The Domino Theory – A different narrative

Donald Trump’s campaign war cry is to make America great again. This statement is an acknowledgement and admission that America is no longer the great America of yesterday. America’s status and reputation as the great or greatest nation on earth has taken a severe beating and is now only a shadow of its past. It is now a big quest to want to make America great again.

The peak of American power was at the end of WW2 when it triumphed over Germany/Italy and the Japanese Axis powers. America was the undisputed world Number One superpower. The Soviet Union was a close second while the rest of the European powers were as good as bankrupt after the war. There was world peace but not for long. America must have an enemy and Communism led by Russia, its war ally, became enemy Number One.  The war allies soon broke apart with The USSR leading the communist camp and the victory of communist in China. China was the next big communist country, followed by Vietnam and North Korea.

Vietnam was a missed opportunity screwed up by western treachery. Ho Chi Minh was a nationalist though embracing communism. He led his Viet Minh in his fight for independence for Vietnam. But he was played out by the western allies. The Allies took control of Vietnam from the Japanese and duly released the French locked up in the prison by the Japanese to continue its colonial rule of Indochina with Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh left out in the cold.  Ho Chi Minh turned to the USSR and the Vietcong was formed to fight the French and subsequently the Americans. Vietnam was divided with the communist in the north just like in the Korean Peninsula.

The Americans fought its first war against the communist in Korea, driving the North Koreans who had almost conquered the whole of Korea, from Pusan back to the Yalu River. The Americans had de facto control of the whole of Korean. The supremacy of the American forces was unmatched until the Chinese sent in their peasant volunteered armies to drive the Americans back to the 38 parallel, and to a military stalemate. This was a rude shock to the American war machine, but they nonetheless claimed victory over the North Koreans. Half a victory was still as good as none.

The Korean War tested the American supremacy but did not damage its Number One superpower status. The North Korea was another country that had gone communist and thus creating the feared Domino Theory that dominated American policies in Asia for more than half a century in the era of Cold War. The USA did all it could to contain the spread of communism in Asia and fought the Vietnam War till it was defeated in 1975.

The defeat of the Americans in Vietnam threw SE Asia in disarray. It was panic station in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. The Vietnamese had marched into Laos and Cambodia and were at the Thai border. No one had the army to take on the battle hardened and war tested Vietnamese Army. Two more dominoes fell in Laos and Cambodia with Thailand at the brink of falling into Vietnamese hands.

The calls for help from the Americans fell on deaf ears. The Americans had no more appetite to fight a ground war in Asia. They were wallowing in self pity. The Number One superpower was no longer like what it was before.  Vietnam was the watershed that saw the waning fortune of the American Empire.

The Domino Theory was becoming a reality and the Americans were not there to stop the falls any more. Asean countries were desperate and in fear and needed help and turned to arch enemy in communist China to stop Vietnam, and to prevent the Domino Theory from becoming a stark reality.

China obliged, told the Vietnamese to pull out of Laos and Cambodia. Vietnam refused, Deng Xiao Ping sent in his PLA, bashed into North Vietnam and taught the Vietnamese a bitter lesson, not to mess around with China. China was no USA. The Vietnamese subsequently pulled out from Laos and Cambodia and Thailand and Asean was safe. Yes, China was the knight in shining armour that defeated the Vietnamese and saved Thailand and Asean, not the USA.

The West and their pride could not take this insult. How could China defeat the Vietnamese when the latter defeated the world Number One super power? So they went on a rage publishing articles that China was given a lesson by the Vietnamese. If their story was true, the Domino Theory would have realized to its fullest and Thailand and Asean would have been under communist regimes today. But many fools are still sticking to the story that Vietnam taught China a lesson and Asean was saved from communism, from the mighty Vietnamese Army by the Americans, that ran away and making a comeback today in its pivot to Asia and trying to make love with Vietnam to compensate for destroying that country. And some ungrateful Asean countries have forgotten who saved them from the jaws of the Vietnamese Army, to become fallen dominoes.

The Americans’attempt to defeat communism, to stop the Domino Theory from becoming a reality ended in 1975 when they were driven out of Vietnam.  It was left to China to do the necessary The rest is history. I walked through the history books of those days.

Now that the ungrateful Asean countries have turned against China, it would be interesting to know what would be their fate if China had not answered their plea for help but instead backed Vietnam’s expansion into Laos and Cambodia and make the Domino Theory a reality? Would Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore be communist states today and be part of the communist camp? Who bought time and security to these 3 states after the Americans fled Southeast Asia? Who was there to stand up to the Vietnamese when there was no Americans around?

AGO’s report on lapse in recovering university loans

The two universities, NUS and NTU granted several million dollars of loans to mainly Singapore students whose parents could not afford to pay for the cheap tuition fees that are already highly subsidized. In the AGO’s report where it did some sample tests, it discovered that the recovery of student loans in 23%  of the cases were delayed by 3.5 years, ie student unable, could not or somehow did not repay the loans in time.  MOE has responded that it is working hard to recover the loans but in some hardship cases it has to delay or reduce the repayment sum.

What does it mean, young university graduates in hard times and unable to service their student loans? Were they not gainfully employed after graduation? Is there a problem that young university graduates are facing financial hardship and unable to repay their loans in time?

There was a time when getting into university was something that called for great joy and celebration, on the path to riches. And on graduation, crossing the last hurdle, life was supposed to be good. Today, on graduation is the time to face disappointments in getting a job, don’t bother about getting a good job. Some were unable to get jobs over a year, some graduates ended up working as temp workers! There is nothing to celebrate about on graduation.

Some thought they got to do better, went on to get a masters degree only to be more disappointed after wasting the money and time, unable to find a decent job. What is going on?

Nevermind, this is the new life of a graduate. What is more disheartening, actually I thought it was a good thing that students were helped by the universities with study loans. On second thought they would be better off if they were foreigners, being helped in a big way by the same govt, with free scholarships, no need to pay back, no need to worry about loans in arrears or rescheduling loans. How lucky are these foreign undergraduates. And how unlucky are our own undergraduates. Should not they wish that they were not citizens of this country?

By the way, how many billions were thrown to the foreign students in scholarships? Why no one think this money should be given to our own children? Why no one think this should be raised in Parliament, that out taxpayers’ money must be given to the taxpayers’ children, not to children of people that we have nothing to do about, who did not pay any taxes to us? Why are chasing after loans that the students cannot afford to repay while foreigners had a free ride with free scholarships?
Stupidity has no cure. Or is it more than stupidity?

Patrick Tay – the only voice to the PMET’s plight

Is there really a problem that Singaporean PMETs are running out of jobs and hitting the wall? It is no joke in this most expensive city in the world to be unemployed and at a critical age when the financial burden of bringing up children and housing loan are at their peaks. And after this stage, the twilight years are not going to be a bed or roses when the children could not get a good job even with a degree and savings for old age are not enough.

How many of the elected leaders are listening and seeing the problems faced by the PMETs who voted them to power and would want to look after their interests? Don’t seem to hear much from the political leaders about this, maybe they have more important things to do than to worry about the PMETs becoming unemployed or under employed.

For those who took notice, the recommendations are hardly of any help and often very demeaning and undignified. The funny training courses that the PMETs have to put up with are quite insulting and a big waste of the talent and experienced that the PMETs have acquired for a whole life. The rubbish brought into the country to replace the PMETs are anything but rubbish and glossed over as valuable talents.

The lone voice calling for something to be done for the Singaporean PMETs came from Patrick Tay, supposedly responsible for workers welfare, not PMETs, but understood how serious the problem has become. Many of these PMETs have another 20 or 30 years to get by.

So what’s up Patrick? Short of ideas other then training and retraining? One simple suggestion, go to Parliament and tell them to stop the ministries and stats boards from employing foreigners for the interim years and get them to hire the PMETs. And foreigners mean PRs as well. Get the problem of unemployed Singaporeans solved first, and this include young graduates, before relaxing to hire foreigners. Is this so difficult to do?

Another thing, get the MOM to freeze issuing EP and SP passes until things get better for the PMETs and young local graduates.

Is the welfare and interest of Singaporeans going jobless not important enough for the govt to have a new policy to hire Singaporeans first? And watch out on those GLCs that are still hiring foreigners, especially those that hired foreigners to run their HRs.

Patrick should go to Parliament and shout like auntie Bee Wah. What is so difficult? Singapore must be for Singaporeans. Singaporeans must come first. Hire Singaporeans first. MOM, please stop issuing those EP and SP passes so freely like Santa Claus to foreigners.

Who is in charge of MOM?

The best scheme so far that could offer the PMETs a more respectable option after being replaced is the trading courses proposed by IE Singapore this morning. But all the measures are not addressing why PMETs are being discriminated and replaced by foreigners and companies continue to do so with easy access to EPs and SPs issued by MOM. Who is the cock that allows this sad state of affair to continue unabated?

What has Asean become today?

It was created at a time of big power rivalry and Cold War between the Americans/West on one side and the Communist bloc led by the Soviet Union on the other. The wise leaders of Asean knew then that this is not their cup of tea. It is better to stay out when elephants fight, and not get trampled. There was nothing to gain to be on either side. So the created Asean and refused to be roped into the American creature called SEATO. And Abdul Razak came out with the concept of ZOPFAN, Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality.

This concept served Asean well for several decades. Today, Asean is becoming more like the feared SEATO, an American creation to contain China. And some members of Asean are screaming that there are Chinese Trojan Horses in Asean and wanting to boot them out of Asean. Would Asean then be renamed as SEATO, the nightmare the founders of Asean tried so hard to avoid?

Asean is now infiltrated with many little USAs and they are calling the shots. They did not see themselves as little USAs. They did not see that their sugar daddy is the USA while pointing the fingers at the Trojan Horses and accusing them of playing by the dictates of their sugar daddy in China.

This is the height of hypocrisy in Asean today. Oops, should Asean be called SEATO? How many Asean states would want to be in SEATO to be dictated by the American sugar daddy?

The funny thing is that while some of these little USAs are sleeping with their sugar daddy, they are putting up pretences to want to curry favours with their ‘enemy’ sugar daddy and wanting to enjoy the market and economic opportunities China is creating for them. And they think China could not see through their pretences and would continue to let them ride on the Chinese gravy train while shitting on them behind their backs.

How neutral is Asean today? Has Asean changed or is it transforming itself into another American satellite organization? Who are the main drivers working to turn Asean into SEATO? Who is behind the ejecting Cambodia out of Asean agenda?

9 dash lines versus many straight lines

One of the major objections to the Chinese 9 dash lines in the South China Sea is that national territories cannot be written like that on a map.  National boundaries must be drawn as extension from the coast of a country out to the sea, 12 nm and the EEZ should be a further extension to 200nm. The 9 dash lines must be a joke. Where got borders drawn like that one?

Or can national boundaries be drawn in straight vertical lines or straight horizontal lines? Would straight lines drawn on a map, a flat piece of paper using rulers more legitimate? Where got such things, national boundaries cannot be straight lines lah.  Straight lines are like the 9 dash lines, simplistic geometrical lines, not natural, cannot be like that one.

Has any of the boys and girls seen the maps of African or Middle Eastern states that were drawn up by the colonialists? Anyone bother to look at the borders of Libya and Egypt and many other African states, yes, they are straight lines, drawn conveniently by the colonial masters, with rulers on a map on the table. That was the reality of the time. 

Times changed, the development of pens and papers did not happen over night, did not exist in the beginning of civilizations. The ancient people cut marks on pieces of woods, on stones, on tortoise shells as official documents then. Many ‘books, maps and documents’ were done in those primitive forms.

Not counted? Cannot be like that, must be in thick voluminous books, like what we have in the libraries, or the law journals in the courts of law then got count? You think the bible was written on paper like what you have now, that you can buy them from the bookshops? No, they were written on plant fibres, leaves etc.

Now, what is so different between China drawing 9 dash lines on the map and the straight lines drawn by the colonial masters as national boundaries in Africa? Do you know how the British and the Dutch divided the region up as their colonies? They drew lines on the maps then, like the 9 dash lines.

The European colonialists cheated the natives of the land they conquered by asking for documentary proof of ownership of their land. The colonialists demanded signed legal documents. What do you think the natives showed the British the Europeans? Signed documents like those printed in London, or pieces of barks or wood or stones?

The world yesterday was not like the world today.

Money laundering the most lucrative banking business

The big American and European banks are making really big money in money laundering and fraudulent banking practices or selling questionable derivatives and products.  Money laundering seems to be the most profitable business for many banks. And they have been fined handsomely by the US Federal Courts to the tune of billions. The total came to US$150b by some 10 big banks, including BoA, Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, BNP, Deutsche, Credit Suisse, UBS, Barclay and HSBC to name a few.

These banks are willing to pay the fines happily, for good reasons, as none of their CEOs were found guilty, or would be found guilty, or made accountable for the offences. The banks continue to run as per normal, and so were the employments of the CEOs, all sitting tight and happily as if nothing had happened. Surely they did not know the banks were involved in money laundering. With such latitude, would they be back to their monkey businesses again? There don’t seem to be any accountability or responsibility. It is business as usual and the banks are going to continue to make more monies laundering more money and selling fraudulent derivative products.

Actually the biggest winner of all the bank fraud is none other than the US Govt. They pocketed US$150 billion practically doing nothing, and doing something very legal. How many businesses can make this kind of profit with nearly zero cost? Is there a conspiracy between the Federal Court/US Govt and the big banks, with the banks allowed to do what is profitable but illegal but willing to pay the fines and the courts to enrich the US Govt’s coffer, like I scratch your back you scratch mine?

Who are the big gainers and who are the big losers in this game of money laundering? What a great game to play for the CEOs of these big banks. No responsibility when caught, only pay fines. If not caught, can chalk up big profits to justify big bonuses.

ASEAN - CHINA Meeting In Laos and the anti China mass media and obsequious pro American research writers

Subject: CHINA - ASEAN Meeting in LOAS


The  mass media of some ASEAN countries and some recalcitrant obsequious pro American research fellows of institute of studies centres insist on parroting the western mass media on referring to the recent 'Bogus court of arbitration ' as

'international' and 'United Nation backed'. By this time everybody should know the PCA is a fake, a sham, bogus and illegal and not backed or supported by the United Nation and so the tribunal is a farce and its verdict

is rubbish,  'Null and Void.' The tribunal is neither legal nor international. The fake court and phony tribunal had broken the laws of the United Nations and its five pro American judges were appointed by a jingoistic high 

court Japanese judge who was instrumental in getting Abe to change the Japanese pacific constitution to a new pro war militant constitution.Where is that internationalism when all the judges were from America and where is

that legality for arbitration when China stated from the outset that under United Nation laws it cannot pass judgement on a country's sovereign territorial rights and China would not take part in the arbitration but preferred as

earlier agreed with the Philippines to settle through bilateral talks and negotiations? In unilaterally taking the issue to the private PCA , Philippines had broken faith with China and committed a breach of trust and agreement.

The whole drama was contrived by the number one world trouble maker , USA and its Japanese poodle with the false notion of supporting the Pinoys but were actually making use of them as a pawn for America's excuse

to meddle in the South China Sea affairs . The whole insidious idea was to lend support to the Pinoy and Vietnam's robbery of some Chinese islands in the mid 1970s under a cloak of legality and ultimately to rob off

Chinese historic rights and sovereignty over the Paracels and the Spratley islands. It is shocking that the mass media and the few research fellows persist on wrongly referring to the bogus tribunal as "international court of

arbitration" and "backed by The United Nations". They have thus exposed themselves to the fact that just like the phony judges of the bogus tribunal, they are utterly incompetent and show a total lack of integrity . What

they wrote shows that they represent the mouth piece of USA which is adamant on creating trouble and instability in the region and to instigate and provoke confrontation among the South China Sea littoral states and

China. They are not qualified to comment on the South China Sea issue.

Creating wars in the the region just as creating wars in the Middle East and other parts of the world will richly benefit American war industries and America's ailing economy.Trouble started and tension began to rise with the

American pivot to the region and East Asia in 2010. The whole world sees the evil hands of the warmongering America behind the South China Sea issue. USA hopes to ultimately take full hegemonic control of the region

and thus to deprive China of its lawful historic rights and sovereignty and thereby deprive China of the rich oil and mineral resources in the Paracels and the Spratly islands and the relevant territorial seas. In short America

wants to contain China and stop her peaceful development.

For too long China's stance has been too soft and peaceful  but now it is prepared to take on American aggression upfront. China will fight and defend every centimetre of her territory. Will some of these pro American

Asean countries and the obsequious pro American mass media and research writers be happy now to see the new scenario? Good luck to them.

Instead of blaming America for being the source of the trouble the mass media and the few research fellows in a twisted fact of actuality persist on accusing China for the wrong reasons. The South China Sea issue is

between China and a few Asean countries viz Viets and Pinoys and not between China and ASEAN as a block per se. Cambodia and Laos are able to distinguish truth from twisted facts and acted correctly and

righteously. But  he mass media and the few fellow strategic reseachers refused to accept the actual facts and truths and insist on bending to the directives from Washington. This defies understanding and decent conscience

that is if they have any. They resort to unfriendly words and insulting terms, calling and naming Cambodia and Laos as Trojan Horses.  They are clearly portraying themselves as representing some of the Asean countries as

American lackeys or running dogs. They are suspects and what they are up to is yet to be seen. Instead of mediating and helping ASEAN and China to talk and negotiate and arrive at a harmonious peaceful conclusion,

they prefer to play into the hands of USA in creating flash points in the South China Sea.

What kind of strategic research have these few fellow researchers been indulged in? Either they are suspects of being American fifth column or they just have to write some hogwash to justify the security of their fat paying

jobs. In any case they are a disgrace to society and an insult to people's intelligence.

Southernglory1

Wednesday, 27th July, 2016
   

A nation of shopkeepers and taxi drivers…and natural aristocrats

Below are two comments I picked up from TRE.

 

1. Sinkieland will be reduced to become a nation of shopkeepers and hawkers. By Oxygen
2. Israel…are able to produce top scientists and top info tech engineers…while SG …of PAP rule have reduced us to be shopkeepers and taxi drivers and foodstore vendors and security guards. By ‘empty ricebowl for us’.

 

How true or meaningful are these two statements? Look at our economy and ask, what are the industries that are of high tech in nature, what are the industries that are making great profits? The industries that are really churning the fake growth, mostly due to inflation and inflated prices, are housing/properties and the service industries like finance, legal and medical services.

 

The govt has been working hard to reinvent ourselves, from a nation of shopkeepers to low wage industries, to high skilled knowledge industries, and now to services, financial services, legal services, medical services, and back to shopkeepers, hospitality services, hawkers and driving taxis. And everything has been maxed out and nothing new is on the horizon to drive the economy except to import more heads to balloon the housing/property sector.

 

The services are facing stiff competitions from around the world. Financial services are competing with lower and lower fees. Medical services would soon price themselves out of business and so is our hospitality and shopkeeper business. Even the taxi services are going to be priced out with new players flooding the market.

 

What’s next? Luckily the author of our next lap is out of ICU but his bags of tricks would have to wait as he is still out of action? Looks like we are running out of ideas and maybe a nation of shopkeepers and food vendors/hawker centres and food courts would be the last line of defence. But what’s wrong with being a nation of shopkeepers? We were doing very well as a nation of shopkeepers in the past, the shoppers’ paradise, the jewel in the East. Now a new Jewel rising in Changi Airport has risen.

 

Back in those days our cost of operation as shoppers was low. Housing and rents were low, labour cost was low, and we could sell quality products at competitive prices. Good and cheap. Today we are still good but not cheap. And shoppers can go anywhere in the world to buy good and cheap luxury goods. Why should they come here to buy good but expensive stuff?

 

The land and property owners still think they could raise rentals and the shopkeepers could go on raising their prices and the shoppers would continue to come to this shopper’s paradise of good but expensive goods. Would that be the case? Why is rental so high? It goes down the line, when the natural aristocrats everywhere demands to be paid in the millions. And someone must pay for them. It eventually reflects in rentals and all other costs that go to the price. The pay for a natural aristocrat can hire an equivalent of 100 workers or more. Imagine there are at least 10,000 natural aristocrats in the midst, maybe more. And the hefty rental cost, transportation cost, cost of living, how can the shopkeepers and the hawkers survive to sell their wares at competitive prices? We would even lose our shopper’s paradise industry if we cannot keep the cost and prices down.

South China Sea Dispute – The Devil exposed

The South China Sea island dispute has presented a golden opportunities for members of Asean to see at first hand how the Devil operates and how the devil is supported by little devils in its scheme to control the South China Sea by proxy. Superficially the western media have been consistently singing the tune that it was a dispute between China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei. This statement has been repeated daily by the western media in every one of their posts to insidiously sink this message into the unconscious minds of its readers particularly the innocent Asians and Southeast Asians that find reading between the lines so difficult and to decipher the embedded thought even more difficult to separate from the truth.

There are disputes among the four countries in conflicting claims for islands and territorial waters. But many were distracted from the real dispute or contest between China and the US for control of the region. The Asean states may be quibbling over islands but not knowing that the big powers were after the whole of the South China Sea.

A valuable lesson for the Asean countries to learn from this episode, no matter which side they were rooting for, is to see how the Devil operates behind the veil, and how little devils were drumming and pushing for the interest of the Devil. The intense juggling and pushing by the Devil were all there to be observed behind closed doors. In the heat of tense negotiation to get what they wanted, the Devil has dropped his guard, and so too were the little devils. They stood there bare and naked to be identified. Their modus operandi too were on display, how they schemed behind the bright lights.

Asean leaders have learnt a valuable lesson on what the Devil is capable of doing should they be on the wrong side of the Devil. Countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei must learn this lesson by heart as they could be the victims of the Devil. They too must recognized the little devils and their roles in this dispute and how they agitate as iittle devils for the Devil.

The leaders of Cambodia and Laos would have no problem identifying the little Devils and reporting them to China. After this episode, the little devils or little USAs need not put up their acts of pretence anymore. China will know who exactly is who and what they said and done behind the back of China. Would the little devils still think they could go to China, smile and tell China we are friends?

The hypocrisies must come off by now. There is nowhere to hide anymore. But more important is for all Asean leaders to see the truth and how the Devil pull the strings.

The biggest hypocrisy is that the Americans have built military fortresses in the islands of Guam and Diego Garcia with nuclear weapons and firepower to conquer nation states but demanding that China cannot put some military installations to protect its islands from pirates and rogue nations.

Hillary and Trump need to visit the Istana

The US Presidential Campaign is getting momentum and the two candidates are telling the Americans what they would do and what they would not do. One of the casualties that both candidates have in common is the Trans Pacific Pact. Hillary want to renegotiate the terms. Trump simply did not want to have anything to do with it. He wants to tear it to pieces.

Holy cow, these two are sounding like idiots. This TPP is the best thing for America and the Americans. How can they be talking so shallow? Did they know what is it in for the Americans in the TPP? If not, if they have not read them and not briefed, they  need to be briefed in details how good this TPP is. Maybe they are not super talents, did not have super talent minds and could not see the good things and the wisdom of the TPP.

I have a good suggestion for the. Please pay a visit to the Istana and get a piece of good advice on the TPP. They should if they want to know what is good for them. But if they are so stubborn not to come, then Singapore can send out super talent team to Washington after the Presidential Election to brief the new President on the TPP. Singapore knows exactly how good this TPP is for the Americans, and must also be good for Singapore as well.  Maybe should also bring a knuckle duster along in case the new President is too thick to understand good advice.

Who shall we send to Washington for this very important task? Should Hsien Loong make the trip himself, or should it be Hng Khiang or what about Vivian? Both or all three have been there to tell the Americans about this great piece of scroll, like the Holy Grail before.  We are doing it for the good of the Americans.

From the look of things, the daft Americans, or the daft new President of the USA, no matter Hillary or Trump, it does not matter anymor. They are too foolish to know the goodness of this TPP package.  They only have themselves to blame for not listening to the wisdom of Singapore and to cast the TPP into oblivion. Singapore will be very disappointed if the TPP fails to take off but it would not hurt Singapore too much. It is the USA that will pay the price for its failure.

Cambodia KO Vietnam and the Philippines

Would this headline be more representative of the battle within Asean in Laos, or the headline in the Today paper yesterday, ‘Cambodia blocks Asean consensus for second time’? The main paper title gives the impression that Cambodia was against the whole of Asean in the South China Sea issue. Or was Cambodia, the Trojan Horse, resisting Little USAs or American lackeys in Vietnam and the Philippines?

The American lackey camps would want to bulldoze their master’s voice in a joint Asean communiqué to claim that the ruling of the kangaroo court in The Hague was the rule of law and not a fraud. And they were frustrated by Cambodia and Laos for not wanting to be members of a fraud or to become Little USAs. Finally Asean delivered a joint statement but without the scandalous and fraudulent ruling of the kangaroo court in The Hague.

The American lackey camps are furious and now some are even floating the idea of kicking out the Trojan Horses and turn Asean into a house of Little USAs. Alternatively they would want to tweak the rulings so that the American lackeys could do as they pleased and issued all the statements they wished even with the objections of the Trojan Horses. Which American lackey is floating this idea?

What has Asean become today, a neutral regional bloc or a little USA bloc? There are now two competing camps within Asean, the Little USAs and the Trojan Horses and a majority of bystanders.

China’s interests in the South China Sea are constantly being challenged by the Little USAs. As China has changed its policy of appeasement to confrontation with the USA, it may be wise to consider taking the Litlle USAs out, one at a time and to stop their pretence of being neutral. The Little USAs are anti China. Period. China should consider cutting out trade and business opportunities to one or two Little USAs to mean business. It cannot continue to be a nice guy and let the Little USA punks to play behind its back. This is a problem that China must confront and the time is now, no more pretences, use the economic clout to whack them into place. China should deal with the Little USAs at arms length, reduction of economic cooperation for a start.

Smart nation, stupid people – Too big to lose

There is this saying, if you owe the bank a few hundred thousand, you are in deep trouble. But when you owe the bank several million, the bank is in trouble. This same analogy can be applied to organizations or countries bringing in too many foreigners to take up jobs within. A few foreigners can be an advantage, cheap labour or special talents that are scarce or needed by the organization or country.

When the foreigners become a majority, the problem will become too big to lose them. The foreigners will now become indispensable. Removing a substantial number of foreigners would undermine the efficiency of the organization or even cripple it.  The foreigners will be in charge when the number gets too big.

How could the number of foreigners grow to become the controlling factor, that the organization or country will be held to ransom by the foreigners? One possibility is an intentional policy of bringing in the foreigners at all cost, unthinkingly or irresponsibly. Another possibility is to lose control, to allow the foreigners to bring in their own kind, while the organization or country fell asleep and did not know what was happening.

Whatever the reason, the table will be turned against the organization or country, and soon the inevitable will happen, the foreigners will be in charge and taking over the organization or country as theirs. This happens to many organizations, especially the MNCs or organizations run by fools. 

This has yet to happen to countries except little islands like Hawaii and some in the Indian Ocean. Would it happen to the little Red Dot? Are there organizations, private and public that have been swarmed by foreigners and now de facto taken over by foreigners in this smart nation with stupid people?

The kampong boy grew up

The kampong boy grew up, worked very hard and was successful in building a small fortune for himself. He is now big and financially able to further develop his business empire. He looked around his backyard and saw a large tract of waste land, neglected, undeveloped and overgrown with secondary forest. Then he remembered what his father told him. The land belonged to the family for several generations, dating back to his great, great, great grandfather. But their family fortune had waned and they were unable to do anything to that piece of land.

The boy, now an entrepreneur, started to redevelop the piece of land handed down by his forefathers. The secondary forest was leveled and several new estates rose from the piece of land. It was a big piece of land and still have potential for many developments.

In the neighbourhood, several young punks also grew up and formed gangs among themselves. Seeing the young man developing the land, these gangsters began to have ideas to have a piece of action, a piece of the land. They too started to build houses on the land nearest to their respective houses. They simply claimed the land belonged to them in view of proximity. The land next to their houses must be theirs since no one has claimed ownership of the land, ignoring whoever was the original owner.

Disputes soon broke up when the young man went on to claim rights to the land but was rebuffed. The gangsters simply asked for proof of ownership. But the young man had difficulties as during the time of his forefathers, it was a time when documentations were not the norm and also many evidence of ownership were lost over time. The only evidence could be the markers left on the land, like tombstones of family members and some rundown huts.

The gangsters set up a kangaroo court with the help of bigger gangsters, hired their own middle men as mediators to decide who have the rights to the land. The young man refused to participate in the kangaroo court. The gangsters were cunning enough not to take the case to the official courts of the land.

After paying the middle men/mediators, the latter ruled in favour of the gangsters, that since the young man could not produce any documents, the whole piece of land is now no longer his and all the gangsters have the right to claim the whole piece of land. The gangsters even accused the young man of encroaching into their land illegally. The gangsters bought advertising space in the local newspapers to claim that their kangaroo court’s ruling is legal and binding and arrogantly sat on the lands they took from the young man’s estate and now are claiming for the whole piece of land as theirs.

The young man would now have to stand up to the gangsters. But the local media kept reporting that the kangaroo court is legitimate and the young man is a bully, has no right to claim his inheritance from his forefathers. The gangsters are very successful in buying the local newspapers to play up on the issue and keep repeating that the kangaroo court is a legitimate court and not one is willing to talk about the official courts of the land that could rule otherwise.

The issue of ownership as far as the gangsters are concerned is settled by the kangaroo court. Now the young man would have to take matters into this own hand, to reclaim the land he lost to the gangsters and more to lose with the ruling of the kangaroo court. The gangsters won the first round with the local newspapers on their side, making farcical news and comments against the young man.

The ball is now in the court of the young man, to use his financial muscles and whatever to chase out the usurpers of his grandfathers’ land.

British experts urge arbitral tribunal to review position to avoid being joke in legal history

LONDON - Two British experts said lately that the arbitral tribunal in The Hague should not have agreed to hear the South China Sea case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines against China.


The government of former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III filed the arbitration against China in 2013, ignoring the agreement his country had reached with China on resolving their South China Sea disputes through bilateral negotiations. The tribunal issued its final award on Tuesday, sweepingly siding with Manila's cunningly packaged claims.


"There is a current anticipated crisis in the South China Sea prompted by a Court of Arbitration decision to hear a one-party claim to a part of the South China Sea," said Stephen Perry, chairman of the 48 Group Club, in a recent interview with Xinhua. "Arbitration is defined in the dictionary as a dispute where the parties have agreed to settle it by arbitration. Clearly China does not accept arbitration to settle the dispute, so the Court should not have agreed to hear this dispute presented by only one party," he said. Noting that the two nations should pursue other means they agreed to settle their dispute, Perry explained that "the dispute cannot be settled ... by a process which only includes one party. It is not an arbitration." "I have been involved in many hundreds of arbitration and always both parties agree on arbitration, or there is no arbitration," added the businessman.


Shahid Qureshi, London Post's editor and political analyst, said the fact that "the tribunal has allowed the case to go ahead in spite of its lack of justifiable jurisdiction" poses a big question mark to the tribunal's "intention" and "interest." "I am of the view that the tribunal must review its position and jurisdiction for the sake of institution it stands for; otherwise it will become a joke in the legal history as they did not follow the due process of law," Qureshi noted. He pointed out that the Philippines, filing the case without consulting with China, failed to fulfill its obligation stipulated in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), a document signed by China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations including the Philippines in 2002."I think under the terms and conditions stipulated in DOC, the Philippines seems to have jumped higher than necessary and must review its position," he said. Stressing that "local solutions" are always the best, Qureshi argued that "the Philippines could talk with China about the matters arising about the situation in the South China Sea."


The analyst also said the real reason behind the so-called "militarization" in the South China Sea is the military involvement and "war profiteering" of the United States, which in recent years has sent military jets and warships on close-in reconnaissance in the nearby waters and air space of China's islands and reefs. "The US has a policy of creating wars or disputes within the countries and also in the neighboring countries of the targets (based on its long term objectives), starting from Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq," he explained. "One can ask a simple question to US officials: 'What are you doing in my neighborhood in the first place'?" Qureshi said.

Gangsters Govt – 黑社会政府

Many years ago, gangsterism in Taiwan was so rife that there appeared to have a parallel govt run by the gangsters in the island. I am not too sure what is the situation today but it is quite often to see senior govt officials paying respect at the funerals of gangster chiefs. In the Chinese vocabulary, the secret societies are called 黑社会, or Black Society. This has become a friendly joke even here when wearing black becomes a fashion among the young and they were affectionately called 黑社会.

The pervasive presence of the Black Society in all walks of life emboldened them, particularly in the movie industry that they started to make movies to glorify their lifestyles, playing up on values like brotherhood, loyalty and honour and how good they were. I could still remember a movie starring Tony Leung as a secret society chief.  And they were having their clandestine ‘cabinet’ meeting in the spa pool. Several secret society chiefs were present.

Tony Leung proposed that they should go into politics, run for election and hold their meetings in Parliament in the next round. His idea was shockingly realistic. He told them that being members of the 黑社会, their main business was related to finance. They controlled the gambling dens, prostitution, drugs, smuggling people, and yes, money lending and money laundering in a big way. And there were similar legitimate organizations in the main stream society, casinos, stock exchange, social escort agencies, night clubs, pharmaceuticals, employment agencies, banking and finance and money laundering in a big way by the banks.

If only they were in Parliament, they could appoint their own finance minister, CEOs of banks, of casinos, of stock exchange, and all the related money making agencies legally. In other words, if the黑社会 was the govt in charge, they could take over the whole island. They could own the island by appointing their own secret society members and clans men themselves. Oh, the fighters, the hit men, can take over the police and the army as police commissioners and generals. If I am not mistaken, the黑社会  also has their justice system too.

The secret society chiefs gave him a standing ovation. They said, let’s do it and the stupid govt would not have a clue what was happening when they had taken over everything. And Tony Leung would be the natural President of the island. This was some thirty years ago. Obviously they did not succeed or the Black Society, 黑社会, would be running the island today.

It was a great practical thought then and they could succeed if the govt was weak and careless and did not know what was going on. The 黑社会 was well organized, and could conspire to achieve what they set out to do. They were not only as well organized as the political parties, except without legitimacy, they could be very ruthless working under cloak and dagger to get their ways and put their members in position of power.

Tsai Ing Wen or her predecessor Ma Ying Jeou don’t look like gangster chiefs from whatever angle you view them. Thank God it was only a movie. Can’t imagine what the island would become if the 黑社会, succeeded. They would be wearing black ties, black shirts and black suits in Parliament and making themselves very rich, controlling all the financial institutions and the casinos and the stock exchange in the island.

More transparency on the cheating under CHAS and PG card schemes

Would our MPs be asking more questions for more transparency and accountability in the cheat cases by medical and dental clinics? Or would it be that the question and answer session is over and everyone can go home and have a good sleep? Case aired in Parliament and case closed? How much have been claimed, how much have been cheated or falsely claimed by the clinics have yet to be established.

If people can be tarred and branded for life for a few dollars of indiscretion, what about the hundreds of thousands being pilfered from these two schemes? As Seah Kian Peng said, it is public money and a lot of public money at stake.

A few questions came to mind, what is the total amount of claims made by these

clinics since the scheme came into effect? How much were supposed to be subsidies? Can we have some numbers? Calling a few patients up to verify what kind of treatment they received in some suspicious cases would easily reveal the seriousness and pervasiveness of this scam.

How much public money have been wasted or cheated under the CHAS and PG

card schemes? Anyone think this is important enough to know?

All my rotten teeth can bear witness for nothing was done do them to improve their condition and well being. I am not accusing anyone of wrongdoings, but some verifications like audit checks on the patients, on what they were treated and the claims made on their behalf would remove all the doubts and expose any wrongdoing. Too difficult to do, not enough manpower? Don’t make aunty angry again.