The Difference To Love

We are different. Beyond the skin, bones and blood, we have the capacity to feel, understand what we feel and respond to what we are feeling, at a level beyond instinct and reflex. A capacity to emphatize. And as such the motivation to make change. The most powerful and simplest yet at times most difficult change is our capacity to love. This is why we are different, we choose to love, and choose not to love.

You've heard all the songs, "All we need is love" "Love can build a bridge" "Love conquers all" etc. All romantic and noble. Why don't we think it is possible, that love does conquer all, that love can build a bridge? We don't believe it. Not many do. We are prejudiced by our upbringing, economic levels, our wants and desires, our fears, our greed to fulfil our needs, our superstitions and beliefs and in some cases our ideals and aspirations. We cannot wholehearted unequivocally love. Not like dogs, wagging tails and all. We cannot truly love everyone. Despite all we can feel and understand we just cannot put aside our programming to simply care a little more for one another. We cannot change the world.

It's funny that our geographic boundaries define who we are in more ways than any other attribute. It's funny in a sad way. Kids can die because there's no food around, stuck in a vicious cycle because of lines on a map. Kids around me have no qualms about eating half a pack of fries and leaving the rest to rot in bins. It's funny in a stupid way. Yet we carry on like it doesn't matter, because our purpose in life has been defined, in fact predefined, by parents, government, society. We are manufactured to exist in a certain way. And to show love in a certain way.

There's a TV ad that goes "Why are we here? Maybe it's because of all the species on Earth, we are the ones with the ability to save them all, including our own." Why is this possible? Because we have the capacity to love. We can make the difference. Maybe no one just told us how, or there are too many voices are telling how. Pick one, go with it. Figure how you can change someone else life for the better. We are all suffering in some way, so there lots of opportunity to change the world and change your world. Let love lead the way. Be the tail wagging dog.







our needs

Singapore's Problems & Our MRT System

Ok soon is a little late, sorry. The last post on Singapore's biggest problems required some explanation and here goes.

I was thinking about our recent SMRT technical fiascos as well as our ongoing issues with how crowded the trains were getting (this was the morning my mum made tea and banana pancakes out of the blue).

Keeping the rationalizations simple (because complicating them would confuse) the answers were:
- (track failures) someone wasn't checking for these problems or wasn't checking thoroughly or didn't care. Perhaps their bosses didn't care either.
- (overcrowding) the system was built to 1987 specs to optimal efficiency but without much room for redundancy. It's all too linear and unscalable. Scale now means building a new line. Also, with the push for new housing in certain areas plus more immigrants, it seems like the gahmen departments weren't talking to each other about the intersecting stresses on Singapore systems.

Who can we blame for all this? Ourselves.

We sort of let ourselves get carried away with the gahmen in the "They'll take care of everything, they know what they are doing" sort of way. I mean we were all kudos and applauding when the train lines opened but that's not the endgame. In fact there isn't one. It's forever, like diamonds but less sparkly. So we needed quite a bit of forward thinking in place. We knew back then we needed 5.5 or so million people to make the island work economically so why didn't we cater for that? Could we not envision the demand? We were not creative enough to figure out there wouldn't be space at Jurong East if we got more people to live in the west and northwest? Someone told me that the Japanese built Ginza station from the bottom up, meaning they dug 7 levels down first and built successive lines over that first deep-down station. What brilliant thinking. Anticipation is the hallmark of great planning. Efficiency with room to grow, that what we should have in place and aspire to.

My gripes/solutions with the train systems in Singapore:
- I can't figure why the Bukit Panjang LRT system was built when everyone was happy with the buses. If they wanted to spend $750 million on something through Bukit Panjang, how about a tunnel under the hill to link Ang Mo Kio to Choa Chu Kang with a bunch of stations across? This imaginary line from CCK to AMK could also stretch down Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 to Hougang, Defu and Ubi, roads that are still a mess at peak hours. At least then Serangoon North wouldn't get such a bad accessibility rep.
- Also, the envisioned line above could stretch westwards from CCK to NTU and Tuas, giving options to students at the university as well as workers now bound to use packed Boon Lay MRT/Interchange as their hub.
– I can't figure why the new Downtown Line being constructed from Bukit Panjang to Bugis doesn't start from Kranji or Choa Chu Kang. Wouldn't that help ease congestion into the city and ease the crowds gathering at Jurong East?
- Extra platforms and tracks were retrofitted to Jurong East MRT over the last two years to allow more parking space for trains from Woodlands and extra trains headed east. Did that help ease the human jam? I dunno but people are still complaining. Here's a thought - how about an extra pair of tracks running down from Jurong East to Buona Vista? Additional tracks to link the two major interchanges on the western line. This would give passengers spread-out options to switch lines at other stations instead of sardine-packing Jurong East. Also trains from Woodlands could continue straight on from Jurong East to Buona Vista, giving commuters headed to Harbourfront an easy switch at one stop. Alright, extend at least till Clementi so that commuters have two stops instead of one to switch at.
- Isn't Tanjong Pagar station busy enough to be an interchange? It is now and was even in 1987 when the EW line opened. Every work day hundreds of thousands of commuters have to make the one stop trip from Raffles Place to Tanjong Pagar to get to work in the city. I think that's just silly. If different lines can link across 3-4 stations in Central and Causeway Bay in Hong Kong island and in Tokyo, why could we implement this magnanimous, stress-reducing plan here? It would save commuters time and bring ease.
- We left Marina Bay station languishing for so long as a terminus. Now Harbourfront has become such a vibrant hub. Wouldn't it have be nicer to have the North South line stretch on to Harbourfront for easier connectivity. It would have been obvious to do so than to have had Marina Bay poorly utilised for a decade or so.
- The newly opened Circle Line benefits many who need to head down to the Suntec-Marina area. That's cool but the single point terminus at Dhoby Ghaut isn't. That's now a three line interchange, and consequently a people mess at peak hours and weekends. It would have been nice to extend the Circle Line crossover points further north up Orchard Road to alleviate the stress on Somerset and Orchard stations and end at Newton instead. This would allow suburbanites from the north heading to Suntec to switch earlier at Newton and not join the crowds at Dhoby Ghaut. (the future Downtown Line from Bukit Timah joins at Newton too, so these commuters would enjoy the same convenience too). There would have been the chance to add another station perhaps between Orchard and Somerset maybe behind Paragon or to extend the Circle Line towards Tanglin and Dempsey.
- You may already know how I feel about the Sengkang LRT system. If you don’t, I feel it’s dumb to centralize the connectivity just to one point at Sengkang Interchange. It would be wiser to even link up the same LRT service to Punggol, Sengkang and Hougang since most of the residents probably have shared interests in these adjacent estates.

There you go. My rant about the MRT system. They’re building more lines, of course. Nothing stops the big machine. Not sure if there’s more sense in them (I doubt). Having named a station Tan Kah Kee (like who? and where?) and allowing Farrer Park and Farrer Road stations to co-exist already has me shaking my head.

So with all these complaints, it makes our problems quite clear, no? Over-reliance on the gahmen for ideas, no one really putting forward alternative ideas, too much centralization for perceived efficiency, no creativity and when all goes wrong, no one admitting failure. Ta-dah.

Our Biggest Problems

Before I forget let me jot his down. Singapore's biggest problems are:
1. Over reliance on the gahmen to "do the right thing".
2. Reluctance by the individual to step up and take control.
3. Prioritization of built-to-exactness, we-need-only-this-now integrated efficiency over operational slack/redundant capacity to cater for acceptable anomalies.
4. A lack of creativity to imagine, no, explore solutions slightly out-of-the-box that allow for lower efficiency but higher personal value.
5. A failure to admit failure.

I'll explain these soon.

Bus Home From KL Catches Fire

This is one of those "You wouldn't believe what happened to me" stories.

My family and I were in Kuala Lumpur, esteemed Malaysian capital of good barbecued chicken wings, taxi touts and predictable traffic jams, over the last few days. On Saturday, we were meant to make our way back to Singapore.

The coach pick up time was 3pm so we checked out at 2pm and waited at the Swiss Garden hotel lobby (we stayed at the new Residences built behind the Hotel. Nice but has its flaws, trying to keep all of their 4 stars.)

Waiting was not easy with a hyperactive 3 year old running around the Christmas tree. I think we gave him too much coffee. Our bus came at 4pm, apparently delayed by the Bukit Bintang traffic.

Once we boarded, we sensed something was not quite right - the temperature wasn't at the typical freezing-to-lull-passengers-to-hibernation setting. In fact it was warm and progressively warming up. No one really complained till it became a tad more unbearable. I had managed to doze off even. My asthmatic mum started feeling the choke of stifled heat first and had to take several puffs of her inhalers.

About an hour into the journey out of KL, the driver pulls over at Nilai rest stop and calls it quit. Passengers stream out, hoping for a cooler respite outside the bus and a quick resolution to this crisis. It was actually comfortable at the rest stop, with a natural breeze passing through. Thank goodness it was clean. (Malaysian highway rest stops manage to maintain exceeding contrasts in service and hygiene standards.) The time now was 5pm.

So we drank and ate a little, unaware of any planned resolution to our bus outage. The driver, a soft spoken Chinese man with black rimmed glasses and a beard (He was quite bear-like), was constantly on his mobile. We kept getting whispers of 'bus coming in 20 minutes'. So we waited patiently.

Having been tested long enough, I called the bus company office in Singapore at 640pm, and gave them a harsh lecture. Once again, I got the '20 minutes' message from a nervous girl. When I asked to speak to the manager, apparently there wasn't one around. The substitute bus came at 7pm.

When everyone had boarded Bus 2, we realised there was a seat short. I took my nephew on my lap and gave up his seat to a grateful passenger. So we were on our way south once more.

At about 10pm, we stopped at Yong Peng, a traditional stop for many bus services plying the North South highway. We hobbled out of the vehicle and had a Ramly burger, two tau sar paus and a coffee my mum didn't want. At half past or so, the bus was off again towards Tuas.

At about 1045pm, my nephew on lap noticed a man in a red shirt walk hastily from the back of the bus to the front. He asked why the man was running. I turned around to see a haze developing at the back of the bus. It was like a cloud developing. There was the smell of plastic smouldering and I instinctively shouted "Fire!". The driver slammed in the brakes and pulled over. A commotion and shouts ensued, and a hasty stream of nervous, startled passengers emerged from the front door onto the dark road and drizzle. I passed my barefoot nephew to my brother-in-law who joined the exit line. My asthmatic mum was yelling something and my sis was asking everyone in the back to get out quick. Oddly enough, a few sleeping passengers were oblivious to the smoke.

We all made it out in a couple of minutes. As I left the bus I turned to look back and saw a fireball of orange at the back of the vehicle. Educated by years of television watching, one has to get as far away from the flames before the whole bloody thing explodes. So we did, a good 50-60 metres down the road. No, the bus didn't explode.

The driver managed to douse the fire with god-knows-what and pretty soon it died down to a smoking rear end. In the meantime, some of us kiasu types managed to yank out all the luggage stored in the lower coach compartment and spilled the bags on the road and grass verge. I noticed black oil mixed with the stream that ran along the road and figured the fuel tank or some pipe must have leaked.

There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing as people tried to identify their belongings while fast cars zoomed past, some slowed down in apparent surprise at seeing 20-odd persons in the cold and wet by the road side. I was afraid that some passing truck or car would not see the bus and crash right in, taking us down with the metal mess. I kept asking the passengers who strayed deeper into the road lane to stay in.

Well at least we could see the stars clearly now. Orion was practically shining down on us.

My nephew vomited in the drama. Scared people do that sometimes. My mum put a towel around his head and he looked like he had a tudung on. So cute. He remained as curious as ever, asking questions about what happened.

In an emergency, who do you call? Usually the answer is simple - police, fire brigade, medical services. When in a JB emergency who do you call? Apparently +65 999 doesn't work. My sis managed to get the Johor crime hotline and they despatched the highway vehicle emergency team. Their blue swirling lights appeared on the wrong side of the highway about half an hour into the situation. Not sure what Plus Ronda people did but eventually there was a smouldering box lying in the drain by the side of the highway.

The gods already laughing at us decide to turn up the tension by letting down more rain. Soon umbrellas were up and some passengers donned their raincoats. The bags now got even wetter. It was a fine mess. Someone came around to say we could wait in the bus. We were mostly appalled at the suggestion at first but came around to clambering up the stationary metal box because smoke inhalation seemed like a lesser evil that hypothermia. Up in the bus we went. There was a moment of relief actually when most of us were more comfortable in the dry. The passengers chatted about what got wet and even laughed about what had gone on.

At 1215, the replacement bus, the third one, arrived. Finally it seemed the drama was over and we could be on our way back home. The new driver apologised for what happened and carried on his way towards Johor Bahru. Somewhere along the way though, he announced he had no passport to enter Singapore. *Cue dramatic intro music* But there was a replacement driver with him who had his passport but didn't know the way around Singapore. *Cue dramatic rejoinder music*

I volunteered to navigate.

It seemed to take forever to get to Gelang Patah, like we were on a neverending highway with no lights and red tailights zooming past us every 10 minutes. People were just staring forward, anxious to see some semblance of hope in the form of the bright lights of immigration and customs control. A weird feeling, made worse by how tired we were. The document-less bus driver got off at the intersection that led to Johor Bahru, into a waiting car. Lucky bastard.

Eventually we crossed over the Second Link and made into Singapore. It must have been near 2am.

I took the chance to ask if the route back to the city could better accommodate the passengers. So I got the driver to make a diversion to Jurong East MRT and drop a lady off at the bus stop opposite NUH. Funnily enough, to cap the highly momentous day of travelling, I had to figure out the best way for Mr Unfamiliar to get back to JB. I navigated the simplest route - down the ECP Rochor Road ramp, stopped outside Bugis MRT and told the driver to go back up Ophir Road ramp into ECP then AYE Tuas. Ta-dah!

After a hot shower, I think it was 3am before I hit the sack. What a day.

Konsortium is the bus company. My sis went down to the office on Monday to raise hell. I think she got some money back. Hmm.

Expensive COEs And 24hr Train Services

Saturday's Straits Times sort of ticked me off a little. On the front page were two article - one on high COE prices and the other mentioned that the SMRT and SBS Transit would extend train services for the marathon. So I sent emails to ST Forum expressing my thoughts. Here they are:

1. Regular extended train services, not just for marathon
While it is commendable that the SMRT and SBS Transit support the Standard Chartered marathon with overnight train services for participants to make the early morning start, it begs the question why these national transport providers cannot do the same on weekends or on the eve of all national holidays. Regular extended services would generally benefit most residents as opposed to this one-time effort for those involved in a sporting event. Perhaps the Public Transport Council can look into such an initiative.

2. Should only the rich own a car?
Saturday's Straits Times report on the expected demand for more expensive, high-end cars is a blow for the aspirations of Singapore's middle class. This consequence of fewer COEs and other factors serves to reinforce the notion that only the rich will be able to afford a car. There needs to be a fairer system of COE distribution, one not pegged to a large bank account but one based on needs. In my opinion, drivers who are parents with 2 or more children, those with extended families or aged parents themselves, or those looking after the disabled should get priority. To reduce demand further, it might be wise impose double the price of a COE for households seeking a second car, and so on. If the government is serious about reducing the car population, measures taken cannot purely be to the advantage of a select segment of society.

What do you think?

Keep Your Word To A Taxi Driver

Some days ago, I posted a tweet about why people who've booked a taxi bother waiting in the taxi queue. I got a just a handful of responses - one was that taxis seemed to frequently not be able to figure out the pick up point; another was kiasuism and lastly, "To increase the odds of getting a cab quickly. Duh."

I was indeed exasperated at that someone in the queue ahead of me who had committed this fault in my eyes. I guess many would disagree that it is a fault. Probably because the cab companies dedicate a call cancel shortcut on the phone booking services. Truly Singaporean perhaps, this means of getting ahead. Or maybe getting away with it instead. Simply cancel on a call, forget whatever it meant.

Is confirming a taxi booking not a matter of keeping one's word? I, Gurmit Singh, agree to wait for cab SHA 1234 X arriving in 3 to 5 minutes with an additional fee of $3.50, and to have a nice day. So Mr Anonymous Cab Driver enters into an agreement with me - he dedicates his service to me and I pay him extra. He comes around and picks me up. That's the normal, right way things work out.

When I decide to flag down another horse and cancel aforesaid agreement, Mr Anonymous Cab does not make the extra few dollars and would very likely be frustrated. Yes I save on the money and waiting time, but unknowingly I have added to what I like to call the Fed Up Factor. Mr My Booking Got Cancelled is fed up. He thinks that perhaps all passengers are scum and doesn't give two hoots (or honks) about messing with us more - you know, the hiding in alleys till surcharges kick in, the picking and choosing of customers to get to very nearby destinations, the non-chalant driving by sweaty taxi queues with the green sign on - the stuff that infuriates us further. So we now contribute to the universal Fed Up Factor.

What's the fella waiting behind I've got a booking so-and-so supposed to think? He's got a booking but he's still in the queue. So he's too stingy to fork out $3.50 but got the balls to screw a taxi driver if he can?

Taxi companies should charge the booking fee for the call, and pass that on to taxi drivers later.

We can't be very happy living with all this frustration. It's not a oneupmanship game we should play with one another. What goes around comes around. That's why taxi drivers want to play their games - we give them a reason to.

Perhaps i'm too principled. If I make a deal with someone I try to keep it. Don't screw the other fella over. And that goes for taxi bookings too. Maybe we're just not putting ourselves into the other person's shoes or in this case behind the cabby's steering wheel. It's all me me me. Yes we all have our grouses with taxi drivers but it doesn't mean we have a natural licence to mess with them.

We're worse for it. Plain and simple. A sad state of affairs.

I should really write more

Look at me, thinking of writing a post on writing. Just out of bed, in some pain somewhere, and already fiddling with the phone. Glasses not even on. Later ah.

A Problem With Sengkang

I recently moved to Sengkang. It was a choice determined by proximity to my nephew (for the weekday delivery of the little monster for my mum to look after with the rotan nearby), availability of a flat within a reasonable walking distance to the MRT (I hate taking feeder buses), how broke I'd be when I sold my soul to HDB, COV, HSBC and other acroymns you read about when people talk about flats, plus other factors.

Having been here a month and a half, I made some conclusions about why Sengkang sucks, or could suck for some.

Urban planners had put on their Utopia hat on when thinking about the transportation scheme here. They imagined brainwashed heartlanders walking in file to LRT stations, pleasantly smiling and hardly distressed by small platforms and closeness with each other, all fillng up small compact metal boxes headng towards the nexus of Sengkang, the all-hallowed MRT/Bus interchange, the heart of this suburb. But all this of course, doesn't quite pan out in real life. All these peak-hour people stuff themselves into small lego-land trains and fall out at the hub to get into bigger moving boxes. Thank God that it's just the Punggolians/Punggolites/Punggolers that board the NE trains down to the city before us Sengkangers/Sengkangites/Sengkangolians enter. So yes things are a little crowded.

The LRT system itself is kinda screwy. From the hub, the trains apparently can venture off in 2 directions in 2 loops around the estate and passengers have to board this confusion at one of two platforms. So there's a 1/8 chance of picking the optimal train. I use the term "apparently" because I can't sometimes figure the signage out. I pity the tourists.

Why couldn't they split the hub role? Sengkangers/Sengkangites/Sengkangolians don't always want to end up at one place. Why put the stress of populace and sweaty bodies in one place? It would have been smarter to spread the LRT network between Buangkok (Yes, the urban planners and SBS Transit of 'white elephant' fame forgot that Buangkok has people and it's also part of Sengkang) and Sengkang. Then the madness of platforms and directions would have been solved. Residents headed to the city would end up taking LRT trains to MRT stations closer to them, splitting the human traffic and the associated craziness in two directions. (Buangkok MRT station would have opened earlier too instead of languishing in Compass Point - Sengkang hub's dust.) It would be smart to invest in this change even now, as the HDB puts up more Sengkang BTOs.

There is only one pan-Sengkang feeder bus. The rest are trunk services that connect between the interchange and some other housing estate. So everyone generally has to pay extra (I think) to get to work and school. The feeder bus also doesn't really connect all the neighbourhoods because they're thinking the LRT does that job. It does but bus stops are far more in existence than LRT stations, walks are shorter to bus stops and people are lazy or don't want to sweat.

On the bright side, there are 3 express bus services to the city in the morning. I hope they make sense for those paying $3-5 for each daily ride. I hope the CTE morning grind doesn't mess things up.

Well that's the state of Sengkang transport. I mean the nomenclature sucks already (come on, Rivervale, Compassvale, Anchorvale and Fernvale with all the usual street types at the end is more than enough to confuse drivers without GPS) so let's just improve the dynamics.