A few pictures of ION in Orchard Rd

It is never too late when JUSTICE begs to be heard!

Europe urged to recognise slavery as crime Tue, May 04, 2010 AFP PARIS - Historians and anti-racism campaigners are to urge the countries that oversaw and profited from the Atlantic slave trade to recognise it as a crime against humanity, opening the way for reparations. Next week, activists are to send a letter to the leaders of Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain asking them to recognise the trade as an historic injustice a century and a half after it ended. They have already convinced France to do so. Click here to find out more!Click here to find out more! The European Memorial Foundation for the Slave Trade will launch the appeal at the French Senate on May 10, backed by the French historian Louis Sala-Molins and John Franklin from the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. "There are several reasons for this, including its symbolic value, to restore the memory of this crime against humanity," Karfa Diallo, chairman of the foundation, told AFP. "There's also a question, shall we say, of justice," he said....

Good grades equal to nerds

Reading the article by Sandra Davie in the ST today, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that students who did well in tests and examinations, with good grades, are all nerds and lack creativity. Also they often do not do well in life. This is the biggest problem in Singapore’s education system. Though we bragged about how world class it is, how other countries are copying our teaching material, and how our students are able to score straight As everywhere, even winning international competitions, in Science, Maths, General Knowledge and also in Law, don’t expect much from them when they grow up. All these will come to nothing as they enter the adult world. Many are destined to fail or become underachievers in real life. Then where can we find all the creative and innovative people in Singapore? One sure place not to find them is the elite schools. Try the kitchens, the football fields, the night clubs, the world of the celebrities, there must be many creative and successful people in these fields. We need more Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, failure academically but big success in life. Personally I doubt they will not be able to score straight As if they wanted to. This is the secret to creativity and success. We should throw out our top students half way through universities and give them a job in the industries. That is the sure way to trigger their creativity and later be successful innovators and inventors. There is no need for elite schools and top universities as their products will only be so so. Parents of children who did not do well in schools must be relieved that their children will be the ones with more creativity and be more successful in life later. This is about the only piece of good news from the article.

Talking about insensitivity

Bilahari Kausikan, the Permanent Secretary of MFA, is reported to be leading a delegation to KL to discuss the final phase of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station land swap deal. Bilahari’s name is also in the lips of many Malaysians for what was reported in American diplomatic sting operations and leaked by WikiLeaks. His views and comments on Malaysia and Malaysian leadership were anything but complimentary. And if there is anything that the Malaysians would want to do with him, it is best not mentioned. For Singapore to send Bilahari to KL for such an important meeting so soon after the WikiLeaks revelation can be seen as being confident that Malaysia and Malaysians will be able to put them aside and negotiate professionally and objectively. It also rule up the discomfort by individuals that often behave strangely because of their own personalities and the baggage they carried with them. These must be the assessment from the Singapore side. Let’s hope the assessment is right and the negotiation goes well under Bilahari’s leadership. His diplomatic skills will be put to a tough test. I am just wondering what he will say to the Malaysians to appease them and be on top of the problem. People have been complaining that Singapore and Singaporeans are arrogant and insensitive. I say no, Singapore and Singaporeans are not arrogant and insensitive. They are just very arrogant and very insensitive. But I think I may be wrong. I really hope so.

Bilahari leading high power delegation to KL

The Star, 14 December 2010 SINGAPORE’S most senior Foreign Ministry official Bilahari Kausikan is heading for Kuala Lumpur on Dec 22 as a leader of a delegation to discuss KTM Berhad’s land swap deal in Singapore agreed in May by the Prime Ministers of the two countries.... This is going to be an interesting meeting for Bilahari. The Malaysians may want to feast him with durians after what he had said about their leadership.

A good piece of advice from ST

The ST Editorial commented on China’s Nobel prize anger as overdone. It said no need to be like that lah. For a great nation that is confident of itself, it should just simply ignored the little country called Norway and its award of the prize to Liu Xiaobo. I also agree. Why get so work up by a silly bunch of people in the Nobel Peace Prize Committee? The same piece of advice is relevant to the WikiLeaks fiasco. All the great nations that are confident of themselves should simply ignore all the leaks even if they embarrassed them. Treat them as some rubbish coming out from small people and ignore them. Then peace and calm shall return to the whole world. And the Americans will find that their effort in throwing a spanner into the world of diplomacy an effort in vain. Great and confident nations should be able to see through the evil scheme and remain calm, not to be provoked into making the situation any worst. Are there any great and confident nations out there that will take this advice seriously?

Good names for MRT stations

We have Phoenix, Petir and Pending in the Bukit Panjang LRT line. We are going to have Kadaloor, Coral Edge and Riviera in Sengkang. The ST asked whether these names ring a bell. I heard a thud. Maybe I shall offer a few nice sounding names that will ring a bell. Obama ok? Harry Potter should definitely ring a bell if Obama doesn’t. Mickey Mouse will be music to the children. Buckingham Palace, this should sound glorifying. Pavarotti is another excellent name for a train station. ‘You have arrived at Pavarotti Station.’ OK, OK, I got carried away a bit. Do we have a basis in selecting names for MRT stations? Old landmarks are acceptable. Honouring our historical personalities is also OK. But how to relate to Devan Nair Station in Sengkang? Did Devan lived there before, his birth place, or any institution or landmark that reminds people of him there? A better way out is to hold a naming contest. But don’t engage the professional agencies. They will charge a million bucks for a name. Get the people to suggest and the winners be awarded with a prizes. $1000 for each station name accepted. There will be many participants and the involvement of the people will make them feel proud and comfy with the names they have chosen. Let me guess what the people will choose. The kids will like Valkrie, Ironman or Spiderman. The youth would love to call the station Angelina Jolie or Christie Chung. Who are they anyway? The aunties would be crazy with names like Baey Yong Joon. But those aunties in the grassroot organizations would probably vote in favour of Lim Sway Say or Lim Boon Heng. The well heeled and well travelled may want things like Metzingen, Baden Baden, Marienplatz or something like that. Come to think of it, finding a good name for a station is not easy huh. Better leave it to the supertalents and live with Kadaloor, Coral Edge and Riviera. Never mind if they don’t ring a bell. One final attempt, Timbuktu!

American allies forced to show hands

What WikiLeaks said about Singaporean leaders? Hmmm, I declared that I am a Singaporean and I must always say good things about my country and our leaders. It is tough to say not so nice things about them. I can’t call them sneaky or that they have said stupid things. It is very difficult to say it in a diplomatic way that will come out as reasonable and acceptable to the readers after what the Americans have leaked on them. The hallmark of Singapore is all about standing on high moral grounds. Be responsible and respectable in what we say and do. WikiLeaks destroyed all that. Or the Americans destroyed all that. George Yeo was embarrassed and his peers in the other countries may not want to talk to him anymore. If they do, it will be about playing golf or food and wine. He has to, after seeing the horror of the information being pasted on the pages of our own media. There is no where to hide. It is everywhere in the internet for all to see. And more dirty laundry will be aired. Perhaps George Yeo may want to despatch a special envoy to all the countries we called friends and explain to them that the bad things we said about them in confidence must be respected. They are not supposed to know. Let’s put all this aside and move on. After all, if not taken out of context the vulgar comments meant well. Back at MFA he may want to issue a new directive, that we should not bad mouth any country or their leaders even when spoken in confidence. We must expect that they will be leaked to compromise our relations with our friends. And the red flag must be flown once we have to talk to the American diplomats. They are so dangerous that with them as friends we don’t need enemies anymore. And tell Tommy and Bilahari and whoever, no need to explain what they have said. It would only make things worst. Keeping quiet is the best thing to do now. Better, dig a hole in the ground and bury their heads in it. It is a very painful lesson to be learnt at this stage of their lives, to be betrayed by their trusted friends in America. Do we still have any friends left? Can leaders of other countries trust us anymore? What WikiLeaks have done is to stop the gossipings and bad mouthing behind the backs of other countries. And Singapore not only has a swelled head and ego to match in dispensing political wisdom, now has two swelled black eyes to complete the image.

The US attacks its allies

The US has launched the most massive and destructive attack on its allies through the WilkiLeaks. It has created an ill feeling throughout the whole diplomatic community. No one is spared. OK, not really. A few of the US core allies are practically free from any embarrassing leaks. Those that suffered the most from the leaks are peripheral allies or allies that attempt to balance their relationship between the US and China. Countries like Singapore, even Australia, will be fixed very nicely and will suffer an unkind fate for being an American ally. They will have a hard time trying to appease China and to mend their relationship. It will never be the same again. The party that benefited most from the fracas is the US of course. Countries that fell victims should return the American kindness by having their own version of WikiLeaks and see how red the faces of the Americans will be. For the time being the Americans must be having a good laugh at the silly political leaders that were foolish enough to have confidence in the Americans and that the Americans will not compromise them at any cost. They are now left to lick their own wounds. They are simply dispensable. Could the leak be prevented? Why were there no leaks from other countries? Were the security systems of other countries more superior than the Americans? It cannot be, the US is the most sophisticate military power and guarding their own electronic/cable communications with all kinds of complicated codes, cannot be easily penetrated. And their CIAs and all the intelligent agencies are world best. How could the leak have gone to far and so big? It will be ridiculous to think that the Chinese communication security system is far more superior to the Americans. Or for that matter, Singapore or any third world countries. Let’s have a few leaks on what the Americans say to their allies, to the Israelis, Japanese and South Koreans, or to Saudi Arabia, or to the European nations. The attack on its allies through WikiLeaks is a precedent that the Americans have set and they will have to pay for it. They cannot get away Scot free from this kind of black operations. For one, they have proven to be unreliable and dangerous as an ally. They cannot be trusted.

Red passport in danger

Philippine airport police nabs Singaporean national for carrying shabu Inquirer.net, 10 Dec 2010 MANILA, Philippines--A Singaporean national was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 Thursday for allegedly sneaking illegal drugs into the country, police said on Friday. Soa K.H., 36, had just arrived from Thailand via the Thai Airways Flight TG-620 when airport authorities arrested him before 2 p.m., according to a report from the police's National Operations Center. Singaporean arrested at NAIA for shabu possession - GMANews.TV Posted by admin at Friday, December 10, 2010 0 comments Singaporean nabbed in Johor for drug trafficking Malaysia Star, 10 Dec 2010 JOHOR BARU: Police have busted a drug trafficking syndicate with the arrest of three people including a Singaporean and seizure of more than RM271,000 worth of syabu and Eramin 5 pills. Johor Police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said police officers from the State Narcotics Department raided a house in Taman Setia Tropika following a tip-off at 3.30am on Dec 6 .... Above are Singaporeans making headlines for the wrong stuff. The squeaky clean Singaporean image is taking a bashing around the world. My red passport was a cherished and respectable document that could whisk me through many international airports with accorded respect from the immigration authorities. The citizens of less dignified countries looked in awe at the power of our red passport. At the rate Singaporeans are hitting the headlines for drug traffickings and other crimes, it would not be long when holders of our red passports would have to join the long queue to be thoroughly search, like high suspects for crimes. We are progressing in the wrong fields.

The paranoid obsession of North Korea

North Korea and the Kim family have become our public enemy number one if we go by the amount of hate reports on them as an indicator. We have almost daily angry reports of how bad the country has been managed by a family of irrational, naïve and incompetent family who are still living in the forgotten era of the past. They are expected to throw tantrums, wanting to show their manhood, provocative of their neighbours to prove their worthiness and never grow up. The picture painted of the North Koreans is just the reversed of the fairy tale existence of handsome princes and princesses of the European genre, prince charmings, no matter how dull they were and princesses that really look no better than our Ah Lians and with a brain to match. There is a stable of local and foreign talents masquerading as serious analysts and reporters pushing out vile and childish stories about North Korea and shafting them down the throat of the innocent and ignorant public. As days go by, one wonders whether it is the North Koreans that are immature and obnoxious or it is the reporters/analysts that churned out garbage at their expense. The other interesting question is why the obsession and hatred of the North Koreans that have really nothing to do with us nor affect our existence in anyway. The Korean waves that our youth and aunties are embracing originate from the South. Maybe there is nothing harmless to write about locally and hacking at a distant isolated country is the second best thing to do. Or is there a dark agenda to the whole episode? It resembles a kind of political evangelism.

Modern day pirates, slave traders and drug peddlers

They used to make it big time catching slaves and trading them for profit. The same group was also active in piracy along the coast of Africa, but not of the Somali kind. They were Europeans. Some went further to China to push drugs, selling opium to the stupid Chinamen. And many built huge mansions in England, Europe and America from their lucrative businesses. Brown University was named after a slave trader. Jardines, Mathesons, Brooklyns, Rockefellers, Rothschild and what else, were all infamous and even became conglomerates. They were the heroes of the crowns and were knighted as members of their empires. There were no moral issues, no righteousness, no fair play, no wrong, all for good and clean profits. And they became respectable gentlemen and nobilities. And they got to be addressed as Sir. The modern pirates, drug peddlers and slave traders are also in respectable industries and professions. The finance industry is infested with these great gentlemen and talents. They pushed toxic notes, toxic bonds and improvised all kinds of rules and regulations and gaming of all kinds, to fleece the unwary and the weary, the innocent and ignorant and the not so well connected. And the modern day robbers, pirates and drug peddlers would also be knighted, respectable, and would build mansions all over the world, hop and sail in their private jets and yachts. And there is also no need to be woolly about morality, about fair play and about righteousness. These are only the concerns for the losers to cry over with, after they were fleeced.

China should raise the Korean tension issue in the UN

While the belligerent parties are bent on provoking the North Koreans with more war games in the Yellow Sea and the borders of North Korea, and calling the North Koreans provocative, China should not keep quiet and let the unjust blame game to go on. China must name the gangsters as they are and bring the matter to the UN to let the world community knows who are the real provocateurs. China cannot afford to be on the defensive and allow the US to put the blame on her when the US is the real culprit in the whole crisis. The american deception and ill intent to raise tension in the Korean Peninsula must be revealed for all to see. One simple resolution that the UN can adopt is to stop all parties from conducting war games in the Yellow Sea and 200km from the Korean borders. This alone should be good enough to lower the tension in the peninsula. If not, the belligerent countries will continue to carry their big guns to threaten North Korea. In addition, China shall call for a thorough investigation on the blowing up of Choenan and find who is the real murderer of the South Korean seamen. This incident must not be forgotten and laid to rest without giving justice to the dead men and their families. It must be pursued rigorously. Otherwise more innocent people would be killed with more of such incidents to raise tension and war between the two Koreans will be repeated. The two Koreans too must support such an investigation, and avoid conducting war games to provoke one another.

Another isolated youth slashing incident

A 23 year old was slashed in Yishun for asking a group of teenagers for his lost mobile phone. The youngest of the slashers was only 13. They attacked the 23 year old with parangs and leaving him bleeding with many cuts. He was lucky to be alive. This must be another isolated incident involving wayward youths. I don’t think they are gang members, just nice little neighbourhood kids on an outing together. The only difference today is that kids don’t only carry mobile phones only. They also tucked a parang in their waist pouch. And they are willing to wield the parangs and chop anyone when confronted. This is how far our society has progressed. We have upgraded our communications skill, from talking to arguing to quarrelling and now to slashing. And the fashion gadgets the kids are attaching to their bodies include tattoos and parangs, not 3 inch jack knives or pen knives. Any slashing incident is just a once in 50 year affair. And our nice neighbourhood kids will not be involved in any gangland warfare. Maybe a little staring incident now and then. Nothing to worry about. Singapore is still a very safe city.

In praise of Greed

68 medical specialists left the public sector to go into private practice. And the lure is a ten fold increase in income. Current income of public sector specialists ranges from $12k to $60k pm or $160k to three quarter of a million as compare to a million to 5 million in the private sector. And with COE hitting the $100k mark soon, these poor doctors would not be able to buy a decent car to drive. Nothing is wrong with the specialists wanting to earn a few millions a year. What is fearful is that the next round of salary increment in the public sector for medical specialists would push medical fees out into deep space. But that is the price to pay for a booming economy when there is so much money to be made and with a price tag of a few millions for anything as only small change. The way it is going, all the specialists should soon end up in the private sector, and more private hospitals can be built to reap more profits from this life and death business. The public sector can never hope to compete with the private sector on money alone. If they do, it will create a continuous domino theory with every other professional expecting to earn more than the doctors, starting with the politicians. We now have a great trend going in the property sectors when everything is for sale for more profits. And the foreigners are not short of cash with liquidity flooding the world’s financial system. The Chinese, the Indians, the Europeans and Americans are all pouring their petty cash here to sweep up every available property left. The recent announcement of Caldecott Hill being available for good residential properties could see more being built and sold off. And the GDP numbers are going to look very good indeed. Everything is for sale, for profit and for money. For those who fall into the CBF category of workers, tighten your seat belt and trouser’s belt. The ride is going to be exhilarating. We are in the best of time of our economic boom. The big cars are selling fast even with $60k for a piece of COE. The good times are here.

Responsibilities of Stock Exchanges

Goh Eng Yeow wrote an article in the ST on 6 Dec expressing concern on the role of high speed trading and the interests of small traders. High speed trading as an instrument used by big funds to take advantage of sophisticated computer technology is giving the funds an unfair advantage against the small traders. With the aid of high speed computers, the fund is able to tap into the system to know the queues of buy and sell and more, and could then come to a quick decision to buy and sell to its favour. When funds are trading in a big way, high volume and high speed, against the small investors or the rest of the investors, the losers are obvious. What then is the position of the stock exchanges on this new development? There are some fundamental responsibilities and roles which the stock exchanges are governed by its own regulations to uphold and to protect investors. Among these are: 1. Provide a level playing field. With the participation of high speed trading, is the playing field level? Is there an unfair advantage in favour of high speed traders? 2. Churning is against the regulations of stock exchanges. 3. Buying and selling without change of ownership is a violation of stock exchange regulations. 4. Buying and selling and creating a false market through such actions is also a violation of stock exchange regulations. 5. Is the trading of big funds transparent to the small investors when transparency is a hallmark of a proper stock exchange? How could stock exchanges protect the interests of investors and maintain the integrity of the system without compromising on its own regulatory role with the introduction of high speed trading? Is there a problem here?

Julian Assange for Nobel Peace Prize

No other man deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more than Julian Assange. He took on the world’s most belligerent country in modern history, to stop it from waging more wars around the world. He tries to stop the Evil Empire from pulling wools over the eyes of Americans and peoples of the world on its war crimes. He stood up for investigative reporting, press freedom and freedom of expression. For these noble objectives he is now hounded down and arrested on drum up charges like rape. He is now the number one enemy of the Evil Empire, and he fought alone with a handful of loyal and dedicated staff. While he is being ostracized and criminalized, the biggest criminal against humanity is awarded the Nobel Peace Price for trying to start more wars while continuing to commit more troops to on going wars. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee is rightly called a Committee of Clowns for awarding the respectable Peace Prize to an undeserving candidate while the most deserving is left in the lurch.

The pathetic Asians

After a few centuries of colonization and manipulations by the West, I thought Asians would have wise up and stop fighting and killing each other. I thought Chinese would not fight Chinese, Koreans would not fight Koreans, Vietnamese would not fight Vietnamese, and in general, Asians would not fight Asians. The sad fact is that Asians would keep being led by the nose by the west, even a woman like Hilary is smart enough to make the Asians hate each other and want to gorge each other’s eyes out. When would Asians stand up and reflect on themselves and think for themselves? When would Asians think of their own interests and stop being manipulated by the West to kill each other? The Americans is starting wars all over Asia but not Europe or North America. Maybe the Asians are truly of lower intellect and can be easily hook winked by the West. Just look the rubbish articles coming out of the West and printed in Asian media like gospel truths. And Asians are supposed to lap it up happily without question. Mahbubani and other Asian thinkers have a lot of work to do to kick the Asian arses and wake them up. Asians can think? Ha! Until today, Asians are dependent on one source of news and logic which they believe are reliable, truthful and accurate, from the West. Bloody silly Asians. They deserve to be colonized once again and to be subjects of western empires. Reading todays’ ST, a new thinker has emerged in the name of Peh Shing Huei. He chastised China for running out of ideas and being a ‘one trick pony’ in the seemingly unsolvable North Korean dilemma. He, like all westerners, took the stance that it was all North Korea’s fault and North Korea is run by an irrational mad man and his son and causing all the problems even China cannot handle. He quoted some Taiwanese as an authority to back up his view. China will do better if the talent of Peh can be harnessed and the North Korean issue will be solved immediately. Peh must have many tricks up his sleeves. Hu JinTao and his comrades are just untalented Chinese leaders that may need a little help from Peh Shing Huei. For the time being, the North Koreans are good enough to be called names like ‘son of a bitch’ by all the western sympathizers and talented reporters. I must change my earlier pronouncement that Asians cannot think. Asians can really think and write articles of great wisdom in the media.

Another motorist complaining of being robbed

A letter to the ST forum complained that the motor insurance is just like day light robbery. No accident, premium still goes up. Got accident, premium goes up higher. So what the hell is happening? What are motorists paying? Protection money? The insurance premium is more than the road tax the motorists are paying. Weren’t some jokers said they were working on this to help the motorists? Who is making all the motor insurance money by the way? The insurance companies claimed that they are losing hundreds of millions. But they would not give up the business. There is a big rat somewhere.

The Americans and South Koreans hell bent on war

They continue to provoke the North Koreans by conducting more war games. And they are complaining that the North Koreans are provocative. And they want China to rein in the North Koreans! The countries that are provocative and need reining in are the Americans and the South Koreans. If they stop their provocation and stop their war games at the border with North Korea, there will be no tension. Here we have the devil calling everyone devil. The best part is that they are going to blame China for the next Korean War. They are not meeting in Washington planning when to start the war. Since the South Koreans are bent on killing the North Koreans, and themselves being killed, and the US and Japan most willing to join in the killing, China should just fold its arms and watch. Let them go merrily to kill each other. China should just say, go ahead, it’s my pleasure. In the meantime China should just tell the world what the Americans are up to.

COV slipping down, is it good?

Why are people making comments like as if it is a good thing that COV is coming down? If it is good to keep it down, it should not have gone up so high in the first place. Oh, market forces, can’t be helped. But the govt is helping to push it down with all the curbs and cooling measures, which means it can be helped. A young couple was happy that they could afford a resale flat at $350k with a $15k COV. Happy like shit, as if striking lottery. Their combined income is $3,500 pm. Even with a $50k grant, it is still more than $300k for that unit. With the mortgages and interest, it is probably something like $600k by the time the loan is fully repaid. How many months or years of income is that? Nearly 20 years. It means that this couple would have to work for 20 years for free just to pay for that flat. Don’t they need money to survive, to bring up children? Never mind, these are the losers in our society. Think about the good stuff. Many residents are owning properties worth millions and feeling so rich. And their properties are going to go up in value with more investors flooding here. Singapore is now the top city for property investment. To maintain this shining title, our property prices must go up. And for COV to come down, that is bad. It is working the other way. Maybe it is temporary as election is around the corner. Singaporeans will have more to cheer after the election when their property prices shoot to the sky once more. And the young couple mentioned above can pat their own back to congratulate themselves for making a wise decision. Their $350k flat may then be worth $500k and they will be sitting on a fat profit, and feeling very rich.

Difficult to plan housing needs on a macro basis

This is what Lim Hwee Hua said at the Kampong Chai Chee dialogue. How many people agree with this statement? The residents were angry at the high prices of public flats which they knew were driven by exceptionally high demand and low supply. Any man in the street will be able to tell why when the distortion of demand and supply is so huge. No need super talent feats. Only those who chose not to see will say they don’t know. I don’t believe that someone is sleeping on the job. Neither do I believe that there is no data to show the macro pattern of population growth. The population growth is not 100k or 200k, it is once in 50 years type of increase! What is the real reason for the fiasco? Like they said, the truth will never surface aka Mas Selamat’s escape. Another comment from Lim Hwee Hua is that first time flat buyers are finding it difficult to buy flats because COV is too high. Is that so? What about the prices of new flats and resale flats? If it is just COV, then prices of new flats and resale flats are affordable. Sure affordable as many are snapped up on launches, except that the buyers will hang millstones on their necks and pray that they will be able to repay the loans over the next 30 years. When there is no other choices, the buyers will just have to take whatever that is available at the price of the sellers.

Korean War – An American Conspiracy Revealed

The Americans are adamant that the Korean War must be reignited. They needed the war to generate more revenue for the American weapons industry and, politically and strategically, to entrench their position in the Korean Peninsula. Minus the tension, the two Koreans will be talking and getting closer, possibly reuniting which will force out American bases in Korea. So the game plan is to get the two fighting at all cost. The start was nuclear weapons in the North. This would put a lot of pressure on the North and western opinion against them. The most deadly attempt is likely to be the Choenan which killed many South Korean soldiers. It was a good reason for the South to attack the North. But the amateurish prank soon was uncovered and the South could not use it as a reason to fight the North. It should be a reason for the South to declare war with whoever that killed their soldiers. Who is this party? The Americans are not going to give up easily just because Choenan did not go as planned. More provocations needed, more war games to provoke the North. This came when the North retaliated by bombing Yeonpyeong. Now there is good reason for the South to get work up. The number of death in this instance is much lesser than Choenan. But there is clear proof this time that the North fired the artillery. No media in the world has raised the issue of American/South Korean provocations by conducting regular war games at the border with the North Koreans. This is not to be spoken. Now the next step is to push the South Koreans into war. This will be followed by roping in more Asian countries into the conspiracy. Japan, Nato, Australia and NZ forces are guaranteed to be a part of this new war. The trick is to get the Asian countries into it. Remember the Asian Tour by Obama? The picture is getting clearer. The Americans wanted the Indians and the Indonesians to come on board in this new coalition against North Korea and its allies. The Indonesians will not be drawn in. India is still a high possibility. When the new Korean War breaks out, there will still be two dependable Asean countries to step forward to join the Americans to kill the Koreans, both North and South. No prizes for guessing. The real loser in a renewed Korean War will be the people and nation of Korea. They will become history. Any survivors will likely become subjects of their new colonial masters.

What did WikiLeaks revealed?

Many believe the WiliLeak information are all truth. Some are but many are not. Some are just versions of what the US diplomats penned to feed Washington. And who knows, some are just misinformation or versions that they wanted the world to know. There are plenty of American propaganda and slanted information for the world to lap up. What is unpleasant is that the Americans failed miserably to protect the interests and reputations of national leaders who were prepared to talk to them in confidence, thinking that what they said will be kept in secret. In such a climate of trust, many world leaders were caught with their pants down, bad mouthing other leaders and countries. This is no good. It destroys the credibility of the leaders in the report. No amount of damage control can undo this ruinous act of indiscretion. One wonders why the US could not stop the leak or to block the information from being spread across the internet. Don’t they have the capability to do so? Definitely. Why didn’t they do it or is it that the leaks were more beneficial to the US than if they were kept secret? And hurting a few statesmen is also good for the US. Embarrass them to bring them down, flat on their faces? Some statesmen are now red in their faces for speaking truthfully to the Americans. They must be having sleepless nights knowing the Americans have made a mockery of their reputation and integrity.

Ye are all devils, says the devil

The astonishing result of the FIFA voting is a sign of a change of winds. Russia and Qatar were voted to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively. When the results were announced, it was horrors in everyone’s face except for the winning nations. The prologue to the voting was best exemplified by the devils calling everyone devils, and the corrupts calling everyone corrupt. And the aftermath, the vitrolics were even more venomous. We were cheated, the whole voting was manipulated, bribery, cheats, etc etc. And ‘Russia, a mafia state rotten to the core with corruption; Qatar a mediaeval kingdom with no freedom of speech; Both are swimming in oil money.’ So said the righteous and wronged gentlemen. Vladimir Putin absented himself from the election parade and circus so as not to put pressure on the voting council. Others don’t. They were there in full force to influence the voting with their titles, pedigrees, and comics. The outcome turned to be in favour of those who did not do anything to try to influence the decision. But they were attacked with cheap diatribes from the well heeled but bad losers.

When gods, satans, saints and devils party together

Is this scenario possible in a world where religious purity and pedigree are reaching a stage of mutual exclusivity? Many religions still preach that theirs is the only true religion and the rest are worshipping devils or satans. Would such believers, so faithful in their beliefs, unyielding and incorrigible to the heel, go partying with those whom they believe are devils or devil worshippers? Would they be willing to hug and kiss the devil when they are expected to rid the devil? If they do, would they be compromising on their true beliefs? Or would they just be hypocritical, putting on an act that they would denounce should others do it? Or would they quickly return to their holy residents and start a frantic cleansing to be rid of the devils and the devilish stench? Yak, holding hands with the devils! Dettol will not do, only holy water can cleanse away the marks of satan. Where on earth can we see the devils, saints, satans and gods partying happily together? In realtiy, the world is just that. There must be night and day. There must be good and evil. And there must be gods, saints, satans and devils. They are all part and parcel of a big family, co existing and inseparable. Without one, they will be no the other. Actually they all have one thing in common. They were all man once.

Lai, Lai, Lai or come, come, come

Singapore is not a welfare state but the govt will keep boosting social safety net to help the poor in our community. Hsien Loong acknowledged that ‘society is feeling the strain of globalization, ageing and troubled families…but our social safety net is working well…’ What the people need is not a welfare state and neither more assistance from the govt. What the people need is self reliance, lower cost of living, jobs and good income. Good income means enough to buy a decent place to live in and decent quality of life. If the govt can provide these basic needs without straining the resources of the people, without creating more strains and hardship, that is all the people are asking for. And the people will be most happy to tell the govt to keep their welfare handouts. If the cost of living is high and people feel stressed and pressurized, it is a failure of the system. The more help the govt needs to provide, the bigger is the failure on the govt’s part. The high property prices and medical fees and cost of basic needs are harmful to the people. No need to say, come, come, come, we will help you.

Lee Myung Bak will be purged

All the signals are there that President Lee Myung Bak will be purged and be replaced by a military man. Lee is seen as a weakling by the US and Japan and must be removed if they want a war between the two Koreas. Retired Gen Kim Kwan Jin has been brought into the cabinet as the Defence Minister. His rethorics are pleasing to the ears of its colonial masters. The North Koreans do not have the ability to fight the South Koreans, according to this Southern Kim. If South Korea fires at the North, it will not lead to an all out war. So it is safe to attack the North. This is the thinking of a clueless soldier. He thinks he can fight a war and sure to win, and he can contain the war to his likings. He claimed superiority of air power with 490 combat aircraft and has threatened air strikes against the North. Typical brave man but short of grey matters. The Americans and Japanese are preparing all their logistics and drills to join in the killings of the North Koreans. The largest war game is now being held nearby and combat ready. Soon American and Japanese soldiers will be running the streets of Korea and killing Koreans again. I think the Koreans deserve to fight and be devastated by another war and be ruled again, completely by the Americans and the Japanese. China and Russia should stay out of the conflict and let the two Koreans go and kill themselves since they are so willing to do so. And history will repeat itself again with Korea becoming a protectorate of the peace loving Americans and Japanese. Go Korea, go. Remove Lee Myung Bak and put in a strong military man as the President and resume the Korean War. The whole world will be cheering. Your staunch allies, the US and Japan will be 100% behind you. They are more eager than you to start a war. Don't worry, the North Koreans cannot fight a war. Forget about the earlier Korean War when the South Korean soldiers were nearly chased by the North Koreans into the sea. The South Koreans are truly great soldiers. Just believe that and go for it. Strike the North with all you have.

What a WikiLeak from the US Embassy in Japan may look like.

Tokyo Embassy, USA, to the Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State. Top Secret. Subject: Korean War Sequeal The South Koreans are not biting. After blowing up the Choenan and getting our own team to fix the blame on the North Koreans they are still not declaring war with the North. In fact they are getting suspicious of the cause of the Incident. And when North Korea asked to see the evidence, they got cold feet and conducted their own investigations which revealed a lot of holes in the fabricated truths we put up as findings of an international investigation team. The South Korean public also does not believe it anymore. The situation is getting dicey. Now the good part. The artillery firing in Yeonpyeong was so close to the North and it forced them to respond furiously with artillery fire. Several soldiers and civilians in the island became war collateral. And we thought the South will now have to retaliate. The bad part is that the South Koreans still refuse to act. They are only prepared to raise the tones of their verbal protests. Even with our nudging they would not fire back at the North. The Ambassador is fuming mad at the inactions of the meek South Korean President. He appears so weak and reluctant to do anything, pleading for time to cool off. Our close ally in this game, Japan, is losing its patience. They wanted action, war, between the two Koreans. They have promised to commit weapons, men and finances, without reservations, to the conflict. And they are not asking much in return for their contributions. They only want to have a free hand in the reconstruction of the whole of Korea after the war. They want to bring in their manufacturing plants, build the infrastructure, and concessions on territorial rights from the 38th parallel to the Yalu River. Below the 38th parallel they will leave everything to us. Our Japanese ally is asking for immediate action. If Choenan does not work, if the artillery drills and war games do not work, what else shall we do to get the South Koreans fired up to want to go to war with the North? We need clear and specific instructions from Washington to proceed further on this operation urgently. Further delay will result in the tension dying down quickly, and all our effort will go to waste. Our Ambassador is suggesting to remove Lee Myung Bak with a hawkish new President. We need a military man to take charge and to declare war on the North Koreans. Embassy Tokyo.

A rude shock to American military superiority

US was surprised and shocked to see a Chinese submarine apeeared suddenly from nowhere in the midst of US / Japan naval drill in the East China Sea. The uninvited guest: Chinese sub pops up in middle of U.S. Navy exercise, leaving military chiefs red-faced When the U.S. Navy deploys a battle fleet on exercises, it takes the security of its aircraft carriers very seriously indeed.At least a dozen warships provide a physical guard while the technical wizardry of the world's only military superpower offers an invisible shield to detect and deter any intruders.That is the theory. Or, rather, was the theory. Uninvited guest: A Chinese Song Class submarine, like the one that sufaced by the U.S.S. Kitty HawkAmerican military chiefs have been left dumbstruck by an undetected Chinese submarine popping up at the heart of a recent Pacific exercise and close to the vast U.S.S. Kitty Hawk - a 1,000ft supercarrier with 4,500 personnel on board.By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier. According to senior Nato officials the incident caused consternation in the U.S. Navy.The Americans had no idea China's fast-growing submarine fleet had reached such a level of sophistication, or that it posed such a threat.One Nato figure said the effect was "as big a shock as the Russians launching Sputnik" - a reference to the Soviet Union's first orbiting satellite in 1957 which marked the start of the space age. The incident, which took place in the ocean between southern Japan and Taiwan, is a major embarrassment for the Pentagon. Battle stations: The Kitty Hawk carries 4,500 personnelThe lone Chinese vessel slipped past at least a dozen other American warships which were supposed to protect the carrier from hostile aircraft or submarines.And the rest of the costly defensive screen, which usually includes at least two U.S. submarines, was also apparently unable to detect it.According to the Nato source, the encounter has forced a serious re-think of American and Nato naval strategy as commanders reconsider the level of threat from potentially hostile Chinese submarines. It also led to tense diplomatic exchanges, with shaken American diplomats demanding to know why the submarine was "shadowing" the U.S. fleet while Beijing pleaded ignorance and dismissed the affair as coincidence. Analysts believe Beijing was sending a message to America and the West demonstrating its rapidly-growing military capability to threaten foreign powers which try to interfere in its backyard. The People's Liberation Army Navy's submarine fleet includes at least two nuclear-missile launching vessels. Its 13 Song Class submarines are extremely quiet and difficult to detect when running on electric motors. Commodore Stephen Saunders, editor of Jane's Fighting Ships, and a former Royal Navy anti-submarine specialist, said the U.S. had paid relatively little attention to this form of warfare since the end of the Cold War. He said: "It was certainly a wake-up call for the Americans. "It would tie in with what we see the Chinese trying to do, which appears to be to deter the Americans from interfering or operating in their backyard, particularly in relation to Taiwan." In January China carried a successful missile test, shooting down a satellite in orbit for the first time. The above was posted by Southglory in redbeanforum. What else does Admiral Michael Mullen wants to know from the Chinese? In this case, the Chinese is telling the American to buzz off or else...they have the capability to down the carrier if they wanted to. The Chinese could keep quiet about this technology and capability and let the Americans continue to have war games in their coastal waters or operate happily thinking that they can do it with impunity. This is a piece of friendly advice from the Chinese. Don't play in out backyard and think you can walk in and out anytime you like. The Chinese can close the door on the Americans.

Foreign talents in loan shark activities

Cheaper, better, faster and no strings attached. Foreign workers are now recruited to be runners for loan sharks. They are cheaper, hungrier, and nothing to lose. The last part spells big trouble. The more nothing to lose foreigners on the loose, the more dicey things will become. They will do anything. For the moment these foreign runners are still at the level of spray painting doors, locking doors and throwing shoes and slippers over the balcony. When else will they do when they graduated and move to a higher level of operation and higher risk? The police are confident that they can manage this problem. Why manage the runners when the loan sharks are the real source of the problem and weeding them out is like uprooting the grass? How many loan sharks have been caught? So far it seems that only the runners are caught. This problem does not seem to go away.

Joker of the Year - Admiral Michael Mullen

Below is a quote that warrants the award of Joker of the Year. ‘Raising a military to provide for the country’s own security, It’s own needs, that’s fine. That’s what we do. But some of the specific capabilities are very clearly focused and pointed at the USA. They are anti access capabilities. Talk to me about why you are developing these capabilities, other than thinking that we are the enemy…Those are the kinds of discussions I can’t have right now because I’m not sitting down with them. Admiral Michael Mullen. And this Joker even called on the Chinese to rein in Pyongyang. China should simply ignore him or tell him to get his 7th Fleet out of its economic zones before talking to him. China should also ask him to rein in the South Koreans from conducting provocative military exercises simulating attacks and landings on North Korean soils, and that including reining in the American forces too, from being the major partner of such exercises in the Yellow Sea. What an arrogant prick.

Celebrating Singaporeans - Professor Kishore Mahbubani

Foreign Policy Magazine Honors Professor Kishore Mahbubani as One of the World's Top 100 Global Thinkers SINGAPORE, Nov. 29, 2010 /Standard Newswire/ -- The National University of Singapore (NUS) is pleased to announce that Professor Kishore Mahbubani, a distinguished diplomat and Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School) at NUS, has been selected by Foreign Policy magazine as one of its "Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2010", alongside prominent thinkers who shaped the world in 2010. Other prominent international global thinkers who were honored this year include Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Co-Chair Bill Gates, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Robert Zoellick, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, US President Barack Obama and Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan. This is the second annual list of top global thinkers who shaped the world, and half of this year's top 100 Global Thinkers hail from outside the United States. Prof Mahbubani is honored by the magazine "for being the voice of a new Asian century." .... He is in good company except for Barack Obama. He is lucky that George Bush Jr is not in the list.

Time for China to conduct naval wargames with North Korea

The US-South Korean war game in the Yellow Sea ended yesterday and immediately South Korea announced that more war games will follow. It is time that China and North Korea also conduct naval war games in the same spot and see what the US and the South Koreans will say about it. If the US and South Koreans can do it, there is no reason why China and North Korea cannot do the same.

Ng Eng Hen and Mah Bow Tan not voted into the PAP CEC?

It has been reported that Ng Eng Hen and Mah Bow Tan were both not elected into the new PAP CEC. What are the implications of their absence as both are heavy weights. Both have chalked up great works especially in the use of CPF money. Eng Hen came out with the compulsory CPF Life scheme which helps the CPF account holders to buy compulsory insurance for their retirement. Mah Bow Tan helped HDB flat owners to buy more expensive HDB flats at market price with subsidies. Both are great schemes and have been very well received. The success of the above two schemes cannot be the reason for their non election into the CEC. What else could be the cause or causes? There should be no problems with their leadership, as both are giants in their own rights. Eng Hen is perhaps the most macho and charismatic of the current PAP leaders. Mah Bow Tan even has his own column in the media to explain how great the HDB and housing prices were, and his familiar face is a already a household name. The only gut feel I have is that both may want to quit politics. Who knows, both may not run in the next GE. It will be a big loss of two super talents. But their talents will definitely be put to good use outside the govt. They will have ample opportunities to apply their great policies and formula in the private sector. They could take the same route as Chee Onn or Boon Yang and live happily ever after.

redbeanforum under spamming attacks!

redbeanforum is under heavy spamming attacks these few days. Today is the most serious with a few hundred posts splashed across every topic in the forum. What it shows is that the forum is getting its message across and some parties are getting very irritated and are going all out to make postings here tiresome. I will tell the saboteurs that it is in vain. The forum will go on posting what it knows best. We know who the saboteurs are. Anyway, thanks for the interest and confirmation that it is hurting at the right place. PS, the innocent of the spamming is as innocent as WikiLeaks. Redbean

The Americans have done it again!

The attempt to throw the world into disarray continues. Regime change, attacking countries on human rights, sanctions, exporting toxic financial products and causing a world wide financial crisis, and now WikiLeaks. The latest weapons has caused great concern, disharmony and acrimony among nations and their leaders. The information was targetted mostly at enemies or nations unfriendly to the US with a little dosage of gossips on US allies to give it a little semblance of credibility. But once the information is carefully studied and assessed, it is quite obvious where it is heading and the objectives it is trying to achieve. Well done amateurs! The world is not so dumb anymore.

Shhssssh…let’s tell our enemies – WikiLeaks

What shall the world make out of the WikiLeaks? So far information that was ‘leaked’ is very damaging only to Asian, African and Arab countries. Their inter state relations are going to plunge into the abyss if the leaks were real. The first casualty will be the Saudi King. He is finished with the Iraqis but safe as Saddam is already dead. But the Iranians will put out a contract on him if they took the leak seriously. North Korea will lose confidence in China as its unquestionable supporter. China will be seen by North Korea and its allies as unreliable. A huge wedge has been driven into their relationship. Singapore too will be hit by the ire of the North Koreans as well, but nothing serious as Singapore has little to do with that country. The bottom line is that many Asian, African and Arab nations will be going after each other’s jugular and their relations in a mess. What is glaringly absent in the leaks are the secrets of Israel or the US that could damage their relations with their allies. Do they have any secrets about what the US and the Israelis were saying about the Arab world? The only thing damaging and affecting the US is that it will be called an inept and a bungler at most. There is also another big hole in what the US and Japan will be saying about the stupid Koreans trying to kill each other and the role of the US and Japan in the rising tension. Oh, the White House said that the real secrets are safe. So why are these secrets circulating are only going to create turmoil among Asian, Arab and African nations, and nothing damaging to America and its allies? Strange right? The leaks seem to have a pattern, to create as much damage as possible in the camps of the US enemies. Quite brilliant actually. But Julian Assange and his men seem so genuine in their actions to expose the hypocrisy of the Evil Empire. So are they just another group of under cover moles of the US? Could be. Or they could be really on a cause. Then the US intelligence knowing what they were doing, deliberately let them fish out all the leaks that they have planted, and making the whole issue like real. Sure some of information are real. But how many are fakes? How genuine are the WikiLeaks and the secrets they have in hand, and releak to the world, is best judged by the end results. What were achieved by the leaks? Who stand to gain and who stand to lose from the so called official secret leaks? At the moment it looks like a con job. And Julian Assange and his men could just be made used by the mastermind who coordinated the whole leak, what to leak and who to suffer from the consequences. So, what else is new? It smells of another black ops.

A very desirable outcome from high property prices

High property prices make many Singaporeans happy, especially the older folks. Yes they are rich and have valuable assets to flaunt and children got to be nicer to them, and maybe one day they can get to inherit the small fortune. But this is not all, because housing is so expensive, children will now have to consider seriously the option of staying with parents. It is not cheap to live separately as some may not be able to afford it. Inadvertently, the high housing price is bringing the family closer together, with two or three generations living under one roof, one big happy family. And grandparents can help to look after grandchildren, saving on maids. Children can go to work feeling safe that their children are in good hands, no abuses or being thrown out of the flats by deranged maids. A lot of quality time with children and parents. Our traditional values of family, three generations under one roof, are back as living institutions. We won’t go the decadent ways of the West. The little catch is that new flats are getting smaller, especially the 3 and 4 rm flats. It may be a little squeeze, but a lot of savings from having to cough out another $300k or $400k to live separately from the parents. This is something that Singaporeans will get use to very quickly, spending quality time at home.

Another clean sweep for PAP

The next GE is looking like another walkover. The economy has hit an all time high which means everyone is going to get a big big angpow soon. Full employment, property prices making all the property owners smiling everyday. And another slate of the best talents have been chosen and ready to hit the election road. No more problems. Mas Selamat safely back in the cell. Loan sharks and little gangsters on the run. The Chinese used to say, 'tian xia tai ping' or all peace under heaven. The two IRs are bringing in more tourists here while world best investments are also flowing in, including a lot of hot money. It is a shame if Singaporeans miss this great opportunity to make a bundle for themselves. It is truly a golden year.

Contradictions of South Korean military supremacy

The South Koreans think they could thrash the North Koreans when there is a military conflict. They keep saying that they will respond with punitive measures. And because of their superior armed forces, they took liberty to conduct war games, simulating an attack on North Korea in the islands closest to the North. The Yeonpyeong is only 7 miles or 12 km from the North Korean coast. Why is there a need to bring in the Americans and the Japanese if the South Koreans think that they are the superior force? They could do it single handedly and wipe the North Koreans clean, and even reunite the two parts of Korea. The North Koreans will love them and their riches, and a better life. Since they are so superior, and so gutsy in wanting a war with the North, conducting war games so close to the North’s border, they should just do it. There is no point in conducting provocative war games to draw military fires from the North, and do nothing. The sabre rattling only means something if they dare to follow it through. Go, South Koreans, no need to wait for Uncle Sam or Uncle Nihon to back up. The North Koreans are hungry and poor soldiers, easy meat, a piece of cake. Why wait? If the South Koreans and Americans are sincere in not wanting a war, not wanting to provoke a war, they should refrain from conducting war games at North Korea’s front yard. But the western world refuses to see these acts of provocation and proclaims that the South Koreans and the Americans are all angels and walking with a halo on their heads. To maintain peace and peaceful coexistence, all the countries, including North Korea, shall not conduct any military exercises 200 km from their land and sea borders. Would the South Koreans do that, would the Americans do that? The useless UN should make a stand on this and tell all the countries to abide by such a position. Then we can see clearly who is or are the real provocateurs. In the meantime Japan is an eager friend to want to help the South Koreans kill the North Koreans. Seiji Maehara has called for a meeting with the South Korean President on how to deal with the North Koreans together. Lee Myung Bak is gearing up to be a Korean murderer.

Time to sell your properties

'Soaring property valuations have sent the net wealth of households in Singapore rocketing to an all-time high of S$1.16 trillion (US$886 billion) in the third quarter of this year. That is 29 percent up from the height of the financial crisis early last year, and higher than the S$1 trillion that households registered a year ago, itself a record.' This is a piece of good news that is in the media. The bad news is COV is coming down and prices of resale flats are also sliding down. And the full impact of the control measures have not taken effect yet. This is the time to sell high and buy when property prices come tumbling down. When property prices peaked, it is time for it to wind down. The cycle always repeat itself. Looks like a $1m 3rm HDB flat is not going to be. With the projected price hike of 2 to 3% annually, it will take donkey years to reach this number. My dream of being an emperor in Lijiang is fading away. For those who are not selling, they can keep smiling while the price is still high.

The enlightening rant of Yuriko Koike

She has an article in the Comment and Analysis page of Today. She started with the usual North Korea slant, a nation that is so poor that even its soldiers have not enough food to eat, a nation that is crazy for international attention, even blowing up Choenan and firing artillery shells into Yeonpyeong without any reasons or provocations. The rest you can just skip, as there were nothing new. Even Matilah can add more juicy stuff than her. The gem of her article is this and I quote: 'Much, then depends on the Chinese, whose self defeating regional diplomacy has managed to push a listless and defence-shy Japanese govt into closer cooperation with the US on security matters and has inspired South Korea to seek out strategic partnerships with other Asian powers, including India.' Here is the unintentional leak of what the US, Japan and South Korea are up to. So it is China's fault for the strategic alliance between the US and its two semi colonies, and now India coming into the picture. And China must join the alliance to condemn North Korea. Oh no, 'And China is keen to draw South Korea closer in the game of regional rivalries. The result could be a new round of efforts by China to manipulate regional suspicion - or worse.' Heh heh, they say pretty women are very innocent and harmless: ) So all the problems in the Korean Peninsula is created by China, and North Korea is a colony of China. China can tell North Korea what to do like the US telling Japan and South Korea, and its allies. How many of you believe so? And Japan is such a mild country, and it is growing its military force so huge that it can overrun Southeast Asia once again if it only adds on a few aircraft carriers. Japan is listless and defence shy!!!??? Remove the mask of militarism please. I really enjoy her rant. Looking forward for more of her writings. I am worn over by her pretty face.

Malaysia is the best thing to happen to Singapore

When the Tememgong signed away Temasek to the East India Company, it is likely to be under duress. The British probably put a gun at his head and said, ‘Sign.’ And that act gave away Temasek to the British Empire. The other possibility was some kind of bribery or trickery. How else would the Temengong sign away his land willingly? He might be a chief of a small kampong, not well versed in international laws or territorial sovereignty, but he was definitely not a retard. And the rest was history. The Johoreans are still sore over this part of history. Please don’t blame the Singaporeans, they are just part of the British legacy and have nothing to do with pointing a gun at the head of the Tememgong. When Singapore joined and became part of Malaysia, all things returned to square one. The two lands were reunited. The historical blemish was erased. All debt, robberies and injustice corrected. Then came the separation and Singapore was evicted. This time the Federal govt gave the consent to let Singapore free as an independent state. There was no more coercion from a foreign power. Malaysia was then an independent country and the British could not put a gun on Tengku’s head. And Abdul Razak was there to advise him. They decided that Singapore should be allowed to become an independent country, a nation of its own. Through unification and separation from Malaysia, Singapore became an independent country out of free will, and decided by mainly by Malaysia. No one can now accuse Singapore of being seized from Malaysia. It was legally separated under fair and mutually agreed terms and conditions between two independent govts.

Selling everything to foreigners is Treason

We need to have laws and systems in place to prevent rogue govts from selling away Singapore to foreigners. There must be laws to limit the selling of private properties to foreigners. Leaving the property market to the developers who have no other consideration except making money is irresponsible. The developers will sell to whoever have the money to buy from them. How many percent of our private properties are already own by foreigners? Do we have figures on the private properties that foreigners can buy and what is the percentage of foreign ownership, excluding public housing and landed properties? The data should show private residential properties and commercial properties as well It is to our national interest to limit the ownership of private residential properties to maybe 30% of any development project. We have too little land and too little properties to sell to foreigners. They have the money to buy up everything if we allow them to do so, in a free market environment. Without any restraints, gradually everything will be owned by foreigners. One day we may wake up finding that everything is gone, sold.

Another cock statement from Washington

US demands China restrain NKorea after 'premeditated' violation of Korean War truce WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration urged China to press North Korea to halt provocative actions against South Korea, after an artillery attack on the South that the U.S. called a "premeditated" violation of the truce that ended the Korean War. As the isolated North's only ally and main economic partner, China plays a "pivotal" role in reducing tensions and has a duty to tell Pyongyang that deliberate acts "specifically intended to inflame tensions in the region" are not acceptable, the State Department said. "China is pivotal in moving North Korea in a fundamentally different direction," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters. "We expect China to be clear, like we are, as to where the responsibility for the current situation, the current tension lies. This is something that we feel strongly about." The Evil Empire is trying to pin the blame on China and scheming to use the incident to tarnish China. South Korea may be a semi colony of the US and will submit to whatever wish the US demand. North Korea is an independent country and not China's colony. It does not take directives from China. And neither is China America's whipping boy and would jump to America's every demand. China should tell the Americans to stuff it. If they want a war with the North Koreans, go ahead. But China reserves the right to protect its turf and starting fire in China's back yard will mean that China will step in when its national interests and security is violated. The US thinks that it can keep pushing the buck to China and make the world look at China as an evil superpower like it is. If the South Koreans and the US do not provoke the North by conducting war games in the front yard of North Korea, there will be no tension and shelling. The world must look at how this Evil Empire is trying to fix the North Koreans and China and make them look bad, and using it as an excuse to increase its military presence in the Korean Peninsula.

Good news or bad news?

When I read the mypaper this morning, the two news that hit me were, one, property prices could rise higher, and two, Singapore's household debt low. And these are front page news. So, what is the message? Low interest rate and high liquidity will push property prices higher. Nothing can be done about it. It is beyond our control, market forces at work. And the consolation part, Singaporean household debt is low. This means Singaporeans can afford to take on more debt, pay for higher price properties. Add the two together, what can we expect? Boom time Charlie for the developers and property speculators.

Who is the real provocateur?

The 38th parallel was a convenient line drawn by foreign powers to divide Korea under their influence. First Korea was divided between Russia and Japan. When Japan defeated Russia, it took control of the whole Korea as its colony. After the defeat of Japan in WW2, the Americans and Russians again divided the Koreas into two at the 38th parallel. Failure to hold a general election to reunite the country led to wars between the two Koreans. After the Korean War ended in 1953, the 38th parallel again divided the two Koreas. The question is how did so many islands north of the 38th parallel ended in the hands of the South Koreans? After the war, China withdrew totally out of Korea. The US remained and made South Korea its semi colony, with military bases there. The superior US Navy must have taken advantage of the weaker North Koreans, likely without any navy, and occupied as many islands north of the 38th parallel as they could grab. That is why today, the Yeonpyeong and several islands are called disputed islands, snatched from the North by the South, like Diaoyutai, seized from China by the Japanese. The unbearable truth is made more painful with the South constantly conducting war games in these disputed islands that should belong to the North. An analogy would make this easier to understand. It is like Singapore being separated from Malaysia by the Causeway. And hypothetically, Singapore gained control of all the islands below Tioman and Kukup, with the support of the US. Then every now and then Singapore will conduct war games in Kukup or Pulau Aur or other islands in the east coast. Of course Malaysia will be furious and will warn of counter attacks. So who is provoking who? The situation in Korea is exactly like that. And the western media will keep pointing the finger at the North as irrational and belligerent. So who is the real son of a gun?

Singapore should not be hasty in condemning North Korea

Singapore condemns North Korea for the artillery attack on a South Korean island. It issued a statement saying that the attack was undoubtedly initiated by the DPRK. Does Singapore need to poke its nose in the Korean affair in the first place? And does Singapore know the full story behind the attack? The Singapore media has often published articles and commentaries ridiculing the North Koreans and its leaders, I dunno for what or what it wants to achieve. We have nothing to gain except to be slapped by the North Koreans for being an arrogant brat. What would happen if our neighbours start to hold military exercises just outside our maritime borders? Will we too feel like being screwed like the North Koreans and regard those acts as provocative? The South Koreans and the Americans have been doing just that every now and then to provoke the North Koreans and force them to react. Then they plead innocence and point the fingers at the North Koreans for misbehaving or behaving badly. The Korean Peninsula tension is best left to the Koreans and their agitators to fight it out. We are just a small little prick and better to keep our distance, if we have a choice.

Obesity a national issue

The problem of obesity is important enough to be raised as a national issue in Parliament. We don’t want NS men to walk around looking like barrels do we? If that is the case, we can parade a contingent of these barrels at the National Day Parade. No, they need not have to march. They just need to roll along. And the marching orders, got to be changed to rolling orders, ‘Parade, ke kiri…roll’ instead of ‘Ke kiri… pusing.’ And a more serious problem is that all the buses and MRT trains got to have their seats changed to barrel size. Not only it will cost money to the transport companies, it will bring down their profits as they can now take lesser passengers per trip. Lagi susah is that fuel cost will go up as the passenger loads will be heavier. Now where is the root of the problem? The mummies and grannies of course. They have been feeding their children with the best food and best herbal soups to ‘por’ them while they are growing up. And probably 6 meals a day instead of 3. Looking fat and chubby is a sign of wealth and prosperity. They would not want their children to have that skinny and hungry look of the have nots. It is so malu if relatives say ‘Oh dear, chai chai is so thin!’ It is another way of saying ‘eat not enough’. The MOH shall start to conduct courses for the grannies and mummies on how not to fatten their children and also looking thin is not necessary shameful. This will give a boost to the ego of the have nots as their children are thin simply because they don’t have enough to eat. Now they can pretend that thin is good or not so bad, and walk with a little confidence.

Climb Kilimanjaro For Kids 2011

A Singaporean teacher in York University doing something for kids. Climb Kilimanjaro For Kids 2011 Fundraiser: Andrea Goh Donors can visit www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AndreaGoh

The Myth of Mas the Supernatural

He walked out of the detention centre like David Copperfield, in broad daylight, leaving the guard guarding an empty toilet. This second act is like the disappearing act of a magician walking into a box but appears somewhere else. Pretty good magic show. There is also the belief that after burying a few pieces of bawang, he can literally become invisible. Now for the facts. His escape from detention and fleeing into Johore were anything but unusual. Ok, ok, the part about walking out of a detention centre with ace gurkha guards is still an unknown phenomenon. Subsequently taking a walk to Tampines may not be that difficult but physically a bit demanding on him. The hiding in a brother’s flats, no need too much intelligence unless it is a game of poker, both parties trying to second guess each other’s move. That means Mas came out on top. Finally, the make up and wearing of tudung to pass off as a woman, a piece of cake. Simply text book stuff. No need much imagination. So, where is the part that made Mas Selamat that extraordinary or supernatural? Or he is an expert in disguise, in escape from prison. Oops, escape from prison is not easy. Not many people have succeeded. He may be the only one in paradise to do it. This point could make him that extraordinary. Or is it the event or the circumstances made him extraordinary? They use to say that in the land of the blind, the one eye jack shines.

Definitely not enough

Loan shark harassment cases dropped 8.4% for the period Jan to Oct over the same period last year. Is this good enough? It dropped from 15,120 cases to 13,848 cases, or more than 1000 cases monthly, or 33 cases daily. Did I get the numbers wrong? 33 cases daily is a very intolerable number. In 2007 there were 9,400 cases, 2008 there were 11,400 cases and 2009 there were 17,900 cases. Numbers quoted from the media. My goodness, we have been living with so many harassment cases without knowing. With the publicity given to tougher police actions and more arrests, the number does not seem to be making any significant progress. Or the loan sharks are still ruling their turfs and their activities are as per normal. When will the harassment stop? Oh, never mind, there can never be no harassment. Some harassment cases are normal and expected. So, what is an acceptable number?

Singapore needs Paul Volcker

Dr Volcker, the former Fed Chairman, is in town. Hopefully the govt can bring him on board in some kind of advisory role to curb the madness we have been sucked into. Volcker is famed for his Volcker Rule which forbids proprietary trading and speculations by banks in the financial market. His fear of the menace created by reckless banks which came true during the financial and subprime mortgage crisis has led to the US curbing proprietary trading by banks. His experience on the ground is invaluable. The conflict of interest and unfair advantages of banks in trading and speculation is obvious but blind to those who see short term gains. Singapore has adopted this practice of allowing banks to be thickly involved in proprietary trading or with trading arms as an extension of the banks to dabble in more exciting adventures in the wider financial jungle. The only way to throw out such voyeurism which has ruined the American finance industry is to have a giant like Volcker to tell the super talents that they are going down a slippery slope of no return. There is still time to unwind the mess before the whole financial industry got sucked into the abyss and spin into thin air. The other main fear of the financial industry is the ingenious and crooked ways of writing pieces of papers for trading. Derivative trading is not much different from playing monopoly when everything is worthless and trading with worthless money. A return to real value, assets and industry is the key to return sanity to the intoxicated financial market. We really need a heavy dosage of Volcker wisdom, prudence and thrift policies. Would the super talents listen or are they too high in the clouds and not able to see the mess that the industry is in?

Mas Selamat - The story so far

Allow me to reconstruct the first three chapters of Mas Selamat's escape with the revelation of new information in the media. The first phase is of course the escape from Whitley Road. Then the trip back to his brother's home and finally the trip across the Causeway. The escape from detention centre is still a highly guarded mystery filled with amazing tales and adventures bordering on fiction. So far not much new information has come out on this. So nothing much can be added to it. The trip to his brother's flat in Tampines is interesting. It took him two days to reach there and still wearing his prison garb. How did he make the journey without being noticed or caught? He could not have done in it in broad daylight, too easily recognisable. He could not have travelled by car or it would take him only half an hour. This would narrow the options to walking by night when everyone is sleeping. And it took one or two nights, meaning that he would have to sneak along to avoid being seen, and his limping leg would have slowed him down further. Credit must be given to him to be able to complete the journey without being caught. Perhaps when everyone is sleeping also helped. The trip to the Causeway was much more easier. Now he was in full disguise with professional help. Dressed as a woman with a tudung will save a lot of trouble. Now he was likely to be driven to the Causeway in a car. Taking public transport will attract attention to his limping walk and it was not easy to walk like a woman too. Sitting in a car would be the ideal and a cursory glance by the immigration would not be able to detect much. And yes, a woman's passport is a must. Now, who's passport have been stamped with the dates on those few days? The idea of him swimming across the straits strapped with plastic bottles is best told in kindergartens for a good laugh. If he did not look like a porcupine, he would definitely be an attractive piece of avant gard art. No way was he going to get a hundred plastic bottles and the rafia strings to tie them together. He is not light and a bundle of plastic bottles would look like a mole hill. So far the story goes.

So sad the two Koreas are killing each other

The Choenan Incident did not start a war. Disappointing! The North Koreans categorically denied any involvement in the explosion of the ship. Both sides showed restraints in not pushing the matter further. Today, the North did not denied anything after firing 60 shells into a disputed island and killing and wounding South Korean soldiers and civilians. It claimed the South fired first. The South said it was conducting a military exercise and was firing to the west and not to the north. What is the truth, what actually provoked the North to fire ferociously at the South? Would the world know what is going on? One thing for sure, the two Koreans are going to kill each other. They have forgotten that both are Koreans. After all these years of negotiations, have they not worked out a list of things to do and not to do to prevent any break out of hostility? Did they not agree to inform each other of military exercises at the border to prevent any misunderstanding? It is sad that they are all out to get at one another, to destroy each other. Or could someone have fired directly into the north while the South was firing to the west as claimed? North and South Koreans, for goodness sake, don’t make a fool of your self for whatever reasons. You will both be obliterated should war breaks out.

Is there a royal engagement?

I thought I have seen it on the news but have gotten about it. It is good that the ST wrote such an emotional article about the engagement of Prince Andrew and his fiancée, a commoner. Sorry, forgotten her name. Thanks for the reminder. The engagement is about a real life prince and a soon to be real life princess. Oooh la la, fairy tale stuff! Now my mind is full of Robin Hood, King Richard and King Arthur. And Yes, 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth the second! And she came to Singapore as part of her Empire tour to let her subjects have the pleasure of seeing her, the new Queen, in person. And the loyal subjects of the Empire lined the streets of Singapore to wave flowers and the Union Jacks as the Queen passed by on her topless motorcade. It was fairy tale and fantasy came alive. Now I think many Singaporean will wish that the Prince and Princess will pay a visit to this former colony for the citizens to go gaga over them. The former subjects would probably have passed away or mostly immobile. But not to worry, the new and younger citizens will be the most enthusiastic over this event and will definitely be out in full force to welcome them. They have not the privilege of seeing a real life royalty in their lives. And they will be in their best dresses, designer’s clothes, hats too, to match the occasion. We can relive our colonial heritage and lifestyle one more time, so glamorous and so intimate, as members of the Empire. And those who have been knighted with an OBE or MBE can put on their medals and be invited to dine and dance with the Prince and Princess, at the Istana of course. Memories are made of these.

SDP and three doctorates

Who says SDP is a lost cause? Many may have the impression that with Chee Soon Juan at the helm and the associated bad press and publicity in the media, the SDP is like dead horse. And in the coming GE the SDP could just be another no horse run. Just when people thought the SDP is a goner, in came two doctorates in the form of Vincent Wijeysingha and James Gomez. The trinity of doctorates will now helm a revived and revitalised SDP. SDP can now claim to be able to attract talented individuals and professionals to join its ranks, something that the Workers Party has been quite successful recently. In Vincent Wijeysingha there is a history of pro establishment blood in his father, the renown ex principal of the famous Raffles Institution. Passing through his hands during his tenureship were several ministers and many MPs and luminaries of the Singapore society. With such a scintillating background, it is not easy to throw mud at him and get them stick. James Gomez is no small weight either. His entanglement with the Elections Committee in two previous elections have made him a household name for good or for worst. His experience in the academia and his overseas stint could be put to good use in the coming election. Resourcefulness and financial resources will be his strength and SDP could benefit from them. Spending so many years overseas, in Sweden, Australia and Japan speaks well of his finances and networking. Now that the SDP have two additional bigwigs of no lesser mantle than the PAP candidates to show, they could produce more surprises when the election approaches. More names of professionals could appear at the same time as the PAP introduces its slate of new candidates. The Workers Party should have some good candidates in their sleeves. SDP too will not do too badly when its full deck of cards are revealed. The next GE would be an interesting poker game for now.

The rude pommies

When David Cameron paid an official visit to China with the hope of signing more trade deals, he and his entourage arrogantly wore the poppies on their lapels. They justified themselves that it was their tradition to respect their war dead. They insensitively brushed aside the Chinese request to have them removed as it was a rude reminder of the Opium War humiliation the Chinese suffered at the hands of the pommies. Of course the trip ended with nothing to bring home. So, would they come back with the Jardines and Mathesons and their gunboats loaded with cannons and opium again to force trade with China? They were superior in weapons technology once. They may still think that they could shove the Chinese aside like football hooligans. They better be reminded that even their world famous Rolls Royce engines are falling out of the sky. This is the last days of a dying Empire and more will come when the loot they ransacked from the Asian and African countries were used up. Soon they will be auctioning away all the stolen treasures in the London museums and the Crown Jewels. Buckingham Palace on sale! Who will be the first sick man of Europe? The Brits have a good potential to assume this position, starting with Ireland. Maybe it will take a little longer as they could also print more English pounds, provided the EU did not stop them from doing it. Or maybe David is thinking of slaying a dragon, like Goliath.

A new kind of colonial conquest

For those who have read history or still remember, the Western powers sailed into Africa, Asia and America in their gunboats and took everything from the natives. And the best part is that they claimed everything as theirs, including the people who became subjects of their empires. How Europe became rich had its beginnings in robbery and piracy. Today they came again, guns hidden, but with stash of newly printed papers they called money. And they are taking everything in exchange for these pieces of printed papers. And the natives just gave them away happily this time round. They gave away goods and services. The latest are beautiful houses and properties which they built at high cost, all for the pieces of papers. And the Americans are warning the rest of the world that stopping the use of these printed papers is destabilising the world’s existing order. In other words, if they are not allowed to cart away goods and services, which they happily exchanged with printed pieces of papers, they are going to pull out their guns. There are countries that have wise up to this new form of colonial robbery. They are not going to give away their valuables for worthless pieces of papers. There are others who are happy to collect the printed papers and willingly give away their goods, including hot properties.

Save Singapore while there is still time

The hottest topic in cyberspace Singapore Chapter is overcrowding in Singapore. But this is only a one sided view of the disgruntled Singaporeans. The supertalents don’t believe a wee bit that Singapore is overcrowded and there are signals and mind conditioning processes actively trying to convince the unconvinced that Singapore can support a population of more than 10m people. The people of the world are crying out loud to save the Gaia while there is still time. Singaporeans, or some Singaporeans, are crying out to save Singapore while there is still time. For this group of Singaporeans, they fear that one day they will end up like a congested fish tank teeming with fish fighting to push their heads up gasping for air. For so many years, even today, we have been crowing about how successful we are and how great this little paradise is. Is there anyone seeing signs that it is going downhill and can snap into chaos, unemployment, bankruptcies and disorder? Some thought they are seeing the signs. Some are oblivious to any signs and are looking at more good years ahead. But they have bought their insurance plans, overseas properties just in case. Can the party go on and on like this, with inflation shooting to the roof. Oh, that is only my personal view and it is likely to be wrong. Inflation is very low according to official statistics despite runaway housing prices, car prices, transportation, medical services and even food prices. With the bulk of the population whose salary got to fit the bill of ‘cheaper, better and faster’, can they cope with the rising cost of living? Looking at the speed in which properties are being snapped up and the long queues waiting for ever more expensive housing, I think all the doomsayers are wrong. Singapore and Singaporeans are getting more prosperous everyday, or at least their property prices are making them richer by the days. And now even buy cars can make money too. The good days are here and will stay forever. Who says must save Singapore while there is still time?

Hongkong and China coming down hard on property speculation

Hongkong has announced more stringent measures to curb property speculations amid warnings by the IMF that the property bubble could burst. Sales of properties within 6 months of purchase will not have to pay 15% of stamp duty. Down payment for properties above S$2m has been raised from 40% to 50%. This irrational fear of property bubble is spreading from South Korea, China to Brazil. The control measures would mean that property prices in these countries will not go up anymore. Now that is bad. In Singapore, property prices can only go one way, up and up. And this is good. It must be. And we have no property bubble to fear. Our properties are all priced to be affordable. This is the ingenious trick that all the other countries failed to learn. The affordability formula is as stretchable as rubber. Even if our HDB 3 rm flats are priced at $1m each, they will still be affordable. From two income households servicing the mortgage for 30 years, this can be made even more attractive by having 4 incomes to pay for it. There is further flexibility to increase the repayment period from 30 years to 60 years too. If these countries would be humble enough to learn from us, they will not need to panic and impose all kinds of anti speculation measures. And they will be cheering everyday for property prices to go up, the higher the better.

Cutting talk time in Parliament is right

When it was first proposed, many people were irked by the move. By restraining MPs from speaking in Parliament when that is the most important part of their job I think, baffles the role of Parliamentary sessions. Parliament is the highest body in the country and MPs must be allowed all the time in the world to say their piece. If MPs cannot talk in Parliament or allowed only a few minutes to talk, might as well abolish Parliament. Those were some of the views from the masses. Today ST published some statistics which proved beyond any reasonable doubt that cutting talk time is the right thing to do. Many MPs don't even speak in Parliament or ask only a handful of questions. So what is the point of having long talk time? Ok, it may be just a provision and whether they use it or not is a separate issue. Who knows some Rip Van Winkles may woke up and want to speak for 3 days nonstop? The curbing of talk time in Parliament may be a bit harsh on those who have a lot of questions and things to contribute. Cutting their time is like telling them that they are talking too much and to shut up. The point is that when MPs have a point to say, especially an important one, time must be the least of concern. Only when an MP is talking rubbish that he/she should not be allowed too much time. With the new restriction, let's hope the Speaker is sensible enough to make exceptions and allow MPs to speak beyond the time limit when the points made are important and relevant. In the same vein, when MPs are talking cock, even the time allocated is too much and the Speakers shall rule the MP out from talking more nonsense. Maybe a little tweaking is necessary here. MPs who are known to ask a lot of questions should be allocated more time. MPs who have nothing to say should not be given anytime. Their time can be apportioned to the voracious question askers. Fair right? Another way is to allow MPs to buy and sell talk time credits like carbon credits. MPs who choose not to ask questions can sell their time to MPs who have plentiful of questions. There can be different variations on how this can be done. But one important thing, Parliament is there for discussing important state matters and time must not be an excuse to curtail talking about them. The saddesst thing that can happen is for the Speaker to ask an MP to sit down because he/she has exceeded the time limit though what the MP is saying is important and all wisdom, and for the good of the country.

Learn from the Americans

America is today the most productive country in the world. And they are now the richest. They can actually buy up the whole world if they wanted to. Just a few weeks back they just printed for themselves US$600b to spend. I think with that kind of money the Americans could have bought up all our properties in the market. And if they print more, they could buy up the whole island. This is the most ingenious way of making money. No need to work, no need to sweat, no need to play tricks in the stock market, no need to devise toxic bonds, no need to go to war. Countries around the world should learn from the Americans and start printing. And with the hot cash, they can go anywhere and buy up everything. Singapore is for sale, all the properties up for grabs. No problem even if we sell our 3 rm HDB flats for $1m. There will be limitless amount of money available to buy them. All Singaporeans can sell their flats and price them more than a million, 2 or 3 million should be no problem too. Just sell and exchange them for the hot and easy money. Oops, heard someone said don't sell. Why not? So much money for the grabs. Oh, just one point, one plate of chicken rice will now cost $300! And our ministers will ask to increase their salaries to $100m. How else would they be able to afford anything when prices of everything is up and up. It will be like the Japanese Occupation time. People will go marketing carrying a basket of banana currency notes. Today they may use the trolleys for the new notes. On second thought, better don't sell your property. It will become priceless at the way things are going.

No apologies for Choenan

President Lee Myung Bak of South Korea is not demanding an apology from the North for the resumption of nuclear disarmament talks. Is this an appeasement, a back tracking, a concession or what? The South has accused the North for killing its sailors. The North must not take this accusation lightly. It must take the case to the UN to demand a thorough investigation for the murdering of South Korean soldiers. It must clear its name or the world and silly South Koreans will think that the North is guilty. Push for an investigation now, and if found innocent, demand an apology from the South, especially from Lee Myung Bak. This is the least that the North Koreans should do, after being falsely accused of murder. If they are not careful, this will be used as an excuse like WMD to invade the North. See that justice is done, to the dead soldiers of the South Korean Navy. The families of the dead soldiers must equally demand for an impartial investigation to the killling. An independent investigation board approved by the families and the North Koreans should be set up under a neutral body under the UN supervision. The South Koreans and Americans involved in the last investigation should be excluded from this independent board of investigators. The South Koreans need to know the truth for the killing of their own people. The North Koreans need to clear its name from being accused as murderers. Do not let this matter rests as it is now. The killers must be dugged out from wherever they are hiding.

Boulders versus pearls

It is quite amusing reading Ravi Velloor’s article in the ST today. The world’s number one gangster went on a world tour to rope in the gangsters to contain the rise of China. On the other hand China was kept busy building ports and signing up commercial contracts with countries around the world. For that, China was described as a rogue and the gangsters anything but rogues. So who are the real rogues, someone trying to do business or someone signing military alliances? But the description of boulders to block pearls is most appropriate, rough and tough gangsters, in the form of boulders, blocking the way of business men doing their business. And India is the most willing of all the boulders to gang up with the evil Empire. It has its own strategic interests and wild ambition to be a world power other than the number one power in the Indian Ocean. Japan and South Korea could be taken for granted as they are mere semi colonies of the Empire. Ravi was also optimistic that Russia and Myanmar would fall in line to be proxies of the evil Empire. Would these two countries be so foolish to become the tools of the evil Empire and got dragged into a hostile conflict to serve the Empire? He should count another willing gangster in Vietnam to join the gang. Indonesia has wisely stayed clear of big power rivalry and choosing its own path of independence and neutrality. It is comfortable being the big brother of Asean. Only foolish rogue nations would gang up to threaten other countries in a pack. Birds of the same feather flock together. PS. Logging in from a laptop seems ok.