The Health Minister has been reported (ST, July 14) as saying that Singapore can't rule out organ trading. I applaud this change of heart as it will certainly bring some cheer and hope for the many who suffer from organ failure.

When Singaporeans are dyng from organ failure, we should know where our priorities lie.

I reiterate what I said in an earlier blog and that is if any country can be a pioneer in organ trading (I wince at the term really) IT IS SINGAPORE.

The Minister has shown compassion.

In these days of increasing prices and ERP tolls, most people are giving their bills a greater scrutiny.

Take for instance our utilities bill.

I used to give it scant attention but this time round I paid more attention to it.

My household consists of only three working people. At weekends, we use the washing machine and, as for cooking, it's a rare activity.

Yet we have to pay a water tax which comes on top of the GST.

Why are consumers paying 2 taxes on the same bill? Bizzare.

People have written to the papers to complain but only to be greeted with a deafening silence.

I'm conscious of doing my part by not wasting water and I dutifully recycle water, but I am hit by the water conservation tax.

So sometimes I think trying to save water or recycle it is a sheer waste of time and effort.

Like the ERP, which has its operating hours extended every now and then, no one escapes the water tax. (Are we having a water crisis?)

That is, unless I bathe in the nearby Punggol River!

The New Paper today reported on two cases of violent assaults: one was at Clarke Quay and the other at the City Link Underpass.

Shockingly, in the Ciy Link Underpass incident samurai swords were used to attack a group of youths practising their dance. A friend's son was also attacked one night in the same area.

With the marked lack of a police presence in public places, criminal elements and thugs are emboldened these days. They take their chances, fully aware they can break the law with impunity most of the time.

Many have called on the police to step up their patrols but disappointingly such appeals have fallen on deaf ears.

Have we become complacent? Prisoners made an escape attempt in court, a passenger flew from Changi using his son's passport and, of course, the infamous escape of the terrorist Mas Selamat, serial criminal gangs come to Singapore to commit crimes, Nigerians attempted to withdraw money illegally at ATMs are some examples of criminal activiities.

Patrolling on foot, scooters and bicycles is more effective, and can be a deterrent. Any suggestion that being whisked around in a police car is also an effective form of patrolling is ludicrous.

It's more desirable to prevent crimes from taking place, no matter how good police is good at solving them.

If criminal elements do not fear the police, and crimes can be committed brazenly and with impunity, our society will gradually unravel. No one will feel safe anymore.

While having dinner at a foodcourt, I couldn't help but be struck by the stark difference between the locals and the foreign workers, or foreign talent if you like.

At the table in front of me, the whole famiy of four suffers from myopia. At another table of the 5 beer drinkers, attracted doubtless by the attractive beer lady from China, 3 wore glasses.

In sharp contrast, at tables occupied by our foreign talent not a single one wore glasses.

Apart from our accent what easily distinguishes us from others, even when we are overseas, is that most Sporeans are myopic. It's distressing to see even little kids similarly afflicted.

In other countries an optician shop is a rarity but here it's ubiquitous. The inescapable conclusion is that it's a lucrative business.

Theories abound as to the cause of the widespread myopia here but nothing definitive has so far emerged.

Perhaps the time has come for the authorities to offer a substantial reward to anyone in the world who can find the cause of this affliction.

US$1 million dollars and a gold medal should be sufficient inducement?

LTA's capacity to amaze and shock seems boundless, and motorists continue to seethe with anger and frustration.

That its actions can have a great impact on society shouldn't be underestimated.

As motorists stay back in office late these days to avoid paying the evening ERP, the first casualty is family life.

 Many questioned the need for evening ERP when the idea was first mooted

Unlike morning ERP where it can be argued that people need to get to their office on time, there isn't any convincing reason for evening ERP.

There may be congestion on the CTE but motorists are smart enough to know how to avoid it without LTA's assistance.

As fishermen know all too well, if you want a bigger catch you've to cast your net wider. Perhaps, mindful of this LTA lost no time in extending evening ERP to 10.30 PM. With this masterstroke, the majority of motorists were netted.

For who in his right mind will continue to work or hang around in the office well past 10.30? Even those with the stamina will inevitably suffer a burnout.

If somehow more motorists are masochistic enough to stay back till very late, is it far-fetched to suggest that LTA might extend evening ERP to midnight?

It's easy for ministers, cosseted in their leather armchairs, to pontificate about morality and legality over the controversial issue of the sale of human organs.

Minister Khaw is at pains to point out (Sunday Times, June 29) that we must not break the law, and that the sale of organs is immoral.

But laws are made by humans, and given the will, can be changed. They're not gospel truths to which we chain ourselves forever.

When people are dying from kidney failure, it's imperative we try to save them at all cost.

Granted the sale of organs is fraught with difficulties, but not insurmountable surely. Singapore can be a pioneer in this, and perhaps chalk up another first?

Prof Lee Wei Ling, director of National Neuroscience Institute, supports organ selling and do doctors.

As usual MPs merely echo the government's stand ,which is pathetic really.

Let's show compassion to those slowly disintegrating from organ failure. We are talking about life and death here if you've somehow missed the point, Minister Khaw and MPs.

ST today has a story on Reach, prompting me to browse here and give my feedback.

Frankly, I'm sceptical my feedback will do any good, believing it will merely vanish through the infamous black hole.

I'll hang around in the meantime, and see whether it's a WOT (waste of time) or a smart move by govt to ensure that's not barking up the wrong tree with its policies. 

It's easy for the govt,with its smart civil servants, to come out with convincing reasons to impose all sorts of levies and taxes.

However, they can't be left on the statue books forever as with the passage of time circumstances change and any good govt would make it a point to review them.

Take the tax on water in our monthly utilities bill for instance. At the time, govt argued that in view of the then water crisis, a tax to discourage water wastage was imperative.

Now after all these years there has never been any review of this tax.

Are we still facing a water crisis? Are our reservoirs depleted?

Far from it. In fact, we now have the expertise to transform drainage water into pristine drinkable water.

With the relentless rise in the pricies of almost everything, now is the opportune time for govt to review this water conservation tax.