST vouchers?

Here are the responses: (54 Votes)

35 % - The concept of giving GST vouchers to low income people is flawed and is implemented unfairly.

33 % - We should not give them the vouchers if they stay outside Singapore for more than half the year.

20 % - It is all right if they keep a Singapore address. We do not know how often they stay in Singapore.

11 % - On the whole, the GST vouchers helped the low income people.

See the pie chart at:

http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1155

WOTC - How to make bike sharing viable

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

How can we make bike sharing viable?

Here are the responses: (58 Votes)

34 % - Let all the operations close down; we do not need bike sharing.
29 % - Make it a part of the public transport infrastructure and charge a modest fee of $0.20 per ride.
19 % - Leave it to the market to sort it out.
17 % - Allow the free use of the shared bikes but impose rules about their parking.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1154

Fines imposed by govt agencies

Several govt agencies are given the power to impose large fines. Are they using the powers appropriately? Will there be conflict of interest? Should the fines be determined by an independent body?

Here are my views.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1064

Fine imposed by IMDA on Sing Post

IMDA has imposed a fine of $100,000 for failing to meet the service standards. Read here.

I wish to raise the following questions:
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1064

Telling someone what he should or should not do

I posted this view - we should not tell people what they should or should not do. They know.

Someone pointed out that I have been doing this all the time, telling people what they should do or should not do.

He does not see the difference between a general statement which is not directed to any specific person and a specific statement addressed to a specific person telling him (or her) what he should or should not do.

I find this kind of "personal advice" to be rude when it is made in a public and presented in a negative way.

I hope that these people realize that they have been rude and avoid making this kind of mistake.

If I think that a friend is doing something that is harmful to his (or her) own interest, I would tell him in private. And my intention is to make him aware of the impact that he may not be aware of.

I do not make it public and appear to be "clever".

Tan Kin Lian

Is Grab profitable?

As I walked past the Grab operational office in Midview City this morning, a thought crossed my mind.

Is Grab operating profitably now? If not, are they still burning their investor's money?

Will they be profitable? When will it happen?

I do not like to see Grab becoming like Ofo or Obike. These bike sharing operations have to close down due to lack of profitability.

Provide shared bikes as a public service

I do not need to use a bike. I can walk to my bus stop to go to office and back.

But I still hold the view that we should provide shared bikes and make it viable.

Other people may need it.

I do not hold a view only from my perspective. I also look at what is needed by other people.

I hope that people can look beyond their self interest and look at the common interest.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1056

Make bike sharing viable

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

How can we make bike sharing viable?

Here are the responses: (57 Votes)

33 % - Let all the operations close down; we do not need bike sharing.
30 % - Make it a part of the public transport infrastructure and charge a modest fee of $0.20 per ride.
19 % - Leave it to the market to sort it out.
18 % - Allow the free use of the shared bikes but impose rules about their parking.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1154

WOTC - Use NSF as instructors

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

Should we use NSF as instructors?

Here are the responses: (62 Votes)

69 % - It is better to have experienced soldiers to be instructors. 
26 % - They lack operation experience and experience in handling people.
3 % - They will bond with the soldiers better, as they are in the same age group.
2 % - It reduces cost in training the recruits.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1152

Be big minded towards alternative politicians

I said - A big minded person looks for strength, common interest and agreement. A small minded person looks for the opposite.

Someone pointed out that a small minded person nit-pick for the purpose of tearing apart points that are sound, so as to uphold their own beliefs.

I agree with this observation.

We need to have big minded people to make the changes that are needed to improve our lives.

The current govt prefers to keep their policies as they benefit themselves and the people that they consider to be important to them.

But they are neglecting the interests of the ordinary people who find the cost of living to be too high, wages to be inadequate and jobs are not secure.

To make the changes that are necessary, they are some people who are willing to step forward and provide an alternative set of policies to the PAP.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1052

Vote and win points to redeem prizes

This page shows you the prizes that you can win by voting in the Wisdom of the Crowd. There are three ways of winning the points. They are shown in the links in this webpage.

Apart from voting on the issues, you can vote on the performance and the swing against the PAP at the next general election.

https://wisdomofthecrowd.sg/show_prize.aspx

My participation in presidential election 2011

I took part in the presidential election in 2011. I did poorly and obtained less than 5% of the vote. I forfeited my deposit.

After 7 years, I am still being attacked for my participation in the election. The attack came from two groups of people:

a) The first group are probably members of the Internet Brigade. They are paid to attack me and damage my credibility.

b) The second group are probably supporters of Dr. Tan Cheng Bock who blamed me for causing him to lose the election to Dr. Tony Tan by a small margin.

I wish to give this perspective to people who are not aware about my participation in the election.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1055

Malaysia has the best health care system in the world

A friend shared this article which states that Malaysia has the best health care system in the world. He made the comment - we may not believe totally in the ranking in this article, but Malaysia must be doing something right, for them to receive this ranking. Click here.

I agree with his view.

Singapore may have a better health care system in the top quality of the hospital, medical specialists and the use of technology, but it is far too expensive.

We need to have a health care system that is of good quality but it has to be affordable to the ordinary people. In this respect, Malaysia fares better and deserves the higher ranking.

Do you agree?
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1054

A mistake to switch back to CPF Life

At age 55, a consumer bought a life annuity from a private insurance company using money from the CPF special account.

At age 65, he surrendered the life annuity and reinvested the money in CPF Life, as he thought that the payout would be better.

He obtained interest of about $2,000 for the money kept with the private insurance company for 10 years.

He learned later that the annuity payout from CPF Life was lower than the sum that he would have received under the original life annuity from the private insurer. He blamed the CPF for the low payout. He regretted making the switch.

http://www.fisca.sg/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ID=628

WOTC - full time national service

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

Should full time national service be maintained at two years?

Here are the responses: (74 Votes)

54 % - We should reduce the full time training to one year or shorter.
31 % - Training of recruits should be done by regular soldiers who are older and more professional
9 % - We need this duration to train NCOs and officers and get them to train new recruits.
5 % - We need to have more full time NS men to beef up our army.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1150

Support change along both routes

Many citizens born between 1945 to 1965 supported the PAP under the first generation leadership but are disappointed with the current government under PM Lee.

The found the current leaders to be:

a) incompetent
b) self serving
c) arrogant.

These disappointed citizens come under two groups, when it comes to supporting the alternative parties:

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1053

Approaching 100th birthday

I visited my 1st uncle who is now 98 years old. He is the eldest brother of my mother who passed away 4 years ago.

My uncle is still lucid and quite healthy. However, he moves around in a wheel chair.

He spends most of his time playing Free Cell on this computer. He insists on playing the easy level, so it does not add to his stress.

He now wishes to watch soccer games.

I found that his computer has Internet but no speaker. I will be passing a spare bluetooth speaker to him.

I will create a folder on his browser and copy the links to 30 soccer matches on Youtube to this folder. These are full match videos of the European and international soccer matches.

It will keep him occupied 2 hours a day for the next 30 days. If he forgets the matches, and that is likely to happen, he can watch the same matches again, and that will occupy him another 30 days.

In 2 years time, he will celebrate his 100th birthday.

Be big minded towards alternative politicians

I said - A big minded person looks for strength, common interest and agreement. A small minded person looks for the opposite.

Someone pointed out that a small minded person nit-pick for the purpose of tearing apart points that are sound, so as to uphold their own beliefs.

I agree with this observation.

We need to have big minded people to make the changes that are needed to improve our lives.

Read the rest of my views here and vote (agree, disagree)
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1052

Why cashless payment is better

In Singapore, consumers are used to make small payments with cash. They withdraw cash from ATM machines and use the cash to pay to merchants.

They do not incur any fee to withdraw the cash from ATM machine or to pay the cash to the merchant. When the merchants deposit the cash into their bank account, there is also no charge.

Most consumers and merchants overlook the fact that the bank has to incur cost to provide cash through the ATM machines and to count the cash that is deposited into the account.

Similarly, the merchant has to spend time to collect cash, count the cash, count the change, and to deposit the cash into the bank. The time spent on counting the cash could be used more productively for the business. If the merchant employs a worker to do the work, the time spent by the worker is a cost to the merchant.

Let us see what is the improvement in productivity when an e-wallet is used, instead of cash.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1051

Missing O-Level papers

I refer to the news that 32 answer scripts for the GCE O-Level Additional Mathematics Paper 2 are lost because the examiner marking them had his bag mistakenly taken by someone on a train in England.

I’m dismayed that action has not been taken quickly by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate — otherwise known as Cambridge Assessment — to address such situations, especially since A-Level Chemistry scripts already went missing the year before.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1050

Everyone loses if trust in Govt is lost

Just too many things have been going wrong lately - the Singapore Armed Forces, Health Ministry and Singapore Post incidents.

We appear to be in denial that the problem - across the board - is systemic. Individual Committees of Inquiry (COIs) can only go so far. There's an urgent need for a whole-of-government response.

The first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge it.It is not unreasonable for public servants - including political leaders - to provide an explanation when things go wrong. The aim, however, should not be to protect the organisation or its leaders even when there has been wrongdoing.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1049

WOTC - Abuses of process

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

Are there many instances of abuses of process in Singapore?

Here are the responses: (70 Votes)

50 % - The abuse of process is quite common as the power is concentrated within just a few people.

26 % - This occurs quite often. The law is interpreted unfairly to favor the govt.

24 % - It is difficult for the law to be applied fairly when the Attorney General report to the prime minister.

0 % - This occurs rarely. The govt follows the law diligently.

See the pie chart at:

http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1149

WOTC - PM defamation suit against Leong Sze Hian

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

How should PM Lee deal with the defamation suit against Leong Sze Hian?

Here are the responses: (80 Votes)

66 % - Withdraw his suit.
23 % - Let his original suit and the counter suit be heard.
6 % - Continue with the suit, as it has already started.
5 % - Apply to strike out the counter suit by Leong Sze Hian for abuse of court process.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1148

Adopt the Swiss model of defense

We should adopt the Swiss model of conscription. They produce an effective defense force at a lower budget, and take less time of their citizens. They also offer more choices to make the best use of the capabilities of the citizens.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1043

The Singapore model of national service is outmoded, costly and rigid and imposes a heavy burden on the male citizens.

Leaders should be responsible and accountable

We need our corporate and government leaders to be more responsible and accountable.

They have to come forward when big mistakes occur and tell the public transparently and honestly the cause of the mistakes and what actions will be taken to address them.

What are some of these mistakes? Here are some big mistakes that occurred in recent years:

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1047

WOTC - Dr. Chee Soon Juan

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

What are your views of Dr. Chee Soon Juan

Here are the responses: (78 Votes)

60 % - He has many good ideas and can contribute in Parliament or in government.
29 % - He has sacrificed a lot and deserve to be elected into Parliament.
8 % - He should step aside and allow other leaders to lead the Singapore Democratic Party. 
3 % - He has a bad reputation and should quit politics. 

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1147

WOTC - Compensate consumers for power outage

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

Should the electricity supplier compensate consumers for power outage?

Here are the responses: (72 Votes)

75 % - It should be a fair compensation related to the duration of the outage and the average consumption.
11 % - The regulator should impose a fine on the supplier and keep the money for the common good.
8 % - There is no need to compensate the consumer. This is part of the normal risk
6 % - The compensation should be based on the wages of workers that are idle or the actual loss, e.g. food wasted in refrigerator.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1146

CPF contribution rate for older workers

The CPF contribution rate for workers 55 years and below is 37%. The worker contribute 20% and the employer 17%.

For older workers, the contribution rate dropped to 26% (between 55 to 60), 16.5% (between 60 to 65) and 12.5% (above 65%). The reduction applies to employers and workers.

This table shows the current contribution rates.

The govt has now formed a committee to review the contribution rate. The goal is to increase the contribution rate so that the older workers have adequate savings for retirement.

Should the contribution rate for the older workers be the same as for the younger workers?

I give my views here:
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1046

Birth rate

Here are the birth rates in 2016, measured by number of children per woman.

Israel 3.11
India 2.36
Indonesia 2.33
Malaysia 2.04

France 1.96
UK 1.80
America 1.80
Finnland 1.65
China 1.62
Switzerland 1.54
Germany 1.50
Japan 1.44

Singapore 1.20
Hong Kong 1.20
South Korea 1.17
Taiwan 0.9

Youtube channel - Singaporean Voices

The Youtube channel - Singapore Voices has more than 6,200 subscribers. That is very good.

My speech at the Hong Lim park on Abuse of Court Process attracted 13,000 views in 6 days. it is lower than the speech by Leong Sze Hian (17,000 views) but higher than Lim Tean's speech (10,000 views).

I am surprised, because Lim Tean usually attracts many more views that other speakers. This time, he gets less views.

But his speech is excellent. You should watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCObd2RNTutpUnn67ZPV6TVQ

Vote and win

You can now choose the prize that you want after earning 10 points.

Here is a list of more than 20 prizes.

If you continue to participate in the Wisdom website, you can win all of these prizes after some time.

The page contains the links for you to win the points by participating in three kinds of voting.
https://wisdomofthecrowd.sg/show_prize.aspx

Follow the Swiss model of conscription

In a recent survey (more like a straw poll), about 30% of respondents opted to abolish national service and replace it with a full time professional army in Singapore. 15% prefer to continue with the current system while 45% prefer to reduce the duration of full time and reservist national service.

I suggest that we can reduce the duration of national service by following the Swiss model. This is described here.

Here are the advantages of the Swiss system
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1043

Please vote (agree, disagree) on this suggestion.

Conscription in Switzerland

Switzerland depends on a large force of conscripted soldiers, like Singapore. How does Switzerland handle its conscription?

I obtained this information from Wikipedia. Click here.

I find the Swiss system to be a good model for Singapore to follow. It produces a strong defense capability made up of conscripts but does not impose a heavy burden on the conscripts. It is a more effective use of their human resources.

Here is a description of the system used in Switzerland.
https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=1041

WOTC - Stay united

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

How can the govt get citizens to stay united in facing future challenges?

Here are the responses: (68 Votes)

54 % - The govt should get rid of the GRC and politically oriented town councils and allow the voters to choose the best person to be their MP.
34 % - The govt should be honest and transparent.
10 % - The govt should listen more to the people.
1 % - The people should trust the govt and not be skeptical.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1145

WOTC - National Service

I asked this question in the Wisdom of the Crowd:

How should we change our approach towards National Service?

Here are the responses: (67 Votes)

45 % - Reduce NS to 1 year full time, 3 year reservists.
30 % - Abolish NS and move to a full time professional army.
15 % - Keep NS as it is - 2 years full time, 10 years reservist.
10 % - Make it compulsory for PRs and females to join NS.

See the pie chart at: 
http://www.wisdomofthecrowd.sg/chart.aspx?ID=1144