Crystal ball gives a warning

My crystal ball (CB) whispered to me - Boss, better sell away all your shares.

TKL - Why?

CB - Second wave of corona. Big.

TKL - Where? America or Singapore?

CB - Both

TKL - But we already spent $95 billion on our circuit breaker.

CB - Sorry to say, boss. The money is wasted. It does not solve the underlying problem. So, you expect a big second wave.

TKL - But LHL already called GE2020

CB - Yeah. The PAP will report low numbers by doing fewer testing. But after GE, it will be a different story.

TKL - Another circuit breaker? Another $95 billion?

CB - Boss, you stupid or what? After GE, you think the PAP will be so generous? I think they will raise GST to 9%, or higher, quite soon.

TKL - Alamak. This is serious! What about America? Another $3 trillion?

CB - Boss, they got no more money.

TKL - After the unemployment benefit run out in July, and another lockdown, there will be trouble.

CB - Boss, you can expect riots and looting again. More serious than George Floyd riots.

TKL - Wah, really serious.

CB - Yeah. That's why I tell you to sell all your shares!

Hello, you think the CB is a scare monger or not?

Many manpower ministers - no solution

Many ministers were appointed to be in charge of the manpower ministry over the past four decades - Lee Boon Yang, Ng Eng Hen, Gan Kim Yong, Lim Swee Say, Tan Chuan Jin and Josephine Teo. They were not able to solve the problem of finding jobs for our local professionals, managers, executives and technical (PMETs). They do not understand the root of the problem. They continued to applied the same approach - which failed for the past decades. As our cost of doing business continued to escalate over the years, many manufacturing and service businesses went offshore. Those that remain needed to have low cost labor to continue their operations. The PMETs bore the brunt of this structural change. They lost their jobs and had to take low paying jobs to continue their livelihoods. They became taxi drivers and "business and marketing consultants". They engaged in new business ventures. Many of the new ventures did not succeed. The displaced PMETs accepted their fate. They were fortunate to be cushioned off by the rising values of their HDB flats and private properties. They were able to cope financially, in spite of a drastic drop in income. The financial cushion will not be available for the next generation of PMETs and also the new graduates who will find it difficult to get low paying jobs. All this while, the structural problems were not solved by the many changes in manpower ministers. Maybe, the government was blinded by the revenue of $4 billion to $5 billion a year that is collected on foreign worker levies. It was a good source of income. Sadly, pay-back time had arrived. The spread of covid infections in the foreign worker dormitories caused the government to call for a circuit breaker to deal with the problem. A total of $95 billion was spent during three months to deal with this problem. It probably took away 20 years of the foreign worker levies. The revenue that was earned from the foreign worker strategy was totally spent. We are still left with the problem of displaced PMETs and growing numbers of new graduates who cannot get enough jobs. The future is bleak for the local workers. https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3190

Managing the foreign workforce

The ministry of manpower has to manage the local and foreign workforce to meet the goals of ensuring that locals have jobs and that the business has access to the foreign workforce to meet their needs (where the locals are not available). They tried different methods in the past years and have not found a good solution. They tried the "Fair employment Framework" which requires the employer to look for locals first, before asking for approval from MOM to employ foreign workers. They created two portals for the employers to look for locals. Both portals do not appear to provide the solution. I like to suggest a new approach to achieve these two goals. a) MOM should provide in its portal, the types of job, the required qualifications and the minimum salary. b) Interested local and foreign workers can submit their interest in this portal. They have to provide evidence that they have the suitable qualifications. MOM should be satisfied that the qualifications are genuine. The workers can pay the employment agents to make the submission. c) The employer can view the available workers in the portal and invite them for an interview and hire the suitable workers. d) The employer has to pay a levy to recruit a foreign worker. This system can continue. It should be extended to cover employment pass holders as well. e) The govt can provide a wage subsidy to the employer to employ a local worker. It can be 20% to 30% of the wages for one year. This will cover the employer CPF contribution. The above measures will give the employers a financial incentive to employ local workers. There is still the risk that the foreign worker may be willing to accept a lower salary than specified or allow the employer to recoup the levy from the wages. This risk can be managed separately, if it is serious. However, this risk is not likely to be serious, as the employers have the financial incentive to employ locals. The new approach also reduces the incidence of false declaration on qualification and experience, as the checking will be done by MOM or its appointed agency. I hope that the above approach will make an impact and give better job opportunities for locals, and still allow access to a foreign workforce to supplement the local supply. https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback.aspx?id=3189​​​​​​​

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. What do you expect will be the result of GE2020?

2. What outcome do you prefer for GE2020?
3. Should the circuit breaker be continued in July?

Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

WOTC - Early general election

Wisdom of the Crowd: 61% of the respondents expected the people to call for a general election, but mostly for a selfish and bad reason.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=2005

WOTC - Should the circuit breaker be relaxed in June?

Wisdom of the Crowd: 55% of the respondents said that it was not safe to relax the circuit breaker completely in June.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=2004

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. Is it difficult to submit transactions with govt websites?
2. Are badly designed govt websites costly to the nation?
3. Your reaction to the news that Goh CT is retiring from politics.
4. Why does Khaw BW decide to retire from politics?

Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

WOTC - National security law in Hong Kong

Wisdom of the Crowd: 24% of the respondents said that the people will accept the national security law that is passed by China. The other 76% expect unhappiness, protest and violence over this new law.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=2002

WOTC - Increase in US employment in May

Wisdom of the Crowd: 95 of the respondents are skeptical of the increase in employment in America in May 2020.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=2003

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. Is it difficult to submit transactions with govt websites?
2. Are badly designed govt websites costly to the nation?

Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

Difficulty faced by public over a simple transaction

Dear Ms Huang

I share with you my recent experience in applying for a Letter of Consent to employ a Dependent Pass holder. 
Up to now, I am still unable to download the approval for the LOC.

Please read the several posts that I made giving my experience. 

Feedback 1

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3042 

Feedback 2

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3043

Feedback 3

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3044

Feedback 4

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3049 

Feedback 5

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3057

Up to today, I am still unable to retrieve the approval for the LOC.

I experienced similar problems with the MOM website many years ago. 

Subsequently, I did not make any application to MOM.

The problem that I encountered many years ago continued until today.

 I must state that I faced similar problems with the website of ACRA, SAF and IRAS.

The problem is caused by the "standard design" of the website - which is inconsiderate of the public.
It is made worse by the website being buggy and non-responsive quite often.

I hope that Smart Nation really look into this matter. The loss of productivity to the business sector over

the years must be horrendous.

I invite you again to call me at (number). I am happy to relate my experience and to cry in frustration of 

a public service that does not listen, and do not care. It applies to the ministers as well.

Bad design of govt agencies websites

The websites of many govt agencies are badly designed. They include MOM, ICA, IRAS and ACRA. It is troublesome to login to the website. After that, it is troublesome to search for the form that is required to be completed. The search is done through layers of links. These agencies provide a detailed FAQ on how to navigate the website. Reading the FAQ could take maybe half or one hour, and the public will still be confused. Searching for the outcome of a transaction can also be a hassle. The public has to provide NRIC/FIN or sometimes an application number that is not readily available. Why can't the website allow search by partial name? Even downloading a PDF reply can be a big hassle due to the need to use a specific outdated browser. In past years, the govt agency provides a well manned hotline to guide the public through a tedious and complicated process. This hotline is no longer available. To reach a person for help, it may take half an hour on the hotline. I suspect that the hotline has been overwhelmed by the large number of inquiries from the public. The underlying problem is the bad design of the websites. This problem has persisted over many years. I raised this feedback on several occasions with several agencies over a period of ten years. Nothing was done. The problem persisted till today. The bad websites must have resulted in a horrendous cost to the country in the time that the public and business has to spend on submitting transactions with the govt agencies.  It is not difficult to design a website that is easy to use and does not take so much trouble for the public. There are millions of websites that achieve this standard.  It is shocking that the websites of our govt agencies continue to be so painful to use. I will be happy to elaborate more on my terrible experience over the past years and to suggest areas for improvement. https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3174

Quora: Is the United States’ disastrous trade war with China the reason we don’t have Covid-19 test kits by the millions like most other countries seem to have?

Ridzwan Abdul Rahman replied

The shortage of test kits in the US has nothing to do with the trade war. In fact, despite the trade war and despite the US not helping China when China was fighting the virus, Jack Ma of Alibaba, China, has donated 500,000 test kits to the US.

The reason for the shortage is Trump’s insistence that US should develop its own test kit. CDC did develop the test kits but the first batch turned out to be faulty. Then, further production was delayed by a shortage of some reagents that need to be imported from Europe.

Another ridiculous website of a govt agency

I sent this email to ICA.

I logged into MyICA using SingPass to ask about how to collect my passport.
I gave my NRIC as requested.
I was asked to give the APPLICATION NUMBER.
Hello, how can I remember my application number?
Surely, the NRIC is sufficient?
How many passports can I person apply?
Your process is ridiculous.
Please be considerate to the public.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3168

WOTC - Trust in the government in Singapore

Wisdom of the Crowd: 33% of the respondents said that there is a high trust in the government in Singapore. 67% disagree.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=2001

WOTC - Ministerial task force handled the corona crisis poorly

Wisdom of the Crowd: 83% of the respondents said that the ministerial task force has handled the corona crisis poorly. 17% said they handled it well.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=2001

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. If you get a new flat, are you willing to engage a surveyor to check on defects?
2. Is the Safe Entry exercise useful?
3. Are you worried about corona infection due to the general election
4. Will Lee Hsien Yang make a big impact in the general election

Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

Make Safe Entry more efficient

The ministerial task force require all businesses to implement Safe Entry protocols.

These include workplaces with a small number of workers and retail outlets.

It involves a large use of manpower. In some cases, the existing workers can take time off to do the Safe Entry recording, but it still takes their time and involve some cost. 

Large retail outlets and supermarkets have to employ several part time workers to manage the queues, take temperatures and record the Safe Entry.

The public has to record Safe Entry several times in the course of the day. 

I suspect that the data can hardly be used. If this is the case, we are spending several tens of million dollars each month in manpower cost that do not produce any useful result.

If, indeed, the data collected is useful, we should at least streamline the work to reduce the cost to businesses and inconvenience to the public and still get data that are useful.

It is better for the Safe Entry recording to be coordinated centrally. The central body should decide on the locations that need the Safe Entry to be captured and arrange with the workplace or business outlet to do the work.

It may be feasible to replace some of the manual work by self service stations for the Safe Entry to be recorded by scanning the identification card.

This will reduce duplication of effort. The central body can monitor the cost and benefits of the entire effort. It should replace the current arrangement where a large part of the cost, which is incurred by the businesses, is not recognized.

I hope the ministerial task force will consider this suggestion.

Large increase in premium for Incomeshield Rider Plus

Dear Mr Tan

Please see attached table of premium rates from NTUC Income for its IncomeShield Rider Plus 2017, 2018, 2019.

I would like to draw your attention to the age group from 51-55.

The premium in 2017 was $608. In 2018,this went up to $956 (57% increase). For 2019,the premium increased to $1587(66%).

How is this justified?

I am reaching out to you on this matter to raise awareness to the public on the big increments that a normal working class citizen like me have been bearing quietly.

The insurance plan is not portable, unlike the telcos.

Would really appreciate if this email finds your attention.

REPLY BY TKL

The Rider Plus covers the co-payment under the IncomeShield integrated plan.

The premium is indeed very costly and has been increasing sharply in recent years.

It can be more costly that the integrated plan itself.

I have advised consumers to avoid buying the Rider Plus as the premium is high and the coverage is modest. It is better for you to pay the co-payment (which can come out of your Medisave account), rather than buy insurance to cover it.

The amount of co-payment in most cases should be quite affordable. There is no need to buy insurance to cover it.

NTUC Income must have seen large increase in claims under the Plus Rider cover in recent years. They have to increase the premium to match the claims.

As you have not made a claim, you are paying for the other policyholders who are hospitalized. The hospitals probably charge high fees and this has to be borne by every insured person.

Actually, the insurance plan is portable. You can downgrade to Medisheld Life regardless of your health condition.

If you wish to transfer to another private plan, you have to meet their underwriting requirements.

Is the Safe Entry measures giving good results?

I read a news report today about the covid cases, possibly quoting from a news release from the ministry of health. It mentioned the places where the infected patients had visited and asked members of the public who had visited these places to be alert about the possibility of being infected.  However, it assured the public not to worry, as it does not necessary mean that they had been infected. It further advised the public to see the doctor if they have some of the symptoms of covid, such as experience difficulty in breathing or fever.  I was quite confused about the message that the news report was trying to convey.  If there was no need for the public to panic, why mention the places that the infected patients had visited? If a patient had some of the symptoms mentioned, surely they would have visited the doctor, regardless of whether they had visited the infected places? The news report also mentioned that the close contacts, possibly identified by the Safe Entry records in the database, will be approached by the contact tracing ambassadors. But it did not mention how many people were identified from the database or the outcome of past tracing of these close contacts. I suspect that the Safe Entry recording is probably not producing useful data, in spite of the large cost of implementing this measure. It probably involve several thousand of ambassadors who man the stations to record the Safe Entry data. I estimate the cost of these ambassadors to be several tens of million dollars a month. Apart from the manpower cost, it is also adding  lot of inconvenience to the public who visits shops, malls and workplaces. I hope that the ministry of health will publish the results of the contact tracing efforts to justify the cost of carrying out the Safe Entry measures.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3162

Herd immunity at work?

The evidence seems to suggest that herd immunity can work. See this post.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3157

Stop the nonsensical instructions

Our insane ministers have been giving nonsensical instructions, such as  a) 2 people can visit their parent's home, but not more than 2 b) must wear a mask when you are out, but no need to wear mask for jogging or brisk walking Why are these nonsensical? What make them so smart that the risk of infection is high when more than 2 people gather? I have been walking 90 minutes a day in the hot sun. There are nobody around. Should I be required to wear a mask?  According to the nonsensical instructions, I have to wear a mask. They employ enforcers who go around to enforce the nonsensical instructions. Their followers go around social media declaring that people should exercise "social discipline" to follow the nonsensical instructions. What are more sensible decisions? In some countries, they give more sensible instructions: a)  Public gathering of more than 50 people are disallowed b)  Wear a mask when you are in a crowded place where many people are around. Do you think that our task force ministers and their followers are insane? https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3153

Irrational thinking

Someone expressed a view that covid-19 is dangerous because his friend has a family member who died from the disease.  This is irrational thinking. My father died from pneumonia. My mother died from cancer. Pneumonia and cancer are also dangerous diseases. We do not need to over-react to these diseases just because a family member died from it. https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3152

We are still at risk

Why are there so many people (don't want to call them idiots) who applaud the government for giving financial relief to help people to tide over the circuit breaker. After wasting $95 billion, we did not change the situation. We are still at risk of infection after the circuit breaker is relaxed. https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3151

$90 billion was wasted

 

Why are there so many people (don't want to tall them idiots) who applaud the government for giving financial relief to help people to tide over the circuit breaker.

How come they cannot see that it was unwise to call the circuit breaker in the first place, causing $25 billion to be spent unnecessary. It was insane to extend the circuit breaker and waste another $40 billion. The final wastefulness was another $30 billion to relax the circuit breaker in three phases.

All of these money (total of $95 billion) need not be spent if the circuit breaker was not called in the first place.

How come these people (I will not call them idiots) cannot see that there was no need for the insane ministers to panic and call the circuit breaker.

If there was no circuit breaker, we do not need to take out so many billions to "give financial help".

The money can be better spent by suspending GST for 8 years or giving every person above age 70 a monthly pension of $800 for their lifetime.

What happens if the insane ministers did not call the circuit breaker? I agree that there was the risk of spreading the infection at that time.  But the same risk exist today, when we relax the circuit breaker. We are no better off.

The $90 billion that was spent (actually wasted) did not change the situation.

Don't worry about the spread of infection. More people will be infected but few, actually very few, will die. How do I know?

Hello, open your eyes and see what has happened during the past three months. How many people died after 30,000 over were infected?

Don't tell me that the foreign workers are young and healthy. Many are not. They are obese and diabetic. But they did not die.

Some people want to argue with me. I ask them to use their brains and look at the facts. They should not argue with nonsensical logic or spout out the rubbish propaganda they were fed with.

Tan Kin Lian

 

Work from home

The pandemic has caused a change in the working life. During the lockdown (or circuit breaker), people have learned to work from home. Schools have implemented home based learning. The new mode of work and study will continue after the crisis is over, but on a reduced scale. Maybe half of the activities can be conducted from home. Perhaps the workers can work from home for two or three days a week. https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3150

WOTC - Preference to work from home

Wisdom of the Crowd: 56% of the respondents like to work from home 50% or more of the time. 44% like to work mostly in the office.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1999

WOTC - Productivity when working from home

Wisdom of the Crowd: 66% of the respondents said that the productivity will be lower when people work from home. 34% think it will be higher.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1999

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. How will voters react to the PAP's handling of the corona crisis?
2. Will life get back to normal after the circuit breaker?

Vote in
https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

WOTC - Should the govt continue financial help>

Wisdom of the Crowd: 45% of the respondents said that the govt should continue financial help during the next phase of the circuit breaker. 45% said that the businesses should be allowed to resume.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1996

WOTC - Where did the corona virus start?

Wisdom of the Crowd: 34% of the respondents said that there were many strains of the corona virus that spread in different countries. 25% said that it occurred in Wuhan, China. 25% said that it was brought to China from America. 16% said that it was produced in a bio lab.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1997

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. Who will take up the 100,000 new jobs that CCS wants to create?
2. What will happen after the second phase of relaxation of circuit breaker?

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https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

Helping the unemployed

Do you like this suggestion of how to provide financial assistance to unemployed people? https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3145

WOTC - Spread of virus after circuit breaker

Wisdom of the Crowd: 71% of the respondents expect the coronavirus to spread rapidly within the community after the lifting of the circuit breaker. 29% are optimistic that the virus can be controlled through the gradual measures.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1994

WOTC - Relaxation of the circuit breaker in phases

Wisdom of the Crowd: 67% of the respondents disagree with the relaxation of the circuit breaker in phases. The other 33% think that it is a wise step

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1995

Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues

1. Is it safe to invest in the stock market now?

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https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/vote.aspx

Is America moving towards socialism out of necessity?

The US stock market rallied last night because the Fed is buying individual bonds.

In effect, they are converting many businesses into state owned enterprises. It may not be fully state-owned, but the state may be holding a substantial stake.

This is an interesting phenomena. It is a modern way of nationalization. America is moving towards socialism.

I am in favor of state owned enterprises - provided that it is being run to reduce the cost of living.

However, it could be abused to benefit the corporate executives who enjoy insane remuneration packages.

It depends on the leadership of a country and the level of corruption.

America may turn out to be more corrupt than third world countries.

Alternatively, they may turn out to be a good model of government for state owned enterprises.

We have to see what happens in the future.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3134

Duty of the government

The eye clinic in KTP hospital prescribed 5 bottles of 15 ML Refresh Tears to me. I paid $25. The cost is $5 per bottle.

I checked online for the retail price at the pharmacy. I was surprised that it retailed for $15.20.

The government probably bought it at a lower price due to bulk purchase and gave a further subsidy to the patients.

In this instance, the government has done what it should be doing, i.e. to provide the benefit to the citizens through bulk purchasing.

They should adopt the same approach to many other cost of living. That is their duty.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3133

A sense of proportion

I said that the corona virus is mild in a warm climate, like in Singapore. It does not cause the same harm as in cold climate. Someone commented - Going by your argument, Beijing is now hot and in the beginning of summer....the virus would have died a natural death, yet 100 cases were detected! Here is my response to him: Alamak. 100 cases? How many deaths? In a city of 10 million people? Where is your sense of proportion? How many people die in Beijing every day from other causes? Not only ministers are insane. Many sinkies are also insane!

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3132

Look at both sides

Many workers look at the employment contract from their own perspective. They want the best terms for themselves. They seek the employer who can provide the best terms. Some of them were able to find an employer who can pay them well.  If they are fortunate, they will have a good job for many years, maybe for their whole working career.  Some may not be that lucky. The may lose their job when the employer finds another person who is more capable, more productive or less expensive. Some struggle to find a good employer who can pay well. In their search for their ideal job, they may overlook good opportunities. These come from employers who may not be able to pay them well now, but can offer a good future to the right candidate.  What do I mean? Instead of looking at what the employer can offer to the worker, the worker should also look at what they can offer to the employer and how they can really contribute to the growth of the business. If the business grows and become successful, the hard working workers who have contributed to the growth will be valuable to the business. They will have to opportunity to be promoted to better paying jobs in the company. The workers who think only of themselves, and are not willing to think of the interest of the employer, will miss this opportunity. My advice to young people - be aware of this opportunity.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3131

WOTC - Joe Biden's pick for vice president nominee

Wisdom of the Crowd: 32% of the respondents expect Joe Biden to pick Michelle Obama as his vice president nominee. 21% expect him to pick Elizabeth Warren.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1993

WOTC - Few deaths among infected foreign workers

Wisdom of the Crowd: 73% of the respondents said that the infected foreign workers are young and healthy, resulting in few deaths. 27% said the the virus is mild in a warm climate.

https://tklcloud.com/Crowd2/chart.aspx?ID=1992

Will TKL get infected with the coronavirus?

There will be a 5% chance that TKL (that's me) will be infected with the coronavirus. Maybe higher.  Why? Here are the infection rates in some major cities.

Wuhan - 60% New York City - 19.9% London - 17.5% Madrid - 11.3% Boston - 9.9% Sweden - 7.3%

Source: New York Times.

My guess is that the actual infection rate in Singapore in the wider community must be 5% or higher. There is inadequate testing (except for the foreign workers), so we think our infection rate is low. But I am not scared of the risk of infection. Why? Take a look at the 30,000 or more foreign workers that have been infected and tested positive. How many need to be hospitalized? How many need intensive care? How many died? The number is low. Actually, very low. This is why I am not scared. Even if I get infected, there is a low chance of it causing serious harm. I face a bigger risk of being in an accident or falling down the stairs. Some people observed that the foreign workers are young. That is why the casualty is low. They advised me to be careful, as I belong to the "vulnerable" group, because I am over 70 years. I ask these people to think more deeply. The coronavirus does not attack old people. They attack people in bad health, i.e. with pre-existing medical conditions of a serious nature. These are the people who are hypertensive, diabetic or have heart condition. Of course, many of them are also old. But there are older people who are in good health. Their risk is quite low, just like the younger healthy people. I belong to this group, as I do not have any of the high risk medical conditions. A fair proportion of the foreign workers are not healthy - they are obese or diabetic. Still, they do not die from the coronavirus. My reasoning is that the coronavirus is mild in a warm climate in Singapore. I make my risk assessment and judgment based on the facts that I can see.  I do not make judgment based on facts information that are relevant elsewhere, but are probably not relevant to us. I do not make decisions based on "what might happen" or "the sky may fall down". If people are dropping down like flies in Singapore, due to the coronavirus, I will also be scared. But they are not. So, I am not scared. The insane ministers dictate that I should wear a mask when I go out. They also dictate that I should be scanned several times a day for contact tracing. They threaten to impose a heavy fine if I do not comply with their insane requirements. OK, so I comply. But I do not need to be terrified of the coronavirus, even if the insane ministers are. We have to suffer a misfortune because we have voted insane ministers to be in power in this country. You know what? In spite of the low risk, there is still a chance that TKL will die from the coronavirus. However, there is a bigger risk that he will die from an accident or from a fall. There are so many ways that he can die. The coronavirus is probably not his biggest risk. He is more likely to die from suffocation or other consequences from using the mask, rather than from the coronavirus that the mask is supposed to keep out.  For people who think that the coronavirus is the biggest threat to Singapore in the past many decades, I say this - I agree. The harm did not come from the corona virus itself. The harm is largely caused by the circuit breaker measures imposed and extended by the insane ministers. It has led to a waste of $95 billion from our reserves, and perhaps more to come. It has also caused several hundred thousand of families to suffer large financial and economic loss. Some of them have died, or will die, from suicide and depression caused by the economic damage of the circuit breaker measures. Some will die due to neglect of their medical treatment while the whole nation focus on the coronavirus.

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3124

How to use the contact tracing data

Several tens of million dollars are spent each month to collect contact tracing data. This is my estimate of the wage cost of the "social distancing ambassador" that are employed at several tens of thousand tracing points, i.e. entrance of malls, supermarkets and business outlets. I suspect that the contact tracing data is not used for the purpose of locating the people that might have been in contact with an infected person. If the infected person has visited location X, should all the other people who visited location X on the same day be approached?  Some people argued that it will be difficult to locate the thousands of people that might be captured in the database. I agree. But if this is the case, why are we collecting the contact tracing data in the first place? Why are we spending (actually wasting) tens of million dollars monthly on this exercise, when the data cannot be used? Actually, we do not need to be locating thousand people at each location visited by the infected person.  We can narrow down to the people who were in the same tracing point within a time interval of (say) 10 minutes. This will reduce the potential contacts considerably and make the follow up tracing easier to handle. If the mobile phone of the traced person is available, a SMS message can be sent to notify that person. For example - there was an infected person at (name of tracing point) at (time). You were there at that time. Please call XXXXXXXX to get further instructions. When the traced person respond, they can be advised to be on quarantine and to visit a testing center to get a covid-19 test.  I hope that the people in charge implement this follow up measure immediately. Tan Kin Lian

https://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=3123

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1. The govt designs good schemes that cater to different groups of people.
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