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The Alternative View
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In Nov last year, Lee Hsien Loong launched the "Future Ready" project with much fanfare, envisaging Singapore as a Smart Nation leveraging on technology to serve the people.
According to Vivian Balakrishnan who was appointed to head this Smart Nation Programme:
"What we have in Singapore is a well-designed future-ready city built on sound economic principles. And we can actually show the world HOW YOU CAN SAVE MONEY, make a living and save the world at the same time."
Fast forward four months to Mar 2016.
An electric car enthusiast Joe Nguyen posted an open letter recounting his epic adventure dealing with the various government agencies starting with LTA just to get his Tesla Model S electric car registered.
You can read his open letter here:
https://alvinology.com/2016/03/02/op...-in-singapore/
The picture that emerged from the above letter is an LTA that appears to be anything but future ready.
According to Joe Nguyen, LTA was at a loss on how to test his electric car (carbon emission test for car that runs on electricity, anyone?) and even asked him to declare that he would not charge his car using public facilities.
Eventually, LTA decided to slap a $15,000 carbon tax on his electric car.
So, as Joe Nguyen, wrote: "Singapore is the first country in the world that taxes/fines a Tesla car for CO2 emissions."
This episode gives lie to the fanciful picture painted by Lee Hsien Loong and his ilk.
Future ready? We think not.