When in Rome, do as Singaporeans do!

So, SingTel thought it was still doing business in Singapore where it can have "a high degree of discretion" and its customers cannot know "where they stood"?

Excuse me, this is Autralia! And in Australia, customers have rights and citizens are kings, not peasants!

Australian regulator rejects broadband proposal led by SingTel
AP
17 Dec 07

Australia's competition watchdog Monday rejected a Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.-led plan to build a multibillion-dollar high-speed broadband network in the country, but added it would welcome a revised proposal from the group.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a draft decision that the bid proposed by SingTel and eight other telecommunications companies did not have adequate audit mechanisms.

The undertaking gives the network owner a high degree of discretion in unilaterally determining non-price terms and conditions for the 15-year undertaking period, "without independent regulatory review," commission Chairman Graeme Samuel said in a statement.

"We could not accept so much discretion from a gas, electricity or rail firm. Access seekers would not know where they stood."

But the regulator said it was generally comfortable with the pricing structured offered by the so-called "G9" consortium, and that it was open to receiving a revised proposal...

Venture overseas for F**K? I mean, it's so difficult to adopt a different mindset when putting up proposals to overseas governments who are actually concerned about their citizens knowing "where they stood"!

And it's strange too. Why do government overseas worry so much about their citizens' well-being, especially since it is about "non-price terms and conditions". Shouldn't they just care about the price, if they want to care at all?

Look, all those non-price terms have to do with privacy issues, freedom of information, individual rights, censorship etc, right? Hey, these are of no importance to Australians or to happiness in life, and so the Australian government should not care.

And even if Australians do care about such trivial issues, why should their government heed their call? Governments are supposed to listen to themselves, and expect their citizens to obey, not the other way round! That's the way things are done in Sg, and that's the way things should be done all over the world!

I thus conclude that either their governments are very caring, or their citizens are very powerful and so can force their government to care for them or face losing an election.

Either way it is no good! Stupid Australian government! I suggest our GLCs stick to doing business in our own country. Here, we do not need to bother whether our peasants know where they squat, let alone stood!