Friday, August 25, 2006

The things that matter

In an article in The Straits Times Review today, Senior Writer Ong Soh Chin, gushing about Singapore, writes,
"There are few places in the world where the things that matter - transport, education, housing, health care - work as efficiently without having to pay an arm and a leg."

She is correct that we do provide those things cheaply. My question is - how did Ms. Ong decide what "the things that matter" in this world are? Is that her opinion? Her friends'? Our government's?

It would be prudent if our government - and its ardent orators - sometimes asked us what "the things that matter" are.

Rather than always telling us.