"We are being tracked..." Oh, pls!!

Heard from friend that when she and her family went to visit some friends in Australia, her friends gathered a few other Singaporeans for a little party. And when they heard that she worked in the government, they thought she must be there to "track" them...

!!!

First of all, that was her personal holiday to get away from work - visit friends, climb rolling hills, see sheep etc.. Second, she does corporate HR and finance lor...

I wonder why people tend to think that they are being "tracked" by the government.. Who do they think they are?! And just what is meant by "tracking"? Where you live? How much you earn? And, what does that say about what people think of the government? Control freak (must track everything but is that possible?)? Very efficient (so that can track everyone)? Very free (have time to track*)? Or clueless (so need to track)?

* I get totally incensed when people think public officers are very free! Not so!

In fact, I think commercial companies may have more information on us than any government agency - when was the last time you wrote your email or mobile number on a government form? What about that lucky draw or membership form from the makeup counter?

I get mail from my banks for things not related to my accounts with them or asking me to transfer my credit card bills. Some people kept calling me to ask me to go try their latest facial peel or apply for some credit card that gives me $100 voucher. My inbox shows a lot of newsletter from various cosmetics brands and some fitness centres where I have been for trials. And somehow, this matchmaking website knew when I turned 30! Even now, there are days when I get more SMS notifications of special promotions etc than personal messages - how sad.. I've been trying to unsubscribe (some unsuccessfully, unfortunately) to a few mailing lists; when I go back to Sg in Nov, I'll do that for the SMS as well...

Now I quit giving my address when I go for trials to save some trees. (Of course I still go for trials, especially if they are free! Hohoho!) And if I don't intend to go back at all, I'll even give a pseudo email address and phone number.

But I still want my CPF and IRAS letters to reach me - important!! When I first moved in to our little flat, I forgot about changing address until Mother told me about the accumulating letters back home - oops, I didn't go back a lot :p

Anyway, I suddenly remembered just now that we did not change our address after coming here :p Was thinking of not doing so since we would probably be going back every so often but a thought occurred to me: what happens when elections come around? Um, holiday? :p