Daphne Maia

Today I shared a link to the best iPad review I've read so far, on Plurk, and I got a very funny response.

Indeed there was no Steve Jobs involvement: Hermione Granger pointed her wand at an iPod Touch and said "Engorgio!" ... Wait, I see it isn't widescreen. So, it must have been Ron Weasley doing the spell... Hermione would have kept the same proportions..."

 

Some of you would have heard of Singapore's new "double barrel" policy of race declaration for children of mixed parentage.

On the surface, this sounds great - it tells the child exactly who he/she is, who his/her parents are, and his/her bloodline.

Then this morning, I read this news article on Channel News Asia, which says that the race which "parents choose to place first will be considered the main one." (source)

"Main race?" I asked myself.

I read on about the debate in parliament, on why there is even a need to declare a 'main' or dominant race:

Paulin Tay Straughan, Nominated MP, said: "I am trying to understand why you need to have a declaration of a dominant race. Perhaps Minister can help us appreciate the implications of registration in real terms."

Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs, said: "We have got ethnic-linked policies, for example HDB's ethnic integration policy, and these are key policies. So we do need to know which classification to put the child under."

Hri Kumar, MP, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, said: "In light of the many different permutations, and now the greater flexibility of choices given to parents, is the selection of race on the identity card going to become an artificial exercise - you pick a race of convenience?"

Clearly, everyone is going to pick Chinese as the dominant race due to the fact that Chinese is the government's "preferred" race in Singapore. So yes, it really is an artificial exercise that only looks good on paper.

I don't think this exercise is helping the situation of racial / ethnic discrimination that still exists in Singapore at all, despite our claims of racial harmony and of our multi-ethnic society that lives in harmony.

I know what you're thinking - that some ethnic-linked policies "protect" the minority races. But I'm for the school of thought that everyone should have equal opportunities, no matter what colour their skin is. If we remove this racial classification, there would be no special entitlement in the first place, or any need at all to protect people from any particular ethnic group. 

In my ideal world, race doesn't matter, and there is no racial divide. 

But I suppose we are light years away from that.

When M1 and Starhub first announced their price plans for the iPhones on Monday, the Mobile Marketing Association (Asia Pacific) created this Excel spreadsheet on Google Documents to facilitate conversations and provide a comparison chart for all existing iPhone plans and offerings by the three Telcos in Singapore.

SingTel, having been the exclusive carrier of the iPhone since it first came to Singapore in 2008, has been under a lot of pressure to match its offerings, namely the bundled data, as well as the excess data usage bill cap. And it did, of course.

While everyone calls this the 'iPhone Price War', I really think it should be termed the 'iPhone data war' instead. Neither SingTel, Starhub or M1 have, to date, reduced the price of their iPhone plans' subscription fees. Instead, all they have been doing is to increase the amount of bundled data for each plan. It's all a marketing gimmick. It looks as if they are offering you more value for your plan, but in reality (and I say this after being a user of unlimited mobile broadband for the last 2 years), none of us really use up the full 1GB in our basic mobile broadband plans. But, I digress.

M1, offering tariff rebates to existing SingTel iFlexi plan subscribers, are trying their hardest to get SingTel customers to jump ship (that is to say, break their contracts). However, the M1 tariff rebates apply only to iPhone owners who are subscribed to iFlexi plans, and those who have 6 months or less left on their SingTel contracts.

With the 3 Telcos fighting to offer more and more to existing or prospective customers, the war has just begun. Judging from the current situation, I think it would be best to wait out the first weekend, for those who are planning to get an iPhone from either of the 3 telcos.

Here's what may happen, in my opinion:

1. Customers of existing VAS Broadband on Mobile may see telcos offering higher bundled data for their mobile plans, as there have been outraged cries from existing customers under contract of regular 3G mobile/data plans, to close in on the gap. (Currently, BBOM subscribers get 1GB on their basic BBOM plans at $9.90 per month, while new iPhone plan subscribers get 12GB bundled data)
2. With M1 offering tariff rebates for existing iPhone owners to switch operators, Starhub may do the same. And who is to say that SingTel will not fight back to keep its customers by offering more value with its iFlexi plans?