how can it possibly change? - mutton stew
If there is anything that I have been avoiding talking about, it is the NKF issue. And why? Because it is just too much of a mess. I think different people are unhappy about different things, some about the kind of pay, some with the campaign attitude and approach, some with the terms of the service provided. So far, I think different people raised this topic to me, and I guess I must disappointed them with my lack of any serious opinions. To me, there is just not much to say.
On the issue of pay, what else can be said? Talent comes at a price, and if someone is worth that kind of money but the paying body should not be paying such a price, then perhaps it is equivalent to saying that maybe they don't need someone of such worth. Its like, if you don't need top-grade soya sauce for your food, you don't need to pay top-dollars for it, get something of lower quality and pay less. It is of course a different issue to say that the person is not worth that kind of money, but as of yet, I don't think I have really heard anyone say that. Minister Khaw already suggested that there might possibly be a secondment from somewhere (I guess secondment means its from the govt), but what kind of pay should the person be paid, and what is a 'right' pay, I guess those are not easy questions. But if anyone thinks that the new person will be drawing 'working-class pay' and truly believes in that, I would advise them to both pray hard and push really hard to see that it happens, otherwise it will not happen. My guess is that the person will draw at least 12-15k per month excluding bonuses, and I think that this is probably a reasonable sum though again, the question should be what the organization needs and therefore what it should be paying. Ok, maybe Soya Sauce is not the nicest of comparison, so let me choose something more appropriate. If you can live with a Mecedes SLR 500, then you don't need to pay for a McLaren, which I guess is a more appropriate analogy to CEO hunting.
On the issue of compaign attitude, I am not a big fan of its approach, which I found overly aggressive and overly exploitative of people's sympathy. Furthermore, do you need people to be risking their lives with highly dangerous acts to raise money? Yet, is it not true that if anyone were to criticise with the NKF shows, what about the president star charity? Aren't the two quite similar? well... since we should not be doubting or casting doubt on our much enlightened and all knowing govt, what else can I say?
So well, I really don't see how much changes we can expect to see from NKF after such a explosive issue. What is the clear alternative? More regulation? but of what? and how do you measure what is appropriate and what is not? If there is so much regulations, why don't the govt just incorporate the charities into the state, but is that what they want? probably not because it will cost them too much... so well, the govt is much happier with people donating money, especially with the working classes giving seemingly a greater proportion of their income, than to tax people which would then make singapore appear more costly to employers. Well, if you have charities competiting for the same pie, I would suppose that the aggreessive campaigning is only natural. What else is one to expect?
Well, so putting all that behind, the weekend has been a good one. Had long talks with different people (some long-distance), and had some really good food. After swimming on sat, went to Han Kang for lunch with very nice Korean Beef on hot-plate, and then dinner at Cafe Japen with wonderful sushi, sashimi, unagi and grilled black cod. Although sunday's dinner got cancelled, which was suppose to go again to YMing, I decided to go grocery shopping on Monday after working on my dissertation, and made 白菜汤 and a stew with chilli, mint, pine-nuts and mutton marinated in port wine, which was well received, but still could be improved. I'm not quite sure what else though. Any suggestions?
Mutton Stew:
1. mutton neck - thickly sliced, marinated in salt, pepper, dried mint, port-wine; lightly browned before adding to sauce
2. sauce - diced fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced baby potatoes, peeled and diced carrots, cut white onions, diced garlic, dried chilli, fresh mint, slightly salted
3. simmer mixture over medium heat in a clay-pot
On the issue of pay, what else can be said? Talent comes at a price, and if someone is worth that kind of money but the paying body should not be paying such a price, then perhaps it is equivalent to saying that maybe they don't need someone of such worth. Its like, if you don't need top-grade soya sauce for your food, you don't need to pay top-dollars for it, get something of lower quality and pay less. It is of course a different issue to say that the person is not worth that kind of money, but as of yet, I don't think I have really heard anyone say that. Minister Khaw already suggested that there might possibly be a secondment from somewhere (I guess secondment means its from the govt), but what kind of pay should the person be paid, and what is a 'right' pay, I guess those are not easy questions. But if anyone thinks that the new person will be drawing 'working-class pay' and truly believes in that, I would advise them to both pray hard and push really hard to see that it happens, otherwise it will not happen. My guess is that the person will draw at least 12-15k per month excluding bonuses, and I think that this is probably a reasonable sum though again, the question should be what the organization needs and therefore what it should be paying. Ok, maybe Soya Sauce is not the nicest of comparison, so let me choose something more appropriate. If you can live with a Mecedes SLR 500, then you don't need to pay for a McLaren, which I guess is a more appropriate analogy to CEO hunting.
On the issue of compaign attitude, I am not a big fan of its approach, which I found overly aggressive and overly exploitative of people's sympathy. Furthermore, do you need people to be risking their lives with highly dangerous acts to raise money? Yet, is it not true that if anyone were to criticise with the NKF shows, what about the president star charity? Aren't the two quite similar? well... since we should not be doubting or casting doubt on our much enlightened and all knowing govt, what else can I say?
So well, I really don't see how much changes we can expect to see from NKF after such a explosive issue. What is the clear alternative? More regulation? but of what? and how do you measure what is appropriate and what is not? If there is so much regulations, why don't the govt just incorporate the charities into the state, but is that what they want? probably not because it will cost them too much... so well, the govt is much happier with people donating money, especially with the working classes giving seemingly a greater proportion of their income, than to tax people which would then make singapore appear more costly to employers. Well, if you have charities competiting for the same pie, I would suppose that the aggreessive campaigning is only natural. What else is one to expect?
Well, so putting all that behind, the weekend has been a good one. Had long talks with different people (some long-distance), and had some really good food. After swimming on sat, went to Han Kang for lunch with very nice Korean Beef on hot-plate, and then dinner at Cafe Japen with wonderful sushi, sashimi, unagi and grilled black cod. Although sunday's dinner got cancelled, which was suppose to go again to YMing, I decided to go grocery shopping on Monday after working on my dissertation, and made 白菜汤 and a stew with chilli, mint, pine-nuts and mutton marinated in port wine, which was well received, but still could be improved. I'm not quite sure what else though. Any suggestions?
Mutton Stew:
1. mutton neck - thickly sliced, marinated in salt, pepper, dried mint, port-wine; lightly browned before adding to sauce
2. sauce - diced fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced baby potatoes, peeled and diced carrots, cut white onions, diced garlic, dried chilli, fresh mint, slightly salted
3. simmer mixture over medium heat in a clay-pot
posted by city_walker at 7/19/2005 05:49:00 am
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