The Spirit of Citizenship

Below are 4 key points on citizenship mentioned by Obama in his State of the Union Address to the Americans.

‘After all, that’s the spirit that has always moved this nation forward. It’s the spirit of citizenship – the recognition that through hard work and responsibility, we can pursue our individual dreams, but still come together as one American family to make sure the next generation can pursue its dreams as well.

Citizenship means standing up for everyone’s right to vote…. It should be the power of our vote, not the size of our bank account,that drives our democracy.

Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day. (Gun is not too relevant in the Sinkie context, but more about public security and safety when rioting is becoming a new reality.)

Citizenship demands a sense of common cause; participation in the hard work of self-government; an obligation to serve to our communities. And I know this chamber agrees that few Americans give more to their country than our diplomats and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.’

We do talk about citizenship but our citizenship is being violated by the large numbers of foreigners here. We even corrupted the value of our citizenship with PRs lumped together as locals as if they are citizens. We corrupted out thinking, the thinking of the young on what citizenship means and why PRs and foreigners are not one of us. We have 2 million foreigners gainfully employed here in top jobs that rightfully should go to the locals. Unfortunately our system has failed the citizens badly that many top jobs, I mean govt and govt linked companies’ jobs, happily given to foreigners with the bull excuse that no citizen is deemed fit to take those jobs.

We must thank those exceptionally talented Sinkies to take on 5 or 10 or 20 jobs or else they will all go to foreigners too as no Sinkies are good enough to wear those hats. Sinkies must be very grateful to these super talented individuals. May they be blessed by the horse.

What is wrong with our citizenship when so many foreigners are having a party here while Sinkies are under employed or unemployed? Is our citizenship means giving way to foreigners, foreigners come first because they are good, because they have great CVs and certificates that no one bothers to check for their authenticity?

What is wrong with our citizenship and the aspirations of the citizens to pursue their dreams? Not good enough so conveniently raise the foreigners to high pedestals to fulfil their dreams.

Where is the wisdom of statesmanship?

恭喜发财 Gong Xi Fa Cai

May the Year of the Horse bless the nation with a wise leader and bring prosperity to all the citizens.
Happy Lunar New Year to all of you.
May all our leaders be blessed with the wisdom of the horse to bring good blessings to the citizens.

Lunar New Year in Chinatown - A pictorial essay

Part of Upper Cross Street leading to New Bridge Road at the end with a horse lantern protruding into view. Taken at about 6pm on 28 Jan 14.

Section of New Bridge Road with Majestic Theatre and People's Park on the right. The decor of horse and Chinese coin lanterns lined both New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Road.

Crowds queuing to buy Bak Kwa from Lim Chi Guan. The dried grilled sweet meat cost $55 per kg this year.

Entrance to Chinatown MRT station at Pagoda Street.

Shoppers in the midst of Chinatown, Pagoda Street.

A boy marvelling at the new year decor for sale.

More decorative pieces for sale inside the shop.

A pretty girl selling balloons. Behind her is another famous Bak Kwa store, Mei Chen Xiang.

Chinese calligraphy scrolls for the main entrance to a house or main hall.

More shoppers for the new year goodies in Temple Street, Chinatown.

Buying groundnuts and watermelon seeds as titbits, to eat and chat during the new year visitings.

Wax meat and ducks, a must new year delicacies especially among the Cantonese.

Shoppers and tourists having a good time at Smith Street, Chinatown.

Alfresco dining in Trengganu Street, Chinatown, on a fine tropical evening.

Part of South Bridge Road leading to Maxwell Road with new year decor.

Entrance from Pagoda Street next to the Sri Mariamman Temple. The temple also has a banner to celebrate the Lunar New Year. A common practice in a very tolerant and amicable multi racial and multi religious city. It is getting a bit dark, nearly 7pm local time.

Thailand, the strange nature of things happening

The Yingluck govt is pushing ahead with the general election on 2 Feb. The street protest continues while a state of emergency order has been issued in Bangkok. And ‘Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has threatened to "close every route" to polling stations again for Sunday's election, raising fears of further violence’. MSN.
 
Shouldn’t Suthep be arrested for disruption the general election? It seems that he is untouchable, like he is carrying with him an Imperial Sword, a representative of the King. And he and his Bangkok protesters are accusing the whole Yingluck govt of corruption and now incompetence. Can they be sure that a new govt will not be corrupt? And all the media reporting on the general election is saying that the result is an assured landslide victory for the Yingluck govt. Holycow, a corrupt govt assured of winning a general election with public protest on the road and with an army and a judicial that would not allow any mischief to happen during the election! (This is a bit like Sin when there are so much anger and criticism against the govt but comes a GE the govt will still be elected.)
 
What a complex series of contradictions. What is very clear is that there is order and strategy above the confusion. The master strategists are working real hard on both sides. On the Suthep side, he had a loud voice in Bangkok with the Bangkok media and elite on his side and a kind of certainty that he could ruin the general election and incapacitate the govt with impunity. He has the authority to do so.
 
On the side of the Yingluck govt, they are treating the Bangkok protesters as shadows playing their own game but inconsequential. The protesters and Suthep can continue with what they are doing, the govt will simply ignore them and go ahead to do what it deems fit.
 
A new govt will be announced after the general election, if it is not disrupted, with Yingluck still the PM and her cabinet still intact and the street protest still in Bangkok. Should a violent clash erupt, the law enforcing officers of both the police and army would have to step in. Then what, a military state?

Hsien Loong needs to speak Singlish

An editorial article in TRE titled ‘PM: You’ll be sorry too if I send all FTs home’, a follow up to Hsien Loong’s talk to NTU students, has drawn more than 100 comments and growing. The main point it seems is that the netizens just could not understand or agree with what Hsien Loong said. Not sure if the message gets across to the students, obviously the netizens got a message that they don’t agree with and are shooting back point by point at what Hsien Loong said.
 
Looks like Hsien Loong needs to speak Singlish and think like a Sinkie if he wants to communicate to Sinkies and know what are the concerns and interests of Sinkies and why Sinkies are so unhappy with his policies. If he doesn’t, then he will be like Josephine Teo, still scratching her head and wondering why the Sinkies are so angry with the govt.
 
Below are just three comments that I copied from the same thread in TRE to give an idea of how the netizens are reacting to Hsien Loong. Of course he can ignore the comments as noises from the lunatic fringe and go on with his policies as if nothing has been said.
 
• Errr!:
January 29, 2014 at 9:35 pm (Quote)
 
We never ask you to send all FTs home. We only want you to keep the genuinely good ones and keep the proportion low so that it would not harm our livelihood unfavourably. I really don’t understand this PM. He seems to not getting the right information from the ground. Singapore has always had its fair share our foreigners in the past and the proportion were not as big as this, and we never had any problems with foreigners until now due to the large proportions of them living and earning their living here.
 
• my $8 heart bypass:
January 29, 2014 at 9:56 pm (Quote)
 
What a fcuking load of bullshit, FTs create jobs for locals.  
Lee Hsien Loong, just go and take a look at DBS and see how many Ah Nehs working there and tell me why these jobs cannot be done by locals.
 
Every morning you see bus loads coming in to unload these Trash at MBFC from DBS Changi office.
 
Go and walk around Changi airport, and see whether you are in Manila or Sinkieland.
Why do you need Pinoys to be Guest Relations officers, they speak Tagalog accented English, don’t you know ???
 
Singing the same fcuking tune again and again, FTs create jobs for locals.
Yes, the economy may have grown, but you and your PIGS are creating jobs for the Trash have flooded in due to your Open Legs policy.
 
You can bloody well wayang and bullshit all these students who are still wet behind the ears, but don’t try and bull us Sr. citizens.
 
And the greatest crime is spending $400M of tax payer’s money to fund these foreign students with free education at the expense of our own children.
 
• Reflections:
January 29, 2014 at 9:56 pm (Quote)
 
What he says:
“You put the wrong CEO there, the bank goes bust, thousands lose their jobs.”
What I read:
“You put the wrong PM there, the country goes bust, everyone loses their jobs.”

The govt owes Sinkies a level playing field

We have been flooded with 2 million foreigners working here. We know of how these foreigners and foreign companies screwed Sinkies by discriminatory hiring practices, hiring foreigners and their own kinds. Some blatantly refused to hire Sinkies and got away with it.
 
We also know that many of these foreigners came with fake qualifications and CVs. The number in very conservative estimate can be easily 20% and could go to 50% or more.
 
The consequences of the above, many Sinkies lost their jobs and opportunities to higher appointments to these foreigners not because they were not good, but simply cheated or discriminated. The govt owes the Sinkies, jobless, underemployed and those employed a level playing field in employment and advancement opportunities, for the jobless to be employed, for the underemployed to be gainfully employed, for those employed to be appropriately employed according to their worth.
 
The govt also owes all Sinkies to ensure that the professionals in all fields that Sinkies paid for their services are genuinely qualified and not quacks. The consequences of having unqualified or fake professionals in these responsible jobs are not only about jobs but about safety and lives.
 
The off the cuff number is simply too large for comfort. It is not only disgraceful but criminal to let these fraudulent practices to continue unabated with the foreigners laughing at our idiocy, from the top to the bottom.
 
There must be immediate actions taken to rid the country of these pests. The people demand a level playing field and fair opportunities, not a fake one. It is inexcusable even for a single day of delays. It does not take 56 man years to clear up the shit and get rid of the worms and maggots in the system.

Kopi level - Green

Is May 13 coming to Penang?

The forbidden use of the word Allah in Penang is being challenged by the church. It seems that the church or some churches insist on the right to use this word in the course of its practice and communication with its believers. This is angrily contested by the Muslim community who has claimed its exclusive use only by their community. Both sides are not going to compromise on this issue and now the church is being attacked by firebombs. The offensive banner that led to the bombings read, ‘Allah is great, Jesus is the son of Allah’.
 
Tension is rising very high and the threat of a May 13, which means killing the non Malays, is being used. The non Malays must take note of this and that this matter is really very serious. It is touching very sensitive nerves.
 
Anwar has stepped in to try to defuse the situation by allaying the fears of Muslims that Islam is not being threatened. The Malay Muslims are an absolute majority in Malaysia and are holding political, military and economic power, in fact all power in the state. There is never any risk that Islam will lose its dominant position as both sides of the political equation are led by the Malay Muslim leaders that are staunched followers of Islam.
 
The churches must be very careful not to push this matter too far and know when to pull away from the brink. Many innocent lives can be lost if violence breaks out. Great care must be taken and hope Anwar is able to broker an amicable settlement. The Malay Muslims will not give an inch as far as the use of Allah is concerned. The churches would have to give way unless they can call on a higher authority like the Vatican to intercede on their behalf, or God or Allah Himself.
 
Would Penang burn? Would the keris be drawn and blood flowed?

Govt can communicate better

‘The Govt can do a better job of communicating to Singaporeans the value of staying open as an economy, said Education Minister Heng Swee Kiat…,’ at the Institute of Policy Studies. This came after Hsien Loong spoke to the students at NTU on the challenges into the future.
 
A few points came through in Hsien Loong’s speech and are receiving some harsh criticism for what he said and why he said things particularly on the treatment of foreigners. For a start, the hostile spontaneous outcry against Anton Casey was not a lynch mob. The comparison is too extreme. For those who did not read American history, a lynch mob often consisted of a bunch of white supremacists, many are the average white Americans like the netizens, dragging a nigger, and hung him on a tree with a lasso around his neck. This is called mob lynching. And the crime could be more petty than what Anton did, or very serious, like running away from slavery.
 
Bad communication is not just about using bad examples. What is bad about lecturing to Sinkies on the need to treat foreigners well here is that it was not the fault of Sinkies but Sinkies being lectured like it was their fault. What the anger was about is that the Sinkies are expecting the govt to speak to the foreigners, nicely and politely of course, but in no uncertain terms, that this is our country and they are guests here. Be sensitive to the natives and do not insult the natives while having a good life here. I am not using locals because locals include PRs.
 
The people expect the govt to tell the foreigners to behave or else. The least the people expect is to get a lecture from the govt to behave. Now, what is not said but communicated to the foreigners are: Sinkies are at fault, Sinkies are rude to foreigners, over reacting and need to be told to behave. The antics of Anton, well never mind carry on, small matter. Sinkies will get use to it and will live with it after a while. Foreigners should feel good and welcome, like Anton.
 
Do the foreigners need to be told to reflect on their bad manners and attitude? I think this is very bad communication, sending the wrong signal and wrong message. The Sinkies are angry again for getting a scolding when they expect the scolding to be aimed at cocky and rude foreigners.

Kopi level - Yellow

Family institution dysfunctional

Do we still have this institution called family? Many of the oldies do not seem to have such an institution that is supposed to take care of them and their needs at old age. Ok there are exceptions for some oldies with huge extended families. No need to know about the rich as they will take care of themselves very well with or without the family institution. The oldies in charity homes and those living on their own or with friends cannot fall back on the family to support them. Some may be too comfortable financially to prefer to live in the richness of a retirement village minus the family institution.

Many who are seeking financial assistance from the govt have been told to seek support from their kins, their family ties. In reality this is not so simple. Not many families have millions in their savings and could spare a few dimes for their kins in distress. Many families are struggling to make ends meet and have a load of problems of their own.

One thing for sure, the aid givers or dispensers would never be able to understand why the children or siblings are so heartless to leave their kins in need to the state. It is beyond them until the day they fell into the same shoe.

The family institution is there but not there for another reason. And this will get worst with the new generations. What kind of family institution can one be talking about when there is one, or maybe two children in a family? The small nuclear family often fell victims to circumstances through many things that would break up the little family tree, natural casualty and calamity, financial hardship or simply living too far apart or emigration.

Since the days of Stop At Two, the role of family institution had been undermined and clobbered to death. But the old mindset of social workers and even politicians remains unchanged, thinking that there is this great family institution that could provide a big umbrella to protect those who need protection.

The family as an institution is about as good as it is among the Malay families when a household could have four or more children. The tragedies of broken families aside, the Malay families still could fall back on the family institution in better shape than the other communities.

It is time to take stock of the relevance of the family institution as a social support network for the people. It is there but not there. If there, many are too small to make a difference when faced with a very high cost of living. The family institution is as good as defunct, consigned to the museum as a memory of the past.

It is easy to bring up children when the cost of living is low. It is easy to look after parents too, and better still with many siblings. When the cost of living is high, extremely high, when there are no siblings to lend a helping hand, it is tough to look after the seniors. The new sandwiched class is going to face a monumental financial wall to look after their parents and children. Caveat, this does not affect the rich.

In the not too distant future people will be asking, where is the family, where is the family support, or may totally forgotten that there was such an institution.

Kopi level - Yellow

From peanut to kachang puteh

$600k is only peanut is passé. Rich Sinkies are playing with bigger and bigger numbers. I was in this car park and my friend pointed to me two gleaming Rolls Royce parked side by side. Hardly used. The owner is likely to have a fleet of sports cars to swoosh around town. I know someone who sold his house for more than $20m and the buyer did not even bother to take a look at the property. His agent bought it on his behalf and the only thing that he was interested is the parking space inside the property for more than 15 cars. He needed the space for his toy cars.
 
To these rich people, it is common for them to mutter, ‘What is $10m?’ Money is aplenty in the island. A $600k peanut is really nothing. Today it is about $672m kachang puteh. Yes, kachang puteh is smaller than a peanut. But with so much money in people’s hand, $672m is nothing more than a kachang puteh. That is the amount that we want to give to IMF. No need to think what the amount could do for our citizens. Giving away $50m is just not the right thing to do, too little to befit our dignity. Not sure this is an annual contribution or one time layout. Need to check on this.
 
The value of money is relative. To the thrifty, a papaya is worth something. To the very rich, a few hundred millions are nothing? Better still if it is OPM. Spend until ‘song song’, damn ‘tua kang’.
 
A stretch of road can cost $4.3b, a fake garden another billion or more. Don’t ever complain about a 10c increase in transport fare. No time to bother with such an insignificant amount. It is meaningless, does not worth mentioning. A waste of time! What is 10c? Oops, I mean what is a few hundred million?
 
How much do you want? How much do you want to give away? I want a kachang puteh.

Goh Keng Swee’s papaya trees

When Goh Keng Swee made his visits to army camps, he was every impressed with the neatness and vastness of the camps. There was plenty of space for the soldier boys during his days. There were also plenty of greens. Being an economist, he could not tolerate waste. He saw the open space and wanted them to be productive and useful. He gave it some thoughts and came up with the idea of papaya trees. Papaya trees are hardy and need little space to grow and to bear fruits. The soldier boys would have free papayas for desert. And no space would be wasted.
 
The idea was about thrift and about not wasting precious land. Though his idea might have some conflicts with the army regime, but what was important then was the kind of thinking in the heads of national leaders.
 
Today, the new thinking will scoff at his suggestion. Why waste the effort of the soldiers. You want papaya is it? Go and buy lah. Money is not an issue. How much would a papaya cost? $2? Knn, we gave hundreds of millions or billions to foreigners also never bat an eyelid. We are going to give the IMF another few hundred millions and it is only sup sup suey. I am not sure this is an annual or one time one contribution. We have plenty of money and thrift is no longer relevant today. It even sounds silly.
 
Would anyone during Keng Swee’s time dare to throw parties after parties using public fund? Today it is tens of millions for each party and we are going to party and party without a care on how much we will be spending. How much did the govt spent for the YOG? Does it matter? Does it matter if an MP ask for a few dollars more to help the poor? Sure matter. It is a matter of principle. We cannot encourage a crutch mentality. We cannot have an entitlement mentality. It is not the amount of money, it is a matter of doing the right thing or wrong thing.
 
During Keng Swee’s time thrift was the right thing. Today, spending generously is the right thing. We have so much money if don’t spend, keep for what, for when? Time has changed and what was right in the past is wrong today. When ‘oo lui lang’ talking the logic is different.

What is a rogue govt?

The term rogue govt has been used many times to warn Sinkies that the good life they are having will be history if a rogue govt comes to power. What exactly is a rogue govt? Is it a govt that is corrupt? Is it a govt that betrays the people? Is it a govt that have failed or flawed policies? Is it a govt that throws money away freely to foreigners?
 
I think everyone will have some views on what constitutes a bad govt. It would be nice to have a simple definition so that everyone understands what is a rogue govt. Without an understanding of the term, even when a rogue appears and stands right in front of you, behaving like a rogue, no one will recognize it.
 
On the other hand, a rogue govt may not think that it is a rogue govt. It may be doing a lot of things that are rogue in nature but so deluded to think they were good. Some rogues may honestly and sincerely think that they are angels. Of course most rogues will know they are rogues but would put on a pretense to continue to take advantage of their victims.
 
Do we know what is a rogue govt? This is very important. We must know what a devil looks like to be aware and to chase the devil away. If we fail to see a devil or a rogue, we may invite him home and got screwed without knowing, and still be very grateful thinking we are sleeping with an angel.

Kopi level - Green

Be kind to William Wan

The Secretary General of the Singapore Kindness Movement spoke to Sinkies to show some kindness to foreigners like Anton Casey and was slammed harder than Anton by the Sinkies.
 
I am thinking of calling Sinkies to be kind to Willaim Wan with due respect to his appointment as the Sec Gen of SKM. Would I get slammed by the Sinkies as well? I think I better not try to be kind for the wrong reason or when the mood of the people is very unforgiving at the moment.
 
I rather call on William Wan to show some kindness to the poor student that was charged in court and fine $400 by SMRT. Or was it by LTA? Or was it fined by the court? William could make amends and show some real kindness that would be appreciated by the Sinkies like this case. Let’s see if he can get the SMRT and the court to erase this bad memory in the life of the poor student so that he/she need not carry this millstone on the neck for life.
 
A conviction is the court of law is a very serious stigma for anyone. It is an over killed over a minor infringement.
 
Please show some kindness to the poor student first and I will be the first to show a lot of kindness to William Wan and would write an article to plead for him if he could help this poor student. And also the driver and the bus assistant that were beaten up by the mob in Little India surely deserved some kindness too. Why should a foreigner deserve so much kindness for spitting at Sinkies and our Sinkies don’t deserve any?
 
Since we are in midst of a Kindness Campaign, would any kind MP or Minister be moved enough to look into this poor student’s case and give him/her a clean start in life? If none can do it or want to do it, can the PM ask for a Presidential pardon on her behalf?

1914-2014, Hitler-Shinzo Abe

China is fuming mad with Shinzo Abe’s comparison of the new geopolitical situation in Asia today as similar to that of 1914 with the rise of militarism. A more appropriate comparison would be the similarities between what Abe is doing and that of Hitler prior to the WW2.

Abe and his hawkish ministers and a new consciousness among the Japanese to want to revive their military past as the number One military power in Asia, are all eager to change history and a return of Imperial Japan. Abe’s agenda is crystal clear and what he wants cannot be concealed by his lies about peace in Asia. He is rewriting the history of Japan’s aggression in Asia, he is rearming Japan, he is challenging China and Korea. He is tearing into bits the Pacifist Constitution imposed on Japan by the Americans and now with the Americans encouraging him to do so as a pawn to contain a rising China.

In the course of merely a year, Abe has acted in all ways aggressively and provocatively against its neighbours, claiming islands, scrambling fighter aircraft and naval craft in an offensive manner, challenging the rights of its neighbours to their territorial airspace. He did not mince any words about containing China and even war with China.

Abe is now launching a diplomatic offensive to form military alliances with regional countries to gang up against China. The new reality is that things are not quite the same today. Asia does not have a number of small nations to be invaded like Europe in the early 1900s. The Koreans would not allow Japan to repeat its colonisation of their country. China could simply sit on Japan and shit would literally ooze out from its orifices. India is a super power in her own right and would not be led by the nose by a smaller regional power like Japan.

Further south, Vietnam and the Philippines know that taking on China is futile and it would be to their advantage to grow and prosper together in peace. Maybe the shallow minded Pinoys would be willing partner to the American pivot and join hands with the Japanese to form a military alliance to take on China. That is about the best that Abe can ever achieve.

The rest of Asia would not be so silly to want to go to war with Japan and fight for the Japanese to ruin their economies. And with the memories of an aggressive and vicious Japanese army plundering through their countries, looting and raping their people, it is unlikely that they want it to be repeated or to be ruled or led by the Japanese.

The aggressive moves of Abe must be stopped just like Nazi Hitler. Europe failed because of their appeasement policy towards Hitler and paid a heavy price for it. Asia would have to pay a similar price if they did not stop this crazy imperialist Japanese PM from running wild. Hitler was defeated. Imperial Japan was defeated. Abe can never ever think that he could do anything better with the new geopolitical situation in Asia. The people that would suffer most would be the neutral Japanese. Any attempt by Abe to commit aggression against its neighbours would see Japan invaded for sure and the big cities in ruins.

The Asian states would have to stop this Japanese madness or stay clear and remain neutral. The Japanese people too must come to their senses to avoid a war with its neighbours even if they think they have the mighty Americans on their side. Japan will be the battle ground, the front line, the war zone should war breaks out. They must not ever dream of invading China or Korea or any of the Asian states like before. It is a foolish dream and a very destructive one, of self destruction.

Would the Japanese want to give China a chance to burn Japan?

Anton’s gone, but read the warning signs

If this is what things are going to be, the signs are in the ST forum pages. They chose their articles and letters very carefully and one must read the hidden messages that are being communicated.
 
Two letters in the Today paper in the Voices column are asking the authority to come down hard on Sinkies that spoke out against foreigners. This is what a June Cheah-Nicholas wrote, quoting a Devadas Krishnadas, ‘If it is seditious for foreigners to provoke disharmony with the locals, then it is equally seditious for locals to provoke disharmony with foreigners here’.
 
Another letter by a Darius Lee, ‘While Mr Casey did not commit a crime, threats to him or his family are criminal offences. Under the Penal Code, whoever threatens another with any injury to his person, reputation, property or family commits criminal intimidation. To be fair and consistent, the same standards should apply to everyone. The authorities should act against those who threatened Mr Casey, especially those who threatened his family.’
 
Sedition is indeed a very serious crime. Many times more serious than insulting Sinkies for sure. And criminal intimidation is just as serious, or at least more serious than beating a taxi driver. The latter, the law will just ask you to take up a civil suit against the basher.
 
Now that Casey has ran away for safety in Perth, it is time to go after the daft Sinkies. Cane a few so that they will not be rude to foreigners. So Sinkies who are blacklisted, better do an escape from paradise to join Casey in Perth before the dragnet closes in. Be afraid, be very afraid.

When something is full of holes

SMRT was reported to have its 5th breakdown yesterday. This is a very good example of a rotten apple, good to look on the outside but all worms inside. It is exactly like what George Yeo said, everything looks so perfect, but it isn’t real.

Desmond Kwek, like Boon Wan, has inherited a rotten apple. So has Chuan Jin and Gan Kim Yong. Don’t bet on it that it can be resolved overnight. And the people are impatient and may put the lasso on them when they did not create the problems in the first place. And those who created the problems drove into the sunset with their handsome rewards like a great ending in the movie.

This is like a fund manager, notably the one that ran a Ponzi Scheme in New York. When he had lost all the money, no matter what he did, not matter how he tried to patch the holes, there could be too many holes leaking and all the attempts will be futile. And some of the attempts could cause more hardship and be as good as daylight robbery, to fill an empty coffer.

Fund managers having an empty coffer cannot hide for too long. When the money is gone it is gone shot of robbing someone, like in Greece, robbing all the depositors to cover the holes.

When something is full of holes, it is full of holes. And many things are full of holes but looking perfect on the outside. When will the house of cards coming crashing down?

Kopi level - Green

I had a nightmare (stinky dream)

I had a dream. We built a great and prosperous city nation in 3 decades.
I had a dream. We lost our great city nation in half the time.
I had a dream. Our President, PM and cabinet ministers were all foreigners.
I had a dream. We were flying a different flag and singing a different anthem.
I had a dream. Our top civil servants, military officers and police officers were foreigners.
I had a dream. Our children were maids and taxi drivers.
I had a dream. The true blue Singaporeans were turned into the dalits of the land, the untouchable, stupid and uneducated.
I had a dream. We were not called Singaporeans anymore. We were not called Sinkies either. We were called Stinkies.
I had a dream. We lost our great city state and were reduced to stateless people.
I had a dream. The people running our country were foreigners we warmly invited to be our citizens are now our masters.

I woke up in fear. It was so real that I have to slap myself several times to know that it was just a dream. And I wonder, could the Singaporeans be so stupid to lose their country? Could my dream comes true? Could this really happen or is already happening?

Only 300 Sinkies against fare hike

Gilbert Goh’s protest gathering at the Hong Lim Park only drew a miserable 300 protesters. How to read this? One way is to declare that only 300 Sinkies are unhappy with the fare hike. The silent majority are supportive of the fare hike. Tiok boh?

It is so lucky that 300 turned up. If only a handful, then it could be safely concluded that no one is protesting and the fare hike must be reasonable and welcomed by the commuters.

When the first protest movement of more than 5000 people turned up at Hong Lim against the PWP, it was hardly reported in the main media. Yesterday’s protest was reported and with photos too. What is the sublime message? Go figure.

Do not underestimate the power of the media.

A news headline can be taken seriously

 

Take this headline in the Straits Times for discussion, “Briton and family leave for Perth amid threats”?

What would the readers think if they did not have the full story? Would they think that this City state is not safe for foreigners and foreigners are being threatened with serious harms and forced to move out for their own safety? If one is a foreigner in the US or UK or Australia, and planning to come here as a mercenary, to find paradise on earth, would one be having second thoughts?

Would the embassies be sending out travel warnings to their citizens to warn them of the risk if they come here? Or this is intentional, to tell the foreigner not to come here?

This is a very interesting and controversial headline indeed. Maybe a bit of sensationalism but with selected truth. It is true that Anton claimed that he was threatened. Anyone done any investigation that this is indeed true? What kind of threat, life threatening, serious, genuine, or some bloggers sputting nonsense in the net using Anonymous like the hackers?

Still a good headline to catch the attention of the readers.  Maybe I shall write an article with a headline, ‘Xenophobic Sinkie hordes threaten life of talented expat to run for his life from Paradise’? Would this be sensationalism, a bit of half truth?

Top Indian university students are brilliant

 

"Students in the top universities of India are brilliant. India is a world leader in many areas particularly in low-cost engineering. We have to learn a lot from India," said Peter YH Pang, assistant vice-president (university and global relations) NUS during his visit. Peter Pang was reciprocating the visit of the Indian academic team led by NIT-T director Sunderarajan in October last year to NUS, to explore the possibilities of academic collaboration.’…The Times of India

This kind of statement generally is applicable to all countries as their best students must be in their top universities, otherwise the country will not progress. The only exception is the USA where many rich families could buy places in top universities for their D grade scions.

Low cost engineering is definitely a niche in India. This has nothing to do with the low cost labour we have here that India is exporting. India is able to do a lot of engineering stuff cheaply, like cheap cars and equipment. This is the forte of India.

NUS is looking like embarking on an academic collaboration with Indian universities to introduce low cost engineering into our university syllabus and soon we will be opening up a new industry for low cost engineering stuff. Singapore could then have two Science Parks, one for leading edge science and engineering and another for low cost engineering. We can dove tail our economic growth strategy with two engines of growth.

This is like having the best of both worlds. And our industries that are relying on low cost labour will become even more competitive with low cost engineering products.

What a way to go. Come to think of it, it is like a first world city with a third world vitality. The future of Singapore is getting brighter.

Power of the internet took its first scalp

Do not ignore the power of the internet and the voice of the people, even if they are daft Sinkies. At times, in the most unusual of places, they can strike and get their target down. Think Punggol East.

Over the last few days, the uproar in the internet over an insult to Sinkies brought things to bear on the trespasser. It was a public lynching of sort on an unsuspecting victim who thought of nothing like the foreigner cyclist threatening a woman Sinkie driver in broad daylight, or those that beat up Sinkies to let off steam. The angmoh cyclist got to walk away like a world boxing champion and strutting his stuff with a big ego. Beware you asshole, the next time you try that on a Sinkie it could be very different. The govt may not come out to defend the rights of Sinkies and their dignity, but the netizens will be very unforgiving.

Kindness begets kindness, as a minister said. And shits will beget shits.  Or is it that whatever the Sinkies do it will only beget shits? There is a new mood in the air. Call it xenophobia, yes, I think it is. It was xenophobia of the rich elite in cahoots with the foreigners to spit at poor Sinkies, thumping poor Sinkies as daft and wuss. The poor Sinkies will not take that lying down anymore and will turn it around to the foreigners who attempted to do so.

This is people’s power in a non violent way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But don’t bet on it that it doesn’t work all the time. It would be too late to say sorry.

While this event has aroused the daft Sinkies to be more assertive, the Ah Q mentality of the meek Chinese is resurfacing again. In today’s Sunday Times, an article by Chua Mui Hoong tried to justify the Anton Casey episode the way Ah Q would do to claim some psychological consolation after being kicked in the ass. The argument goes like this, ‘…by showing contempt for and mocking ordinary people, Mr Casey has insulted and disrespected himself more than he has Singaporeans. By his own hand, in his own words, he has shown the world what an intolerant person he is, chockful of conceit.’

Singaporeans that are being beaten or shitted on by foreigners should recite this everyday and they will feel much better, that they are superior to Mr Asshole, just like Ah Q. This dismissive trait of the Chinese to address their attackers respectfully is a very silly thing and they duly deserved to be treated that way no matter how much dignity money can buy them.

Remember what LKY told his young PPS, that he had to look them in the eyes or they would not respect him. How does this compares to the Ah Q’s way of dealing with his bashers? Would Ah Q gain more respect from Mr foreigners by being meek and consoling himself with more silly justifications short of saying thank you?

Kopi level - Yellow

Many support the transport fare hike

This must be the reason why they went ahead with the fare hike. So many people supported it. It only makes a mockery of the little survey conducted here in mysingaporenews when 231 out of 239 were against it.

And with so many people supporting it, it is ridiculous for anyone to organise a protest at Hong Lim on the fare hike. And Gilbert Goh is doing exactly that today at 5pm. Sure the turnout is going to be pathetic.

Let’s see, if only 500 turn out, then I can foresee that it will be reported that only 500 people were against the fare hike and the rest of the 3.4 million Sinkies and also the foreigners here supported the fare hike.

It is a good call, a good decision to have the fare hike when it is supported by the silent majority.

SG 50 – Red Dot to party all year round

Singapore has really arrived. It is truly a very rich country and the mood is all about celebration. Now, who is talking about poor people? Next year is our 50^th Anniversary as an independent country and a very successful one. It deserves a year of celebration. I dunno what is the budget for this big bang but there will also be budget for the people to organise functions of their own to celebrate a City State growing up and with so much money to party and to throw. We no longer need to be prudent and thrifty like our first generation leaders. We need not think or plan carefully for each dollar we spent and where it will come from, or how to invest it wisely. We only need to be happy spending and partying. We have so much money to spend.

Lawrence Wong has called on the people to put up suggestions for the celebration. This gives me an idea about inclusiveness and the big number of foreigners here contributing to our progress and creating jobs for Sinkies. And lately Sinkies have been rebuked for not being kind to them.

I would like to propose that all Sinkies invite foreigners to spend a day in their homes, or more if they like, prepare a good meal for them, and show them how kind Sinkies are. We need to integrate them to our way of life so that they down bring us down to their normal. And we need to if we want them to treat us kindly.

For this effort, for every foreigner brought into the homes of a Sinkie, the govt shall pay the Sinkie $100 for the expenses and inconvenience caused. Oh, for those with big mansions and would like to invite big and successful foreigners driving sports cars and not comfortable with the stench in HDB flats, they should be paid $1000 per head so that such foreigners would have a good time and not to think Sinkies are poor. Throw in a few SPGs to show them some kindness as well.

This is the time to show the world we are rich. I got a bigger celebration to propose. See, my whole faculty is only thinking of having parties and spending the money we have made. This is like 1997 in Hongkong or in the early 70s when the British were pulling out. It was party time and time to spend all the money saved before the curtain closed.

Oh, 2019 is a very important year. Think 1819. See, you remember. We can celebrate together with our colonial masters in London all year round. We can have road shows and all kinds of shows in both countries. Our ministers and head of state and head of govt can visit each other and dance the night away. Money is no issue. It is OPM mah.

What is important is for us to show the world how rich we are and how much money we have to have a good time. We can even throw a few billions to buy a few toys that nobody wants to show that we can really afford it.

The Tourist Board can then promote this as a City that parties all year round. And when other people make surveys on the mood of the people, the conclusion will be a very happy people that only think of parties and nothing else. No need a million smiles campaign anymore when everyone is so happy party like no tomorrow.

Mid term report card

2 and half years passed since the last GE and it is about time to do an assessment on how the govt had been doing. The massive housing problem has started to show some result. The backlog of housing needed has temporarily been transferred to the waiting list of units under construction. I won’t give credit to this as it was a self created problem due to bad management. In fact the govt should apologise to all the home buyers who ended up paying very unreasonable high prices. The fear of a runaway housing price has been removed. But the price is still high as it is still hovering at near its peak after more than doubling or tripling in the last decade.

The train continues its routine breakdown and disruption of services like a new normal of the 3^rd World. Maybe we are having too many foreign engineers running it and so this is the standard to be accepted.

The huge influx of foreigners is still in the country and still growing. The number of cheats caught was more like a token, like they said, a little wayang. The FCF and paying an Indian company to check on Indian certificates is looking more like jokes.

Medical cost is continuing to rise, shortages of doctors and hospital beds have reached an epidemic proportion to some critics. University places are still going to foreigners, including millions of dollars being thrown at them when the money could go to our children and saved their parents from selling properties to finance their overseas education. The wastage of our top students going into medicine and replacing them with questionable medical professionals from questionable institutions will show its ugly consequences as a matter of time.

Has anything changed? Some ministers were seen working very hard with some results. Some were working very hard with no results. Some dunno what they were busy with. Some were all noise and no substance and attracting ridicules. Some were looking after dogs and pets and foreigners rather than citizens. Some were chasing after pampers. Some disappeared, never seen nor heard even in Parliament.

How should the report card be written? The apologists will give it a big A to be accompanied by the big bonuses to be shared. It will be a matter of who would get more rather than who would get less? Unfortunately this will be a well kept secret and no one will be wiser. One thing for sure, the public courts of justice will pass their judgement comes 2016 using their own criteria of measurement.

Thailand – an unspoken perspective

Suthep and his protesters are still reported by the main media as the game changer, fully in charge and in control and like a sure thing to topple the Yingluck govt. Many govt agencies and Bangkok elite are also singing the same tune. The truth is that Suthep is looking more like a legalized thug, and a foolish one at it.
 
The Bangkok elite of royalists, the military and the residents and academics are convincing themselves that the Yingluck govt is corrupt and must be removed and will be removed. The police have been castrated and cannot do anything. Any move by the police will allow the army to stage a coup immediately.
 
One of the assumptions in this scenario is that Thailand consists of only the Yellow Shirts from Bangkok and they can ignore the 65 mil rural Thais. The 5 mil Yellow Shirts can decide for the 65 mil Thais who should rule Thailand. This arrogance and disrespect of the majority of the Thais will not go down well with the Red Shirts. And they are not going to take it quietly. The rural Thais are politicized and no longer the ignorant masses to be manipulated by the city elite. They will not allow the Yingluck govt to fall and not do anything.
 
The army is also very careful of their options and the bigger picture. They are not as united as they appeared to be and know that the regional commanders may have different ideas. An attempt to stage a coup in Bangkok could ignite a bigger coup in the north and northeast regions, maybe more. The army not only has to contend with a pro govt police but also the factions within. A coup in Bangkok would lead to an array of events that would run out of control.
 
The division in the army is likely due to the imminent fall of the big tree. When the tree falls, there will be a regrouping of forces within the monarchy, if it is still intact. Backing the wrong horse now could be very costly and could join Suthep and his followers behind bars when the dice falls on the wrong side. Many of the army commanders must be wavering at the prospect of a royal change and a new royalty may have different ideas.
 
Playing safe and playing the cards close to their chests will be to the interest of all the military commanders. What they are very sure is the tree falling and a New Order. The old elite and old royalists could be in for a severe rubbing. Playing the game wrongly could see Thailand transforming into a republic when the people’s power shall rule, which also means the Red Shirts shall call the shot.
 
It is a complex political game at the moment and what is reported in the main media is only one side of the story and ignoring the will of the majority of the Thai people. Bangkok is not Thailand.

Anton Casey, Paradise found and lost

Anton Casey was invited into paradise, got a high paying job waiting for him by a big bank. His income was so good that he could live in top end condominium that cost a bomb and a flashy sports car that cost half a million to go with it. He was living it up, mixing with the elite and moving in the right circle of the who’s who in the island paradise. He was rewarded further with a local native beauty queen as his wife. And she gave him a beautiful son.
 
Life was a bliss like living in paradise on earth. Hardship and poverty were words that he could not see or hear in his high living of beautiful people and flashy material comfort that are dreams to many of the natives. His first encounter with the poor natives came when his car was sent for servicing. He took the train with his son, a transport mode that the locals are very proud of as they could not afford the cars that are priced the highest in the world. To own a car, one has to buy a certificate that cost more than the price of a medium size car. Anton was uncomfortable with the poverty around him in the train. It was a different and unfamiliar environment. He went home and wrote in his facebook about the need to get rid of the stench that stuck on him from the train.
 
Someone found it amusing to forward what he wrote and it went viral. The natives were not amused. They were angry for the first time against a foreigner that came to take their good paying jobs and their beautiful women and instead of being grateful for the good fortune and blessing, he literally shitted on their face. It created a violent tropical storm never seen before in his life. He quickly apologized but was a bit too late and too little. The natives are calling for his blood.
 
Anton Casey’s paradise collapsed overnight and went into hiding with his beautiful wife and son. His company is investigating the incident and under pressure to remove him. The govt is not amused either and also under pressure to cancel his employment pass. Not sure if his local native clients are happy with his remarks and would continue to do business with him. Not should if the anger of the natives will spread to affect the whole high living foreign community.
 
This is a case of paradise found and lost. In two years’ time I may be writing about paradise inherited and lost. The cause for losing it would be quite similar, snubbing the citizens, selling out the citizens and offering their paradise to foreigners. At the moment this is only the outline of the plot but with signs that it will happen in 2016. Just wondering would this story become a reality then.

Breaking in, breaking out, any difference?

The security breaches by a Malaysian woman, Nurul Ruhana bte Ishak, are getting more attention as the day goes by. More and more criticism, some getting stronger, is appearing in the internet. “If this ‘lapse’ is not symptomatic of some kind of systems breakdown, then I don’t know what is,… It would be ironic if our law enforcement agencies and their officers are taking peace and security for granted.” Bertha Henson wrote on her blog.

Red faces everywhere? Better to point the fingers at someone else before people point it at you is a good strategy. Some critics are yelling for blood or heads to roll. Who is responsible? Like the Mas Selamat’s breakout from his detention centre, this breaking in into Singapore, through our very complex and highly secured checkpoints, is unparalleled. This is more perplexing than the breakout by Took Leng How who simply walked into JB. At least Mas Selamat was more ingenious, with him tying plastic bottles all over his body to float across the Straits of Johore in total darkness and evading patrol boats.

In terms of dare devil stance, this case is simply a mind game, an open challenge to the security officers and systems, in broad daylight and repeating it again all the way into the MFA compound. It must set many people wandering what was this Nurul Ruhana trying to do and to prove. She drove all the way from Kedah in the northern tip of the Malaysian Peninsula just to shake up everyone in this little island like a bolt of lightning.

No need to worry, this is another once in 50 years happening. Just hold a BOI and the truth will all be out and the system will be improved and nothing like this will happen again. The police should thank Mas Selamat and Nurul Ruhana for testing the systems and improving on it. After the vandalised paintings on the MRT trains, the system was also improved and nothing of similar nature has happened again. So is the case of Little India riot.

In the meantime, more BOIs should be on standby so that when more of such incidents happen again, BOIs can jump in straight away to review them. Those critics of security lapses, please hold your fire. Let the BOI do the job to polish up the lapses.

Now, who’s head will roll? Ask Mas Selamat.

Kopi level - Green

Anton Casey, I disagree with your remark

I want to disagree with Anton Casey for his ‘poor people’ remark.
 
Singapore is one of the richest country in the world. And half of all Singaporeans, or Sinkies in short, are millionaires with their HDB flats costing at least half a million or more. How can Sinkies be called poor? The only thing they don’t have is cash. But that is also not a problem because the govt has many assistance and subsidies schemes to give money to the millionaire Sinkies.
 
Sinkies have a lot more money in their CPF savings which they would not want to spend. They enjoy smiling quietly to themselves every time they received the monthly statements to show how rich they are, like money written on the walls.
 
And all Sinkies can afford cars. How not when earning $1000 a month already can afford to buy public flats? The prices of cars, including COEs, are definitely affordable. But Sinkies are prudent and would not want to spend their money on expensive cars. They want to have a lot of money to live till 100 years.
 
Sinkies also love to take public transport to be gracious. And the squeeze in the trains is what they are looking forward to everyday. And many are buying expensive bikes, not because they cannot afford to buy cars, but for healthy living.
 
Sinkies are also green conscious and do not want to live in big houses. They have an obsession to live in shoebox flats, costing a bomb too, so as not to waste precious land and space. Their quality of life will not be affected even if they live in flats the size of a dog’s kennel. The experts have double confirmed that this is true.
 
Sinkies are not poor, just got no money in the pocket that is all. All their monies are in their flats and in their CPF savings. Sinkies are very rich, many are millionaires, on paper only lah.

Foreigners: Treat them as’ you want to be treated’

‘Singaporeans should treat foreigners the same way that they want to be treated when travelling overseas, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Friday night.’ Asiaone online
The heading above is quite misleading as the meaning is not very clear. Is it a message to foreigners or to Sinkies reminding them to treat ‘them’ well if they want to be treated well? Take it as a message to Singaporeans, that they must treat foreigners well if they want foreigners to treat them well. Is there a meaningful relationship? Ahem, should ask an Angmoh for his opinion.
 
Eng Hen in the same article when he addressed NUS staff and students also added that Singaporeans are extremely generous to the foreigners here. Iif his theory is correct, than the foreigners should reciprocate by treating the Singaporeans well. The truth is that the foreigners despised the Singaporeans, insulted the Singaporeans, threatened and even beat up Singaporeans when they felt like it. Not only that they took the jobs from Singaporeans, they cheated and conspired to get rid of Singaporeans in the workplace so that they can bring in their village friends.
 
Why is it that Singaporeans are so generous to foreigners here and still kena bashed and discriminated by foreigners? If foreigners could treat Singaporeans so badly in Singapore, what are the chances of them treating Singaporeans well overseas? Would some Ph D students want to conduct a research on this to prove that this theory is workable, that this is a quid pro quo thing? Or shall I conduct a survey to ask the experience of Singaporeans when they were overseas or their interactions with foreigners here? How many Singaporeans have had bad encounters with foreigners here and overseas?
 
Singaporeans have been most gracious and kind to foreigners to the extent of being seen as meek and stupid. That is why they deserved to be walloped and threatened by foreigners right in their home country. And for those who lost their jobs to foreigners and been cheated or discriminated by foreigners they deserved it for being so extremely generous to foreigners. They deserve to be boat people, to be booted out of their own country. The elite of this island would be mainly foreigners if they keep giving all the top jobs to foreigners.
 
The foreigners are not the saints that they are made out to be, and neither are they more talented. They would not treat you well because you treat them well. Superficially yes, but when come to their vested interest, they will not hesitate to put a knife in the back of Singaporeans. They don’t call Singaporeans daft for nothing. It is a national character of a people brought up to be stupid no matter how high are their educational levels.
 
The SPGs are nothing. They only sleep with the foreigners. The most serious ones are the SPBoys. They brought in the foreigners to screw everyone here and pay them handsomely, look to them like gods.

Kopi level - Green

China’s economic policy ‘may backfire’?

This is what an English businessman, Phil Mead, said when China took punitive actions against countries that cross the red line. He quoted the case of Norway whose share of salmon export to China fell from 92% to 29%. The AFP report also mentioned the trickle of Chinese aid to the Philippines during the Haiyan typhoon.
 
The reaction by China is nothing new. The Americans and many western powers have been doing it practically daily without fear of their image being screwed or bad press by the western media. So what if China is to dismiss those pesky countries for spitting at China at will? See what the Americans did to India and how India reacted?
 
In the case of the Philippines, they have set their sight to regard China as a foe and even if China would to pour millions into their pocket they would come back to scratch at China. China must put its foot down on such hostile countries and show them the middle finger. China can continue to trade with the rest of the world that are on friendly terms.
 
What is a Norway or the Philippines, or the British Empire? China should follow the western protocol of power politics and give whoever that comes crashing at its door a bloody knock on the head to keep them away. It has to set an example to a few pests to keep the rest of the hordes at bay.
 
Just learn from the Americans, carry a big stick.

SGX circuit breakers to protect investors? What a joke

SGX is going to introduce circuit breakers to temporarily suspend a stock that has prices fluctuating more than 10% of its reference or recent price. So this is claimed to be a big step in protecting the interest of investors, said its President Muthukrishnan Ramaswami. When was this President of SGX appointed? I hope he is a true blue Singaporean and not another foreigner or new citizen to triple confirm that Singapore really has no talent and must depend solely on foreigners to fill up top positions, so that these foreigners can create low paying jobs for our no talents while we created top jobs and high paying jobs for foreigners.
 
I digress. In the same report SGX announced that its profit has dropped by 2% for the second quarter due to decline in trading volumes. The total volume traded year on year fell 18%.
 
Does SGX know why the volume is falling? Does SGX know why the retail traders are abandoning the market? Or does the SGX want to know? Does Hsien Loong, Tharman or Ravi Menon want to know what is happening to the stock market?
 
There are about 8000 jobs that are at stake at the moment because of a market that is critically ill. The circuit breakers would be redundant when no one wants to trade in the market, when the broking houses start to retrench their staff, when remisiers flee or quit the industry.
 
Does anyone want to know what is seriously wrong with the market? The circuit breakers are like putting up signs that there are crocodiles in the water and no one bothers about the crocodiles, about who put the crocodiles in the water, and encouraging the ignorant investors to walk and swim in the water.
 
What is going on? Anyone knows? Anyone wants to know? Or no one knows, no one sees anything wrong?

Why pay so much to World Bank

‘The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance is seeking Parliament’s approval to increase Singapore’s membership subscription limit to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (or IBRD) from the current US$40 million to US$672 million….
 
Our current subscription limit is US$40 million. This limit has not changed since 1966, when we were much smaller and poorer. Considering our economy has grown a lot since then, our current subscription appears relatively low. We have one of the lowest subscriptions among the 188 member countries in the World Bank.
 
Having said that, the quantum of the proposed increase in our subscription limit is not small. It is going up from US$40 million to US$672 million – an increase of almost 17 times. Can I ask the DPM how the Government arrived at this quantum?’ Gerald Giam’s speech in Parliament
 
Contribution to the World Bank to do good is a good thing. What is US$672m when we have billions in our reserve? We are giving away $210m as tuition grant to foreign students studying in Singapore and the total amount, including all things, could be double or more of this sum annually. Another US$672m is ‘sup sup sway’. When there is so much money around, just spend lah.
 
Gerald Giam is asking the DPM how this sum is derived? Does it matter? I can give one hundred and one explanations but what does it mean? Nothing. What is enough, not enough or too much is relative. It is like eating in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant kind of argument.
 
What matters is how is this sum going to be funded? From taxes, ERPs, SWF’s revenue, from CPF, the casinos or where? The money must come from somewhere and someone has to pay for it. Even though it is nothing compares to the billions to be spent on the pending purchase of F35 aircraft, it is still money that could be put to better use. We spent $4.3b for a 5km expressway! So US$672m is definitely very affordable to give away.
 
Spending OPM is easy, but don’t cause hardship to the people as this is an annual commitment and the same money can do a lot of good to the citizens. When the govt wants to be generous, let’s be generous with the citizens first, can?
 
It is US$672m man, not a small sum to the ordinary people. To those spending OPM as a habit, it is just a number and would not affect their pockets. But it will eventually affect the taxpayers and the citizens. The money must cough out from somewhere.
 
The peranakans would like so say, ‘yeow siew’ for spending such a big sum of money when it could make many citizens happy.

Kopi level - Green

Tuition grant, how much did we give away?

Png Eng Huat asked in Parliament and the MOE gave its reply. $210 m were given to international students as tuition grant annually. Presumably or assumingly this is the average sum, so in 10 years it will be $2.1b and 20 years it will be $4.2 b.
 
There are several questions to this figure. Is it just for tuition grants and excludes living allowance and others, or is this the total package given away? Also, how much was given to PRs? PRs are not citizens mind you. What is the amount, can any tell?
 
As for the number of students receiving the grant in polys, it was 1,700 for year 2011 which is 6% of the cohort, lesser than the 9% in year 2010. Similarly 2,200 grants were given to university students in 2011, or 13% of the cohort instead of 18% in 2010. The combined number is 3,900 for 2011 and much less than in 2010. All the data do not include PRs. And the data are only for two years, 2010 and 2011.
 
How many of our own children, the children of citizens, were deprived of a place that rightly belonged to them but went to foreigners and PRs? Seriously, what is the objective of throwing so much money to foreigners and not giving uni and poly places to our children? I can understand that it is good to do it as a charitable act to help other countries. The question is how far should this go and how much should we compromise or deprive our children in so doing?
 
I don’t thing there is another country in the world that gave away so much to foreigners and hurting the children of citizens so much in doing so. What is the return for all these money and places for foreigners?
 
This is not your grandfather’s country you know. The money does not belong to your grandfather too.

No sane person can breach our checkpoint security

With the tight security checks at our checkpoints, particularly at Woodlands and Tuas, it is insane for anyone to think of slipping through the checks and getting away. It could be done by foot as proven by a Took. But to get across in a vehicle is unimaginable.
 
Well, a Malaysian woman motorist did just that and was lost in our concrete jungle for 3 days. Our network of cameras also failed to locate her despite an island wide alert. She was only caught when she did another tailgating job into the Ministry of Foreign Affair, intentionally I supposed, to prove something. Why she did that is still puzzling. It seems that she was trying to prove to the security officers that she could do what she like and there is no way for them to trace her unless she offered herself, like driving into the MFA compound voluntarily.
 
The police should interrogate her intensively and learn a few tricks from her. Never mind if she is insane. The divide between a genius and an insane is only a thin line, so they said. This may be the Achilles heel of our security system, that only an insane person can breach it in an insane way. If the woman is sane, there is no way for her to get through and run free in this tiny island when there was no attempt for her to change cars, number plate or camouflage the car.
 
She simply drove the same car everywhere she wanted. Cool man. Insanity is our weakness.

Sinkies the modern day Sick man of Asia

Many Sinkies are still lull to believe that the future is so rosy and will be so for a long time to come. For the super rich, sure, if things get bad, pack up and go to the new homes they bought all over the world. They have the least to worry what would happen to Sin City tomorrow, even if it goes to dustbin. Their preoccupation is to make hay while the sun is still shining, grab as much as they can while they still can.

For the rest of the Sinkies, they are really sick. They got replaced by foreigners in their jobs, with many who came with fake qualifications. And the sick Sinkies just accept it as normal, nothing wrong with that, can’t do anything about it.

And those who are still working could be working for fakes who had qualifications and experience that were lower or far inferior to them, or all fakes. And the sick Sinkies got to call them boss, listen to their rubbish and got screwed by them as they liked to show who is boss.

And in hospitals, they could be treated by fakes and paying top dollars for it and paying top salaries to the fakes. They are lucky if nothing goes wrong, if not their lives could be at stake or the condition get worse.

And the NSmen are there to protect these fakes in the country who are taking their jobs, their parent’s jobs and making their parents jobless and hoping that their NSmen children could give them some pocket money. How many of them are here when there are at least 500k in the PME category? How many, 10%, 30% or 50% or more?

Yes, many Sinkies are now the new Sick man of Asia, bullied by the fakes and have to serve the fakes and without knowing it or cannot do anything about it. And the foreigners despised the Sinkies, feeling very free to insult and beat up Sinkies, just like old Shanghai where the foreigners are more equal than the locals.

There are many equivalents of foreign concessions, China concession, Indian concession, Pinoy concession, Thais and Pinoy concessions. There are even business parks and condominiums practically filled by foreigners.

Maybe I am wrong, all the foreign PMEs are the real McCoys. The Sick Sinkies are really no good. This may be the reasons why so few were caught with fake certificates. And it is a total waste of money to pay an Indian company to check on their qualifications when all of them are real, or very few are fakes. Imagine getting paid $50k or $60k just to submit reports that may prove all negatives.

Sinkies should just bugger off to other countries to find a job and let the real foreign PMEs to replace them at home. History has come full circle. The poor parents of Sinkies came from the Sick Man of Asia in the 19th and 20th centuries to look for work. Today, the Sinkies are themselves the new Sick Man of Asia and scurrying back to China and other countries to look for work. Their parents could not find decent jobs in their country China. Today, Sinkies cannot find decent jobs in their country, Sin City. Their parents were replaced by foreigners who invaded their country by force. Today’s Sinkies are replaced by foreigners who invaded their island by invitation.

Kopi level - Green

Fare Hike Protest 5pm 25 Jan Sat at Hong Lim

Gilbert is organising another protest at Hong Lim Park this Sat on the public transport fare hike.

Just wondering how many Sinkies would bother to attend despite kpkb about the hike everyday. If only 500 turn out then it will be reported as only 500 are unhappy with the fare hike. The rest, the majority of the Sinkies support the fare hike and find the increase very reasonable and affordable.

Tiok boh?

SMRT – Why so unforgiving?

Read a post by a Gabriel Bai posted in The Real Singapore of a student whose mobile battery ran out and thought it was ok to get it charged while in a MRT platform. She was caught by a train officer and charged in court.
 
‘The first time she went to court, the judge advised her to write a letter to appeal to SMRT, considering how minor this issue was. The appeal failed, and the second time she went to court, she was then fined $400.
 
I just felt really unfair for her, considering the fact that she has no idea the sockets could not be used (there were no warnings, or labels that the public cannot use them). It was also her first offence, and that she is still a student working part-time to support herself.’
 
Should an incident like this committed by a young student that often than not did it without any malice, just a bit unthoughtful, be treated as a crime? Or should an adult of a big business be more generous and forgiving to just tell the student not to do it again? Why is the SMRT so harsh in its dealing with a young student that there was no room for a little kindness and forgiveness when the Judge had already indicated that a little human kindness was called for?
 
Ok, some asshole will say a crime is a crime, an offence is an offence. I accept that there are assholes that would think and react this way. But personally I would have let the student go with the most a warning. Unless there is more to this case and this was a repeat offender, then I can understand the need to make it an offence. But to charge a student in court for such a minor infringement is beyond me.
 
Well there are immortals and some are more righteous and less tolerant of the young. Some will just throw the book at anyone and hide behind the law. A little discretion is warranted in the enforcement of rules and regulations and even the law. Yes, when you only have a hammer, everything is a nail to be hammered.
 
This is the kind of sick society we have become in the way we deal with our young and fellow citizens. Oh remember, ‘Our apologies for the slight delay. This train will be delayed due to a technical fault’. And the commuters are expected to be forgiving. And ’19,000 stranded by third train delay in a week’. So, should the public throw the book at the SMRT? Or should the public be forgiving, kind and understanding?
 
The poor student would now have to put in his/her CV, charged in court for an offence. How would this minor indiscretion that ended with a guilty judgement in court affect this young person’s life? Where is the kindness and generosity when it is expected from the adults? Or should we applaud the SMRT for being very proper, an offence is an offence, a mistake is a mistake?