More people will fall into the same trap

I received a desperate plea for help from an widow who lost a lot of money on failed investments made on the advice of the relationship manager of a bank. The victim was advised to invest in dual currency and other linked products on the assurance that they were "safe". The bad advice was given in spite of her constant reminder to the relationship manager that she did not want to take risk!

I gave this reply to her.

I have come across many cases that are similar to yours. It is indeed very sad that our Government allowed this type of environment to continue for so long and does not step in to check the abuse.
The only way for a victim to get justice is to take the case to court. Here the odds are overwhelming. It is costly to fight against the big legal firms engaged by the bank. Furthermore, the court tend to apply the law rigidly and hold the victim responsible for signing away their rights in the forms that were given to them by the bank.
Another avenue is to write to the newspaper, but many victims prefer to be anonymous.
Due to these reasons, these cases are not publicized and more people fall into the trap over the years .
Are you willing to consider what needs to be done, i.e. to take the case to court or to write to the newspaper?

I wish to write this word of advice to all readers of my blog. Do not invest in complex financial products, especially those that are being sold to you by financial advisers or relationship managers. Many of these advisers might be ignorant of the risks of these products themselves, so they may be honest in telling you that they are safe (and they are mistaken!). They work for the banks that you have trusted for many years, but regrettably, the bank does not wish to take the responsibility for the bad advice and failed investments.

Please help to pass this message to your friends, so that they can avoid making the same mistake.

Happy New Year 2012

A pro-active regulator acting on behalf of consumers

Verizon (a telephone operator in the US) wanted to charge a "convenience fee" of $2 to its customers making a payment through the telephone. It drew protest from consumers. The regulator, i.e. the Federal Communication Commission, felt that it was their duty to look into this fee "on behalf of consumers" to see if any regulation has been infringed.  Verizon changed its mind and decided to withdraw this fee.

Read this report "Verizon scraps $2 fee" http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/30/technology/verizon_fee_canceled/index.htm?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29

The approach of the regulator in America seem to be quite different from the regulator in Singapore. The US regulator felt that it was their duty to look after the interest of the people. The Singapore regulator would probably say that this is a commercial decision, and that consumers could go to another service provider.

I prefer the US approach.

Today Voices: Automatic notification for Payment

Editor, Voices, Today


I CONGRATULATE the Singapore Land Authority for introducing an electronic system to allow lawyers to notify the banks of details of payments paid into conveyancing accounts, instead of using hard copy forms. This is a useful step to reduce paperwork and improve productivity.

I notice however, that this is an initiative taken by an agency to cover only a small section of the transactions. It still requires the payer to take a separate step to send a notification to the payee.

I urge our banks in Singapore to introduce a common system for electronic payment and notification. This system can ride on the existing security infrastructure of the banks to validate the payers and allow them to make electronic payments through a common payment gateway to the payee accounts. The process should include an electronic notification to be sent to the payees. 

This type of arrangement has been in force for several years for payments through PayPal. It is time to update our antiquated payment process to match the best in practice in other countries, and to reduce the large volume of cheque payments and notification letters that still flood our mailboxes.

I hope that the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore will take the lead to make this long-overdue change.


Tan Kin Lian

Managing personal risks

Here are some tips on when you should buy insurance and when you should self-insure (i.e. retain) the risk.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=445

Electronic payment and notification

The Singapore Land Authority has introduced a useful system to allow lawyers to notify banks of payments through an electronic notification, instead of manual forms. More details here:
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/Singaporeinbrief/EDC111230-0000022/Conveyancing-through-ePI-for-property-lawyers

However, this still requires a separate exercise for the payer to notify the payee. A better system is to allow the payments to be notified automatically - similar to payment through Pay Pal. The banks in Singapore should adopt a common system to allow all payments to be transferred electronically and notified automatically. This system should cover all types of payments, and should not required any agency, such as the SLA, to set up a separate system for the notification.

Legal responsibilities in the Internet

Many people do not realize that hacking is a crime and that defamation through the internet can be prosecuted as a civil suit. Read this article to get a better understanding of your legal responsibilities. http://www.todayonline.com/TechandDigital/Digital/EDC111230-0000020/Social-media--Do-you-know-the-legal-lines?

Stop taxis from cruising the road - a suggestion from Mr. Lee WL

Please share your views to this idea contributed by Mr. Lee WL


My idea:
- Taxi companies to build big carparks in different parts of Singapore to house all the taxis.
- Taxi drivers can take a rest, surf internet and interact with one another in rest areas.
- Each driver will take queue up for taxi booking calls from customers
- They will drive to the customer's location only when they get a booking
- They will drive back to one of these "big taxi carparks" to queue for customers again


Benefits:
- Reduces fuel wastage (substantially). No taxis cruising on the roads. Environmentally-friendly.
- Reduces fuel costs for taxi drivers (substantially).
- Less road congestion. Empty cruising taxis on roads are not using the space they occupy on public roads "productively".
- More rest for taxi drivers. They need not cruise around Singapore to look for customers. Probably will reduce accident rates too.
- More productive use of time. They can use the queuing time at rest centres to rest, surf internet, self-study, interact with other drivers and do other more productive things.
- Possibily cheaper taxi rides. Because of substantial reduction in costs.
- More people may be more open to becoming taxi drivers because of better working conditions and higher pay (is it possibe?)


Disadvantages:
- Longer taxi waiting time for commuters. Taxis need time to travel from these "big taxi centres". Possible solution: when commuters get used to this new system, they will call to book taxi before they leave their homes. This reduces the waiting time. When this system is in place, it will also mean that commuters need not waste time trying to flag for taxis along roads. They know that the only way they can get a taxi is through booking calls.


In conclusion, empty taxis cruising on public roads is:
1. Waste of the drivers' time
2. Unproductive use of space on public roads
3. Not environmentally-friendly
4. Increases costs of operating taxis


Mr. Lee WL

An app for the elderly

This is a useful app to trace the location of elderly people and children. http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC111229-0000032/An-app-for-the-elderly

A fair compensation for infringement of copyright

About six years ago, a website owner sued more than a hundred companies and government bodies for the unauthorized use of the digital maps provided in their website. The amount claimed was over $3,000 per map. The amount claimed was clearly exorbitant, as the loss of revenue suffered by the website or the cost of producing the map was nowhere near the amount claimed.

It was likely that nearly all of these parties were not aware that they were infringing the copyright. Some of these used parties had used more than 10 maps, so the total amount claimed was quite substantial.

To my knowledge, most of the infringing parties settled the claims out of court by paying the website owner close to the amount claimed, perhaps after a small discount. It was quite sad that the leaders of these large companies and government bodies were not prepared to fight in court against an excessive and unconscionable claim, and were prepared to pay a hefty sum of money (using the monies of their shareholders and taxpayers) just to avoid the negative publicity about being sued.

The website owner must have collected several million dollars of settlement from these parties. The legal claims were handled by a lawyer that specialized in making these legal claims. The lawyer firm must have collected a large amount of legal fees from these cases.

I personally knew about a company that was sued. The staff had used more than 10 digital maps a few years earlier and was not aware that he was infringing the copyright. That company refused to pay the exorbitant claim but offered an amount representing their estimate of the cost of producing the maps. The website owner took the case to court but finally dropped the case. Details of the out of court settlement was not disclosed. This was perhaps the only case that went to court.

I heard another story (but not verified) that a local university had paid more than one million dollars to settle a copyright claim where a student had uploaded a video, without permission, into the university's website. I was shocked at the purported amount of the settlement over a trivial matter, especially as the payment was probably made out of public funds. I could not image any justification for the video clip owner to receive such a large payment,which is tantamount to an extortion! This could be just a rumour.

Nevertheless, I wish to call on our Ministry of Law to pass a law to clarify the principles to determine the amount of compensation that should be paid for the use of copyright materials. The lack of clarity has led to an unsatisfactory situation where legal firms, which specialize in making these types of claims, could claim exorbitant amounts, and the sued parties were forced to make exorbitant payments due to the lack of clarity.

ST Online Forum: Consider a semi-regulated taxi system

Published in Straits Times Online Forum:

AFTER deregulation, the taxi service has become progressively worse over the years and there is much public unhappiness ('Cab fares: Deregulation hasn't improved service' by Mr Liew Chin Wen; 'Takings down, but...' by Ms Koh Lee Suan; and 'Fare confusion' by Dr Gil Simon Schneider; all last Saturday).

Taxi fares have become more complicated, confusing and expensive over the years. Taxis are not available at certain times of the day, not because of high demand but because of an artificially created shortage.

It is time to recognise the failure of deregulation and to move to a semi-regulated system.

I suggest that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) introduce a regulated basic taxi service that operates as follows:

- All taxis picking up passengers on the road or at taxi stands should have regulated fares.

- The regulated fares could be based on a fixed flag-down rate plus a fare based on distance, or a higher fare based on the trip time, to compensate the taxi driver for traffic congestion, for example 60 cents a km or 40 cents a minute, whichever is higher. Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges can continue to be added.

- There is no need for peak-hour surcharges, as the taxi driver is already compensated for time spent in slow-moving traffic.

- A centralised taxi booking system can be operated by a service provider appointed by the LTA to match taxi drivers and customers for a flat fee of $1.

- The fares can be reviewed at six-monthly intervals by a fare-setting body with the aim of matching supply and demand.

- Individual taxi drivers, as well as taxi companies, can apply for a licence to participate in this basic taxi service.

The taxi companies can continue to operate their special services, based on their terms, conditions and fares, but they would have to take bookings through telephone calls from customers who are aware that they are paying a higher rate for the non-basic service.

A mixed system with a regulated basic service, complemented by deregulated special services can best serve the needs of commuters and taxi drivers, and bring some order and simplicity to the current chaotic situation.

Tan Kin Lian

Copyright and the free flow of information

There is an article in Today paper written by William Patry, who is an author of a book on copyright and the senior legal counsel of Google. The arguments given in the article entitiled "Promote creativity? Encourage copying" are convincing. Although Google has a strong interest to promote the free flow of information, I support their stand. I believe that right of the copyright owner to claim for payment should be restricted to the amount that  can claim for actual loss due to the copying activity.

Read the full article here: http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/EDC111229-0000015/Promote-creativity?-Encourage-copying

Who's in charge of bird nuisance

Read this CNA report about the bird nuisance and the uncertainty on which agency is in charge of the problem.
This type of problem and is typical of Singapore and is part of our culture to push responsibility from one party to another.

The answer to this problem is straight forward. We have only one Government. The problem can be taken by any government agency and is then passed internally to the right agency to handle the problem. The uncertainty should not even be known to the public. 

Here are the survey results

Political salaries
Regulated taxi service

Smart Alec and the dubious investment products

Some Smart Alec still hold the view, similar to our PAP leaders, that the ordinary people should be more carefully about their investments and deserve to be cheated if they venture into unfamiliar areas. These people overlook the following points:

•  Some of the investment products are downright scams; other products are dubious and take advantage of the less savvy
• The unwary investors were forced to consider other investments as the interest rate on bank deposits had fallen to nearly zero!
• These dubious products are created by "talented" people who have no qualms about ripping off the unwary
• The people who sell the products to their friends might even have been unaware about the toxic nature of these products
• The dubious products are being sold under the banner of the financial institutions that they had trusted for decades.

If the argument of these Smart Alec were to be followed, then there is no need for the Government to test pharmaceutical products. The public should be careful about buying the products that are being sold to them. If they are not familiar with these pharmaceutical products, they should not consume them. 

We know that the argument does not hold in the case of pharmaceutical products, and that the Ministry of Health takes the responsibility to test and approve the products. They do not expect the doctors to take this responsibility.

One day, the victims of these dubious investment products will be the family members of these Smart Alec. Then they will realize what harm they have been causing to their loved ones.

Re-structure the economy - reduce the financial industry

During the past two decades, too many talented people entered the finance industry. Wall Street attracted the top graduates from the best business schools. These firms, with their talented people, created financial products that built up asset bubbles and encouraged speculation. The excesses had been damaging and nearly caused the collapse of the global economy.

The financial firms are now cutting down on their payroll. The top graduates could not find jobs in these financial firms any more. They have to look for opportunities elsewhere. This new trend, away from the financial industry, will be good for the economy.

We faced the same challenges in Singapore. In past years, the top graduates have opted to join the large banks - which were able to pay top salaries due to the profits that they made through the sale of dubious financial products and through unproductive speculative trading. Even the people who do not quality to be top graduates opted to be property or insurance agents, to earn high commission.

If too many people enter into these industries, which are the non-productive sectors of the economy, there will be less people available to do the productive work - to build products, to provide personal services or to prevent crime and upkeep the law.

The high cost incurred in the financial sector, i.e. the high salaries and commissions, could be justified if the value of the assets keep going up in a bubble. However, when the bubble burst, the damage could be severe for the economy and the losses have to be borne by the ordinary people - through loss of jobs and drop in their asset values.

America has found it difficult to re-structure their economy. Although the political leaders now realize what need to be done, the vested interest in the financial industry are fighting hard against change.

Singapore is still in the dream world of glorifying the financial industry and still aims to be a financial hub. It will be more difficult for our leaders to realize the harm that is being caused by the excesses of the financial industry and have the courage to make the change.

The flaw in the concept of Value at Risk.
Morgan Stanley cuts jobs.

National Service for Permanent Residents

According to this article in The Online Citizen, one in three permanent residents renounced their citizenship to avoid serving National Service. There is a suspicion that these renouncers might have subsequently been given favourable treatment in getting a place in our universities. If this suspicion is found to be true, it would make a mockery of the sacrifice that is being made by our male citizens in serving the country.

I understand the difficulty faced by the Government in this difficult situation. They are keen to have more people become citizens or even to remain as permanent residents, rather than to lose them due to National Service. Regretfully, this difficult situation has been created by the Government due to its own inconsistent policies.

A better approach would have been to make it a privilege to serve National Service. Many who had served National Service have said that the experience was beneficial to them in improving their character and maturity. The disadvantage was financial.

It would have been better if the Government had paid a generous allowance for people who served full time National Service - an allowance that is comparable to what they would have earned if they had been working in the private sector. Alternatively, the Government could have given them a housing grant of (say) $30,000 for their 24 months of National Service, which would have helped them to afford a HDB flat. The Government is already giving a housing grant to many people, as the HDB flat would have been unaffordable without the grant. It would have been better for the grant to be tied to the completion of full time National Service.

If such a scheme had been in place, it would have been a win-win situation for most people. Many of the permanent residents would have opted to serve National Service for the generous housing grant and the benefit of character development. Singapore would not have lost so many permanent residents that it would have wished to keep.

I know that the Government would have another difficult question of how to deal with past generations of people who served National Service in earlier years. It would not be difficult to find a fair solution - although I do not have any ready answer. When there is a will, there is a way.

What are your views?

Survey results - basic taxi service

Here are the views of 40 people concerning the quality of taxi service in Singapore and suggestions for changes to the system. http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=608

Survey on Taxi Service

Please take part in this survey on Taxi Service in Singapore
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BTTFHVJ

To all readers of my blog

Survey results - political salaries

Find out what the respondents felt should be the appropriate cut in the Prime Minister's salary and what they think will be recommended by Gerard Ee's committee. There is a big gap.
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=607

Survey - recommendation on Minister's salary

Gerard Ee's committee is expected to hand over its report by 31 December. Guess what will be their recommendation. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BPM37GN

VBox from SingPost

Shaun Lee introduced the VBox from SingPost. Any body used this service before? What is your experience? Is it useful? http://www.vpost.com.sg/vpost/images/public/vbox/faq.html

Two perspectives - Sim Ann and Lucky Tan

Lucky Tan makes two interesting points that challenges the prevailing PAP point of view:

• Some people abuse welfare, so we have to make it difficult for people to abuse the system (Lucky Tan said that this makes it more difficult for genuine cases to get help).
• Europe has fallen due to its welfare stage (Lucky Tan said that the problem in Ireland and Spain is due to the bursting of the property bubble).

I agree with Lucky Tan on both points. We have to be careful that Singapore is also riding on a property bubble. While it is still going up, we may feel happy. But, we cannot escape the fate that has happened in many countries.

Read more in the article by Lucky Tan. And share your views here.

Reduce over-reliance on MRT

We are now over-reliant on the MRT station. A breakdown of the train service, due to technical fault or terrorism, could cause chaos. Should we build up a complementary system, using buses, to reduce this over-reliance and build up the capacity that is badly needed during the next few years (before the new MRT lines are open)? How can this be done?

I suggest to allow express buses to operate between the bus interchanges. These buses do not stop to pick passengers along the road. They can use the bus lanes and travel quickly. There should be a local service using small buses and local taxis to bring people from their homes to these interchanges. Do you like this concept?

Information on Company Website

I urge each company to put the following information on its company website in the "Home" page or the "Contact Us" page - name, address, telephone, fax and email address.
See the example on the right.

This allows the public to send letters (in soft copy) to them at their corporate e-mail address. Their staff can forward the letter to the relevant person to handle.

Provide feedback on Wireless@SG

The director in charge of infrastructure development wishes to get feedback on locations where Wirelss@SG is not working well. Please send the feedback to them at the following:

• Email: wireless@ida.gov.sg
• SMS:  Simply follow the format below and send it to 79777:
• IDA  E mail  Your comments
• Example: IDA user_email@hotmail.com Cannot connect to Wireless@SG at Site A
• SMS length to be within 160 characters
• Visit us at http://wireless.infocomm123.sg  for more information on Wireless@SG.

Merry Christmas

To all readers of my blog: 

Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2012

Tan Kin Lian

ST Forum: Replace queuing with online registration

Published in ST Forum

THERE was a stampede at the launch of a new smartphone in Central Jakarta in November ('BlackBerry maker's woes in Indonesia'; Dec 13). In Singapore, there was a long queue for the launch of the Bedok Residences condominium ('Bedok project draws long queue, but...'; Nov22).

We have also experienced long queues for primary school registrations and for tickets to popular events.

The system of queuing for priority is archaic, poses hygiene and social problems, and could lead to disputes and disorder.

We need to have a more practical way of allocating priority. All interested parties could be given sufficient time to register their interest before a closing date through an online system. The priority could be decided by balloting or drawing lots through an electronic system that can be verified to be transparent and fair.

It should be possible for such an online system to be shared by any organiser, replacing the queuing system. The authorities may have to step in to promote such an alternative arrangement for the sake of transparency and orderliness.

Tan Kin Lian

Usage based data plans

The mobile operators intend to introduce usage based charges for their data plans, instead of unlimited usage. Details are shown in this Business Times report:

StarHub, SingTel may revise charges to deter hefty usage
By JOYCE HOOI (SINGAPORE)
The telcos' crusade against virtually unlimited mobile data usage might soon be upon 3G shores.
StarHub and SingTel are taking a good look at revising their 3G price plans, the two telcos told BT yesterday.
StarHub said that it may 'review current (3G) pricing plansand consider introducing usage-based data pricing', in response to BT's queries.

I do not mind paying usage based charges. I have a plan that limits my data usage to 1G, but the actual usage is only 500 M a month. I have now upgraded to a cheaper plan that provides 16G, but I don't think that it is necessary.

Hotlines to call taxis

Removing peak hour surcharge

The regulators allowed taxi companies to levy surcharge during peak hours - the reasoning is that the hire fares will encourage more taxi drivers to come forward to pick up passengers. But this has an unintended consequence - many taxi drivers are not available during the short period before the surcharge come into effect, creating an artificial shortage.

In other cities, there is no peak hour surcharge, so they do not have this artificial shortage. Perhaps the taxi drivers are already compensated during the peak hours based on travelling time, in addition to distance. If they are caught in a slow moving traffic, they will get additional fare based on the time.

Perhaps this is a new way to fix the taxi fares - based on distance and travelling time. If the fare is low - where the taxi is stuck in congestion, the taxi driver can get an additional fare based on the time spent. For example, the fare can be $0.60 per km or $0.40 per min, whichever is higher. If the trip is 15 km and took 20 min, the fare is the distanced based fare of $9 (as it is higher than the time based fare of $8) plus a flag down fare. In normal circumstances, the distance based fare is more than adequate, so the time based fare does not need to come in.

I believe that this fare system may be easier to understand and can compensate the taxi driver during peak hours when the traffic is slow.

Pre-paid SIM card of other countries

There is a small company operating in Singapore that sells the pre-paid SIM card of other countries. You can buy the SIM card from their distributors in Singapore. You can forward your Singapore calls to the number in the pre-paid SIM cards through VOIP. You do not need to search for the pre-paid SIM card at the airport on your arrival. More information can be obtained from their website: www.trusling.com.

Set the benchmark

Some people argue that the government should not be involved in providing services, such as public transport, communication services or health care - that these services are better left to the market.

There are two arguments for the government to be involved:

• Where the services are provided by large businesses with strong pricing power, such as in our public transport and communication services
• Where there is the need to set a benchmark for the prices - such as in health care

In these cases, the government can play in regulating the prices and standard of service, to be used as a benchmark for special services to be provided by the private sector to serve special needs. For example, if the fare for travelling a certain distance on public transport is known, consumers can form a decision to pay a higher price to take taxis or other types of private transport.

It would be best for the services to be provided by many private operators following the benchmark prices. If the benchmark prices are too low, there will be lower supply and higher demand, leading to imbalance. In that situation, the prices can be raised so that the supply and demand becomes more balanced. There is still a need for flexibility in adjusting prices and judgement to be made in this regulated environment.

Health care is another important area to be regulated. The public needs to know the price and standard to be expected for certain types of treatment. They can use them to judge the performance in the private sector.

I urge the government to be more active in setting the regulations, but to allow flexibility so that the regulated prices and standards can meet the changing needs.  Please share  your views.

ST Online Forum: Get client approval for CDP access

Editor,
ST Forum Page

I SHARE the concern of Mr Eng Tiang Chuan ('Guard against rogue brokers'; yesterday) about allowing stockbrokers to have unrestricted access to their clients' accounts in the Central Depository (CDP).

This concern can be alleviated if the access is on the specific approval of the client. At present, the client has to open a trading account with his specific stockbroker, which is already linked to the CDP account. It would be quite easy to modify the system to allow the client to indicate if the specific broker is allowed to view the CDP account.

In my case, I would be happy to allow my trusted stockbroker to access my account. If there are specific actions that need to be taken - for example, rights issues - I would like my stockbroker to alert me, so that I could take the appropriate action to protect my interests.

If I do not take up the rights issue, for example, I could sell the rights in the market, rather than let it lapse due to an oversight.

There could be other corporate events that the client might benefit from after being alerted and advised by a stockbroker, provided the stockbroker knows that the client has some holdings in the shares of that company.

I wish to suggest another feature - the CDP should allow the client to see an audit trail of the people who have viewed the holdings in the CDP.

This will give the confidence that only the authorised persons had made the access, for a legitimate purpose.

Tan Kin Lian

To all readers of my blog ....

Good and bad regulations

Some people have the idea that all regulations are bad - they add to cost and cause trouble for the ordinary people. This is the propaganda of some people, most notably the Republican politicians in America - they argue that Government is bad and should be kept as small as possible.

If we study the issues carefully, we will realize that the propaganda is flawed. What will happen to our society, if there are no laws and regulations, if every person can do what they want, if the powerful can bully the weak and get away with it, if people can cheat other people of their money?

We do need laws to identify what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, what is lawful and not lawful. If the Government and the law makers fail to carry out their duty, society must surely become chaotic and uncertain. People will have to take costly measures to protect their personal interest. This may be more costly, than for the measures to be taken collectively by the Government or behalf of the citizens.

Certainly, there are useless and wasteful regulations that do not add value and increase the cost and create wasteful bureaucracy. We see them all the time. The bureaucrats justify them on flimsy grounds, such as "security" and "privacy".

We should not create or continue the useless measures blindly. We should examine, from time to time, the cost and benefit of the measures, and look for more practical solutions. Even if the solution involves some risk, we may have to accept the risk, if the risk is remote and the cost of preventing it is excessive. Judgement has to be made.

I want to point out that there is a difference between good and bad regulations, and that judgement has to be made by the people in charge. It is often a balance between the cost and benefits - a need to get the facts and use the right moral values to make a decision.  It would be wrong to blindly state that all regulations are necessary, or that they are bad.

What I fear for Singapore is that the people in charge are not taking the responsibility to make the judgement, on the grounds that it can be left to the market. The unwillingness to accept responsibility, to have an open mind, to discuss with the affected people - have now become the prevailing culture in Singapore.

Please share your views on this matter.

Set up a regulated basic taxi service with centralized booking

This is the full text of my letter sent to Today paper. The editor has made some changes to shorten my letter that was published in the newspaper.

EditorVoicesToday Paper
I agree with Lin Tai (Today paper, 20 Dec 11) that booking fees for taxis should be capped at $1. The current taxi service in Singapore is clearly unsatisfactory - poor service, lower utilization of taxis (while taxi drivers wait for surcharges and additional fees) and high cost for commuters.

It is time for the Land Transport Authority to review the current model of deregulated taxi fares, which has not been working well for a long time.  

I suggest that the authority should now regulate the taxi fares and booking fee for the basic taxi service that is allowed to pick passengers on the road. The Authority can also appoint a service provider to operate a centralized booking service to allow commuters to call any licensed taxi for this nominal fee. This will make it unnecessary for each taxi company to install its own expensive booking system. It will also provide better utilization of taxis and better response time to commuters. 

 Individual taxi drivers can also be allowed to get a license to operate this basic service, without being tied to a taxi company. This will open up the market to real competition.

Apart from the regulated basic taxi service, the taxi companies can be allowed to operate their own non-standard services. They can charge their own fees for the special service and can take calls at the booking lines. These special taxis should be identified separately and cannot be allowed to pick up passengers on the road.

Tan Kin Lian

Could it be due to sabotage?

I wonder if the damage to the collector shoes in the MRT trains could be due to sabotage? After all, we knew about the inadequate security in the MRT depots where vandals were allowed to deface the trains. Any views?

Provide a complete service

The Open Net contractor came to install the connection to my home. They found an internal pipe was blocked. They asked me to get another contractor to fix the problem. This created a problem of communicating between different sets of contractors.

It would have been better if the Open Net contractor had arranged with their sub-contractor to do the necessary work, and to quote a reasonable fee for this work. The home owner does not want to spend the hassle of engaging another contractor and making the coordination. The problem faced by the home owner became the problem of Open Net anyway.

I face a similar problem with installing a telephone line. The contractor will point out what they do not do, and ask me to get another contractor to do the additional work. It would have been better to have reasonable rates set for the additional services.

This type of "pushing responsibility" around is now the culture in Singapore. This is why things become so troublesome and expensive. We need a  new approach - to provide a complete service at reasonable charge. The regulator must come in to do their part, to set the right environment. By leaving matters to the market, it becomes so confusing for consumers.

Online form for SMRT

I wanted to send an e-mail to the SMRT. I could not find their company e-mail address of fax number. I was only able to send an online form. It was a formidable form, enough to discourage communication. I hope that all organizations will provide a company e-mail address for the public to send emails directly to their inbox.

ST Online Forum - run parallel bus services

I SUPPORT the suggestion by Mr Christopher Jude Loh ('Viable alternative'; yesterday) to allow more buses to be deployed on a permanent basis to run parallel to the rail system.

The recent breakdown of the SMRT trains should wake up the people in charge.

It is better for the buses to be operated by private operators, who should be given a licence by the Land Transport Authority to operate this service. This will truly provide competition to SMRT and help to moderate its fare increases. It will also relieve the congestion on the trains, which now happens at most hours of the day. It will provide a true market alternative to commuters.

I suggest that the fares to be charged by the bus operators should be pegged to the same level as the SMRT fares. While this may appear to be on the high side, it will increase the supply of buses, especially from hard-working private bus operators.

The increased supply will reduce the demand for the train services and will force SMRT to reduce fares. Given the choice between standing in crowded trains and having a seat (I hope) on a bus at the same fare, some people may opt for buses, even if the travel time is longer.

There are other practical issues to be considered, such as the heavy investment required by private operators to buy a bus and install the fare system, but they can be addressed when there is a will to find a solution.

This will be market competition truly at work.

Tan Kin Lian

Get rid of these bad icons

Here are the bad icons that have come to represent Singapore today.

ERP - adding cost to cars and taxi fares
GST - adds to cost of living
Highest paid political leaders
FT - I find this word offensive
Casinos
Avoid responsibility - start from the top
Excuses

Do you have any to add?

Restoring our icons

There were several icons that Singaporeans had been proud of -

• CPF - adequate savings for retirement
• HDB - affordable housing
• MRT - reliable and clean
• Environment - clean, green and crime free

One after another is falling down. It is quite sad. Apart from blaming the government for the failures, what can we do to put matters right?

New financial rules to take effect from 1 January 2012

From next year, you will have to go through a financial adviser to invest in unit trusts. You cannot invest in them directly, unless you prove that you have the financial knowledge. This new rule has its positive and negative points. But its most negative point is that it does not address the underlying issue that it is trying to correct.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/19/singapore-funds-idUSL3E7N73ZT20111219

ST Online Forum - avoid tonnes of wasted paper

Published in ST Online Forum, 19 December 2011

EACH day, I receive several items of mail in my letter box. After a few days, the mail for a household becomes quite a large bundle.

Many are marketing fliers, unwanted magazines and other junk mail. Legitimate business mail is mixed with the junk mail and could be overlooked.

It would be more convenient and efficient if more businesses sent their regular clients statements and other materials in soft copy through e-mail, rather than physical mail.

They will save on printing and mailing costs and provide more convenient service to their customers. The option to receive the mail in soft or hard copy can be left to each individual customer.

Perhaps the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore could set up a portal for the people to indicate their preference. They can log into this portal to give their name, identity card details, home and e-mail addresses and indicate their preference to receive mail in soft copy. They should be required to authenticate their preference with SingPass.

The approved government or business organisations should be allowed to check their customers' identity card details against this database.

If there is a match, the home and e-mail addresses can be provided to the organisation to verify the request, update its database and to send its materials in soft copy in the future.

The relevant authority can approve the organisations that are allowed to access this database, on an undertaking by the organisations to observe a code of conduct and approved usage.

This centralised system of recording the individual's preference will be convenient for both individuals and organisations.

It will be a major step to convert a large number of individuals to the new method of receiving mail and cut down on the tonnes of paper that is now being generated and delivered.

We will see a significant reduction in our business costs and better use of our resources.

I hope the relevant government agency will take up this challenge.

Tan Kin Lian

PAP government policies

Alex Au has written an excellent article about how the PAP government is trying to change its policies. Read here.  My own view, which is quite similar to Alex, is that this is quite difficult - as it has to do with their culture and beliefs. But, if they adopt the values of honesty, fairness, courage, positive attitude and public service, they can find the way.

ST Forum: Provide Effective Alert System

This letter in the ST Forum highlights the importance of communication and customer service, in handling an emergency or unexpected overload. Many businesses fail in this task. I read about the delay in the Open Net company and had experienced with the same underlying issue - they were not able to cope with the high workload. This is an important task that big organizations have to deal with, and their existing systems cannot cope. I hope that the big experience of SMRT will get the leaders of the big organizations, including our government agencies, to pay attention to this issue.

SMRT has launched a Twitter feed to give updates on train service disruptions ('More help for passengers'; yesterday). While this is a step in the right direction and an immediate improvement to the provision of timely and accurate information to the public, we have to be mindful that the majority of people do not have Twitter accounts.
But almost all residents of Singapore have a mobile phone. So SMRT and all other major public transport providers, including taxi companies, should provide SMS alerts on any disruption to their services.
Using SMS alerts would greatly enhance public accessibility to such information. As we witnessed during two days of major train service disruptions, travelling on other modes of public transport also was affected as a result, with overcrowded bus stops, long queues at taxi stands and a long wait for buses.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and our public transport operators could learn from the National Environment Agency and national water agency PUB, which provide effective and timely round-the-clock SMS alert services for heavy rain and high water levels.
Registrations for the services are easy and the SMS alerts are reliable and extremely useful.
To make transport service disruption information via SMS alerts more accessible, there could be an option for the public to get the alerts in other languages as well, apart from English. This would help address feedback that the electronic displays, written notices and signage at the stations were in English only.
Effective remedies to the train service disruptions may take some time to implement and we cannot rule out more disruptions in the coming days. While the LTA and SMRT may not be able to provide quick solutions to the technical problems, enhancing the flow of information to the public can be done much faster.
Lee Kai Yin

Alex Au had also written an excellent article on the same issue - communication and the flow of information. I invite you to read it. Read it here.

What is the solution for big companies? They have to find an innovative way to deal with customers, to improve communication, to handle the large workload.  Here are some suggestions.

Case study of Dropbox
How to improve customer service