excerpt from the straits times, december 13, 2006:
WHEN the goods and services tax (GST) goes up, Singaporean families need not worry about having to pay more for their children's school fees.
They will also not have to pay more for TV and radio licences, or parking at HDB carparks.
......
The list of frozen fees, however, will not include charges that are not set by the Government; for instance, service and conservancy charges and public transport fares.
The reason: service and conservancy fees are decided by town councils while bus and train fares have to be approved by the Public Transport Council.
the underlining is me ownself put one. can read the free version full report is here though it dont have the what-is-and-what-is-not-on-the list. so me cut and paste it here:
What's on the list
For a typical family, the frozen fee list includes*:
- HDB carpark charges
- School fees for primary and secondary schools, Millennia Institute, junior colleges and the Institute of Technical Education
- Radio/TV licences
- Registration fees for passports, birth certificates and driving licences
- Fees to use tennis courts and other recreational facilities run by the Sports Council.
- Marriage registration fees
What's not
Excluded from the list are**:
- Foreign maid levy
- Public transport fares
- Polyclinic fees
- Water and electricity charges
- Telecoms charges
- Vehicle and road taxes
* Both lists are not exhaustive.
** This does not mean the fees and charges will rise.
hmm ah beng me dia bor giu (hokkien: catch no ball i.e. dont understand) le...
- HDB carpark charges set by HDB tiobor? which is a statutory board. radio/TV licenses set by MDA ya? also stat board. vechicle registration and road taxes set by LTA tiobor? ma si stat board mah. how come kena excluded le?
- "service and conservancy fees are decided by town councils" so is not considered gahmen. but then hor, town council websites are listed in gahmen directory wo. and wikipedia also say "town councils are the administrative branch of the government in a constituency". err... unless wikipedia boi zun, or ah bengz's angmoh boi siu, that means town councils are part of gahmen tiobor? so is gahmen right? then like that got contradictions with the news report le. then how?
dont tell me the gahmen also works in mysterious ways?
wah lau ay!! today saw the Dark Knight's upgraded batmobile on PIE!!!
size does matter
me yesterday came back. midnite flight, landed in singapore around 5.30 am. dad and mom very nice, went airport to pick me. 
me basically slept the whole morning away. then spent the rest of the day unpacking.
got a bad news: home PC cannot boot up. somemore got the burning smell coming from the box. dunno wat happened... sigh...
