In Charles Dicken's 1859 novel "A Tale of Two Cities", English barrister Sydney Carton willingly takes the place of Charles Darnay at the guillotine, and gave us the immortal thought: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."
After waking up to the misery in this country, Charlotte Ashton did not die. Instead, she left Singapore last week to return to Britain to deliver her baby. It is indeed a a far, far better rest that she's going to, a place with no stinky trains, no overpriced housing, no COE, ERP, S&CC and all the hated acronyms we have to put up with. Best of all, the National Health System takes a humongous big load off the worry about maternity bills. And she won't have to deal with doctors who pretend to serve national service obligation by "saving babies' lives". And the rip-off co-payments of the MediSave scam.
Australia also takes care of the delivery bills, unless one opts for a private hospital. For all three babies, if you go the whole hog to produce one for mom, one for dad, and one for the country. We had to confirm this when we spotted an expectant Aussie mum queuing up at one of our food courts. Yup, she said cheerily, you mean you have to pay? Dr Toh Chin Chye was one who believed health care should be free.
Ms Ashton not only sparked debate with her BBC Viewpoint piece headlined “Does Singapore deserve its miserable tag?”, she also gave us a rude reminder that all is not well in our so-called First World country. In follow up of same article, she said, “In terms of my report for the BBC’s From Our Own Correspondent programme, it comes from a personal perspective based on my experience of Singapore and various conversations I’ve had with Singaporeans and expats living in Singapore." Ain't that the whole truth, and nothin' but the truth. Now, it is a far, far better thing that we do, than we have ever done, when we remember this the next we march to the polling booth.
After waking up to the misery in this country, Charlotte Ashton did not die. Instead, she left Singapore last week to return to Britain to deliver her baby. It is indeed a a far, far better rest that she's going to, a place with no stinky trains, no overpriced housing, no COE, ERP, S&CC and all the hated acronyms we have to put up with. Best of all, the National Health System takes a humongous big load off the worry about maternity bills. And she won't have to deal with doctors who pretend to serve national service obligation by "saving babies' lives". And the rip-off co-payments of the MediSave scam.
Australia also takes care of the delivery bills, unless one opts for a private hospital. For all three babies, if you go the whole hog to produce one for mom, one for dad, and one for the country. We had to confirm this when we spotted an expectant Aussie mum queuing up at one of our food courts. Yup, she said cheerily, you mean you have to pay? Dr Toh Chin Chye was one who believed health care should be free.
Ms Ashton not only sparked debate with her BBC Viewpoint piece headlined “Does Singapore deserve its miserable tag?”, she also gave us a rude reminder that all is not well in our so-called First World country. In follow up of same article, she said, “In terms of my report for the BBC’s From Our Own Correspondent programme, it comes from a personal perspective based on my experience of Singapore and various conversations I’ve had with Singaporeans and expats living in Singapore." Ain't that the whole truth, and nothin' but the truth. Now, it is a far, far better thing that we do, than we have ever done, when we remember this the next we march to the polling booth.