Are they delusional?

Read the news clippet on Facebook today on how some of those DBSS residents are optimistic of fetching good resale prices for their flats. The link to the clippet is below.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_683836.html

I can’t help but feel disturbed by their mentality. Okay, i admit it. I am not familiar with how the property market forces work and so i am speaking purely from the perspective of a layman with some common sense and logic. Just not too long ago, DBSS flat Tampines Centrale 8 was launched by property developer Sim Lian Group for a prices between $600K – $880k depending on 4 rooms or 5 rooms. My first response upon seeing the price was ” WTF? The price is insane.” For such prices, one can go for a condominium. Who would want to pay such exorbitant prices for a HDB flat?

Then not long later, Minister for National Development, Minister Khaw mentioned in his blog that DBSS is not HDB. It is a class of flats between HDB and Executive Condominiums or Private Condominiums. He goes on to mention that while HDB flats are designed and priced by HDB, DBSS flats are designed and priced by private developers. Now this is weird and doesn’t make sense. If that is the case, then why DBSS flats are being sold under HDB regulations? Since built and priced by private developers , shouldn’t it then be sold as private property? You can read his blog entry here.

http://mndsingapore.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/dbss-is-not-hdb/

Couple of days ago it was reported that after the uproar by the citizens over the exorbitant pricing of the flats, Sim Lian Group slashed the prices of the flats by up to $102K. You can read about the news here.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_682561.html

Now this reminds me of my shopping experiences in Thailand Chatuchuk flea market. The prices of the goods will be first priced at exorbitant prices to fleece the shoppers. After the bargaining, the prices can be easily bargained down by at least 50%. I am suspecting the CEO of Sim Lian Group is modeling his business model after Chatuchuck flea market.

Back to today’s news article. After reading the clippet, i can’t help but feel that the DBSS residents are being delusional. Seriously who in their sane mind will want to pay such high prices for a HDB flat? The Premeire@Tampines was launched in 2008 for prices between $138K – $450K. Seriously how much do the residents hope to make from their resale? I’d hazard that the value of their property increased by another $100K after developments to their neighbourhood. I assume they’d be expecting about at least $50K of COV for their property. $600K for a HDB flat? Wow!

Now Tampines Centrale 8 is being launched for $780K. Given that their value appreciate by another 100K in 5 years time. Again i assume the owners will expect a $50K COV for their flats. That makes the total value of the flat $930K!!!!! Who on earth would pay close to $1 mil for a flat?!?! Further on in the article, PropNex chief Mohamed Ismail said: ‘Today, it is a DBSS flat, but five years from today, it will be another ordinary HDB flat. The valuation then will focus on the good location of the flats and the market sentiment.‘ Seriously, does he knows what he is saying? When the DBSS flat becomes an ordinary HDB flat in 5 years time, who would be so insane to pay almost $1 mil for an ORDINARY HDB flat? Even the cash rich FTs would not do so. Oh come on, let’s get real. If you have a million dollars to spend on housing, would you spend it on an ordinary HDB flat?

I am usually not a government basher. I am thankful for what the government has provided for me and my family. However this time round, i can’t see any reason to defend them. The original mission of HDB when it was first set up was to provide affordable housing for the people of Singapore. It seems to me now that they have strayed from this noble mission.

Public Housing is public housing. It should remain affordable to the people. I believe people can accept prices increasing due to increase in construction costs. It should not be dictated by market forces. HDB should just stick to its original mission of providing affordable public housing to the people who are the average joes. Their role is to provide affordable housing for the people and they should just stick to that and be good at that. The rich and affluent can go buy their property and pay insane prices for their property.

Minister Khaw better do something about this ridiculous housing strategy and fast. 5 years is not a lot of time. If he doesn’t address this burning issue fast, there will be calls for his head in the next election. Good luck to him.

Assumption is the mother of all cock ups!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assumption is the mother of all cock ups. If you don’t know, open your mouth and ask. It beats assuming and end up getting into trouble.

Reported in the news today is two ladies who went up North and got into trouble with the custom authorities. You can read the news from the link or from today’s Straits Times or The New Paper.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_679677.html

 

This me this  is an obvious case of abuse of authority and power by our northern neighbours. I sympathise the ladies but they should have known not to proceed further if they had not have their thumbprints scanned or passport stamped or scanned. When they hit the station without the custom officer, they should have reversed and move to one with a custom officer instead of moving through especially if they are unsure how the new biometric system works. They claimed that they did know how the new system works but what’s stopping them from finding out before going in? I’m pretty damn sure that is not the first time they are going abroad and couldn’t  wouldn’t have known that you are required to have your passports stamped for border crossing.  Classic example of assumption is the mother of all cock ups.

But the way the Malaysian Customs dealt with the issue is atrocious. Way out of their line and over reacted. It was an honest mistake and the ladies owned up to their mistakes and seeked advice for resolving the issue. I am inclined to believe that the entire nonsense was in a bid to scare the ladies into offering a bribe to expedite the process. However the ladies were not that ‘smart’ and were made to go through the harrowing and unfortunate process. The relevant authorities should do something to win back some dignity for the poor ladies.

Morale of the story? If you don’t know, ask until you are know and sure. Ignorance is not a valid excuse for committing an offense.

 

Does it pays to be nice?

An inflated ego and a false sense of self perceived importance is the greatest obstacle in relationship building. The sure fire to destroy a relationship is the delusional sense of being infallible, impervious to making mistakes.

Most of the time people don’t mind that you screwed up their plans, what they really mind is that you screwed up their plans and still expect them to alter their plans to accommodate your screw up. If they don’t, they are being an asshole and mean.

And so i wonder if it really pays to be nice? Most of the time, nice people end up being taken for granted and taken advantage off.

 

Fair? Or not?

Quite frankly speaking, the SAF’s performance appraisal system sucks. The HR practitioners should touch their hearts and ask themselves if such a sucky appraisal system should continue to be practiced.

Objectively the system does have its merits. There is nothing ambiguous in the system, everything is clear and transparent. If that is the case, what am I bitching about.

While the system is pretty good but it is badly abused by the users. The system has degraded into a farcical game. The results of the appraisal is no longer a true reflection of one’s performance. The bosses don’t even sit down with you and go through his final assessment of your performance for the past year. You only know about how you fare for the past year when you receive your performance bonus and you don’t even know what or where went wrong!!! To compound to the matters, there were no regular feedbacks on your throughout the year to give you a chance to right the wrongs!

What is so farcical about this appraisal system? A performance appraisal is supposed to reward the good men and punish the bad ones right? This system has become a strategy game to push people up the ladder! Whoever is due for a promotion in a year or two will automatically see his performance ranking go up for the preceding two year before his promotion due date. He doesn’t need to do much extra to score brownie points, he just need to keep himself out of trouble.

So what does this spells for the rest? It simply means if you are not due for promotion in a year or two, no amount of hard work will get you a good ranking. A high middle band at best. What a joke! A good performer scoring top rankings the preceding two years suddenly drop in performance after he is promoted? The reason given is always ‘Aiyah, you already promoted, don’t need the high ranking for now.’

Pure nonsense! This translates to monetry losses when the bonuses are issued out as everything is pegged to performance!

Seriously what is the point in doing your best and sacrificing yourself for your work when you are not fairly appraised? The organisation wants the people to work hard but the appraisal system is nothing more than a farcical game of giving good rankings to people who need it whe they are due for promotion by time norms.

Such is the heartache given to the good workers that they become disgruntled and leaves. What is left behind are just rubbish who just do their minimum for their pay. Whose losses?

I am also contemplating leaving to find in an environment where my performance is fairly appraised and justly rewarded. Who wanna hire me?

Will it become a yearly pilgrimage?

Ok I just bought a new Blackberry phone…I must say I have retract my words when I said “iphone is the mother of all phonesm”. If iphone is the mother of all phones then Blackberry is the daddy of all phones. But I’ll leave the raving of these phone for another day.

Actually I am now blogging off from the Blackberry. Currently in a cab on my way to the airport. Going for a 15 day trip to karp karp land which I previously called ‘the land of the ex-man’. Went there last year, didn’t enjoy it…don’t think it’ll be any different this year. In fact, I am not even looking forward to it. I hope it doesn’t become a yearly pilgrimage for me.

Anyway…I’ll bitch about the trip when I am back. So adios!

Will the fairy tale end?

Spurs has made a remarkable run in her maiden UCL campaign. Having qualified for the Q-finals, slaying Inter and AC Milan along the way. Now Spurs is drawn against Real Madrid, a team brimming with talent.

Personally i think the fairy tale will end here. But hey…having slain Inter and AC Milan enroute to the Q-finals, it is not impossible to add Real to the scalp. The reality is Real is really strong….so chances of fairy tale ending is high.

But i wish the fairy tale continues

 

Rants, rants and more rants

Come across this article in STOMP and i laughed my head off….

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/what_bugs_me/570322/tasteless_nudity_pictures_scattered_all_over_liat_towers.html

Is it a case of a real overly conservative and protective mother or a smart promotion gimmick from the advertisers? I believe to be the latter. I must admit it is really smart of the advertisers to slip the pictures in Borders. The saucy pictures will definitely arouse the interest of hormonally charged males and bring attention to the website. And i am pretty sure the advertisers would expect some overly sensitive people will STOMP about it. However i am inclined to believe that the STOMP post was done by the advertisers.  Why? The posted pictures were too well taken!!!

Well, regardless whether is it a genuine case of overly sensitive people or part of the advertising effort by the advertisers, the overall main strategy of gathering attention to the website worked. I laugh at the stupidity of those netizens who flammed the person who posted the STOMP post. Would they never have suspected that the post was a promotional gimmick? Haiz…gullible people.

 

Again the queen likes to make me do things i dislike. I think i have to prove a point. So what i have a car? I am not a chauffeur. In fact, i dislike being a chauffeur! Just because i am on off day today, i have to drive all the bloody way to Loyang to pick you up? Who’s paying for my petrol? Petrol ain’t cheap these days. She just cannot get this fact into her mind?  So does it mean that if i refuse to pick her up, i love her less? Piss me to my limits and it might just happen.

 

IT show is here again. Yeah…and have to spend again. This is my shopping list.

1) Netbook for the queen (her birthday gift…already promised)

2) Netbook for myself ( this can wait)

3) A Terrabytes capacity HDD.

4) A new Smart Phone ( my current one is falling apart and hangs ever so frequently)

5) New air con for the house (yes…it has broken down for some time already, will have to wait till april…and yes…nothing to do with IT show)

6) A GPS for my car ( this can wait longer)

Such a long shopping list….where to find so much money to fulfil everything?