I’m not sure if I should spill the beans or should I just let you guys read the letter first. So, the easiest thing is to let you guys read it for yourself and when you are ready to look at all the self-pwning statements, you can continue to click to read more. =)

First, the original complaint letter.

Insert graciousness into URA’s grace period

RECENTLY, I was taught the realities of official graciousness by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). On April 23, in response to a request by Singapore General Hospital (SGH) for blood platelets, I went to the hospital about 11am. To my chagrin, my usual EPS (ERP Payment System) Carpark H was undergoing some work, and the other carparks were full.

After circling for a while, I was lucky to get a lot in Carpark B, a coupon carpark farthest from my destination.

The donation was not routine either, through no fault of SGH staff. For the first time in my donation record, there was a hitch and I was stuck with tubes in my arm. I was in no position to return to my car to display fresh coupons.

I was hesitant to ask SGH staff to help with my parking situation, for I knew I should not take them away from� more important matters. At the end of my donation, two machines later, I asked for an SGH excuse chit, and went on my way.

I did get a parking ticket, and wrote in to appeal. My friends and I were confident the URA would let me off.

A $10 fine is not a large sum, but I hoped for some graciousness. Last Thursday, the URA wrote to tell me I had exceeded the ‘grace period’ and had to pay up within the next seven days.

What is a ‘grace period’, I ask, for a person tied up in tubes, or for a dialysis patient hooked to a malfunctioning machine?

Is the ‘grace period’ different in different circumstances? What is the grace period for someone who parked his car, dove into traffic to save a child, and slipped into a coma for a week? Are the grace periods all the same?

I have paid my fine, to avoid this being seen as just of self-interest, but would like to hear the URA’s point of view, or what graciousness it can show.

Tan Tatt Si

Now, the reply from URA.

Grace period given, but one hour is too long

I REFER to last Wednesday’s letter, ‘Insert graciousness into URA’s grace period’ by Mr Tan Tatt Si.

Mr Tan said he parked his car at Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Carpark B when he went to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) on April 23 to donate blood platelets. He said he was delayed in the donation process and was fined $10 for overparking. He felt URA should be gracious and waive his fine.

We appreciate that Mr Tan is a blood platelet donor. This is admirable. In reviewing appeals for waivers of parking fines from motorists, however, URA takes other factors into consideration, besides the fact that the motorist is a blood donor.

First, URA is sympathetic to motorists using this carpark. We understand motorists visiting SGH may be delayed for reasons beyond their control. URA gives a considerable grace period in this carpark to allow motorists to return to their vehicles to drive off or renew their coupons for extended periods of parking.

At the same time, we must ensure that motorists park responsibly, and comply with parking regulations so as not to inconvenience other motorists. We also have to verify any justifications furnished by motorists when reviewing their appeals.

In Mr Tan’s case, he had overparked for more than one hour, which far exceeded the usual grace period there.

We understand a hospital visit for blood platelet donation process normally takes two to three hours. This is made known to the public on SGH’s website and is known to regular donors. Mr Tan displayed a $1 parking coupon with a start time of 11.20am for a one hour parking duration. The carpark is a 10-minute walk from the haematology centre. Based on the record of his visit to the centre, Mr Tan arrived and registered at the centre at 11.15am and completed the process at 2pm.

A parking offence notice was issued to Mr Tan at 1.23pm, after the parking coupon displayed had expired for more than an hour.

In reviewing appeals from motorists for waivers of fines, URA also takes into account the track record of the motorist. If he has a number of parking offences, we tend to view the appeal less favourably. Taking in the circumstances of the case and Mr Tan’s track record, we could not accede to the appeal. Nonetheless, while the fine should be $20 for more than one hour of overparking, we factored in the grace period and fined him only $10.

Lim Eng Chong
Deputy Director (Land Administration, Carparks)
Urban Redevelopment Authority

Read the rest of this entry »

Mrs Lee had been admitted into hospital since last Monday due to a bleeding in her right brain. She has since been transferred to a general ward but is still in serious condition. I guess this is the time to put aside all political agenda and crosses and really wish her a speed recovery.

MRS LEE KUAN YEW, who suffered a stroke last Monday, underwent surgery on Saturday and is under close observation, a statement from Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s office said last night.

A brief statement providing an update on Mrs Lee’s condition said that since her transfer to the general ward last Wednesday, she remains in a serious condition.

‘Although her vital parameters have been stable, she lapses into long periods of unconsciousness,’ it added, before disclosing that she underwent surgery on Saturday. No other details were available.

Mrs Lee, 87, had experienced sudden weakness in the left side of her body and slurring of speech last Monday.

She was taken to the National Neuroscience Institute for an urgent brain scan, which revealed bleeding in the right side of the brain, and was subsequently admitted to the Neurointensive Care Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

The haemorrhage stabilised after two days of close monitoring and treatment, and she was transferred to the general ward on Wednesday.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke publicly about the incident for the first time.

He thanked Singaporeans for their outpouring of support and concern since his mother’s condition was made known.

He said their good wishes and support had helped the family through ‘a difficult period’.

‘I’d like to thank all the residents who asked after my mother, as well as the Singaporeans who have sent us e-mails, cards, flowers, fruits and wished us well,’ he said.

PM Lee said this at a community event in Nee Soon South after MP Lee Bee Wah used part of her speech at the event to wish his family well.

They were there with fellow Ang Mo Kio GRC MPs Lam Pin Min and Wee Siew Kim, and Yio Chu Kang MP Seng Han Thong for the ward’s 20th anniversary celebrations.

In a short off-the-cuff speech, PM Lee said: ‘She is 87 years old, and many families will know that when you have old parents at home, we worry for them and we do our best to take good care of them.

‘And it’s a heavy responsibility for the family, and you always think and worry about what will happen next.

‘But we do our best, and I think we make sure we take care of them.

‘Mrs Lee is still in hospital. Your good wishes and your support have helped us and helped all of my family go through a difficult period. So thank you very much.’

jeremyau@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 19th May 2008

The authors at Simply Jean made a couple of oversights in the blog posts that were being made public over the past 2 weeks. In part 1 of a 2 part series, we will address the first oversight - which was the post on Myanmar’s cyclone situation, where Myanmar’s effort was compared against China’s in the post dated 13th May 2008. We felt that the statement "to Myanmar: What use is a country when eventually people go against you? Or are you planning to suppress them regardless?" was rather unfair to the junta in Myanmar.

Firstly, Myanmar, being a sovereign country, has their own constitution and ways to run the country. The cyclone was indeed a sad incident that left many people in the country homeless, hopeless and hungry. While other countries may offer food and financial aid, doing so does not mean that Myanmar has to abide by the wishes of the helping countries. I’m sure Myanmar is trying to help those whom they have access to. While it had been reported that many are not receiving help, I would like to quote Foreign Minister George Yeo that "countries which want to help others struck by disasters must respect their autonomy" and that "(Yangon) have been quite clear about their policy that the rescue effort will be principally their own". I’m not sure if this meant not responding to any call for aid since rescue effort will be principally their own. For a moment, I thought this means that Myanmar have their own means of printing more money and growing more rice. Overnight.

While most of us feel for the hopeless victims, we have to understand that just as we do not want the United States government to come in and decide how much aid each destitute gets, the junta will not be happy if they allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to go into their country and creating a mess out of everything. Remember, mess is relative.

For this oversight, the authors of Simply Jean will like to apologise to the junta in Myanmar and the people in the country for being insensitive to their constitution by joining in the condemnation of the rescue efforts. Or the lack of it.

Beijing - Countries which want to help others struck by disasters must respect their autonomy, said Foreign Minister George Yeo yesterday.

He was speaking to Singapore reporters about the ongoing relief efforts in earthquake-hit Sichuan and cyclone-battered Myanmar, at the end of a four-day official visit to China.

While China has shed its traditional reluctance and welcomed relief teams from Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Russia in recent days following the 7.9-magnitude quake on Monday, Yangon is still turning away international aid agencies from Myanmar and keeping foreigners out of the disaster zone two weeks after Cyclone Nargis wreaked devastation.

But any outside help is always going to be supplementary only, since the key responsibility lies with the government of the affected country, said Mr Yeo.

‘We must respect the autonomy of countries and accept the fact that they know local situations better than foreign people ever can.’

Tomorrow, Asean’s foreign ministers will meet in Singapore to hammer out ways in which the regional grouping might help reclusive Myanmar in the aftermath of the cyclone, which has left at least 133,000 people dead or missing.

Playing down expectations ahead of the meeting, Mr Yeo said: ‘I don’t think the outcome will be a dramatic one because they (Yangon) have been quite clear about their policy that the rescue effort will be principally their own.’

Since Myanmar has been tight-lipped regarding the scale of destruction inside its borders, Asean needs to wait for Yangon to lay down what help it needs, he added.

‘We’ve extended our hands out to them and I’m quite sure that what they ask us to do, we will try to meet as much as we can.’

When calling on Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi yesterday, Mr Yeo briefed him on tomorrow’s meeting and raised the possibility that Asean and Beijing could look for ways to jointly help Myanmar, which is an ally of China’s.

Mr Yang welcomed Asean’s moves, said Mr Yeo.

Myanmar has accepted material aid but only a handful of aid teams from neighbouring countries - China, Bangladesh, India and Thailand - and nothing more, noted Mr Yeo.

Western countries feel much more should be done to help the victims, with some even suggesting that Myanmar should be force-fed aid, he added.

But he said: ‘I don’t see how this can be done because if we try to do that, it will only make the situation worse and it will increase the suffering of the people in Myanmar.’

Yangon is not the only country getting through a natural disaster on its own, noted the minister.

India dealt with the devastation of the 2004 tsunami on its own, as did Japan after the 1995 Kobe earthquake, he said.

Even as Myanmar struggles, the way Beijing is handling what’s been described as the country’s most devastating disaster since 1949 paints a contrasting picture.

‘You can see that they are completely on top of the situation,’ said Mr Yeo. ‘I believe they will emerge stronger, more united, more resilient.’

simcy@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 19th May 2008 dated 18th May 2008

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has resigned from the ruling party as a protest to how his hand-picked successor had ran the party thus far. His successor, PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over the helm in 2003 and since then, things had been going on a landslide. In the latest general elections, Umno did not manage to get the minimum majority in parliament and had to settle for less. This prompted a lot of displeasure from the former premier as well as some law makers in the party. He is also asking the rest of the party members to follow suit so that PM Abdullah will have no choice but to step down and for fresh elections to be called.

KUALA LUMPUR - FORMER Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad has quit the ruling party Umno in protest over the leadership of his successor Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his son said on Monday.

‘Dr Mahathir has resigned from Umno in protest over Pak Lah’s continued leadership as both the prime minister and president of Umno,’ Mr Mokhzani Mahathir said, referring to Mr Abdullah by his nickname.

‘He will also write a letter to the Umno secretary-general to inform him of his resignation,’ he said, adding that Dr Mahathir announced his departure during a speech on Monday in Alor Star, the capital of his home state Kedah.

‘He made it clear at the gathering at Alor Star that he is resigning in protest over the current leadership,’ he said.

Dr Mahathir ruled Malaysia and the dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno) for 22 years until 2003 when he handed over to Abdullah, his hand-picked successor.

However, in recent times he has been a vocal critic of Mr Abdullah’s administration and since disastrous March general elections, which produced Umno’s worst ever results, has actively campaigned for him to step down.

News website Malaysiakini quoted Dr Mahathir as urging all Umno ministers and party leaders to follow him by quitting the party, and return only when Mr Abdullah has departed.

‘I will only come back to the party when there is a change in leadership,’ it quoted him as telling the Alor Star gathering.

‘Wait till Mr Abdullah quits as the prime minister and party president and then we can return to Umno,’ he reportedly said.

Mr Shahrir Samad, a cabinet minister and senior Umno member, said Dr Mahathir’s surprise move could trigger a flurry of resignations from the embattled party that could force Mr Abdullah to hold fresh general elections.

‘By Tun doing this it could cause a situation where many other Umno lawmakers might resign,’ he said, using Dr Mahathir’s honorific title.

‘If this happens then the government has no choice but to form a new government or call a fresh general election,’ the domestic trade and consumer affairs minister said.

‘Certainly it is not helpful or constructive to the struggle of Umno right now,’ he said, as the party fends off a challenge from opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim who says he could soon seize power with the help of defectors.

Mr Shahrir said that while Mr Anwar was threatening to snatch lawmakers from the smaller parties with which Umno rules in coalition, Dr Mahathir could chip away at the ranks of the ruling party itself.

‘This will be a reduction of the number of Umno lawmakers which is the ruling party of the present government,’ he said.

‘I suppose it is Dr Mahathir’s way of trying to force a call for a referendum from the grass roots.’

The Star’s website quoted Umno information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib as saying he was surprised at Dr Mahathir’s abrupt departure.

‘Every member has the right to join or leave the party,’ he said.

Asked whether Umno would convene an emergency meeting in response to the move, he said that ‘we will wait and see.’

Dr Mahathir, 82, joined Umno at its inception in 1946 and he has weathered a number of storms including his expulsion from the party in 1969 and a 1988 crisis when Umno was declared illegal. — AFP

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 19th May 2008

Indeed after 2 disasters, a midnight storm caught occupants unaware and killed 13 of them and injured about a dozen, all of whom were at a construction site. While the degree of destruction may not be as huge as the previous 2, still, lives lost are lost lives and these should be prevented. For people who have watched the movie - The Day After Tomorrow, they may be familiar with the story line that the planet is adjusting itself such that it’ll be in equilibrium again; equilibrium from what the planet’s occupants have taken away from it, and that this is happening way ahead of what anyone’s model can predict.

Are we ready for it yet? Is it really to late to start green campaigns?

CHANDIGARH (India) - A HOUSE collapse triggered by a storm in northern India killed 13 labourers and injured over a dozen on Sunday, officials said.

At least 13 labourers were buried under piles of rubble in Gurgaon, near India’s capital, New Delhi, after portions of a house they were constructing collapsed on them, police said.

Police said the collapse was triggered by a midnight storm that lashed Haryana state.

‘The victims lived in huts adjacent to a construction site,’ said Mr Srikrishan Murari, a senior police officer.

Around 16 injured labourers were being treated in a hospital, he added. — REUTERS

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 19th May 2008