http://mylibranbloodbank.blogspot.com/2007/05/fuck-you-pap.html
Fuck You PAP!
Yes, you read that right. That is an expletive and that is the well known acronym that pervades our little rock. And I'm saying to anyone who cares to listen, 'Fuck you PAP! You can kiss my hairy balls! Fuck you!!!!' Please pardon my french but I just had to get that out of my chest for I have seen up close how fucked up our little existence can be.
I live in a humble 4-room flat with my wife and though we're not rich, we're not starving. Of course, having been screwed over before by eager monopolistic telephone companies who deduct my monies through GIRO without my permission, most of the bills I now have are actually not paid for through GIRO. This includes my town council conservancy bill. Being significantly lazy, filling up extra forms to pay through GIRO just didn't appeal to me, this I must admit. And during busy months when I'm preoccupied, I must admit, that I only pay my conservancy charge towards the end of the month rather than at the beginning of the month. But by and large, I've almost always paid my conservancy charges within the month they are due.
Last month, however, it slipped my mind totally. I was only reminded of it when I received a slip from the town council informing me about my last month's arrears and this month's charge. So the reminder had read that I needed to pay last month and this month's charges and a $4 penalty fee. Ok, I thought. I'd almost forgotten about it, so I was actually glad that they had sent me a reminder. After receiving the reminder, I paid the amount online within the next 2 days.
Today, less than five days from the date when I first received that reminder, I find another slip from the Town Council in my mailbox. I've not opened my mailbox in the last couple of days so the Town Council slip had already been there for a couple of days. When I ripped opened that tiny grey slip (which is the size of a pay slip), the slip read:
LETTER OF INTENT
Dear Sir/ Madam
ARREARS OF CONSERVANCY AND SERVICE CHARGES (C/SC) INCLUSIVE OF GST
C/SC in arrears (inclusive of GST) $48.00
Current month C/SC (inclusive of GST) $48.00
Penalty fee b/f from previous months $0.00
Penalty fee imposed $4.00
Total outstanding penalty fee $4
Total amount payable $100
1. We refer to our Notice sent to you earlier, and regret to note that the above conservancy and service charges including penalty for late payment are still outstanding.
2. Our Council prefers not to resort to any unpleasant course of action, but where other attempts fail, legal action is the only alternative available to our Council to recover the arrears. In such event, you will be liable for all legal costs incurred, and penalty fee will continue to be imposed up to the date of full settlement.
3. TAKE NOTICE that unless you pay the said charges and penalty fee within the next 14 days, the Council shall commence legal proceedings against you for the recovery of the said monies and shall hold you responsible for all expenses incurred thereof.
4. If you are making payment by cheque or money order payable to E___ C____ Town Council, you should write your account number on the reverse side. If you are paying by GIRO, kindly ensure that you have sufficient funds in your bank account.
5. We wish to remind you that failure to pay your C/SC constitutes a breach of the Town Councils Act (Cap 329A) Section 39 (7) for which may render you liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.00.
6. Please ignore the LETTER OF INTENT if payment has already been made.
Yours faithfully
SECRETARY
E___ C____ Town Council
This is a computer generated notice. No signature is required.
(please note that the Bold lettering and the caps are inherent in the mail message and have been reproduced exactly as they appear in the slip)
After reading this slip I went ballistic! The first thing in my mind was 'Fuck you! Nah Bei chee bye! Fucking government! Fuck you!!!!' (again, pardon my french)
The thing that got me so mad was that the government was actually sending me a letter of intent, threatening to sue me over an amount of $100!!! And this was the first time I was even paying a penalty for last month's arrears! The penalty fee was only $4 and they are threatening to sue me to get back their $100! If the amount was so big and important to them, surely they wouldn't impose a measly $4 penalty fee, would they? I mean, I pay a penalty fee of $40 for any late payment to the credit card company. That is 10 times more than the penalty fee that the Town Council charges. So how important can the money be to them if they tell you that there's only a very small penalty for being late.
And the worst thing was they declared to you the exact law and statute which states that it is actually illegal for anyone to owe the Town Council their conservancy charges! The government actually wrote into law the requirement for you to pay your conservancy charges. Which company do you know has the power to write into law, has the power to mobilise the police and the law to chase their customers for their dues? Which company has the power to do that in this world? How can the government use the law as a tool of commerce? It is outright an abuse of the legal system! Do you know that if you underpay on your bus fare or mrt fare, that you are liable to be charged in court for that specific offense? When the bus company overcharges you for your ride, do they get charged in court for overcharging you? No! You'll be lucky to get your money back if you bother to jump through all the hoops and the paper work to get back your money! The government spends tax payers' money to protect these companies' interest. And who do these companies belong to? The government!
It is one thing to be the government and to have rule of law. But it is quite another thing to use the rule of law as a tool for the business that you just happen to run. Our HDB flats are purchased with our hard-earned money. The town councils run a service for us - flat owners - to upkeep the estate. For this service, we pay them a monthly fee. It is ridiculous and wrong for the government to align the financial interests of the town council with the state and write into law, statutes which protect the financial interest of the town council. We are paying the town council for their services. The operations of the town council like conservancy are profitable endeavours held by contractors who make a profit. They are not volunteer workers working out of the State's pension. When you run arrears with your condo committee, do they have such direct legal recourse to throw you in jail? For one thing, you have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for your house, do you think you'll ever be brought to court for not paying one hundred dollars? That's peanuts! If you don't get charged in court for missing one month of your mortgage payments, why should you get charged in court for a measly $100?
I shudder to think of the poor folk in Singapore who really have no money to pay their conservancy charges. Do they get charged in court? Be forced to pay out even more money like the town council's legal costs, a $1000 fine and then go to jail when they fail to pay becos they're too poor in the first place? Is that what happens in Singapore? You go to jail for not paying your bills? Is that what the government is here for? Are they really here just to earn your dollars and then throw you in jail when you are too poor to pay? If so, why are we still supporting them? When a company you hire to clean up your estate tries to throw you in jail for not paying them a month's payment, do you still continue to use them for their services? Why would you? If you could, you would immmediately get another company to service your estate, cos you're getting bad service. I mean, the customer is always right, right? Well, in most other consumer goods, you would be able to do just that - exercise your rights as a consumer. In this case, you have no rights. You can't change your town council. YOu can't hire another company to do your cleaning of your estate. In fact, even if they do a bad job, you still have to pay them, cos they have it written into law that it's illegal for you not to. If they do a bad job, is there anything written in law that you can refuse to pay them and get a refund, or get another company to do the job? NO!!! There isn't! Do you think its right that they have the right to sue you but you don't have the right to sue them? How do you stop this from happening to you?
Simple. Vote. Vote for another person to do the job. Put your money where your mouth is. Its the only way to stop yourself getting screwed. Stand up for your consumer rights. Stand up for your rights. Stand up for yourself. Stand up!
Fuck You PAP!
Yes, you read that right. That is an expletive and that is the well known acronym that pervades our little rock. And I'm saying to anyone who cares to listen, 'Fuck you PAP! You can kiss my hairy balls! Fuck you!!!!' Please pardon my french but I just had to get that out of my chest for I have seen up close how fucked up our little existence can be.
I live in a humble 4-room flat with my wife and though we're not rich, we're not starving. Of course, having been screwed over before by eager monopolistic telephone companies who deduct my monies through GIRO without my permission, most of the bills I now have are actually not paid for through GIRO. This includes my town council conservancy bill. Being significantly lazy, filling up extra forms to pay through GIRO just didn't appeal to me, this I must admit. And during busy months when I'm preoccupied, I must admit, that I only pay my conservancy charge towards the end of the month rather than at the beginning of the month. But by and large, I've almost always paid my conservancy charges within the month they are due.
Last month, however, it slipped my mind totally. I was only reminded of it when I received a slip from the town council informing me about my last month's arrears and this month's charge. So the reminder had read that I needed to pay last month and this month's charges and a $4 penalty fee. Ok, I thought. I'd almost forgotten about it, so I was actually glad that they had sent me a reminder. After receiving the reminder, I paid the amount online within the next 2 days.
Today, less than five days from the date when I first received that reminder, I find another slip from the Town Council in my mailbox. I've not opened my mailbox in the last couple of days so the Town Council slip had already been there for a couple of days. When I ripped opened that tiny grey slip (which is the size of a pay slip), the slip read:
LETTER OF INTENT
Dear Sir/ Madam
ARREARS OF CONSERVANCY AND SERVICE CHARGES (C/SC) INCLUSIVE OF GST
C/SC in arrears (inclusive of GST) $48.00
Current month C/SC (inclusive of GST) $48.00
Penalty fee b/f from previous months $0.00
Penalty fee imposed $4.00
Total outstanding penalty fee $4
Total amount payable $100
1. We refer to our Notice sent to you earlier, and regret to note that the above conservancy and service charges including penalty for late payment are still outstanding.
2. Our Council prefers not to resort to any unpleasant course of action, but where other attempts fail, legal action is the only alternative available to our Council to recover the arrears. In such event, you will be liable for all legal costs incurred, and penalty fee will continue to be imposed up to the date of full settlement.
3. TAKE NOTICE that unless you pay the said charges and penalty fee within the next 14 days, the Council shall commence legal proceedings against you for the recovery of the said monies and shall hold you responsible for all expenses incurred thereof.
4. If you are making payment by cheque or money order payable to E___ C____ Town Council, you should write your account number on the reverse side. If you are paying by GIRO, kindly ensure that you have sufficient funds in your bank account.
5. We wish to remind you that failure to pay your C/SC constitutes a breach of the Town Councils Act (Cap 329A) Section 39 (7) for which may render you liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.00.
6. Please ignore the LETTER OF INTENT if payment has already been made.
Yours faithfully
SECRETARY
E___ C____ Town Council
This is a computer generated notice. No signature is required.
(please note that the Bold lettering and the caps are inherent in the mail message and have been reproduced exactly as they appear in the slip)
After reading this slip I went ballistic! The first thing in my mind was 'Fuck you! Nah Bei chee bye! Fucking government! Fuck you!!!!' (again, pardon my french)
The thing that got me so mad was that the government was actually sending me a letter of intent, threatening to sue me over an amount of $100!!! And this was the first time I was even paying a penalty for last month's arrears! The penalty fee was only $4 and they are threatening to sue me to get back their $100! If the amount was so big and important to them, surely they wouldn't impose a measly $4 penalty fee, would they? I mean, I pay a penalty fee of $40 for any late payment to the credit card company. That is 10 times more than the penalty fee that the Town Council charges. So how important can the money be to them if they tell you that there's only a very small penalty for being late.
And the worst thing was they declared to you the exact law and statute which states that it is actually illegal for anyone to owe the Town Council their conservancy charges! The government actually wrote into law the requirement for you to pay your conservancy charges. Which company do you know has the power to write into law, has the power to mobilise the police and the law to chase their customers for their dues? Which company has the power to do that in this world? How can the government use the law as a tool of commerce? It is outright an abuse of the legal system! Do you know that if you underpay on your bus fare or mrt fare, that you are liable to be charged in court for that specific offense? When the bus company overcharges you for your ride, do they get charged in court for overcharging you? No! You'll be lucky to get your money back if you bother to jump through all the hoops and the paper work to get back your money! The government spends tax payers' money to protect these companies' interest. And who do these companies belong to? The government!
It is one thing to be the government and to have rule of law. But it is quite another thing to use the rule of law as a tool for the business that you just happen to run. Our HDB flats are purchased with our hard-earned money. The town councils run a service for us - flat owners - to upkeep the estate. For this service, we pay them a monthly fee. It is ridiculous and wrong for the government to align the financial interests of the town council with the state and write into law, statutes which protect the financial interest of the town council. We are paying the town council for their services. The operations of the town council like conservancy are profitable endeavours held by contractors who make a profit. They are not volunteer workers working out of the State's pension. When you run arrears with your condo committee, do they have such direct legal recourse to throw you in jail? For one thing, you have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for your house, do you think you'll ever be brought to court for not paying one hundred dollars? That's peanuts! If you don't get charged in court for missing one month of your mortgage payments, why should you get charged in court for a measly $100?
I shudder to think of the poor folk in Singapore who really have no money to pay their conservancy charges. Do they get charged in court? Be forced to pay out even more money like the town council's legal costs, a $1000 fine and then go to jail when they fail to pay becos they're too poor in the first place? Is that what happens in Singapore? You go to jail for not paying your bills? Is that what the government is here for? Are they really here just to earn your dollars and then throw you in jail when you are too poor to pay? If so, why are we still supporting them? When a company you hire to clean up your estate tries to throw you in jail for not paying them a month's payment, do you still continue to use them for their services? Why would you? If you could, you would immmediately get another company to service your estate, cos you're getting bad service. I mean, the customer is always right, right? Well, in most other consumer goods, you would be able to do just that - exercise your rights as a consumer. In this case, you have no rights. You can't change your town council. YOu can't hire another company to do your cleaning of your estate. In fact, even if they do a bad job, you still have to pay them, cos they have it written into law that it's illegal for you not to. If they do a bad job, is there anything written in law that you can refuse to pay them and get a refund, or get another company to do the job? NO!!! There isn't! Do you think its right that they have the right to sue you but you don't have the right to sue them? How do you stop this from happening to you?
Simple. Vote. Vote for another person to do the job. Put your money where your mouth is. Its the only way to stop yourself getting screwed. Stand up for your consumer rights. Stand up for your rights. Stand up for yourself. Stand up!
