DBS ATM thefts: crime waiting to happen

What’s Singapore coming to many of my friends ask.

Now hogging the news is the great DBS ATM fraud coming on the heels of the MRT breakdowns, Orchard Road floods (or is it ponding as PUB would like us to believe?), debate over the incredible ministerial and presidential salaries, the escape of terrorist mastermind Mas Selamat just to name a few.

Technology experts have slammed ATM card technology as old and vulnerable to skimming. And don’t tell me the banking industry, the regulator MAS and the government are not aware of this?

The question that naturally arises is why didn’t they take any pre-emptive action to thwart fraudsters? One would have expected all these top officials earning fat salaries to have figured out how to be not one step but at least two or three steps ahead of the crooks.

I can’t help coming to the conclusion that they have simply been complacent.

Inconvenience is a great understatement to describe the panic and anxiety DBS and POSB customers went through with long queues at the banks and ATMs updating their passbooks, even at 1 AM.

With everyone concerned asleep at the controls, it was a crime waiting to happen. No surprise there isn’t it?

The public must not make the assumptions that these people are doing their job. It’s your money, safety and security that is at stake.

Maybe we need whistle-blowers.

Sengkang Library: proper seats, finally

When I stepped into Sengkang Library last night, I thought it was a mirage. Before me were armchairs!

So what you may say. I’ve always voted this library as the worst for its spartan furnishings. Since its opening in 2002, it had provided only hard bench seats and not a single table (lately it saw the need for tables for newspaper reading).

My complaint elicited the extraordinary response that it was a DIY library, probably the only such library in Singapore. Surely, as the only library around, Punggol and Sengkang residents deserve better.

It took NLB ten years to equip Sengkang Library with proper seats, though few but it’s a good start.

Just pray that NLB doesn’t take another ten years to place more seats around the library.

Jailed for commercial sex: the law has no common sense?

Four months jail for having commercial sex with an underage Vietnamese girl? To my mind, this is absurd. 

She came with the single-minded purpose of prostituting herself. The customer did not coerce her in any way. Besides, she lied about her age. 

In prostitution there is no victim unless the female was forced into it. 

And for this the customer was jailed four months. Extraordinary.  

In another similar case, a man was jailed nine months for also having sex with an underage Vietnamese girl in Geylang, the Hadyai of Singapore. 

If a driver knocks down and kills a pedestrian, his driving licence is suspended for a few years. Although a person is deprived of his life forever, it’s classified as an
accident. 

For instance, a private bus driver killed a construction worker at a signalised junction and was only fined $5000 and banned from
driving for three years. There have been too many of such accidents, and guilty drivers have got off too lightly. 

Common sense tells you which is worse: unknowingly engaging an underage prostitute or killing a pedestrian through dangerous and reckless driving?

The law should be applied with common sense as well. 

SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa resigns: a lesson for Ministers?

So SMRT Corporation president and chief executive officer Saw Phaik Hwa’s hint at the prospect of her resignation over the MRT breakdowns was not a mere PR gesture. 

Coming less than a month after the unprecedented MRT breakdowns, her resignation must have raised eyebrows. It’s not the culture here to take responsibility by tendering one’s resignation particularly Ministers. 

Ministers do not take resign over policy flaws and oversight. They would rather hang on and on and on despite deep- seated public unhappiness, and eventually have to face the ignominy of rejection at the polls or widespread calls for them to step down. 

That the MRT breakdowns caused a lot of inconvenience, anxiety even panic is undeniable. Because hundreds of commuters were affected, the incidents had the appearance of high drama. 

Some have described it as an overreaction. With machines, no matter how well maintained, breakdowns are inevitable. Even air planes face episodes of engine and mechanical failure. 

Ms Saw has taken responsibility for the breakdowns by resigning. No excuses, no foot-dragging. 

In Japan, you know, they commit hara-kiri. 

Pay cuts for PM and Ministers: only token cuts

As expected, the cuts in ministerial and presidential salaries were merely token cuts. About one- third for the PM and entry-level ministers, and half for the president. 

Token because their salaries were sky-high to begin with. Perhaps a 60% cuts for ministers and 75% cut for the president might have made the whole exercise more credible. 

Why? 

This government has become too complacent, self-serving, arrogant and authoritarian. Most people know why so it’d be tedious to repeat the reasons. 

As for the President, he is doing precisely what his predecessor had done: gracing important functions as GOH, opening this ceremony and that and giving speeches. And for this he still earns $1.54 million? 

Some may argue that only high salaries can attract the best people to politics. In Hong Kong and Japan for instance, elections are still hotly contested even though salaries don’t approach our sky-high ones. 

And the most absurd of all is the argument that without a high salary our office holders will not be accorded the proper respect by their foreign counterparts.  Nelson Mandela was not paid much as President yet he was accorded great respect,  even to this very day. 

Belatedly, after humiliation of sorts in the General Election,the PM reminded his ministers that they were there to serve the public. To what extent has this message sunk in?

It is pertinent to remind the PM as well that every cent you reward yourself in salaries, bonuses or pensions comes from the taxpayer. 

The thinking that just because they occupy high government office they are therefore entitled to what top professionals earn is reflective of greed. 

When greed gets in the way, public service falls by the wayside. 

New Causeway toll: a survey of Singapore motorists

To my mind it’s a forgone conclusion that the Malaysian authorities will surely increase the Causeway toll by up to 6 times as some reports suggest. 

I asked my friends who are JB regulars if they’d continue to go if the toll were hiked up. All said no, not worthwhile anymore, JB prices of food, things no longer cheap, absurd, unfair and so on.

I’ve no intention of engaging in any Malaysia-bashing. After all, Malaysians are largely friendly and hospitable. This is not the point.

People cross borders (Malaysia-Thailand, Burma-Thailand, Laos–China etc) to seek bargains in goods and services, and when these are no longer cheap, they stop going. 

Another point worth stressing is the principle of fairness. It’s only fair that those who make use of services pay for them.

So drivers who use the new highway linking JB CIQ to the North-South Highway as a much faster route pay the new increased toll. This is fair.

But it’s unfair to other motorist who don’t. Ramming down the new Causeway toll down the throats of motorists is therefore grossly unfair.

They think we are suckers.

Anyway, terima kasih for the good times.

Committee of Inquiry: MRT breakdowns

It seems the regulators/authorities here never learn. They wait until a problem becomes serious enough or the public complain before they take action. 

The problems associated with the recent MRT breakdowns is an example of something waiting to happen. For years  commuters have been complaining about overcrowding on trains and buses.

Again for years everyone knew about Geylang’s reputation as another Hadyai. Seeing that matters have gone out of control the police and immigration have been taking action but it’s a case of too little too late.  

A lack of active policing has given
rise to a culture of thuggish behaviour and many opportunities for crime. Again, on the roads and expressways, the absence of traffic police officers has bred aggressive, dangerous and inconsiderate driving habits. 

You can easily cite other examples. 

It appears that the
regulators/authorities are fearful of making mistakes in taking preemptive actions.  Why bother unless there are complaints?So, when Orchard Road suffered the ignominy of floods the authorities suddenly saw the urgency of some form of action. 

When the Committee of Inquiry into the recent MRT breakdowns has done their job, the government should give serious thought to inquiring whether our transport operators AND they themselves have done enough to prevent a terrorist strike.  The Madrid and London bombings in 2004 and 2005 respectively have clearly shown that transport systems are very vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Indeed, a copy of the MRT map was discovered at a terrorist hideout in Indonesia. 

Or do we have to wait for ANOTHER Committee of Inquiry? 

New Causeway toll: 5 reasons to boycott JB

Once the Malaysian authorities increase the Causeway toll in view of the new expressway linking JB to the North-South Expressway, many motorists will think twice about driving over for the following reasons:

1. Early reports indicate that the new Causeway toll will be about 4 times more. Singapore Immigration will surely not miss the opportunity to increase the exit toll for Singapore motorists as well.

2. Food and drinks at the better shopping malls approach Singapore prices. Backlane offerings are cheaper but scurrying rats in drains are the x-factor.

3. Groceries are no longer cheap, on par with Singapore. Sheng Shiong can even be cheaper.

4.  JB Traffic cops target Singapore motorists to boost their private incomes.

5. Ultra cheap petrol in JB is now history.

People the world over cross borders to seek bargains and we are no different.

And with the perennial traffic congestion at Woodlands Checkpoint, one must be mad to cross over to JB.

All good things must come to an end.

3/4 tank rule for CNG cars: welcome to the pay-and-pay club

Owners of CNG cars must have read with dismay that they too have to comply with the 3/4 tank rule should they wish to venture into JB next year.

Now they are offered another perspective of the pay-and-pay culture here, thanks to an ever-vigilant government protective of its revenue stream. 

Singapore motorists are a sorry lot. They pay probably the highest road tax in the world apart from groaning under other revenue-generating schemes like ERP and COE. Only our ministers celebrate as it means they have an excuse of a large GDP to inflate their salaries. 

Even when oil prices went through the roof a few years ago, the government did not give a cent in petrol tax reduction, cautioning against taking the subsidy route. Instead it encouraged motorists to drive less or take public transport. 

This is unsurprising for in all one-party state or one ruled by a strongman , public opinion is casually brushed aside. 

With the prospect of an increase in the Causeway toll by the Malaysian authorities in 2012, ministers here are probably having pleasant dreams of matching their Malaysian counterparts just like the ridiculous exit tax Singapore motorists are forced to pay when LEAVING the country. 

There have been calls to scrap the 3/4 tank rule. Dream on.

If there’s one thing Singapore motorists will never never get to enjoy, it’s a tax holiday. 

Review of MRT breakdowns: security concerns

MRT commuters are often urged to look out for suspicious-looking persons or articles. Sometimes I wonder what such people look liOke. I doubt many of us know the  body language of a would-be terrorist. 

After what happened in England and Spain, we can conclude that terrorists find transport systems very vulnerable targets.

Frankly I don’t feel safe travelling on the MRT. The lone security officer rarely challenges passengers when they enter with bulky bags or items. And MRT staff seem engrossed in their work all the time.

The Home Team doesn’t inspire confidence either. 

This complacency from  the transport operators and the authorities is worrying. 

The 2004 Madrid train attack by terrorist killed 191 and injured 1800 people.

In 2005, terrorists attacked the London Underground and a double-decker,  killing 52 and injuring more than 700. 

It seems our memories are short. Do we have to undergo a carnage before the authorities and transport operators tighten up security in our transport systems?

To echo what DPM and Defence Minister said recently: prevention
is better than cure.

Any investigation into MRT breakdowns should also look into whether security measures are adequate to protect commuters. 

A broken train window, the handiwork of a frustrated commuter during the recent MRT breakdown, is nothing compared to the millions of dollars in damaged property in a terrorist strike.