Singapore is a Fine Country- What About Us?

This is a line that refers to the discipline enforced with fines of various types by Singapore. If we wanted to make ours a fine country, and earn billions in revenue for use in social causes, these would be my top picks-

1. Loud-mouths fine-anyone speaking above a normal decibel level in public would face a debacle.

2. Dicourteousness fine- showing discourtesy to fellow human beings would be a fine reason for one.

3. Littering fine- not applicable to cats or dogs, but to humans who litter-they haveto realise they are not cats.

4. Boasters Fine- those who talk about themselves, their language, or place they come from in boastful terms would be eligible to pay up. My guess is, we might be able to end the puffery pretty quickly.

5. One for those who forward posts containing errors in spelling or grammar. This alone should net millions.

A Five Point Program for Good Governance

Ask all government employees to stand in line and get a certificate from ten common citizens about their conduct on the job. Give all those who score less than 60% a one year warning to shape up or..

Put all rules on the web, pertaining to any government permission, license, permit etc. and ask the citizen to print the stuff, stick a picture if needed, and post a copy to the government official concerned (maybe a scan). If you don't hear from him in three days, the citizen is deemed to have got the certificate/license/permit. Then the burden shifts to the official to prove that the citizen should not be carrying that.

Remove all subsidies on gas cylinders. It does not help a household anyway-too small an amount. Instead, cut the inefficient supply chains and make gas available on demand. It will help shut down all the inefficient dealers. And bring prices down. Even if the prices don't go down, people will be willing to pay for efficiency and lack of time-wastage. Even better, supply piped gas and get rid of ALL dealers -and cylinders.

Collect fines on spitting and littering at a small rate, say 10 or 20 rupees an offence. Municipal bodies will be rolling in money for some years. Use the money to build roads, or subsidise public transport. That will reduce pollution and traffic.

Audit all election promises (make promises compulsory) every six months, and disqualify candidates with less than 70 percent unfulfilled promises. This is for the election commission.

Sit back, relax, and watch the country flower into a new, improved Republic.