Breaking News from TRS

**BREAKING NEWS***
TRS has just received a private video made by Anonymous declaring 'war' against the Singapore government. 
In the video it says that The Messiah is just a single hacker and many more hackers will infiltrate the Singapore government websites and databases if their demands are not met.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=656364671075370&comment_id=6755136&...
Below is the message attached with the video:
{Twitter} The Messiah @ twitter.com/Th3M3551A
Greetings Government of Singapore,
We are Anonymous and we believe that we have your undivided attention.
We also believe that you have had the pleasure of meeting our comrade The Messiah, who demonstrated what a single Anon could do to your so call technologically advanced island.
Now allow us to explain the objective of our recent invasions.
The secondary objective was to welcome you to the new rule where ignoring the issues of your citizens will not go ignored by Anonymous. We advise you to stop feigning ignorance and serve the people.
Any form of arrogant and ignorant statement from a person of position towards the people will not go ignored by Anonymous.
Have you forgotten who you work for? Traditionally the workers respect the boss. Let us stick to tradition.
But the primary objective of our invasion was to protest the implementation of the internet licensing framework by giving you a sneak peak of the state of your cyberspace if the ridiculous, communistic, oppressive and offensive framework gets implemented.
Did i mention the previous hacks was executed by a single Anonymous member?
Now close your eyes and imagine a legion of Anonymous unleashed upon your tiny little island and infrastructures. It will be like dipping yourselves into a pool of piranhas.
We have faced much larger and more secured corporations such as the F.B.I & the NSA.
Do you think the I.D.A will be a problem for us?
After all, security is just an illusion against time and temporary ignorance.
So mark our words when we say that we Anonymous stand firm on our belief that no Government has the right to deprive their citizens the freedom of information.
No one has the right to tell an individual what he can or cannot read or write.
This is a basic fundamental of democracy and we will use everything in our resources to protect it at all cost.
We demand you reconsider the regulations of your framework or we will be forced to go to war with you. For every single time you deprive a citizen his right to information, we will cost you financial loss by aggressive cyber intrusion. An intrusion your $130 million cyber security will not be able to stop.
After all how do you stop an idea?
You may be ambitious enough to try and stop us but remember, the people you are after are the people you depend on:
we cook your meals, we haul your trash, we teach your children, we pay your high salaries, we feed your families, we guard you while you sleep!
It is not wise to piss us off.
And finally we call upon our fellow Singaporean brothers and sisters to join our protest by dressing fully in black & red on the 5th of November to paint your streets with the colors that represent the current Singaporeans emotion.
We urge you to black out your FB profile picture for a day along with the status message:
I am a Singaporean and i had enough of being oppressed! I want my freedom back!!
Anonymous will be making a virtual protest by your side.
Let us demonstrate our frustrations in organized unseen unity that may live a thousand years. This action might not make a political change but it is the first step towards the mental conditioning needed to achieve our goals.
Remember, remember. The fifth of November.

We are anonymous, we are legion.
We do not forgive, we do not forget.
Expect Us!


PS. I copied the above from TRS. 

From sampan to cruise ship to sampan

Koh Buck Song said Singapore is like a cruise ship. Hsien Loong corrected him by saying that we are in an upgraded sampan. Now who is right or whose version is the reality? Buck Song explained that in a cruise ship, the elite would be partying in the top deck while the masses would be rowing the ship at the bottom deck, with oars. All in the same boat.
 
Hsien Loong was more self deprecating, and with a great sense of humility. We are all in the same boat, in an upgraded sampan. This is like saying we are living life the same way, having the same gruel and sleeping on the same wooden planks. And we move ahead together or sink together, in the same sampan. No one is partying in the top deck.
 
This is a good political statement, saying the right thing for the people to hear. No one will be left behind. We even scooped up foreigners in the high seas to sail with us. We accommodate them and we don’t mind the squeeze, together in the same sampan. We can hug everyone while yo-yoing in the high seas, foreigners, locals all same same.
 
Now, did I get the picture right?

India may take Singapore to WTO for violation of CECA

The new measures taken by Singapore to control the influx of foreigners working in Singapore ‘has irked India as the new law does not give India a preferential treatment incorporated in the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CECA) between the two countries, operational since 2005. 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.

“… I do not think we have contravened our commitments in the WTO or the CECA. Moreover, this is not specifically targeted to any one country. We remain very open to foreign talent,” a senior Singapore government official told Business Standard…. According to Indian officials involved in the negotiations, this is a violation of the services trade agreement under CECA. This will also adversely affect Indians who are working there as it might lead to job losses, especially for the middle level workers.
India has submitted a request to Singapore for addressing the matter but has not received a formal communication yet.

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.’ - Business Standard 29 Oct. http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/govt-decries-ceca-violation-by-singapore-113021700123_1.html

Did Singapore sign an agreement with India or any other country that allows that country unlimited entry of its people into the island? Can this really be the case? Imagine a little island of 760 sq km signing such an agreement with countries that have more than a billion people and they can send any number of people they want here? I don’t think Singapore officials are that stupid right? There must be some misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the agreements in this case by India. No silly govt in the world will open their country to any country with no restrictions. It is like inviting an invasion and a takeover of the country.

What is happening? I have faith that our super talents with foresight and great intelligence would not sell out the country blindly with such agreements. How can it be?

A poser, what can be worse?

Heard of the saying, the blind leading the blind? This statement has often been quoted to denote a bad situation, a lost cause when nobody knows what is happening, and the blind is being led by an equally blind towards the cliff. Actually it is not that bad as the blind has no bad intention and if luck is on his side, he could lead them to paradise of plenty, by accident.
 
Then there is another situation where the blind are led by the crooks. This is about sums up the situation in the USA. The whole banking and finance industry, including the stock exchange, are led by the crooks. The bankers are selling fraudulent and gambling chits as sophisticated financial products to their clients. The stock exchange has been redesigned and turned into a gambling den, with trading system that is worse than a computer game or a real casino. At least computer games and casino have rules to regulate some level of fair play with the odds known. The stock exchange is designed to cheat the innocent investors by using computers to trade against them.
Here the blind congressmen and women could do nothing as they did not know enough of the game to press the right button. And for those who knew, they were simply bought over. So they have very little regulations under the guise that deregulation and little regulation are good for the market and the finance industry. So the crooks rule the day and run the industry and stock market the way they want it.
 
The third situation is slightly different. Here we have a bunch of very clever and self serving talents running the show, leading the blind by telling them that they are there to serve them. Instead the super talents are serving themselves and laughing to the banks and the blind did not know what is happening. Can’t blame them as they are blind. So the blind are happy and the super talents are happier.
 
The three scenarios are just generalization. They are not applicable to Singapore. We have a fourth version where the super talented are leading an intelligent population, not blind. The super talented are there to serve the intelligent and highly educated populace. They are honest, upright, incorruptible and selfless, only thinking of serving the people whom they have acknowledged as their masters. Just look at how well regulated is our banking and finance system and the stock exchange, unshakable and in the pink of health. No gambling chits being sold and the exchange is running a system that is fair, and a level playing field for all investors. Soon other govts will be sending their delegates here to learn from us, world best banking and finance system and world best stock exchange. And rightly our Finance Minister is voted the best finance minister in the world. Just a bit puzzling is the rating for our MAS boss. How could they give him a B rating, worse than the USA and Malaysia and many other countries.
 
The USA and the rest of the world would be in better shape if they have adopted our banking and finance system or have a situation where their leaders are selfless serving servants of the people, and very talented as well.

How the American govt wasted their taxpayers’ money

Edward Snowden’s report has revealed more than 35 countries were subject to American spying, including phone communications of their leaders, many of them were friends of the USA. Millions of ordinary citizens’ phones were tapped. In Spain alone, 60.5m phones were tracked in a single month. Multiply this by the number of months and the number of countries, the number is mind boggling. Asian and African countries are up in arms against this rude intrusion into the lives of their leaders and citizens. And they are welcoming the American pivot.
 
How much would all this cost? The listening stations and the equipment and the staff deployed to maintain the equipment and do the listening? The number of staff to translate and record the conversations, to analyse them and the equipment they used must have cost a lot of money to the American taxpayers.
 
And the money is being spent for years without the American public knowing. The best part, many of the American ordinary citizens are also subject to the same surveillance in home soil, including senators and congressmen.
 
American people, this is how your govt spent your money. This is the way of the Empire.

Brokerages restricting trading on stocks

More broking houses are starting to enforce restricted trading on more and more penny stocks. AmFrasers is reported to have put 11 stocks in their restricted list while UOB Kay Hian has a list of 56 stocks. Such stocks can only be traded under conditions set by the broking houses like cash out front, limited volumes to buy per investor or for the whole house to limit the risk exposure, etc etc.
 
What would happen if the number of stocks on the restricted list increases into the hundreds? What are the implications,… that these stocks are dangerous, not fit to be listed in the exchange, not suitable for trading by normal investors? If these stocks are so dangerous, should not they be put into a separate list and investors be made to sign an indemnity form to declare they know the risk when they trade these stocks? We do not want them to complain that they did not know these stocks are so dangerous when they lose big sums of money, right?
 
Hopefully these stocks are not in the same category as Lehman Bonds or toxic notes, high risk and should not be touched with a ten foot pole. For these stocks to be listed in the main board they must be worth something or at least have some respectability and soundness, or have been vetted to be ok.
 
Let’s hope the restricted lists do not grow longer and the few stocks there are an anomaly, exceptions than the rule.

The fake qualification problem has stabilized

A few months back about 20 foreigners were caught for submitting fake qualifications when applying for employment passes. Some were fined and some were sent home. Since then no more new cases have been reported.
 
In the case of dengue fever, 500 cases were reported a few days back, saying that the dengue problem is still not resolved or very alive. Can we then take comfort that of the more than a million foreigners working here, all is in order. Their qualifications are genuine and authentic. And this is the reason why no more new cases have been reported since.
 
We are so blessed that all the foreigners among us are so honest and well qualified, with real qualifications. The hooha recently that there were many foreigners with fake qualifications getting good jobs here must be unfounded, based on unjustified rumours. The fact says all is well.

Hearing the good stuff or saying the right stuff

I thought I was dreaming and I had to slap myself a couple of times to confirm that it was 8 am in the morning, bright and clear. I read the news again, the speeches made by Hsien Loong and Tharman, and wow, what were they saying? Let me start by looking at the comments by Hsien Loong first.
 
In the front page of Today, this is the headline, ‘Immigration policies must be managed in sustainable way: PM’. Have we been doing it in an unsustainable way? This is followed by the first paragraph, ‘Singapore has to manage its immigration policies in a sustainable way, taking into account the political, demographic and economic objectives the country has for the long term, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a gathering of business leaders yesterday. While new immigrants have to be integrated into Singapore society and not dilute its values, the country must remain open to talents so as to lift the low birth rate and make Singapore a vibrant economic hub.’ He added that in order to improve the lives of Singaporeans, ‘We don’t think we can do this just by expansion, but we do believe we must do this through economic growth, and upgrading and transforming our economy.’ He justified the need to get talented people from all over the world by saying, ‘Because we’ll need that range of skills and experiences and talents which no society can generate on its own.’
 
The first thing that came to my mind is the 2 million foreigners in our midst that were brought in during the last ten to fifteen years. Is this number sustainable, can they be integrated into our system without social and political consequences? Would they not dilute our Singaporean core and our core values, culture, work ethics and social norms?
We don’t think we can do this just by expansion? What is the 6.9m all about? And we already have more than 2m foreigners here. Do their talents fit the range of skills and experiences that our society cannot generate on our own? I think we know the answers.
 
Now what did Tharman said that was so earth shattering? ‘Singapore has to ensure it has a thriving and competitive economy by always looking for opportunities to bring high quality new investments that can create better jobs and ways to take advantage of the rising middle class in Asia.’ Now, how many of the businesses in Changi Business Park are high quality investments and create better jobs for Singaporeans. Really, I don’t know. But I believe everyone who knows knew better. And hardly any of the jobs, good or low paying jobs, went to Singaporeans. We have been taken advantage of instead, providing all the superb infrastructures for low wage businesses employing foreigners instead of Singaporeans.
 
Where are the quality and productivity growth that benefit Singaporeans ‘especially the average workers and the lower income workers’? All we heard of is Singaporeans having to go for retraining to downgrade their job expectations and be underemployed, sacrificing and wasting their qualifications and experience. Tharman added that Singapore must remain an inclusive society through social policies, not only via economic policies, and we are in it together. The realities on the ground is that Singaporeans have been feeling neglected, alienated, not good enough ship out, or it is their fault, go for more training. Why are the voices of anger and unhappiness growing louder? Why are the Singaporeans feeling like they are strangers in their own homes, in their own countries?
 
What have all the economic and social policies been doing? Oops, sorry, it was all economic policies before. Going forward we will have more social policies to integrate the Singaporeans with foreigners and new citizens, to improve our Singaporean core. We will have more quality investments providing more quality jobs for Singaporeans and improving productivity. These are the good stuff that I read this morning and I could hardly believe my eyes.

China unveils nuke submarine fleet

China unveils nuke submarine fleet

Global Times | 2013-10-29 1:33:01 By Yang Jingjie

Photo: CCTV, news.cn/mil

The world has been given a rare glimpse into China's nuclear-powered submarine fleet, with State-owned media carrying extensive coverage of the previously mysterious strategic deterrence force.

The unprecedented revealing of the underwater fleet is a demonstration of China's confidence in its sea-based nuclear strike capability and serves as a deterrent to any attempted provocation amid the changing geopolitical situation, said military observers.

Starting on Sunday, China Central Television carried serial coverage two days in a row on the submarine force of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's Beihai fleet in its flagship news program Xinwen Lianbo.

The People's Daily, the PLA Daily and the China Youth Daily on Monday all carried front-page stories, features and commentaries on the submarine force, applauding its achievements since the launch of China's first nuclear-powered submarine in December 1970.

According to the reports, the idea of building a nuclear submarine was initiated by Chairman Mao Zedong in the late 1950s to break the global military powers' "nuclear blackmailing and monopoly."

In September 1988, China launched a carrier rocket from a nuclear submarine, becoming the fifth country in the world to have the capability of sea-based nuclear strike.

While striving to improve its strike capability, the submarine force has also maintained a good safety record, with no single nuclear accident reported during the past four decades, said the reports.

The People's Daily on Monday hailed the submarine force as "a shield preserving world peace and stability" and "a cornerstone to safeguard state sovereignty, security and development interests."

Du Wenlong, a military expert, told the Global Times on Monday that the latest publicity shows the maturity in the submarine force's sea-based nuclear strike capability, and implies progress in the development of China's new generation of submarines.

According to military observers, the submarines shown in the CCTV report and newspaper photos are the old models, which were put into service in the 1980s. It is reported that the navy is replacing them with Jin-class submarines, and a newer model, the Tang-class, is reportedly in development.

Du said in comparison to foreign submarines, China occupies a seat within the leading group but lags behind the US and Russia in terms of the submarine's noise output and the number of missiles it can carry.

Li Jie, another military expert, shared similar views, noting Chinese submarines still fall behind US and Russian ones, but have better prospects than French and British ones.

The growing capability of the Chinese submarine force is in line with the global emphasis on sea-based nuclear strike capability.

Sea-based nuclear deterrence is more covert, so it gives the countries the capability to launch a counterstrike after their main nuclear bases are destroyed, Li explained, noting its development requires strong comprehensive scientific and technological capabilities.

In addition to the demonstration of more transparency in the military, Li said the revealing of the force is also a deterrent to foreign provocation.

According to reports, during the submarine force's drills, it has repeatedly been tailed and interrupted by foreign ships and aircraft, including one time in international waters in the West Pacific.

"The changing international situation has caused containment to China's growth. The US-Japan alliance and US pivot to the Asia-Pacific both apparently target China. The publicity of the submarine force is a warning to any country that attempts to provoke China, telling them whoever makes the first strike should think about the consequences," Li said.

CCTV commentary said the submarine force has equipped China with a more covert and reliable nuclear counterstrike capability in addition to its intercontinental ballistic missile and strategic bomber, which would make China's rivals abandon their war attempts for fears of the unbearable price they might have to pay.

Tokyo's incitement incurs dangerous cycle

Tokyo’s incitement incurs dangerous cycle

Global Times | 2013-10-28 0:08:01 By Global Times

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claimed in an exclusive interview with the Wall Street Journal that a resurgent Japan will "take a more assertive leadership role in Asia to counter China's power" and be placed "at the helm of countries in the region nervous about Beijing's military buildup." The chief executive of Japan made spiteful remarks about China and boldly trumpeted China-Japan confrontation. Although Abe also spoke of a strategic China-Japan relationship of mutual benefit, that could hardly offset the enmity he sowed between the two nations.

Japan recently declared it would shoot down Chinese drones heading for the Diaoyu Islands. The Chinese Ministry of Defense responded Saturday that it would be taken as "an act of war" and encounter "decisive action to strike back."

China so far has been relatively restrained in its choice of words compared with Japan's assertiveness and audaciousness. No Chinese leaders openly instigated China-Japan confrontation as their Japanese counterparts did and the Chinese military never makes any preemptive threats. But now words like "war" and "shoot down" are not taboo. With Japanese public opinion continually calling to besiege China, the possibility that China-Japan frictions will escalate into military clashes is growing.

Should one drone of China be fired upon, hostility between Beijing and Tokyo will be fully activated and the situation of Northeast Asia will topple like dominoes. The outbreak of a regional war is possible. Although the US' support to Japan is obvious, it's uncertain how the US will interfere. There is too much variance concerning where a China-Japan military clash will go.

China has not been involved in war for a long time but a war looms following Japan's radical provocation. China's comprehensive military power, including the navy, air force and the Second Artillery Force of the PLA, is stronger than Japan's. Once a war breaks out, China will also be able to bear the economic blow better than Japan.

The Abe administration perceives China will shirk military clashes with them over Diaoyu due to China cherishing the period of strategic opportunities and its fears of the US. But it's hard to say which side is more afraid of the other between China and the US in the West Pacific.  Besides, which country will economically suffer the most is also unpredictable.

China should remain sober with its goals and the bottom line in the Diaoyu dispute. To pursue the goals and safeguard its bottom line could be either realized through strategic maneuver or costly war.

Few powers rose peacefully in history. China's efforts in striving for peaceful rise have been successful but enhanced a misperception that China is fearful of war, fueling countries like Japan to use war to frighten China.

If we don't have the luck to circumvent a war, we should deal with it with rationality a big power should have.

 

Abe, the Japanese runt committing Japan to national harakiri

Abe the little Japanese runt thinks he is brave and especially with the support and encouragement of his colonial masters in Washington he thinks he can safely provoke a war with China and come out unscathed. He couldn't be more wrong for he and his cohorts of Japanese warmongers would be committing Japan to national harakiri. If I were China and I believe China itself would not hesitate to  obliterate Japan and all Japanese from the earth with the full arsenal of nuclear bombs. This is the good time and opportunity for China and all Chinese people wherever they may be  to kill every Japanese within their reach since the Japs have never shown any remorse for their wanton killings of millions of Chinese people during their attack and invasion of China and South - East Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. As for the Japs' colonial masters , the Evil Empire in Washington, China must neutralise this maniac power by stationing enough nuclear submarines with full complements of nuclear tipped missiles in the seas around America as well as full array of nuclear tipped ICBMs targetting USA to serve as a deterrent that the Evil Empire should stay neutral and not interfere in a war provoked by Japan.


Southernglory1     As a foot note  :  My father was brutally tortured by the Japanese military and my mother too suffered severely .

From high finance to low finance

‘Singapore government-sponsored investment house Temasek Holdings is close to investing $60 million or Rs 300 crore in Hyderabad based Spandana Sphoorty Financial Ltd. According to sources, the deal is being closed at $400 million or Rs 2,000 crore valuation.

VCCircle had reported last week, quoting Spandana's CEO Padmaja Reddy, that the microfinance institution would be closing a $60 million deal this week. When contacted, Manish Kejriwal, Senior Investment Director, India & International, Temasek Holdings, told VCCircle, “We haven’t closed the deal.” Reddy was not available for a comment.

If the deal goes through, this would be third investment by Temasek in financial services space. It had earlier invested in non banking financial services company Fullerton India and also in ICICI Bank.’
 
The above is posted at Sammyboy.com. Read that Temasek is also in Chengdu China in the same micro financing business. This is like moving from investing in top global banks to kucing kurap little finance companies.
 
If I have so much money to invest and invest regardless of what, I would rather put the money in a few pawnshops here. At least it would not turn out to be another lemon like the childcare in Oz. Or perhaps I may just do a charity like offering anther 20 or 30 scholarships for Asean students to study here. Write off the money and no regrets knowing well ahead that money is for charity and not expecting any returns. 

Alternatively can hold a few more Singapore Day events overseas to benefit Singaporeans. Can feel shiok also after spending the money.
 
What do you think?

HongKong’s MRT the envy of the world

‘Hong Kong's MRT is the envy of the world, and many other
cities are trying to emulate its efficiency and reliability.
Better still, their MRT officers and their Minister-in-Charge
are earning less than 10% of what we are paying our own
counterparts. This is translated into very much reduced cost per
ride for the Hongkies. For example, as a senior in HK, I pay only
HK$2 (=S$0.35) per trip regardless of the distance travelled.

I think we should also get the HK team to come and run our
MRT at a small fraction of our current salaries.
Hopefully this will also mean much reduced cost per
ride in Singapore.’
 
I received the above in an email. The Hongkies are very highly regarded for competitiveness and their entrepreneurial spirit. They have not been called daft. They know they are good.
 
I would suggest we send a study or fact finding team to learn from them and maybe we can improve our public transport system. No need to feel malu just because we have bigger dignity and so cannot learn from people with lesser dignity. When they are good, we must come down and be willing to learn from the better people and their system. 

Tiok boh?

Singapore Exchange Seeks High-Frequency Traders

The above is the titled of an article by Jonathan Burgos on Oct 28 in Bloomberg News. It quoted Magnus Bocker, the CEO of the Singapore Stock Exchange that this is the way to go to improve liquidity and quality of the Exchange. HFT accounted for a fraction of the liquidity in the trading of equities but 30% of the trading of derivatives, according to spokesperson Loh Wei Ling. HFT is thus in the system but would now go a big way into the main activity of the Exchange.
 
When Bocker first came on board he introduced several changes to facilitate trading, to improve liquidity, efficiency and trading volumes. Among these were smaller bid size, lower commission, no lunch break, allowing computers to be plugged into the SGX and located nearby to take advantage of the proximity and benefitted from the speed to make profits.
 
“The more liquidity and the more trading generally makes the market better, lowers trading cost and helps smaller investors,” said Larry Tabb. How would this statement measure up to the reason for Bocker to want to introduce HFT as stated below?
‘Bocker is seeking more business with the daily average value of equity trades down to about S$1.5 billion ($1.2 billion) this year, a 36 percent plunge from 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.’
 
And David Gerald, President of SIAS, has this to say, ‘…allowing high-frequency traders will introduce unfamiliar risks to investors .…“A knife is good as well as dangerous,….Investors must know the risks and decide for themselves whether they want to invest or not. There are many products out there which are very risky and investors have to be educated on the risks and they must make an informed decision.’
 
Comforting words indeed. But with the HFT in full play, has the nature of stock trading been changed when profit and loss are incurred by virtue of computer speed and nothing else, and with funds using their computers to trade or cheat against the small investors? What is a stock exchange? Definitely it is not meant to be a jackpot machine or a computer game.
 
Would the authorities seriously look at HFT and the nature of stock market trading, the unfair advantages of big funds with big war chests and high speed computers profiting from the innocent and unsophisticated small investors without the aid of computers and information from the computers of the Exchange. What happens to fair trading practices and a level playing field? The MAS owes all investors big and small the responsibility to ensure that it is fair game and not a loaded dice. Would the MD of MAS, Ravi Menon, care to comment on this? My personal opinion is that this is worse than Lehman Bonds and toxic notes. Is David Gerald’s warning of a dangerous knife enough, sufficient, to the unsophisticated small investors? Anyone in the govt thinks that HFT is ok and acceptable to be allowed into our stock market? HFT is like throwing some piranhas into our reservoir and then ask what happened when all the fishes were gone, like where have all the small investors gone.
 
Should all remisiers, dealers and investors be made to take a course and test on HFT, to know the risk involved and to sign a letter that they know what they are in for and would be responsible for their own tradings?
 
An easier way to increase trading volume is to open the market 24 hours. By virtue of tripling the trading hours, the volume must increase by 3 folds. Or maybe cut commission to zero where traders can trade freely.
 
Over the last few days, the volume of trades must have opened some eyes that all is not well. No, Rip Van Winkle still snoring away?

War is imminent in East Asia

 Abe warned China that it would not tolerate the ‘use of force to change status quo’ in East Asia, a reference to the Diaoyutai dispute. And Japan has been acting aggressively by scrambling fighter jets to intercept Chinese aircraft in international airspace in the vicinity of the disputed islands. Such rattling of sabre has been what the Japanese were used to in the past, and the use of force to change the status quo, like invading all the countries in East and Southeast Asia were what the Japanese did during the Second World War.
 
Japan is still acting and behaving as if it is the undisputed military power of the region and China is still the Sick Man of Asia. In today’s context, China is in a better position to warn Japan and be the provocative one. Instead, Japan is still thinking that it is their right and think they could invade and run wild into China. Abe and his military hawks better have their heads check. Japan today is on its own, encircled by Russia, China and the two Koreas and Taiwan in the South. Any outbreak of hostility will see old scores being settled. Yes, Japan can count on the Americans, and there will be a big military battle at sea if the combatants can limit the scale of the war and the theatre of action.
 
Today, the cities in both China and Japan are so densely populated that bombings could be so destructive beyond the imagination of anyone. The scale of destruction and death in one day could be more than the whole of World War Two. But the Japanese would not want to think so and continuously provocating China for a showdown.
 
China has replied to Abe’s threat that any act against Chinese aircraft or ships will be an act of war. This is the first time the word ‘war’ is being used in response to Abe’s threat and warning of military action. By making such harsh statements, Abe is forcing the Chinese to take even stronger stand to face up to him.
 
War is imminent and a very violent and bloody one when it starts. There is no way the two countries can limit the scale of war and the participation of other countries, notably the Americans on the side of the Japanese, and Russia, the two Koreas and Taiwan on the side of China. Historical debt will be settled and the Ryukyu island chain will likely be reverted to Chinese rule, and the Koreans will make sure their islands will remain with Korea. Russians may be tempted to expand their grasp from 4 islands to a few more in the North Sea.

A Singapore Renaissance

With our affluence and so much money floating around, in the pockets of individuals and in the govt coffers, Singapore and Singaporeans are indeed entering its golden years. We have the arts festivals, theatres and major sports events filling up our calendars and all the space available. The celebrities and rich and famous of the world are treating this island of fun as their playground.

The fun, the celebration and partying and money spending are just a few ways to show that we are at a stage like Europe in the 19th century, full of wealth and time for indulgence, that people can afford to have a lot of free time to dabble with the good things in life, to be cultured and refined and to enjoy life to the fullest. These are actually superficial in away, just fun loving. The real stuff in a renaissance is the literature.

We need to have our own literature, the really good stuff, not pray pray type, not the money not enough type. We need serious and deep thinking literature in the class of the ancient barbs, poets, historians, writers of novels, economics, the arts and sciences. We have a few good starts in the right direction with LKY writing a few books on history and politics. SR Nathan also wrote something and recently Raymond Lim also wrote something, likely to be about public administration or politics. Then we have the eminent academics like Lim Chong Yah, Wang GungWu and many others that have written their own books in their respective fields.

In the area of public administration and economics, we have so many brilliant ideas and first of its kind to teach the world, eg raising GST to help the poor, how to build public flats at practically no cost, except charging land cost at one’s convenient and selling at market price and losing big, how to populate the country with third world no talents and fake talents and still going strong, how to reduce the citizen population to improve the citizen core, how to pay the world’s never heard of salary to fight corruption and with the people agreeing to it, how to keep the people’s savings for as long as the govt wants and without protest from the people, and so many many other great ideas like making things compulsory for the people to pay, and more. These will definitely make it to the best sellers list and becoming classics for the civil service in many countries, a must read for their civil servants.

We need more. If all the ministers past and present were to write about their specialties, their achievements and their wisdom, we would have a good collection of the best literature by the best talents money can buy. And Heng Swee Kiat could start a new revision in the syllabus for the schools using our very own text books by our very own intellectuals. We would be original, our children on completion of the school system will be thinking original and quoting from our very own kind. There would not be any need to quote western philosophers, historians, scientists or economists as if they were gods. Out from their mouths will be wisdoms from the likes of LKY, Goh Keng Swee, not sure if he has written any books, Rajaratnam, Nathan, Raymond, and maybe Ngiam Tong Dow. Of course we must not forget to quote from Chan Heng Chee, Kishore, Simon Tay, Barry Desker, and yes, military strategies and stratagems from our very own generals. We could have our own versions to rival Sun Tzu or Clauswitz.

When that day comes, it will be our Renaissance, a Singaporean Renaissance. And some of them will be recipients of Nobel prizes for literature and the arts, and their books could be standard text for reading in schools and universities around the world. Then we can forget about Shakespeare, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Socrates, Orwells, Obama, Bush or Clinton…. All the retired or semi retired ministers should start thinking and writing their memoirs for the benefits of our future generations on their great works and their contributions to the well beings of four young.

Where can you find kampong spirit?

I mean the real kind of kampong spirit when the people feel as one, think as one, to protect each other’s interest as one people, as Singaporeans? This is not the fake or synthetic kind of kampong spirit where you have to ask the people to come out to meet everyone with free chicken rice thrown in and all you get is some plastic smiles that disappear the moment each goes his separate way.

There was this sense of belonging, of being one people, being Singaporeans at the few Hong Lim Protests. And you can also feel that when the free makans and free shows and free handshakes with ministers in the Singapore day in the big cities in some parts of the world when Singaporeans were invited. There were identity and belonging.

Unfortunately these events did not last for more than a few hours. The most enduring and endearing sense of belonging, of being Singaporeans, can be found in the social media. This is where, despite being rudely called the fringes, the Singaporeans gathered to share their thoughts and views and speak as Singaporeans, to defend the rights and interests of Singaporeans.

The issue of discrimination against Singaporeans for jobs, the rude foreign cyclist bullying a local female Singaporean driver, the mad foreigner at the Woodland Bus Interchange, etc are events that brought the Singaporeans together, without being told to do so. The Singaporeans spoke out as Singaporeans against the abuses against Singaporeans and their country. They share the same ideology, the same emotions and attachment that this is my home and country, that we are one. No prompting needed. It is spontaneity, the real kampong spirit that is missing in general.

In the social media, the Singaporeans gravitate together to be with one another, to side with one another, to look out for one another, to speak out for one another. How could these kinds of feeling and behaviour be spread across the island for all Singaporeans to feel Singaporeans again? It is tough in the train when 70% of the commuters are foreigners most of the time. It is tough at work if the majority of the staff is foreigners. It is tough when many of your neighbours are foreigners, PRs or new citizens that still act, feel and think like foreigners.

Social media is reviving and keeping the kampong spirit alive and healthy.

Time for celebration

Our success story and the riches we have accumulated are coming together nicely to make merry. We worked hard, very hard, to achieve what we have today. We have grown up, from being young adolescents to young adults that wanted everything that are symbols of success to celebrating our successes. It is time to party.

We have so many things to celebrate for and we do it in very big ways. We went overseas to celebrate with overseas Singaporeans and ex Singaporeans. We celebrate National Days and a big 50 year anniversary bash is in the works for 2015. There are so many things that we celebrated and partied, the F1s, the arts festivals, the international sports events, New Year and all the various festivals, saving mother earth, saving energy, green day, lights off day, teacher’s day, mother’s day, father’s day, children’s day….founding father’s day, mother and father in law’s day….dog’s day, cat’s day.  Why not, we have the money to spend.

The latest in the news is a one year celebration to mark 50 years of Singapore India relations. There will be a series of celebration in both countries with visits of dignitaries and delegations and shows and whatever. It will be a year-long celebration that would include a Singapore festival in India and an Indian festival in Singapore.

There will also be opportunities to celebrate our relations with the Asean countries in the same way, with the Americans, our protector, our former colonial master the Brits. We forget to celebrate the crowning of a new prince, but did we celebrate the Queens titanium anniversary or moon rock anniversary? We should also celebrate our special relationship with Israel for helping us built our armed forces. Now who else shall we celebrate as there is still plenty of money in the kitty? Nevermind, we will remember more countries and occasions to celebrate while we are in the partying mood. The people will be joyous and maybe got free chicken rice to partake too.

I have had fond memories of the last few days when the British Forces were here. There were celebrations everyday and in very big ways. They needed to spend whatever funds they have accumulated in the kitties of the Officer and NCO messes. It was like throwing money away as it was not right for them to take the money along. If they didn’t spend them, the money would become OPM. The SAF officers would inherit the wealth which they did not contribute to it. They simply cleaned out every cent they had and left nothing for us. Why should there when they would not be here tomorrow?

Everything is happening in the island today in a different way. There are so many celebrations that Sinkies would be so happy and could have made them the happiest people in the world, or at least a people in perpetual celebration. Spending money is always an easy and happy thing to do, especially OPM.

Knock knock, who’s there

Hi, it’s your friendly MP. Please open the door.

Yes MP, what can I help you?

Oh, is this yours?

What is that?

It’s a diaper?

No, that’s not mine.

Then what about this pad?

No, not mine either. Thank you and good day.

And the MP moved on to the next door. Knock knock, who’s there. It is really tough and labourious job to be an MP. The latest chore is to carry a piece of soiled diaper or sanitary pad going door to door looking for the owner. And the more capable ones would have to deal with little puppies put to sleep prematurely and pricking the conscience of dog lovers. There are plenty of expensive and pedigree stray dogs that need attention and tender loving care out there.

What else is expected of our talented MPs with a string of degrees and being top professionals in their fields? Catching snakes or catching spiders or chasing wild boars and monkeys straying into housing estates? Checking longkangs for mosquitoes is also an important part of a MP’s duty too.

Now who else, with all their high qualifications and income would want to be a MP and to do this kind of work? The pay is good though, $16k for a part timer. Cannot hiam right?

Reinvitation for Obama

A few days back Simon Tay wrote about a reinvitation or a standing invitation to Obama to visit Asean again after he missed his last fling because of the govt shutdown. Asean countries really missed him and the Asean Summit turned out to be so dull, no threats, no call for sanctions, no thumping of fist, no American fleet floating around.

Among the things that Simon Tay reminded Obama to bring along should he take up the reinvitation are: 1. No need to bring economic presents like Xi Jinping did. 2. No need to bring anti Chinese rhetoric. 3. Be mindful of American allies like Japan and the Philippines egging for a fight with their maritime dispute with China. ‘…keep it soothing , rather than possiblky stirring more actions or proclamations.’ 5. Better to update the Asean countries of US China relations as this really matters to Asean countries.

Indeed the last Asean Summit was a dull one without Obama’s presence and his leadership to stir up more shit to offer the military might of the 7^th Fleet to back any Asean country that is willing to take on the Chinese or to claim more of the islands that the Chinese are claiming. Without the tension the adrenalines failed to flow and the leaders ended up partying and making friends instead of threatening each other.

Obama’s absence was greatly felt and is greatly expected to return to show that the Americans are the boss and to set the agenda and lead the Asean states to military glory. For those who are expecting more fireworks, it was a big disappointment. Abe must be feeling that he had wasted him time for attending the Summit. The Pinoys must be feeling empty for not given the chance to demand a couple of mothballed American battleships to battle the Chinese coastguards.

Hail Obama, you are missed by your Asean friends.  We need your fireworks. The Chinese would not be able to colonise the area. We were reminicising on our good old colonial days and perhaps the American Empire could help us to relive those glorious days to be colonies again.

Ang Hin Kee – Don’t blame external factors…

And Hin Kee, MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, said, ‘ I have been to crowded places and seen how people accommodate one another. You have a choice. Don’t blame external factors for our behavior.’ Ang was referring to the anti social behavior of the hooligan who spat at the two female commuters and threatening to hit one of them if not stopped by a SMRT staff.  Ang should experience the rush hour crowds at MRT interchange and then ask if the commuters have a choice not to be there.

I would like Ang Hin Kee to read the study on how white rats behaved when overcrowded and the comments by psychologist Joel Yang, ‘that commuters may become “increasingly angrier” and tend to react negatively to minor annoyances as Singapore’s population density increases.’ Yang also added, ‘It has been widely researched in major, densely populated cities that crowding is linked to anxiety, frustration, aggression, and inappropriate social interaction.’

Do Sinkies have a choice on whether the island should continue to get more crowded and not less? Do Sinkies have a choice on the 6.9m population planning number or the unceasing influx of foreigners here?

Ang Hin Kee said, ‘You have a choice.’ Now what this choice? Can Sinkie stop the 6.9m population from happening? Did anyone give the Sinkies a choice? Who should Sinkies blame for the crowded environment? Yes don’t blame external factors. The foreigners can only come here to flood this place because of internal factors. They are invited to be here like swarms of locusts. And Sinkies have a choice to stop this.

How to turn friends into enemies the American way

Beginning of the week we heard the Saudis were so angry with the Americans that they were reassessing and realigning their security arrangements to distance themselves from them. And to think that the Saudis have been the staunchest American allies among the Arabs in the Middle East, excluding Israel, must be a cause for concern.
 
What happened flowing this episode is more astounding. First the Mexicans, than the Brazilians, then the French, followed closely by the Germans, all blooming mad about the Americans spying on the conversations of their leaders. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff had cancelled an official visit to meet Obama. French President Hollande is reconsidering how to respond to his American threat. German Chancellor Merkel was furious and had called Obama direct on the hotline. This is not how to treat your allies, snooping at their conversations like they were enemies. Obama has assured her that the CIA would stop doing it and not to do it in the future. Quite a comforting thought.
 
Thanks to Edward Snowden, all the worms of American treachery and betrayal are crawling all over. The ugly Americans and their disregard and disrespect for their allies are making their allies turning red in embarrassment for being treated so badly and dismissively.
 
No one can destroy the Americans. Only the Americans can do it themselves. The rot and decline have appeared on the surface and looking very ugly. Who else will be next to know that the Americans have been screwing their arses while they were in bed together?

Swee Say - minimum wage is a zero sum game

This is what Swee Say said and I fully agree with him. Setting a minimum wage is a zero sum game. When you have to make sure the low level workers be paid a minimum wage that is higher than what they are getting, it affects the overall payroll. With a cake of fixed size, the rest will have less to share.
 
I dunno if this same logic applies to the high pay and bonuses of top management. Is it also a zero sum game, that when they are paid so much, the low level workers must get less. Zero sum game is like that. The total sum is fixed, and when someone gets more, someone must get less.
 
But there are exceptions. In some circumstances, the top can get as much as they want without affecting the zero sum game formula, because the cake can be blown bigger if the supply of income is unlimited. Talented top management would know how to ensure that the money coming in is always growing and so it is alright if they are paid millions and millions. It would not affect what the low level workers would be paid. Tiok boh? The zero sum game formula thus does not apply.
 
What do you think?

Global war for talent

There is a big conference in Kuala Lumpur to extol the importance of chasing after global talents. This craze for global talents started initially in the banking and finance industry where the crooks went around the world cheating and selling fraudulent products to make huge profits for themselves, and if they made any losses the banks would have to pay for it. Many high net worth people and institutions lost big when the first bubble burst. But the scam continues today as the greed for more easy money by cheating the rich guys who think they are smart enough to make money but did not realize that they were stupid enough to be conned by these global financial talents and losing the money they made themselves.
 
this notion of global talents is spreading into other industries. The hype cannot be stopped as it is painted as the in thing, to compete for that global talents or the organization or country will lose out. It is like keeping up with the Joneses, they bought foreign talents so you too much buy some. They bought a few exotic pets, quickly get some too.
 
How many organizations really need global talents and can benefit from hiring these talents? Take the SMRT as an example, it is a local public transport company. Does it need to hire foreign talents and for what? I think the management is smart enough not to go down that road. There is no need for silly global talents to run a domestic public transport company. In fact you need local talents and local knowledge. I will fall out of my chair if they think it is necessary to put up an angmoh face to front their PR office. So far so good, that the top management are locals.
 
Even for organizations that need to compete in the international market, how many jobs really need to be filled by global talents and can benefit from their knowledge of the international scene?
 
Say for companies that operate internationally, like SIA or PSA, how many foreign talents are needed? Oh, may be the CEO needs an international team to work with him. So? Should the CEO and his top management team be forever filled by global talents? And how are the global talents made and how come global talents are always from overseas and we cannot produce our own global talents? The danger of a foreign CEO and his foreign team of top management is a recipe for disaster and forever dependent on this team. They will be entrenched and cannot be removed. Only silly shareholders will allow such a development to take place, when foreigners took the plum jobs and weed out the locals who would never be able to replace them.
 
Would our civil service and ministries benefit from having more global talents? Seriously I doubt so except to pay through their noses for talents and skills that are not needed but good to have. You want a Greek god to sit at the reception to impress the women? The other part is to deprive good jobs that should go to Sinkies. Why is there not a need to consider global talents for political office? It would be the most stupid thing to do. Only morons will flirt with such a thought and to consider having foreign talents as our national leaders, even if they are given pink ICs at the last minute to claim that they are citizens.
 
There are many GLCs that do not need foreign or global talents when the services and their products are domestic. As for the marketing of townships, do we really need global talents when most of the skills and knowledge were developed by our very own locals?
 
Oh yes, we need foreign talents for sports, for all the trophies and glories. Well, as long as we have all the more to splurge and the daft Sinkies do not protest for throwing good money for fake glories, let it be.
 
We are not what we are today because of flooding the island with foreigners. The present day foreigners are mercenaries that are here to pluck the fruits that our forefathers planted. We were selective in the past in our choice and numbers of foreigners needed. We were not so daft to take in all and sundry, fake and half baked, as our saviours. Who is the daft one?

No country, no govt, no citizen – bo cheng hu

The pathetic incident of this guy spitting at two young women at Woodlands Interchange, grabbing one of them and harassing them, is what this country has turned into, bo cheng hu. This guy went spitting at one woman after another several times each and everyone, including SMRT staff could only watch like a despicable circus act. No one could or would stand up to stop the abuse and humiliation of two women in broad daylight, in a crowded place.
 
How could such a thing happen in a first world city? I can offer only a few reasons. Everyone was so civilized except the guy who spitted at women, or everyone was so selfish, so afraid or did not know what to do or whatever. Chivalry is dead. Manhood is dead.
 
What happened could be like this. The guy could be fierce, but from the video, any medium built guy could knock him down. He was no big hunk, more like a grown up boy. Anyway, the women could also be foreigners. The people watching also could be foreigners, or most of them. Any Sinkie there, maybe a few. Even the SMRT staff in uniform could be foreigners.
 
So you have a group of foreigners in a little corner of this island watching something unpleasant happening. What to expect them to do? They are foreigners, no ownership. This is not their country, it is not their business to get involved. Why should they? And as for the Sinkies, the women could be foreigners too, so why should they bother?
 
The point is that there is no ownership. This island has so many foreigners that every other person is likely to be a foreigner. And at an interchange, the likelihood that the majority are foreigners is even higher. It is a situation of no country, no govt, no citizens. Anything can happen, who cares? No one will step forward to help anyone in distress, to defend or protect lives or properties. It is nobody’s business.
 
When there is a country, a citizenship, ownership, an identity, belonging, then there will be kampong spirit, to help each other, because we are a family, the people of a country. In a rojak situation when everyone is likely to be a foreigner, when none can identify with anyone or anything, this is what could happen. Apathy, alienation, distinterest, not my business, nothing to do with me. No one people one nation, no stand up for Singapore. This is the same as the foreigner cyclist threatening the Sinkie driver in the middle of road. In a country when the national identity is strong, the cyclist would not be seen walking or cycling again if he dared be so rude and aggressive to the citizens. In some countries they would mow him down and it would be his fault for being there. He was not supposed to be there. He did not belong there.
 
We are looking every bit like a failed nation. Yes we are just a city with no identity, not a country or a nation. Nobody cares for anyone except when their interests are directly affected.

Studio flats versus 2 rm flats

The big price gap between these two types of flats came up for questioning in Parliament. Boon Wan rightly said that one cannot compare apples with lemons. This really sums up what were at stake and the perceived unsatisfactory pricing. Some felt that the oldies were ripped off by paying so much for their studio flats and with so many strings attached. But then they should be happy that they were getting apples instead of lemons. Those getting lemons should not complain as the pricing was just right for lemons.
 
Putting this aside, the best thing coming out from the discussion is the kind of profits that studio flats could generate for HDB. In the first place the pricing for the first owner was already very high compared to the 2 rm flats. I think HDB must be making a big loss from such a sale. My apologies for the contradiction.
 
After 30 years, HDB would have to repossess the flat, upgrade and refurbish it, and sell it at what kind of price, you can make your guess. It is going to make another big loss I think, if the same way of reasoning applies. And the same flat would have another round to go, to be upgraded, refurbished and sold a third time to another oldie at even higher price, due to inflation and of course upgrading. And of course, HDB is going to lose another huge sum of money for reselling it a third time.
 
For whatever reasoning and whatever sum of huge losses, I wish that I could be the developer to build and sell these flats with the same terms. I don’t mind making all the huge losses for the good of the people.

Termination of a train driver, a Sinkie

We have heard the story of the termination of a train driver after 18 years of service. Gintai did not explain exactly why but I gathered it was due to some minor mistakes he made. What actually went wrong is not the issue in this article. What I want to address is where should a Sinkie go from here.
 
Gintai was with the Police Force before he became a train driver and had chalked up 18 years of experience on this job. He is about 50 and still has many good years to go even if he does not intend to work till 80.
 
From the company’s point of view, has Gintai committed mistakes serious enough that it was necessary to lose a very experienced train driver with many good years ahead? What is the opportunity cost to hire and train another driver? The new driver could be cheaper without taking the training cost into account. There are opportunity costs involved as well as opportunity to save some money for the company. They can’t be hiring a more experience and higher pay train driver for sure.
 
The other point is that a Sinkie lost his job, hopefully not to another foreigner to be trained to take his place. Now what shall Gintai do, what are his options if he intends to work again? I think at his age, not working is not an option. We also know that getting a job is a near impossible task.
 
First, there is only one train company here, so there is no chance of Gintai driving trains again. Neither can he return to the Police Force. If he is to remain in the city, his next job is probably driving taxi. For Gintai to look for any other jobs, retraining is necessary. And he is likely to get a job that would pay him less than his current basic, without the overtime pay. He probably has school going children and a housing mortgage to provide for. He needs an income.
 
The alternative for Gintai is just not too rosy. The net effect is for the train industry and the train company to lose a trained and very experienced driver. And this driver has to start anew in a new job in a new industry. It is a waste of trained manpower. We value our workforce. Our workforce is our main asset. We foolishly wasted a trained worker who would have to downgrade to do something he has no experience in.
 
On the whole it is a lose lose situation. Maybe the train company will gain by getting a cheaper and new train driver. And a new driver is born. Very likely a foreigner. Sinkies better be nice to their employers and don’t make mistakes to warrant a dismissal. The consequence is dire straits, and nobody will be there to help you, no institution or organisation will be behind you, except Gilbert.

Need to build more private hospitals

The over utilization of our govt privatized hospitals is becoming a joke when an appointment could be in terms of several months or even years. What kind of nonsense is this? Many medical problems would have died or healed by themselves or could have eaten the affected patients. But never mind. Let’s try to do something positive.
 
We have a population of 5.4m and a citizen population of 3.31m. The rest, PRs and non residents, make up 2.1m. This is by no means a small number of people. Now you know why our govt privatized hospitals are finding it difficult to cope. Many of these people are really consuming the health services provided by the govt privatized hospitals, leading to high and over utilization.
 
Perhaps one way to go about improving the quality of healthcare services to the citizens is to encourage the private sectors to build more hospitals to cater to the needs of PRs and non residents. It would be good for everyone, win, win and win solution. The citizens can have better healthcare services from the govt privatized hospitals or private hospitals if they can afford to pay for them. The PRs and non residents can have their private hospitals that are better and well run, to serve them.
 
And the medical profession can have another big industry to make more money. And more land can be sold to build more hospitals, more employment, more jobs and higher GDP. The MOM may even make exceptions and let them staff with foreigners as this is strictly a foreigners industry. Someone just need to do the sums right, on the cost/benefits to the country for providing such services for foreigners, including good jobs in our first world country and the cost of first world infrastructure.
 
Have a new directive that foreigners are now allowed in govt private hospitals to ease the bottleneck. They can go to private hospitals. This may ease the jam in public privatized hospitals and shorten the wait for a medical appointment.
 
What do you think? Think 6.9m coming.

Many questions and answers in Parliament

Many questions were tabled in Parliament and the ministers were busy answering them. Somehow I find the drift not going the right direction. What are all the questions about, and what are the parliamentarians there in the first place?
 
Parliament has degenerated to a state of talking cock to score points for whichever party. Questions and answers were there to do just that while the interest of the people was secondary, do not really matters. At least that is my impression.
 
When would Parliament and parliamentarians be there to speak for the interests of the people with politics taking a break? The politickings should be set aside after the GE and all should work together or separately but putting the well beings of the people ahead of everything else. It is time to work for the people.
 
Roll up your sleeves and get down to work, and forget about party or whether you like that bugger or dislike his or her face. Can we have a bit of sincerity, to deal with issues as elected leaders of the people and working for the people? Do not brush aside the concerns of the people by clever or slippery answers or excuses.
 
Put the people first and everything will fall into place. When this is not the case, everything will be screw up as the intent is wrong, misplaced and nothing will be right. There are still a couple of years before the next GE and there is time to do things and work for the people. The results will speak for themselves.
 
The people are watching and the social media can be harsh to those that are just wayanging and not working for the people. The people are not daft for sure. Whether a politician is sincere and genuine will easily be recognized and be put in their place in the next GE. There is no where to run and no where to hide, and no where to talk rubbish or act silly. Those days of going with the flow and hanging on to the gravy train are over.
 
First base, got problems or no problem? If got problems, what are the problems and what must be done to remove the problems? Or maybe there is no problem so can continue to talk cock and sing song and be merry and enjoy the good office and the good pay and the good blessing of abundance.

Hsien Loong – Don’t perform will have to go

During an interview with the CNN Hsien Loong said that anyone in his team would have to go if they did not perform. This statement has been quoted by some bloggers as a reason for Boon Wan to go since the MND is losing several billions for building HDB flats for the people. The issue is not that simple as it is made up to be.
 
How shall a minister’s performance be judged, in particular, like the case of building public flats? Should the measurement be about making profit for the govt or building affordable housing for the people? Or should it be about building enough flats for the people are reasonable prices, not affordable prices, and without having to wait for several years? Or should it be about building enough flats to meet the demands of the people without incurring huge losses.
 
The above questions are quite straight forward reality. In the current case, the issue is not just about the losses, or is it about the losses? And what is this loss, or is there really a loss? This can only come to light if the details of the costing are laid on the table. Then it could become an issue of productivity, efficiency and taking care of the interests of the people. Or it could become an issue to taking care of the interests of the party.
 
The factors to be used to measure Boon Wan’s performance can be complementary or be in conflict with one another. And different people with different perspectives or vested interests would want to judge his performance according to their own set of good or right factors.
 
In this case, the loss of several billions is academic, in a way fictitious as it is a matter of right pocket left pocket. That is why Boon Wan could proudly announce it with a blank expression knowing very well it would not affect his performance. If it would, he could easily ask the finance guy to jiggle the factors and numbers to show a profit instead. It is all about what factors to be used for the input.
 
So, what should be the pertinent factors to be used to judge a minister or Boon Wan to reflect the real performance and the desired results? Should it be the price or the quality of the flats? Should it be the ability to meet the demand and expectation of the people? Should profit be a factor and if so, how should it be measured and what factors should be used to be reasonable?

Chennai Industrial Park

There was a programme on the Tianjin Eco City on CNA last evening. In a piece of waste land, a lake used for dumping industrial waste, up rose a sparkling clean eco city, a joint venture between China and Singapore. The infrastructure was first class, like a super condominium but at least a hundred times bigger in size. The roads and buildings were many times better than our best and newest new towns in Punggol or Sengkang. It was like a modern new suburb in the western world.

Tianjin Eco City easily outclassed the first industrial town built in Suzhou, the Suzhou Industrial Park. I think this is a great expertise of ours that can be easily replicate in other countries. Vietnam is getting one and I think India is getting one soon. The Vietnamese do not need much convincing to want their industrial park Made in Singapore.

The Indians may need more convincing as the project does not seem to be moving, or has it been moving that I don’t know. If convincing is necessarily, actually we have a perfect model of a modern Indian industrial park right in our little island. I have been told many times that the Changi Industrial Park is every inch like an Indian Industrial Park with Indian companies and Indian workers forming the majority of the companies and residents in the Park. It would be a good idea if the govt could invite the Indian leaders to visit the Chennai Industrial Park to take a look at what future modern Indian industrial parks would look like. Oops, I mean Changi Industrial Park.

This Changi/Chennia Industrial Park could be a big tourist attraction for Singaporeans to want to have a feel and taste of what an Indian Industrial Park looks like without flying to India. And Indian tourists, not necessary just the Indian politicians, can be arranged to tour to this Park, a model on which future Indian industrial parks would be like. I am sure they would be very impressed by what they see in Changi/Chennai. And the residents in Changi/Chennai Industrial Park could bear testimony to the good life here, the great and modern facilities that they have come to live with and enjoyed that they could not find anything better in India. Maybe I am wrong and there are better and more modern Indian Industrial Parks than the Changi/Chennia model.

But that is not all. Even if the Indian govt could replicate the physical part of the Park. What they could not easily replicate is the software, the ease of doing business the Singapore way. This is the trump card of Changi/Chennai Industrial Park. Singapore and the Indian govt could have a long list of cooperation in building more industrial parks in India if the Indian govt could come and see it for themselves. It is already there, a working model with many Indian companies and a nearly all Indian workforce.

Our community centres and Residents Committee now have a new place to visit for their constituents. It would certainly be a wonderful experience to be in Mumbai or Chennai in Singapore. Come and visit our Indian Industrial Park at Changi.

What is real behind the myth of freedom of navigation

 Freedom of navigation in the regional seas has been harped by the Americans in every occasion available to raise tension and fear among the Asean countries. Hugh White, the Professor from Australian National University has an article in the ST last week to demystify this rubbish talk of the Americans.
 
Freedom of navigation in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea has never been an issue. There were a few cases of piracy that were nothing more than mosquito bites and could easily be dealt with by the coast guards of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. There is no need to bring in the American Seventh Fleet and all the nuclear tipped missiles to deal with the pirates. And even if the pirates were navy guys in civilians, like the Pinoys in the South China Sea harassing and bullying the fishing boats and kidnapping them for ransom, they can be easily taken care of. The Taiwanese have shown the Pinoys that they would sink their navy ships if they dare to attack their fishing boats again. China is going to sink their biggest antique warship with compliments from the Americans.
 
So what is the real issue of this freedom of navigation shit? When it was the Straits of Malacca, the Americans were aiming at the Malaysians and the Indonesians. In the South China Sea, the target is China. But then, the whole thing is a hogwash. All the three countries have never threatened freedom of navigation in the region. All of them, according to Hugh White, needed freedom of navigation for trade. How on earth would they threaten freedom of navigation against their national interest?
 
The American humbug played at the highest key with the biggest orchestra is all noise to deceive the countries in the region. The tension and bickering by pesky countries like the Philippines and at one time Vietnam and India, were all the works of the Americans egging them on. Now with Vietnam and India backing out, Japan is now dragged into the frying pan, willingly of course, with the new right govt of Abe aspiring to rearm Japan as the new military power in the region. Under normal circumstances the Americans would have objected after suffering from the devastating sneak attack of Pearl Harbour and the thousands of American lives lost. The Americans would want to continue to keep this barbaric people under a pacifist constitution they imposed on Japan. But because of its wild big power ambition and rivalry with Japan, they are willing to use the Japanese card to give trouble to China. American is consenting and helping Japan to rearm and return to its military past.
 
Hope the Japanese would be strong enough to return the Americans the favour of two nuclear bombs to remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But before that, the Americans would be using the Japanese to raise tension in the region, with the Pinoys in tow.
So much for the fear of freedom of navigation in the Straits of Malacca and South China Sea. When have the Indonesians or the Malaysians or the Chinese done anything to threaten freedom of navigation? The real threats of freedom of navigation is when the American Seventh Fleet is here to choke up the passages and control the movement of ships through the region, and to conduct searches as and when they like on the pretext of intelligence reports of terrorism.

The injustice of justice

In this modern world, the treachery of the elite is much more sophisticated than the wisest of yore. The elite are using the system to cheat and scam against the interest of the ordinary men in the street.
 
Just read in the media today, ‘JP Morgan set to pay record S16.1b in deal’. What is wrong with this statement? Everything is wrong with this statement. It is trickery, treachery, deception and lies of the highest order. It is never about justice though it gives the appearance of justice. There is no justice!
 
The elite are exploiting the goodwill, reputation, funds and power of big institutions to cheat, to fraud, to scam for their own benefits. In the JP Morgan case, and many other related financial frauds during the financial meltdown, the top management of these financial institutions devised and designed fraudulent notes, CDOs and all kinds of gambling chits in the form of derivatives to cheat the people, the funds and also high net worth customers. And when they were successful, they paid themselves crazy and walked around like gods.
 
When they were caught with their crimes, with their hands in the cookie jars, they used the funds of the institutions to pay for the fines. The guilty party is the institution, no the management. And the money is from the shareholders, not theirs. The shareholders have to pay for their crimes, for their salaries and big bonuses. They have no personal responsibility and accountability. To them, they can cheat and forge all kinds of dubious products and instruments, and they win in all ways. The masses and shareholders are the losers. It is head they win and tail the masses, shareholders and the main street will lose.
 
They will not be caught to pay for their wrong doings. They have the law enforcers in their pockets, paid by them to share the loot. And they are repeating their crimes in bigger ways since then, with the help of the law and lawmakers, that they will not be prosecuted or persecuted. They are the modern day bandits and crooks in suits and ties. They can do not wrong and are above the laws. Many billions will be coughed out from the banks and financial institutions to pay for their crime, now passed to the banks and financial institutions.

Where is the justice? There is no justice.The bank pays the fine and the criminals keep their loots.

Gintai lost his job as a train driver

One of our regular bloggers that stopped posting after his long story of his conversation with Shanmugam posted in his blog has lost his job as a train driver with SMRT. He worked 18 years in the company and is still fit to drive maybe for another 10 years. Was he dismissed, sacked, asked to resign, asked to leave, or whatever term you called it, he lost his job. He is a full blooded Sinkie.
 
This is what Gintai said of his experience as a train driver,
 
‘For almost 18 years, I live, sleep and breath within the train system. I worked almost every day including off days unless I was on courses or on leave. I can’t even recall when was the last time I reported sick. I work with all kinds of odd hours with bizarre reporting timings and rotating shifts with rotating off days. Almost everyday, I had to remember my train timings, places (depots, stations and different platforms etc) to take the trains and worry about my train schedules. If I miss taking the train, the handing over driver will need to continue driving the train. With few misses within a short time-span, it’s out you go. That is one example of many where I was always pre-occupied with trains – even in my sleep; over the last 18 years. I had to force myself to sleep if I were to wake up at 4am the next morning to prepare for work sleep or no sleep! The train must be launched from the depot! No one will understand what I’m trying to say here except the 400 over train drivers in the system whose job is to move millions of passengers regardless of rain or shine, flooding or ponding, lightning or thunder!’
 
And this is what his India Indian friend had to say about his abrupt departure.
 
‘My FT Indian friend Manish had this to say, “… India maybe 3rd world country but it seems that Singapore is poorer than India in all respects now. If they can’t take care of a person who served 18 yrs loyally, then it’s curtain down for them where human values are concerned. You take care my friend.” PS: Reproduced with permission.’
It is so regrettable that an experienced train driver with so many years of dedicated service and loyalty will have to be let off. Nevermind, they will train another foreigner to take over his job if they cannot find another Sinkie to do so. Welcome to the unemployed PMET club.
 
Gintai should give his friend Shanmugam a call. Maybe he will be able to fix him with a better job now that the govt is talking about Fair Consideration Framework to consider Singaporeans first in job offers. Looks like Gintai did not benefitted from FCF.
I feel sorry for Gintai. Hope he will get a job soon. If not he can join Gilbert Goh and speak up in Hong Lim Park for the unemployed PMETs. This group of Sinkies is growing in strength daily. And thank God the govt is working very hard to help them and get them a job.