repeat petty bitching...there's she goes again

sorry for her really long winded boring bitching...u can skip after the lst few lines. it's rather anticipating.

From: 邪不能胜正 (LaMei) 04:05
To: ALL

173988.1

25th September 2007

Mr. Baey Yam Keng
Member of Parliament for
Tanjong Pagar GRC, Bukit Merah Division

Dear Sir,

UNRESOLVED ISSUES ARISING FROM BLOCK VISIT ON 4th September 2007


When you came to my unit during a block visit on 04/09/2007, I raised several issues to you and we had the following exchange, set out below for your easy recollection and reference:-

1. My neighbour and I commented on the slow timing of the Singapore Police Force in response to our complaints listed in short as follows:-
There are Indian glue sniffers who often loiter at the staircase and hide there to sniff glue.
Inhalant abuse, a criminal act, is known to intoxicate the abusers who are then predisposed to committing more crimes.
This situation has occurred many times and whenever I call the police, the latter would take 30 to 45 minutes to arrive, by which the time, the suspects would have finished their glue sniffing and left the scene.
I shifted out 2 years back partly because of this situation as I was pregnant and I did not feel that the neighbourhood was safe at times.
I also raised another incident in which I spotted an axe-wielding Indian man sitting in the ABC hawker centre with his eyes fixated on the adjoining car park as if he was waiting to greet someone. I called the police and offered to help identify the axe-wielder.
The axe-wielder must have been loitering around on a frequent basis for the Indian man in your entourage was also able to describe him as limpy and short.
I told you that the police had reasoned that they had to catch him red handed for them to take action. However, in order to apprehend any suspect red-handed, the police must respond in time but they never did so.
2. You trusted the police not to deliberately take their own sweet time to respond and cited the lack of manpower in the Police force as the cause. An Indian male in your entourage who identified himself as a policeman seconded your view.

3. I responded that the lack of manpower was not a valid reason as it is the right of every citizen and resident to be protected by the Singapore Police Force.

4. The grassroots policeman had replied that the Police had other complaints to handle and that our wards have kept them busy. I grew up in Bukit Merah and I know the ward very well and I asked him:-
Whether he was asserting that Bukit Merah was very much unsafe and with a lot of criminal activity necessitating police attention and which leads to slow response time of the Police, and
Since there was indeed so much crime in Bukit Merah, why did not the Police deploy more manpower to cope with the cases?
5. You surprised me by asking me in return, "So Madam, what you think we should do? If no one wants to join the police force we can't force people to join right?¡±

6. To this unimaginative excuse, I told you very frankly that: -

As an MP, you have been given the mandate by the people to find solutions to our complaints; and
If you need me to provide you with the answers, what then are you supposed to do in your position as our Member of Parliament?

7. You quickly retracted your words and instructed your grassroots policeman to look into this matter. You also responded that since my opinion was formed 2 years ago, it might not be justified now as it may not be happening now. [I have since verified with my neighbour that the glue sniffers are still loitering around at times and now of course I am asking for a reply]

Town Council issues

8. Next, my neighbour and I brought up the following issue concerning the management of common areas in our block under the purview of your town council:-
I reside in a point block where the lift lobby area's natural lighting is dim. This is made worse by having doors installed at the staircases such that even during daytime it is dim and made worse when it is cloudy, rainy or overcast
On several occasions, my neighbours, our maids, our children and myself have slipped and fallen because the bad lighting prevented us from seeing that the floor was wet from the rain.
9. As MP and Town Councillor,:-

you asked your accompanying town council staff whether the lights could be switched on when it is cloudy or rainy. The town council staff replied that residents could just call and request the town council to switch the lights on. He added that he needed to check if this was feasible and would revert
You asserted that the doors were a design flaw which you could do nothing about. The staircase and door provides the residents privacy and therefore as residents we should give and take.

10. I replied that staircase doors cause more danger to residents as they provide cover for the glue sniffers. Furthermore residents could be ambushed by robbers hiding behind the staircase doors.

11. You then responded as follows:
to switch the lights on 24 hours a day and 7 days a week would increase the electricity bill and this cost will have to be passed onto the residents. You asked whether or not we would want that.
you cannot accede to every resident¡¯s request and that I would be very surprised at what some of the residents are asking for.

12. I replied that if I am requesting for TC to paint the wall in specific colours, then it is obviously unreasonable, but there is nothing unreasonable about requesting for proper lighting.

13. The Indian follower in your group claimed that in your block visit from the 25th floor to the 7th floor, no one complained about lighting problem except me and then blamed the poor lighting on my neighbour¡¯s bamboo blind.

14. My neighbour explained that the blind prevents children from climbing and rain from coming in but your entourage insisted that blind causes bad lighting.

15. If a mere blind can block natural light and cause lighting problems, what about the staircase doors then?

16. I then asked whether it was your position that since there was indeed nothing you could do about it, the residents would have no choice but to live with the inconvenience stemming from the fault of the person who designed the flats.

17. You then replied that you needed to check with the town council before you could reply to me. You asked to take leave as you had a few more floors to cover, but I managed to raise the following final issue.

The Compulsory Annuity

18. I asked for your position on the proposed Compulsory Annuity. To my surprise, you turned the question around to ask for my opinion. I replied that I was definitely against it for the following reasons:-

CPF money is our money. As owners, we have the right to decide whether or not we need any annuity. It is not for the Government to decide for us
In any event, what proportion of people live beyond 85 years of age? How big is that sector of the population in actual fact
I reminded you that not everyone is as long lived as our great leader Mr. LKY. Furthermore in our generation, with the degree of stress and pollution environment, not many can even make it to their 60s.
For the small percentage fortunate to lives beyond 60, the Government should do its duty to look after them and not pass the responsibility to others
Our generation, being more educated, will know the importance of planning for our future retirement, and we do not need the Government to tell us what to do and what to buy for retirement.

19. You replied with the extremely common tagline these days: "To wait for 17 Sept, when all the details are out before adopting such a negative view about this annuity scheme".

20. I replied that knowing the style of the PAP government:

By the time the details are released on the 17 Sept parliamentary hearing, there will simply be another rubber-stamping exercise, and the fate of all those aged 50 or below will be sealed
One need not look very far into history for examples of such arrogance: the GST increase, Presidential, Parliamentarian and Ministerial salary increments: Once the details are out, the decision is passed and our fate is sealed!

21. You then responded as follows:

You referred to statistics which purportedly show that almost 50% of the current population will benefit from the annuity scheme
You threw the challenge for me to walk around Block 3 to witness the large number of single old folk or those abandoned by their children and who have no one to look after them
You cited the need for the government to increase the pool of resources to help those who have no means of supporting themselves in old
age.

22. You tried to lower my manifest resistance by commenting that you believe that I would not need to rely on the annuity because I would have planned for my own retirement.

23. I pointed out to you the following:-

The current older generation who could live to an old age would not benefit from the proposed annuity scheme as it applies only to those aged 50 or below
Furthermore, like my case where I have my own retirement plan, why is the government still making it compulsory for these people who are better-off to buy the annuity
Should it not be every citizen's personal right to decide how we spend our CPF money? CPF Money is after all our money AND NOT the Government's money.

24. You then tried to justify the compulsory annuity scheme's workability on the following reason that the cost would only be a few thousand dollars.

25. I replied that being an MP who makes $13.5k per month and maybe possibly much more, a few thousands is not a lot to you, but if you being the MP were to take a walk around Block 3 as you have suggested, you would realize that a few thousand dollars would be enough to feed several families for a single month.

26. You declined to continue the discussion on the reason that you had to take leave to cover the remaining floors. Before you left you advised my neighbour and I to read a well written article by a financial adviser who is not related to the Government who had given a good insight on this annuity issue in the previous Friday's Today newspaper.

27. I replied you that the article was all crap and that a number of my friends and I were going to write a letter to refute that article and that I would forward a copy of that letter to you. The letter drafted jointly with my friends on the compulsory annuity will be forwarded to you in due course.

28. In the meantime, this letter serves to remind you that the outstanding issues raised at the above block visit are still outstanding which I am now seeking your replies / action on the same.

29. My name, address and contact number was recorded by one member of your 10-man strong entourage, therefore I do believe that you would have not difficulty remembering me and the above conversation.

I look forward to receiving your reply.
只许州官放火，不许百姓点灯！