9/14/2014

A little wisdom from the wise ones




For many years many people were wondering why the stock exchange of a financial centre, aspiring to be the top financial centre is Asia, is allowed to go on a self destruct mode. Don’t agree? The SGX is in the pink of health? Again, I love to resurrect George Yeo’s famous comment, what you see from the outside, everything is so perfect but is not real. Some would say the stock exchange is doing fine, damn bloody fine, with the latest technology, the most expensive computers, the newest tricks in play, and a top foreign talent in charge, things must only go right. Or maybe I quote another eminent, look at the long run, the pains today would be worth it, like how we suffered in the early years of nation building and being rewarded today. Everything will be fine in the long run. It is all in the schemes of things.

All those who are in the stock market business know very well that the market has collapsed. And no one knows why or wants to know why. The broking houses are encouraging their clients to trade in foreign markets, not to touch this dying market of inactivity. It is like a cemetery in the day. I too have been scratching my head wanting to know why. And when the experts also claimed that they are clueless, paid millions to be clueless, you should know why.

I raised a few obvious observations. I was told that they knew what they were doing. I did not get that. Few day’s back, met a businessman who spoke the simple plain truth. When they do not want your business, it means there are vested interests involved and there is no need to hit your head against the wall. Go around it, yes, like trading in other markets. The various parts of wisdom are coming together and making sense now. And this morning a blogger put in this comment in my blog, ‘RB, u smoke some pot is it. What inquisition? No way they do lar why slap your cheeks for what? Tio Bo?’

It makes good sense, the situation is getting clearer. The people may be screaming their lungs out crying foul. But nothing will be done. No way. Just to mention a few, the influx of half bakes and fake foreigners to replace Singaporeans, you really think they don’t know? Why is there inaction? The CPF issue, high cost of living issue, the wasting of public funds on scholarships for foreigners, the replacing of the academics in the academia with foreigners etc etc. You think they don’t know, they are stupid?

And Zuraidah Ibrahim in her morning article said scholars are not smart. I must say I totally disagree with her. The scholars are damn smart. They know exactly what they are doing, and what they would not do or should not do.  The only problem is that the laypeople did not know what is their agenda?  They have their agenda that may be different from what the people want, or they have different priorities. It is not nice to say they have vested interests.

Mao Zedong was not an exceptionally brilliant man. He was a librarian. Ok, this is subjective as a person without a string of degrees from the best universities and branded as a scholar can also be very brilliant. Mao Zedong, despite many huge errors he committed in his last few years as a ruler, is still revered and highly respected as the founder of modern China. Some outsiders like to condemn him as a murderer and the obstacle to China’s modernisation. The Chinese people know best. They are the beneficiaries of what Mao Zedong did for them and for China. It is a long story.

Would our elite, the smart scholars, please don’t be dismissive to say they are not smart, be revered and respected by the generations to come? Or would they be condemned for selling out the country and people? Only history will judge them. There is one big difference between Mao Zedong and our elite. Mao was doing what he did for China and the Chinese people. There were some exceptions, he is not immortal. Oops, our elites are also doing everything for Singapore and the Singaporeans. You can have your contrary opinions.

Why is Singapore heading in a direction that the people are so exasperated and very angry about? Is it that the people are stupid, or is there something else? Why are the smart elite allowing the country to slide down a slippery road of no return? Of course they did not think so, like the CPF thing and the influx of foreigners thing, it is all good for the people and country. Have faith.

What would the wise ones said?

Kopi Level - Green

25 comments:

  1. Singapore has been sold and nothing you can do will buy it back. A change of government will not be able to reverse what has been done. The FTs are all in and the best you can do is to stop the influx. As they say, stop the rot and maybe there is still hope for this country. Do a good spring clean and get rid of the dead weight, be they aliens or Singaporeans. Put in those Singaporeans who have the country at heart. Vet all the people who have come in with high powered degrees and qualification. Maybe then Singapore can progress further. If the current policy of welcoming FTs without proper vetting continues, Singapore will become a dumping ground for trash.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why is Singapore heading in a direction that the people are so exasperated and very angry about?
    RB

    It depends on who the people u are talking about.

    Majority 60%, although some are exasperated and very angry, but not to the extent that they want to vote in an opposition which is not ready to be govt.

    The rest of the 60% are happy with the direction, which allows them to make lots of money and have a good life. Or among new citizens in the 60%, at least a much better life than where they originally came from.

    I believe these new citizens, the numbers of which are at the absolute control of the PAP, may largely determine whether PAP can remain the ruling party after next election.

    So real, poor, daft and suffering Sinkies who want to vote PAP out, your numbers may not be enough. Hence please increase your fertility rate to avoid extinction and to take care of your future 20 years from now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Hence please increase your fertility rate to avoid extinction and to take care of your future 20 years from now."
    Anon 10:58 am

    U are adding insult to injury to these Sinkies. Already poor and suffering, how to make more babies? U want their babies to suffer like them?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Part 1:

    Rb. /// And Zuraidah Ibrahim in her morning article said scholars are not smart. I must say I totally disagree with her. The scholars are damn smart. They know exactly what they are doing, and what they would not do or should not do. The only problem is that the laypeople did not know what is their agenda? They have their agenda that may be different from what the people want, or they have different priorities. It is not nice to say they have vested interests. ///


    Rb, what are their vested interests?

    Ha ha ha

    It is not just ONLY in the stock market or ONLY in the entire financial market la!

    Rb, there are so many oldies readers here who come to your blog .......Many likely, with the exceptions of a few very blessed and relatively healthy beans like YEW, in one way or another, in the past or now or in the near future need some kind of medical care, services and treatments .......

    But are there NOT "vested interests" in the health care sector including public hospitals?

    Are NOT oldies health interest also often sacrificed for the "vested interest" since long, long ago donkey years back?

    Just as the scholars are NOT dumb, are the highly trained medical professionals dumb and not know what ought to be done and what ought not to be done?

    But if YEW built a HUGE and BRAND new medical centre for example and initally the demand is not even 50% of the potential capacity and YEW need to show profit and bottom line, what would YEW do?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Part 2:

    Remember the Iranian twin who were operated and died of EXCESSIVE bleeding?

    If YEW as a lay person know about the fatal or fatalistic consequences of EXCESSIVE BLEEDING, would highly trained medical professionals not know about it???

    Many oldies likely may have some kind of medical or heart conditions that may lead to potentially dangerous blood clot or even stroke etc etc so they may need blood "thinning" drugs such as Warfarin, Eliquis, Xarelto, and Pradaxa.

    They are basically anticoagulant medication. In layman terms, they reduces the rate of blood clotting or increases the time needed for the blood to clot from the normal 0.8 to 1.2 based on the INR ( International Normalised Ratio ) scale to about 2.0 to 3.0 or even longer time for certain groups of people.

    The flip side is that though the risk of blood clots or strokes is reduced, the chances of non-stop BLEEDING incteases many fold.

    The issue here is that according to many world renowned medical journals and publications from the best medical fracternity, blood thinning medication MUST be stopped a few days ( recommended at 5 to 7 days ) in advance before any upcoming surgery in view of the danger of UNSTOPPABLE BLEEDING if the medical effect of the blood thinning medication or agents has not worn off sufficiently.

    How often is such standard adherred to in hospitals? Are there VESTED interest "encouraging" a much shorter stoppage duration such as just one day? Are there large residues of blood thinning medication of drugs such as Warfarin still PRESENT in the patients' BODY SYSTEMS if the drugs are only stopped for one day ( 24 hours ) and at times only half a day ( 12 hours ) AGAINST "international standard recommendarion" of "5 to 7 DAYS"? And the patients are put under the knives in the surgical rooms under such circumstances?

    What are the risks or costs to human lives for such "expediency" practices at times or quite often?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Part 3:


    Do YEW not think that the medical professionals know more than the lay persons especially weak and illnesses plagued oldies going for surgeries especially BIG and MAJOR ones?

    QUESTION:

    WOULD THE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS SUBJECT THEMSELVES OR THEIR PARENTS OR THEIR LOVED ONES TO SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES such as stopping a blood thinning medication for just 12 to 24 hours and going under the knives for BIG surgeries?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Part 4:

    Some empirical evidences have shown that even before going for sugeries, an accidental small cut on the hands or fingers after stopping blood thinning medication for 24 hours still led to "massive" or "substantial" bleeding before the blood clots effectively to stop further bleeding.

    If many patients go under the knives WITHOUT the medical professionals ensuring that the BLOOD THINNING medical effects of drugs such as Warfarin has worn off sufficiently and effectively ( which normally takes a few days after stoppage of medication ), what are the chances that the patients might lose excessive AMOUNT of blood in a surgery or even lead to fatalistic outcome?

    How many fatalistic outcomes were due to "expediency" and "commercial vested interests" to get patients "quickly" operated without "sufficient and adequate consideration" for blood thinning medication effect to wear off "sufficiently and adequately"?

    Beside the standardised INR test to ensure NORMALISATION of blood clotting ability, cannot other simple method such as say a simple needle insertion in the veins in the hand to "test" blood clotting NORMALISATION FUNCTION or in medical term normal coagulation in the blood system has taken place or resumed?

    Are there " vested interests" not to ensure such practices in place?

    Why are the recommended stoppage of blood thinning medication of 5 to 7 DAYS by international medical professionals/ experts not adherred to sometimes, at times or quite often when patients have upcoming surgeries especially major ones?

    Are there "vested commercial interests"?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Part 5:

    By the way, blood thinning medication such as Warfarin are actually and orginally rats poison used to kill rodents in the past and are still being used in present time to kill such pests.

    Certainly hope "oldies" are not viewed as "pests" by "vested interests" in such "lenses".

    Are " 医德 " a thing in the past in modern medicine?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Part 6:

    How many of YEW think "医德" are still well and tightly regarded by modern medical practionals rather than for commercial $$$$$$$$$S ( and ZERO cent, YEW think they are interested in the cents?) and "commercial VESTED interests", please kee chiu?

    Does " vested interests" only present in private practices? Are " vested interests" ALSO RATHER PREVALENT in the so called public practices?

    Have YEW or people YEW know suffered because of "COMMERCIAL VESTED INTERESTS"?

    Society might have become more "sickly and immoral" by the day. But if "oldies" are "viewed" in the "lenses" as if they are "pests such as rodents/ rats" in the dispensation and medication of "rats poison" or blood thinning drugs such as Warfarin and are not "adequately advised or practised" to ensure that the anticoagulation ( anti blood clotting) effect has worn off sufficiently before surgeries, what has become of societies in the name of "vested interests and $$$$$"?

    Is the human race still safe from fellow BEANS?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Part 7:

    Can ordinary BEANS especially oldies ensure that they are not treated like " pests such as rodents" in the face of "vested interests"?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Can ordinary BEANS especially oldies ensure that they are not treated like " pests such as rodents" in the face of "vested interests"?
    September 14, 2014 12:42 pm

    Are you a member of the "correct" political party?
    If not, then you better learn to vote for the Opposition.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you Doc, for your 7 part commentary. The issue is still about money, greed and where the heart is.

    If we don't find the heart in the right place, genius, smartness, scholars etc would do more harm than good.

    Hopefully there are some good people and some goodness in people to want to do the righteous thing, not the right thing.

    Thanks again Doc.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Corruption is so endemic in this island that it is becoming a way of life, a part of our national psychic that we don't even know that we are corrupt. We even proudly claim that we are corruption free. When corruption is inside yew, you won't even see it in the mirror.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Rb 1.29pm 14 Sept 2014 // Thank you Doc, for your 7 part commentary. The issue is still about money, greed and where the heart is. //

    Ha ha ha ha ha

    Rb aka Prof Chua,

    It actually doesn't matter whether YEW consider the commenter a "Doc" , "Resident geomancer ", or any other "profession ".

    The main purpose is to "问心无愧".

    There is a saying:

    "我不入地狱,随入地狱?" ( If I don't sacrifice or do the difficult or dirty work, who shall do it? The literal translation of this Chinese phrase is "If I don't enter hell to help the needy souls, who shall enter hell?"

    If the time, efforts spent and sharing can increase awareness and avert unnecessary sufferings, costs, pain and even fatalistic outcomes, it would have been worth the efforts many times.

    By the way, the 17th Sept date for the candle light vigil for the "person in the eye of storm " may not be an auspicious date for the person concerned based on Chinese astrology.

    But probably many people are not "superstitious" .........

    In "BIG MATTERS ", Chinese practice is to select auspicious date or at least AVOID inauspicious date for the main party(ies) concerned.

    Out of so many dates, it is rather "perplexing" that this rather inauspicious date ( 17 Sept ) is selected for the "man in the eye/ centre of the storm " to conduct such an event.

    On the other hand, many in the younger generation do not believe in "such things ".

    But based on observations, many life events such as marriage pairings , inauspicious selected marriage dates ended "disastrously " down the road in such situations. Whether such occurrences are pure coincidences or can be avoided based on Chinese astrology can never be "fully" explained by modern sciences.

    Perhaps adopting moderation and the middle path could be a viable solution. Extremes of many things, if not all, tend to be "no good ", especially for human beans.

    Tiok bor?

    ReplyDelete
  15. The title of the post " A little wisdom
    from the wise ones" is inviting.
    My hope of imbibing some wisdom from reading the post was not realized. I am still no any wiser and I still do not know who are the wise ones.
    Certainly not RB aka as Chua Kim Leng.
    He said that the stock market has collapsed! I think it is still alive and kicking. Look at DBS and look at Thaibev and how they move.
    If only the wise one has told the readers to buy these two counters 2 weeks ago, I would be that much richer!

    ReplyDelete
  16. "If only the wise one has told the readers to buy these two counters 2 weeks ago, I would be that much richer!"
    September 14, 2014 3:35 pm

    You have not yet sold ... so how can you start to count your paper profits?
    But I also admit:
    Paper profit is better than paper loss.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Aiyah.. everything also complanee

    Sgx so good .. u not happee, every cycle New blood surfaced, New wave pushed old wave lah..

    Change spread to 0.001 .. so good, traders can punt, machiam ATM to big boys.

    Leemember, under papigs so many billionaires in stinkapore

    So let's huat ... heng heng vote papigs

    ReplyDelete
  18. The people of this prosperous island love Yew and the fibreglass merlioness.

    ReplyDelete
  19. You mean fooly agree?
    Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel: Samuel Johnson

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anon 9:39, yew are so clever.

    ReplyDelete
  21. @ Anonymous September 14, 2014 12:52 pm

    /// Can ordinary BEANS especially oldies ensure that they are not treated like " pests such as rodents" in the face of "vested interests"?
    September 14, 2014 12:42 pm

    Are you a member of the "correct" political party?
    If not, then you better learn to vote for the Opposition. ///


    Anon 12.52pm 14 Sept 2014:

    Whether incumbent or opposition, politicians generally are "不是什么好货".

    If the masses vote for opposition, it is more likely they DUN TRUST the incumbent.

    NOT because the masses trust the opposition.

    The Chinese has a saying:

    "物极必反"!

    Too much of anything is no good and not healthy.

    ReplyDelete
  22. @ Chua Chin Leng aka redbeanSeptember 14, 2014 1:29 pm

    /// Thank you Doc, for your 7 part commentary. The issue is still about money, greed and where the heart is.

    If we don't find the heart in the right place, genius, smartness, scholars etc would do more harm than good ///


    Sinkies are NO LONGER daft.

    When some if not many ministars' hearts are in the wrong places, they should look to GY, LHH, ZA as precedence post 2011 GE.

    Some of them may have to follow GY footsteps after GE 2016.

    They still have about 2 years plus to repent ...... and "relocate" their hearts to the "right place ".......

    AGRC voters may not need to regret and repent under current circumstances as the rubbish in their estates din pile up to 500 storeys high like IVORY TOWERS.

    In fact, walking in AGRC wards makes one feel they are in a "Garden" within a "Garden City ". The incumbent ward which this commenter resides makes one feel like a "WAR ZONE " in the middle east. Everything so messy and digging everywhere and so dusty. Many residents probably have GIVEN UP washing their cars! It's a waste of time, efforts and $$$$$. Newly washed and polished cars are covered with a layer of dust in less than 24 hours.

    Worst still, despite paying all the exorbitant fees, corridors and staircases have NOT BEEN washed in the past two months?

    Apparently auto cruising IS VERY COMFORTABLE in high, mighty, airconditioned 1,000 storeys high IVORY TOWERS.

    Everything is "SO GOOOOOOOOOOD ", on paper and email reports? All residents and voters "BERY HAPPY AND PAPPY "?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anyone wiser than the Founding Father of Sin?

    ReplyDelete
  24. @ Anonymous said...
    // Anyone wiser than the Founding Father of Sin? //

    September 15, 2014 9:53 am


    Nope!

    YEW are the WISEST!

    Otherwise someone else will be sitting in YEWR place?

    ReplyDelete