Smoke, mirrors, bungalows and mistresses

People care way too much about a couple of colleagues fucking each other. The only people who should care this much are the aggrieved spouses and the family members who were hurt and embarrassed.  If you are not one of them, then shut the fuck up already. Who cares?

The fact that they fucked or are still fucking doesn't affect you in the least bit. So quit the vomit-inducing moralizing. 

But do you know what is detrimental to you, the hardworking taxpayer slogging 10-14 hours a day to make ends meet?

1)     That the Government apparently provides a special class of rental properties, one in which only a TINY TINY group of people may afford, in particular, those who can comfortably pay >20k a month in rent. Suffice to say, a real tiny and privileged bunch including people like, say, K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan.

2)     That the Government is happy to willy-nilly spend close to half a million tax dollars to make these properties "habitable".  Imagine renting out your house for 20k per month but you need to first incur 500k to make the property "habitable".  The SLA is either the most generous or stupidest landlord alive.  Except the cost of said generosity (or stupidity) is borne by you and I.  This coming from a Government who is always preaching prudence and telling you that they need to raise more revenue to meet a growing Budget. Maybe it is high time we tell this Government to spend our dollars more prudently and perhaps we won't need to keep raising the GST. 

3)      That this special class of rental properties can be (legally) rented without taking into account land size. Yes, indeed, what the actual fuck right? So this Government cannot lease HDBs to the average Singaporean minus land cost because, you know, that would be raiding our reserves.  But when it comes to renting out country club-sized bungalows to a tiny group of privileged doorknobs, land use (however grotesquely huge and disproportionate) is apparently not a concern. Right.  Move along, nothing to see here. 

4)      That until today, nearly 10 days after a Cabinet Minister was arrested by our anti-graft agency, Singaporeans still have no idea exactly what the Minister is being investigated for.  Of course, this case is under investigation and certain details cannot be disclosed for fear of compromising said investigation and all that. Blah blah.  But absolutely nothing at all? Zilch? Not even vaguely the nature of misconduct being investigated? Come on. This Government owes its people a duty of candor. All the more so when it involves a person at the apex of power in the Government. We must expect the Government to do better.  

And despite the infinitely more important issues at play which affect the livelihood of each and every taxpayer, the media seems bent on covering soap opera stories about who fucked who and whose driver decided to suddenly become a beacon of righteous justice blabbermouth. Indeed, why let the critical issues of Government prudence and transparency get in the way of reporting scandalous affairs? Much more interesting this way, and perhaps, also a welcome distraction for the paymasters.