As a reader of mrs budak's lair I was surprised that it was suspended by LiveJournal. It wasn't until today, I realised why. She was suspended because some stupid pre-NUS student didn't like his letter to be reproduced and her rebuttal. This of course is pure speculation but read the letter and rebuttal yourself and see if you come to the same conclusion.
I'm reproducing what mrs budak can't.
the letter to the Straits Times:
Why can’t I get subsidy for university education?
I am a student of the National University of Singapore and have just matriculated two months ago. What is very displeasing to me are the subsidies and the financial aid to help me pay my school fees.
My family’s income is only $1,000 a month and paying $3,000 for each semester (there are eight semesters) is totally impossible for me.
SINDA did not help me when I approached it for financial assistance. SINDA told me there is no policy for Indian tertiary students to receive financial help.
It is very unfair because two of my Muslim friends who approached Mendaki for help have had their entire education fees sponsored. The full amount comes close to $25,000.
All their school fees have been taken care of, and unlike me their families’ incomes are below $2,000 but well above $1,000.
How can I swallow that? Well, I decided to take a loan from NUS. But taking the loan is not solving the root cause of my problem. It is just piling up the debts with the bank when I graduate.
Why do I deserve to be put in this situation when other students can receive financial aid so easily?
The few bursaries that I had applied for in NUS did not get any attention. The Registar’s office kept telling me the results would only be known at a ‘certain date’, and when I called to ask, it pushed the date further back.
As an eye opener to those who are unaware of it, the bursaries are only $1,500 a year and they don’t cover me for each semester. So that is really not much of a help.
Worse still, the bursaries are not given throughout the course of study but only once. What’s the point then?
How is this situation affecting me? Simple. It is literally impossible for me to concentrate on my studies when deep down inside, I feel I am being deprived of any help at all.
I and my family are making sacrifices to make ends meet.
NUS is among the top 20 universities in the world. But there is nothing to brag about when you can’t even help your own students realise their dreams.
Girish s/o Ahsin Thannabal, Sept 30, 2005, ST Forum
--------------------------------------------------------
[info]mrsbudak's post:
Student says: Why no free education for meeeeeee??????
Fact: University school fees are expensive.
Fact: Financial assistance to students is limited.
Fact: Many university students come from poor families.
Fact: These students are able to complete their education in the university.
Another one of those “I’ve been there” posts. When I received the acceptance package from NUS, one of the first things we did was to discuss how to manage the finances of a university education. My mom was prepared to give me a lump sum pocket allowance every year, from the money she painstakedly guarded for 10 years. However, it was clear that I’d have to take up a Tuition Fee Loan and apply for all sorts of grants and bursaries.
The bursaries and grants will not help you defray 100% of the costs; they’re not meant to. These are no-bond grants given out based on need, and are actually a lifeline for students struggling to manage their financial situation. The Tuition Fee Loan also does not cover 100% of the fees; it covers up to a maximum of 85% (I think), so you’ll still have to pay the remainder in cash. But don’t forget - it’s interest-free during your studies and for one year after graduation. If you pay off the loan within one year of graduating, you don’t pay interest! Where else can you find such a loan? It’s a sibeh good deal!
So I applied for the POSB loan, applied for the bursaries, and applied for anything basically. I got the loan and the grant for the first year.
I also got to work on campus, and earned about $200 per month as a computer lab assistant. There’re actually several employment opportunities on campus. Otherwise, there’s the usual private tuition route, which actually pays very well. I also worked during the vacation for some additional pocket money. It did mean that activities such as overseas attachment were out for me, but that was fine.
So your family can be poor, but you will still be able to afford a university education - if you’re willing to put in the work. But what I’m reading here is this student expects his university expenses to be sponsored 100%. He’s complaining that he doesn’t get “any help” at all.
Wait a minute:
1) Bond-free grant of $1,500 per year;
2) Tuition Fee Loan which settles 85% of your fees and on which no interest is charged as long as you are still studying;
3) On and off-campus part-time employment opportunities.
I think he’s blinded by his sense of entitlement. He says he can’t concentrate, because his friends got full subsidy but he has to take up a loan and end up in debt. Well buddy - SO DO MANY OTHER STUDENTS! My loan was almost $10K; budak’s was about $15K (one extra year plus foreign student rate). We paid off our respective loans within four years of graduation.
So because you must actually fork out money for an education, you feel so buay song (unhappy) that you cannot concentrate?
Sorry, my sympathies are not with you.
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
22 September 2006
04 July 2006
MICA and control
When I read mr brown's 'voice' I was so impressed. He placed the worries of the average Singaporean in the front. Something which most of us think about, bitch about but know we can do nothing about.
Then on Monday (mr brown's 'voice' was published on Friday) The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), rebutted him (I have highlighted that reply in red, just scroll down).
It is really amazing on how short sighted gahmen is. Apparently airing our worries in the newspaper is a no-no, the gahmen cannot take criticism.
I was pleasantly surprised that lots of bloggers think the same way I do. Mr Wang Bakes Good Karma (Bhavani & Brown) and mrs budak lair (My unconstructive criticism), sums up what I think. :P Even bloggers can get lazy.
One thing I do want to add, this seems so much like control. The gahmen seems to be going back to the olden days where "citizens are seen but not heard", "we know what is best for you, so don't think and shut up". This mentality is really what made the PAP loose one-third of the votes of half of the island. Not only do they think that Singaporeans are immature but also stupid! Don't you just resent that?
Democracy?
commentary:
GOVERNMENT CRITICISED FOR CONDEMNING "UNCONSTRUCTIVE" ARTICLE
Analyzing Mr Brown's original article
Did Mr Brown distort the truth?
Is it legitimate to explicitly limit our journalists and newspapers as to what they cannot do?
Bhavani & Brown
My unconstructive criticism
S'poreans are fed, up with progress!
Voices TODAY Newspaper
30 June 2006
THINGS are certainly looking up for Singapore again. Up, up, and away.
Household incomes are up, I read. Sure, the bottom third of our country is actually seeing their incomes (or as one newspaper called it, "wages") shrink, but the rest of us purportedly are making more money.
Okay, if you say so.
As sure as Superman Returns, our cost of living is also on the up. Except we are not able to leap over high costs in a single bound.
Cost of watching World Cup is up. Price of electricity is up. Comfort's taxi fares are going up. Oh, sorry, it was called "being revised". Even the prata man at my coffeeshop just raised the price of his prata by 10 cents. He was also revising his prata prices.
So Singaporeans need to try to "up" their incomes, I am sure, in the light of our rising costs. Have you upped yours?
We are very thankful for the timing of all this good news, of course. Just after the elections, for instance. By that I mean that getting the important event out of the way means we can now concentrate on trying to pay our bills.
It would have been too taxing on the brain if those price increases were announced during the election period, thereby affecting our ability to choose wisely.
The other reason I am glad with the timing of the cost of living increases and wages going down, is that we can now deploy our Progress Package to pay for some of these bills.
Wait, what? You spent it all on that fancy pair of shoes on the day you saw your money in your account? Too bad for you then.
As I break into my Progress Package reserves to see if it is enough to pay the bills, I feel an overwhelming sense of progress. I feel like I am really staying together with my fellow Singaporeans and moving forward.
There is even talk of future roads like underground expressways being outsourced to private sector companies to build, so that they, in turn, levy a toll on those of us who use these roads.
I understand the cost of building these roads is high, and the Government is relooking the financing of these big road projects.
Silly me, I thought my road tax and COE was enough to pay for public roads.
Maybe we can start financing all kinds of expensive projects this way in future. We could build upgraded lifts for older HDB blocks, and charge tolls on a per use basis.
You walk into your new lift on the first floor, and the scanner reads the contactless cashcard chip embedded in your forehead. This chip would be part of the recently-announced Intelligent Nation 2015 plan, you know, that initiative to make us a smart nation?
So you, the smart contactless-cashcard-chip-enhanced Singaporean would go into your lift, and when you get off at your floor, the lift would deduct the toll from your chip, and you would hear a beep.
The higher you live, the more expensive the lift toll.
Now you know why I started climbing stairs for exercise, as I mentioned in my last column. I plan to prepare for that day when I have to pay to use my lift. God help you if some kid presses all the lift buttons in the lift, as kids are wont to do. You will be beeping all the way to your flat.
The same chip could be used to pay for supermarket items. You just carry your bags of rice and groceries past the cashierless cashier counter, and the total will be deducted from your contactless cashcard automatically.
You will not even know you just got poorer. And if your contactless cashcard runs out of funds (making it a contactless CASHLESS cashcard), you just cannot use paid services.
The door of the lift won't close, the bus won't stop for you, taxis will automatically display "On Call" when their chip scanners detect you're broke.
Sure, paying bills that only seem to go up is painful, but by Jove, we are going to make sure it is at least convenient.
No more opening your wallet and fiddling with dirty notes and coins. Just stand there and hear your income beeped away. No fuss, no muss! I cannot wait to be a Smart e-Singaporean.
I also found out recently that my first-born daughter's special school fees were going up. This is because of this thing called "Means Testing", where they test your means, then if you are not poor enough, you lose some or all of the subsidy you've been getting for your special child's therapy.
I think I am looking at about a $100 increase, which is a more than a 100 per cent increase, but who's counting, right? We can afford it, but we do know many families who cannot, even those that are making more money than we are, on paper.
But don't worry. Most of you don't have this problem. Your normal kids can go to regular school for very low fees, and I am sure they will not introduce means testing for your cases.
We need your gifted and talented kids to help our country do well economically, so that our kids with special needs can get a little more therapy to help them to walk and talk. And hey, maybe if the country does really well, the special-needs kids will get a little more subsidy.
Like I said, progress.
High-definition televisions, a high-speed broadband wireless network, underground expressways, and contactless cashcard system — all our signs of progress.
I am happy for progress, of course but I would be just as happy to make ends meet and to see my autistic first-born grow up able to talk and fend for herself in this society when I am gone.
That is something my wife and I will pay all we can pay to see in our lifetimes.
mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website that has been documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He enjoys having yet another cashcard, in addition to his un-contactless one and the ez-link one to add to his wallet.
Voices, TODAY newspaper, Monday, July 3, 2006:
Distorting the truth, mr brown?
When a columnist becomes a 'partisan player' in politics
Letter from K BHAVANI
Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts
Your mr brown column, "S'poreans are fed, up with progress!" (June 30) poured sarcasm on many issues, including the recent General Household Survey, price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares, our IT plans, the Progress Package and means testing for special school fees.
The results of the General Household Survey were only available after the General Election. But similar data from the Household Expenditure Survey had been published last year before the election.
There was no reason to suppress the information. It confirmed what we had told Singaporeans all along, that globalisation would stretch out incomes.
mr brown must also know that price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares are the inevitable result of higher oil prices.
These were precisely the reasons for the Progress Package — to help lower income Singaporeans cope with higher costs of living.
Our IT plans are critical to Singapore's competitive position and will improve the job chances of individual Singaporeans. It is wrong of mr brown to make light of them.
As for means testing for special school fees, we understand mr brown's disappointment as the father of an autistic child. However, with means testing, we can devote more resources to families who need more help.
mr brown's views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with.
mr brown is entitled to his views. But opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper should meet higher standards. Instead of a diatribe mr brown should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.
It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government. If a columnist presents himself as a non-political observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to undermine the Government's standing with the electorate, then he is no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in politics.
Then on Monday (mr brown's 'voice' was published on Friday) The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), rebutted him (I have highlighted that reply in red, just scroll down).
It is really amazing on how short sighted gahmen is. Apparently airing our worries in the newspaper is a no-no, the gahmen cannot take criticism.
I was pleasantly surprised that lots of bloggers think the same way I do. Mr Wang Bakes Good Karma (Bhavani & Brown) and mrs budak lair (My unconstructive criticism), sums up what I think. :P Even bloggers can get lazy.
One thing I do want to add, this seems so much like control. The gahmen seems to be going back to the olden days where "citizens are seen but not heard", "we know what is best for you, so don't think and shut up". This mentality is really what made the PAP loose one-third of the votes of half of the island. Not only do they think that Singaporeans are immature but also stupid! Don't you just resent that?
Democracy?
commentary:
GOVERNMENT CRITICISED FOR CONDEMNING "UNCONSTRUCTIVE" ARTICLE
Analyzing Mr Brown's original article
Did Mr Brown distort the truth?
Is it legitimate to explicitly limit our journalists and newspapers as to what they cannot do?
Bhavani & Brown
My unconstructive criticism
S'poreans are fed, up with progress!
Voices TODAY Newspaper
30 June 2006
THINGS are certainly looking up for Singapore again. Up, up, and away.
Household incomes are up, I read. Sure, the bottom third of our country is actually seeing their incomes (or as one newspaper called it, "wages") shrink, but the rest of us purportedly are making more money.
Okay, if you say so.
As sure as Superman Returns, our cost of living is also on the up. Except we are not able to leap over high costs in a single bound.
Cost of watching World Cup is up. Price of electricity is up. Comfort's taxi fares are going up. Oh, sorry, it was called "being revised". Even the prata man at my coffeeshop just raised the price of his prata by 10 cents. He was also revising his prata prices.
So Singaporeans need to try to "up" their incomes, I am sure, in the light of our rising costs. Have you upped yours?
We are very thankful for the timing of all this good news, of course. Just after the elections, for instance. By that I mean that getting the important event out of the way means we can now concentrate on trying to pay our bills.
It would have been too taxing on the brain if those price increases were announced during the election period, thereby affecting our ability to choose wisely.
The other reason I am glad with the timing of the cost of living increases and wages going down, is that we can now deploy our Progress Package to pay for some of these bills.
Wait, what? You spent it all on that fancy pair of shoes on the day you saw your money in your account? Too bad for you then.
As I break into my Progress Package reserves to see if it is enough to pay the bills, I feel an overwhelming sense of progress. I feel like I am really staying together with my fellow Singaporeans and moving forward.
There is even talk of future roads like underground expressways being outsourced to private sector companies to build, so that they, in turn, levy a toll on those of us who use these roads.
I understand the cost of building these roads is high, and the Government is relooking the financing of these big road projects.
Silly me, I thought my road tax and COE was enough to pay for public roads.
Maybe we can start financing all kinds of expensive projects this way in future. We could build upgraded lifts for older HDB blocks, and charge tolls on a per use basis.
You walk into your new lift on the first floor, and the scanner reads the contactless cashcard chip embedded in your forehead. This chip would be part of the recently-announced Intelligent Nation 2015 plan, you know, that initiative to make us a smart nation?
So you, the smart contactless-cashcard-chip-enhanced Singaporean would go into your lift, and when you get off at your floor, the lift would deduct the toll from your chip, and you would hear a beep.
The higher you live, the more expensive the lift toll.
Now you know why I started climbing stairs for exercise, as I mentioned in my last column. I plan to prepare for that day when I have to pay to use my lift. God help you if some kid presses all the lift buttons in the lift, as kids are wont to do. You will be beeping all the way to your flat.
The same chip could be used to pay for supermarket items. You just carry your bags of rice and groceries past the cashierless cashier counter, and the total will be deducted from your contactless cashcard automatically.
You will not even know you just got poorer. And if your contactless cashcard runs out of funds (making it a contactless CASHLESS cashcard), you just cannot use paid services.
The door of the lift won't close, the bus won't stop for you, taxis will automatically display "On Call" when their chip scanners detect you're broke.
Sure, paying bills that only seem to go up is painful, but by Jove, we are going to make sure it is at least convenient.
No more opening your wallet and fiddling with dirty notes and coins. Just stand there and hear your income beeped away. No fuss, no muss! I cannot wait to be a Smart e-Singaporean.
I also found out recently that my first-born daughter's special school fees were going up. This is because of this thing called "Means Testing", where they test your means, then if you are not poor enough, you lose some or all of the subsidy you've been getting for your special child's therapy.
I think I am looking at about a $100 increase, which is a more than a 100 per cent increase, but who's counting, right? We can afford it, but we do know many families who cannot, even those that are making more money than we are, on paper.
But don't worry. Most of you don't have this problem. Your normal kids can go to regular school for very low fees, and I am sure they will not introduce means testing for your cases.
We need your gifted and talented kids to help our country do well economically, so that our kids with special needs can get a little more therapy to help them to walk and talk. And hey, maybe if the country does really well, the special-needs kids will get a little more subsidy.
Like I said, progress.
High-definition televisions, a high-speed broadband wireless network, underground expressways, and contactless cashcard system — all our signs of progress.
I am happy for progress, of course but I would be just as happy to make ends meet and to see my autistic first-born grow up able to talk and fend for herself in this society when I am gone.
That is something my wife and I will pay all we can pay to see in our lifetimes.
mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website that has been documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He enjoys having yet another cashcard, in addition to his un-contactless one and the ez-link one to add to his wallet.
The reply from MICA
Voices, TODAY newspaper, Monday, July 3, 2006:
Distorting the truth, mr brown?
When a columnist becomes a 'partisan player' in politics
Letter from K BHAVANI
Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts
Your mr brown column, "S'poreans are fed, up with progress!" (June 30) poured sarcasm on many issues, including the recent General Household Survey, price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares, our IT plans, the Progress Package and means testing for special school fees.
The results of the General Household Survey were only available after the General Election. But similar data from the Household Expenditure Survey had been published last year before the election.
There was no reason to suppress the information. It confirmed what we had told Singaporeans all along, that globalisation would stretch out incomes.
mr brown must also know that price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares are the inevitable result of higher oil prices.
These were precisely the reasons for the Progress Package — to help lower income Singaporeans cope with higher costs of living.
Our IT plans are critical to Singapore's competitive position and will improve the job chances of individual Singaporeans. It is wrong of mr brown to make light of them.
As for means testing for special school fees, we understand mr brown's disappointment as the father of an autistic child. However, with means testing, we can devote more resources to families who need more help.
mr brown's views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with.
mr brown is entitled to his views. But opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper should meet higher standards. Instead of a diatribe mr brown should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.
It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government. If a columnist presents himself as a non-political observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to undermine the Government's standing with the electorate, then he is no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in politics.
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