MH370 – The slips that spoke a louder truth

3 weeks have passed and there is not a single shred of concrete evidence to tell what happened to MH370. We are back at square one with many people furiously rushing to the Antarctics where all the ‘evidences’ are pointing, that there is where the aircraft had crashed. We have heard all the leads, some supposedly very real, some like real, some very technical, some plain speculative and some plain idiotic, but all saying one thing, MH370 crashed in the Antarctics. Now, if these did not smell a rat, what else could? Is there someone trying to lead everyone by the nose to the Antarctics?

Throughout this period of panicky search, grasping at anything that moved, what was really telling a more compelling story could be from the slips that popped up along the way. The first slip came from the Malaysians claiming that they saw a few blips heading towards the Malacca Straits and then northwest. This was later refuted when the Indonesians said their radars in the same area did not see anything. Of all the people, the Indonesians were a neutral party and have no interest to want to lie or hide anything. In fact this claim by the Indonesians is very material to dispel more speculative claims later. I will elaborate this as I go along.

The next major slip came from the Indian Govt claiming that they could not afford to switch on their radars all the time, in another words they did not see anything, or they were not going to reveal what they had seen. This is also a very important leak if you know what the Indians were really saying.

The reports that islanders in the Maldives saw an aircraft flew very low over the island on the morning of MH370’s disappearance was meant to be another lead. To make the story more convincing, they added that the aircraft was painted in the same red and white as MH370. Though flying very low, they could not see the MAS logo on the aircraft. What did that say? From all angles and explanations, there was no reason for MH370 to be in Maldives and not flying at that level. What was the intent of this lead or mislead?

The most important leak or slip came when PM Abbott found it so important to rush to call Najib personally when all he got was a couple of images of debris in the Antarctics. And the Australians even thought it an earth shattering discovery to hold a press conference on this find. What did Abbott know, or what were the Australians trying to tell the world? Yes, without any concrete evidence, they were pointing to the Antarctics as the crash site. Were they pulling everyone’s ear to look there?

This was followed by two theories of a suicidal pilot and an aircraft flying on auto pilot, the pilot being dead, and in both cases somehow must head towards where the Australians said was the crash site, a remote corner that is really out of this world. What coincidences! There must be a big magnet there, or a black hole.

Then technical proof came from Immarsat with pings showing two arcs, a northern and a southern arc where the aircraft could fly. And of course it must be the southerly one and must be pointing to the site the Australians said so. And nobody remembered or wanted to remember that the Indonesians categorically denied seeing any aircraft on their radar screens. A southerly flight path must be seen by many Indonesian radars. A dead pilot would not be evading radars anymore. So would a suicidal pilot with 238 dead bodies keeping him company on his last 7 hours of flight. The thought of flying an aircraft with all the dead bodies alone, and a dead co pilot sitting beside him would be enough to scare him to death.

Nonetheless more debris was captured on satellite cameras but never to be seen by ships or aircraft searching in the area. And so was the silence of the black boxes, presumably in the area but not sending out any signals to be heard.

The leads or slips got more important and hilarious with the finale coming from Najib who conclusively declared that the aircraft crashed at the spot the Australians said so and all passengers were dead. The important thing is what was said to Najib or shown to him by the Australians to make him so convinced, so confident to go public to pronounce the passengers dead and the MH370 ended there, and the case was closed? Without revealing the information given to him by the Australians he appeared quite stupid and this was not missed by anyone. Probably he is now regretting what he had said as the information passed to him was top secret and he could not go public to redeem himself. Did the Australians know something that nobody knows?

The biggest mystery about this incident is the role of the Americans. Does anyone notice that the Americans have deliberately taken a minor role while Australia is assuming the leadership? It is abnormal for the Americans, with its number One superpower status, the amount of high tech equipment and satellites at its disposal, and its consistent policy of wanting to show who is the boss man but chose to take a step back in this search? And someone pointed out rightly that it took the Americans a whole 3 weeks to deliver their blackbox seeking underwater craft to the Australians. This would take another 4 days to reach the site, just about the end of the battery life of the blackboxes.

From all the slips and leaks and the false leads, a picture can actually be painted to tell a better story of what happened to MH370 and how it ended up in the Antarctics and still untraceable, and its blackboxes still dead.

Hsien Loong – the govt doing the right thing

This is what Hsien Loong said during his tour of Britain to a British audience. The statement was an absolute truth 20 or 30 years ago but this is no longer the case as the sentiment has changed. And this is best proven by the electoral defeats in the last two by elections. Hsien Loong and his party could still believe that it is so, and this is expected as they must believe that they were doing the right thing. Can’t imagine the outcome if they did not believe that they were doing the right thing in the first place.
 
On the other extreme, especially the moods and comments in the social media, things are not looking right for his govt. There has never been so much anger among the people, so many grievances and so many ‘right’ policies but seen as bad policies being paraded as anti citizens or bad for the citizens. But this is just a perception of course, and depending on who you are, where you are, there are many who would still swear by the PAP as the best govt there is. Some are still enjoying their golden years with unbelieveable comfort and luxurious lifestyle they have never imagined could happen.
 
There are always many views and many angles to look at a situation. But some of the policies are going to have very serious impact on the nation and people in times to come and could make or destroy all the good works built over the last 40 years. The high cost of living, of properties, of medical, and of everything, are serious matters that cannot be ignored. But none is more threatening, divisive and dangerous than the open door immigration policies that led to the surge in population and the influx of foreigners. There are many signs of a mismatch and tensions, that the foreigners would supplant and undermine, undercut the docile population that have been domesticated and no longer know the law of the jungle, how to fight as a clan, how to cheat, and the survival of the fittest.
 
Singapore is in a way like Israel. The Israel of today is dominated by a new breed of Israelis, the migrants from Europe. They have taken over from the native Israelis, the original people of the land. They are the new rulers of the land. But the saving grace is that they are quite homogeneous in a way, with a very strong historical sense of being, of being a people with a common destiny.
 
The rojak citizenship of Singapore is itself a problem. Before this rojak becomes a complementary mix, the original people of the founding generations are now faced with a new threat from a breed of foreigners with very different attitude, aggressiveness and motivation. The new citizens are here to grab everything they could for themselves, from the founding generations. They may look similar but they are very different in many ways. They are aliens and they do not take kindly of the domesticated citizenry. Even at this early stage of their presence there are all the signs or repugnance, abrasiveness and thuggishness that the original citizens could be bullied, taken advantage of and dismissed as and when they pleased. And no one is holding them back.
 
The future Singaporean mix is not going to be like the Israelis, one people, one nation. It is going to be many people and no nation. Or worst, alien people ruling over the original Singaporeans, in a way more like Troy.
 
Are the govt really doing the right thing? This is a very subjective question and many would disagree as many would agree. What is the future holding for the original Singaporeans with the govt thinking they are doing the right thing?

Kopi Level - Yellow

There are no traitors, no 卖国贼

In history books, or fictions, there are always stories of heroes, patriots and traitors to glorify and to condemn. In reality, this is not always true, not so simple. Heard of the saying, ‘For they know not what they are doing’? We are programmed to read a story with the good and the villains on two sides of white and black. We see the heroes and villains consciously and purposefully doing what they were doing, doing the rights and doing the wrongs. There were intents and purposes to do just that, to do good and to do bad. Thus they were easily recognisable as the heroes and the villains. They called such characterization two dimensional.

Life is not so simple. The heroes or villains may be doing things as a matter of fact. The heroes did not know that they were doing things that were heroic. The villains too may not know that they were doing villainous things as well. In many cases they could be thinking that they were all doing good things for the country, for the good of the people. Another variation, the heroes could be the unsuspecting villains and the villains could be the self righteous heroes.

Take the example of the selling of Alaska by the Russians to the Americans. To the Russians, it was a piece of waste land. Might as well sell it and use the money for development, for the good of the people. How can they be accused of selling their national assets away, as traitors to their country? No, that is why the Russians never see anything wrong with that even today. But some may see it as an act of treason, selling national territories away.

Coming closer to home, we have a govt that is doing all the good things for the people. The govt is working so hard to give people the good life, good and affordable homes, good and affordable healthcare, keeping the roads free of jams, creating good jobs for the people, attracting investments for GDP growth that brings along higher quality of living. They even make sure you keep your money safely in your CPF and not to squander them away. And there are many other things that the govt is doing right but the people cannot appreciate, like increasing the population for growth through mass migration, or replacing less talented Singaporeans with more talented foreigners for the good of the country and people.

Instead, the people are not appreciating the good work and sacrifices of the political leaders, and even calling them traitors and all kinds of names. But the political leaders meant well, with good intentions, and the country is soaring, not sinking. And we can proudly call ourselves Singaporeans, not Sinkies.

So, what is all this talk about the govt being traitors or selling out the citizens? No way, the govt is working for you, for the good of the people except that the people cannot see the goodness in them and feel that they are being dismissed or evicted from the main stream of life, being replaced by talented foreigners. That is not true and the govt and political leaders know it. The people who are replaced are simply no good, lazy and not talented enough. That is why the govt is tenaciously doing what they think is right for the people. And they know, and Singapore will be getting better and better and will last another one hundred years.

It is not right to call them traitors. They are not. They are the heroes, the saviours of our country and people. And don’t forget, these men and women are the crème de la crème of our people, the very very best we have, even god like in nature or immortals. They are specially chosen to be morally virtuous and self sacrificing to serve the people and nation. One look at them you will know that you have the best and can sleep in peace, that the country is in good hands and you have a great life waiting for you.

There are no traitors and no卖国贼. History will eventually vindicate the political leaders as the heroes in the future and the future Singaporeans will build giant statues and monuments to honour them.

PS. Writing this piece sure kena whack till tolok tolok.

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 – 7 pings that sealed the fate of 239 passengers

Immarsat said their satellites received 7 pings from MH370 after the ACARS was switched off and the aircraft disappeared. Were the 7 pings normal, expected to be sent by the aircraft in such a situation? Or were the 7 pings something abnormal, not designed for, but somehow were sent to the satellites and not other satellites? 
Are there instruments in the aircraft that could send out such signals after the ACARS was switched off all the way to the satellites? How did Immarsat confirm that the 7 pings came from MH370 across 10,000 miles in open space? How sure are they?

Everyone following this incident, including the experts and govt officials, have accepted the 7 pings on face value, that they came from MH370. What if they were not, were something else, or from some unknown sources?

The importance of the 7 pings is such that the fate of the aircraft and the lives of 239 passengers depended on this mysterious signals that may not be what they were claimed to be. Could Immarsat tell the world how reliable is their claim that the 7 pings indeed originated from the missing aircraft? Or is this another wild goose chase?

This whole thing is looking like someone wanted everyone to look at the Antarctic and somehow there were satellite images in that corner of the world, pings also pointing there, and now more debris are found floating there. And another mystery is appearing, no one has picked up a single piece of debris and no signal from the black boxes despite so many planes and ships in the area.

Does anyone have any doubts about the credibility of the 7 pings?

PS. Always question information and their sources when in doubt.

The Singapore Inquisition

The Little India Riot arising from a vehicle accident and the death of a drunkard led to the burning of police vehicles, attacking of police officers by lowly educated villagers from the sub continent of India. Many police officers were injured. This led to a public inquiry on the causes of the rioting that is unprecedented in the last 40 years of the island’s history.

From the news reported in the media and the evidence, views and opinions of the witnesses, it is looking more like an inquisition like the Middle Ages when the witches and the innocents were jailed, killed or burnt at the stakes. The rioters did not seem to be an issue now and are out of the picture while the bus driver and the time keeper and the police officers are now the primary target of the inquiry. Would the bus driver and time keeper be turned into modern day witches to be sacrificed at the stakes? Would the police officers who were there to quell the rioting ended up as the target of the inquisition and the badly sought after sacrificial lamb to bring a closure to the incident? Still doesn’t make any sense if they are found to be a contributor to the riot.

How is it that the people not rioting ended up having to explain their actions and have to redeem themselves instead or becoming the cause of the riot? What is going on? And why should the buck stop at the police officers who were there to stop the rioting? If it is meant to be witch hunt, should the buck go higher? Who is being persecuted?

This is like someone shitted and the people being hauled up are the cleaners and the owner of the spot where the shit is, including those who stood by and watched. The intellect of the Middle Ages is having a new life in modernity.

Of cleavage and dichotomy in the Singapore plurality

I have been ranting almost daily on the open leg policies of the Govt practically everyday and highlighting the serious flaws and consequences taking place. Many Sinkies have fallen victims to these policies and are clamming up, resigned to their fate like what daft Sinkies often do. Those Sinkies that are not affected, yet, are getting irritated by my constant drumming and refuse to see that their turn will come one day when they lose their jobs and unable to pay the high mortgages for their nice homes and nice cars. But my drummings must have some effects, big or small, on the Govt and the elite to want to make amends to this dire state of affair. If it is all gone with the wind, then the deaf frogs can continue to remain deaf and do as they like and wait to be bundled out in the most shocking electoral defeat in the next GE.

There is an interesting article by Tommy Koh in the ST this morning, titled, ‘Is there an ideological cleavage in Spore? I would like to repost the whole article here but ST would probably come after me for copyright infringement. So I will talk about what Tommy said and quote some of his wisdoms to share with my fellow bloggers.

Though Tommy politely asked a question, but his article said it clearly that there is a wide cleavage and waiting to be healed. This global city concept is the remedy of Singapore’s economic ire as well as the cause of the sad state of affair happening daily, to its victims of mainly the PMETs. According to Tommy, ‘American business school gurus such as Gary Hamel have managed to convince Singapore leaders that there is a global competition for talent. In order to succeed, Singapore cannot rely only on its home grown talent. It must look outward and recruit talented people from all over the world, to key positions in both our public and private sectors.’

The recommendation is sound with some provisos and cannot be taken literally, hook, line and sinker. Only silly asses will just blindly accept it as the panacea and implement it without any reservations or amendments. The first point is obviously the issue of nationhood and citizens versus a hotel that has no citizens to talk about. The other point is about key positions and not all and sundry down the line. Why do they want to recruit a super talent in recruiting employees or a salesgirl, or a supervisor? And the dangerous part is to bring in foreigners to key positions in the public sector. But for this the Govt has drawn an invisible line, as long as the political office and administrative services are out of the loop, anything goes.

‘The hunt for foreign talent became a national obsession. As a result, Singapore was in danger of overlooking its own talents.’ Said Tommy. And this obsession went down to talents in sports, in housing agents, in property agents, in employing agencies, and likely in prostitutes as well. When elites are not thinking, this is what will happen.

Tommy added, ‘I am glad that there is a more balanced attitude today. This is the result of two developments. First, Singapore discovered that some so called foreign talent was not really very talented. Second, there was the discovery that, in some cases, when a foreign chief executive officer was hired, he or she discriminated against Singaporeans when hiring staff.’ This is not the bad part. The bad part is for the authority to let it happened and doing nothing about it or paying lip services and pretend that the problem is solved.

The most important statement made by Tommy, though actually very simple and any idiot would know and understand, except the deaf frogs, is this, ‘My conclusion is that Singapore should continue to welcome foreign talent. But it should do so to complement Singaporean talent, not to supplant it. Everything being equal, Singapore should give priority to its own talent.’ When this has to be said in so simple a language and hoping that people will understand, it is so pathetic, and near to hopelessness.

I would like to thank Tommy for his ranting for the sake of country and citizens. The daft Sinkies may be uncomfortable with my rantings, but hopefully they know that this is indeed a serious problem if they can see further than the tip of their nose. And hopefully some deaf frogs will wake up from their arrogant and self righteous demeanour to do the right thing, to do something for the Sinkies if it is not too late.

Kopi Level - Yellow

The good local banks

The prices of Singapore’s 3 local banks at this moment are UOB $21.45, DBS $16.17 and OCBC $9.69. If the prices are an indication of the strength of these banks, UOB easily is number One followed by DBS a distant second. The respective PE ratios of the three banks are UOB 11.11, DBS 10.69, OCBC 12.26. In terms of yield, the respective numbers are 3.3%, 3.6%, 3.56%.
 
The PEs and yields are fairly similar but the price gaps are quite wide. What could account for the price difference, if we are to assume that the higher the price the more confident investors have of the stock and the quality of the company and management, UOB stands up from the other two. Why?
 
One very significant difference in the three banks is that UOB is managed by local talents primarily while the other two have foreign talents as their CEOs and also a fairly large presence of foreign talents among the staff.
 
Can we draw any meaningful conclusion from the three banks vis a vis the value of foreign talents? One thing for sure, the investors have higher regards for a bank that is managed by local talents than by foreign talents.
 
This is only a very broad brush comparison and the analysts would have different opinions when they apply different criteria to determine which is a better bank or better investment. Many would rate the presence of foreign talents at the top as a trump card. Some may find this a joker.
 
What do you think?

An armour of money

 The best postions to be in, needless to say it must be the political offices. Being in those appointments not only one is shielded from all the bad weathers and bad policies, one is even protected with a very high level of assurance that it is a life time appointment, like a job, with career development charted and if the pay is not enough, can always be promoted to higher positions or new positions.
 
While the people are feeling the pain of being jobless, being underemployed, being placed on contract or temporary jobs, being discriminated and replaced by foreigners, political appointments are walled up against such vagaries of life.
 
And being so secured in their positions, they can use the megaphone to yell that the City needs more foreigners and the practice of meritocracy, regardless of nationality, is the way to go forward. The citizens can be replaced by anyone from any corner of the world, as long as the employer thinks that new hire is better than the citizen. It is really laissez faire at an international level.
 
The politicians have nothing to fear of being replaced as they are safely protected by their own rules and being replaced by foreigners only apply to jobs affecting the rest of the citizens. And this is applicable to other essential things like housing, car ownership, healthcare etc etc. They have paid themselves so well that they have literally built a wall of money around them that high prices, high cost of living, high fees of anything will not create any dent in their protective armour of money. In fact the higher the cost of living and prices of properties, the better it would be for them as most of them are landlords. And high car prices, high parking fees and ERP charges are good for them as they will ease congestions on the roads for them to enjoy the free ways. The ability to write their own pay checks means that money not enough would never be a bugbear to them.
 
So they can happily support high prices of properties, of cars, or whatever, as the revenue will go to support their high incomes directly or indirectly. Thus, high prices of everything are a bane to the daft Sinkies but a boon to them. And many are merrily singing the song of more foreign talents to replace the citizens, based on meritocrazy, Sinkie style and Sinkie definition.
 
If the armour of money is not there, no one will dare gloat about higher prices, higher fees and more foreigners.

MH370 – Appealing to a few good men

After nearly 3 weeks, not a clue is found to confirm that MH370 has crashed into a remote corner of the Indian Ocean. The pictures of debris circulating are just that, debris, and no agency could confirm that they belonged to MH370. No bodies were found too.
 
All the theories suggested like a suicidal pilot, fire on board, etc etc were unsound and far fetched given the facts that have been made known. The facts point to a professional hit job and the aircraft had been flown away by very skilful people who knew what they were doing.
 
There is still reason to hope that the aircraft is hidden somewhere and all the passengers are still alive until proven otherwise. Every country must not abandon this hope and resign to accept that the passengers are already dead. This would embolden the perpetrators to dispose off the passengers knowing that the world has given up hope on them and not going to look for them. There is still the possibility that they are undecided as to what to do with them.
 
The act of killing all 239 passengers in cold blood, just innocent passengers in an aircraft, should put a lot of pressure and guilt on whoever is going to do it. There must be more pressure to be put on the perpetrators not to do so, assuming they have not done so. The world, the families of the victims, must appeal to the good conscience of a few good men among the perpetrators to release the passengers. There must be many people involved and there must be someone among them who would be pricked by his conscience to want to expose this heinous crime against the innocents. Appeal to that someone who knows what is going on to speak out to save the lives of the passengers before it is too late.
 
Do not give up on the lives of the passengers. Cry and pray for their return, alive. The world media must work together to make this desperate appeal for the lives of the passengers heard in every corner of the earth, in every media and home to reach out to that one person. Let the one that matters hear the cries and feel the pains of the hundreds of family members of the victims in his hand. Let him know how much pain they are causing to innocent people and to do the right thing, the conscionable thing to save lives that have no reason to be taken away. Let the goodness in these men triumph over the evil in them and in others.
 
There is no good reason to kill so many people. Let them live. Stop the killing while you still can. Do not let it happen and do not be a party to this cruel crime against the innocents. A crime of such evil nature will be revealed today or tomorrow. Do not regret for not doing anything or to participate in the killing and live a lifetime of guilt.

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 - Theory by Yoichi Shimatsu

Is MH370 The Latest Casualty Of The Pentagon's Pivot To Asia?
By Yoichi Shimatsu
3-20-14

The closer that millions of online sleuths come to tracing the trajectory and destination of the missing Malaysian Airlines jetliner, the likelier it becomes that the National Security Agency and CIA will resort to disinformation, including the planting of falsified evidence, to throw off their pursuers in what increasingly appears to be an electronic hijacking by those spy agencies.

More layers of the ongoing cover-up are being hatched now that eyewitnesses at the Huvadhu Atoll, a diving area in the southern Maldives,, have reported sightings of "a low-flying jumbo jet.: South of Huvadhu Atoll, the closest U.S. military facility is Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands. The joint U.S. Navy submarine and Air Force facility has underground hangers huge enough to conceal B-52 bombers, a convenient hiding place for a Boeing-777….

Pieces of the wreckage spotted by US ally Australia further south of Diego Garcia could be a decoy site, salted with physical evidence of airplane parts that have been moved surreptitiously….

Malaysia Targeted by Air-Sea Battle Plan

The case of a MH370 has been solely focused on the possibility of a route diversion by the on-board crew. Completely ignored in press releases and news reports so far is the elephant in the room, or perhaps a better analogy of a Great White Shark in the bathtub - the massive U.S. Navy and Air Force presence in the seas and airspace surrounding Malaysia.

There is absolutely no way that a flying object as large as a Boeing-777 could evade the 24-hour watch over the South China Sea and the Andaman Sea by NSA-USAF spy satellites, high-tech AEGIS destroyers, the new class of Littoral Combat Ships and P3 surveillance planes.

The reasons for targeting Malaysia becomes clearer by examining the bigger picture of an aggressive military build-up in the Southeast Asia region by the combined armed forces of the US, Japan and Australia under Washington's "strategic pivot to Asia" policy. This geopolitical strategy is carried out by the Pentagon and its military allies through the Air-Sea Battle Concept, which disperses Navy and Air Force fighter jets across a network of civilian airfields and secret landing strips.

Beijing is not the only target of the Air-Sea Battle Concept. Malaysia runs a close second to China on Washington's enemies list. Flight MH370, destined for Beijing, is the literal embodiment of the economic alliance and political relationship between : China and Malaysia, making the airliner a most convenient target.

Pressuring Kuala Lumpur

Located on the geostrategic Malacca Strait, Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim oil-producing nation with a "Look East" policy allying itself with Japan and China. Last year the Malaysian and Chinese governments established an economic alliance, which includes Asian access to world oil reserves. In the eyes of Washington and its allies, these are sufficient grounds to treat Kuala Lumpur as an adversary….

Warnings from Washington were repeatedly given to Malaysia over the past few years. In late August 2013, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel flew to Kuala Lumpur last year to pressure the Defence Ministry to cooperated with the strategic pivot through joint naval-and-air exercises directed against Chinese forces in the Malaysian-claimed islets in the Spratley group. These spits of rock and sand located off of Sabah, the Malaysian state in northwest Borneo, have names longer than their diameters, for instance, Investigator Reef and Mariveles Reef.

At the same time, a mystery force led by a claimant to the title of Sultan of Saah send a group of Filipino gunmen, allegedly trained by a retired American commando, attacked Sabah with a series of shootouts with the Malaysian Army. US counterinsurgency troops happened to be operating in the southern Islamic-dominated areas of the Philippines, where the "sultan" recruited his desperado guerrillas….

How to Knock Out Aviation Electronics

The flight paths of MH370 were not across uncharted waters, as news reports suggest, but over some of the world's most heavily watched maritime channels. As soon as the jet lifted off Kuala Lumpur, its communications signals and radar image were picked up by US Navy signals intercepts officers stationed at Changi Navy Base and Sembawang dockyard in Singapore, which are effectively bases for the 7th Fleet. Triple coverage would have been provided by USAF listening posts at Halim Air Base near Jakarta.

The Malaysian airliner would then been picked up by the many USN ships patrolling the South China Sea, in and around the Spratley Islands. Besides AEGIS radar ships, the Navy has dispatched a new class of Littoral Combat Ships, including the USS Freedom, to the pivot.

Beamed from one of these ships, a powerful type of radar called X-band or narrow-aperture radar could easily have disabled all of the planes. The advanced radar system, now used in electromagnetic warfare to knock out missile and planes, led to the unintended blackout of Los Angeles Airport (LAX) in April 2004….

As reported in the news, MH370 was steered toward the Indian Ocean by the insertion of a computer command into its navigation system. Since at least the 911 incident and possibly earlier, Boeing passenger jets can be remote-controlled by the US intelligence agencies. Any recently built American-built aircraft can now be electronically commandeered and operated like a drone.

The only question is whether the American government is willing to engage in such a reckless disregard innocent lives. That point has already been proven in countless drone strikes against civilian compounds in places like Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and many unreported locales. Though illegal and immoral, death from the skies is official policy. Without any effective restraints, the Pentagon can easily eliminate the passengers of Malaysian Airlines.

Perhaps it is not too late to save any surviving hostages, but that task would require a commando team capable of rescuing them from inside a heavily guarded U.S. Military base in the center of the Indian Ocean and flying them to India, the only coastal country in the region secure enough from a Pentagon counterstrike. Rambo, are you ready?

Flying Under the Radar

After its electronic systems were knocked out, MH370 made a sharp left turn toward the Kra Peninsula along the thinly populated and insurgency-troubled Malaysia-Thai border. The jet dove to 6,000 feet and possibly lower, enabling it to evade detection by flying below the ground radar. Its path, however, was briefly picked up from the northern side, where the Thai Air Force bases a fleet of Saab jet fighters….

Then MH370 crossed over the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea, which is crowded with commercial vessels and oil tankers. That particular section of the strategic passage is constantly monitored by NSA-CIA surveillance stations assigned to protect Indonesia's Sumatra offshore oil platforms operated by Exxon and BP. Just north of Phuket is the Thai Navy's 3rd Headquarters, where American servicemen keep track of all ship and airplane traffic over the Andaman Sea.

It is impossible, in short, with so many radar facilities and airbases in that oil-rich sea for any jetliner, especially along an unscheduled air route, to go unspotted. So somebody is lying, and perhaps everybody is lying.

The Impunity of Criminal States

The cargo manifest for MH370 has yet to be released…
The other possible motive is the human assets aboard the jet. The passenger manifest does not disclose the occupation or rank associated with the names. Was there a VIP on board of extreme high value to Western intelligence agencies?

The lesson of MH370 is that the Great Powers act in secrecy and with impunity. Wars of strategic interest are no longer waged openly but are conducted by proxy armies, mercenaries with guns, propaganda agents placed inside of human-rights groups, media blackmail, social media manipulation and spies in the sky….

The all-powerful hunters will become the frightened hunted, as is starting to happen now as millions of online users narrow down the destination of MH370.

Yoichi Shimatsu, former editor of the Japan Times Weekly, is a Hong Kong-based science and technology writer.

PS. I have removed some of the elaborations to shorten this long article.

Little India riot – Alcohol main contributory factor

In today’s media it was reported that the main contributory factor to the Little India riot was alcohol. On further reading of the report with comments made by the lead investigator, Adam Fashe Huddin, looks like a talented new citizen, it appears that the main contributor to the riot is the amazon woman time keeper who bullied the petite and nice little foreign workers and rough handled them till they held a grudge against her. The other main factor is the ah pek bus driver who ‘was culpable because he did not shift the vehicle to free Mr Sakthivel from under the wheel, said Mr Adam’. And the other main factor is definitely the police.
 
The police committed two serious misdeeds. First, by pushing the crowd back to aid in removing the body under the wheel, they ‘inadvertently created the impression that they were more keen to protect their own in shielding the bus driver and time keeper from the rioters than treating the deceased who was trapped under the tyre of the bus’. If the police are not going to protest against this kind of remark, I will. Our police have been the most impartial force as far as discharging their duties is concerned. In fact if there is any accusation of the police force, it would be more on how they treated the foreigners better than the locals. My objection is that Sinkies are selfish asses that would protect themselves first than to protect their own kind. This culture transcends across the whole spectrum of the society. That is why they are being beaten and discriminated by foreigners in every corner of their country and could not do anything about it. To suggest that Sinkies will protect their own kind is the most ridiculous and laughable statement made here.
 
The second fault of the police was that they did managed the riot well and ‘it is possible that the rioters may similarly be emboldened if the police officers had moved in and taken action ineffectively, he added’.
 
The nice foreign workers were so nice that they were not at fault at all, and definitely not the cause of the rioting. And neither was the govt a contributor for allowing so many villagers from the 3rd World civilized countries to be here in the hundreds of thousands and allowing them to gather in a small area.
 
If this incident were to happen in Saudi Arabia or in the Middle East, would there be a COI like this being conducted and the rioters are not the main contributor of the rioting? Maybe yes, maybe no, as the rioters are so nice people and the Saudi’s too will be very nice and very fair to them.

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 – Malaysia needs foreign talents

In his article ‘Lessons from the MH370 tragedy’ in the Today paper, Devadas Krishnadas discussed the issue of incompetence of Malaysian leaders in the handling of the MH370 incident. He said that, ‘an abiding impression was created of a lack of competence on the part of the Malaysian authorities.’ He went on to say that ‘Organisational leaders and operational managers must be selected on the basis of competency and not political suitability. It is too late to learn on the job during a crisis.’ And his recommendations to the Malaysians are, ‘Competency agencies must have a deep culture of competency. This requires meritocratic selection of talent, transparency of performance and accountability of responsibility.’
 
Krishnadas is all good intention and Malaysia should take heed to his comments and recommendations. He stopped short of saying recruiting talents irrespective of nationality like what Singapore is doing. He understood that Malaysia puts the interests of its citizens first among all things and would not sell out its people and replace them with foreigners. This is a piece of shrewd advice. If he would to tell the Malaysians to bring in foreigners to replace the incompetent locals, it will be rejected outright without a second thought.
 
The replacing of citizens with foreigners in good jobs can only be practiced in countries where the citizens are daft and docile, or in countries that are not really countries but more like hotels. And we can see that taking place nicely and smoothly in the finance and IT industries and soon it could extend to stats boards and govt services, and maybe political leadership as well. And the result is remarkable. Singapore is so prosperous and successful because of all the foreign talents that it has brought in to replace the dull and not so talented Singaporeans.
 
This is the trick that Malaysia will not be able to learn. In fact many countries in the world will not be able to replicate this except for ‘chap cheng’ countries like the USA. Actually we are just following what the Americans are doing, a small carbon copy of the Empire. America is so successful today without the natives or with the natives decimated. 

We don’t need daft citizens. All we need is talents regardless of nationality.

Kopi Level - Yellow

MH370 – What is the truth?

Malaysia was like a child frantically wanting to know the father. Then this woman came along and pointed to a man and the child quickly and gladly accepted him as the father. The woman could point to any man and it would make no difference. In its desperation to want an answer and a closure to the MH370 incident, Malaysia was so happy to accept the explanation of Immarsat and the application of the Doppler Theory without question. How reliable is such a mathematical theory based on a few ‘pings’ to predict the location of a flying aircraft without knowing its height, speed and direction to a location 10,000 miles away? Nevermind, Malaysia just wanted an answer to close the subject quickly. Nevermind if they understood or could not understand what Immarsat was saying and the gapping holes in that methodology. Of course any thinking person would see how flimsy that conclusion was when all the debris still could not say anything positive, and could prove just the other way.

Today there is another theory from The Telegraph claiming that it was the work of a suicide mission. The big hole in this theory lies in its inference, ‘This has been a deliberate act by someone on board who had to have the detailed knowledge to do what was done...Nothing is emerging that points to motive.’ The questions, why would such a well trained, knowledgeable and rational pilot and crew, (he could not be alone), want to kill themselves when they needed not to? Why would they not shout to the world if it was a suicide mission? In a suicide mission of such a scale, it has to be political or religious in nature. They would be most happy to shout, as an example, ‘Allahu Akbar!’ to tell the world. The organisation behind them would also want to claim credit. But this is definitely not the truth. No such organisation has made any claims. And it is very unlikely to be the works of muslim terrorist groups.

But that is what they would want the world to believe, to believe in something furthest from the truth so that no one would want to inquire about the truth. They would want the truth to be buried in the southern Indian Ocean, not to be uncovered to embarrass the perpetrators. And the truth could be that none of the ‘hijackers’ die, and hopefully none of the passengers die as well.

The truth is still out there. We can only look at the theories and discount those that are outrightly illogical, contradictory, confusing and questionable, and live on those that are plausible and reasonable.

I have read two interesting ‘supposedly’ leaked theories of what could be the cause of MH370’s disappearance. The first was attributed to Russian intelligence tipping off the Chinese of suspicious cargo in the aircraft and the Chinese was planning to divert the aircraft to Hainan once it entered its airspace. But this did not happen as the aircraft was diverted. There were also comments of heavy radio jammings prior to the aircraft’s disappearance rendering all communications from the aircraft impossible. This explained why no emergency calls or mobile calls originating from MH370.

The next source was supposed to be from the Israelis. This story has more details, that the cargo was the command and control system of American drones captured by the Talibans and sold to China. There were even Chinese experts on drone technology on board. The Americans and the Israelis were on board to recover the cargo. The aircraft’s communication was jammed and control of the aircraft was taken over from the pilot by a remote controller and flew west, landed in the Maldives for refuelling before heading to Diego Garcia to unload the cargo and black boxes. In the meantime the passengers were all terminated. MH370 was flown by remote control to the southern Indian Ocean and ditched. The Australians were also implicated and probably tipped off to where they could possibly find the debris.

Both versions are doubtful as the Russians would not release such intelligence to the public. Neither would the Israelis expose the dirty works of the Americans. What was common and interesting in the two reports were the cargo, the jamming of communications and the involvement of the Americans.

On reflection, there were some slips made by the Malaysians earlier. They simply brushed aside the cargo as a non issue, declaring that there was no dangerous cargo in MH370 only to admit it later. There was the supposedly loose and innocent chatter that MH370 was carrying several tonnes of ‘mangosteens’. Thus from the beginning the Malaysians were cognizant of the cargo, probably more than the Lithium battery that was admitted as the dangerous cargo. The Malaysians’ defence of the pilot and co pilot was also an indication that they knew what was going on and that the pilot was in the thick of things.

Now the red herring of the aircraft seen in the Maldives at low level and seen by some islands could be just a decoy. There was no need for the aircraft to refuel in the Maldives when Diego Garcia was next door. And why announced its sightings in the Maldives when it could fly into Diego Garcia without being seen by people not supposed to see. The wreckage photos released by the Australians could be another decoy to divert all attention and effort to the claimed new crash site.

The Americans, Australians and the Malaysians are all implicated with China and its citizens the main victim. Isn’t it funny that the countries of all the non Chinese passengers did not seem to be panicking or expressing urgency to want to know about their citizens in the aircraft? Malaysia too is just another cool cucumber though it has the next highest number of citizens in the plane, including the aircrews.

The whole thing is looking more like a big wayang and China being made a fool by the rest of the players. Malaysia could be helping the Americans to deliver the cargo to Diego Garcia or another airfield. The big question now is whether the passengers would be spare to live to see another day. There are very good reasons to dispose them off and not to leave behind any evidence. Just wait to see if any bodies were discovered in the Indian Ocean. If the Americans were really involved, how would they put a closure to this case and walk away as innocent party and how would the aircrews in MH370 walk back to life, and the rest of the passengers as well?

The truth is still out there.

Kopi Level - Yellow

CIA hijacked MH370 with the complicity of some Malaysian officials

CIA hijacked MH370 with the complicity of some Malaysian officials and ground crews.

The world's most terrifying and most outrageous and dangerous organisation the American CIA is definitely and clearly the criminal body which hijacked MH370.  CIA used its AWACs plane to disable the manual flying system in MH370 by remote control. Then using the same remote control from its AWACs it redirected MH370 to fly to Mallive Island where it refuelled before flying the hijacked plane to the American military base at Diego Garcia. At Diego Garcia the American military and CIA removed tons of strategic materials which was bound for China and after that it secretly and cruelly gassed the entire crew and its 239 passengers to death before again flying the ill fated plane by remote control into the deep Indian Ocean and thereafter callously ditched the plane into the deep sea to let it appear like a crash accident.

What is most outrageous and treacherous is that the Americans purposely and intentionally misled so many countries in a wild goose search for the missing ill fated plane . The Americans especially The Pentagon and the CIA are real monsters beyond redemption. They must be taught a proper lesson so as to stop them from continuing their pernicious and wanton acts.

CIA planned the hijacking of the plane when it got wind from its spies and intelligence that the plane was carrying some very important strategic materials for China. Some Malaysia government and Malaysia Airways officials and ground crew might have conspired and colluded with CIA  after they had been bribed with millions of dollars.

All big American commercial planes are equipped both with mannual and remote control flying systems. Only the Americans via the CIA and The Pentagon hold the key and the secret code to take over the planes by remote control either from its AWACs or from its military head office in the Pentagon. Countries which buy American planes must now insist that the American plane manuafacturers  remove the remote control system from  all their planes.

It is high time that all countries in this world protest vigorously against the high treason and treacherous behaviour and callous actions of the Americans and its Western hoodlums which they choose to call allies. Nevertheless allies in terrorism and aggression.

Southernglory1

Time to condemn anyone who thinks Sinkies should be replaced by FTs

The mantra that Sinkies should be replaced by more talented FTs must be stopped right now. This is our country and we cannot let foreigners to replace everyone of us on the ground, or claim, that they are more talented.
 
If that is the case, there is no reason for any Sinkie to be doing NS. National Service is all about protecting our way of life, our well being, our jobs, not the well being of foreigners, not to bring foreigners to replace us and live in glory while the citizens live in misery. This is fundamentally wrong in a nation state where the owners are the citizens.
 
Anyone spouting such nonsense must be thumped down. They have been saying it without any sense and feeling of guilt or obligation to the Sinkies. They think they don’t owe the Sinkies anything and it is ok to get rid of Sinkies. Sinkies can go and die, not their problem.
 
Foreigners are needed up to a certain extent but never be allowed to replace us in our own country for freak and flimsy reasons. The first priority is the interest of the citizens, the well being of the citizens. In most countries, compromising on the interests of the citizens, undermining the interests of the citizens and sacrificing the interests of the citizens by replacing them with foreigners recklessly are acts of treasons. No sensible politician would dare to make such a statement and thinks that he would be re elected. This is a uniquely Singapore thing, that politicians can openly say such things… ‘If a citizen is no good, he will be replaced by a foreigner.’ Period.

MH370 – State terrorism is a crime

The reasons given by Najib to confirm that MH370 was down in the southern Indian Ocean was simply bullshitting. Let me quote what he said, ‘ Immarsat, the British company that has provided satellite data indicating the plane had either flown in a northern or southern corridor, had performed further calculations of the data, using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort. Based on the new analysis, Immarsat and Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch concluded that MH370 ended up in the southern corridor.’
 
What the above means is that they did not know. And the new analysis is ‘guessing’ or nothing more than the prediction of a bomoh. It is a very flimsy reason to use as justification for knowing where the aircraft was. But this does not mean that the aircraft was not where it was said to be. Many people knew, especially the rogue states involved in this crime against humanity. When Abbott jumped the gun to inform Najib, his eagerness and haste were signs that he knew. How would he know when there was no concrete evidence? Who told him?
 
From the final position of the MH370, it is obvious that no pilot, no matter how mad or fanatical, would have flown it there. A terrorist pilot or organization would have announced to the world of this great feat to spite whoever it wanted. And there was no reason after getting away to want to kill himself.
 
The location of the MH370 resting place could mean the aircraft took two possible routes. One route was to Diego Garcia and the other was to a military airfield in Australia, unloaded whatever, refueled and dumped in the southern Indian Ocean. The route to Diego Garcia would be picked up by India as it had avoided the Indonesian radars. India conveniently told the world that it was so poor and could not afford to switch on their military radars all the time. Can you believe that?
 
This whole tragedy involved at least one rogue state. And from the beginning of the incident till now, the actions and comments of the rogue states were as innocent as angels. They did not know, but they did it. It is state terrorism and of the worst kind. 239 lives were sacrificed, terminated, by evil people who conducted this operation. It is unforgiveable, and it must have the consent from people in very high places who put on an act throughout the episode while the families of the passengers agonized in pain. 

They must be made to pay for it.

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 - Crashed into southern Indian Ocean, says Najib

It is so unbelieveable! Just heard Najib on live telecast pronouncing that MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean. This conclusion is derived from some mathematical calculation or computation, a new method not unlike the use of bomoh, of satellite information on MH370 done by the British civil aviation experts. Can you believe it?

While the rest of the search parties were still unable to sight or confirm any debris seen as part of MH370, Najib has accepted the computation of some satellite projections like the astronomers making some calculations to say a meteor will appear here or there.

I smelt a conspiracy just like my bad feelings when Australian PM Abbott jumped the gun to call Najib of some rubbish found in the Indian Ocean. It was like he already knew that the debris was from MH370, like he was tipped off. And now Najib is accepting a finding without any solid evidence.

How did the aircraft flew along the so called southern corridor, passing Indonesia without being detected by Indonesian radars or the KLIA radar? It is not a stealth aircraft for sure. It is a flying mammoth in the air.

And was there any logical reason for the pilot to fly 239 people on board all the way to the southern Indian Ocean to crash and kill everyone, without anyone being able to make a phone call out from the aircraft? The whole episode suggested that there must be many people involved in restraining 239 people on board. And they all died together with the MH370 passengers? And the blackboxes are so silent!

What is going on? Who is behind this whole tragedy or tragicomedy? I am still in a state of shock at Najib's pronouncement based on whatever was given to him as proof of the where about of MH370. It was like someone crashing the aircraft and getting a bomoh to tell him yes, that is where the aircraft had crashed.

Let's see what other evidences Najib is going to disclose in tomorrow's press conference.

MH370 – A case for transparency

The Chinese have been accusing the Malaysian Govt for lack of transparency and withholding information on the MH370 and hindering investigation into its disappearance. It is understandable if information is sensitive and could compromise national security. But what is so sensitive about the cargo manifest?
 
I quote from Yahoo News, ‘Hansford, chairman of Strategic Aviation Solutions, said the Malaysian government's decision not to publish the cargo manifest from flight MH370 suggests they are not being fully transparent.
“To me, there is no reason why they wouldn’t declare the cargo manifest unless you’ve got something to hide,” he said.
“There is no reason you wouldn’t have given it to AMSA (the Australian Maritime Safety Authority) on the first day of the search.”’
 
There are serious problems here. The Malaysian Govt has been quoted to say that there were several tons of mangosteen and rambutans or durians in the cargo hold. And there could be more. The reluctance to disclose the cargo manifest is creating more doubts and suspicion as to what really were in the cargo hold. Just because it was stated to be mangosteens or other fruits does not mean that it must be so. Likewise, just because a passenger checked in to be an American or whatever, needed be so.
 
There is a need to know the truth and more transparency needed from the Malaysian Govt. If they did not want to make it public, they could reveal it to govts with vested interests in the case with the provision of confidentiality. The cargo manifest could hold some clues to the case. Who knows, the mangosteens and fruits could be hijackers and their weapons. Who knows?
 
What is there to hide this information? The Malaysian Govt has a case to answer and needs to answer it fast. In fact it is already too late. That does not mean that they should no longer disclose the real content in the cargo hold of MH370. Have they investigated the cargo handlers or whoever had access to the cargo hold and could load things into the aircraft?
 
PS. I have a more interesting story by piecing a few leads together and it makes a lot of sense. Will hammer the story together and get it out tomorrow. It has a lot to do with the tons of mangosteens and durians on board MH370.

Meritocracy above nationality

‘Grit, groundedness and good sense should count as much. Finding the best people must entail appointing whoever can do the job best, regardless of gender, race, age, background, or even nationality.
 
So please, let’s go easy on the anti-foreigner ‘Singaporean first’ rhetoric that has become so popular these days. Give the job to whoever will deliver when it counts.’
I lifted the above quote by Warren Fernandez, ST Editor, from an editorial post in the TRE titled, ‘ST editor uses MH370 incident to champion pro-FT policy’
 
Many politicians and non politicians have been saying the same thing about meritocracy and may the best men be employed regardless of nationality. It means that Sinkies must give way if a better man can be found to replace him. I just want to remind these charlatans that the Sinkies are the citizens and NSmen of this country and have been conscripted to defend this country with their lives. Their family members have to live with their sacrifices to protect this country. If they can be so easily replaced by foreigners, then there is no reason or need for them to serve NS when their sacrifice for the country means nothing.
 
What are they defending when the political leaders and the elite do not think twice to replace them with supposedly ‘more able foreigners’? Is this the message to be told to the NS men, the citizens of this country? Should the govt disband National Service since NSmen are dispensable if they are found no better than a foreigner? The govt demands loyalty and a pledge to fight and die for the country from NSmen. What shall the NSmen demand from the govt for their ultimate sacrifice to die defending this country when they can be replaced by foreigners so easily?
 
What is happening? Now who is talking cock?

The virtuous cycle of fee hikes

Sinkies are blessed with a very generous govt that despite the its policy against a welfare state when giving money freely to the people is frowned upon, the govt is always there to help the people whenever there is a fee hike. Fee hikes of any form or nature will always be accompanied by the govt giving more subsidies to help the people to defray the rising fees.
 
The latest tuition fee hikes in universities and polytechnics again sees the govt coming out with more subsidies and grants to help the people. During his budget speech last month, DPM Tharman announced that the government will provide more support to more students for bursaries. The per capita monthly household income threshold will be raised from $1,700 to $1,900. This will cover students from two-thirds of all Singaporean households, he said. Thus only one third of all Singaporean households will be affected by the higher fees.
 
University undergraduates from the lowest one-third of households will see their bursaries increase to from S$2,900 to S$3,600 a year. Bursaries for middle-income students will be S$2,600 – this is an increase from S$2,150.
 
Polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) students from middle-income households will also get more support. ITE bursaries for lower-income students will be higher than their fees, helping them defray living expenses, he said.
 
This is the virtuous cycle created by the govt, raise fees, raise subsidies, people pay new and higher fees with the subsidies, and the higher revenue goes back to the govt? Even if it does not go back to the govt directly, it still goes back to somewhere while the subsidies given to the people will just slip through their hands and disappeared just as quickly as they received it.
 
This is a very nice formula to tell the people that the govt is helping them with the rising cost and would guarantee that the people would always be grateful to a kind, compassionate and generous govt. It keeps on giving and taking and giving and taking and the people will not feel the pain if there is any.

A glimpse into the mindset of a PAP MP

Mr FairPrice or Seah Kian Peng gave an interview to Jessica Lim and she contributed two articles on him in the Newpaper today. In the article ‘New issues and a more demanding electorate’ she quoted some comments from Seah Kian Peng.
 
Seah Kian Peng reflected on the changing electorate and the changing aspiration and demands of the people and the hot buttons issues. The new issues, if his constituents could be a measure of the general population, are spiraling cost of healthcare and public transport/overcrowding and disruptions. The previous hot button issue of housing is over.
 
He did not say anything about the influx of foreigners and the increasing population that is causing a lot of pain to the Sinkies. Neither did he mention anything about the plight of PMEs and their replacement by foreigners, rendering them jobless or underemployed. For him not to mention this serious problem does not mean that it is not a problem to him or his party/govt. But it could be a lesser problem than healthcare and public transport. Or at least it is not a problem in his constituency.
 
Seah Kian Peng also commented on the mindset of the Sinkies, that they did not appreciate how important and valuable the current govt is and not knowing how bad things would be if they carelessly elect a new govt just because they were unhappy with a single issue. Here there are two points to it. The PAP is the best and any new govt will not be able to do better. So the people are risking their good life if they vote in a new govt. The second point is that the electorate are simple minded and would anyhow vote in a new govt because of one single issue of unhappiness. He did not think that the electorate could have weighed in all other factors and the one or two factors could be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
 
What was revealed in Seah Kian Peng’s thoughts and comments could be a reflection of the thinking of most of the PAP members. This is the pervasive mindset of a ruling party/govt. They are all believers of the PAP religion and doctrines…and god. The simplistic people did not know how good the PAP and govt are to them and contributing to their good life that no other party could do so. He forgot that he has acknowledged that the people are very well educated and this means that they are not simple minded and ignorant of what is happening or going on in the country. How can well educated electorate, many more educated than him, be so simple minded and unthinking than him?

The Henderson Brooks Report on the Sino Indian Border War 1962 – Top Secret

Spent my Sunday afternoon reading this interesting Top Secret report on the Sino Indian Border War in 1962. The Indian Govt is still holding this report dearly as a top Secret document. Ever since the decisive defeat of the Indian Army, the Indians have been telling the world that China was the aggressor and started the war. And the western media with its hidden agenda simply sang along and made China the bad boy.

This document described fully, in details, the role of the Indians in starting this border war, how it prepared an army corp to evict the Chinese border guards from the disputed borders and how it made all the preliminary incursions and occupation of Chinese positions that ignited the war. It was highlighted the arrogant mindset of the Indians and how they belittled the Chinese with comments like firing a few shots into the air and the Chinese soldiers would fled, or if they advanced and occupied Chinese positions the Chinese would not fight back.

It all started with Nehru’s Forward Policy, a term coined so innocently but with the intent to occupied Chinese territories at the China Indian border. A 4th Corp was commissioned and built up to support this campaign. And for several months, with the forces being introduced into the border area and advancing and occupying positions in the Chinese held positions, the Forward Policy seemed very easy and successful until the Chinese launched a counter offensive to retake all their lost positions and to re-establish the status quo. The border situation has since been maintained till today without the Chinese making any advances into Indian territories that was hyped in 1962 as China nibbling into Indian territories and used as the justification to occupy Chinese territories.

The Top Secret report is a very engaging read and a must read for military officers to get a feel of how the Indian built up an offensive force to the scale of an army corp and how the war was fought, the logistics and how the withdrawal was conducted when they were overwhelmed. There were also many revelations and insights into the thinking, psychic and the Indian perception of the Chinese and how the Chinese would react to their advances.

Reading the report is like a case study of a real war, not war games, with real statistics involving brigades and divisions. The report is still available at http://www.indiandefencereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/TopSecretdocuments2.pdf

This report is still banned by the Indian Govt and it is not sure how long it would be available before it is removed from the net. This is what Wikipedia commented on the report. ‘The Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report, also referred to as the Henderson Brooks report, is a classified report prepared by two Indian Army officers, Lieutenant-General Henderson Brooks and Brigadier Premindra Singh Bhagat, on the Sino-Indian War of 1962. Bhagat later was promoted as a lieutenant general. Part I of the two-part report was leaked in 2014 by a retired left-wing Australian journalist. (The second part deals with the enduring lessons of the Chinese aggression.)
 
The Henderson Brooks-P.S. Bhagat report was supposed to be an "operations review" of the causes of the Indian Army's humiliating rout by the ‘invading’ People's Liberation Army. The two investigating officers, however, skirted the operations review by focusing on the political causes of the rout in the war….’
 
The comments in Wikipedia were likely to be posted by an India author that still flouted the PLA as the invading forces and blaming China for the war. The Henderson Brooks report is the raw data and proof and what really happened and who was the aggressor. It categorically dismisses the Indian myth that they were the angels and were invaded by the Chinese.

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 – Who did it?

15 days after the disappearance of MH370, everything is a blank. There is not a single trace of its where about. While the family members are griefing and in a state of desperation, the experts are still searching for an answer. Assuming that it is indeed a hijack, it can be expected that it is a professional job executed by a fairly big team of hijackers. With this as a basis, let me ask a few questions that hopefully could narrow down the list of suspects to a few possibles.

1. Who have access to the cargo bay of MH370?
2. Who have access to the ground crews loading the aircraft? These two items assume that there are many hijackers and weapons to be loaded into the plane. Remember the mangosteens and durians in the cargo manifest?
3. Who would be able to get the ground crews to work for them?
4. Who would know the flight plans and details of MH370?
5. Who would know the radar locations and their performance specifications including the air traffic procedures and location to handover from KLIA to HCM City?
6. Who could file imitation flight plans without being detected or cause suspicion. This would allow the aircraft to switch transponders and fly as another legitimate aircraft in the commercial corridors after it disappeared and reappeared. All flight plans of aircraft transiting through the spot MH370 was last seen at about the same time need to be investigated.
7. Who had the technical knowledge of the aircraft instruments?
8. Who had the knowledge to fly the aircraft to avoid radars?
9. Who could prevent the pilot and co pilot from transmitting emergency calls?
10. Who had the ability to silence 239 hostages from making a single call out?
11. Who would have access to remote airfields within the range of MH370 and could land stealthily and without arousing suspicion?
12. Who could secure the aircraft and passengers in a large and safe place undetected?
13. Who have the resources to keep 239 hostages alive and unseen?
14. Who knew the topography of the Antarctic Ocean and where to dump the aircraft and black boxes and with very slim chances of recovery?
15. Who had the facilities to refuel the aircraft and fly it to the Antarctics?
16. Who had the presence of mind or informed knowledge to search in such far off and remote area that was unreachable by MH370 without refuelling?
17. Who could bring the pilot and crews back to safety from the Antarctics after dumping the plane? Items 14 to 17 assume that the aircraft is dumped in the Antartics?
18. Who would have a reason to want to attack a Malaysian aircraft with mainly Chinese passengers?
19. Who had the logistics to hold the hostages for so long without making a demand?
20. Who could do all the above and successfully complete this hijack mission and keeping the whole world in the dark?

The answers to the above questions could point to a few possible suspects with such capabilities, knowhow and resources to pull it off. The whole exercise is a logistic nightmare.

Hugh White: A pinky lens

Hugh White, a professor of Strategic Studies from Australian National University, wrote an article on Asean published in the ST on 18 Mar 14.

His analysis has been fairly objective in most cases but one cannot detect, or he cannot escape from the western biased in his thought processes when discussing big power relations particularly between the USA and China. He talked about the rivalry between Washington and Beijing but sneaked in this comment.

‘Washington generally uses carrots, while Beijing has mostly used sticks but the aim is essentially the same.’ To him this is the truth, the western truth, that the USA has been a very peace loving superpower that does not use the stick, bully or coerce any country to have its way. The Arabs and muslim countries must be having carotene poisoning after being served with decades of carrots. Only China is the rogue superpower that has been using the stick to whack other countries. Westerners are blind to their actions and that is understandable. Even Asians or Africans that have been whacked by the American sticks, oops, I mean carrots, for decades still cannot see the American stick and those whacked would still believe they were not whacked by the Americans.

What were the Americans doing in the Vietnam War, in Iraq, in Libya, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan? Having a tea party and passing out carrots? And what were the Americans doing in the Korean Peninsula with their daily war games? And what were the Americans doing with all the military pacts, signing love letters? And what about the American pivot and all the Americans bases and the weapons of wars? Are they all toys, I mean carrots? Sure, they are not sticks, just weapons of mass destruction.

And what did the Chinese do? Where is the stick? The Chinese whacking the Vietnamese and the Pinoys? Do the westerners want to know why? It was the Vietnamese and the Pinoys that were whacking the Chinese first before the Chinese kicked their asses. As for the rest of the Southeast Asian states having territorial issues with China, how would they expect China to behave when they are claiming Chinese territories as theirs? How would the Americans react if another country would to claim a piece of American territories or some of the islands in the Pacific Oceans like Guam or Hawaii?

And wherever the Chinese go, what are they signing, military pacts or trade pacts? Now who is carrying the stick?

You tell me. But please first remove the pinky lenses.

Sinkies’ ‘chap cheng’ mentality

Heard that Singapore is promoting the Songkran festival at the Padang. Now which organization is spearheading this event? I think it is a good start for a ‘chap cheng’ city. The meaning of ‘chap’ is ten and ‘cheng’ is tribes, together they men ten tribes. With so many tribes here we should have more festivals. Now let’s see what China, India, the Philippines, Myanmar and the rest of the foreigners here have in their home countries. We can celebrate all their festivals here so that they don’t have to go home and can feel at home here.

We can have more holidays in our calendars as well. We can change our official languages from 4 to plenty to make our city more global. Please don’t complain about 6.9m. And please don’t complain about being Sinkies. Sinkies will no longer be called Sinkies if we keep globalizing in this way. We can proudly call ourselves the ‘Chap Cheng’ country and our citizens or residents be called, yes, you got it right, ‘Chap Cheng’.

We have nothing of our own to be proud of and we can keep coveting other people’s culture and festivals and even talents to make us feel better, to be more global and some self assurance that we are ok. After creating so many fakes for the locals and tourists, at least a festival like Songkran is real. We can have the colour powder festival of India and the bun festival of Hongkong. We can have bullock racing at the padang as well. And not to forget the smashing of tons of edible tomatoes on the streets for fun. Let’s celebrate, let’s party as the world in a chap cheng City, or a more marketable and sleek name like the City of Chap Chengs.

Kopi Level - Red

Little India riot COI – A voice of wisdom and reason

Finally we are hearing a voice of reason from not only a very experienced ex commissioner, but one who uses his wisdom to think before making a subjective assessment. If you are following the comments of experienced, so called experts in the MH370 case, you will know that many of them were just spouting nonsense. They may have the experience and in senior positions, but they were the proverbial one eyed jack during a time when everyone was blind. Intelligence and wisdom will show when one does not have them in the first place.

Back to the COI. We have several sessions when the COI was more about a contest of opinions between the police on the ground and the COI committee. It was about who is right and smarter in handling the riot. The police’s view was not using excessive force, waiting for the SOC to reinforce their position was the right thing to do as any wrong move could inflame the already bad situation that could be life threatening. The COI’s view, the police should have acted swiftly with a bit more assertiveness or use of force to disperse the crowd. It wasn’t life threatening and going after the rioters would prevent more violence or the burning of more vehicles. These two views were what I read from the media and the police or COI may want to dispute and say I am misreading the whole hearing. Just my view, feel free to disagree.

In this morning’s paper, ex Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui offered some very sensible and reasonable views of what he thought, and how the police handled the situation. He did not outrightly claim which side was right as the situation was fluid and volatile and could turn any way. Whatever actions the police could do otherwise, could lead to lowering the tension and lesser rioting, or it could be worse. Who could be wiser to claim for sure that doing A would end up with B or doing C would end up with D unless he is omniprescient. A mob is unpredictable.

Khoo Boon Hui also spoke about different times, different values and different methodologies. The old tactics of meeting force with force is less desirable in today’s context unless the situation warrants it. How the police handled the situation in Little India was in line with their new doctrine and a new reality. He wisely stayed away from committing himself into a ‘I am right and you are wrong’ situation. No one in his right mind should be making such a judgemental pronouncement without looking pompous and silly.

The COI would definitely benefit from Khoo Boon Hui’s statement of reasons.