Old-School National Day Song

Sung by one of our potential candidate for the Elected President's post....

Nice song? Do you actually get the message behind this song?

Anyway, I think the song is quite nice, brings back memories when I used to sing it in primary school during the run-up to the National Day celebration in school.

National Day songs nowadays, in my opinion, are usually crap!! They are too pop-inclined and does not ignite much patriotism from singing it. Most folks forget about it the moment NDP's over.

Try asking someone in the streets to sing one of these "new" songs and see if they can do it. At the same time, try asking those in their late 20s to 30s to sing one from their era and see what you get....

不用如果，现在就已经有了。。。

What Makes Me Feel Like A Singaporean?

1. Going back for ICT, wearing that No. 4 and singing the National Anthem in the Auditorium.

2. At the airport customs whenever I come home from my trips.

Today, I'm adding a No. 3 to the above list;

3. Attending the National Day Parade, esp. during the singing of the National Anthem and watching the "customary" fly-past of the giant state flag.

There I was this evening, with SO, somewhere in the Green Zone. It's my first parade, albeit its only the preview. I've been balloting to get tickets since the day they started this practice but I've never gotten picked. It's the same old disappointment this year. All thanks to SO's mum, for her NRIC was balloted for 2 preview tickets, which she gladly gave it to us when she knew how keen I was.

The Reviewing Officer of tonight's preview arrived, the State Flag was attached to the flag-post and we all stood up to sing the National Anthem. We (So & me) held hands as the anthem is being played. She's been singing it day in day out and thus had no problems with the Malay lyrics. Me, despite singing it once per year during ICT, was surprisingly able to sing along effortlessly. At the moment when the helicopter flew past with the giant flag, my heart suddenly become heavy and my hairs stood at attention too, as if to salute the flag as it goes by.

At that moment, I truly felt like a Singaporean and promised HER that I will do my best to ensure her survival and prosperity. Never will I abandon her for perceived greener pastures. Esp. not when I've given 2.5yrs of my life to HER.

Call me cliche if you like, but those are my heartfelt thoughts.

Flag from the goodie bag.

Another additional to my flag collection on my desk.

What's that in the sky???

It's the Red Lions Parachuters!! :)

They've never failed to wow the crowds.

Zoomed out view of the stage-area.

Parade's all formed up and awaiting the Reviewing Officer for the Preview.

Managed to zoom-in but ended up capturing only 3 of the 4 GOH Contingents.

Loots from BKK

1 pair of berms
1 pair of tailored dress pants
1 electrical essential oil "burner"
2 bottles of Martell
3 (mini) bottles of essential oil
3 packs of munchies
4 pair of briefs
6 tailored dress shirts

All that for S$670, exclude airfare & hotel....

:)

Travel Plans 2011 - Updated July 2011

Feb 2011 - Batam (completed)

Mar 2011 - Kanchanaburi (completed)

Apr/May 2011 - Chiang Mai (completed)

May 2011 - Kuala Lumpur, LM Workshop (completed)

Jun 2011 - Taiwan (completed)

Jul 2011 - Bangkok (completed)

Nov/Dec - Melbourne

??? 2011 - Dublin (doubtful *sad*)

Travel Plans 2011 - Updated May 2011

Feb 2011 - Batam (completed)

Mar 2011 - Kanchanaburi (completed)

Apr/May 2011 - Chiang Mai (completed)
May 2011 - Kuala Lumpur, LM Workshop (completed)

Jun 2011 - Taiwan (upcoming VERY soon....)

Jul 2011 - Bangkok

Nov/Dec - Bali? Melbourne? ???? (TBC)

??? 2011 - Dublin (Work-related)

"Affordable HDB Housing", Myth or Fact? - Part 2

A continuation of yesterday's post on the affordability of HDB flats...

Found the following table in today's TODAY and I took a picture of it immediately. The previous post looks at how "affordable" a resale flat is. Today, we will look at a BRAND NEW flat instead.

Let's do the maths again....

HDB launched 4 BTOs on Monday ion areas Seng Kang, Ponggol, Hougang and Sembawang. To have a fair comparison to yesterday, we shall consider only Seng Kang. The prices of the BTO units from SK are :

Let's take the average price of a 4rm flat to be 328K (median price) and the household income/CPF contribution to be as follows :

Assuming the couple gets 40K Additional CPF Housing Grant and that they also had 60K in their CPF before buying the flat, the finalised loan amount will come up to 228K. Below shows their monthly instalment....

913 of their 920 (OA Contribution) monthly goes to HDB, leaving 7 miserable dollars in their OA. Multiply this by 30yrs and we get 2,520 (7x12x30). Even if we throw in compound interest and CPF Top-ups by the gahmen, how much would the couple have at age 55? 20K? 50K?

Do note that this 20K or 50K is among the 2 of them, which means each one probably has 25K at max. Please tell me several things...

1. With the Minimum Sum hitting 120K by 2013, how will this couple ever be able to draw out money earned over the last 30yrs to enjoy their twilight years?

2. Of what use is it to us to have slogged 30yrs for a house, only to have "saved" 50K in our retirement fund?

3. The motto of HDB is "Providing Affordable, Quality Homes". I've no doubt about the Quality part. But I seriously doubt the Affordable part!! Is taking the life-long hard-earned money of the citizens away your definition of "Affordable"?

I'm not against home ownership, in fact, SO and I promised each other that we will definitely become home-owners together, somehow.... But I shudders each time I look at the market. Why? This is why...

1. With such prices, I no longer dreamed of being able to sell my house 10yrs later for a profit. In fact, I would be thankful if I can even break-even.

2. My kids, nieces and nephews, by the time they are settling down and looking to buy a house, how much would that be? 1million for a 4rm flat? With Mr Horse in place, I wouldn't bet against it.

I used to not really understand the housing issues come election time. But now that I'm looking to get a place of my own, I became fully aware of the existing issues and why so many peoples are making so much noise!

With my earnest hope and prayers, residents of Tampines GRC, please DO THE RIGHT THING and spare our future generations the shit that we are currently facing.

Thank you.

PS : according to the table from TODAY, the couple will need to fork out cash! That's an even worse scenario than the one I've based my maths on....