Statistics, maths and refugees: Singapore, you suck.

OK a quick one for me. For a nation who actually prides itself at being good at mathematics, there has been one really stupid mistake that you Singaporeans keep making that makes me what to bitch slap you with every single maths textbook and maths assessment out there. I keep hearing this stupid shit repeated over and over again on social media, I don't even know where to begin.

So many Singaporeans who try to justify refusing the 40 Rohingya refugees keep saying that it would be expensive to provide for them - I have even come across one fucking idiot who said that I should personally sponsor all 40 refugees if I cared so much about them. Clearly, these fucking idiots don't know how to make sense of the numbers behind the cost of the upkeep of the refugees and it is evident that they have never ever dealt with the budget before.

For these idiots, let me explain how a budget can vary depending on the scale of the project. If I wanted breakfast for myself in Singapore, I'd allocate a reasonable budget for my breakfast - say $5 for a nasi lemak and teh-tarik. Last year, when I was in Singapore, I had a 9 am meeting with a client in Tanjong Pagar. My boss said, "we're going to turn up with breakfast for everyone, that'll put them in a good mood to do business with us." So we went to a fancy bakery and I filled three big boxes with enough cakes and pastries for everyone in the company (and more). So the bill came up to about $150 for just breakfast.

Breakfast anyone?

Did I pay for the $150 breakfast? No, neither did my boss - that went on company expenses, it came out of a different budget. We have budgeted for things like that for that business trip - buying them breakfast didn't affect how much I was being paid for my work. So could I claim that I 'bought' the client breakfast? Not really. The company did, I just carried the boxes from the taxi into the office.

If the Singapore government were to provide for these refugees, it is not the individual Singaporean who will foot the bill - it is the government who will foot the bill. The same way I didn't pay for that $150 for those 3 three big boxes of cakes and pastries. I can hear the Singaporean piping up at this point saying, "hey, but where does the government get that money from? It is the Singaporean tax payer and our CPF money, it's my money."

Whose money is it anyway?

Eh hello? How much tax do you pay? Do you wish to compare that to your counterparts in Europe? Singapore is a low-tax haven. In any case, the government has already has your tax money and they are not spending it on you. In fact, they are spending most of that on other people - be it on infrastructure projects that do not benefit you (or do not directly benefit you), or they are spending it on the over-inflated salaries of ministers and MPs, or paying their various cronies from the PAs. Mangos for Laura, dare I say? What about Cindy Ong?

We're not asking for Singaporeans to come up with even $1 of your money. No, we're saying that the government is sitting on a huge pile of money anyway - they are the government of the world's third richest country. They can easily find the money from within some of their budgets to help these 40 refugees. Say it costs $10,000 to help each refugee (temporary housing for 3 months, food, medical care, clothes whilst preparations are made to resettle them in a third country), so the bill comes up to a total of $400,000. I have news for you, S$400,000 is nothing to the Singapore government. Even S$1 million. Heck, Temasek Holdings loses money (your money) and they make no big deal about losing a few billions. So if Temasek Holdings can lose a few billions here and there, that's spare change to them. What's $1 million to help refugees?

Singapore has the resources to help these people. 

But what else is happening? If one looks at the bill of $10,000 per refugee, then the Singaporean thinks in a rather simplistic manner, "What? I also want $10,000 from the government! Not fair one, why refugee can get $10,000 but I cannot?" Oh the jealousy of the jilted lover, look - if you're constantly worrying if your government cares about you, then you've clearly voted in the wrong party. When my boss buys our clients expensive gifts, I don't say, "How many years have I worked hard for you? Think about the times I have taken flights in the middle of the nights so as to save the company money or the times when I have worked till midnight just to help you meet deadlines... when was the last time you bought me an expensive gift?"

No, I don't react like that for the simple reason that I know I am being paid a reasonable amount of money for the work I do and I am treated reasonably well in this company. I am happy and content enough to get on with my work without worrying like a jealous lover - in any case, this is the company's money, it comes from a different budget, it doesn't affect what I am being paid for the work I do.

Imagine this: it's Christmas time and a family is making a donation to charity - the children say, "Mum, Dad! Why do you have to give away money to charity? Why don't you spend that money, buying us more toys?" The parents reply, "Listen you, you already have so many toys, you live in a nice house, you eat nice food, you wear nice clothes, you have great parents who take good care of you. We're now giving away a very small amount of money to help some very poor people who have nothing, nothing at all. Haven't I thought you how to share with those less fortunate than you?"

Can you share with others, at this time of the year? Or is it ME ME ME?

And that's what I am hearing from Singaporeans. It's so salah on two levels: no one is asking them to contribute personally, if the government helps this 40 refugees, the money would come from the government rather than individual Singaporeans. For the government, even S$1 million is nothing. It is spare change. You have got to stop thinking, "I cannot afford S$1 million, that sounds like a lot of money". We're not talking about you, we're talking about the Singapore government who are so rich they can afford to pay their ministers ridiculously over-inflated salaries. Duh.

Secondly, imagine this: even if each resident in Singapore gave just $1 - that would create a pot of money that is $5.3 million, more than what is necessary to help these refugees in the short term. When people work together, great things can happen. It is difficult for individuals to make a big difference when it comes to charity - but if big groups of people work together, all it takes is very little effort from everyone involved to make a huge difference. Even if the bill to help these refugees is S$5.3 million - that's $1 per resident. Is that something you guys cannot afford?

Are you guys even dealing with the facts in the first place?

For the fuckers who berate me for not doing enough for charity despite the fact that I have had a 20 year track record of charity work and I actively practice the principle of Zakat (alms giving), let me say this. I am no Mother Theresa. I am not able to make a huge difference individually, but I do believe that when individuals like myself contribute, then I am making a difference as a community - I belong to a much larger community of charitable individuals around the world who are making a difference, a huge difference in this world. I don't take any personal credit - I just want to remind you that when large groups of people work together, we can make a huge difference and achieve great things: the same way it only takes $1 per resident in Singapore to raise $5.3 million to help the refugees.

Of course, all this involves some maths, some division and multiplication - looking at the numbers and making sense of it. That is why I say, for a nation that is supposedly good with maths, boy you guys really suck at making sense of this situation. If you are cold hearted and mean, then fair enough, be like that. But when you come up with completely wrong information about the statistics behind the cost of taking care of these refugees, then you're only embarrassing yourselves. Here's the irony: I don't think you suck at maths, give it a go, think these figures through and make sense of these statistics.

My sister explained it this way, "Give Singaporeans a very difficult maths exam, they will probably ace it and come up with top marks. Ask them to apply the same mathematics to a real life situation an analyse a situation which involves statistics and you'll be amazed how they can't figure out simple statistics. It's not that Singaporeans are bad at statistics per se, it's just that they are rarely ever asked to apply their knowledge to real life, practical situations. Such is the problem with our education system."

Sigh. I despair. Such is the state of Singapore. Okay, I have to dash, I have a train to catch in 3 hours.