๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฆ ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ
The coffeeshop has no shortage of political commentators.
Intoxicated with kopi-o kosong, and packing confidence bigger than an Amy Yip bao, they believe could solve the country's biggest problems before lunch.
Here are five classic Kopitiam Uncle theories that sound brilliant... until someone asks the next question.
๐. "๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฅ๐."
Scams? Cane them.
Vandalism? Double the jail time.
Littering? Death penalty.
Many crimes happen because people think they won't get caught. Others happen in the heat of the moment. Others still are committed by people who aren't behaving rationally at all.
Worse, if everything is "punished severely", then you just become another draconian system which no one takes seriously.
Sometimes, increasing the certainty of being caught works better than increasing the severity of the punishment.
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๐. "๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ง'๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ฌ?"
Who is "they"?
You want the hawker to charge less? Or the government to subsidise prices?
Eventually someone still has to pay for rent, electricity, ingredients, salaries, insurance, licences, cleaning, equipment and everything else that goes into serving you that plate of chicken rice.
All of those things rise because of market demand, there is no magical tool to "just lower the price" without affecting someone else's salary.
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๐. "๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐!"
Sure. Only one catch: healthcare isn't free.
Doctors, nurses, porters, and all manner of staff need to be paid.
MRI machines don't run on good intentions alone.
Someone always pays.
Of course healthcare should be affordable, it's just a question of who foots the bill and by how much?
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๐. "๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ &๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ญ."
"Hawker food expensive because rent too high."
"So just cap the rent."
So simple.
Until you remember that commercial property owners also borrowed money, pay maintenance fees, property tax, insurance and interest on loans.
The whole rental-F&B relationship is expensive is because people are just too bullish. Entrepreneurs are willing to pay, because they think they can beat the market.
The property themselves are phenomenally expensive. $38m for 99 year lease coffeeshop?! People take these bets because they believe the markets will pay.
F&B is in itself a bubble and it is at risk of bursting as well.
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๐. "๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐. ๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ๐ง'๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ค."
ERP makes driving expensive and it "doesn't work". Therefore remove it.
The funny thing is that ERP was never designed to eliminate traffic.
It was designed to prevent traffic from becoming even worse.
It's a bit like saying umbrellas don't work because it still rains.
Remove ERP tomorrow morning and you'll probably discover exactly how well it was working all along.
And yes, ERP makes driving expensive - that's not a bug, it's a feature.
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None of this means governments always make the right decisions.
Policies deserve scrutiny. Administrators deserve criticism. Better ideas should always be welcomed.
But complex societies rarely have one-line solutions.
The precursor "Just..." is usually a red flag that the person saying it thinks they know better.
Anyone can spend someone else's money, solve someone else's problems, and take none of the consequences.
Talk is cheap. Responsibility is expensive.