Hugh White - Don't be so presumptious

 

In his article in the ST on 27 Sep titled ‘Choosing between America and China’, this Australian academic could not resist wearing his pink lenses and all his western biases to discuss the China American relations in Asia. ‘None of us in these countries want to live under China’s shadow….At the same time, all of us want America to stay engaged in Asia, to help balance China’s power and set limits on how far its regional leadership develops….’ Who were these ‘none of us’ and ‘all of us’? Australia and Singapore, or do they include Laos, Cambodia and other neutral states? Hey mate, Asia is not only Australia and Singapore and American allies. Now the Philippines is not going be counted in your ‘none of us and all of us’, get it? The ‘us’ must be the Little USAs right?

Now what is your problem, what is Australia and America’s problem, an assertive and expanding China upsetting the balance of power in Asia? What is the picture, what kind of balance of power? China expansionist, assertive and has no right to want to have a bigger breathing space and room to play with? Look at the chess board, China is occupying only two squares in a corner. The rest of the squares are occupied by the Americans. This is the status quo that the American and the Australians and the ‘us’ would want to preserve as the status quo. And this was what he said in the rest of the article. China must be contained in the same two squares, by persuasion, coercion or war.

Now, who is pushing who into a corner? The American Empire is very comfortable to constrain China in a corner, with two squares and the Empire controlling the whole chess board. So, is China pushing outwards against the squeeze put up by the Empire, trying to break free, or being assertive and trying to eat into the space of the Empire?

He then dwelt with the reality of accepting China as an equal partner to the US, that the rise of China is inevitable. How could the relationship be equal if the Americans insist on sitting on 62 squares and demanding China, as an equal, to sit in the corner with 2 squares?

Hugh White could not see this inequality, inequity, that the Americans have been occupying too many squares in the chess board and it is time to relinquish some space to an equal partner. How about each power sitting on 32 squares? Is it too much for China to want to sit on half of the squares in the chess board? Why is China called aggressive and expansionist and ambitious, when it has only 2 squares and wanting a few more squares to breathe easier while the Americans refused to vacate a few of the squares?

What kind of balance of power is Hugh White talking about? What kind of equal partnership is he advocating for China to accept? What was clear in his article is this, the fear that ‘America might start slowly but surely, to withdraw from Asia’. What kind of foundation for a regional order would he think would be acceptable to both China and the US? A chess board where the Americans continue to sit on 62 squares and China to sit in 2 in a relationship among equals and with the Americans pointing a gun at China not to move?

To the western narrative, China’s OBOR, AIIB are all expansionist and belligerent in nature, a country that is planning to conduct wars, to conquer other nations. On the other hand, all the wars conducted by the Americans and western countries all over the world are for peace. Signing up military alliances and conducting war games are for peace, friendly gestures to the countries targeted, even when conducted outside their doorsteps.

Finally there is an Asian leader, brave enough and clear thinking to admit the truth, that conducting war games are aggressive in nature and would raise tension in the region. Duterte is going to end all military war games with the Americans. No provocative joint patrols in the South China Sea. I said he is brave for his life is at stake for going against the ‘peaceful’ Empire. He would be removed by the Empire, dead or alive. His Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay is negating almost everything he said to appease the Americans. Yasay could be a hot favourite of the Americans to be engineered to take over from the fall of Duterte. Duterte must watch his back and his every move. Defying the Empire is very risky thing to do. It is better to be Little USAs to be safe and be in the good books of the Empire.

80% readers want Tharman to be PM – The Independent Singapore

The Independent Singapore social media site said this, ‘We asked our readers on Sunday (4 Sep) who should be the next Prime Minister of Singapore. As at 12pm today (6 Sep), we have had 2,316 responses to the poll – and most (1882 votes) voted for Tharman Shanmugaratnam to lead Singapore into the future.’ The votes for the other hopefuls, touted as potential PM by the main media, with their votes indicated, are Chan Chun Sing(53), Tan Chuan Jin(28), Heng Swee Kiat(288). Lawrence Wong(21), Ng Chee Meng(26), Ong Ye Kung(1), Grace Fu(1) Masagos Zulkifli(14).

It would be interesting if Hsien Loong was included in the survey. Chee Hian managed 17 votes. Now what did the numbers above said of the voting pattern of Singaporeans, presuming the readers taking the poll made up of a fair sample of Singaporeans? And what did they said about the current prevailing official truth that Singaporeans are racists and would vote for candidates of their own race?

Unless Tharman is just the proverbial dark horse that is a flash in the pan case, the polls reviewed affirmatively that the readers did not vote according to race. Tharman is popular and has been popular among Singaporeans. Period, no dark horse, not dark horse. He is a force of his own to be reckoned with. He has a very strong following among all races.

The seond point, Masagoes even scored better than Grace Fu and Ong Ye Kung. So, another confirmation that race did not really matter that much?

What is interesting about this poll, if it is representative of the general population, Tharman would beat every one of the Chinese ministers hands down. But would this translate to him being the PM should there be an opportunity to elect the next PM? One thing for sure, the views and wants of the general population do not count in the selection of who is the PM. It would be decided by a small group of inner circle members within the PAP. The question then, is this group racist and would vote or select the PM based on their racist biases? Would they be different from the readers and the general population in wanting Tharman to be the next PM?

Who is the racist or more racist? The general population or the inner circle member so the PAP?

What do you think? Did the strong votes for Tharman debunk the current official wisdom that is being parroted by everyone in the political leadership, that voters are racists? Shanmugam and Tharman agreed with the official wisdom as well? With all the talks of a minority President, the inevitable outcome or consequences of raising this issue is the position of the PM and the minority’s interest in wanting a minority PM. Would there be a challenge to Hsien Loong’s position as the next PM given Tharman’s popularity in the next GE?

The people has been agitated to think that a minority President is just tokenism and the real stuff is a minority PM and would be making more demands for a real change. What now, brown cow? Anyhow opening a can of worms has its consequences and a price to pay.

PS. The survey was commissioned by Yahoo and conduct by Blackbox.

Singapore wants to improve ties with Japan

‘Japan is an "important friend" to Singapore and a key contributor to the region, and Singapore hopes to take the relationship between the two countries further…In our early years, Japanese investment made a lot of difference to our economy….’ Hsien Loong said these in Tokyo.

He was polite not to mention that much earlier, in the 1940s, Japan invaded and conquered Singapore, colonized Singapore, and massacred hundreds of Singaporeans during the Occupation. But that was too long ago and Singaporeans have gotten that Singapore was once Syonan To, and many were forced to learn Japanese and to bow to Japanese or be slapped or kicked or even bayoneted.

During this 4 day official visit Japan had in a way apologised indirectly by giving a posthumous award to ‘the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew – the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulow nia Flowers - an award Mr Lee described as "a great honour".’ Hsien Loong and Ho Ching were also given an audience with the Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko and had tea with them. This is another rare honour.

With improving relations between the two countries, maybe the next person to be given a posthumous award in the same Order would be past President SR Nathan. Maybe next year.

A storm is brewing between Singapore and China

The Global Times, a China media, lashed out at Singapore for raising the South China Sea Dispute at the Non Aligned Movement in Venezuela. The hard hitting piece by Global Times pointed out Singapore as the agitator behind the move to include Asean’s view on the Dispute into 17^th NAM Final Document. The Global Times were cocksure who was the culprit behind the Asean proposal.

Singapore’s Ambassador in Beijing, Stanley Loh, protested with an official letter to the Global Times denying Singapore’s role in the last minute fiasco at the NAM. It was all an Asean’s joint stand on the South China Dispute. Singapore is absolutely innocent. Singapore had no part in pushing the Asean proposal. You can see the halo over Singapore’s representatives.

Is this a case of no smoke without fire? All the jockeying around behind closed doors among the Asean members, who said what, who wanted what, who was trying to fix China, were open secrets. Every Asean state must know that China had its Trojan Horses in Asean. And it is pure stupidity and dumb arrogance to take an anti China position behind closed doors and to think China would not know what was going on.

Stanley Loh is quoted in the media today to say, ‘We are disappointed that an established newspaper published this irresponsible report replete with fabrications and unfounded allegations with no regard for the facts’. This is a very strong comment that demands an explanation and a reply. If Global Times could not support its allegations against Singapore, it must apologise to Singapore. It must response and proves itself. Let’s hope Singapore is really innocent or else dirty linens would be aired in the open. The ball is now in the court of Global Times.

What I am sure is that both sides know the truth. Whether Singapore was the main culprit behind the Asean proposal must be crystal clear to both sides. There is no place to hide. The truth will be out. With the main protagonist, the Philippines refusing to pursue the matter, who is behind the drive to want to incite more attention in the South China Sea, to keep the flame burning? To whose advantage would the inclusion of the Asean proposal in the NAM statement be? Who has an agenda for this to happen?

Would Singapore be vindicated and clear of the smear put up by the Global Times? It better be or the consequences would be very ugly and very embarrassing. From the vehement retort by the Singapore Ambassador, Singapore must be innocent. It must be or his whole credential would be at stake and so is Singapore’s credibility in the eyes of the Chinese leadership.

On the other hand the Global Times would not go shooting at Singapore only to have to retract its statement and even to apologise to Singapore by publishing fabrications. The Global Times would not be shooting from the hips if they did not have concrete evidence to justify the attack. This was no error and not a rash act that could fall flat as falsehood, or would it be so?

Which truth is the truth? It is so funny. It is like two persons inside a lift accusing each other of farting.

Would there be a sequel to this storm?

Singapore’s philosopher king?

In the Republic, Plato talked about an ideal situation when a state is ruled by a philosopher king, a wise man king, a ‘knows all’ that is supposed to be good, virtuous, and with unquestionable wisdom. After more than 6,000 years of civilization, this ideal philosopher king has yet to be born. No kings, emperors, presidents, dictators or whatever heads of state has come near to such an unusual human bean.

Presumably under the rule of such an ideal philosopher king, he is the one that knows best and would do best for the people, and the people need not doubt his thoughts, his ideas and his actions and decisions. He is right all the time and will rule for the good of the people.

We have heard it all over the media what Hsien Loong has said about the need to have a minority Elected President and all the stringent criteria that came along. We heard him saying that this is something he has to do and he would not let others down the road to do it. He is taking responsibility for this idea. This is the idea of one man and the decision of one man, and a very good one for the people and country. And the people got to believe in him, that it is for their own good and to be grateful. Get it right, it has nothing to do with CB.

We are now going to change the Constitution all because of one man and his idea and wants his idea to be implemented as the one good thing for the people. I just hope that Hsien Loong is the philosopher king that Aristotle was talking about, and that his idea is good, virtuous, benevolent and wise, must be wise, and is the right thing for the country. For the people they have no choice but to go along with it. There is no option for the people to say no to this idea and all the changes that are going to take place.

Forget about the deliberation and voting in Parliament. The MPs are not going to ask the people what they think and how they want the MPs to vote for or against the issue. The vote is as good as done even before it is started. At best someone might sneak into the toilet when voting is called. Why, because it is the best idea for the good of country and people. The MPs and ministers know this and therefore would support it wholly with no objection. The ideas of a philosopher king are usually this way, unquestionable, unchallenged and undisputed. No one is up to it to challenge such a wholesome idea, not in this cabinet or Parliament.

Singapore will be blessed if Hsien Loong is the philosopher king and his idea is the undisputed way to go. This minority president idea is looking like the best thing to have happened to Singapore. So far it looks that way. All the wise men and wise women in Parliament, in the academia, in the elite circle, in the legal fraternity, in the medical profession, agree with it. No one thinks it should be questioned, doubting it or saying that it is flawed.

See how powerful and supreme this idea is! It is like the unquestionable truth. If it is not, all the great minds and thinkers in the island would have spoken up. The 8 wise men and one wise woman agreed, must be, or else they would have mentioned it in their report.

The political thinkers in the academia, both local and foreign, also did not say anything to dispute its goodness. Remember, they are foreign talents, the best foreign talents money can buy and also great believers of freedom of speech and expression. If they did not comment about this great idea, it must be their way of saying it is good.

This is the first time in the history of mankind that an idea is not questioned or disputed by the wise men of the time, of an era. Kpkb in social media not counted, just noises in the wilderness, from the daft and mindless peasants.

Singapore's future can only be better going forward with this great idea. This is the closest one can get to a philosopher king.

Jonathan Eyal, ST Europe Correspondence, wrote this yesterday in his article ‘Is this the era of post truth politics?’, ‘Politicians may be strident in misleading voters but professionals must stand up to expose the lies’. This is only true if politicians are just politicians. It does not apply to philosopher king.

Sports rewards – Equal for all sportsmen, including Masters Athletes

 

The one million dollar question is in everyone’s lips. Yip Pin Xiu’s gold medals in the Paralympics should stand shoulder to shoulder with Joseph Schooling’s gold medal in the Olympics. Both should be given the $1m cash award.

Paralympians faced greater odds because of their disabilities. And don’t blame them just because they are competing against a smaller pool of competitors. It is not their faults. They cannot determine how many competitors in the race. So don’t be sour grapes. Even though sports is not about money, but about competing, about sportsmanship, but if you give someone one million bucks, it is only fair to give the paralympians the same one million bucks.

The other argument for the Open Olympians is that they are competing in an open field, against anyone that chose to race, chose to compete, be it 10 year olds or 90 year olds, normal or with disabilities, it is an open challenge.

How about a little support for the seniors competing in such events? The seniors’ only handicap is their age and the ageing muscles that refused to behave like when they used to. They are in no condition to compete in the Open category with the younger guys. I tried, a 10 year difference, or even 5 year difference would mean a few seconds difference, unless one is super fit and running against an unfit younger man. How about allowing the seniors to compete in the Paralympics? Maybe the 35 year old Masters athletics would pack too much power. How about the above 60 or above 70 Masters athletics? Their physical conditions are very challenging.

I have competed in a few masters events in the 100m sprint for the 65 – 69 age group. Not many competitors but understandable. How many oldies could still run or do the 100m dash?

Oh, I am not asking for a million dollar reward in the World Masters Event. That would be asking too much. I have known Masters athletics that have been consistently attending and participating in international meets for more than 30 years but barely got a cent in support from the Singapore Sports Council. They have to pay every cent for everything, air fares, accommodations, food, supplements, training, medical assistance, all from their own pockets.

Would the Minister in charge of Sports, of Singapore Active, think about giving a little financial support to the Masters athletics to compete and to keep healthy. No need million dollar awards. These Masters athletics are doing it for sports, for the love of being active, and in the course of it, representing the country too. Oh, Singapore Athletics did provide the sports attire when the masters are competing in major international events. How about a little support in transportation/air fare and accommodation, for representing Singapore?

No need million dollar awards. But a little or small award would really be nice. What is Singapore Active waiting for when so much money are spent on other athletes and sports? The seniors need some encouragement in what they are doing, to stay healthy to compete in sports. The medicine and supplements to keep their bodies supple and functioning are not cheap.

China’s nightmare gone to passé

China was lucky to have Cambodia and Laos as the Chair of Asean in the last two summits. Without these two allies, China would be dragged into the mud by pro American Asean members with the US and Japan cheering them on. Those two years were really treacherous for China. Asean could have been manipulated by the Americans and Japanese to go head on against China precipitating in a war or high tension in the South China Sea. With the Philippines and Vietnam and a couple of little USAs conspiring against China, China should count itself lucky to get away unscathed.

But this could not last long as the Chair of Asean is in rotation and China’s nightmare was about to begin with the Number One Asean protagonist taking over the Chair in the Philippines. The Chinese must have had sleepless nights trying to walk out of this Gordian knot. The Philippines under the Aquino regime was the point man for the American and Japanese aggressive war machine, and a very willing one, supported by a few even more zealous and eager little USAs.

And now the Chair of Asean is in the Philippines. What the plotters and schemers did not bargain for, while they kept plotting and scheming against China, is that the mighty One up there would not let them have their evil ways. No, the Philippines must not be allowed to spoil the day and the rise of China. It must be stopped. The only way to stop this farce and to keep Asean on an even keel is for the Philippines to change course, to be at least neutral if not pro China.

And He did it by bringing in Duterte to replace Aquino and the whole picture changed. The damages planned for China in Laos was a washout, down the sewers when Duterte refused to be the point man to do the dirty work for the American Empire and Japanese conspiracy. It is unimaginable for China if the Philippines is still under Aquino and taking over the Chair of Asean.

Now, instead of stern faces and bracing for the worst, China is smiling while the hapless Americans and Japanese and their little USAs straggled into darkness, into oblivion. Without a willing point man, without the Philippines doing the dirty work for them, even the little USAs could not do anything.

China is safe for another year with the Chair of Asean in Manila. The nightmare did not come true and the day is bright and chirpy for China until the next little USA takes over the Chair of Asean. And the Philippines would be the Chair or Asean China relations for the next 3 years. This is a bonus that China did not expect. From the verge of being dragged into the arena to be bashed around, the new Philippines would just do the opposite to the chagrin of the American camp.

Man proposed, Heaven disposed, how true, how true. The rise of China is unstoppable with the mandate of heaven. When heaven is on the side of China, there is nothing the Dark Side can do to overturn the apple cart.

Just when you think no more Chee By election

The Bukit Batok by election was all about Chee Soon Juan and was popularly and cheekily called the Chee By election. With such a phrase so easy on the lips the Chee By election would be remembered for good. And just as we think this co incidence is a rare find, and would not be repeated for a long time to come, who knows when there would be another by election to be called a Chee By election again?  The Chee persona is everywhere in this by election, even the root cause of it. If there is going to be another by election, Chee may not be the candidate to dominate the discussion or may not even be fielded at all.

No more Chee By election? Don't be too sure. The next coming presidential election is going to be all about Tan Cheng Bock. And, you got it, some are already calling it the Cheng Bock president election or CB president election for short. It is all about CB and whether he is or is not the target of all the changes in the next president election. It is all about whether CB will be eligible to stand in the next election. Don't get me wrong, CB is Cheng Bock's initials.

So, would the next president election be called a CB president election, with or without Cheng Bock running? It would be easy to call it a CB president election if Cheng Bock is running. It would even be easier to some to call it a CB president election without Cheng Bock running. Again this time it is all about CB and nothing else. Oops, I mean Cheng Bock and nothing else.

CMIO classification – Greater importance and indispensability

For a long time, there have been calls for the removal of the race classification in our identity card. Some believe that the presence of race in the ID is itself a racist thing, a divisive thing. We are all Singaporeans and there is no need to identify which race we are from. It just increases the awareness of our differences. Do away with it and over time we would become one people, less conscious of our different races. I am not sure if the Americans carry identity cards like us and whether there are similar documents to identify them as Africans, Hispanics, Asians, Middle Eastern, native Indians, India Indians, etc etc.
 
To those who are rooting for the abolishing of this racial distinction in our ID, they would not be saying the same thing after the constitutional changes on the Elected Presidency come into effect. The minorities would want to be identified as what they are. The Malays and Indians would want to be identified as such. Why?
 
Being a minority, they have two chances to crack at the post of EP. They could stand for election in the open category. They could also be given a second chance with higher probability in a reserved EP election once every 30 years if they did not get elected. The majority Chinese got only one chance.
What about the Eurasians? They will be most happy to be in the Others category. For in this category the chances are even higher as they are the absolute minority with relatively lesser numbers.  But this could change with the influx of foreigners that may end up in this Others category.
 
I think children of mixed marriages would now be very pleased if their parents have chosen to put them in the Others category. Hopefully there would not be a big scramble at the ICA registry for citizens to want to switch to this Others category to improve their chances to be an EP.
 
And hopefully the Others category would stay and not be amended when other minorities claimed they are discriminated and want their own race to be reflected as other minority races to improve their chances and their share for a reserved election to be the EP.
 
Many parents of mixed marriages would now have to consider this classification very carefully and choosing a minority category or Others would be a favoured choice if they are eyeing the EP. Race category comes with its own privileges, a bit like bumiputras but in favour of the minorities. Would we be creating a different kind of 'bumiputras' in Singapore? The danger about such a change is that it is very much more difficult to remove or unwind the situation once done.  A time bomb in the making.
 
Now you see why the race category in the ID is gaining importance? It carries a lot of rights and privileges to be an elected EP.  Being classified as Chinese would become a disadvantage when this thing happens.
 
Looking down the road the population of classified as Others could grow at the expense of the Chinese when mixed parentages opted for Others. The Chinese majority would thus decline in numbers while Others could become an absolute majority.
Race has its advantages, especially the minorities.

Elected Presidency – The number games

 

Since the changes to the Constitution is going to be a reality come what may, let’s look at the numbers and how it could work in the future. The key proposal for minority president is 30 years. So if a minority is not represented in 30 years, it would have an automatic reserved election to elect one of its kind to be the minority president.

Today we have 3 minorities, Malay, Indian and Eurasians. What happens if the new minorities also want to be counted in this minority game? Let’s say the Pinoys, Myanmese, Vietnamese and perhaps the Europeans, the latter would cleverly choose not to be Eurasians, then we would have 4 more categories of minority races. Not sure how many more would want to be counted as a different minority race. Let’s stop at these 4 plus the 3 categories we are having at the moment to make it 7.

If each minority would to serve one term of 6 years, it would mean 42 years before the majority Chinese would have its turn in an open EP election. Hey, is that not more than 30 years? If only there are 5 minority groups, it would even the slate and every race, including the Chinese would have to wait 30 years before their turn is due. Even under the current CMIO status, a majority Chinese EP will come about after 18 years when each minority has its 6 year term, at least, on condition that the Chinese will vote for a Chinese EP in an open election.

The problem here is that the minority is guaranteed a 6 year term every 30 years. The majority is not, I think. If this is the case, the majority may not even be represented every 30 years if they lost out in the open EP election.

Now got to watch how the Constitution is going to be amended and hopefully the majority would not be disadvantaged.

What do you think? Fair or not? Possible or not? Would the new minorities be fighting and pressuring the govt to have their rights to be automatic EP in reserved elections?

Asia must stop Japan from resurrecting its evil Imperial Military Armed Forces

                                                                        Asia must prevent Japan from resurrecting its criminal Imperial Military Army     

The writing is on the wall Japan is aggressively pursuing a confrontation course against China. It thinks it has the backing of USA and it is now time to have a showdown with China. Japan's evil thinking cannot be more wrong. The Chinese people and China and for that matter the whole of Asia have yet to settle the account for Japanese atrocities and war crimes from 1885 to  end of the Second World War in 1945. What makes the evil sub-human Japanese think that with American backing it can create another war in East Asia. In the Second World War USA dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This time round China should not be so kind but compliments Japan's wish for its doomsday  by taking  Japan off the map once and for all with a hundred or more atomic or hydrogen bombs on all Japanese cities. This is not what the Chinese want to do but it is what the Japanese are asking for .

Japan is  using USA to take on China hoping that the clash of the two titans will destroy both and provide an opening for Japanese military resurrection and imperial aggression again. On the other hand USA is goading Japan to fight China using it as a proxy to destabilise China and contain Chinese peaceful development. What ever it is China must always be well prepared to take on both despicable ruffians and destroy them simultaneously.There are good reasons why China must take the upper hand now to destroy Japan once and for all.

Under the Showa Era of that criminal monster Hirohito from late 19th Century  until 1945 ,the Japanese military forces, the Army, Navy and imperial Japanese family were responsible for crimes killing millions of Chinese civillians and prisoners of war.

Today Japanese leaders show no remorse or repentance for their brutal atrocities and unpardonable war crimes against the Chinese people. They pray at the Yasukuni Shrine which include convicted Class A war criminals in its honoured war dead. The short despicable Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party openly denied Japan had committed those atrocities and the case of forcing women as sex slaves - " Comfort Women."

In 1885 Japan attacked China and took Sakhalin Island to the north of Hokkaido and the Liu Chiu Islands ( which they renamed Okinawa ) from China and in 1910 it took away Taiwan and the Pescadore Islands. In 1895 Japan seized Manchuria. In the course of these wars from 1885 to 1945 Japanese military killed more than 15 million Chinese civillians and prisoners of war.

The number one war criminal was Emperor Hirohito who personally instituted the Three Alls Policy of taking no prisoners - Kill All,Burn All and Loot All. This scorched earth policy of Hirohito not only killed millions of Chinese but also caused untold misery and great suffering to many more millions.

Hirohito personally directed his military forces to carry out mass killings . In the Nanking Massacre of 1937-1938 , more than 300, 000 Chinese civillians and prisoners of war were either shot, decapitated or buried alive.Other mass killings were carried out in other parts of China under Japanese occupation. Hundreds were killed or buried alive in Gaocheng county in Hepei and in Mengcun village also of Hupei more than 1500 were killed or buried alive.

The Japanese pursuit of killing of Chinese extended to South East Asia. In Singapore about 100,000 Chinese were killed or buried alive in 1942 under the code Sook Ching. In Malaya many more hundreds of thousands of Chinese were slaughtered in countless villages. Thousands of Chinese were also killed by the Japs in various parts of Indonesia.

What is even more gruesome and intolerable is that they would bayonet young children alive or tossed Chinese babies in the air and then bayoneted them. The Japanese are really beasts and inhuman.

One of the Japs horrible war crimes was "Human experimentation and Biological warfare under Unit 731 which was established by order of Hirohito himself. The commander of Unit 731 was Shiro Ishii. Victims were subjected to experiments like vivisection, amputation and others without anesthetics. Other victims were subjected to testing of biological weapons. Victims were used for plague and pathogens experiments. According to the 2002 International Symposium on the crimes of Bacteriological Warfare , the number of people killed by the Imperial Japanese Army germ warfare and human experiments was around 600,000. More than 400,000 Chinese died of bubonic plague, cholera, anthrax and other diseases resulting from the use of biological warfare.

However it is shameful and despicable for USA not to prosecute top officers of Unit 731 for war crimes  after the war in exchange for the criminals in turning over the results of their research to USA. These war criminals of Unit 731 were also given responsible positions in Japan's and America's pharmaceutical industries, in medical schools and health ministry. In doing so USA  is guilty of complicity in the war crimes against humanity especially against the Chinese .

Besides the wicked Hirohito also signed orders specifying the use of chemical weapons in China.Thus in 1937 tear gas was used against the Chinese army. In 1938 the Imperial Japanese Army began full scale use of many different kinds of poisonous gases against the Kuomintang and communist troops. The gases used were phosgene, chlorine, lewisite, , nausea gas ( red ) and mustard gas ( yellow )

In the Battle of Wuhan , August to October 1938, Hirohito perfsonally authorized the use of toxic gas on about four hundred occasions resulting in tens of  thousands of death and lingering suffering. In the Battle of Yichang October 1941 , the Jap Imperial Army launched more than a thousand mustard gas shells and 1500 red gas shells at Chinese forces in which thousands of soldiers and civillians died. Later in 1944 the Japs started to use cyanide gas which killed even more Chinese soldiers and civillians.
,
Finally the Japs used widespread gruesome torture to gather military intelligence quickly. After interrogation and torturing, the prisoners were executed or buried alive. The Jap officers claimed they acted on orders from their senior officers and they were convinced that they were doing so in honour of their country. As one Jap officer said, " We carried out our duty as instructed by our masters. We did it for the sake of our country. From our filial obligation to our ancestors. On the battlefield we never really considered the Chinese humans. When you are winning, the losers look really miserable. We concluded that the Yamato race - the Japanese were superior."

From the above it can be seen that the Japanese will never change their beastly  behaviour, their penchant for aggression and conquest. They still think they are superior to the Chinese yet they have to adopt many things from Chinese such as Chinese writing, tea culture, the kimono was a Tang Dynasty dress for cultured ladies of nobility and even martial arts. Since the Japanese elites think so highly of themselves and are itching for a fight and since their crimes can never be forgiven, China should take them on and present them with a hundred atomic or hydrogen bombs to make sure Japan  will never be  a menace to the Chinese and others again.

China should seek a modus vi-ven-di with USA before launching a full scale attack on Japan.

As an aside information, my father was tortured by the Japanese in Singapore Fortunately he was saved by a Taiwanese senior officer of the same surname, My mother too was kicked and slapped by the Jap soldiers for not bowing to them. The Japs also confiscated all the money and jewellery from my parents and up to now our family has not been compensated.

Southernglory1

Thursday, 22nd September, 2016

Which mess do you want? Hillary or Donald Trump

This is what the Americans are going to choose in the coming Presidential Election for the most powerful job in the world, a real executive president, the leader of an Empire. It is so pathetic that the Americans have come to a stage when they have to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. What kind of choice is that? America got no talent? These two are the best there is to choose from? They should adopt the Singapore’s stringent criteria for an Elected President if they want someone good and able to run America and the Empire.

Please don’t laugh. We are moving forward towards the same dilemma, to choose from a slate of people that you may rather not want to choose from. The current presidential election regulations are already so restrictive that only a few individuals could qualify. When the immortals raised the bar, how many more would be left standing to be counted as good enough for the elected president post?

Then there is gonna be a reserved election for the minorities after a lapse of time. And the people are expected to choose from an even smaller plate, the best in a tiny cup, without comprising on the quality, based on meritocracy of a small pond.

When that day comes, the people may also be choosing which mess they want. The stringent criteria got nothing to do with the goodness of the person but with his ability to rise to the top of the heap in a big organization, to be able to count money. Many otherwise better candidates, better men and women with better moral values, better philosophies, better understanding of what life is all about, would be ruled out as unfit, misfit to be the Elected President. Even Jesus Christ would not be good enough. Only a very select few would qualify under these stated criteria and get through. What about unstated criteria? Are there undisclosed criteria that the potential candidate must satisfy to be eventually confirmed as safe and good?

With all the written and unwritten rules and criteria, it is quite possible that the people would be put to elect the lesser evil, like the Americans, which mess do they want. The Americans have more than 250 million people to choose from and they ended up with just Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Singaporeans did not have 3.5 million people to choose from, only a handful of the so called ‘clever’ people. And in a reserved election for a minority, the pool of ‘clever’ people would be less than the fingers in a hand. What kind of choice is that?

What kind of mess do you want?

Made in Singapore?

Modi wants to turn India into another manufacturing hub and came out with his Make in India slogan. His vision is simple and clear, products and services made in India, ideas originated in India, and made by the Indians and sold at Indian prices.
China, the factory of the world, has Made in China products and services. The products and services are made in China, by the Chinese and at Chinese prices. There is a slight difference. Many of the products and services originated from the West, the ideas from the West, but copied and modified and produced at much lower cost to sell at much lower prices.
What is Made in Singapore? It used to be made by Singaporeans and to some extent Malaysians working here. The ideas were western and some from Singaporeans. Today, Made in Singapore is no longer what it used to be. Many have ideas originated not from Singaporeans, and the products and services are made and provided by Third World citizens. The only thing that is still Made in Singapore is the price. Oh, the system and infrastructure could still be Singaporeans. The delivery and execution are hardly or barely Singaporeans. Walk into any hospitals and you may think you are in some Third World countries served by Third World citizens.
The universities have been taken over by foreigners and literally run by foreigners. The banking and finance industry, the IT industry, some manufacturing products and services, the medical industry, the human resource industry and what else, God knows, are all made and provided by foreigners.
We used to laugh at the Proton car that the local content is very little. Now Made in Singapore brand, how many percent is Singaporean? Can we still call it Made in Singapore, Singapore quality, served and provided by Singaporeans and charging Singaporean prices?
What is Made in Singapore? What is Singapore?

Elected President - My last post on this issue?

 

I thought I have written enough on this thing with my last post yesterday but someone prompted me to look at it from another angle. And this view is an answer to what Shanmugam said about our EP becoming a laughing stock. Shanmugam was quoted in the media to have said, ‘The scenario of an individual who steps forward to run for the position but does not get a majority vote could make Singapore a "laughing stock"…’

What would this statement make of the 35% votes for Tony Tan? Did he get a majority vote or the best among the candidates with less than the 51% majority? Would the proposed changes to the EP ensure that a minority candidate gets a majority vote when put on the vote?

This is the catch. Remember the official mantra that the Chinese majority are ‘racist’ and would vote for Chinese candidate? How true is this? If this is true, a few scenarios could happen during the reserved election for a minority president. One, because they are ‘racist’, they would boycott the election since they did not want to vote for a minority candidate. Two, they may cast blank votes since there is no Chinese candidate for them to vote. Three, they would cast spoilt votes to register their protest or they simply did not want to vote for a minority candidate.

So, guess how many percent of the popular votes would a minority candidate get in a reserved election? With the Chinese population at 70-75%, the max for a minority president to get is 30%. Or say 20% of the Chinese are not racists, he would get another 15% to make up a total of 45%, still less than 50%. He does not have a majority vote, and he will become a laughing stock.

See how this potential is being created by the false assumptions and the contrived logic to make this minority president a reality? What is worse is that the minority will deem this as an insult, a racist thing, and it will become a racial issue. With this new brew of minority representation, is it a recipe for disaster, for more racial tension and unhappiness instead of the professed aim of building a more cohesive multi racial society? Would it end up dividing the races rather than bringing them together as one people regardless of race? Are the wise men and women up to it to foresee what they are cooking for the future?

If this is a good solution, the wise men and women of the past would have thought of it. The Oracle would have thought of it. When the Oracle feared to tread, who dares to defy the past wisdom of not having this in the Constitution?

Elected President - You got to believe it

I have said enough of this EP thing and there is really nothing much more to add. Hsien Loong had said it many times, that this is something he has to do, he will do it and there is nothing to stop him from doing it. You can kpkb, but it will not matter. He has decided that this is the best thing for Singapore. And no bets for how your representatives will vote in Parliament when this bill is up for MPs to ask questions. But there is one niggering point that I just want to clarify before race is enshrined into our race neutral Constitution, before race compromised meritocracy is justified as the new normal, that meritocracy is not compromised, that’s what they said. I am the law, whatever I said must be right, logical and unquestionable. It is good for Singapore, and definitely not against any individual. How not to believe a govt of honourable, sincere, selfless and flawless men and women sacrificing to serve the people and nation? If the people cannot believe in them, then who else can they believe?

Now what is this thing that needs to be spoken? The assumption in this thing is that the majority Chinese is racist and eventually minority race, or some minority race, would not have a chance to be the EP of this island. The Chinese would have this special advantage and would choose to elect only Chinese to be the EP. How many sensible people would believe in this racist line of logic? Proven? Has this been proven?

Never mind. The Constitution will be race neutral, really? It is at the moment. The founding fathers, including Lee Kuan Yew made sure it is. After this bill, when it is crafted to ensure that all minority race would have a chance to be the EP once in a while, would the Constitution still be race neutral? So would it be written in such a way that if any minority race is not represented after a number of years, that a reserved election would be held just for that race? This sounds fair for the minority races.

What if the assumption is false? What if the Chinese are not racist and would choose to vote for the best candidate and continuously vote for non Chinese candidates over a long period of time or over several terms? Would there be a reserved election for the majority Chinese to have a chance to be elected as the EP? See the point?

If the wording of this racial EP election is about protecting minority race and the word minority is added, then the majority will be excluded and not protected based on the assumption that the majority Chinese are racist and would always vote for a Chinese EP.

Don’t say it would not happen. Though there are definitely some Chinese that are racist, chauvinist, I believe the majority are not. Many are colour blind if one is to look at their voting pattern in the past and how they voted overwhelmingly in favour of minority candidates. Put Tharman up for election as the PM today, he would have won hands down.

What is the point of this post? Should the majority race also be protected in the Constitution in case the racist assumption is proven false? Maybe the Constitutional Commission has already thought through this and the wordings in the Constitution would be race neutral and the safe guard would be for all races that did not have a chance to be the EP for a certain time frame, not just the minority.

Oh, I also assume that all races meant CIMO and not Pinoys, Myanmese, Thais, Vietnamese, Europeans etc etc. In this rush to make sure the new rules would apply in the next GE, the definition of minority is conveniently not spoken. Our minorities are not just the Indians, Malays and Others, there are new minorities that are quite substantial in numbers and they would want to be represented as a race in the EP in the future. And if the Constitution is to pretect minority races, this issue or definition of race cannot be callously ignored. It is a time bomb that will go off if allowed to slip into the Constitution undefined.

The new minorities would be asking for their own representation in times to come. It would not just be the Eurasians in the Others category. The Pinoys, Myanmese, Vietnamese, Thais and Europeans, not Eurasians, would want to be counted. They would want their turns to be EPs. How to tell them that they are not minorities like the Indians, Malays and Eurasians?

What do you think?

Zika – Invite the mosquitoes for tea

Masagos is complaining that it is very difficult to find mosquito breeding grounds. Many are actually inside people’s homes or inaccessible little corners. Since January to July 748.000 inspections have been conducted by NEA with 44,000 done in construction sites. Look at the numbers again, in 7 months, it works out to more than 100,000 inspections a month or 3,333 inspections a day. How many manhours involved to conduct these inspections?

Has Masagos ever thought of an easier way to get to the mosquito breeding grounds? How about inviting them for tea? This idea is not new. It is so simple, so effective, so easy on manpower, so easy to reach the mosquitoes and round them out. Why so difficult and so troublesome running around to look for mosquito breeding grounds?

If NEA is to provide conducive environment and convenience, the mosquitoes will come marching, queueing to deposit their eggs in simple contraptions laid out for them. Why is this method not done? Have them in the construction sites, on the ground floor of housing estates near the gardens or shrubs and just collect the eggs/larvae regularly for disposal. If half of the mosquitoes are attracted to lay their eggs in these convenient stores, there will be half less to find.

Why always think of difficult and expensive methods? Why waste so many man hours  hunting for mosquito breeding grounds when you can send out invitations to them to come calling, to breed at  your chosen contraptions provided for them, at your convenience?

So difficult meh? Or this method is too simple, too cheap, too easy, so cannot do?

The Asean Summit in Laos

The two day Asean Summit came and gone minus the high tension of the last few summits when the Americans and the little Americas were working hand in glove to pressure China with unreasonable demands on the South China Sea island dispute. The Americans thought they could reenact the play like they did before, with the Philippines as the point man, and with greater influence with Obama and Abe to lend weight to the little Americas.
 
Obama repeated the same call that China must accept the ridiculous rulings of The Hague as binding and to respect them as international law. The big question is whether the Americans would abide by such a ruling when the procedures and composition of the court members and their biased agenda were no different from a kangaroo court? For that matter, would any of the American allies accept such a ruling as binding when the whole process and protocol was anything but fair and just?
 
The outcome of the Summit would have been the same, with the heads of states politicking and wasting their time on the South China Sea dispute, raising tension and temperature but with no solution or progress on the matter. What the Americans and their allies did not bargain for, did not plan for, was that this time the Philippines have called out, did not want to participate in an American farce and using the Philippines as a political pawn.
 
In President Duterte was a man that could see through the intrigue and conspiracy of the Americans and their allies and most importantly the hypocrisy of the scam. Once Duterte called out, there was nothing else that the Americans and their allies could do to continue with their political game. The Summit returned to its normal self, to discuss issues that would unite and project Asean interests than the interest of foreign powers, to discuss on more important issues and challenges facing Asean instead of dramatising to raise tension and disunity in the group.
 
Asean concluded the Meeting with positive pledges to work by peaceful negotiation with interested countries, particularly China, to settle their differences. Obama and Abe returned empty handed, unable to stoke fire in the South China Sea dispute and must be very disappointed for failing to do so, to divide Asean and raise tension in the South China Sea. Normalcy has returned to the region and it is business as usual. The threats of military confrontation and the use of force manipulated by extra regional powers is passé.
 
After several years of highly tense and unproductive summits, this is perhaps the best Summit for Asean with Asean setting the agenda and not be influenced and dictated by big powers. Asean has taken charge and would henceforth be in control of future meetings and chart its own destiny.

CPF Investment Scheme – Another bird brain scheme to be shelved

Actually not nice to call this a bird brain scheme. Dunno whose stupid idea was it. Ok not nice to say stupid idea also. When it was started, remember, the media was flooded with glowing reports about how such investments in equities would grow in the long term, 20%, 30% etc etc. Definitely, guaranteed, better returns than putting the money in fixed deposits. Sure make big profit one. And every CPF member was encouraged to dump their lifelong savings into stocks. If I am not mistaken, it started with 90% of CPF savings allowed to invest in stocks.

Some 20 years down the road, many CPF members got their fingers burnt until ‘chow tar’. Dunno how many billions were lost in the stock market by CPF members. Anyone dares to print the real figures on losses? It is frightening if you know the real numbers.

The damage control came in and the sum allowed to gamble in stocks, oops, invested in stocks, was drastically reduced, frantically. But too late, billions were washed away in the stock exchange longkangs. Many CPF members are still licking their wounds quietly.

Today the figure quoted by Tharman, ‘The DPM said that 45% of investors made losses while 85% of investors earned less than 2.5% on their OA, thus calling the CPFIS "not fit for purpose". 85% made profits, from when to when? This is only the tip of the iceberg. But it is frightening enough for Tharman to call for a review of this bird brain scheme that resulted in many CPF members losing a big chunk of their life savings. And now the govt is complaining that CPF members did not have enough savings for retirement. And mind you, does anyone know how much is wiped out by the silly asset enhancement scheme when HDB prices were marked and priced to market? And also the billions wiped out by the MedishieldLife plans.

Too late, too late, too bloody late! All the money lost is like water under the bridge. No more, habis leow. Now where is the joker that came out with this bird brain scheme? Cry also no tears left. Who was the pipe piper?

Haze- Saying something good about Jokowi

Actually I wanted to write something positive about Jokowi and his team tackling the haze problem last month but had to hold back when haze struck again. Two weeks had passed and the situation is not that bad after all if one is to look back last couple of years around this time. Haze would have engulfed the island by now and for a month at least if the Indonesians have not done something positive to improve the situation. Since August, we only have a few bad days but still tolerable, thanks to the effort by the Indonesians in what they are doing.

We should not expect the haze problem to go away overnight. This perennial problem was allowed to build up over the years through neglect and tiada apa attitude on both sides, allowing the culprit to think they could get away with murder. The Jokowi team has been on it only a few months and must admit there are clear signs of improvement and we could breathe easier. If the condition can be maintained and better in the next few months, we must send a thank you note to the Indonesians. They meant business and are doing everything they could to curb this annual problem facing the neighbouring countries.

Yesterday the Indonesia pulled out another trump card to make sure the people on the ground, the small plantation owners, understand the seriousness of the haze. The nation’s top Muslim agency was brought in to issue a fatwa against burning forests and making a profit from it. Both are declared as haram, against the teachings of Islam. How much more can we expect the Indonesians to go to control and manage this problem?

This is the first time the Indonesians are putting money where their mouth is. They are working at it seriously, conscientiously. Give them a bit more time and the haze problem is likely to be a problem of the past.

Thank you Jokowi and the Indonesian haze management team.

US bent on starting a war in Asia

The US is going to take unilateral action against North Korea, and behind this unilateral action would be the Japanese, all wanting to get the two Koreans to kill and destroy each other. And the South Koreans are just as eager to do the necessary, and the Americans and Japanese are so glad that this would be so, and there will not be any Koreans left on the devastated Korean Peninsula after an open conflict.

On paper, superficially, the South Koreans are just as mad as the North Koreans, so happy and eager to kill the North Koreans for the Americans and the Japanese. How real is this? Are the two Koreans really so mad to want to destroy each other for the benefits of their Number One enemy, Japan? Sensible and reasonable people would not think so. The two Koreans could not be so mad and stupid to want to do so. But all the sabre rattlings are pointing to an eminent war of unimaginable proportion that would see to the end of the Korean Civilisation.

The Americans, in command of the South Korean armies, had just flown two B1 bombers armed with nuclear bombs over the Korean peninsula as a show of force. Hopefully Kim Jong Un would be really mad and fire at the B1s and scatter the nuclear radio active waste all over the Korean peninsula and across the Sea of Japan. Unfortunately Kim Jong Un is not that mad to do so. But if an accident like a trigger happy Taiwanese NCO pulling the trigger, and all hell would break loose.

The Americans are trying to use force against the North Koreans, while talking about peace. God bless the two Koreans, for they may not be around after such a war. Would they have the wisdom to avoid killing themselves or would the Americans and the Japanese decide their fate and existence as a Civilisation of Korean people?

War is not funny when nuclear weapons could be use. Would anyone be able to stop the Americans from starting another war in Asia? All the silly American allies must be happy to have a war in Asia so that they can have more dead heroes to brag about. For sure this time the Philippines would not be involved under Duterte. He remembered the massacres of hundreds of thousands of Pinoys by the Americans in the early 1900s and would likely be asking the Americans to pay for compensation and reparation for the slaughtering of Pinoys during the invasion and colonization of the Philippines. He has started to ask the American soldiers in Mindanao to go home. He has cancelled joint sea patrol with the Americans in the South China Sea to deescalate tension with China.

Duterte is very clear in what is best for the Philippines. He would not allow the Philippines to be used as a sacrificial lamb to serve American interests. He would not allow the Pinoys to die for the American Empire and turn the Philippines back into another American colony. There is national pride in this man.

Duterte must be very careful for his safety for antagonizing the Empire. Be prepared for a military coup to topple him or an assassination bullet. There are many Pinoys, among the drug lords that could be easily persuaded to do the job for the Americans or a false flag event to knock him out. This is the risk for defying the Dark Side.

Elected Presidency - Outrageous and untenable circular logic

 

　

To the Person Sitting in Darkness

The Person Sitting in Darkness is almost sure to say: "There is something curious about this – curious and unaccountable. There must be two Americas: one that sets the captive free, and one that takes a once-captive’s new freedom away from him, and picks a quarrel with him with nothing to found it on; then kills him to get his land."

 

The above was penned by Mark Twain in 1901 and below was a comment by Duterte blasting at the Americans who thought the Philippines is still their colony and they have the right to meddle with the political affairs of the country.

 

."I am a president of a sovereign state. And we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master but the Filipino people."

 

How could these two statements have any relevance to the controversies over the changes to the criteria and qualifications for the Elected President of Singapore, albeit a practically non executive post, paid in the millions while most of the jobs would be about attending charity events and claiming to be the one that raised the millions for charity, or visiting sporting events and cheering the athletes to give moral support? How important and demanding could such a job be to require so extraordinary feat and expertise but with nothing said about moral righteousness, honour, humility, human kindness, compassion, nobility of not the monetary kind, and the desire to serve the people and country?

 

The thought that a non executive president must possess all the stringent qualities but nothing is needed to be the most powerful man in the country, the PM, is simply nonsensical. Period.

 

But this nonsense does not stop there. This man, after passing through the stringent criteria, needs to be elected to have the moral authority to make decisions on two functions, ie say yes to use the national reserves and the appointments of top civil servants. It would not be ridiculous if things stop here. But no, there is a non elected Presidential Advisory Council to overrule the elected President. What nonsense! The men in the Advisory Council are not elected by the people, what moral or legal authority would they have over a President elected by the people? And in most cases, these men may not even be more qualified than the EP.

 

And there is this presumption that in the event of a rogue govt, the President, a one man show, could rule over a rogue govt? What audacious thinking is that? A rogue govt may be rogue but not stupid, and it is the easiest thing for them to get rid of the EP if they intend to do so. They could even disband the Parliament and rule like rogues, abusing all the powers at their disposal, changing the Constitution, appointing all their lackeys and cronies to high offices and take control of everything. There is nothing to stop a rogue govt.

 

And what is the point of a highly qualified EP, elected by the people, with moral authority, to check on the govt, when Parliament could simply overrule him with a 2/3 majority? Heard of LPPL?

 

And it is the fault of the system that we don't have a minority Malay President for four decades! Oops, it is not the system, it is the racist Chinese population that would not vote for a non Chinese President. What proof? Who said that? Has it ever been proven that it would be the case? Utter nonsense, rubbish. Oh, the surveys said so. Really? What worth are the surveys?

Singaporean Chinese are racist?

If one is to follow the political narrative in the main media the last few days, on air or in print, one cannot but go away with the idea that the majority Chinese are racist. And extrapolating this kind of silly thinking and talks, as this island moves forward, there is a high likelihood that apartheid is on the card if the govt does not do anything about it. The racial issues are getting so bad that several politicians are giving out warnings that things would get worse if nothing is done today, now. Singapore is going to face racial strife and riots in the future.

The statestimesreview posted an article with this title 'Minister Chan Chun Sing and Sam Tan: Singaporeans, especially Chinese, are racist'. The statestimesreview is an alternative voice in the social media and understandably would have a different slant to the official view. Did Chan Chun Sing and Sam Tan said that, one would have to read what the two actually said and decide for oneself. One thing for sure, this is the impression that the statestimereview had from their political dialogue to convince the people why there is an urgent need for the drastic changes to the Elected Presidency.

Actually there is now a massive govt campaign going on led by ministers to talk on this topic and how racist the majority Chinese population is. One joker even said if nothing is done, in the future there will be no more minority MPs, implying that the Chinese would only vote for Chinese MPs. Is this kind of utterance backed up by empirical data of the past voting patterns?

In the latest by election at Bukit Batok, Ah Mu won hands down by beating Chee Soon Juan. What did it say of the racist Chinese voters? Nothing much really as Ah Mu is likely to be Chinese as Ah Mu sounded like a Chinese name. And I heard he could speak Chinese as well. He may look darker in complexion but to the simple minded Chinese voters he must be Chinese and that was why they gave him a resounding victory against another Chinese.

What about Tharman? Is he also Chinese? His name sounds Chinese as well. And he got the highest percentage of votes in the last GE, higher than the PM. I think the racist Chinese voted for him because they thought he is Chinese. It must be, racist Chinese majority would only vote for Chinese MPs/Minsiters. If you believe the current narrative this must be the case.

What about the past, did any minority politicians got elected by the racist Chinese that would vote only for the same race? Who was David Marshall, Devan Nair, Rahim Ishak, Othman Wok, JBJ, etc etc, were they not voted into office by the racist Chinese? And they stood as single constituency candidates, not lompang and got in by GRC, hanging on to the coat tails of a Chinese ministers.

After so many years of national education and national pledges, is the promotion of a multi racial country a complete failure and the govt now have to resort to legislation to protect the minorities or else they would not be voted into political office? You believe in that?

And what is the wonder solution to ensure that the racist Chinese would vote for the minorities? Have a minority president! Wow, this is really a magical formula that can solve a 50 year racial problem. So simple, so brilliant! And after this is built into the Constitution the racist Chinese majority would no longer be racist or cannot be racist?

What do you think?

PS:  Happy Hari Raya Haji to our Malay and Muslim fellow citizens.

Elected President - The Americans got a good model to copy

Look at Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton fighting it out for the Presidency of the most powerful country in the world, with executive duties and power to conduct wars all over the world. And look at their qualifications? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now wonder the Americans are scratching their heads on which joker to vote.

Not to worry Americans, there is a new model to learn from, the Singapore model to elect the President. America is such a big and powerful country and they deserve to have a qualified and very clever leader to run the country, not anyhow hantam also can type. Both Trump and Hillary Clinton would be rejected by the Singapore model. We have the world’s most stringent criteria for an elected President, even if his job is mainly ceremonial with two custodial duties, like guarding the nations reserve and appointing of top civil servants. Never mind if the President can still be over ruled by Parliament or be bungled into the car boot and be driven into some dark corners when a rogue govt comes into power.

The Americans must study our new system of qualification for a president very carefully. It is a load of wisdom and for the good of the Americans, And there is a special clause for the minorities in the US which would come in very handy. The blacks and Hispanics would love it, to protect their interests and to make sure they will have a chance to be the President of the USA when their turns come, no need to fight with the  superior white candidates like Trump and Hillary.

Our new formula, waiting to be passed as law and build into the Constitution, is carefully crafted, and very fair and very good, by 9 eminent and highly intelligent individuals, all clear thinking people with the interest of the country and people at heart. And the Americans can simply copy it, without having to sweat the small stuff. We have not registered for copyright purpose and the Americans would not be infringing on our intellectual property rights.  I am also very sure our govt would like to offer this uniquely Singapore formula to the world as the best working model for govt and politics.

Oops, I forgot to mention an important point here. If the formula is to be applied, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would ace the qualifications. One being the CEO of a multi billion dollar company and the other an ex Secretary of State. Just these two qualifications would make them fine candidates of the US Presidency. Never mind about their characters that the Americans are having doubts kike evil woman or con man.

The Americans can vote them out at the Presidential Election. Oops, one more point, under the American system you can only vote one of the two out, and still have to live with the other one.

But not to worry, this formula will prequalify all future presidential candidates and make sure they are the best talents available in the USA. Yes, the Americans can have this brilliant formula for free. No need to say thank you even. Just do a little modification and customisation like $5b company instead of $500m and make the eligibility period for minority candidate to be every 3 terms or 15 years since America tot so many minorities. And don't forget the native Americans, used to be called Red Indians.

What is Shanmugam smoking?

This is the heading in the Today paper, ‘S’poreans must decide if they want President to have real power: Shanmugam’.  I can’t believe this coming from Shanmugam. When have the Singaporeans got any say in the President thing? It is all the govt saying and doing, and going to approve in Parliament. Where is the part that Singaporeans got the right to have a say in this saga?

If Shanmugam is serious in what he is saying, that Singaporeans must decide, then let’s have a referendum on this EP criteria and the drastic changes to have race as a criteria for the election of an EP and all sorts of ridiculous terms to bar the ordinary Singaporeans from the right to be the EP. The whole act is between the govt and 9 members in the Constitutional Commission and later between the PAP MPs voting for it with the WP MPs voting against it.

Where do the Singaporeans come in on this, and have a say? I quote a comment from a commentator in TRE about what some Singaporeans are thinking,

Sg patriot:
September 8, 2016 at 8:26 pm  (Quote)
I don’t even bother to read or hear anything about this EP nonsense.
Pinky has his secret agenda. Every damn law or proposal can be passed or rammed down our throats as Long as PAP and their sycophants are the main players.
Besides, no proposal or law is for the benefit of citizens but for themselves to entrench their power and remain in office indefinitely.

Does the above quote say it clearly what the Singaporeans are thinking and what part are they playing in this Presidency thing?

It seems that someone worked up in the morning and had a brain crash and decided that this is the best thing and should be done regardless of whether Singaporeans agree to it or not. It has nothing to do with what the Singaporeans want. If the Singaporeans have a say in this, do the necessary, call for a referendum for the Singaporeans to decide not because someone thinks it is right and he has to do it.

And the inclusion of race into the Constitution and all the high barriers, are they unconstitutional? Two top judges are in the Commission, and must have thought that these changes are constitutional? Are they? The Law Society and the legal fraternity are silent on this whole episode. Strange, didn't they the most learned men and women with respect to law and legality have any to say about this?

Cheng Bock qualifies

Of course this is just my view and does not matter. But I have my reasons for it and they are logical and took into account the new recommendations by the Constitution Commission.  And I swear I am not under the influence of drugs or smoking some grass to come out with such a conclusion. The two grounds that were quoted to disqualify Cheng Bock, to me, tak pakai, boh tiok.  Why?

From $100m to $500m change should not affect Cheng Bock’s qualification. He qualified the last time based on $100m and should qualify based on the current inflated value of $500m. The current value took into account inflation. So Cheng Bock’s $100m needs to be inflated as well. Just like someone living in a $1m bungalow 20 years ago, the bungalow is now $30m at today’s inflated price. The guy still lives in the same bungalow. His $1m bungalow is now $30m. Sama sama bungalow. You cannot say he is still worth only $1m. The same principle of inflation must apply both ways to be fair and logical. You can’t inflate only those you choose to inflate. You must be consistent or your arguments become like kangaroo talk.

The second point, 5 terms or 30 years would at first glance disqualify Cheng Bock. The question is when should this period start to count?

There are two phases to our Presidency. The first 4 presidents were under a system of appointment by the ruling party. Just because the ruling party did not want to appoint a Malay president cannot be the fault of the system. Any Malay candidate can be appointed by the ruling party to be the president under the old system. So this period cannot be counted under the new ruling as that system did not disadvantage a minority candidate. Want to blame, blame the ruling party for not appointing a Malay president. It was within their right and power to do so.

The counting for the said period of no minority president to give special rights to a minority candidate should start from the Elected President regime, ie from Ong Teng Cheong onwards. So, till now, only 4 terms have passed, and only 20 years have lapsed. There is no need to fill in a minority president yet. Tiok boh, logical or not?  No bluff one. If you still cannot grasp this simple and logical reason, then either you are a hopeless case or insincere or insane.

So there is no need even to consider which minority shall be first on the line as the commencement period starts from Ong Teng Cheong’s term, there was Nathan, 2 terms with both Teng Cheong and Tony Tan one term each. The next president could then either be a Malay or Others since both groups were missing if this continues for another 10 year or one more term.

See, my reasoning quite logical right? Under the new changes, Cheng Bock should still be eligible right? But no, because what I said tak pakai also.  There is a higher logic to apply to rule out Cheng Bok from the race. And the higher logic always win, always right, always rule. You interpret the law to your advantage, suka suka, to what you want the law to be. Are my spellings right or wrong?

Many Singaporeans would just read the main media, and if the main media says right they would simply agree, without bothering to engage the head above their neck to ask if they have been conned. Do not simply believe in the main media. They have their own agenda and want you to believe what they said. You must think for yourself and reason for yourself if you think you are a living thing. Don’t ever let other people think for you and tell you what is right or wrong, what is good or bad.

The World Via The UN Must Condemn Australia For Bullying and Stealing The Timor Sea From The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

When Timor-Leste gained its independence from Indonesia on May 20th, 2002, the boundary of its Timor Sea which it shares with Australia had yet to be settled. The Australia-East Timor disputes over maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea have been simmering for a long time. Both Australia and East Timor brought the dispute before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague for arbitration However, Australia pre-empts the case of being decided by the court in favour of East Timor when its Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop and its Attorney General George Brandis jointly declared , " In line with our pre-existing legally binding treaties, ( with Indonesia and not recognized by Timor-Leste government ) Australia will not accept the jurisdiction to conduct hearings on maritime boundaries." This is tantamount to Australia not accepting the tribunal's award on the disputes

Australia in fraudulently referring to its pre-existing treaties with Indonesia as fait accompli does not hold water because they have never been recognized by the East Timorese government and people. However, an interim Timor Sea Arrangement was signed between Australia and the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET ) in July, 2001. The Timor Sea Treaty between Australia and East Timor took effect in April, 2003, and both parties consensously agreed on the exploitation of resources and on January, 2006 , they signed the agreement on certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea in which both agreed to share the dispute for 50 years and make a 50-50 split on the profits in the disputed Greater Sunrise region.

However, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ( UNCLOS ) most oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea fall within East Timor territory. Thus the East Timorese government attempts to settle border disputes with Australia via negotiations on law which was later turned down by Australia.

East Timor protested to to an Australian spying scandal in 2012 , when Australia on the pretext of giving aid to East Timor was able to steal vital information regarding the Timor Sea negotiations which put East Timor to great disadvantage and this intensified the maritime disputes.East Timor then demanded negotiations with Australia to settle the disputes via bilateral talks. Australia has yet to agree to bilateral talks and in the meantime it refused to accept the PCA arbitration case.

Australia was too quick to condemn China in the recent fake and bogus tribunal over the South China Sea issue and its Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cynically claimed , " It is an important decision , it is one that has been made in accordance with international law and it should be respected by both parties, and indeed by all parties and claiments." It is a shame its Foreign Minister , Julie Bishop doesn't seem to agree when it is applied to Australia's cheating and stealing of East Timor's territorial seas and resources. Julie Bishop reiterated Australia's committment to exercising its rights to freedom of navigation ( referring to South China ) and in her own words to ignore the ruling  would be a serious international transgression " and that Australia would stand with the international community in calling for both sides to treat the arbitration (no doubt illegal and illicit ) as final and binding.

This has exposed the hypocrisy and double standard of Australia for that opinion might have been taken more seriously if Australia followed up on its hollow commendation for multilateralism and international law with adherence to those ideals itself in the context of its disputes with East Timor Republic. In the present case Australia is both bullying East Timor and stealing its territorial seas , thus depriving East Timor of its rightful sovereignty over the Timor Sea.

It must be remembered that for its own shameful and selfish ends , Australia is the only country in the world that endorsed the 1975-1999 Indonesia occupation of East Timor during which more than 180,000 East Timorese soldiers and citizens were killed. Australia was complicit in the atrocities and the only Western nation to recognize Indonesian annexation of Timor-Leste , a means to an end , ensuring the ratification of the 1989 Timor Gap Treaty, between Australia and Indonesia which favoured Australia.

Southernglory1
Thursday, 8th September,20

Elected Presidency – Cheng Bock in or out?

This must be the question in the minds of many after the recommendations by the Constitutional Commission were revealed. Nothing surprising and all the changes were more or less expected, like a child with all the right DNAs of the conceiving parents. So what is new?

Many are seeing the intended consequences of the Commission and the intended results based on a preconceived idea or agenda of what the Commission was all about from the very start of its existence. And they are not disappointed. Let me point out a few unintended consequences arising from the recommendations that would prove tricky and slimy in times to come.

The first point is the stringent criteria for an Elected President that, and I quote a comment by Chok Tong in the media, ‘We do not want to have a very high powered man who can be your President to be doing nothing for six years.’ This remark by Chok Tong was in response to a suggestion for a Vice President. But it is still very appropriate in the case of the EP whose 6 years would mainly be kissing children and waving at the crowds and shaking hands with the people visiting the Istana on public holidays.

The big question, why is there a need for such a high powered man with a string of stringent criteria? Is the job of the EP more important, more complicated and more demanding than that of the PM? Is the PM’s job so ‘senang’ that any Tom, Dick and Harry could take over without a single criteria on his suitability other than he is not insane? How many of you would agree that the PM’s job is definitely hundreds of times more difficult and complicated and demanding than the EP? It’s a no brainer really.

So, should not the criteria for the EP be made applicable to the PM, and more, make it even more stringent as the importance and complexity of the job demands a bigger superman. It is simply nonsensical for such an important job to be given to anyone without passing the same criteria as the cosy job of the EP. Tiok or boh tiok? If not, then the stringent criteria imposed on the Presidential candidate would become nonsensical as well.

The next unintended consequence of the recommendation is that all new citizens would be equally eligible to be the EP as long as they met the criteria, with no regards to their place of birth. They are eligible the moment they get their citizenship, fresh from the oven, as they said. Is this fair to the rest of the true blue citizens? Any new citizen from PRC or India or anywhere else would have the same right as a native citizen to be the EP.  This is as good as selling out the citizens’ rights to the Johnny come lately. Good, tiok, can, acceptable, never mind?

Another unthought of consequences, ok, I am being intellectually arrogant here to think that the wise men and woman did not think of it, is that Pinoys would stand a good chance to be a minority EP. The Indian Indian new citizens would fall under the Indian category so no sweat, they are eligible if no Indians are elected over 30 years, or an Others ie Europeans could enjoy the same privilege. They must thank God that they are classified as Others and automatically qualified as a minority.

What is this Pinoy thing that is so special? If I am not mistaken, the Pinoys are classified as Malays in their Identity Cards. So they could hitch a ride in the Malay category to be a minority EP when the time comes. Lucky buggers. The Malay pool of eligible candidates for minority EP is thus enlarged and there should be no fear of no qualified candidates. The Pinoys are qualified legally by this classification. OK, this anomaly or privilege for the Pinoys would not be applicable if I am mistaken and they are classified as Pinoys and not Malays. I stand corrected on this.

What other things to consider about the recommendations? Oh there is a point that needs further clarification on the 5 terms and 30 year absence of a minority President. I will touch on this in another post.

Did I miss out on more unintended consequences on the EP issue? Surely there must be plenty. Oh, did Cheng Bock qualify or kena booted out for good? I will address this in the next post together with the 5 terms/30 year criteria.

Elected President - Pandora box or a can of worms?

The minority President issue is now the top agenda of Hsien Loong. From what he said and the publicity given to the issue, the amount of effort and resources poured into this black hole, he is adamant to see it through and there is no stopping it, come what may…unless.

Raising this racial issue of protecting minority representation, and the likely outcome of race being enshrined in the Constitution, is a very dangerous precedent to set. All the works of LKY and the first generation of leaders to make this a multi racial society where everyone is equal regardless of race or religion would go kaput.  Race would become a national issue and be institutionalized and embedded in the Constitution that the pioneer leaders fear to tread and did all they could to keep it out of national politics.

Some may see this as the opening of the Pandora box. Some would see it as the opening of a can of worms.  The big question in everyone’s mind is why now when the PAP had all the time and opportunity to put in a Malay President in the last 50 years after Yusof Ishak? After Yusof Ishak there were Sheares, Nair, Wee, all appointed by the PAP and PAP could appoint any Malay leaders if it wanted to. It was so simple!

Then the next 3 elected presidents with Nathan taking two 6 year terms, why didn’t the PAP deem it fit all these years not to put up a Malay president candidate? Never think of it, it only happened yesterday and now they are thinking how important and urgent this is that it must be done today like a do or die matter?  Is it just an after thought or there is more to it than just a minority president, specifically a Malay president?

The biggest worm crawling out from the can is the argument and the call for a Malay PM.  This has never been talk about before. Why not a Malay PM? And the newspaper’s list of 6 Chinese candidates as the possible PM after Hsien Loong makes the story more uncomfortable and out of sync at this moment. Tokenism or seriousness to want the Malay to play a vital role in the country’s leadership? If the role of Malay is so important in political leadership, to be the EP, why not the premiership? There are voices asking for his PM seat now. More shit is being stirred up in the process. Here is a comment from TRE.

‘PM Lee has hinted that next Elected President will be a Malay.
So why don’t he insist that next Prime Minister be a Malay.
Possible candidates – Yacoub Ibrahim, Zulkifli Masagos, Halimah Yacoob.’ (Spelling error inherent in the quote)

This call for a Malay PM is becoming very uncomfortable and growing louder. This is something the PAP did not expect. It is only heard in the social media but not the main media. What is the excuse of not putting up a Malay PM or a minority PM?  Meritocracy?  Is meritocracy the issue or should race also be an issue? Would it not be better to have a Malay PM in charge to make it really representative?

The more this EP is being discussed and kicked around using race as the raison d’tre, more worms would start to crawl out from the can. And like the Pandora box, there is no way to close the box or seal the can again.  Heed the old wisdom, do not open the Pandora box, or the can of worms. The founding fathers with all their wisdom have worked diligently to seal the can of worms for good.  No race politics!

What is happening today would make them turn in their graves.

What would happen when it is the turn of a Malay President? Would he be rolled out as the best Malay candidate for the Presidency? Or would he be rolled out as the best Singaporean for the Presidency? Next, this is the best Malay President to represent all races? This is the most meritorious candidate, chosen and elected based on merit, or based on race? Meritocracy is not compromised?

What do you think?