The world should learn from Sinkieland

Two gripping news today, rate cheating by Barclay’s on LIBOR and China’s curb on property speculation. In Barclay’s case, it was trying to offer better interbank rates against a fixed rate determined by a formula. The British authorities and European govts are against variable rates. They are going to frame criminal charges against the violators. They want all banks to work on a fixed and determine rate. Isn’t this against a free market?

Rates should be freed up so that every bank can compete freely to offer the best rates to their customers. This will bring down the cost of financing and must be good. And the Americans are the champions of such deregulations and free competition. Sinkieland is the next freest place in terms of free competition. A good case is commission rates. Several industries are encouraged or made to operate on a free rate basis, ie, everyone can offer any rate to their customers, even doing it for free, while they make from other businesses. Technically, some big financial institutions would be able to offer cut throat rates to win market share and make their profits from elsewhere. It will only encourage a lot of trading and business activities when commissions can be reduced to practically zero. Must be good for business. And cutting rates, offering better rate, is not a crime, it is free competition.

It is inconceiveable that the Europeans could not see the merits of free rates against fixed rates. They should allow the banks to compete freely with each other and those that are not competitive should be allowed to fold up. Free market mechanism should be allowed, with free play, to bring down the rates to the lowest possible.

In China’s case, they did not want property prices to go up, even after several years of curbing regulation, they would not want to see a rebound of property prices. China would encourage first time buyers but not speculation that would drive up prices and great profits for the rich. This is against free market practices and free market forces. By doing so, the prices of properties will be artificially depressed which is not good for the economy. The economy would not grow, just like North Korea, when a landed property cost $10k compares to a lousy 2 rm flats here that could fetch $100k. The North Korean economy will definitely be shrunk and small in size. Economy growth numbers will be small and slow to grow. No wonder China is so badly managed and at the brink of a collapse, according to free wheeling western economists and analysts.

If the North Koreans would to allow market forces to determine their property prices, all the landed property will be worth a few hundred thousand dollars instantly. China’s economy too will get a big boost with free market forces driving their property prices.

These countries should learn from Sinkieland and drive down the cost of doing business with low interest rate and let property prices shoot to the sky so that all property owners feel they are instant millionaires. Never mind if they are struggling to pay the mortgages and have nothing left for other things. When property prices are high, when speculation is a past time, the economy will boom and everyone will few really rich.

The Sinkie example is the best for high growth and high property prices, and for the making of instant millionaires without working for it. It must not be a crime to offer cheaper and more competitive rates, even no commission or doing things for free. It is not a crime to sell property at ever higher prices. It is good for the economy. People who cannot afford to buy just buy what they can afford, or rent. No one is forced to buy property at high prices. Free market at work.

Village girl

A piece of rar art. More can be viewed from www.artofrar.blogspot.com

The big man made garden

Some of you may remember the big fake volcano in Sentosa. Our latest grand attraction is in all counts another big artificiality in the vein of Hollywood, bright lights and humanly designed waterfalls, designer buildings and all the jazz. And the people lap it all up as the latest craze in town. It has outdone the cosplay event in town, where ordinary people could dress up as superheros or their favourite anime characters to live a few moments of fantasy.

In the new fantasy garden, many interesting programmes have been lined up for the visitors from food to education, and participation in all the botany related activities, understanding or getting close to nature in a souped up environment.

In an instant, one is transported into another wonderland of what humans think are desirable, to please the emptiness of dull city folks with plenty of money and nowhere to go, or not knowing what to do. It is a smaller version of the tranquil island of Sentosa, once a verdant little tropical jungle where one could enjoy nature, serenity, sand and sea for free. Like Sentosa, the new garden fantasy doesn’t come cheap for each visit.

What happens to the genuine century old Botanic Garden that is cultivated through time and by the hands of nature? What happens to the Wetland Reserves where a family could have a real taste of nature, practically for free? What is it like to enjoy a few hours sitting silently in the reserve, feeling nature, listening to nature and be a part of nature?

How much does it need to create this great nature disneyland that needs not be or could be created at lesser cost, lesser consumption of resources and expenses while preserving or destroying nature in the process? Could a more natural habitat living to the name of a tropical paradise, a little tropical jungle in the city be created in much lesser cost and much more nature friendly than this mammoth of human creation and achievement? How much more will it cost to run the attraction though the bills will be partially paid by the visitors?

What’s next? An interconnecting sky garden across the island like the hanging garden of Babylon, in much grander scale? Avatar was about the return to nature and its mystic, protecting nature and nature’s way of life. In the creation of our own Avatar, are we protecting nature or destroying nature in the process? The hidden costs and destruction to nature to bring about this wonder are not small in wonder. The continuous maintenance and creation of consumer demand and consumption in the whole process are the price to pay for this new gracious lifestyle, a visit to the Garden.

Do we need such a garden? Plenty of jobs are created which is good for the economy and economic growth. Do we need more of such jobs? Do we need more food and restaurants, more shopping centres and shops, build more expensive properties for sale to foreigners? Do we need to put up more containers to collect tin cans, plastics and papers to save the environment and mother earth?

Selling snake oil ok?

The world’s financial system is in a mess in many ways. Primarily the root of the problem is that it is run, operated, managed and regulated by crooks and robbers in designer suits and Ivy League degrees. The tragic result of this combination is best seen in the 1990s world financial crisis originating from Wall Street and London. The world’s financial system was taken down to its knees and the govts were helpless as the organisations were too big to fail and the people managing and regulating them were too prominent and important to be put behind bars. Only one or two were made the scapegoats of the whole fiasco.

The whole mess was revived without a button missing after govts poured in billions and trillions to avoid the failure of the financial system and the big financial organisations. Practically every crook is still in his job with every regulator as their accomplice smiling, and all laughing to the banks again.

There are three levels of financial crimes in the whole picture. At the lowest level are the snake oil sellers and the snake oils they are peddling. Many regulators took the cursory approach of going after these small guys, the snake oil sellers, as they are the most vulnerable, without the financial muscles and connections to protect them. And they can be easily shoved and pushed into the drains. And regulators are seen to be zealously doing something, chasing the snake oil sellers, putting all the blames on them. They are the problem, helpless punks and easy meat to bully and to be taken to task for the smallest indiscretion. It is so convenient.

The next level, more difficult to touch or untouchables in their own ways, are the top management authorising selling the snake oils. They are too high up there, with halos over their heads, presumed to be, in the Sinkie parlance, immortals and infallible human beans. They will not err and will not be accomplices to the low down crimes of the snake oil peddlers. How could they be blamed for their indiscretion and bad practices? Just keep clear of them or they will counter sue if prosecuted.

At this same level, other than allowing the juniors to peddle snake oil, they may even indulged in deceit and trickery like the Barclay case. And when caught with their pants down, no worry, they just walked away from the jobs and expected to be paid a ransom for doing so. That is how corrupt and disgusting the financial industry has become. Criminals or abetting crimes would not be prosecuted but handsomely rewarded. Only the snake oil peddlers under their charge are at fault and will be charged.

At the next higher level will be the casino operators. When normal health supplements are not bringing in the loot, anything else goes. Snake oils or poisons will be okay as long as the revenue is good and business is seen to be thriving and flourishing. Just don’t call them snake oils or poisons. Give them some sophisticated jargons that no one will understand. What if the casino operators are engaged in facilitating institutions to push snake oils and poisons into the system at the detriment of the consumers? Would there be anyone to regulate them, to check on the snake oils and poisons in sugar coated forms?

Or would everyone act dumb, pretending that snake oils and poisons are health food and supplements, or simply look the other way? And there are plenty of works that can be done and to look good chasing the snake oil peddlers who are so helpless and waiting to be put behind bars? In short, who is there to check and regulate the regulators?

Welcome to the entertainment hub

Looks like the circus is in town with so many hilarious happenings in Sinkieland. Everything is happening in this little piece to rock to keep the citizens and netizens laughing. One can even expect the merlion to laugh until its jaw drops. Nothing is unimaginable or unexpected nowadays.

When things are so comical, the citizens will have no time to watch Channel 8 for more comedies.

Dumb Americans

With the world’s best brains in research and technology, and military experts, they spent US$5b on a lemon uniform only to scrap it in less than 10 years. Despite all the tests and trials they only found out that it did not work after 7 years in service. Now they would have to spend another US$5b to replace that lemon.

On the other hand, Singapore used the uniform, tested by our experts, probably redesigned and improved on it and found it almost perfect to our needs. We even designed and created an uniform for desert warfare in Afghanistan, as reported in the papers today. Now our soldiers would feel safer fighting in the desert.

And the Americans are reintroducing a new design to replace the pixelised uniform. The new design is nothing much cutting edge really, likely to be a bit of change here and there of the older design that was replaced by the pixelised version.

Singapore should have offered our proven and tested version to the Americans at probably half the cost of their new design. It will be a win win situation. And Singapore would earn a new feather on its cap as a military uniform designer, better than the Americans.

But knowing the Americans, they would not accept anything from anyone. Singapore could actually buy over the rejected pixelised stocks from the Americans for a song since they have no use for them. It will help the dumb Americans to dispose of their unwanted uniforms. Otherwise they will likely burn them, or maybe bury in the desert. Maybe they will donate to Hollywood for another mega war movie with the rejected uniform to be worn by the losers.

Consider Mercedes or BMWs for staff cars

During the early days of Mindef, most staff cars are Minis, Fords, a few Japanese makes and a few Mercedes for the top brass. But those days cost was important as the country was not that rich. Today we have billions and billions in our reserve and maybe it is timely that Mindef or the other ministries should go for quality since money is no longer a problem.

And going for quality is not extravagant really. Buying cheap cars is like penny wise pound foolish. A Mercedes or BMW is made to last for 20 years unlike the other cheaper makes that would last no more than 10 years. And the ride is so much better and comfortable. And there is the safety aspect to care for. Mercedes and BMWs are built with many safety features which will make them so much safer for the passengers, our NS men. Oh, include in the specs to have 4 airbags, two in front, two behind, plus side protection bars and anti roll bars. Safety is of paramount importance and cannot be compromised.

Buy quality is not wasting money. Mercedes and BMWs must give me a commission for this brilliant suggestion. And with two of them submitting for the tenders, there is a price comparison and competition, and the contract can be given to the lowest bid. Can throw in Audi if three bids are needed.

Remember, quality comes with a price. Can cheaper, better and faster mean quality also? If that can be so, then no one will want to buy expensive goods. Start by changing all the chairs and office furnitures.

Do not underestimate the Malaysians

Malaysia just launched one of the world’s largest IPO in IHH Healthcare at $2.6b. The company will be listed in the SGX and Bursa Malaysia. What is amazing about this launch is the list of hospitals in its stable. Among the big names are Mt Elizabeth Orchard, Mt Elizabeth Novena, Gleneagles and Parkway Hospitals. If the names sound familiar, yes, they are all the top hospitals in Singapore.

Malaysia has not only bought over this strategic group of hospitals, it also owns one of our power stations, it has bought into two of our brokerages, and I am sure it is also into many other acquisitions of good Sinkie companies. With their oil money, it is quite foreseeable that it could buy up many good assets and companies here.

I see this as a brilliant strategic move. They have turned the table and thrown away their village mindset of always on the losing end when dealing with Sinkieland. They are on the offensive. When everything is for sale in Sinkieland, it is only a right thing to do for Malaysia to buy them up. And don’t forget, it is exchanging Malaysian ringgits for Sing dollar. In the long run, should the ringgit depreciated against the Sing dollar, Sinkieland will end up with much less value ringgits while Malaysia will be sitting on highly valued and well appreciated Sinkie assets.

For those who are worrying about the fate of Sinkieland remerging with Malaysia, not to worry. It need not be. It will be bought over in a matter of time. Don’t underestimate the strategic minds of the street smart Malaysians. Our book scholars will be no match to them as they only think of buying and selling for immediate and short term gains. The long term strategic thinking is somehow absent. And with so many Malaysians here as PRs or citizens, the merging or takeover will be smooth and easy.

And the Malaysians know how to buy good stuff. They don’t go around the world to buy junks or out of luck companies.

What is $57,200?

When $600,000 was dismissed off as peanuts, why are netizens screaming over $57,200? The amount was spent on 26 foldable Brompton bikes that NParks had purchased. Many felt that it was excessive and unnecessary when a $500 bike is already a damn good one and a $1,000 bike is a luxury. A $2,000 bike is just inexplicable for a govt organization to splurge using public money. And poor Khaw Boon Wan now had came out to defend this purchase as reasonable. And this is going to cause more ire among the bikers who knew the value and quality of bikes. Best advice is not to explain.

But spending $57,200 is really nothing, not even a drop in the ocean. Not even half a month’s pay to many. Why the who ha? Personally, as a low wage worker, $500 for a bike is definitely too much for me to pay. Then it is all relative isn’t it? What is a lot to the losers is, yes, nothing to those who are used to spend millions and hundreds of millions.

The netizens are also complaining why a tender for 26 bikes only attracted one bid. Is it that the tender contract was too small, no supplier was interested, no one could meet the stringent specifications, or no one knew about the tender except for one? Many questions are being raised on this peculiar incident, just like the designer chairs for, was it MOM or NTU? Such small matters and small amount of money could not register in the memory of most people, not even my elephant memory. Of course dementia is starting to gnaw throw the thick skull.

My conclusion, the amount is just too small, too petty for any suppliers of foldable bikes to be bothered to submit their tenders. So it ended up with only one hungry tender, and according to civil service procedures, since there was only one tender, it was proper to accept the tender. Case closed. Let’s move on.

For those suppliers who were sleeping and did not know that there was such a tender, it is their fault. Then again, it must be the small sum that kept them away. In an exceedingly rich country when every mention of money is in the millions, when people conveniently asked, ‘What is $10m?’, what is $57,200? No case lah. Such a small matter is like making a mountain out of a mole hill. There are more important things to worry about.

God’s money

The believers donated happily, willingly, though painfully, to God, with the hope of 30 fold, 60 fold and 100 fold returns. What is wrong with that? Nothing really! It is willing giver willing taker. It is caveat emptor. Why the big fuss? The only thing that I cannot fathom is the round tripping. Maybe this one got some accounting peculiarities that offended the law.

Putting this aside, money willingly given to God must be God’s money. There is no compulsion, like taxes or CPF. There is no law against anyone giving money to God. Calling it charity is also wrong. God does not need charity. Who the heck called these as donation to charity?

Anyway, once the money if for God, how the money is used by God’s servants to serve God is no one else business. If the servants think that singing and cutting albums in the US is to serve God, then let it be so. If the intent is good, good for the contributors, what is the problem? Even if it is pornography or insurance schemes or whatever schemes, if it is for the good of God, that is good enough.

It is also reported that 40 companies were set up by CHC or the pastors and the senior pastors. If the monies are theirs, it is personal and private matter. If the money is God’s money, then one needs to ask what is the purpose of these investments. If the investment is to grow God’s money to serve God, it is perfectly legal and logical. Sovereign funds were also set up in same kind of reasoning, investing the funds to serve god’s interests. Oops, I meant the sovereign’s interests.

See, all can be explained. It is the intention that counts. If the intention is not to cheat, which no one will admit or own up, and if it is explicitly said that it is to invest for the long term for God’s sake, it cannot be faulted. Or can it?

Bankers Fleeing Europe Crisis Head to Singapore

The Europeans have started to take them down, one by one. The crooks and robbers in high places, wearing designer suits and an air of superiority, in the financial industry of the west, will hit the dust as their ill doings are being exposed. More will see their light being snuffed out as the financial industry with its unregulated mischievious products and practices revealed themselves as purely toxic and worthless waste. After wrecking the world economy in the late 1990s, nothing seems to change as they continue to revive and indulge in their old ways, and aggrandizing themselves with more dirty money from their ‘sophisticated’ but daft high net worth clients.

As the curtain is coming down, many are scrambling to the ignorant and naïve Asian countries that would open their doors and arms to embrace these financial rogues and their scam practices thinking that they were the god sent angels to boost up their financial systems and profits. If only they think a little and ask if these were really so talented, if their practices were so supreme, they would not be running away from the western paradise. And the top crooks and robbers would not be taken down, the big banks and financial institutions would not be in ruins.

But never mind, the Asians are always willing suckers to the west. Below is a compressed post on the great talents and their exodus to Asia. Sinkieland will be waiting in glee for these great talents. The first financial centre in Asia that will be in ruins will be Sinkieland if it blindly allowed all the rogues and their rotten products and systems into the island. Just watch the stock market and the signs of its demise.

Posted By: Rajeshni Naidu-Ghelani
Assistant Producer, CNBC

29 Jun 2012

A 37-year-old Paris-based French investment banker, who’s worked in London and New York, has been looking for a job in one of Asia's financial hubs, Singapore, for the past six months.

A director at an asset management firm owned by one of France’s big banks, she asked to stay anonymous, but told CNBC that even her husband, a portfolio manager, was on the lookout for work in Singapore. She added that they would move to the city-state with their two children as soon as one of them lands a job….

The French investment banker is one among a growing number of bankers looking to leave Europe as deteriorating economic conditions together with tougher regulations have slowed business and led to job cuts…. “It’s very, very slow here [in Europe]. On top of that, there are a lot of regulations adding up on each other, so it makes things a bit difficult,” she said.

Several global recruitment firms have told CNBC they’ve seen a significant increase recently in the number of European bankers wanting to relocate to the Southeast Asian city-state….The slowness in European and U.S. markets is also leading to more Asian-born bankers returning home to work, according to Norton….Malaysian-born Wai Keng Kwok, 33, is one Asian-born banker looking to make a fresh start in Singapore. Kwok moved to the island-nation in February,

after working for Morgan Stanley in New York for five years, to take up the role of chief operating officer at a local hedge fund started by a friend.

Another white mice story

58 year old taxi driver got punched by 47 year old airline pilot twice his size. Taxi driver’s story, airline pilot ‘walked towards him in an aggressive manner and accused him of being a gangster…then punched him and his dentures fell out of his mouth.’ Airline pilot claimed taxi driver who was in a coffee shop, drunk, lost balance, hit his cheek on the shoulder of a friend seated in the same table.

It was reported that there was bad blood between the two neighbours over the taxi driver burning joss sticks outside his door. The pilot was fined $1000. Obviously the judge did not believe that the taxi driver was drunk and lost his balance.

Is this a case of a foreign talent or new talent unable to integrate to the local way of life and incensed by the incense being burnt by his neighbour? The little 58 year old man was easy meat to this burly pilot to take on. One is so small and so old, the older so big and so young.

Anyway, the taxi driver should know his station in life and should not have antagonized the airline pilot. He should burn the joss sticks when the pilot is not at home. Then there will be no problem and he would not have got drunk, fell and his dentures fell out of his mouth.

Learning to eat shit blindly

One of the most outstanding characteristics of Sinkieland is learning to eat American shit without thinking. When they said big is good, we went ahead blindly to force merge our local banks into three, with the intent to probably end up with only two, only for the Americans to curse the too big to fail syndrome. The financial crisis brought not only the too big to fail banks to their knees, it also meant that the poor tax payers would have to pay for the crooked ways of the big bank robbers.

Then we went in blindly to sell toxic notes and bonds without knowing that they were more than snake oil, but poison. And the blame was on the ignorant and innocent investors for not doing their homework. Wonder if NTUC sold some poisoned foodstuff and the blame would be put to the people or the AVA?

And the bigger Lehman bond is going to blow in the face of all investors and the finance industry when the stock market goes into a limp when the Viagra used to boost trading activities turns out to be fake, Made in USA. Many investors have lost a fortune and many people in the industry will be losing their jobs and their ability to service the big home mortgages.

The latest, the auntie pattern army uniforms, was copied from the Americans. Whatever the Americans do, we copied. Now, even before every soldier is issued with the uniforms, the US realized their stupidity and is abandoning the pixelised uniforms for a more relevant pattern, which is another farce really. It is not very much different from the one that was replaced earlier. The victims will be the taxpayers for the billions of dollars spent to switch and switch. But that can be expected from the Americans as it is big business interests involved.

Now we will end up with this stupidity and trying to justify that it is the right thing. To me it looks sissy, and nothing like the jungle. It may fit into the wet market or the new botanic garden. And changing it will cost another bomb and another big logistic nightmare.

Failed spamming attacks

I have received reports that my site has been under heavy spamming attacks recently, apparently from 'foreign sources'. I did not know why the foreigners would be so interested to attack a little Sinkie blog so persistently, or is there any reason for them to do so.

Anyway, the attacks failed miserably and all their effort was wasted as none of the spams came through except for one one two occasionally.

Bloggers have a very effective screening process to keep these pests out of their system.

I shall say try harder. They need to be better or need to pay for more talented spammers to do damage to bloggers' firewall.

My two ups to them.

Same challenges different responses

Leong Chun Ying has taken over as the new head of Hongkong. His maiden speech was about tackling the immediate challenges facing the island, high property prices, high income gap and social harmony. These are exactly the same problems that Sinkies are facing. And the Today paper has frontpaged the thoughts of Chan Chun Sing on the same issues yesterday.

The problems are recognized but how the govt is dealing with them can be filtered from Chan Chun Sing’s comments. Taking care of the low income and making sure they have enough to get by is relatively an easier issue to resolve. Raising productivity and increasing social transfers to ensure a basic standard of living for low wage earners will do the trick, and they will have enough to buy milk powder and other basic necessities. It is the aspirations of the highly educated Sinkies that are difficult to deal with. To the latter, it is how much more to have, I think, that is worrying. They need to own assets worth several millions before they are satisfied. For the lower income, they have little or no aspirations. Really?

Let me summarise, helping the rich getting richer is difficult, ie, no answers. Helping the poor with their basic needs is easy. Just make sure they have enough to eat and money to buy milk powder. They will survive. Some are doing very well with $2000 a month income. Why should those earning $5000 be complaining? So $2000 should be enough, afterall $1000 can already buy HDB flats. $2000 must be a luxury.

Now I understand why the income gap will not be narrowed. It is relative and matter of perception and lifestyle. Many can live on $2000. So what is the problem? In Hongkong, Leong is going to listen seriously to the voices and complaints of the people. Here, the income gap can simply be explained away as part of progress and nothing can be done. So is housing prices. Now what is the Hongkie govt going to do to narrow the income gap and high property prices? I don’t think they are going to say the same thing, or the problem is too difficult to resolve.

I think the Hongkie govt will have serious problems trying to solve these if the super talents here could not. The Hongkies did not claim to be super talents and are not drawing super talented pay and can be excused for being not so clever.

Yuriko Koike smearing China’s contribution to save Europe

While Europe is in the doldrum needing resuscitation, China and the BRIC nations are pumping US$55 billion into the Save Europe Fund with China’s share at US$43b. In a report in Today, this Yuriko is accusing China of extending a helping hand to promote its strategic interests, not a white knight. China’s buying land in Iceland is for China’s benefit and not for Iceland. China’s enormous embassy is to improve intelligence collection. China’s investment in the port and transport services in Greece is to China’s advantage.

So, what should China do while spending all the billions of hard earned money to invest in these countries that would not benefit China or must not benefit China? These monies did not fall from the sky. And these monies are different from the monies and national treasures that the Japanese robbed from China, Korea and Southeast Asian countries during the Japanese invasion in the Second World War.

Now what is Japan going to do with those ill gotten wealth to help the European countries that would not benefit Japan as well? What is Yuriko’s agenda for writing this scathing attack at China?

CHC is just a small church

It is good and natural for the believers of CHC to pledge loyalty to Kong Hee. They know him, a friend, a pastor and a servant of God. Never mind about the indiscretion he is facing in court.

Does anyone want to think and ask a few questions like why they listen to him and go to his church? The Church, in layman terms or in believer’s term, is the house of God. They go to the church to seek God which is believed to be infallible and will not err, and will not indulge in money acquisition as an important part of spiritual uplifting.

Sinkies are legendary for being unthinking. Several generations have gone by with this spirit in them. They went to the election booth to vote for a party, not the person, not the policies. Perhaps the person is mixed up with the party. The believers of CHC are also voting blindly, not interested in questioning anything, the act, the person, the whole belief.

Did they know that God will not allow usurers and tax collectors or money lenders in his church? But what to do? The unthinking Sinkies will just vote and support blindly, as they are brought up that way. Blind following and blind obedience are what Sinkies have been indoctrinated with. The Bible said, ‘Seek ye the truth and the truth shalt set you free.’ How can one seek the truth if one refuses to think? Christianity is not meant to be a blind faith. Or is it?

In the wider context, Sinkies are resigned to buy atrociously priced public housing, quietly accepting the fate of their life savings as tax and would not even think of taking it back. My God, it is not $2 but hundreds of thousands! They are resigned to their fate and would accept any fate with empty promises. They embrace hope even knowing that it is hopeless. The believers of CHC are good representatives of the whole population, except for those in Hougang or those wanting to be Hougangkia. Many in the population will just vote blindly for the bigger church.

Matthew 7:15-20


‘Watch out for false prophets. They will come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, of figs from thistles?’ Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.’

Carelessness or thoughtlessness?

Many frequent travellers to Australia would know of the famed Australia procedures of fumigation in the aircraft on arrivals, treating every passenger and their belongings as pest ridden stuff, harbouring millions of dangerous bacteria and viruses that could bring harm to their country. That is how the Australians try to protect their country and people from harm.

Every human bean and thing is a carrier for all things floating in the air, intentionally or unintentionally. The baggage could be home to contagious disease carrying microbes or bugs and lices. So do the human bodies if unclean. They could be equally infested on the skin or inside the body system with disease and illness that could easily infect on contact or sneezing.

Our open door policies for inviting every living things to our island must also be inviting all the disease and illness bearers to our shores. And we welcome them gleefully. There have been complaints of bed bugs and lices making a reappearance after decades of non existence except in a few dark corners. TB and rare diseases are starting to creep up and so are highly drug resistant viruses.

We are so opened as a society and country that we take them in our strides. Did we ever think that such openness and callousness or thoughtlessness could bring about an epidemic like the bubonic plague or something similar in nature, and just as deadly?

Is there a need to take some precautions? Or do we think that by exposing our people to all kinds of disease causing microbes could help to build up a natural immune system to render them ineffective? Are the Australians crazy and over doing it or we are so daft and unable to appreciate the merits of those strange acts? I was told that some airlines have started to take some cosmetic measures by spraying insecticides lined with scented liquid in the aircraft when entering or exiting some countries. These acts would hardly do any good to prevent a health hazard and at most reduce the foul odour in the planes.

Just some food for thought for the thoughtless. ‘I have never met anyone so thoughtless in my life. Keep up the good work.’ Said the meditation guru to his student.

Lunacy, prophetic, high on drugs or really something gonna happen?

Below is an interesting article for Sunday reading pleasure.

Green Light Issued by US Military for Mass Arrests to Begin

Military poised to take action by 4th of July according to sources

News | June 28, 2012 | www.miraclesandinspiration.com/news_green-light-issued.html

Reported by Scott Mowry

As we approach our annual Fourth of July celebration, major historic world events continue to unfold which may be signaling an Independence Day like no other is about to occur.

On Wednesday evening, June 27, 2012, major breaking news lit up blogs, chat rooms and alternative news media sites across the internet landscape. It originated from a source named Drake, a purported Pentagon liaison who for months has been reporting of impending mass arrests of the major players in the world’s dark cabal is imminent.

Drake has proclaimed himself to be a quasi-spokesman for a burgeoning group of Pentagon white hats rumored to be extremely close to unleashing plans to rescue our country, if not the entire human race, from a complete New World Order take over. He further claimed that as much as 80% of the Pentagon is on board with these plans.

Over the past three months, Drake has become both a folk hero sensation and controversial figurehead after an exclusive interview with David Wilcock went viral over the internet within days after its release on March 28, 2012.

Prior to their interview, Drake and David Wilcock compared notes and determined that much of their information arising from various insiders categorically confirmed a mass arrest scenario was in the offing in short order. Yet, despite their shared enthusiasm and numerous inside sources, nothing has materialized into the public realm to date. (See David Wilcock’s Mass Arrests / Divine Intervention: New Briefings (Finally!) and ARREST WARRANTS: Liens Filed Against G7 Central Banks for further information.)

Admittedly, many of his followers, including Drake himself, had been growing increasingly frustrated with the military’s apparent lack of action regarding these rumored arrests, despite a number of deadlines that came and went. This has generated a fair share of criticism towards Drake and his folksy, Southern way of communication. Granted, he has frightened some with talk of executions and military intervention, which was followed by his belief of the direct involvement by extra-terrestrials into the equation.

However, on the night of June 27th, Drake arrived in a celebratory mood armed with a series sensational reports he had just received. Upon entering the radio broadcast, he confessed he could hardly contain his enthusiasm due to the “extraordinary intel” he had been given over the last few days which he claimed came directly from high levels within the US military. He termed “enormous” and was anxious to deliver it all to an eager audience.

“What I am going to tell you is going to rock your world a little bit,” he prefaced his comments before delving into the meat of his breaking news.

Below is the gist of what Drake was asked by the military to convey:

– A) “The calvary is coming”, or in other words, the military is set to strike and are announcing their arrival.

– B) Should the military need assistance with the mass arrests and the protection of vital public services (ie, power plants, telephones, cell towers, etc.), the militias and civilians will be notified. However, the military stated they likely will not need militia or civilian participation.

– C) “The United States military says ‘sit back and watch the fireworks.’ Ladies and gentlemen, they are gonna try to give us the best 4th of July we have ever had! In other words, the cavalry is on its way, things are in process, thehappening is happening now!,” Drake concluded.

For weeks, Drake had promised to inform his followers when the military had arrived at what was termed a “green light status” and for all intents and purposes that is precisely the overall message he delivered. He acknowledged the lack of action he had anticipated in the past and suggested this time the military is deadly serious.

He even went so far as to claim he was informed of the exact date action would officially begin and stated the time frame would be “this week” or at the latest by July 4th. “I have been working on this stuff for twenty years and it’s finally happening,” he declared.

He also reported that spies within the recent Rio+20 Summit (United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development) from June 20-22, 2012 in Rio De Janeiro, had leaked vital information that members had agreed on the formulation of a global constitution that would directly lead to the implementation of Martial Law in the US and other countries.

The Rio+20 was disguised as an environmental symposium but rather intended to draw up strategies to enact oppressive and costly “green tax” laws, known as Agenda 21, to be administered by the UN. Agenda 21 was to be the final push for the New World Order agenda hammer to drop down upon the US population.

Instead, the conference organizers failed miserably in the objectives as revealed by Lord Christopher Monckton. Yet, nonetheless, Benjamin Fulford reported that $513 billion was pledged by 100 nations to fight poverty and environmental destruction.

In conjunction with those leaked reports, it was discovered that as many as twenty false flag operations had been planned around the country with the possibility of St. Louis, Missouri first on the list. Highly visible military maneuvers have been rumored to be underway in that city during this past week.

However, Drake reported that 99.9% of these false flag operations thus far, have been outright stopped but a very, very small percentage have yet to be neutralized. He also briefly commented on the Neil Keenan lawsuit against the cabal on behalf of the White Dragon Society and Asian resistance movement.

Further updates were provided on Thursday, June 28, 2012 at Drake’s official website, AmericanNationalMilitia.com

In addition, Benjamin Fulford reported that intense negotiations are well underway for the formal surrender of the New World Order legion directly with Rothschild, Rockefeller and other prominent family cabal members and the White Dragon Society.

Word emanating from a recent G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico on June 18 and 19, 2012 indicate that China was quite forceful in their insistence of the introduction of a new economic system.

Historically, the Chinese people are keenly aware of the importance of energy or “chi” (also known as “qi”) in daily life. Therefore, their philosophical viewpoint is that a business deal should work in the best interest of both sides, unlike the West, where deals are often constructed around the idea of a winner and a loser.

Notice this quote from the June 21st China Daily news article on the G20 Summit in Mexico: “(Chinese President) Hu (Jintao) pointed out that the G20 members have to continue to uphold the spirit of unity and win-win cooperation, work on securing growth, increasing jobs and promoting stability.”

Very prophetic words, indeed, signaling that a wholly new cooperative spirit is being forged that will carry long into humanity’s future.

On other fronts, financial institutions all over the world are finding their usual practice of stealing from the pockets of the people is simply no longer working. They are being caught red handed as in the case of Barclays bank in England who are accused of rigging interest rates. A further 20 banks are now under investigation for running the same fraud racket.

The big five banks in the US –– Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley –– have drafted “living wills” under provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law designed to end too-big-to-fail bailouts by the government. This likely due to the stipulations of the Basel II and Basel III accords which require financial institutions to operate in a much more transparent mode in preparation for a whole new financial system.

Even cable news channel CNBC got in on the act, openly admitting on air that the central banks of the world entrap the human race as virtual economic slaves. Bear in mind, what a startling admission this is by a mainstream news outlet.

Meanwhile, mainstream news ratings continue to be in a free fall as viewers shun shun corporate controlled information sources in record numbers and seek out alternatives on the internet. CNN, for one, has seen a major drop-off in viewership that reached a 21-year low.

And one last bit of ironic news, British bookmakers are offering 1000-1 odds that a UFO will appear above the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games in London on July 27, 2012. Let’s hope someone wins that bet!

US MILITARY FINALLY FULFILLING ITS CONSTITUTIONAL OATH
Obviously, this is all adds up as fantastic news. Whether Drake’s schedule of events is to unfold as he has outlined remains to be seen. Yet, we can conclude he is on target regarding the need for a strong military hand to be intimately involved in this process.

The bottom line is, we must realize that we, as a species, are in a war. We are in a war for our hearts and minds. The world as a whole has now reached a critical junction. It is ready –– or perhaps more apt to say, demanding –– to evolve to the next level.

On the one hand, an old way of life, or an old paradigm is desperately hanging on for its very existence. On the other, a whole new glorious world is emerging right in front of us –– a Golden Age, if you will.

One of the main obstacles standing in the way of our evolution is an insanely draconian and corrupt economic system. It has held the people of Earth in a state of slavery for as long as money has been around. It has reached the end of its life span and now must be quickly put to death.

Make no mistake about it, the so-called financial crisis holding the world hostage has been totally engineered by the international banking cartel, the Federal Reserve and their co-conspirators within the US government and European Union. It was designed to wreck the world’s middle class thereby destroying the US and other countries from within.

Fortunately, a very powerful resistance movement has emerged led by China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa (BRICS), along with many other nations who have aligned themselves with them. Now the US military is about to enter the fray in a major way.

We have reached a critical point in our collective evolution where we must expand ourselves. We must grow up. The powerful families who run and own the world’s monetary system are desperately holding on to their authoritarian positions are very, very reluctant to let go. They have outlived their usefulness. It is time for them to step aside and allow humanity to thrive.

The criminal cabal’s time is up. The world is demanding change and the Divine has heard the cries and pleas of the people and is answering their collective call from the very source of the Creator of all life in the universe –– the Divine Father.

This is where the US military arises to the occasion to truly become the heroesmany have believed they are and honor theirconstitutional oath of enlistment ”to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Other than a force of ET’s, the US military is the only entity on Earth that can pull together the resources necessary to stop the cabal dead in their tracks. And, it is highly likely that the military has had the cooperation of a number of ET factions.

At this point, the military’s duty is to identify the key people in the cabal, carry out the arrests with assistance from local law enforcement and Federal Marshals, incarcerate the criminals and install a temporary transitional government for a short period of time until new elections can be held.

Then, a massive re-education campaign will be introduced over the television airwaves and internet channels to reveal the truth the people of the world. Somewhere within that complex scenario a new monetary system will be unveiled including a revaluation of most of the world’s currencies, the obliteration of the Federal Reserve, IRS, BIS, European Union and many, many other corrupt institutions.

Clearly, this is an enormous undertaking, beyond anything ever attempted in the history of humanity –– ever. The military needs our prayers and support. This is NOT to be Martial Law nor a military takeover nor a violent revolution by any means whatsoever. Although, we have to acknowledge when it gets rolling, at times it may appear that way.

THE DEFEAT OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER AGENDA
Unfortunately, for the last 100 years, the United States military has been used as the supreme police force to enforce the voracious and powerful New World Order agenda. These plans were formulated right after the Civil War, chiefly by a former Confederate General named Albert Pike, who was nothing less than a 33rd degree Mason, a top leader in the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and an unabashed Luciferian.


Architect of the One World Order –Albert Pike (1809 – 1891)



It has been rumored that Pike possessed a special bracelet which he used to summon Lucifer, with whom he had constant communication. He was the Grand Master of a Luciferian group known as the Order of the Palladium (or Sovereign Council of Wisdom), which had been founded in Paris in 1737.

Pike’s evil plan called for three great world wars to totally dominate and conquer the planet –– World War I, World War II and now the so-called “war on terror,” which has been designed to lead us directly into World War III, if we are not there already. The objective was a final Armageddeon-style battle in the Middle East pitting the US, Russia and their allies against China and the Asian continent, all in the name of some warped view of Biblical prophecy.

In order to stop the New World Order take over from being fully implemented, we quite frankly need the US military to play a major strategic role. Their apparent bold decision to basically switch sides is absolutely key to the liberation of planet Earth. The US military will provide the ultimate trump card to the One World Order envisioned by Pike and his Illuminati and Jesuit conspirators.

And that trump card is about to be played –– big time!

The fallacy of supporting the old

The rationale for having more babies or more foreigners is to fit a retard economic formula that a country would need so many young heads to support an old head. It sounded logical and was logical before. And many people have been listening to this song for so long, and like all unthinking Sinkies, just keeping crooning this song without knowing that it is obsolete, or at least in present Sinkieland context.

The number of young workers needed to support an oldie is based on the assumption that the oldies would be jobless, retired, poor, penniless, and in most instances, retiring at 55 or 60. See the point? Most of these factors are no longer applicable here but with the blind leading the blind, it is still believe to be so. The whole economic and demographic structure of our society has been changed effective now. The old structure and its relevance may last for at most another 10 years and be history.

What is our new status? Oldies will work until they die, maybe 70 or 80 years. So really, don’t even need for minimum sum or CPF savings as they no longer retire. They work till the last day of their lives. There could be some exceptions.

They may be poor but not penniless. With the huge minimum sum set aside for their retirements, many will be financially richer than when they were alive. At 70 or 80, other than the huge medical and hospital bills, they are no longer able to squander their money with earthly desires and wild parties. Exceptions again for those who love mei meis or want to be emperors in Batam and Bintang. But with the delay and small payouts under the CPFLife schemes, there is no way they could empty their savings overnight.

And don’t forget, many of the oldies are filthy rich and could even offer to give to charities. Some have wealth that would last for generations after they were gone.

The formula for X number of young workers to support an oldie is irrelevant in modern Sinkieland. Wake up and stop talking cock. Most oldies will be financially independent and economically active for their whole life. No longer retiring at 55 or 60.

It is unbelieveable that this kind of obsolete logic and belief are being thumped to the people. The people maybe unthinking, but super talents cannot be unthinking. Otherwise the case of the blind leading the blind will become a reality.

The premises and assumptions for the old formula have changed.

The farce of going green

Save Gaia, save the environment, protect the earth, go green. All these beautiful slogans are good only as slogans. Many people are crazy enough to use less water, save on a piece of plastic bag, a few empty cans, and think they could save the earth while on the other hand the big boys, the industries, the govts, are wasting precious resources without battling an eyelid in the name of growth and progress.

How many cars are scrapped in good working conditions daily? And think, how many plastic bags or tin cans needed to be saved to replace a good working car that is being scrapped?

How many handphones are being dumped or thrown away daily? Again, how many plastic bags and paper bags and tin cans are needed to produce one of these handphones that are thrown away? How much water and electricity needed to be saved to manufacture one handphone?

Look at the number of high capacity engine cars running around and burning fuel when a smaller engine car would do the same trick. How much resources and petrol are consumed unnecessarily to produce such high power cars? Are they necessary except to be toys of the rich?

Think, how many good condition blocks of flats that could last another 100 years are being pulled down only to be rebuilt? How much resources and energy are needed to build, destroyed and rebuild when it was unnecessary?

Think, how much food and resources would be needed for consumption if another 1m people are brought into the island for growth? Want to save some more plastic bags, paper bags and tin cans?

In order to really save the world, one main thing to do is to control population growth. Each person brought into this world is going to consume lots of energy and raw material, much more than to produce millions of plastic bags. The main destroyer of mother earth is population growth. And a corollary to this is economic growth and wasteful production for economic growth. A lot of economic activities are wasteful and unnecessary, even the new botanic garden.

Who is kidding who about saving the world? If this island stops importing more people, it will save many thousand or million times more than what it needs to do to cut on savings of plastic bags or tin cans or other equivalents.

The baby thing is in the air again

Looks like all the policies to encourage the reproduction of more workers did not work. Singapore will be ruined if it cannot find more workers to feed the system. And the people are increasingly getting angrier with the influx of foreigners into this piece of rock. What can the govt do to induce more babies from our women who don’t think it is their responsibility to produce more digits to please the statisticians and the govt?

The babies are not for sale. They are not another piece of machine to be bought for an inanimate purpose call the economy or growth. They are human lives, to be cared for, to be loved, to be given a good life, not to become slaves to an economic system.

What is happening today is that both parents are busy trying to feed the economy, to pay endless mortgages for homes and cars, to save to pay the hospitals when the time comes, to put aside money for the sovereign funds to invest, to keep paying and paying ahead for the time when they could not work anymore even when they are designed to work till they drop dead.

Many just do not have time for babies, to love and care for, and enjoy them. Babies will be farmed to the maids who would see them as another chore, another machine that generates jobs for them. What kind of babies will they be and how would they turn out when they become adults? And the maids are essential not only to the parents but also to the economic system as they generate a lot of revenue for the govt. Maybe that is the reason why the govt refuses to offer incentives to the grandparents to care for the babies, a much more healthy, safe and secure, and desirable for bringing up children when parents have to live an existence like worker bees. But incentivizing grandparents would undermine the needs for maids and remove a major source of income.

With the maids playing an important role in the lives of babies and their upbringing, it may be a good thing as they will imbibe the values, cultures and philosophies of life from these foreign talents. There will be more diversities and creativities among the future generations which will be good for the workforce and economy.

Who still wants to do national service and produce more babies to work the system, to feed the demand for goods and services, to pay for all the taxes, direct, indirect, disguised, so that the state can continue to exist as a glorious state? What is the baby for other than becoming another economic tool? NS men!

What about the monetary cost of bringing up a baby to adulthood? This is easily $1m till completion of tertiary education. Another million to buy a home, another million to buy a car during his useful life, another million to set aside for medical and hospitalization, another half a million for all kinds of minimum sums in savings. And these did not include his daily living expenses and things needed to amuse himself while being alive. Maybe another million for litigation.

A human life will easily feed at least $5m into the economic system. That is a lot of money counting another 5m or 10m people in ballpark figures. Now you see why a baby is so important for the survival of the state and the economy.

Demise of the stockbroking industry is imminent

With the trading volume petering off other than non commission generating computer trades, broking houses are finding it tough going to cover their overheads. Remisiers too are sleeping on their jobs literary with hardly a phone call daily. Many would have qualified as low wage earners going forward and should be entitled to workfare subsidies.

Someone would have to bear the operating costs of brokerages and pressure has been put on remisiers to push their clients to trade more or they would have to cough up the difference in operating cost. Some houses are dangling the carrot to induce sleeping clients to start trading.

All these are meant well measures but failing to understand the real cause of the dying market and are futile efforts, grasping at shadows. Not many investors have much money left to feed the big funds and their gambling computers. When entering the market is a certain loss, who would want to trade even if it is for free? Unless the real cause of the systemic flaws in the market are recognized and removed, the stock market will collapse in increasing speed.

Within a matter of months there could be an exodus of remisiers out of the industry. More would be applying for taxi driving licence as the last resort. Employees of brokerages are bracing up for the red letters as retrenchment is on the card when revenue fails to match operating cost.

How could a healthy and lucrative industry reach such a pathetic plight? Actually the writings were on the wall several years back when all the changes were introduced into the market. Anyone in the industry would know what is happening but no one would want to do anything, and the slide to the bottom and self destruct is only a matter of time.

The white mice syndrome

The famous white mice lab experiment is turning into reality in jam packed Sinkie land. This was an experiment on communal living and how a crammed environment could lead to the inevitable violence and mice eating mice.

A number of mice were introduced into a caged environment. They got along well when there were lesser mice and more space to move around, and more food available. As the population of mice increases, personal space for each mouse gets smaller, and food gets scarcer. At a point when living together becomes a competition for food and space, the mice became violent and even started to eat one another.

The increasing violence in the trains and buses is testimony to the findings of this experiment. The Sinkies are getting more irritated and agitated in the crammed environment and would grow increasingly intolerant and violent. Fighting for seats and space in buses and trains will become a more common daily encounter. Thanks but not thanks to this unthinking drive for growth through the addition of more people into this piece of rock.

Is there no other better solution than this ‘one and only’ solution of increasing population for growth? Is this why the people pay out of this world salary for this out of this world solution? Is this the solution that the people want or reject? Should it be time to find better talented people to run the country with alternative solutions? If there are no better people to lead, and no better solutions other than this ONE solution to solve all problems, this is the beginning of a downward spiral into the abyss.

There are definitely many more talented Sinkies available in this island.

My Holy Order

This is my Church, this is my Holy Order. I run my Church the way I run my Church. I spend my Church’s money the way I spend my Church’s money. Who dares challenge or question what I do with my Holy Order?

Apparently this appears to be the way the Holy Order was run and who dares challenge will be sued and disgraced. One did, was sued and was disgraced.

But time vindicates the righteous. Or is it that there is a bigger God who will take his time to deal with the abusers of power? When time is ripe, Holy Order or whatever, time to go. Time waits for no man.

Which Holy Order will be next to face the maker, the final arbiter of righteousness? Only God knows.

My apologies for the sermon. I am not religious and do not subscribe to any Holy Order.

A decent lawyer, a decent plea….

And a decent man. Some may disagree but that is a matter of opinion.

Howard Shaw pleaded guilty for having sex with an underage prostitute. That’s it. And this is his lawyer’s statement to the court, “Mr. Shaw is not asking for any special treatment” given his family background, said his lawyer Harpreet Singh, who asked the judge to impose a fine instead of a prison term as he had made a “honest and reasonable mistake” in believing the girl was at least 18 at the time of the offence.

Howard knew that his indiscretion had infringed the law and would accept the punishment for it like a man.

Welcome to Sin City

It was a joke, a pun, to call Singapore Sin City. It is no longer a pun and neither joke. The newspapers are splashed with news of corruptions in high places, and sex scandals. They don’t have enough space to write about them.

The clean and green and squeaky prude city is passé. The streets are dirty with litters. The trains smelt of human stench. The monks and priests and those wearing white robes are tarnished and stained.

Sin City is getting more vibrant and colourful. We have achieved as the City of happenings, fun and excitement.

No place for Sinkies

We have enough land and properties to accommodate 1.5m foreigners. And we are encouraging more to come, with open arms and red carpets. But sadly, we don’t have enough land to build a few nursing homes for the aged and the handicapped.

The reality of having nursing homes for Sinkies in JB is now a reality. Is this something to be proud of? Is economic cost, pragmatism good enough reasons to justify sending our useless and hopeless aged to some foreign land to die? What kind of values are we imparting to the young, from the govt? And we bragged about the billions and maybe trillions in our reserves. For who’s benefits? Whose money is in the reserves?

If there is any prioritizing, the first group to go should be the dead. The half dead, undead and waiting to be dead, are still alive. We treasure the dead more than the living with spacious land allocated to them when what is needed are a few blocks of HDB flats.

And everyone spoke as a matter of fact, without emotions, as if there are no better solutions. Bring in another 100,000 foreigners, we have all the land and housing for them. Now you know why the poor grandmas and grandpas would have to be abandoned to JB?

City Harvest Pastor Kong and 5 arrested for CBT

Five members of City Harvest Church (CHC), including its founder Pastor Kong Hee, have been arrested early this morning for alleged criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts of the church.

The other four arrested were John Tan Yee Peng, Lam Leng Ham, Chew Eng Ham and Sharon Tan. It was also reported that 3 other board members of the church, including Ho Yeow Sun have been suspended from duties.

The five will be charged tomorrow. This seems to be an endless list of cases involving prominent people and celebrities in the island. City Harvest is probably one of the most successful new church in the island and the news is going to be shocking.

Tee ah, this country does not belong to you, you know?

The govt leaders think this country belongs to them and they can do anything they want, bring in as many foreigners as they want, and issue as many citizenships as they want.

Did they ask the citizens if this is what the citizens want, to flood the country with foreigners and new citizens? The citizens elected them to be the govt for only 5 years, not forever you know. Don’t forget and think they own this country.

This is not your grandfather’s country.

The humanitarian and disaster centres are in place

With all the humanitarian and disaster centres in place, the Americans and its allies are ready to create a few disaster and war zones in Asia and Southeast Asia. Vietnam and the Philippines are all ready and eager to have a go at it by testing the military might of Chinese in claiming Chinese islands as theirs. This simple recipe for war and disaster is well tested everywhere, with American backings of course. With the Americans in the dark, these two countries would think they can pull the whiskers of China with impunity. China has made it clear that such nonsense will no longer be tolerated and is prepared to go to war with anyone, including the US.

In the north, the US and the South Koreans are provoking the North Koreans practically on a daily basis with war games on the North Korean borders. If there is a war between the two Koreans, the South Koreans deserved to be destroyed by the North. The beneficiaries of such a disaster would be Japan and the US. But the South Koreans can be comforted by the presence of US humanitarian and disaster centres to pick up the South Korean refugees.

Asian and Southeast Asian countries should take a closer look at the pathetic plight of the Arab countries and how they are constantly fixed by the US and European countries to be at war perpetually. The human tragedy of the Arab and Middle Eastern world should be a grim reminder to the rest of the world of what they could become if they allowed the western powers to subvert their national interests and ended fighting among themselves, and dragging their people to the stone age.

East Asia and Southeast Asia are at the brink of becoming another flash point, mired in conflicts and warfare, egged on, and under the tacit support of western powers. The regional culprits that are willing to go along will be the two semi colonies of the US in South Korea and Japan, and the newly crowned semi colonies of Vietnam and the Philippines. Would Asean and other Southeast Asian countries be sucked into such stupidity of self destruction against their will and national interests?

War is fun, full of opportunities for the rich and powerful, and full of opportunities for the ignorant masses to be maimed and to die for.

Singapore is a welfare state. Period.

I totally disagree with Tan Jee Say and his Lord Butler for thinking that Singapore is not a welfare state. And many people will believe in them. The official position of the govt is that it is against welfare state and adamantly said that Singapore will not become a welfare state. Really?

In reality, Singapore is a welfare state of the extreme kind. It benefits the elite with state welfare that puts many welfare states to shame. Think about it. Who is getting the most from state welfare by the millions?

Our welfare is not meant for the low down jobless, cleaners or poor retirees. Agree or still puzzling? Just look at who are the recipients of our state welfare and how these are being disguised to look like something else.

Funny isn't it? You need to be somebody to qualify for such expensive welfare payout.

Is there still a need for NS?

‘Mr Lee(MM) goes on to say that the economy and defence are closely interlinked and “without a strong economy, there can be no strong defence. Without a strong defence, there will be no Singapore.’ Rajiv Chaudhry

I was thinking about this same issue when I read Rajiv Chaudhry’s article. Rethinking of Singapore’s Defence Needs. He came to the conclusion that Singapore was overspending on defence and also there was no need to defend Singapore for its wealth. He also repeated the point that Singapore was indefensible and thus it was all a futile attempt and a waste of valuable resources to build up a huge defence force.

My earlier view coincides with the establishment’s view, that it is necessary to build a capable and effective defence force to protect country, people and our sovereignty. My views have since changed with the new developments in our national policies. We used to have something to defend and die for, our country, our national wealth, our sovereignty, our way of life, the future of our children. All these are passé, no longer relevant in current context.

Our military is to defend the country from foreign aggression, preventing foreigners from coming in to occupy our land. This is irrelevant today when we open our doors to invite foreigners to live with us and help themselves with everything we got, and with the citizens having to compete against foreigners in a playing field that is tilted against the citizens. Why waste trying to defend something that is already given away? Why defend something that is no longer a right or a special privilege as a citizen?

What about our national wealth, our national reserves? Another illusion that is no longer of any meaning to the people. What national wealth? It is only hearsay, like our CPF savings, a statement to feel good but benefitting who? Who is being paid in the millions from our savings? Even our own savings in the CPF, in a sense, are no longer our savings. So what is there to defend when it is no longer yours?

Our national assets, strategic assets, land and properties, even islands, could possibly be put on sale when the price is right. Who knows, Sentosa will be on the auction table and going to the highest bidder one day. What is there to defend?

Our way of life is no longer to be treasured. It is being adulterated, diluted by the worst of the new immigrants. And with so many here, the call for integration of migrants to our way of life could be the reverse, the locals integrating into the migrant’s way of life.

The rationale for NS is no longer valid with the new circumstances and economic situation. Some may still remember that one of the reasons, other than defence, was the flood of employable young men and women coming of age. The British were withdrawing and the economy was still very backwards. There was a big problem of employment and a way must be found to delay these young people from entering the job market. NS could absorb and delay the males for two and a half years, taking the pressure off for a while.

What we are facing today is exactly the opposite. By keeping the men in NS, we are causing more shortages and strains in the supply of workers to the economy. There is no need to hold them back anymore, and rightly they should be released to the job market instead of crying father and mother that there are not enough workers available and we need to import more. When the need to defend the country is no longer there, no longer necessary, when everything can be sold, when foreigners are invited to share our wealth and our land, NS has outlived its usefulness and no longer needed. What is there to defend when there is nothing to defend? The only thing left worthy of defending for the average NS men will be their HDB flats and the wealth and properties of the rich, including foreigners. The foreigners need not pay or contribute to our defence. They got a free right at the expense of our NS men.

It is so strange that we have arrived at such a scenario as a nation, a country, when we are no longer a nation, a country, but a hotel. A hotel only needs to employ security guards like the Gurkhas. At best we are just a city state for citizens of the world.

Time to ask the NS men what do you think, or what are you defending?

The Briton and his victim, who is the racist?

When news of the Briton being bashed by his victim for racist slurs, I read some comments that the Briton is not racist because he married a local girl. Is that good enough a factor to clear him of the racist tag? Maybe indeed he is not a racist. Maybe he did not even know that he is a racist. Maybe racism is just part of him and is unrecognisable.

The fact is that this young Briton carried with him hundreds of years of European history and racism. These have probably be in his blood, in his history lessons in schools. How else would a young Briton told a Chink, anyway, to all westerns, Sinkies look no different than another Chinaman, the racist joke of being laundryman and asking him to go back to his laundry shop in China?

This racist discrimination of Chinaman and condemning them into lowly trade like cooks and laundry men, was enshrined in the American Constitution in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Other than tagging the native Red Indians as savages and good for the slaughter, and the enslavement of African human beast of burden, the Exclusion Act is the third most hideous crime against humanity committed by the Americans. Thank God Sinkie Chinks are not Chinaman and can laugh at this Act or simply ignored it as nothing to do with us. I take exceptions to this kind of denial.

Back to the Sinkie Chink that was taunted by the Briton. A commentator posted that the Briton was not racist because of his Chinese wife and it was his victim that played the racist card. So insulting him with the laundry tag on his expensive designer shirt was not racist. Calling him a laundry man was also not racist. Telling him to go back to his laundry shop in China was not racist. Now where did this Briton hide this part of Chinaman/laundryman in his memory for instant recall, to be used against Chinaman?

What did the victim did that was racist? For beating up the Briton for passing all the friendly and innocent laundry man remarks? Maybe the Sinkie Chink could not appreciate Brit humour, or got no sense of humour. Since the end of colonialism, not many former subjects of the Empire would want to appreciate deprecating racist humour from their colonial masters anymore.

How could someone called a Sinkie Chink racist when he spoke and dressed and behaved like a westerner and enjoying every bit of it in a western establishment, a pub. And if you read him carefully, he even called himself Alexander Lincoln despite his parents giving him a Chinese name. Or maybe the Alexander Lincoln was given to him by his parents too. Would this fact be enough to say that Alexander Lincoln is not racist, or at least his parents too were not racist as his name speaks of their aspiration to be more like angmoh?

In my view, if the Briton, Richard Jonathan Mills, would to invite him to his table, Alexander Lincoln could be so grateful for such an act that he would probably buy the Briton a drink to drink to that. The Brit was too full of himself and to me, deserved to be beaten by the Sinkie Chink for not knowing that his racist slur was no longer acceptable even to Sinkie Chinks who would not associate themselves with the term China man. It was double insult really. Sinkie Chinks despised China man and would not want to have anything to do with them. They might even agree and approve the Chinese Exclusion Act as something necessary and the right thing to do.

The frightening tags of the past

There was a time when the British tagged the nationalists as terrorists or insurgents to put them in prison. The tag was changed to communist after the war. The communist tag was very dangerous even after we became independent. It was a tag of death or life imprisonment. Reading or holding a piece of communist literature or listening to communist broadcast was serious enough to have the tag pinned on for a life behind bars.

There were other tags like chauvinist, racist, religious bigots etc etc that were used in the past. Even anti govt or anti establishment tag can be dangerous. Was there an opposition camp tag?

Then, with the resurgence of terrorism, the terrorist tag became the new fearsome one. They are useful and important in genuine cases when terrorists are tagged correctly and kept from mischief and destruction. The concern is if someone is mis-tagged or wrongly branded for the wrong reasons.

There are signs of a new tag appearing. The xenophobia card is being waved furiously these days. Would this become the new tag to be pinned as a badge of dishonour and for more sinister things to come?

Branding is so easy a thing to do.

Are Sinkie smug or daft?

Over the recent furore of xenophobia as claimed by the media and people in high places, it has somehow added fire to feed the anger of Sinkies towards foreigners. There were many comments by bloggers in TRE showing contempt for foreigners for not being able to speak English.

Language has become the latest kid for bashing. Foreigners coming here must speak English and nothing else. Hindi, Tagalog, Thai etc are not acceptable. Sinkies refused to speak to them if they can’t speak English. What is laughable or obnoxious is that they even rejected Mandarin as a language of Sinkies. What’s happening?

The immediate question is whether Sinkies are daft or smug or both. The next question is that our education system and our national policy on bilingualism must have failed miserably. These Sinkies, true blue Sinkies, not newly minted type, did not know that Mandarin is one of the four official languages of Sinkieland. Cannot speak, refuse to speak Mandarin, feeling hurt, insulted when foreigners speak to them in Mandarin! And sadder still, many knew how to speak Mandarin but refused to communicate with the foreigner in Mandarin. The foreigners must speak English.

What is the justification? Sinkies will not bend backwards to accommodate foreigners by speaking to them in the foreigner’s language, which happens to be one of our official languages, and deliberately making things difficult to the foreigners by demanding to speak in English and nothing else.

Other than creating four official languages to level the playing field, other than having the mother tongue as a social ballast to keep the westernised Sinkies rooted to their own culture, language is simply a tool for communication. The basic aim of bilingualism is to arm Sinkies to be able to communicate with East and West, which is one of our strength. Now jokers did not want to speak anything else except English to spike foreigners. Jokers refused to acknowledge that Mandarin is one of our official languages. Maybe some jokers don’t even know of this fact.

It is not funny.

Untitled - A piece of RAR Art

More of my RAR Art pieces can be viewed at www.artofrar.blogspot.com

The innocence of scrapping estate duty

Many rich Sinkies were over the moon when estate duty was scrapped. Now they could hang on to their assets and inheritance forever, and not just one property but unlimited number of properties, assets and cash. This is extremely good for the old rich and the super rich. Even the HDB owners were in a way happy with it as they too were hoping that their flats would be worth millions in the future. And this is not far fetch given the way things are moving.

What people failed to see is the impact of abolishing estate duty on inflating property prices. Without estate duty, no one needs to be concerned about how high the prices of properties can go. The higher the better, $50m, $100m or $1b, it is okay, very good indeed, for the owners. Govt too need not be unduly concerned once this is taken out of the equation. It is no longer a source of revenue for the state.

Seriously, it is this disregard to the high property prices that is directly affecting property prices here. Everyone, from owners, speculators and developers would want the prices to go even higher. And this will trickle down to all other property prices.

And unthinkingly, the people that benefited most from this no estate duty affair are the foreigners. They could come and buy up everything, as investments or to park their money, which in turn drives up prices even higher. And the foreigners are benefiting more than Sinkies as they have much more money to invest in real estates. They need to park their money somewhere. And we don’t have enough properties for them to acquire. If we are blind to this fact, it is only a matter of time when foreigners would own all the properties they are eligible to buy up. The number of rich foreigners is unlimited and so is their wealth.

Another sordid tale of foreigners dumping their money here is that some are ill gotten gains. Unintentionally or intentionally, our property market is turning into the biggest and legal laundry machine for such black money. There were many tales of foreigners buying anything at any price without bargaining or batting an eye lid. They need to wash their dirty money and where else allowed them to do so so freely and easily.

For those who are pissed off by the unfair advantages foreigners are enjoying here, this is another point of contention. Foreigners are taking full advantage of this situation, to exploit the property markets for huge benefits. They are talking in terms of tens and hundreds of millions, not the few millions which Sinkies are talking about or the few hundred thousands of our HDB millionaires.

When property prices are in the tens of millions and hundreds of millions, it is big money for the state in estate duties. Why are the super rich and foreigners given such great privileges to multiply their wealth which in turn fuelled the property bubble at the expense of the average Sinkies?

It may be time to reconsider reintroducing estate duty to tap on this very rich gold mine of properties in tens and hundreds of millions. Considerations can be made to allow Sinkies to continue to enjoy a tax free property at $5m or $10m. Anything more is reasonable for the state to impose an estate duty on them, a tax to defray the country’s expense, and to curb the uncontrollable escalation of property prices. And why not tax on the ill gotten gains of foreigners and also on them to pay for pushing up property prices here. They must be made to pay for the pains and sufferings of those who could no longer buy what they wanted to buy because of them.

The scrapping of estate duty is not so innocent after all and have very wide implications and consequences.

Ah Kong kenna fined for protecting his family

My hero, Ong Long Hock, broke the jaw of a gangster and was fined $3000. He could have been jailed if not for his age and for self defense.

The gangsters, three of them, harassed his daughter in law, whacked his son and he as well when he tried to protect his son. They ran when the daughter in law called the police. Luckily or unluckily, Ah Kong and son caught one of them and that’s when Ah Kong gave the gangster a broken jaw.

Then the law took over. The law is the law. And Sinkie law is the most civilized and kind of all laws against gangsters. When gangsters beat you up, you must be careful not to hurt the gangsters in self defense. Ah Kong forgot, and in the heat of the moment, after being beaten by the gangsters, and seeing his son being beaten, gave it to the gangster. For beating the gangster, Ah Kong kenna fined $3000. Well done, prosecutor. You have done your job well. Justice is blind. The symbol of blind justice is on the front façade of the court.

The gangster has yet to be charged and his two accomplices are still at large. But they need not worry. The law will be kind to them. Poor Ah Kong, kenna hit still want to hit back. Didn’t know how civilized our laws are. Cannot anyhow hit people lah, even if they are gangsters who hit you!

By the way, if I were in the Ah Kong’s place, I would not break the gangster’s jaw. I would break both his hands and legs as well. And let the court sentence me to jail, for justice to prevail. The law is the law. The law is to protect the citizens from harm, including gangsters and provocateurs.

Xenophobia, bloggers jump into action

Several bloggers are concerned about the rising trend of xenophobia and are setting up blogs and forums to try to foster better understanding between the foreigners and locals. Really? How many foreigners have been beaten by the locals for no reasons? Nay, nigh, not even one. The latest report of a Briton being beaten up by a local was because the Briton passed racist taunts at the local in front of his friends. In this case, it was more a self defense, or a reaction to a provocation.

The locals are timid, faceless and self debasing creatures in the presence of superior talented foreigners. All foreigners will swear that they were treated extremely well in all service outlets, starting from SQ. Foreigners are treated as best as they could to make them feel good. And in public places, foreigners would always get all the help they wanted if they asked a local. Of course there are some exceptions when foreigners think they were some royalties and demanded to be treated that way. Then they would only piss off the locals.

What’s happening here is the frequency of foreigners bashing the locals at their whims and fancies, and some just for fun. It has been reported in the media very frequently and the locals, when bashed up, would be told to take up a civil suit against the foreigners at their own expense. And the locals are not supposed to hit back or they will be charged in courts for retaliation. Just stay calm, avoid the blows as best possible. And if landed in hospitals, then engage lawyers to sue the attackers.

As for foreigners, in the case of the Briton being beaten by Abraham Lincoln, the beater was charged in court and fined $4000, four times more than locals who made false reports to the police. This is how civilized our laws in protecting the one who provoked or started the beating.

There is a rise in Sinophobia, a unique kind of reverse xenophobia in this island, where there is contempt for the locals, where the foreigners seemed so at ease in making locals their punching bags. Why are there no local bloggers feeling any discomfort about such a pathetic state of affair and wanted to do something about it? Sinkie land is the only country where foreigners feel so at home, so comfortable, that beating the locals is a past time, really. There is no other country in the world where foreigners would feel so at ease to beat up the locals. Many would feel a fear of the locals and would behave very decently so as not to provoke or anger the locals when in contact with them. Why is this not the case in Sinkie land, but the other way around?

The act of the bloggers is a manifestation that beating up locals is an acceptable thing, but being rude or speaking up to foreigners is bad and unacceptable. And in the work place there have been many complaints that the foreigners ganged up to bully locals. And when they are in charge, they will employed more foreigners to replace the locals. And they have good reasons for it. The foreigners are definitely cheaper to hire.

For economic reasons, for business competition, I fully agree with this trend. All local companies must gradually replace all the expensive locals with foreigners. Start with the top. Once the CEO is a foreigner, the change will be easier. And from the industries, this can be replicated in the civil service and the govt as well. The savings in monetary terms will be tremendous. If we can replace the govt with foreigners, the cost could be down to 10% only. Definitely good value for money.

Oops, I digress a bit. Can I call on bloggers to think about how to plead with the foreigners to be nicer to locals and stop using them as their punching bags or telling them to go back to China or India? Please be kind and gentler to the meek locals. They all wear spectacles and weigh 50kg. A strong breeze would have blown them away. Be gentle with them, especially the taxi drivers. Some are grandfathers trying to make a living.