We Wuz Robbed

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam told the television audience: "We have got to be careful that we don't think we are Robin Hood, where you can simply take money from the rich and give it to someone else." He was probably referring to the higher personal income tax rates for top earners introduced in Budget 2015. To put things in perspective, the effective increase in tax rate amounts only to pinpricks of 0.2 percent for those with $250,000 annual income, and 1.6 percent for those with $1.5 million pay packets.

That would hardly qualify as daylight robbery. Now consider the 2.8 percent fare hike effective from April 5, which will hit anybody who can't afford a Certificate Of Entitlement (COE). It's more insidious when you realize this is part of the original 6.6 percent increase recommended by the government appointed Public Transport Council (PTC). The two public transport operators - SBS Transit and SMRT - stand to rip off an additional $48.5m in revenue from the hapless commuters with the fare increase. Money which will no doubt find its way into funding lavish investments like the Changi "jewel", projects designed to make life more enjoyable for the jet setters who can afford to fly around.

That can't be what Robin of Loxley had in mind. Over the course of 700 years, the fable was about the outlaw from Nottinghamshire who supposedly helped the poor by returning some of the ill-acquired wealth stashed away by the obscenely opulent. Monetary issues aside, Robin Hood also represents the notion of a brave rebel who lives on the outskirts of society, fighting injustice and oppression with his band of companions, constantly harassed by the politicised instruments of law enforcers.

If you were confused by the motives of Khaw Boon Wan's Zhu Ying Tai, you will be puzzled by Tharman's remake on Robin's cause of helping the poor.