The article below written by Fred Goldstein is published by Workers' World of workers.org

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Pentagon spreads anti-China hacking lies

By Fred Goldstein on February 25, 2013 » Add the first comment.

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The Pentagon, imperialist cyber warfare’s central headquarters.

Feb. 25 — Dramatic front-page headlines in the New York Times accusing the People’s Liberation Army of China of being behind computer hacking in the U.S. have all the earmarks of a Cold War-style propaganda attack on China.
This bellicose attack comes at the same time that new leadership is about to take over in China. It comes in the context of the U.S. “pivot” to the Pacific and the buildup of military forces there directed at China. It comes at a moment when the Pentagon is facing the prospect of budget cuts. And it comes at a time of intractable economic crisis, when the U.S. government and the financial authorities are desperate to shore up the economy.
Seeming to surface out of nowhere — in the midst of debates about budget cuts, gun control, immigration reform, maneuvers over cabinet appointments and so on — this sudden flare-up of hostility is a dangerous step forward by anti-China hawks in the Pentagon and the establishment.
The China-hacking smear campaign was based upon a 60-plus-page report sent to the New York Times by the computer security firm Mandiant. The Times wrote a 3,000-word lead front-page article, replete with code names, charging that internet protocol addresses pointed to a building in Shanghai that allegedly housed a unit of the PLA.
The Chinese government and the PLA have strenuously and categorically denied the charges. They called the charges irresponsible and pointed to the lack of any proof. Other U.S. experts in cyber security pointed out gross inconsistencies in the report and asserted that no one can pinpoint the location or origin of a computer breakin by the IP address alone. It is common practice among hackers to conceal their origin by directing the IP address to a false location. (Jeffreycarr.blogspot.com/2013/01/ — search for “China”)
Be that as it may, what stands out is that the hacking story is being used politically to stir up suspicion and hostility against China and the Chinese military, even though all the alleged targets of the hacking were economic, i.e., unnamed private corporations.
The Times reported this incident in a sensational manner, conjuring up images of China destroying U.S. electrical grids, water supplies, communications systems, ad nauseam. The leap from alleged economic corporate spying, which takes place on a regular basis among all major companies and all governments, to a lurid military-spun fantasy about subversive Chinese aggression is calculated to stir up antagonism against China.
‘Cyber security’ & the military-industrial complex
Mandiant is a cyber security company that has cashed in on the recent anti-China boom. It works for the Fortune 100. Cyber security is a $30 billion industry, and Mandiant had revenue of $100 million in 2012, up 60 percent from the previous year. (Reuters, Feb. 22)
Mandiant operates out of Arlington, Va., and is tied to the military and the CIA. Its CEO and founder, Kevin Mandia, has worked for Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force intelligence. Its chief security officer, Richard Bejtlich, has worked for the Air Force Internet Warfare Center and the Air Intelligence Agency.
They are part of a growing wing of the military-industrial complex. For example, a keynote speaker at a Mandiant-sponsored conference held at the Washington Ritz-Carlton hotel last October was retired Gen. Michael Hayden, former head of the National Security Agency and then of the CIA. Hayden is part of the Chertoff Group, run by former head of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.
It should be remembered that the U.S. and Israel developed the Stuxnet virus, which sabotaged Iran’s nuclear facilities. This is far more than mere espionage. It was an act of warfare. These are the forces behind the report.
The Times story and the Mandiant report are nothing less than a “nongovernmental” attack organized by the U.S. government and the Pentagon to lay the basis for further military measures against China.
The report was leaked to the New York Times. It could have been handled in a completely toned-down style or behind closed doors, the way many matters of the gravest importance are handled. Making it public in such a dramatic way was the real political aggression. Buried in the Times article on the report was the admission that the Times has a “business relationship” with Mandiant.
The Times is the most prestigious mouthpiece of the U.S. ruling class. It could never have issued such a sensational blast at the PLA without prenotification and thorough consultation with the Pentagon and the State Department, as well as the White House. In fact, President Barack Obama previewed the attack with a strong reference to “our enemies” and cyber attacks in his State of the Union speech. This was clearly a coordinated offensive.
It should be recalled that former New York Times reporter Judith Miller worked with the Bush administration and the Pentagon to sell the Iraq war, writing front-page articles about how Saddam Hussein was stockpiling “weapons of mass destruction.” She and the Times were ultimately discredited when the reports proved false, but they helped pave the way for the U.S. invasion.
Similarly, the timing of the race to push forward the Mandiant report was partly driven by the Pentagon’s plans to bolster its Cyber Command staff from 900 to 4,900. Thus the report was also aimed at protecting this projected increase in a key Pentagon program at a time of talk about general austerity and Pentagon cutbacks.
The capitalist media are understood by Marxists to be an integral part of the capitalist state. They are sometimes described as the fourth arm of the state — the means of ideological and informational compulsion. The treatment of the Mandiant report was truly a state-to-state transaction, giving the capitalist government a safe distance should it find it diplomatically necessary to dodge and double talk.
Critical time for China
This report was a shot across China’s bow just when new leadership is about to take over. It is a flagrant threat and an attempt at destabilization. Washington and Wall Street are demanding that China move more vigorously toward abandoning state-owned corporations and state planning and open up wider to a complete takeover by the capitalist class and imperialism.
The top agencies of the U.S. government, the imperialist think tanks, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank — all are pressuring the Chinese leaders to make more political space for the bourgeoisie to organize in China under the slogan of “reform.”
The new leadership under Xi Jinping takes over after the previous leaders crushed the left wing at the top of the party, led by Bo Xilai. The new leaders are now faced with an encouraged and stronger right wing. This newest, most brazen threat to China’s armed forces is undoubtedly calculated to send a message to the new leadership that the U.S. wants to see a deepening of capitalist reforms and opening up to imperialism — or else.
U.S. ‘pivot’ toward Asia
These actions must be seen as part of Washington’s so-called “pivot” toward Asia — a euphemism for increasing its encirclement and military pressures on China. The present media attack is directed at the element within China regarded by the Pentagon as its primary adversary in the world: the People’s Liberation Army.
The so-called “pivot” is not new. It comes after a long history in which U.S. imperialism, and particularly its admiralty, have regarded the Pacific Ocean as a “U.S. lake.” The recent application of this doctrine is the “pivot” and is part of a multipronged offensive.
Consider some recent history:
Both the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations escalated military pressure on China. Clinton moved a vast arsenal of naval and air weapons systems to Japan and Guam. The Bush administration sent an additional carrier force to the Pacific and announced the deployment of more submarines to the region.
The Obama administration went further. It expanded its joint naval exercises with Japan to prepare for the defense of disputed islands, abandoning the historic hands-off U.S. position. The U.S. sent Marines to Australia and restored military cooperation with Indonesia and New Zealand. Over the last three years the Obama administration has carried out the largest joint military exercises in Asia since the Korean War.
In January 2010, the Pentagon sold advanced military equipment to Taiwan, an island historically part of China that is politically separate only because it became the refuge of counterrevolutionary armies driven from the mainland in 1949 by the Chinese Revolution.
In July of that year, the U.S. and south Korea carried out a major military exercise in the Yellow Sea simulating war with China.
Washington has also strengthened its south Korean puppets militarily and is programmed to set up a theaterwide anti-missile system involving Taiwan, south Korea and Japan — all aimed at China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In addition to military moves, anti-China economic measures are in the works. A Trans-Pacific Partnership that would include most of the nations in the region, plus the U.S., has excluded China.
Pentagon wants contracts, not cutbacks
The Pentagon is under pressure to make cutbacks in military spending, both from the masses who need the money and from the bankers who want to grab the money. The global suspicion generated by the hacking headlines is calculated to bolster the cyber war capabilities of the Pentagon and justify its huge budget by painting China as an “enemy” that must be defended against. It is supposed to provide support for new weapons systems that the Pentagon has in mind for its encirclement of China — including new generations of missile ships, long-range drones, new piloted bombers and ballistic missiles. All can be deployed outside the range of China’s defenses.
These types of big-ticket items were built up during the Cold War against the USSR and China, and made the military-industrial complex the dominant economic and political force in U.S. capitalist society. The anti-China hacking story is part of the campaign not only to ward off budget cuts but to increase the hundreds of billions of dollars handed over to the Pentagon for war
Finally, this attack comes at a time of stagnating U.S. economic growth that has led to mass unemployment and underemployment and declining wages. Because the masses have little money to spend, Pentagon spending becomes more integral to holding up the economy. It should be noted that with a dip in Pentagon spending in the fourth quarter of 2012, the economy shrank 0.1 percent.
The working class and the oppressed peoples must not be taken in by the attention-grabbing headlines against China and the PLA. It is the workers in both countries who will suffer from any escalation of Cold War-style tension generated by the Pentagon and the White House.
Schools are closing, hospitals are being shut down, social services are being cut, no money is spent on jobs, and prisons are filled with predominantly Black and Latino/a youth. The capitalist profit system is bringing more and more hardship to the people.
The enemies of the workers here are not the Chinese people or the Chinese government. The real enemies are the big capitalists who are running society into the ground at the expense of the masses. And one of the biggest concentrations of avaricious capitalists is military contractors — merchants of death who profit from war and war preparation.
As for “hacking,” technology is the product of the millions of people who have created it, not just in this generation but going back to long before the pyramids were built. This technology was created by humanity; it should belong to humanity as a whole to be used for its benefit. No group of avaricious monopolists should be allowed to own, control and use it against the people.

High quality living according to snake oil sellers

The snake oil sellers are still peddling their deception to the daft Sinkies that small is better, public transport can replace car ownership and the quality of life will be better. In 2030 it will be even better, but no one is telling the wide eyed Sinkies how much it will cost them for the better quality living, how big will be their flats and whether they can still own a car.

To me it is very simple. Quality living must come with bigger space for leisure, bigger homes for children to grow up, private personal space and no need to cram like sardines every where. And car ownership is a desirable item to provide that quality living, the freedom to move around for leisure with the family, for convenience. For some, a car is an absolute necessity, not a luxury. And these must not cost an arm or a leg to own one or a life time of slavery to pay for them.

We had them before, when we were poorer on the whole. We have become richer, some very rich, but we are telling the not so rich people that these necessities and niceties are now beyond their reach, that they must make do without them, smaller homes and living space to cram more children into them. How can the quality of life be better in living in pigeon holes? Progress? How can the quality of life be better depending on public transport, or taxis, compare to private cars?

It is time to stop deceiving the daft Sinkies that these are progress and better quality of living. We can only return to better quality of living with more space and lesser people. And mind you, a smaller economy with lesser people will not compromise on the quality of life. Life is for living and pleasure when one can afford it, not to slave and work just to live and to live in little nooks and corners.

Economic growth that leads to being squeezed and being deprived of the nicer things, basics like bigger homes and car ownership, is bad economics. Economic growth must lead to better quality of life in all ways. Otherwise the economic growth is as good as no growth and better to do without. And another 1.6m people are something that we can do without.

Still want to con people to live in dog’s kennel and claim to be better quality living? Woof, woof….

Mysingaporenews is a Singaporean blog

I couldn’t believe that I have posted some 7,000 articles in this blog over the years. When I started I wanted this blog to be a very provocative blog, teasing and tearing at the conventional thinking process, challenging the readers to look at things from different perspectives. I hope I have not failed in doing this. I just got screwed by several bloggers in TRE in my latest post on ‘Not owning a car is better quality living.’ What is apparent is that the readers read everything I said at face value, even with so many hints that it was not meant to be what it appeared to be. Only a few who have got used to my style and the innuendoes were able to see the subtle meanings and cynicisms from under the table. : )

The other major line of thought in this blog is that it is all about Singaporeans, about the interests of Singaporeans and the well being of this island. There is a Singaporean Spirit in us, among us, a string that weaved through the hearts of all Singaporeans as one people. It is there and still there, but flickering and may go off if we are not careful. I am not sure if the underlying mesage gets through, that readers can feel a greater sense of being Singaporeans, and feel responsible for this island and wanted to be and to do something no matter how small for this country.

As for the non Singaporeans, this blog may give them an idea of what being Singaporeans is all about, and the story of Singaporeans and how this island state is evolving, a continuous work in progress, or in regress.

The idea of national interest, country and people, have been in my vein, probably imbibed through the years when I was in uniform and then as a civil servant in Mindef. I was at one time even lecturing in the National Education Course. So this blog is kind of a continuation of what I was doing officially then and unofficially now, in educating Singaporeans about their country and what is happening to their country. Don’t let the Singaporean Spirit die. Don’t let anyone kill it. This is a constant banging at the consciousness and the subconscious, to kick the morose mind to a state of awareness and to take cognizance of what is happening. It is only when Singaporeans become more aware and politicised and understood what is happening around them would they stand up to play a more active role in the making of their country.

The affairs of the state, the well being of the country and its people, are not just the responsibility of a chosen few, the elected few. It is a matter that concerns every Singaporean, it is not just an economic matter, material well being, but a matter of the heart. Every Singaporean, a civilian, a civil servant, men and women in green or in blue or in civee, must always have the interests of the state and people uppermost in their minds, guiding their actions for the good of the nation and people. Only then can the people as citizens of this country continue to exist as one people and one nation. Anyone who loses this moral compass and strays, and compromises these principles for the wrong reasons would have to answer to his conscience and his children and grand children in times to come.

After writing so many articles over so many years, there is a big risk of going astray and walk down the wrong road like all human beans do. Every now and then it is nice to take stock and realign the compass to stay on the course. If our country ends up in the hands of foreigners and not our children, we are to be blamed.

I used to work in the little zoo in Tanglin and often have tea with the bird keepers in the bird park down the road. Those were quite some time back, Most of the bird keepers have retired, and so were the zoo keepers. I hope this blog will be able to bring more Singaporeans together to think and be like Singaporeans and not let the flame of nationhood be extinguished by the presence of too many foreigners and new citizens that may have different dreams from us.

Keep the Singaporean Spirit alive in each and every one of us.

$600,000 lifetime payouts cum benefits for Singapore citizens

This is the number that is being paraded as the amount a young Sinkie couple with two children will receive from the Govt. In many countries, such an amount is equivalent to a very rich man. But in Sin City it is nothing, and the amount is only subsidies or handouts from the Govt. I am sure many people from across the world will be salivating on this news. Singapore is indeed a very rich country and the Govt is giving away money, plenty of money, to its citizens.

Why would anyone not be rushing to be a citizen here? And why would a Sinkie be unhappy with the new citizens who are likely to receive a fair amount of this $600,000. You get paid generously to be a Singapore Citizen. Why would a Govt give away so much money to new citizens who barely live in the island, pay the taxes or contribute much to the country?

Hear already angry liao. Our Govt so generous with giving away our money to new citizens. Now you know why the true blue citizens are angry. It is not just citizenship and the rights to the normal privileges of citizenship but big money in the forms of big subsidies plus outright cash.

Shouldn’t the Gov’t be more discriminating in who to take in and how much to give to them taking into consideration their contributions and length of residency? And with this type of money the Govt is giving, it should advertise it in the international media and there will be a very long queue of foreigners wanting to come here. Then the Govt can pick and choose only the deserving ones, plus stating all the conditions out front, like NS and if abscond, must return the subsidies and benefits. Can’t be giving all the money away for nothing right? There is no free lunch and no charity to Sinkies, why to foreigners who turn new citizens?

Singapore for Singaporeans!

Sorry ah, I just feel like shouting this empty slogan for one last time before it is being buried for good. Yes, the Sinkies have built this country from a swamp to a first world city. But looks like the Sinkies are not being able to do better going forward.

What is needed now are the foreign talents to come and help the Sinkies to move forward to improve their lot and turn this into a better country for Sinkies.

Sinkies must be grateful that these talented foreigners are here to help built this island. They could all remain in their home country and build their countries into first world, better than Sin City. You see the big sacrifice? Now they have forsaken their own countries, letting their homeland to rot, some still stuck in third world status, only to come here to help us. I am sure their countries will miss their great talents and contributions and their own people will be calling them traitors or ingrates.

Be thankful Sinkies. Singapore for Singaporean slogan should, yes, rightly be an empty forgotten slogan. Let’s utter the new one, Singapore for FTs. They rightly deserve it aren’t they, quitting their countries for our sake? Perhaps someone should hold a rally for this new slogan at Hong Lim to honour the FTs. Singaporeans are history, I mean true blue, born and bred Sinkies.

What do you think?

What is a true blue Singaporean?

I think many would like to know what this term means. The true blue Singaporeans will definitely know without having to scratch his head. You can see a true blue Singaporeans here and overseas by his mannerism, his lingo and his interests. There will be no mistaken identity. The new citizens, many will not be able to pass off as a Singaporean here or overseas. Our Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasians are a unique kind, different from their counterparts from whatever countries. Only those that are not, or those who refuse to acknowledge the true blue will pretend that they don’t know or very difficult to define. Let me attempt a definition and I don’t expect everyone to agree.

First, all those who were here in 1965 and were citizens or subsequently made citizens is a true blue Singaporean. All born and bred and served NS is another. All those new citizens who have served NS is also another. This latter category is to accept new citizens who are willing to serve the nation like all NSmen.

For the ladies or those who are not eligible to do NS, a 10 year citizenship should be a reasonable time to qualify one as a true blue Singaporean. This condition is used so as not to disqualify the newcomers/citizens or to alienate them. We welcome our new citizens as one of ours after some time. The 10 year is arbitrary of course.

Then there are true blue Singaporeans who ran away because of NS or other reasons, economic, education etc and still very Singaporean. They are still true blue except that they have run foul of the NS law. They could return and be one of us, after paying their dues.

All the children of true blue Singaporeans are true blue Singaporeans. No question about this.

Now, would my definition be inclusive enough? I think these terms would at least draw some lines as to who is or who is not. There will be exceptions outside these parameters and could be treated differently on a case by case basis. Not that difficult isn’t it. No need to scratch the head for another ten years with scholars to come up with these simple criteria.

Any disagree? Go ahead, no problem.

Not owning a car is better quality living

One of the measures introduced in the 2013 Budget that will come down hard on the people is the control of car ownership. It hits the people in two ways, higher ARF, lower loan allowed and lesser time to repay. On face value many Sinkies aspiring to own a car as a convenient mode of transport will have red faces and veins protruding from their necks. Those that really need a car for business, for ferrying little ones or ancient ones, or physically difficult ones, will be less forgiving. I am expecting a public outcry on this alone.

But putting the anger and disappointment aside, not buying a car is really a good thing. Really, trust me. Look, this is a depreciating asset that will run out of value in 10 years. It runs out faster than the 99 year HDB flats. Why pay so much for it? Further, public transportation is so cheap, convenient and efficient. There is no need for a private car.

And with the prices of cars getting only more expensive, taxi fares, even if they go up, will still be so much cheaper. There are plenty of rooms to raise taxi fares as there is a big gap between the fares here and the big cities. So enjoy the cheap taxi fares when you can before someone claims so hard to get a cab.

Actually the Govt is doing the people a big favour by discouraging those that cannot afford to buy cars not to buy one. Too expensive lah. But if you can afford it, can pay for higher ARF and put up bigger cash payments, ok lah, go for it.

Many people will be saving a lot of money for not buying cars. It is like people saving money by not going to eat in restaurant. It would be different if people don’t eat or can’t afford to eat in order to save some money. Eat they must, just like some people cannot move without cars. For such desperate cases, just too bad. Sure the Govt will empathise with them, hand over heart. No, cannot say if cannot afford cars take public transport lah. This is a cruel thing to say. Politically incorrect. By the way, with another 1.6m talented foreigners coming in, they too will need cars. Let them pay the COEs and ARF and the Govt can redistribute to the needy citizens. Good huh.

The quality of life sure will not be affected, just like living in smaller flats will not affect the quality of life as well. Think quality of life will be better as promise in the White Paper.

No support for stay at home caregivers

'AWARE calls for greater support for women who have left or stayed out of the workforce due to their caregiving responsibilities. Ministry of Manpower figures show that as many as 68 percent of women who are not in the workforce identify caregiving responsibilities as the reason why they are not doing paid work.'

Let me try to explain, but let me clarify that this is just my opinion, I am speaking in my personal capacity. I think the Govt would prefer the well educated mothers to remain in the work force to contribute to the economy and the GDP. In return they not only pay taxes, they also help to make the maid industry more vibrant, employing more maids, and more levies to be collected, not forgetting helping to pay for the mortgage of our super expensive flats and properties.

I know that having the mothers directly and personally taking care of the children is a benefit that no money can buy. Nothing beats mothercare and the love and devotion of mothers caring for their children. But we need to be practical and pragmatic. The economy needs to be lubricated and it is second best to have the maids to bring up the children. Grandparents would be good too, as caregivers.

Remember that everything is about the economy and GDP. Even having babies is for the economy and GDP. We exist not to live but to support the GDP growth so that more people can be paid handsomely.

It is preferable to have caregivers contributing to the economy than looking after babies and children. There is always the reliable and dependable maids to take over mothercare.

Belligerent Japan and the evil Empire

Tension in East and Southeast Asia is mounting with the return of the Americans and its pivot to Asia military policy. Though its official comment is to remain neutral and not to be involved in the disputes between the countries in the region, covertly it is more than obvious that the Americans were behind the rising tension by agitating and coaxing its proxies to confront China and North Korea. Japan and the Philippines have taken on a very belligerent stance against China and the North Koreans that they would otherwise be more cautious, particularly the midget Philippines.

The rest of the Asean state, with Vietnam now adopting a less hostile position, are walking on tight rope trying not to take sides and ended as pawns in the big powers’ chess board.

By far Japan is the most belligerent of the lot, even threatening to take pre emptive strike against the North Koreans like they used to do during Imperial Japan. Let’s hope they carry out the threat and let the North Koreans dispense a few nuclear bombs over Japan to mean business.

The Japanese threat is not play play. Abe repeated it in Washington when he met Obama. And very likely they have tested water with China that found it serious enough to pay a visit to Russia to get an assurance that should it happen, both Russia and China would take the side of the North Koreans. Not sure if the South Koreans would allow their historical enemy to obliterate their brothers and sisters in the North. It would be so pathetic if the South Koreans would to allow the Japanese to kill Koreans again or even join forces with the Japanese to kill their own brothers and sisters.

With regards to China, the Japanese are increasingly getting more hostile and provocative, buying out China’s islands, chasing Chinese civilian ships and aircraft and increasing its military budget to add more military ships and aircraft in the disputed area. It even made demands to China like in the 19th and 20th centuries and calling China belligerent as if it was the good boy being oppressed by China. Abe said it would not tolerate China’s attempt to take back Diaoyu Islands. This was the same kind of Japanese rhetoric in the past when they bullied China and invaded China. China and the Chinese people would not take this lying down. The truth is that Japan is still occupying Chinese territories, chasing Chinese civilian ships and arresting Chinese fishing boats.

The Japanese are doing all these with the US behind the picture, thinking that the combined force could threaten and bully the Chinese and the latter would not be able to retaliate. They still believe that the Chinese would let them run wild in China.

The Americans will conveniently fly the American defence treaties with the Japanese and the Philippines to tell the Chinese they will come in if China would to act. The Americans think the Chinese will not act.

And they blame the Chinese for raising tension and become more assertive and belligerent. The Chinese have so far only laid claims to those that are rightfully theirs, those that were seized when China was a weak country. On the other hand, young upstart like the Philippines that only became a country a few years ago wanted to lay claims to territories that the Chinese have claimed long before the name Philippines was even known.

Who are the real trouble makers, the belligerent ones? The Chinese will fight the Americans when forced to. They have done that in Korea and supported the Vietnamese risking a direct confrontation with the Americans in the Vietnam War. The Chinese even openly declared that they would defend Iran if the US launches an attack against it. They would do so if the Japanese and the Americans would dare strike North Korea. So too would the Chinese fight the Americans if they are provoked to defend their territories in the East and South China Seas. The Americans know this.

The Americans and the Japanese are playing with fire together with some Southeast Asian countries in trifling with the new China.

Poor George

'An outspoken associate professor for journalism in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has been denied tenure, sparking an outcry and raising questions over academic freedom in Singapore.

Cardiff University professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen tweeted said that he was denied tenure “on the grounds of quality of teaching and research”.

…Wahl-Jorgensen, who revealed that she was one of the reviewers for George’s case, said she was “outraged” at the decision not to grant him tenure, and that it could have been “because he sometimes expressed political opinions”….'

The above is quoted from Yahoo News. All I can say is poor George. At the rate it is going, our universities will be staffed by the best professors from the US and Europe. It may be another measure to strengthen the Sinkie core in the Universities, be reducing the number of Sinkies and replacing them with quality professors.

Needing more land to avoid overcrowding

We need all the reclamation and yes, going underground, to expand the space for more gracious and comfortable living. The future of Singapore is underground, the new frontier of quality living. So Sinkies, this term is finding better relevance, sinking deeper into mother earth.

‘State media is already championing the idea. In September, the Straits Times newspaper characterized underground living as the "next frontier" for Singapore. It said Singaporeans may one day "live, work and play below ground in vast, subterranean caverns that make today's underground malls look like home basements." The Building Construction Authority, which oversees a new agency responsible for surveying underground, said it could become reality by 2050.’

Actually, what is the point of land reclamation and building downwards when the new space will be eaten up immediately by 1.6m more people? If only the population can be capped at this level and more space be created, there will be more space for everyone, bigger housing, more recreational facilities, more parks and greeneries to give one a sense of space and freedom. Similarly what is the point of cramming people into concrete jungles and with patches of greens, and with each housing unit getting smaller, everyone getting smaller space, in public and in homes? The quality of life must come with space and more space to move around to run around, to allow more roads and thus more ownership of private vehicles.

Creating more space only to stuff them up with more people is not improving anything or changing anything. More sardines in more sardine cans. Is that an improvement in lessening overcrowding or quality of life? Oh, my apologies, smaller space does not mean lower quality of life if well planned, like an airconditioned dog’s kennel.

The White Paper critics

When the PAP White Paper was tabled in Parliament, it was criticized by both PAP and opposition MPs. I think it is normal to look at a position paper and look at its merits and demerits and hopefully resulting in some adjustments or amendments before it is accepted or even fully rejected. No position paper is perfect unless it is prepared by gods which should rightly be perfect or near perfection.

In the PAP White Paper there are many big promises of higher GDP growth and higher quality towns and flats that will lead to higher quality living. The biggest flaw or maybe not a flaw, is the position on more immigrants and higher population. These are non starters. They are the key to the violent objection by the people, not only in Parliament but the citizens at large. Can the Govt see this point? I think the Govt chooses not do.

Can the better quality living etc, please also state what is the cost involved, be achieved without the higher population? If it is conditional on this, then the people are saying, keep it. The Poll conducted by a live show on Channel 8 conclusively proved that the people are not willing to compromise the high population density for a little growth. 92.5% voted against this motion. This is quite close to the 97% polled in mysingaporenews Poll. The increase in population in the PAP White Paper is the fundamental issue that the citizens are objecting. Get it?

Now the other opposition parties are coming out with their version of what they would want to see in a future Singapore. Of course it is time for the PAP side, and its apologists to start tearing these papers to shreds. Devadas Krishnadas wrote a more than one page article to dissect the WP’s White Paper. Some of his comments are here, ‘actually a cupboard empty of original ideas, (really?) …All its policy recommendations are borrowed ideas from existing or proposed policies of PAP.’ What is wrong with not being original or borrowed from the PAP? Not everything the PAP wrote in its White Paper is rubbish. Not all PAP policies are bad. WP is just picking up the good parts, add in theirs as both are dealing with the same issues and problems. There is no necessity to reinvent the wheel.

Other comments by Devadas include, ‘simplistic view that imposing a freeze on foreign labour supply will not damage the economy,… riddled with popular slogans, …asks us to believe in a dream land where making hard choices is unnecessary….’ For the last part, is it that much different from the PAP’s dream land? Or PAP’s dream land scenario has no hard choices like flooding the country with millions of foreigners is acceptable?

Critics are critics. Important point is where they are coming from and how serious and rational are the criticisms. If the WP White Paper is as offensive as the PAP paper, it could possibly lead to a similar public outcry. Or maybe not as it will not be passed or discussed in Parliament.

A strange and puzzling question

Why would Indian companies want to set up business in Singapore and incur all the high costs, wages, rentals, living expenses, business expenses etc etc while at the same time employing mainly Indian FTs from India? (This issue is also applicable to Chinese companies or companies of any third world country when the cost is cheaper, if they also bring in the whole village and the schools here). Would it be more cost effective to locate in India and enjoy the comparative and competitive advantages vis a vis a set up here? I can understand if they are here to tap on the skilled local workforce. But they are not. They are bring their own workforce here.

One possible reason, they are getting their businesses right here and earning higher revenue to pay for the higher costs. A second possibility, if it is a western MNC, the cost is borne by the MNC and if they could keep the bottom line healthy, no one is complaining. A third possibility is to occupy Singapore and eventually turn it into another India city with Indians becoming a majority in the island.

What else could be a good reason for the Indian FTs to relocate schools, lock, stock and barrel to Singapore, and pay for all the higher expenses when the same business/school can remain in India at a fraction of the cost? The schools are run entirely by Indian teachers, Indian curriculum and Indian students. How many Indian schools are here and how many Indian FTs are here and how many are accompanied by their entire extended families?

It was reported that there are now 200,000 Indian PMETs here and growing. How many are exactly here including their dependents and how many have become citizens and not in the statistics? The percentage of Indians has risen by 2% or 66,000 from a citizen population of 3.3m.

If the whole population of residents, including PRs and EPs and WPs, were to be considered, what is the distribution of the different racial groups? Aided by the CECA and FTAs, are there bigger political and strategic objectives for foreigners to be moving into this island particularly for the two big countries like China and India?



Anyone got any statistics on this?

Warren Fernandez, official or personal views?

Warren Fernandez is a very powerful man in ST, in shaping opinions of the paper and its influence on its readers. He is writing quite regularly now and the White Paper and the immigrant issue are hot topics to involve him personally and directly. He wrote another piece on Sunday about how the people were so stupid not to see the ageing problems and how the able Govt was working so hard to do the necessary. He did not ask why a super talented Govt, paid the highest in the world, could not nip this problem in the bud and allowing it to grow and become a national crisis? He did not ask why after importing nearly 2m people in slightly more than a decade into the island did not help at all, did not alleviate the ageing problem but instead added to the problem. Would adding more immigrants solve the problem in the future or would it just be like now, add into the problem to create an even bigger problem to be relieved by even bigger population later on, the perfect Ponzi solution?
Was Warren Fernandez writing in his personal capacity, or in the capacity of the top guy in ST, or was he speaking as a representative of the official view, a Govt view? The gist of his article can be summed up by these few paragraphs.

‘Some have begun to mouth empty slogans such as “Singapore for Singaporeans” or “born and bred Singaporeans”. There was even on outlandish posting on Facebook calling for “ethnic cleansing of FTs from Singapore”…The idea is absurd. Where would we draw the line separating “born and bred” Singaporeans from others to be spurned – 1965? If so, many of us would have to disavow our own parents or grandparents as interlopers. Or should we push it back to 1819? In that case, most of us, except for a few Malay families, would have to pack up and ship out to wherever our ancestors came from.’

From these two paragraphs, it is very clear where he is coming from. Rubbishing ideas like “Singapore for Singaporeans” or “born and bred Singaporeans” are as good as telling the Sinkies to go fuck off, there is no such things as true blue Singaporeans. Anyone given a pink IC is a Singaporean. This is the official view I am sure. The Govt is planning to bring in more foreigners to be given the pink IC to be counted as Singaporeans. Who cares about born and bred Singaporeans? This is high falutin surely, an aspiration only for those who think they are true blue Singaporeans. Sinkies better get use to it.

The idea of true blue Sinkies is absurd. Really? The people in Hong Lim will disagree. They know and regard themselves as true blue Sinkies. That’s why they came, with no fear of rain or lightning. There are Sinkies that do not want to acknowledge the true blue Sinkies. They are entitled to their opinion. Warren added with the fake ignorance of small boy argument about where to start, 1965, 1819, or may I add to make it more ridiculous, from Adam and Eve. This is the same kind of evasive thought like what Tan Chuan Jin said in Parliament. How to define a true blue Singaporean? Where to start, so difficult leh. When super talents find it difficult, it must be really difficult ya?

Is that so, or just a denial, refusing to want to look at it? Why don’t apply the mean testing formula? I think it will work quite well with a little modification. Personally I find the mean testing formula hideous and wicked, but when the Govt wants to do it, whatever nonsensical formula, even the raising of GST to help the poor will be good and logical.

I don’t think it is so difficult to define what is a true blue Singaporean and not having to kick the butts of our parents and grandparents into the shit hole in doing so. As a Singaporean, I am offended by anyone who rubbishes the idea of a true blue Singaporean. Our parents and grand parents did not build this country for foreigners to take advantage of our children and grandchildren. We have to take care of ourselves and our future generations. It is for them that this country exists for. Otherwise everything we do is foolish, useless and futile, especially NS.

And in order to protect our future children, the descendants of true blue Sinkies, you see, I refuse to define what this means because all true blue Sinkies understand what it means except those who refuse to want to know. We must know who we are. We are Singaporeans by birth and by long residence and commitments to this country. We are no longer passing by, we are stayers, not quitters. We are the owners of this island. This is home to true blue Singaporeans, not to fair weather economic migrants.

Does Warren Fernandez believe in ‘Singapore for Singaporeans’ and in true blue or born and bred Singaporeans? He said these were empty slogans. Does the govt believe in true blue Singaporeans or not? Or shall there be a new slogan, Singapore is an international city for people all over the world, not only for Singaporeans.

What do you think?

Paving the way for the extinction of Sinkies in Sin City

The White Paper wanted a 55% Sinkie core in 2030 with a population of 6.9m. It could make it more palatable by claiming that the Sinkie core will be 80% by offering citizenship to all the residents, PRs or what not that are working here and telling the daft Sinkies that the Sinkies are forming 80% of the core population.

As long as the true blue Sinkie core is diminishing against the PRs and new citizens in the population, it is shrinking or dying and would eventually become an absolute minority if it is not already the case. Just remove the new citizens, say those who have been granted citizenship in the last 10 years and see how many true blue citizens are left. The number can be shocking. Any investigative journalist dares to take on this unpopular and politically incorrect revelation?

Given the assumption that the foreigners are hungrier, more talented, more willing to reproduce, have the habit of bringing along their fathers and mothers, father in laws and mother in laws and siblings, the granting of a citizenship to a couple could mean an entourage of a small village tacking along. And their drive for a better life, their more abrasive and aggressive and competitive spirit would only drive away more Sinkies to foreign shores, or the meek that were left behind, to hide indoors or may just shift their asses to Johore.

While the true blue Sinkies become less competitive, less productive and making lesser babies, the foreigners or new citizens are going the other way. These natural trends of progression will in no time turn the true blue Sinkies to extinction in the island. And the new owners of the island would then show their generosity and magnanimity by setting up special corners of the islands or small islands as reservations to protect the true blue Sinkies from disappearing altogether in a revived and vibrant immigrant city.

The road has been paved for the extinction of Sinkies in their homeland without the Sinkies knowing what is happening. Please welcome the foreigners, immigrants and all to save this City, to keep it more vibrant.

The convenient lies of liars

In the last few days many would have been familiar with the phrase, ‘I am speaking in my own capacity’, or ‘I am writing in my own capacity’. See, what do these phrases mean? It’s elementary. They are saying that in their own private or personal capacity this is their view, this is what they think or will say. And, if they are speaking or writing on behalf of an organisation or in a non personal capacity, they will say differently, their views will not be the same.

So which is their real view, the one when representing an organisation with a title stuck on it, or the one that has no title but just their names? One must be a distorted or untrue views, or a lie or a half truth isn’t it? Or is it about political correctness?

Heheheh, I am writing this in my own private capacity. What do you think?

A walk into the recent past

Throw back to the 40s, 50s, or even early 60s, there were probably a million people here, or lesser in the 40s. Many were stateless, new migrants allowed to work but no citizenship status. They just fended for themselves under the colonial administration that would be very happy as long as there was no problem from the population of migrants. The migrants knew their station in life and kept to themselves, away from the law, and just worked and lived.

The long arm of the law was thin and short. Land was aplenty, state land, neglected land or untended land everywhere, officially owned by the colonial Govt. The migrants came and looked for a place to stay. Many were herded into the cubicles of Chinatown for the Chinese while the Indians would have their own appointed corner in the island. I was at Thian Hock Keng a couple of days ago and could not imagine that some 80 years ago my parents were standing in front of ‘Ma Cho’ praying at the very same spot that I stood before settling down in this island.

They were not so fortunate but braved the uncertainties and unknown, moved to the foothill of Mount Faber where a Malay kampong Radin Mas stood. At the fringes of the kampong they simply erected a hut from whatever wood available and there was instant home. Many migrants did just that, built themselves a home on any vacant land they could find, away from the kampongs or towns. And there were plenty of land all over the island. After sometimes they would become owner or official tenants of their huts. The ‘teh gus’ would come to register their huts and a official address was given, and that was it. It was like finder’s keepers. I think in the early days there was a law that said once a person occupied a land, built his hut, and lived there after some years, then the land became his, or something like that. It was like choped choped, but not with tissue papers.

And this was not too long ago. The early years of colonial Singapore when the island was too large to administer and too few people to fill up the vacant land. Land was not scarce like today. It is all relativism. Try imagine 2030. Everything will be scarce except people in this island.

Friends at Hong Lim Spring

Below are a couple of photos of some friends that I met at Hong Lim during the protest rally on 6 Feb.

Robbers complaining about robbers

‘Experts call for reform of healthcare financing system’. This is the headline of an article of a forum of prominent doctors calling the govt to do more to reform the healthcare financing structure and spend more. They said the govt is not spending enough with ‘Singapore’s core financing system of the “3Ms” covered just 15 per cent of total healthcare expenditure.

So they want the govt to pay more, raise the 15 per cent. Is this the real problem? No matter how much the govt is going pay for healthcare, if the cost of healthcare is not brought down, just like housing prices, it is as good as a dog chasing its own tail. The more the govt pays, the higher the insurance and its payout, the higher will be medical cost. As long as someone is paying, it is good reason to say it is affordable and the fees can just keep going up ala housing prices.

This classical circular logic has been enshrined into the most corrupt financial system in the USA. What cock is this nonsense? Didn’t they know what is happening to the American and European healthcare system? Are they going to repeat the same shit here, keep chasing up the cost of insurance and govt subsidies only to raise fees higher?

Who is going to benefit in this shitty situation and who ultimately pays for all the shit?

Why are we paying so much for education system?

There was an article being circulated recently on why employers here preferred foreign graduates or foreign talents rather than local graduates. To put into perspective, the local graduates are from three branded universities that ranked pretty high in all the fictitious ranking systems that you can think of. And the foreign graduates are those locals that cannot get a place in our local prestigious universities and went overseas to second or third rate universities. And the foreign talents that came to take over the places of local graduates are mostly from third world universities that are not even listed among the top universities in the world. And to make matter worst, and more sickening, many of these foreign talents actually got a piece of paper from some degree mills or bought from a back lane without going through universities.

And we claim to have some of the best universities in the world, lectured or tutored by the best academics, and great exchanges with foreign graduates here and in overseas exchange programmes, but somehow still found lacking and not up to the mark.  What is going on?

The Govt is paying billions to attract the best academics from around the world, game the ranking systems to stay among the top universities. There are also many joint campuses with reputable foreign universities. For the money spent, what is the Govt trying to achieve? To produce a Newton or an Einstein, or to rank high in university rankings or to produce graduates that employers shunned?

Does the Govt need to spend that kind of money and other than the latter two objectives, the possibility of producing a Nobel Prize winner is near to zero. Even if there is one, is it worth the money spent? A genius is not produced by having high international rankings or buying famed lecturers or professors. Such talents are inborn and come once in several life times. They are not nurtured. Any good university and a good learning environment and culture should be able to produce them. Newton discovered gravity by sitting under an apple tree. And better still, the irony of it all, if you want a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates, you can’t find them in good universities.

Why are we spending billions to fatten so many foreign lecturers and professors for? For sure they would not be able to produce the genius that we want and neither would they be able to produce the Nobel laureates if the input, the quality of students, is not up to speck. Are the money worth spent or can be put to better use instead of gaming the ranking system?

Don't just overhaul the banking industry but overturn the entire Western evil Capitalist system

Don't just overhaul the banking industry . Overturn the entire evil Western Capitalist system and replace it with people's centred socialist governments.


You can't overhaul anything unlessyou start with overhauling the Evil Empire's , ( USA )  capitalist system . The USA capitalist system is the most corrupted and most rotten to the core. USA has been exporting its shit all over the world and all those so called democracies with Western capitalist systems have been badly tainted by the US system of self serving rogues, crooks and scoundrels and robber barons who operate in both the government and private sectors as either ministers or CEOs or directors of banks, stock exchange, big listed companies or government linked companies. Worst still the high office personnels either in the government or the listed private sectors are linked and interchangeable. Ministers who are retired can be appointed as CEOs or executive directors in big listed private companies while existing incompetent company CEOs or directors can be quietly posted to head government ministries or departments or even stand for election to be the country's president. You can't possibly overhaul the banking industry unless the whole evil self-serving  American capitalist system is completely destroyed and replaced with the people's centered socialist system. The world needs a revolution to do this. First citizens of the world must be aroused and awakened to the intrinsic and insidious danger of the American system which post great dangers to all countries. Then at one go all countries must rise up against the Americans and their governments which operate under the American system, a system of thieving,robbery, aggression , murder , genocide and imperial conquests.  In other words all US or Westeern style capitalist systems must be destroyed and new people's centred socialist governments be installed.

Southernglory1

Do we want to be a City of immigrants forever?

The White Paper has touched on very serious issues about nation building, about nationhood and citizenship on one side and economic growth on the other. It seems that in the name of economic growth, everything can be compromised, even reducing the Sinkie core to an ever smaller number. There was no policy statement as to how many people should be housed in this island and what is the right mix between citizens and foreigners. And the term citizen is so corrupted that many are simply foreigners given a pink IC.

The number of people in the island and the composition of citizens are of paramount importance to the true blue Sinkies as this is their only home. They would not want to become boat people or be forced out of their home island by the influx of foreigners who took on the façade of citizenship.

Where is the dialogue between the Govt and people on these two important issues? Would the Govt initiate a discussion with the people? Would the 77 or 80 elected MPs want to consult with the 3.3m people on these? Or the farce of passing the White Paper be enough to seal the fate of the 3.3m and that’s it, there is nothing more to say?

If the Govt thinks that there is nothing else to talk to the people, is there anything else that the people can do before 2016? By the look of things, the only time the people can say no to the Govt on these issues will be 2016. In the meantime they can cry and kpkb, have more protest rallies in Hong Lim, the 77/80 MPs will not listen and will just do what they set out to do, to bring in more immigrants and to reduce the Sinkie percentage to 55% or lower.

What is the Natcon for? What is this talk about engaging the people, talking and listening to the people? Can the 77/80 MPs feel the disquiet?

Overhauling of banking sector to regain trust

The CEO of DBS, Piyush Gupta, spoke to students and finance professionals about the need to overhaul the banking sector to regain public trust. This call is troubling as it touches only the surface of a major industry where trust was fundamental to its existence.

The banking industry used to be very conservative and operated under some fundamental rules like strong and steady without big risk taking. Today, the industry is the biggest gambler and risk taker in the history of modern finance. The risk the banking sector is taking is many times more than all the casinos in the world combined. A slip is all it needs to bring the world economy down to its knees. It did in the late 1990s and a bigger one is coming as nothing really changes. The gambling gets only bigger and more furious. They need to pay themselves crazy.

What Piyush Gupta said is nothing knew. Jackson Tai, his predecessor, also said more or less the same thing. But it was all words. Who would want to overturn the gravy train when every banker is filling his bank accounts with slush funds and easy money from big stake gamblings, yes, in derivatives and complex derivatives, not forgetting all the insidious dealings in money laundering, in rate fixing and crooked deals etc etc ?

So what, nothing will change and the game will continue as big money needs to be paid to satiate the big appetite of the bankers. How else or where else could they find the money to pay themselves?

At the domestic level Piyush pointed his fingers at ‘…ineffective boards, the outsourcing of risk assessment to rating agencies and the creation of overly complex derivative products.’ But these have been on going for ages. Even the recommendations by SIAS to hang responsibility on boards of directors for wrong doings in their companies were shot down for fear that there will be no directors willing to be directors when they can be found culpable and responsible for wrong doings or frauds under their watch. Can you believe that? All the directors are being paid humongusly and many will form a long queue to be one and some are claiming that there would not be any around if they are made to be accountable for negligent or wrongdoings? Who is kidding who.

As for derivatives and other high risk financial products and instruments, they have become the opiate of the banking industry. Remove the derivatives and funny deals, where are the banks going to bring in the big profits to pay the big salaries? So how?

Piyush called for a code of conduct to regain trust by doing the right and proper thing, by being not only responsible to the shareholders, to themselves but also to the public and society. This is a tall order, an aspiration, but unlikely that something will be done or anything will be done in this vein. The stakes are too high and the profits of banks will fall sharply to ground zero.

The whole banking industry needs a big overhaul. How and who is going to do it?

Occupy Singapore the FTA/CECA way

All free trade agreements have a lot of complex economic and trade issues, import export tariffs and quotas, taxation, goods, preferential duties etc etc to benefit both countries. But this free flow of PMETs is very deadly to a small country with a small population like Sin. It is so apparent that one or two million foreigners would create a big impact and havoc to this island in all aspects, from housing, goods and services, infrastructure, transportation and simply people on the road. Then there are jobs consideration, schooling, medical services, social services and social space. And in close proximity in a small space with so many people, tension is bound to rise and it is a matter of time when rioting in big scale is going to hit this rock.

We are now told that there are 200,000 Indian PMETs in the island, not counting the PRC PMETs, the Pinoys, and the others. The FTA would have opened doors for these foreign nationals to be here, to operate and work in the companies and factories/offices they set up. So we have big businesses and big number of people. Wonder if the 200,000 PMETs include their families, some three generations, being brought here. If that is the case, it could be nearly 1m.

Next the housing needs, other than the office and factory spaces for the commercial activities, for the families. 200,000 units or thereabout. They need a roof. They need all the supporting living facilities, schools and services. 200,000 plus families, that is bigger than one of our biggest township or housing estate.

This is the trade off for the economic activities and revenue brought in through FTAs. How many direct jobs did these businesses brought to Sin and is it worth the trade off? More jobs for foreigners or for locals?

Imagine if this keeps expanding, the Indians and PRC Chinese and Pinoys will go on to fill up several townships/housing estates. It is like occupy Sin peacefully with Sin openly its arms and legs happily, without knowing it.

What would all these lead to? How much of our island would we have to give up to these foreigners in such numbers, our land, facilities, jobs and what else?

We are being occupied, through these FTAs and CECAs. The Govt apparently is very comfortable with such a situation, but the Sinkies are not. In 2030 Sinkies will be 55% on paper but in reality much less. What about 2040, 2050….?

Ravi Philemon - Forever a City of immigrants

Forever a City of immigrants and a population that is being diluted daily and never be able to gel as a nation of people. At the rate it is going, Singapore will forever be just a City or hotel of people. It will not be a country or a nation. The 46 years of nation building is now just a wet dream. The people are being encouraged to welcome more and more migrants as citizens, to allow the citizen core to ‘strengthen’ into a minority. Our forefathers were immigrants, we were of immigrant stocks, so we must embrace immigrants. Crazy asses!

Ravi Philemon has written an emotional piece on the same issue, that we cannot be immigrants forever. Many Sinkies have been here for more than 5 generations. The true blue Sinkies have been here for at least two generations. We have sunk roots here, this is home that we built. Remember the song ‘This is home, surely….’ sang by Kit Chan at the National Day Parade? Why are we giving it away so easily to new immigrants? We don’t want to be forever immigrants. We want to be a country, a nation of people, one people, one country and one nation. Not many people, no country and no nation, but a city, a hotel.

Singapore and Sinkies cannot continue down this road of dissolution. There must be pride of ownership, pride of a country, nation and a people that believe they are one people with a common destiny. And this is sacred and worthy to be protected, and not be given away, not to be traded or offered to anyone like credit cards.

Sinkies must take possession of their country as their home and must have a say in how it is to be run for their own good and not for the good of a few individuals or foreigners.

It is truly pathetic that after 46 years of nation building, our nationhood and national identity are now being undermined by the presence of so many foreigners at our detriment. No, the foreigners are not here to help us but to help themselves. If anyone still says the foreigners are here to help us, send him to IMH. They are not philanthropists or social workers here to do charity to help Sinkies.

Do you want to work a whole life just for a pigeon hole?

Do you want to save a whole life and still don’t have enough for retirement, for medicare?

Do you want to pay dearly for your children to slog through a pressure cooker education system only to lose out to immigrants?

Do you want your children to pay millions for a small little 99 year lease flat?

Serious mental stimulation or fear mongering?

This is what LKY said about China in a report by The Australian on his new book, Lee Kuan Yew: The Grandmaster’s Insight on China, the US and the world, ‘Will an industrialized and strong China be as benign to Southeast Asia as the US has been since 1945? Singapore is not sure. Neither is Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand or Vietnam. He says “many small and medium countries in Asia are concerned. They are uneasy that China may want to resume the imperial status it had in earlier centuries, and have misgivings as being treated as vassal states.’

What is so intriguing about such a westernized view now spoken by LKY? The Americans have been selling this fear daily in all the western media to frighten the shit out of unthinking Southeast Asian countries that China will be eating them up piece by piece. This is American and western fear mongering all these years. It is ‘wolf, wolf, …wolf, wolf’. So what is the big deal parroting an American/western loaded view?

The more dicey part is to link this to a China that ‘wants to resume the imperial status it had in earlier centuries’ and making Southeast Asian states China’s vassal states. How possible and realistic is such a thought? This is antique thinking. The geo politics of the world have changed. The dynamics of world politics have changed. There is a bigger monster in the USA riding roughshod over smaller countries around the world, particularly in Africa, Middle East and recently in Afghanistan.

The main purpose of such rumour and fear mongering is to justify the military presence of the Americans in the region, the American pivot. What else could it serve other than pandering to the interests of the Americans? Of course the Americans will say, good boy.

A China to dominate over Southeast Asian countries is a near impossibility for at least the next 50 years as long as there is a mighty American military that is unchallenged in the world. And as have been proven by the belligerent and imperialist Americans and the Russians, the world today, with nationalism a vital force, no superpower can conquer and subdue a country when the people are ready to fight the invaders. The Americans could not subdue the North Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Arabs, the Africans and now facing the same fate in Afghanistan like the Russians.

World domination by military means is no longer a viable and sustainable option. There cannot be another evil empire to rule the world unless it is so overwhelmingly powerful and it could press and extinguish any form of military resistance like a cockroach. And even if possible, the cost of maintaining peace and security will be a perpetual pain to any evil empire.

It is a different world in a different century. Old ideas and imaginations no longer hold, and the new world order is not going to be like history, Imperial empires, vassal states and all that jazz. It is all about playing computer games and more. The world has changed baby.

By the way, is the USA a benign superpower? Ask how many wars it had started and how many countries it had invaded and bombed and how many innocent people it had killed. Ask those countries that were victims of US aggression and invasion. We happen to be useful and play by the rules of the USA and got some crumbs to feel grateful. Also, thanks to our Muslim neighbours for taking a not too friendly anti USA stance to make us useful to the USA.

Govt policies a major cause of low TFR

Come on, let’s cut the shit. The low TFR of Sinkies is largely the result of bad Govt policies. The other problems, though presumed to be personal, are also related to Govt policies. No?

NS already robs the guys two to two and a half years of their lives from the activities of finding a partner and procreation. Many would have to start dating all over again as their relationship with the opposite sex could have been prematurely terminated while in NS. Absence does not necessarily lead to growing fonder when there are plenty of guys around to pick and choose from, or there to make the move.

The high cost of living cannot be ignored. It is no joke getting married when everything is so expensive, and getting a flat is top priority. Don’t talk cock by asking the young and well educated to stay together in a HDB flat with their parents. They want to start life anew, to create their own little paradise. Can’t blame them. And due to the high cost, they need a few years of working life to save up for the marriage. Money does not grow from the tree, or to be so fortunate to having a rich papa and mama to provide the big ticket items.

And the savings are not limited to just housing, some may want to have a car, but most important, having babies doesn’t come cheap. The medical fees and all the accessories needed for a growing child, the school and tuition fees and all other fees to equip them for a better life, all costs a lot of money. Not many can afford to marry young. Several more years will have to be set aside for this saving phase of their lives.

Then the biggest asshole pompous policy must be housing. Getting a HDB flat is the biggest pain in the arse for many young couples. Many got to put off marriage or having babies because of this. And the wait was 4 or 5 years if they are lucky, though now reduces to 3 or 4 years.

Not only that the flats take a long time to come, and expensive, but small, baby, small, for small families only. Having two is already too big a bundle to handle. Young and upward mobile couples with babies need maids, a place for live in maids. Govt policies right, shrinking flat size and wanting more babies, what a contradiction? But not Govt’s fault really. Govt’s policies are all well thought out, well planned ahead into 2030. All the ministries know what the other is doing and will coordinate to have a set of well considered and coherent policies that make sense and not nonsense, and pro family. Don’t worry, trust the Govt.

And hey, by the time these young people got their flats and are ready, they have lost almost 10 years of their youth, and for the ladies, the biological clock too is a big disadvantage, and many would not have that many productive years left to risk making healthy babies.

Whose fault is that?

Then there is this subconscious memory of Stop At Two that have entered the psyche of many Sinkies. Many would not have broken free of this psychological barrier to have more children, and for good reasons. With the high cost of living and medical fees, stiff competition even at the tender age of schooling, having babies is no longer masak masak, just poot poot and out come the babies. Serious considerations and thoughts must be put into this long and arduous process of bringing up children, to love them and enjoy them, not to become someone’s economic data for GDP growth. That would be the saddest thing to happen.

Australia opens its door to convict immigrants

A White Paper will be submitted to the Australian Parliament on the need to increase the population of Australia to ensure a high GDP growth rate. One of the key features is the need to allow more immigrants into Australia. The TFR of Australia is low, just like any developed country.

The choice of immigrants is more specific. Australia is founded and built by the early immigrants that were mainly convicts from the British Empire. This is the rich history of Australia and it is appropriate that Australia should allow more convicts from Europe to settle in the continent, the caliber of people that has the drive and talents and motivation to build what is Australia today.

Many Australians were angered by this proposal. When challenged, the MP said that the proposal is not without precedents. He was inspired by Singapore for forever remembering that their forefathers were immigrants and so immigrants become part and parcel of the nation’s psyche. Singapore will always welcome immigrants as that was how it started. It will always be a nation of immigrants, with shallow roots, more like instant trees. Forget above national identity and culture and all the bull shit, those are at best only an aspiration. And this is how the City grows and prospers. The ageing immigrants and their descendants have lost their drive and ability and talent to sustain the continued growth of this progressive City. The City needs the drive and oomphs of new immigrants to keep it alive and vibrant. The City needs help from talented immigrants.

Similarly, Australia is suffering the same fate, low GDP growth and a lazy population. Australia needs to lay down the red carpet and welcome convicts, the European types, to reinvigorate the population and reinvent itself, more drive and vitality and vibrancy, like before.

Still many Australians are angry with this silly MP and his silly logic. But his White Paper is likely to be pushed through when the Whip is in force.

Why 6.9 and not 7m?

Why did they use the figure of 6.9 M instead of a round figure of 7 M?

After all it's only an estimate.
Please take out your calculator:
Since the population will grow from 5,300,000 to 6,900,000
from 2013 until 2030 ( 18 years )
6,900,000 minus 5,300,000 = 1,600,000
Divide it by 18 years and see what you get!!

------>88,8888888888......HUAT AH!

If you use 7,000,000 minus 5,300,000 = 1,700,000
Divide by 18 years will give 94,444.44444 .... that will be to die forever!
So ???

Same reason why we have a "ba-gua" shaped $1 coin!

The above was sent to me by a friend. Must have been circulating everywhere by now. Huat ah!

Myth 232 - Ageing population crisis

Demography expert, Professor Wolfgang Lutz declared that the negative effects of an ageing population have been blown out of proportion and argued that Singapore’s vast tertiary educated population core will counter the consequences of low replacement levels. So, have the Sinkies been fed with myth or deception, that there is a life time crisis because of this ageing population? The expert said otherwise.

I would like to add that the expert would have an even stronger case if he knows the real situation on the ground. Our highly educated seniors also have acquired a lot of wealth, a lot of savings and do not need charity except for the first batch of baby boomers where many were illiterate. Many from this batch have passed on and the younger baby boomers are more than able to take care of themselves. Then the Asian culture of looking after the elders, the family, will be there to support those that need support. And many will be economically active way past 70 with very few years to twiddle their thumbs and doing nothing. Bloody hell, some are even making millions in their 80s to provide for their grandchildren. What problem are they causing to society?

But one more serious consideration that no one seems to want to talk about. From 3m, our population has been pumped to 5.3m in something like 10 to 15 years. At replacement rate of 2.1% TFR, using simple arithmetic, the population should increase by 21% or 30% for the same period, ie to 3.6m or 3.9m. Round it up our population should be not much more than 4m today, but we have 5.3m! That is many times more than the replacement rate. We have over replaced haven’t we?

And for ramping it up to this number, shouldn’t more care be taken to minimize the ageing process with younger people? Or it is another case of just adding more senior citizens into the pool to aggravate the situation, to create a life time crisis? The flexibility to bring in more than 2m new people must have plenty of rooms to do the right thing, to avoid the ageing process and problems, not to add on to it.

Now, do I make any sense? Why bring it 2m people without solving the ageing problem and wanting to bring in another 1.6m people and hoping to solve the problem? Who is kidding?

Foreigners accusing Low Thia Khiang of xenophobia

‘The Straits Times reported on how Mr Li Yeming, vice-chairman of the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations, had made a charge on Worker’s Party chief Low Thia Khiang that he was “inciting xenophobia”. Li “accused Mr Low and the WP of fanning anti-foreigner and anti-immigrant sentiments during the White Paper debate.”’

Can you beat this? Foreigners here accusing our MP Low Thia Khiang of xenophobia! No, worst, inciting xenophobia. This is serious and anyone doing so can be arrested, mind you.

We are only 3.3m people, including many new citizens in this 3.3m. In fact the number of true blue Sinkies are much lesser than 3.3m, and our population is 5.3m. How many foreigners are there in this island? And we welcomed them. But their presence is getting to become more of an annoyance and irritation. The people are angry but still tolerating.

Now we have foreigners arrogantly and dismissively telling us off, accusing our MP and in a way Sinkies of being xenophobic. And we also have India wanting to take us to WTO for not allowing more Indians to work here when there are already 200,000 Indian PMETs here, excluding the 300k to 400k construction workers. Hey, this is no small numbers. Add the PRC Chinese, the Pinoys and the rest of foreigners, and they are still kicking us, Sinkies for being impolite to them and not allowing more to come in.

How long will Sinkie tolerate the bullying and abuses of the foreigners here, taking our jobs, our businesses, driving up our property prices, cost of living, beating up our people, insulting us, scolding us, and dirtying our land. And we laid the red carpet to bring them in, spent public money to make them feel comfortable, offering them jobs, pandering to their whims and fancy, even have to accept their peasant mentality and behavior.

What do you think, Sinkies? Are we going to take this sitting down? Our MP being attacked publicly by a foreigner! Unbelieveable!

Govt’s response to Hong Lim Spring

So far only two ministers, actually one minister and one ex minister have commented on the Hong Lim Rally. And as expected, nothing flattering. One said the unhappiness to the White Paper was expected but forgot to complete the sentence…would go away after the venting of anger, nothing to worry. Another, just rhetoric, or another way of saying, all sound and fury but no substance. He added, the views were one sided and appealing to emotions.

The PM and DPM have not said anything, or maybe it was nothing important and not worth talking about. What can 5,000 people standing under the rain do? Standing under the rain actually has a very significant meaning. Hsien Loong recalled proudly the National Day Parade when he was a drum major, I think, and how the whole parade, soldiers, working adults and students, stood under a heavy downpour at the padang. So too were the ministers and MPs, and the President, all braved the rain to make a point, a proud nation and a people that would not be subdued by a little rain, a little difficulty or discomfort. They stood their ground as one proud people, united and resolved to face the future and whatever difficulties and challenges there be.

Hong Lim Rally was not a National Day Parade, no national leaders, no parade commander or regimentation. The people were there on their own accord, and could walk away freely. There was no need to brave the rain, no compulsion to get wet all over, with mud under their feet. But they stood the ground to make a point. They were unhappy, angry and wanted change.

Can these people be ignored? Are they alone, or each one has a family and friends that shared the same thoughts? And there must be many more that would like to be there but could not be there for some reasons. It was not 5,000 people that opposed the flooding of the country with more foreigners and a bigger population. There were more.

I am sure the political leaders know that the unhappiness was not limited to those present at Hong Lim. Many who were overseas too wrote to express their support for the movement. How widespread is this movement and how serious are they to want to oppose the White Paper?

My gut feel, there are many more not there that felt the same way. Ignore them if you dare and want to be re elected in 2016. Dismiss them as mere noises, rhetoric, lunatics that thought it was fun to stand under the rain, or plain stupid. Just do that. No need to bother with these lunatics. Less than 3 years to ignore them.

The seed of a new Spring has been planted in the mud of Hong Lim, and watered by the Spring rain on 16 February 2013. It will sprout roots and new shoot, and take a life of its own.

Sinkies, please be nice to foreigners

When every one other person is a foreigner, it will also mean that your neighbor is likely to be a foreigner turned new citizen. Maybe both sides of your immediate neighbours will be new citizens. This is a very high possibility if the ration is 1:1 or worst. When that day comes, you better be very nice to foreigners who are holding pink IC or PRs. You will then be a minority in your own country and would be at their mercy if there is any neighbourly dispute or disagreement.

In such a situation, your Sinkie neighbor would be of no help. They would probably close their doors like they are doing now, with more urgency. And you will have to face the new citizens all alone. And knowing their attributes and penchants for being rough, be ready to be roughened in your own neighbourhood.

My advice is to be nice to foreigners in your own country should Sinkies become a minority. Sinkies are very friendly people, they are not prone to violence, not xenophobic. Can you bet your new neighbors will behave like meek Sinkies?

Frankly I dunno what life will be like for Sinkies then. What would you think? But it will not be a life time crisis I am sure, just some personal crisis to deal with individually. By then there will be no need for campaigns to break in and help the new citizens to assimilate to the local Sinkie culture. There will be campaigns to help Sinkies break in and live harmoniously with their new neighbours and foreigners.

There is a bright and challenging future awaiting Sinkies with the help of the talented foreigners.

Why CECA?

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CECA) between Singapore and India came into effect since 2005. In this agreement, if I can recall, both govt recognize the degrees of both countries and to allow their graduates, mostly PMETs, to work in their respective countries. How would a tiny country like Singapore with 3.3m citizens going to benefit is such an agreement with a country with 1b people? And how are the qualifications of the respective universities, probably several hundreds in India and a handful in Singapore going to be equitable?

The new changes in Employment Pass requirements to work in Singapore is drawing cries of foul play by India. And the Indian Govt is thinking of taking the Singapore Govt to the WTO for violations of the CECA.

’This stance by the Singapore Government is expected to affect Indians working as middle-level managers, executives and technicians.

Speculations are rife that India might take up the issue with World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement body. However, according to Singapore such a decision was imperative in the interest of the natives as the share of the foreign workforce is rising very rapidly….

Currently, there are about 200,000 non-resident Indians in Singapore working in ITES, financial services and scientific research sectors among others, according to one estimate.’ Source from business -standard.com.

Why would Singapore sign such an agreement with India to allow, theoretically, several hundreds of millions of Indian graduates to work in Singapore when there are barely a handful of Sinkies that would want to work in India? It really beats me.