Below is an extract of Thomas Friedman’s article on the airpocalyspe in
Beijing and how bad it has become appearing in the Today paper today.
‘….“What if China meets every criteria of economic success except one: You can’t live there.”
Indeed, what good is it having all those sparkling new buildings if you
are trapped inside them? What good is it if China’s rapid growth has
enabled four million people in Beijing to own cars, but the traffic
never moves?
What good is it if China’s per capita incomes have risen to a level
affording tens of millions of once-poor peasants diets rich in milk and
meat, ...? What good is all that rising GDP, if there is no clean air to
breathe?
China has built amazing hardware in 30 years — modern cities, roads, airports, ports and telecoms….’
Allow me to substitute the word China with the word Singapore and ask a
slightly different question. ‘What good is Singapore with all the
economic successes if there is no Singaporean living there?’ When I said Singaporeans you know what I mean.
13 comments:
RB, if sinkies don't want to live here where got problems, plenty of prc, India Indians and pinoy will take over your place. So what is the problem?
Without Chinese, is China still China?
Without Indians, is India still India?
Without Sinkies, is Sinkiepore still Sinkiepore?
With Pinoys, Ah Nehs and Middle Kingdom people and no Sinkies, this place should be renamed ......
How about "SUNKEPORE"?
MB "SUNK-O-PORE"?
How about in Chinese?
“丧家跛”？
"CHINDIANOY" , tio bo ?
Also can!
Tiok!
Quite Tiok actually!
Clever name!
Want email to relevant authority like "OSC" for feedback?
I think he is sour grape. People live in far worst condition in the big cities of india, philippines and indonesia.
The Kingdom of Lanfang is not interested in Singaporeans. The Emperor wants only docile subjects who will worship him for the opportunity to be here.
Aiyah, please lah people. It's Tom Friedman. His schtick is globalisation-- what's good, what's bad, written with a noticeable anti-capitalistic bent.
For these human-rights snobs, they would rather see China poor, communist and backward rather than the China today -- vibrant, upwardly mobile and increasingly capitalistic.
When the crash/ credit crunch comes to China, and it will, within a decade (too much bad credit causing wobbly bubbles which are poised to burst), writers like Friedman are going to have a field day bashing up China.
A new way of putting down China when all else fails. Over the years there have been onslaughts on China on human rights, military spending, cyber spying, economic doom without much success. China still powers ahead.
The Chinese people have been living there for thousands of years. If you can't live there just leave. This Friedman is one biase anti Chinese fucker.
He is not alone.
China is not the perfect cuntree. But then again no place is. Cuntree are populated by humans, and human nature has both good and bad possibilities.
There is no question that China's record of human rights is appalling -- given the fact that the nation has grown socially, culturally, technologically and economically.
However I'm of the opinion that "human rights" or "human wrongs" are the domain of the people and their government: The People Get The Government and cuntry They Deserve. So it is up to the Chinese citizens to self determine their own destiny. It is not the business of the UN or the USA or other foreign meddlers to interfere.
It is mainly the western media which beats up on China. Many western individuals embrace China's place in the world -- warts and all.
These folks realise that you cannot grow from a rural society to a sophisticated civilization RAPIDLY without some pain and suffering, and some violence from the government -- it is IMPOSSIBLE!! Human beings are social and POLITICAL, and thus divide into The Rulers and The Ruled, which push and tug against each other in a dynamic relationship.
No civilization in human history has ever prevailed without rights being violated, people hammered down, corruption, criminal activity and other kinds of chaotic phenomenon.
Post a Comment