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Lucky Tan
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Conned by Conmen
Hannah
HarrisIn response to Mr Wang’s posting, I have to add that I have my own horror story about the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.
Somebody I knew died and I was involved with sorting up matters. At some point we found out that the ICA had recorded the wrong date on the death certificate issued to the family. (Yes, they handle those too.) Despite several attempts by the lawyer dealing with the estate to rectify the situation - even mailing out a copy of the obituary run in the Straits Times to prove that the death certificate was incorrect - the ICA stubbornly refused to admit that they had made a mistake. It took an extremely angry and upset letter by the immediate family to ICA - still grieving and in the middle of handling funeral arrangements - before they would even deign to fix the date of death. On top of that, ICA still charged the estate extra for corrected copies of the death certificate. I think it was $60 per certificate or total, I don’t remember.
Seriously, ICA, why on earth would you think that your date was more correct than the family? I mean, who would have known it better? Or cared more, for that matter.
That’s why I’m not at all surprised to hear that ICA screwed up again, by letting bureaucratic red tape triumph over common sense. Again. They’ve become so obsessed with their rules and regulations that they don’t even seem to want to think about why they do things the way they do, or whether or not what they do or say even makes sense.
This is why I hate Singaporean bureaucrats so much, and why I am never returning. I don’t ever, ever want to interact with heartless, soulless people ever again, or live in a country where such people are allowed to run it without any heed to accountability or responsibility.
I understand you had some (very) bad experience with Singapore bureaucrats, but surely you don’t believe that those in the U.S. are any better! Unfortunately, Singapore does not hold a monopoly on such people.
No, of course not. The US has its fair share (some would say more!) of bumbling idiots.
What sets the US apart from Singapore, however, are three factors. First is how many more genuinely good people there are in the system that maybe serve as a kind of karmic counterweight to the morons. These good folk seem conspicuously absent in the SG system.
Second is the system of checks and balances written into the US constitution, which makes the entire experience far more bearable. The founding fathers of the US invented a rock-paper-scissors system where no one branch of government is allowed to usurp the others, and no one person is able to seize _all_ the power.
I’ll grant that this doesn’t entirely prevent abuse, esp. wrt the current administration, but I still think the system is by and large self-correcting because of its design. The US didn’t do too badly even under the incompetent administrations of famously bad presidents like Nixon and Buchanan.
Third, the people keep the government in check, more or less. People do demand accountability and responsibility in governance. The prevailing attitude is that such accountability is taken for granted, even expected, and not given in bad grace by supercilious authorities.
I’ll leave you to contrast this with the situation in Singapore.
I’ve live in the US for over 25 years (more than I live in Singapore) & is an American citizen now & I do agreed fully with Elia in his comments above. I’m sorry Thomas, the US system is way better than Singapore’s! My experiences over the years with the US bureacracy have been positive, especially with the former infamous INS & DMV. Just to give you an example, recently I had to call Social Security in regards to some quetsions I have on my husband’s Medicare eligibility. I’ve heard horror stories about calling Social Security & was prepared to do battle with them. But I was pleasantly surprised that I was put on hold for only 5 mins & got to speak to a live person & an American at that instead of a call center in India. The customer service lady (an American)from Social Security was very helpful in clarifying & giving me answers to my questions. When my husband decided to apply for social security benefits at 62 instead of 65 & when I called Social Security they were most helpful in telling me how to apply & because my husband have a disability, he was told he could apply for both at the same time & if he was determined to be eligible for disability benefits he would get the higher benefits which usually is the disability benefits.
[...] A Very Sick Man Was About to Die, Wouldn’t You Help To Let His Mother Know? - e pur si muove: ICA Fails.. Again - TOC: Religion and the right not to respect it - Sg_Ljers: Singapore man with armpit fetish gets [...]
[...] A Very Sick Man Was About to Die, Wouldn’t You Help To Let His Mother Know? - e pur si muove: ICA Fails.. Again - TOC: Religion and the right not to respect it [Recommended] - Sg_Ljers: Singapore man with armpit [...]
Elia Diodati, if you hate Singapore so much, then why not just leave it completely? Why do you seem to be looking back incessantly and picking on “it’s” mistakes?
Move on with your life, would be my humble take.
Perhaps your heart is still pulled towards the land of your birth?
Just Me:
I am not sure the reasons for your intended message to Elia but I believe no entity is perfect and not without its fair share of criticisms. Citizens, non-citizens and even migrating citizens have as much right to raise criticisms about a particular country.
To me, telling a critic to leave if he’s unhappy doesn’t really cut it, but rather one should address his issues head on.
However, I think the Singapore government has adopted this approach - PAP’s way or the Highway. Sadly, Singapore would soon turn into a gulf state whereby majority are foreigners.