Mrs. Lee Medivac from London

[pospeh]

Who is footing the bill for this ridiculous trip? The Lees, SIA or the gov't?

The thing must have cost over $ 1million.

It is not as though doctors in London are incompent or that she cant get top level treatment there.

If it was a top gov't minister involved, then perhaps there is some justification for spending this kind of money. But she is just a civilian, whose life or death would mean nothing at all to the public.

And god for bid, they had to queue up like ordinary folks in a London hospital that first night!!

Can ordinary citizens get this kind of VIP treatment?

And SM had the gall to announce this to the world and praise SIA for their rapid response. The gall of some people.

[hamannbmw]

shhh.........

[Achilles Tang]

Pospeh isn't local...

[Tanzy]

The Lee family is pretty rich themselves. Anyway, not everyone is born equal, raised equal or will live equal. It's a fact, so deal with it or move to a socialist state like Sweden and pay astronomical tax. SIA has a lot of reason why they should brown nose with the influential and power family.

[pospeh]

luckily, we will all die equally, despite all of SM's efforts to fund biotech companies in the vain effort to prolong his own existence.

BTW, I am taiwanese and I pay astronomical sums of singapore taxes, so I do care.

[AlfaRomeo]

Simple Question on how efficient and fast SIA is:

If i was the one who is struck, would they have responded in such a manner? fast and efficient?

hmmmm..

[bum]

if you were one of the people responsible for steering this country....,

and making it what it is today...

if your name was linked to the founding of this nation,

(and i dun mean raffles )

sure, SIA will probably do it for you.

to quote orwell,

Not men are born equal, some are born more equal than others.

oh, and Mrs lee is not just a civilian.

if you read his memoirs, she's responsible for a lot of him.

my $0.02.....

[Achilles Tang]

Hmmm... yeah... hey, SIA's the national carrier.... why would they not jump up to help Mr and Mrs SM? It's a form of national service if you ask me.

I know people will grumble... but my wife once had to give up her dining table to the SM when he was aboard the same cruise ship.. she did grumble a bit.. but hey... he's the Big Kahuna of Singapore.

I wonder what would have happened if she stood her ground.... She would probably have the ship's captain and the officers begging her and upgrading her to a suite or something.. hahaha!

[bum]

nah...secret service would have drugged her wine,

then dragged her to the back...

then dropped her overboard with a 'Thank you very much"

joking

[pospeh]

This is really a matter of clean government, the centerpiece of Singapore public drive over the last decades.

If SIA provided this service in the hope of obtaining favorable treatment, then that is an indirect form of bribery.

And I am sure Singapore has laws that prohibit politicians from accepting gifts. It just creates a sense of impropriety.

It is not as though the Lees can't afford it. So why not pay it.

Or alternatively, if there is some national interest in giving the SM and DPM peace of mind so they can concentrate on their public duties (which I doubt considering that she is in London, a place where even better specialist are available for the right price), the gov't should foot the bill.

But certainly not SIA. It is a public company invested by locals and foreigners alike, and its duty is to run an efficient and profitable operation, not spend money on giving charity to those people who absolutely don't need charity.

They used this argument when retrenching staff.

[flubberina13]

nah...secret service would have drugged her wine,

then dragged her to the back...

then dropped her overboard with a 'Thank you very much"

joking

[Dinosaur]

luckily, we will all die equally, despite all of SM's efforts to fund biotech companies in the vain effort to prolong his own existence.

BTW, I am taiwanese and I pay astronomical sums of singapore taxes, so I do care.

taiwanese

see you on coming Saturday

[Dinosaur]

if you were one of the people responsible for steering this country....,

and making it what it is today...

if your name was linked to the founding of this nation,

(and i dun mean raffles )

sure, SIA will probably do it for you.

to quote orwell,

Not men are born equal, some are born more equal than others.

oh, and Mrs lee is not just a civilian.

if you read his memoirs, she's responsible for a lot of him.

my $0.02.....

Agree! even your balls are not equal

OOpsss ......... sorry

[hamannbmw]

[hoppinghippos]

pospeh: if you so concerned, why don't you write in to the various newspapers and voice out? And we can all get an official answer. I am also quite interested in the answer, but frankly I think its pointless to rant on a forum where no one's the wiser. no to mention dangerous, wait kena by ISD or something.

[Achilles Tang]

I have a bro from ISD, I'll ask him if he'll even bother about this issue... frankly they are too busy looking for JI operatives.

[Tanzy]

A Taiwanese complaining of bribery and corruption? That's ironical! Really! Nothing personal but it's funny.

Think of what SIA is doing as a very big business lunch. If doing that will improve reputation, business or standing with an influential family, I'm quite sure the shareholders and staff won't mind. I think it's a great form of advertising and like you said, it's to make profit, so for profit they will do it.

We don't even die equally. Some die in pain, some die peacefully. Some die younger, some die older. After that, some get eternal damnation whilst others get eternal life. Equality? Who are you kidding?

[Achilles Tang]

Just read in today's papers that No5 Downing Street denied any help were given to Mr and Mrs Lee.

Apparently 3 of their major newspapers caught up on this and raised a big fuss!

[KingFish]

Don't be so quick to put it down guys .... take it easy and discuss on a more intellectual level.

All things aside, Tanzy has brought up a point about aligning with powerful families, everyone would want to do that, its a matter of survival.

Even in feudal times, daughters were married into powerful alliances, posterity were kept in Lord's castle to command continued loyalty. The Lee's are merely returning the favour by praising SIA, besides, its a national carrier and pride of a nation.

The cycle continues.....

[FuEl]

Don't be so quick to put it down guys .... take it easy and discuss on a more intellectual level.

All things aside, Tanzy has brought up a point about aligning with powerful families, everyone would want to do that, its a matter of survival.

Even in feudal times, daughters were married into powerful alliances, posterity were kept in Lord's castle to command continued loyalty. The Lee's are merely returning the favour by praising SIA, besides, its a national carrier and pride of a nation.

The cycle continues.....

Reminds me of 'The Godfather'.

[hoppinghippos]

interesting read regarding this..

article in forum

but yeah the question still remains, who paid for the SIA jet?

[terryansimon]

Just read in today's papers that No5 Downing Street denied any help were given to Mr and Mrs Lee.

Apparently 3 of their major newspapers caught up on this and raised a big fuss!

I thought its number 10?

[pospeh]

A Taiwanese complaining of bribery and corruption? That's ironical! Really! Nothing personal but it's funny.

Think of what SIA is doing as a very big business lunch. If doing that will improve reputation, business or standing with an influential family, I'm quite sure the shareholders and staff won't mind. I think it's a great form of advertising and like you said, it's to make profit, so for profit they will do it.

We don't even die equally. Some die in pain, some die peacefully. Some die younger, some die older. After that, some get eternal damnation whilst others get eternal life. Equality? Who are you kidding?

That comment is way overboard and also extremely unfair to generalize things.

You know, Singapore is not exactly corruption or bribery free either. It's just that people here pretend it doesnt exist. Or the controlled press dare not report it. And the type of officially-sanctioned vote buying that goes on here is beyond legend.

And at least Taiwan has a free and open press and a vibrant, if sometimes wild, democracy, none of which exists here.

Be that as it may, by your logic, you seem to imply that because condition "X" exists in one's home country, it is somehow ironic that he speaks against the same condition "X happening in another country. So are you saying that because a ERP exists here, it would be ironic of you to speak against the new ERP in London as well? Or that it would be funny for a Iranian to speak against the ill treatment of women occurring in Pakistan?

But back to the topic at hand. . .

With the SIA thing, I totally agree that it is in the best interest of SIA to obtain the good graces of powerful families. It is smart business. So they can give all the perks to the Bill Gates of the world, and I would say, "Good for you, very smart."

But the point I was saying is it right for SIA (if indeed it paid for the trip) to give that gift to the SM and DPM. And conversely, is it right for the Lees to accept that kind of gift, given that they are sitting public officials.

[Achilles Tang]

haha... yeah... no. 10 it is.. no. 5 could be a laundry or a fish n chips shop!

[pospeh]

Well, looks like the SM is going to pay this out of his own pocket after all.

There is justice in the world after all.

Here is what ST said,

"The statement followed concerns expressed by some Singaporeans, including on the Internet, over who would bear the cost of her treatment and flight back with a medical team in attendance."

Maybe the ISD saw my rant here.