While i do agree with reducing Reservice, I forsee that the only
way this can be feasible (in a wartime scenario) is if we have
enough full time people serving. that being said, i think that most
people who go back for reservice are probably not as efficient or
motivated (my assumption) as their full time counterparts, that's
why reservice should effectively be reduced, or at least directed
to an area where they would work well in.
However, given that we do in fact save money on scrapping
reservice, the money would then still be refunneled back into the
system as pay and logistics for fulltime ( as well as attracting
more fulltime recruits), which (to me) is a more efficient system,
since they are (expected to be) better trained and equipped to deal
with stuff.
The military is something that we can't really skimp on like
Eiizumi said, given our predicament, and it will always remain
necessary as part of our culture.
Reducing HDB prices is also a no-brainer for any low and middle
class family. But exactly how to go about it is a challenge. Right
now, the population density is so saturated that we are just a few
generations from Japanese and American subway trains.
This land mass that we have is only capable of serving so many
people, and the fact that immigrants are coming in since we have
little babies is driving demand up ridiculously. To solve the
population "crisis", the local population has to either
explode or we have to continue getting foreigners, either way,
demand for HDB is still going up, so theres no real way to avoid
that.
We could try and increase supply, use reclaimed land, but that
land would still jack up prices until a point where it's no longer
practical to do so. So my suggestion would be to instead offer
bigger houses to families with 3 generations or those with senior
citizens and hold off giant 5-rooms from rich families. That way,
we can solve the budget problem for younger families who are
starting off by giving them an incentive to live with their
parents, saving space. Since the middle and lower class families
make up the bulk of the population, the majority of the HDB flats
should be reserved for them instead.
Another problem that you guys seem to be bringing up is that
higher-ups are not serving the country or people. I highly doubt
keeping "their" money away from them would really solve any problem
that we have, they would probably just find a way to bring their
money back. Instead, i think it would be better, albeit less
realistic, to build up the young with the ability to speak up and
think for themselves. Since education is run by the ministry,
de-centralise it and allow greater flexibility when it comes to
discussing sensitive topics like politics and religion and some
other stuff, particularly in the higher secondary and tertiary
levels. that way, when kids grow up, they will become less inclined
to blindly follow. This would ultimately be a very long-term plan,
which would not solve the "immediate" problems of government
officials.
For the more immediate problem, i suggest a revamp of the
system, where during each election, there would be a month-long or
similar time period, where officials would not have any access to
their political powers. Control would be given to a "monarch" which
would be based on a 90% approval from the public. During which
time, there would be a media blackout on any political events,
leaving their only avenue of spreading information the internet.
And since, it's written from a "pretty much" first person
perspective (at least less so than the papers), the people would
get to argue somewhat objectively on the ideas anf principles and
generally what kind of person they are voting for. I think, that
way, any opposition would have less handicap. I don't expect them
to win, i just expect them to make progress.
my last idea was purely theoretical and i have no idea how this
would pan out in real life. i'm sure people would find ways to cut
corners and like disemnate information through a single source and
stuff. but i doubt it would make our problems worse.
anyway, give your comments.