FTs create good jobs for Sinkies

The first good job created for Sinkies by foreigners. Sinkies should be very grateful.

Let me see what are the jobs Singapore created for foreigners. CEO SGX, CEO DBS, Dep Chairman WDA?, Dean of NUS Law School, many MDs in SWF, many CEOs in GLCs....

A maid is a good start.

US has made a blunder in its reaction to air defense zone

US has made a blunder in its reaction to air defense zone

Global Times | 2013-12-2 19:08:01 By Clifford A. Kiracofe

Illustration: Peter C.Espina/GT

Washington's maladroit handling of China's newly announced Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) unnecessarily muddies the waters and raises tensions over the East China Sea. Rather than reacting calmly in a diplomatic manner, the US immediately militarized the situation by sending B-52 bombers into China's zone.

No doubt Asians will draw conclusions from Washington's latest "bull in the China shop" approach to regional security issues. Some conclusions may not be favorable to the US and its long-term interests, given this latest example of US cowboy behavior.

Aviation around the globe is governed under international law by the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and is coordinated and regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a part of the UN system.

An ADIZ is defined by legal experts to be an area in airspace over water or land which may not necessarily be over the sovereign territory of a state in which identification, locations, and control of all aircraft must be provided in the interest of national security.

Washington's berating China over its new ADIZ gives the appearance of double standards. The US in fact maintains four ADIZ zones: the Contiguous US ADIZ, Alaska ADIZ, Guam ADIZ and the Hawaii ADIZ.

There are over 20 countries in the world which have ADIZs including the UK, Pakistan, and India. South Korea established its ADIZ in 1951, and Japan established its ADIZ in the 1960s and extended it in 2010.

ADIZ areas are not directly under the Chicago Convention, but can lend support to the convention's objectives of promoting peace and security, legal scholars say. ADIZ areas operate under the procedures given by the countries which establish them.

The US has its own unique procedures for its four ADIZ areas, and it has its own unique procedures for the US military to deal with foreign ADIZ areas, such as the procedures found in the US navy's Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations.

The Obama administration's heated reaction to China's ADIZ announcement was directed not only against the Chinese ADIZ generally, but also against China's inclusion of the Diaoyu Islands in it.

Washington's accusation that the zone is a destabilizing move implies that China does not have the right to establish such a zone while Japan does.

But how is it that over 20 countries around the world established such zones and have been within their rights to do so while Washington berates China?

In fact, the US action is unprecedented as no such formal protest against the establishment of an ADIZ has been lodged before against any country, experts say.

Japan includes the Diaoyu Islands within its ADIZ. Why should China not do the same? Given that the islands are a well-known matter of international legal dispute, both sides would seem to have the right to include them in their respective ADIZ areas.

For over four decades, there has been disagreement in US policy circles over the issue of the Diaoyu Islands with respect to their inclusion in the US-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty.

Some US officials, such as Walter Mondale when he was vice president of the US, maintained that the islands do not fall under the treaty obligations of the US. Other officials leaning toward the Japanese side, such as Kurt Campbell, alleged that they do fall under the treaty. The Obama administration follows the Campbell line.

Washington says it is neutral in the territorial dispute, but its actions clearly do not match its words.

By including these disputed islands within the mutual defense treaty, Washington binds itself unnecessarily to the Japanese side, and thus is not neutral. Irresponsible actions concerning these islands by an increasingly extremist Japan could quite unnecessarily plunge the US into a war in a worst-case scenario.

China is well within its rights under international law and practice to establish an ADIZ in order to enhance its national security. It is certainly time for Washington to drop its Cold War thinking and cowboy behavior in the Asia-Pacific region.

The author is an educator and former senior professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

From Swiss Standard to Indian Dream

Our relations with India cannot be better. Thanks to Chok Tong for spear heading this drive into India and the signing of CECA. There are so many Indian businesses operating here, the biggest among the foreign countries. And they are 200,000 India professionals working here, helping to shore up the property prices. And there must be at least half a million Indian workers helping up in the construction industry and building HDB flats for Sinkies and keeping the construction cost low. This must be a win win formula for both countries.
 
Chok Tong is there in India again probably discussing for more social and economic cooperation. There will be a one year long celebration in both countries in 2015 to commemorate the growing relations and cooperation between the two countries. This social economic and political copulation could lead to more big things to come. GIC and Temasek would now be able to invest more of their treasure chests in India. Many Sinkies can also look forward to working in India. Our jobless PMEs can discard their taxis and security guard uniforms and move to India for more lucrative jobs as professions and managers once again.
 
India is a big country and full of opportunities. Sinkies must not always think of working here. Think overseas, and India is where they could find their fortunes in rupees. The next super power will have more than a billion people and a subcontinent to offer. Look at the opportunities and possibilities to help rebuild India.
 
Our students can also study in Indian universities. India is well recognised for IT and finance expertise. We can train more finance professionals in India and let them follow the Indians to conquer all the financial centres in the world, from New York to Singapore.
 
Chok Tong has made a big difference by venturing into India. Forget about the old Swiss Standard of yore. That is passé, obsolete, no longer attractive. Dream India, think India. That is the future.

Naughty Singapore escapes punishment

The Johore Mentri Besar, Mohammed Khaled Nordin, has commented on the spying allegation during a mass circumcision ceremony last Sunday. He is awaiting the decision of the Federal govt before taking actions against Singapore/Singaporean investments in Johore, particularly in the Iskandar Economic Zone. He mentioned punishment, and looks like it is only a matter of degree. Some investments would be circumcised.
 
The Mentri Besar was also cautious as to what or who would be affected. He recognized that some of the investments were by Singaporeans and not by the Singapore govt. So those buying properties for investment may be spared should he wield the cane.
 
Would two strokes be enough?
 
Singapore can heave a sigh of relief after what Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said yesterday. The spying case is closed. The good relations between the two countries remained intact, life goes on as before. One caveat, the Malaysian govt may still investigate the allegations.
 
It is really good to have a lawyer as the Foreign Minister. And better still, a very good one. Shanmugam has done a good job.

Foreigners improving their taste

They used to congregate in the ‘sua teng’ or rural area. After being here long enough, they are beginning to appreciate what is good taste. And they are moving into the Orchard Road area, the prime district of the rich and famous. They are now going for the branded stuff and getting close to the rich and famous.
 
The latest report said their favourite hangouts are Devonshire Road, Leonie Hill, Cairnhill Circle, and Cavenagh Road. Oh, not to forget, the famous Oxley Road. They are not only rubbing shoulders and feasting with the rich and famous but also the powerful.
 
Actually not all the foreigners have developed such exquisite taste and pangs for the who’s who of Singapore. This fad is solely limited to the Dengue type. They have infested Orchard Road, moving away from Bedok Reservoir when the water is too rich with human flavor, a wise choice, and from HDB and industrial estates and construction sites.
 
Oh there is another type, the Chikungunya, has also moved from the industrial site of Sungei Kadut to the Holland and Bukit Timah area. They are also developing a taste for the wealthy Sinkies. They must be tired of the tasteless and smelly foreign workers in the ‘sua teng’..
 
We must celebrate their newly acquired exquisite taste. They have arrived.

When it comes full circle

How many of your friends are downgrading? How many have sold their landed properties or condominium and gone back to stay in a HDB flat? How many have gone on to stay in a HDB studio apartment, the one room cum all type?
 
It was not too long ago when Sinkies were buying into HDB flats as their first property. Then the prosperity crept in and everyone was upgrading to private and landed properties. Now it has come full circle, many are downgrading to where they started. Your life is getting better.
 
As they said, come naked, go naked. The thought of going naked is going to be a stark reality that many Sinkies will have to reckon with when everything is gone. The prosperity of Sinkies cannot last more than one generation or 99 years. Everything is reset at 99 with many resetting now. The million dollar HDB flat or private condo will also be reset to zero.
 
The race is who gets reset first and who last.

EDB wants companies to develop local talents

Normally I would have dropped on the floor and laugh myself crazy at such a statement. It is like waking up in the morning and remembering that it is important to brush your teeth. It is like realizing that we need to have our own soldiers and not hiring foreign mercenaries to guard our homes and country. But it is still good to remember and try to undo the damage, to do the necessary that have been long forgotten. It is a pathetic piece of news. Below is a part of an Editorial posted in TRE.
 
‘In a recent interview with the media, EDB Chairman Leo Yip said that EDB will work with MNCs to help get more locals into top posts.
 
“More companies are increasingly conducting global decision-making activities, such as procurement and brand management, out of Asia,” said Mr Yip.
 
“The market pull of Asia is increasingly attracting multinational companies… (and) companies are responding and organising themselves to have both regional and global functions here, and that is translating into new and exciting jobs for Singaporeans.”
He acknowledged that a pipeline of local managerial talent is needed to support the international and regional headquarters of MNCs being set up here.
 
“For a Singaporean to develop his or her career in a (multinational) on a managerial pathway, he or she will have to build up exposure to regional, or even global, markets,” said Mr Yip.
 
The EDB is working with companies to develop programmes that will identify locals for top positions in multinationals…’
 
And where should the EDB start, in foreign owned MNCs or in local companies or in the GLCs or ministries and stats board. I read recently that a foreigner is now a deputy Chairman of a stats board. I remember under the first generation of leaders, one of the key objectives was to quickly develop local talents, and local then meant Singaporeans, to assume key appointments both in private and public offices. When was this forgotten and the need to bring in foreigners became a fad all because we have forgotten to develop our own talents? When the mission then was to remove the colonial yoke quickly, today it seems that we are happily and quickly putting on the foreign yoke back on our neck and walking around as a statement of pride that we have arrived…back to the colonial days.
 
Our parent’s generation transformed this island in one generation to a modern and prosperous city, like planting a big tree. Now who is claiming credit and enjoying the fruits of this tree? Maybe like they said, it would not last through the third generation. Somehow some asses will lose it or give it away. It would be lost.

Singapore students top PISA test

Is this another joke? Did they misspelt Pizza as PISA? There is still scintillating report in the media about how smart our students were, coming in second in mathematics and third in reading and science among 65 cities around the world.
 
Singapore is also reported to have one of the top education system. And we have students that scored straight As like no body’s business. And our universities are ranked among the best in the world.
 
Here is the truth. We don’t have good locals to be lecturers and professors and must import them wholesale from the rest of the world, including Third World countries. We don’t have the talents for middle and top management jobs and the island is importing millions of foreigners from the Third World countries to help the daft Sinkies.
 
And the govt just realize that they have to train the locals for middle and top management jobs and are hoping that the MNCs can help to train them. The foreigners are recruited to shore up both the private and public companies and increasingly into govt linked companies and statutory boards. Maybe it is only a matter of time before they take over the govt too.
 
Now, what was being reported in the media? Our students are among the best in the world? What is the joke? What happens when these Sinkie children grow up? Become duds and dafts? Which is the truth?
 
Many graduates and professionals are no longer fit to be employed and can only find solace in becoming taxi drivers. And the good talents from neighbouring countries are taking over the PME’s jobs from the top to the bottom. Presumably their students must be better than our students and their schools and universities must also be better as well. The only reason that they did not fare well in those tests and rankings is that they did not waste time participating. They rather spend their time and effort doing the real stuff, teaching them to be good, to be better than the Sinkies and take over their jobs and country.

6,000 Indian companies operating in Sin

It is reported that there are 6,000 Indian companies operating here, the largest group of foreign companies, outdoing our traditional partners like the US, Malaysia, Japan and China. This explains why the whole of Changi Business Park is probably filled by Indian companies.
 
How do these companies contribute to Singapore and its economies and what is the balance sheet in favour of Singapore? For sure, they will have to pay for the rentals in the park and the utilities and corporate taxes. The staff will also add up to the demands for housing, sales and rentals, and consumption of goods and services.
What about FDI? What percentage of FDI is contributed by this huge presence relative to other foreign companies? How many good jobs are created for Sinkies? What kind of goods and services are these companies providing with their huge presence? What is the value add from these companies to the economy in skills and technology transfer to Sin?
 
Are these companies in the likes of Rolls Royce, Panasonic, Thomsons, and the big names of Europe, America and Japan? Are we having quantity or quality investments from these FDIs? Or do they qualify as FDIs?

Lily Neo felt helpless

Lily Neo wrote in her facebook that she felt very down after failing to help her residents to get back their money held captive in the CPF. Many have reached 55 or going to and are in desperate need of money only to see their money in the CPF. The money is their but not for them to touch. The impatient is turning into anger and desperation.

And many thanks to the govt for the many schemes to help the people with their life savings. And the govt is so proud to declare to the people that it is helping them with their money. As more and more Sinkies get to and pass 55, the number of disgruntled people is rising daily. On the other hand there is not a single word of sorry, of apology or remorse from the govt, but sheer arrogance that the people can just be ignored.

Now why would a population of several million people, and tens of thousands of aggrieved oldies finding themselves so helpless, so in need of money but not able to use their money? And at most there are less than 80 MPs to deal with. Even then, not all 80 of them are in favour of keeping the people’s savings out of their reach.

The decision is likely to be the brain child of a handful of politicians who are so aloof and dismissive to think that the people elected them to do anything they want to the people. Could the people change their fate and take back their money by simply voting out the govt? Is it really so difficult to do such a thing when their core interests are at stake? Howe Yoon Choong was forced to step down after he tried to extend the withdrawal age of the CPF. What had happened since was much more obnoxious. And on top of this there are many very serious issues that the people are unhappy about.

Why not change the govt in the next GE? It is so easy to vote out a govt in a GE if the people decided to do so. Is the CPF such an intolerable issue to break the camel’s back? Why would the people work for a life time and rudely awaken to find the hard truth, that they have no right to take back their life savings as promised? Why would the people feel that they cannot do anything about it? And why does the govt think that they can change the rules of the CPF and they can get away with it? And the schemes to hold back the CPF savings of the people are getting more and more audacious and unacceptable with total disregard of the people’s feeling, objection, disapproval and protest. The frustration is festering and growing.

Maybe it is true, once the people elected other ordinary citizens to be the govt, they ended up as servants and slaves to these ordinary people who are now called the govt. The helplessness is not only in Lily Neo. The helplessness is in all the citizens, young and old. Why save?

Stock broking, a new reality

Trading on SGX dived to a low of $914m daily after the recent penny stock crash. Superficially it is still a big number to generate a decent income for the brokerages and the remisiers. But what is real? My guesstimate is that 90%, could be more, of the daily trades are done by computer traders and house traders which generates zero commission. Assuming that this is true, the balance 10% or $90m, to round up the number for ease, would generate at max $450k at 0.5% or $270m at 0.3%.
 
Using an average of $350k, the broking houses’ share would be $210k or $10.5k per house (assuming that there are 20 houses). The average monthly intake would be less than $230k for one brokerage.
 
In the case of remisiers, the share of commission is $140k. Assuming there are 3000 remisiers, the daily income per remisier on the average will be $40. Multiply this by 22 days, the monthly income of an average remisier is about $1000.
 
The numbers are frightening and a pittance from the heydays. Is this sustainable for an industry of 20,000 people? Is this sustainable for a regionable stock exchange, a financial centre? Is this what we call a vibrant stock exchange?
 
Or is this the intensive ward for the critically ill? How long can this last before the patient breathes his last breath?

Murdoch, Monash, Curtin, RMIT …not recognized

I was shock to hear this little piece of news. I have had colleagues from these reputable universities and they are not recognized today. And that is not all, only 8 Australian universities are recognized here, ANU, Melbourne, WA, Adelaide, NSW etc. Parents spending hundreds of thousands to send their children to Australia better go and reconfirm this news and not to waste their precious savings on a piece of crap. I am still not convinced that this is true. Can someone please confirm that this is not true.
 
The news becomes even more ridiculous and nauseating when thousands of universities are recognized under CECA. Holy cow, who are those people that made these decisions? Did they sign the agreement under the influence of toddy or poppy flowers or kamasutra?
 
No, it cannot be. Out super talents cannot be as silly as this. If this is true, stupidity will take on a different meaning.

Overloading?

This is what a train in Pakistan looks like. And it is what our SMRT train can aspire to be in the future. It speaks volumes about full capacity, profitability, discipline, tolerance, ingenuity, integration and quality of life. 

Now who said Singapore can support a population of 6.9m in 2030? Don't believe in that fool. He does not know what he is talking about. And who is the other fool who said Singapore can support a population of 8m! Another foolish thought.

Look at the photo carefully, Singapore can easily take in 20m if we are willing to live happily and closely together in harmony. And no need to worry about body odour. Our nose would be desensitised by constant exposure to people compressed together.

And the shareholders of SMRT will be the happiest people, all laughing to the bank. Quick, load up on SMRT shares.

Photo credit to China Daily.

The Thailand impasse continues

The Yellow Shirts claimed victory over the Red Shirts. In this latest protest, the initiative was with the Yellow Shirts. There was a deliberate inaction among the Red Shirts. They were there but confined themselves to the sports stadium to avoid a bloody clash. The victory claimed by the Yellow Shirts is a victory of urban over the rural people. How genuine is this victory in terms of the real support of the Thai people for or against the govt?
 
Bangkok is only a small fraction of Thailand. Can the Yellow Shirts count on the rest of the country as their base and supporting their cause to remove the govt? The Yingluck govt is on the defensive. Did they know something that the public is not privy to, that the Yellow Shirts have bigger backers and would not back down in a street confrontation?
 
Is the street protest a tyranny of the minority or a true reflection that the majority of the Thai people wanted a change of govt? Suthep has called for a democratically elected govt to step down to be replaced by a non elected govt. Would Yingluck go for break and move her govt to the north where her support base is and cause a temporary division of Thailand between the rural Thais and the urban Thais? Would Thailand’s unity survive or would there be a divided Thailand, a kind of a republic in the north and a monarchy in Bangkok and the south? Is this the moment for the Thais to make a forced choice?

Foreigners are shitting everywhere

The smell of foreign shit is everywhere, some disguised as pinky shit by their possession of a newly minted pink IC. Sinkies have been sodomised for so long and finally wakening up with a sore exhaust pipe.
 
There are just too many foreigners here in mid and top management positions not through merit but by screwing the daft Sinkies, with fake degrees, discriminations, favouritism and tribalism. Sinkies are being elbowed out of good jobs while foreigners are taking over, many at CEO positions. The cry to protect the interests of Sinkies is getting louder by the days but no one is listening. There is now a call to nationalize good jobs for Sinkies. Sinkies are not fighting for jobs on a level playing field in their home country. They are being cheated in their home country. If this goes on they will be cheated of their country soon.
 
Many countries have a ruling that the HR departments must be headed and run by the citizens, in Malaysia, in Indonesia and many other countries. Their govts will do everything to protect their citizens. Their govts will not betray their people. It is inconceivable for any govt to betray its own people by hiring foreigners to replace them. And this is even more sickening if it happens in a democratic country where the govt is democratically elected by the people. Can you believe that a democratically govt elected by the people will screw its own people and betray them? Never is the word. It must not be allowed to happen.
 
The govt needs to look at this seriously, to impose new employment regulations and for a start, all HR must be manned by Sinkies. No buts, no delays. This is an urgent matter that affects the welfare and well beings of Sinkies. The Sinkies must demand that the govt acts on this immediately. No more one year later nonsense. The jobless and discriminated and cheated Sinkies cannot wait any more.

Not good enough for Singapore, good enough for HK

NUS Professor Michael Hor Yew Meng has been appointed the law dean of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), but not good enough for NUS. Actually hor, he was good enough until a more brilliant and able foreigner came along in the name of Simon Chesterman
 
‘HKU vice-chancellor Professor Tsui Lap-chee described Prof Hor as an “inspiring and passionate teacher”. Prof Hor was selected after two rounds of a worldwide search by HKU.’ This means that Prof Hor was competing with the best in the world and found to be the best candidate.
 
In 2009 Professor Michael Hor and Professor John Phillips from King’s College London were the two shortlisted candidate to take over from Professor Tan Cheng Han. Then came a Ginny comes lately, and sorry hor, this Ginny leapfrogged over the two candidates to be the law dean of NUS.
 
Singapore has this disease of not able to find good talents among Sinkies, or somehow Sinkies are not good enough and angmohs or foreigners are always better even from the Third World, like an impressional dumb kid that has yet to grow up. Anything foreigner is good. See a foreigner goes gaga.
 
So hor, Michael Hor has to become a foreign talent in HongKong. They said the prophet is never appreciated in his home town. My bet is that the next PM will be a foreigner as well. They will not be able to find a Sinkie good enough for the job.

The Laws of ADIZ

After the confrontation and defiance by the US against China’s ADIZ, the American State Department has issued a directive advising all American commercial flights to heed the rules of the air zone. It also quickly clarified that this did not amount to a recognition of the ADIZ and ‘Our expectation of operations by US carriers…does not indicate US government acceptance of China’s requirements for operating in the newly declared ADIZ.’

This may not be an exceptional ruling applicable only to Americans or is it an international law governing ADIZ, but it could set the norms for every country to follow. It simply said that commercial flights have to follow but military flights don’t have to. Or maybe it is saying only American military flights can fly into other countries ADIZ and need not follow their rules. This is the privilege of the Empire or the gangster, depending on how one looks at it.

Is this American Imperial decree applicable on a reciprocal basis, that other countries’ military aircraft can also fly into American ADIZ without heeding their rules? At the moment not many countries can fly their military aircraft into American ADIZs or have no reasons to do so. Perhaps the Russians and the Chinese may want to put this to a test, that it applies both ways, you can come and go like the Americans.

Would the Americans scramble their fighters to intercept the visitors and wave to say hello, or would they take offensive measures like shooting them down? If the Americans were to shoot down alien aircraft in their ADIZs, then Russia and China could do the same. The rules have to be equitable and apply to all nations that are seen as equals in the UN Charter, big or small. No?

But the Empire may have its own laws that are above the UN Charter. In that case, China would have to decide if it is able to take down American military aircraft in its ADIZ and risk an open war with the Empire. If it is not able to, it would have to buy for more time before the playing field is level.

The Empire will have the last word. What is right and free to do for the Empire is not right and free to do for those that are enemies of the Empire. When would the Russians and Chinese put this Empire decree to a litmus test?

Qian Xue Sen - Father of American and Chinese rocketry

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34728219/e%20HD1280eeae%20Hsue-shen%20Tsien%20i2012i.avi

This is the link to a video on the life of this Chinese patriot who left a life of luxury and fame in the USA to return to Communist China and founded the Chinese missile and space programme. He was the professor in Caltech and was head of the American jet propulsion and rocketry programme, and others in the Navy, Air Force and Army.

There can be no sacrifice more than this man and his family and his friends who chose to return to their motherland, a poor communist country, and made a difference in the lives of more than 1b people.

The video is recommended for the bananas to know what dignity is all about. Not the kind that comes with a high pay. Anyway that is not dignity but foolishness.

A Sunday Sermon on hypocrisy

‘Pope Francis gave a stirring denouncement of "the idolatry of money" and wealth inequality in a statement that should be heeded by people of all religions and atheists alike. There is a desperate need to address the unjust economic structures now in place.

Pope Francis was absolutely correct in calling the workings of the prevailing global economic system "sacrilised", but this is a point rarely made by people with real influence.’

I received this comment in an email referring to the Pope’s speech reported in the Bangkok Post. The idolatory of money is as good as idolising Satan. When people carry Satan on their shoulders and worship him as their God, what is right or wrong takes on a different meaning. This is best reflected in the media articles on corporate honchos talking about ethical business practices and good corporate governance. These are the idolators of money and making money is right, the means is not an issue.

The biggest hypocrites are those in the big banks, and financial institutions, when they sold derivatives and traded against their clients. Some even resorted to stealing clients from their staff by unfair deals, undercutting, just to make money. When confronted, they would say they did not know. Several big banks like Stanchart, Citi, Goldman Sach and many others have been made to pay huge fines and they willingly paid through diluting the shareholders’ equities. The culprits authorising all the gamings and fraudulent schemes are still there sitting at the top designing more scams to cheat their clients.

The whole stock exchange in New York is a scam. The NYSE management needs to be put behind bars for creating a system that cheats the innocent investors. They redesigned the systems to facilitate computer trading and HFT to cheat the rest of the investors with no qualms and concerns for fair trading practices. Cheating is good and not a crime. The American law makers are not fools that could not see the crime right before them. But many are paid to look the other way. And the top dogs could go on talking about good corporate governance and ethical business practices like angels.

The best part, the authorities that are supposed to check on them idolise them as the talented that could bring in the money. No one wants to know the meaning of cheating. They said, the fish rots from the head. How true.

Would anyone heed what Pope Francis said about idolatory of money and addressing the unjust economic structures?  I only hear laughters. When a corporate honcho talks about ethics and honesty, it is better to listen to a pimp.

China and the US – A Tangential Warfare

China and the US are at war in the most unusual and the most inconceivable kind. Both know that they are at war, in a very intense competition for power and influence but heading tangentially away to avoid a direct confrontation. Both are fighting without meeting and definitely not in the conventional battle field. No face off yet. This came too close last week when the Americans flew their B52s heading directly into China and came within firing range of both parties, one to launch its cruise missiles and the other to fire its SAMs.

The Americans are gearing up for a war that they are most confident to win, with their massive fire power, technology and military hardware. They are preparing for a showdown. The pivot to Asia has just begun and the first few pieces of pawns have been moved. More and more American hardware and personnel would be deployed to the Western Pacific. The latest aircraft carriers and sophisticated aircraft in service and those still on the drawing board are all earmarked and bound for the region.

The Americans are preparing for a swift and abominable war of decimation and destruction in a scale never seen before. The shock and awe strategy of the Iraq War was too miniscule in every aspect compares to what the Americans are planning.

The Chinese are also planning. Actually this is inaccurate. The Chinese have started the war many years back. The Chinese have been moving their pieces to all corners of the world, without moving a single soldier. They are sending their warriors in suits and ties to every country that is willing to trade with China. They are acquiring assets, commodities, resources and American dollars everywhere with the Americans the bigger losers. The Americans thought otherwise, that they could wipe out the debt either by printing away or by an open conflict.

The Chinese are gearing up militarily but in defensive mode. It is cheaper and more sustainable in many ways in the long run. They only need to defend and it would take an offensive force many times more powerful, and resources to dislodge the defensive force. The Chinese only need to hold out, avoid a military conflict for as long as they could. Everyday of peace or no war, the Chinese are winning on the economic front. Everyday of no conflict, the Americans are spending and consuming their dwindling resources on the soldiers, equipments and bases. There is no way for the Americans to maintain such a huge military force in peace time. The attrition rate will mount on the Americans and pile up their financial debt to bankrupt their economy. It is a very expensive game that the Americans are playing. It is all cost. To the Chinese, the cost is relatively low and they are amassing wealth on the economic front. They can go on and on, getting richer and richer, and militarily stronger, without fighting. The Americans will sink deeper and deeper into debt to maintain the huge military build up for a war that the Chinese would not engage.

The Chinese are on the offensive in the economic front while holing up in a defensive stance on the military front. The Americans are on the defensive in the economic front and draining their finances and in a waiting game on the military front. The soldiers and the equipments are ready for war, waiting for war. As long as the military front is not open it is at best a seige. In the economic front, it is a different picture, with the Chinese on the offensive and ambushing the Americans and cutting them off in every battle field and war zone.

It is a long war of attrition aiming at the pockets of the Americans. It is a war of accumulating wealth and resources to the Chinese. While the Americans get poorer with their huge expenditure on their military, the Chinese are getting richer and a supporting a smaller budget defensive force that is on home ground and keeping cost to the minimum.

The Chinese are fighting a protracted war with no end date, an adaptation of guerilla warfare in the world stage. The Americans are waiting to fight a war that has no start date. Militarily it is all posturing and preparation, with no open conflict, no declared hostility. Economically there is also no declaration of war but there is a war in full swing. There is a tangential war but with no military engagement. The Chinese are playing Wei Qi or Go while the Americans are playing Checkers.

An ingenius way to collect donations

Donating to a charity or a charitable home cannot be more easy than just tapping an EZ card on a reader. Every tap will only lead to a deduction of $1 from the card. This is a very convenient way of donating without being pestered by little boys and girls with their tin cans or donation cards. Just simply tap the card when one feels like it.

This is an initiative of the Community Chest and the posters with the readers are already up in 5 MRT stations. In the ST today there is a beautiful photo of several young primary school children tapping on the reader to make their donations. And the children are very happy doing their part for charity. It is always good to start young, to make the children think about caring for the less unfortunate. What a way to go.

I remember a story of a young school boy who hailed a cab and after being dropped off, told the uncle driving the taxi to keep the change. The uncle told the boy it was good to be generous but to wait till he earned his own money before trying to be generous and spending his parent’s money so happily and so easily. Children may not know how difficult it was to earn a few dollars and what a few dollars could mean to those lower income people. Exceptions if the children have parents who are ministers or tycoons.

Children are very innocent. Tell them to do good and they will happily obliged. Tap the reader, they will. How many of them understand how hard it is for their parents to earn a few dollars more to load into their EZ cards? How many of them know that the few dollars in their EZ cards could be squeezed out by their parents missing a meal? How many of them know that the $1 in the EZ card was the last dollar in the card and their parents would have a hard time trying to top up the cards?

There are laws against the young buying cigarettes or liquor or betting in the Singapore Pool outlets. There should be laws against little innocent children donating without the consent of the adults or being accompanied by their parents.

It is a good cause to donate. I think it is necessary to spare the children who still do not know what they are doing and donating the hard earned money of their parents who are struggling to make ends meet. For those parents who are earning millions or hundreds of thousands, it is damn fun tapping and tapping and tapping at the card readers. The Community Chest may want to organise a contest to see who can tap the most times in a minute or an hour or who can tap continuously for the longest number of hours non stop and stood to win a prize, like a car donated by a car dealer.

I think that would be nice. But keep the children out unless with parental consent.

Spore won’t harm Indonesia and Malaysia

Many pundits and commentators and laypeople would have thought that the revelation of Singapore assisting the Americans to tap into the communications of its neighbours would turn into a big embarrassment and also affect relations with the two countries would only find that this is not true. According to Shanmugam, the Indonesians and Malaysians know that we would not do anything to harm them. After all it is only an allegation and there is no proof that Singapore has done anything unfriendly.

We have very good relations with our neighbours and with such an assurance they would have taken our words in good faith, just like the govt will not do anything to harm the interests of its people. It is common sense and good neighbourliness.

Ok, case close. Everyone can go and party and play more golf.

The relevance of ADIZ

The need for ADIZ is not new and will grow in significance in a world when military might is the order of the day. The Americans and its allies have designated their ADIZs in many parts of their countries and dated to the early post WW2 years. The need for China to have its own ADIZ is not unfounded in view of its aggressive neighbours that it has disputes over sovereignty of islands and the military presence of the Americans in the region.

The offensive nature of military weapons like aircraft and their ability to launch an attack several hundred kilometers from the coastline makes an extended ADIZ into the sea more critical and necessary. No countries, not China or the USA or Japan would allow a potential enemy the free play to fly offensive military aircraft at a range that they can launch an attack on the country. How far is the comfort zone depends on many factors, the capability of the enemy’s equipment and weapon system, the scale of destruction it can cause, the speed they can launch an attack and also the systems and capability of the defending nation, among others. 

There is also the ‘fake’ psychological sense of vulnerability which is often used to bully weaker nations to accept an unreasonable claim of safety needs. This could be explained by what is safe to me is unsafe to the enemy or what is reasonable to me is unreasonable to the enemy.

In the China ADIZ, it is very reasonable to them but unreasonable to the Japanese and the Americans. Then why is the Japanese ADIZ reasonable to the Japanese and Americans and not to the Chinese when both extended to 130km of the other’s territory?

In the Cuba Crisis, the sense of security was extended to the placement of SAMs with nuclear capability in the island by the USSR. The Americans were willing to go to war if the Soviets did not remove the missiles. They imposed their right to their national security on the Cubans that they are not allowed to have missiles in their soil that can reach the USA and not vice versa.

This same outrageous claim of national security is extended by the Americans today to the whole world if they can blackmail or twist the arms of weaker nations to forbid them to have nuclear weapons. Only their allies, approved by the Americans, can possess nuclear weapons. My security is your insecurity. Other nations cannot possess the offensive weapons even when they are located across the other side of the earth from America. This is the extent of the American nuclear ADIZ equivalent. They forbid and attacked Iran and North Korea for wanting to have their own nuclear weapons. Is this reasonable?

Why would countries like China not be allowed to set up their own ADIZ but to allow its enemies to fly their offensive aircraft near their coasts that could easily turn around and do a pre emptive strike against them? And these ADIZ is just a short extension from their coasts? Why are the Americans allowed to claim insecurity when countries around the world want to possess nuclear weapons and be accused of being a threat to the Americans?

It is simply power play. The country that has the military power can bully those with less military power to do their bidding, to toe the line, to forgo their national security and allow the bully nation to trample all over them anywhere and anytime without protest.

When the Americans were able to fly their spy planes at a height that the USSR and China could not take them down, the Americans rudely and offensively flew over their territories to take photographs of their military installations and gathered whatever intelligence data they wished to have. Only when the USSR and China could shoot them down that the bullying stopped.

The Americans are using technology to spy on the rest of the world, including their friends, on the belief that they have superior technology and could not be found out. Not until a whistleblower blew their pants away.

It is all a game of bullying with the muscles of military power. China could only uphold its ADIZ if it is willing to confront the bullies head on and has the ability to do so. This is the only right, or wrong. Political power comes from the barrel of the gun. It is still true. The Americans and their allies have put up a military challenge and China either has to stand up or back down.

Any country that wants to have their own ADIZ must have the military muscle to keep the bullies and rascals out. It is not a matter of right or wrong. It is national security and dignity that must be defended by military prowess. Take them on and force them out or let them in. This is the same logic as acquiring nuclear weapons. Without the military strength to fight and resist the Americans, there will be no nuclear weapons without their approval.

The Americans have established a balance of power and status to their favours and to the insecurity and right to defence of other countries. They would walk along the corridors of other countries strutting their stuff, armed with the most formidable weapons they have to spite these countries. Any attempt by these countries to say no, to change the status quo is ‘wrong’ to the Americans and their allies. They only see the world in their tinted glasses, and their superiority and dominance and obnoxious rights cannot be challenged.

Who is talking about rights, and whose rights and interests should stay above others? An ADIZ is a defensive construct. Does China or any country have the right to its self defence, to protect itself from enemy intrusion and attacks? Why are the western countries and Japan allowed to have their ADIZ and not China? Why are the Americans and their allies allowed to possess WMD and others are not?

This is not a private platform for private agenda

Hi guys and gals,

By now you would have noticed why I have deleted some of a particular blogger. This is the first time I am doing this kind of thing. I try my best to keep this as free a forum for everyone to express their views and opinions, uncensored.

I have received a friendly call by a little bird telling me that someone has been told to take down his blog as it was getting dangerous. That blog was propagating something that was undesirable and with a hidden agenda that must be stopped.

And I was told someone was trying to use my blog as his private platform to continue his insidious act. I was advised not be made use of and not to allow such dangerous people to hijack my blog for their dangerous agenda.

Please excuse me. I hope all of you would understand.

Cheers

Redbean

Our SWFs are furiously investing overseas

Recently it was reported that our SWFs were investing in micro financing in China and India, lending money to the poor to do small businesses. If the objective is to do charity and philantrophy, I think this is a worthy cause. Yesterday it was reported that one was investing in Bollywood. And there was the fame investment in a childcare chain in Australia. Last time a GLC with a niche in heavy industry and engineering went into fast food business.
 
The impression given is that they will invest in anything that they think can make money. You know what am I thinking? What’s next would they be investing, the oldest profession?
 
What is the driving force in the SWF’s investment strategy? Do they have a clearly defined mission or is the mission simply to invest and to make money? The fear of SWFs blindly investing in anything that came along is always there. There are two factors that could lead to this kind of no strategy and directionless investment strategy. One, the abundance of funds and not knowing what to do. Secondly, there are too many highly paid fund managers who have to show their worth and also to generate profit to be rewarded with big bonuses.
 
A fund that has too much money is a good thing. But this can be a dangerous thing as well when there is a fear of not investing. The money cannot be left idle. So, instead of waiting for the right opportunity, for a good investment to come along, they went shadow chasing. Anything that moves, buy. Would be wiser to only invest in the right thing, solid investment like blue chip companies, and not in anything? Even blue chips or the best of blue chips can be dangerous, just don’t be conned.
 
With so many fund managers managing the funds and needing to prove themselves and wanting to have a big share of the bonuses, and with the mentality that it is other people’s money, the tendency to invest for the sake of investing is always there. Not investing is like not working and not putting in a bet for the big bonus payout. The reward system only rewards good returns not prudence. Prudence doesn’t pay.
 
SWFs that are managed by professional managers run the risk of gambling when every fund managers are playing high stakes for high returns with OPM. A SWF may be better managed by financially trained civil servants that take a longer perspective and showing more care and prudence in handling public funds. And the reward system must take cognizance of the risk versus caution divergence. Both are equally important. 

Rewarding only big risk takers will incur the big risk of losing everything when they invest in snake oils, including you know what and when due diligence is best forgotten. Geylang would make an extremely great enterprise when reorganized under professional management. Gambling dens too will generate exceptional returns.
 
Are there moral considerations and stringent criteria and guidelines laid out to govern the way fund managers managed SWF’s money? I am very sure they have. Or is it a case of as long as it can make money go for it? Investing SWF is investing the people’s savings, the CPF money that the people slogged for a life time and cannot be lost by wild gambling and punting. The guardians of the people’s savings must be prescient and cast a watchful eye over how the money is thrown around the world. It is not Other People’s Money. It is The People’s Money. The people did not ask that the money be used for gambling, to take high risk, like private funds and hedge funds with willing investors knowing what they are in for. The SWF’s owners are captive prisoners that have no choice in how their money is being used.
 
The guidelines in how these money can be used must be very stringent and not to take high risk, not to invest when there is nothing good to invest. At times it is better to earn that little interests or dividends and wait for a better opportunity to come along. The two wrong reasons to invest are: One, a lot of money, so must invest. Two, must invest to show profit, so as to be rewarded.

The irony of FDI

Many countries are obsessed with FDI to generate economic activities in their countries. The more FDIs coming in, the more vibrant will be the economy. The Philippines are getting something like $2b to $3b FDIs annually while Singapore is getting something like $30b. No wonder Singapore’s economy is so healthy.
 
Singapore also has a reserve, unofficially it is rumoured to be around $1 trillion. Leaving this money idle is unsound as the money must generate income to pay the real owners of the money even at 2.5% or 4% pa.
I
ncidentally, how much of this reserve is being invested in Sin City and how much is being invested as FDIs in other countries? If the reserve were to be invested locally, would it mean that the $30b FDIs Singapore is getting is really peanuts?
 
Instead, Singapore is pouring FDIs all over the world and begging foreigners to invest here for a paltry $30b and so frightened that they would not come. Even worse, Singapore is throwing the billions all over without anyone begging for it but actually begging others to let Singapore pour FDIs into their countries at their terms. Heheh, the first thing that came to my mine is all the Free Trade Agreements like CECA.
 
Would it not be a better idea to pump our billions and billions of reserves back into our economy and no need to beg anyone to be here and be threatened by them or for them to discriminate and fix up our PMEs? Does it make sense? And from the reports and records, with so many failures in the tune of hundreds of millions and billions, is Singapore’s FDIs to other countries really profitable, nett nett of such heavy losses and still making billions?
 
Would Singapore be a safer alternative for our own reserves? We are trying so hard to sell Singapore to foreigners to invest here and have to kow tow to their demands. Why don’t Singapore sell Singapore to GIC and Temasek to attract their money to invest here as FDIs?
 
Does it sound funny?

B52s could have started WW3

Photo credit to Global Times.

The above map is produced in Global Times and showed the flight path taken by the B52 bombers on 27 Nov 13. The heading of the B52s directly into China is an act of hostility. Given the capability of the B52s, at 200km off the Chinese coast they are able to launch cruise missiles to strike at Chinese coastal cities like Shanghai or Xiamen. As China was not given a flight path and the intent of the bombers unknown, it could assume that they were enemy aircraft with hostile intention.

Given such a scenario which was aggressively provocative, China should have scrambled fighters to intercept the bombers and force them to turn around, firing warning shots if necessary. China should lodge a strong protest to Obama (and the UN) and warning him that any military aircraft heading towards China unannounced and crosses the 200km (or 300km red line) would be declared as hostile, an act of war, and would be shot at.

With this nasty experience, China should make this clear to Japan and the US and its allies that China will take military action to shoot down unidentified aircraft acting in a hostile manner with no exceptions.

At the very least China must scramble its fighter to intercept and force any military aircraft to turn around. This is a military protocol that all nations will adopt in the face of an intrusion by unknown aircraft. The B52s are not any civilian aircraft but nuclear capable bombers and getting anywhere nearer is a very dangerous and offensive act and cannot be repeated.

The Russians shot down a civilian airliner from South Korea when it claimed to have lost it direction and flown into Russian territory. In this case, the B52s cannot be allowed anywhere nearer than a 200km radius from China's coastline. The Americans are playing with fire.

China should also raise this issue at the UN Security Council and make its stand clear, that it will shoot down military aircraft encroaching into its airspace and within a specified distance that would allow it to conduct a strike against China's mainland. This message must be made known to all countries and the American's irresponsible act must be registered with the UN that such an event had happened and would not be allowed to do so again.

The stupid act of the Americans could have started a war yesterday. A hawkish Chinese general could have fired a SAM at the B52s as a defensive act and rightful to do so. The Americans were acting irresponsibly and in a very provocative manner. This was how close the world came to the Third World War should the bombers be shot and brought down.

The crazy cowboys must not be allowed to try this again.

The Empire strikes back

China, an emerging superpower has stake its claim to its right to defend its territories and to reclaim territories lost during the years when it was weak. Its designation of an ADIZ over its air space and territorial seas that have been grabbed by Japan and used as a playground by the Empire is being challenged by both head on. The Japanese refused to recognize the ADIZ, like the Americans, and even ordered its commercial airlines, ANA and Japan Airlines not to comply with China’s request. The Americans have blatantly flown two of its biggest bombers through the ADIZ as a show of defiance, to show who is boss.
 
China is now forced to react. Not doing anything would expose its weakness and would encourage other pesky countries to dismiss its ADIZ as well. It is now a matter of how to react and how to keep an even keel without raising tension to a level when hostility is the next recourse.
 
There are many things that China can do on a graduated scale short of hitting force with force. During the days of Cold War, the USSR had repeated flown their planes into the British ADIZ unannounced. The British would respond by scrambling their fighters to meet the approaching Soviet aircraft. And they would fly side by side, waving at each other. This went on for many years until the pilots could even recognize each other as acquaintances. Both sides were just testing each other’s capability and resolve without raising the temperature. The Soviet bombers would fly in and the British would scramble to intercept. They would stay in the air until the fuel ran out. Both sides did not risk any hostile posturing.
 
This is one way China may deal with the Americans and even the Japanese aircraft in its ADIZ. The Japanese have been doing the same to Chinese aircraft in its ADIZ. At a higher level, China could do another Hainan Act when a Chinese pilot flew into the path of the American recce aircraft and allowed it to be rammed by the Americans. The Chinese pilot was killed but not before taking down the American aircraft that was forced to land and detained in Hainan. The aircraft was stripped into bits, with the Chinese having a preview of American equipment and technology. This act could be reenacted should the Americans push the Chinese too hard.
 
A variation to this could be the flying of drones into the path of the intruders and let them crash into it. Drones are difficult to control and an accident with the drones is highly possible.
 
In the case of civilian aircraft, this is a bit tricky as the safety and discomfort of many civilian lives will be at stake. Japan is willing to play this chicken game by risking the lives of its passengers. What would or could the Chinese do? When tested, the Chinese could force the civilian aircraft to land in a Chinese airport, escorted by the Chinese fighter jets. Very likely China would just send its fighters to escort the civilian aircraft out of the ADIZ, forcing it to make a detour to avoid the zone. Japan could retaliate by sending its fighters to escort the civilian planes of ANA and Nippon. Both fighters are likely to keep a comfortable distance apart like the coast guards in Diaoyu Islands. China only needs to keep up the pressure and the two airlines will loose passengers for fear of harassment, inconvenience or an accident.
 
There is always a high risk that the Americans and the Japanese would force the issue by firing at the Chinese or at the ANA or Nippon planes and accuse the Chinese of doing it, a false flag incident for an open conflict.
 
An open conflict is unlikely as the consequences would be grave. Should it happen, as a localized war, Chinese should have some advantage with the availability of SAMs, which are much cheaper to operate and less demanding on the boys in the air or in the ships. Would the Japanese and Americans push the limits? An open war would halt all economic activities in the region and aircraft and ships could be fired on. Time for testing the equipments and a prelude to the Third World War.

The benefits of hindsight

Boon Wan is churning out so many flats within a year, averaging 25,000 or more. The latest announcement was 33,568 for this year. And this is still not enough and the demand is mounting.
 
With the benefits of hindsight, we can see what happened over the last few years. We, the low down untalented citizens, only have hindsight to say our piece. Foresight is only the reserve of the supertalents. With foresight, over the horizon ability, they could predict the future, plan ahead, nip problems in the bud before they went out of control. With hindsight, we can see how problems were not nip in the bud, no proactive actions, and problems got blown out of proportion.
 
We now know the cutting down of building HDB flats to less than 10,000 units for several years prior to Boon Wan’s ramping up the building of new flats was a gross mistake. We also know that there were pent up demands by a growing population. We also know that when HDB was not building enough flats, the population was increasing like crazy with hundreds of thousands of foreigners being allowed into the island and needing more flats. Hindsight can tell the uninformed and ill informed citizens of the truth, of what really happened and what really went wrong.
 
Did the super talents with their foresight saw what were coming? Definitely. They cannot be that stupid right? And neither could they be sleeping on the job and not knowing that so many foreigners were let into the country and the cutting down in building HDB flats would cause a big shortage of housing while the demand was rising.
What actually happened then that resulted in such a huge housing shortage problem and the ballooning of housing prices? What were they thinking or planning or scheming? 

With all the foresight and hindsight, maybe someone would want to tell the people what actually went ‘right’? Got to say right, saying what went wrong would not be nice and would not get an answer. What went right?

The Japanese govt lying through its teeth about Fukushima

RELATED: Top Scientist: Another Fukushima Quake Would Mean US Evacuation, ‘Bye Bye Japan’
 
‘“Fukushima is the most terrifying situation that I can imagine,” Suzuki said, adding that another earthquake could trigger a potentially catastrophic, nuclear disaster.
 
“The fourth [reactor] has been so badly damaged that the fear is if there’s another earthquake of a 7 or above then that building will go and all hell breaks loose,” he said, adding that the chances of an earthquake measuring 7 or above in Japan over the next three years were over 95 percent.
 
“If the fourth [reactor] goes under an earthquake and those rods are exposed, then it’s bye, bye, Japan and everybody on the west coast of North America should be evacuated. And if that isn’t terrifying, I don’t know what is,” Suzuki said….’
 
The above quote is from a report dated 7 Nov 13. Feeling comfortable or uncomfortable? I don’t mean so much about Sinkies, I mean the Japanese and the Americans on the West Coast of America. And countries like eastern Russia, Korea and China are too close for comfort. When Japan goes under because Mother Nature gives it a kick, many countries will suffer an equally disastrous effect from the nuclear fallout.
 
And it is not just these countries, the live stocks in the Oceans, not only the Pacific, will ultimately be inedible. What would life be like when food is scarce? One thing for sure, the Japanese and the Americans can fall back on their defence treaty to defend each other against the radioactivity coming from Fukushima, provided there are still Japanese left in Japan. Maybe the whole of Japan will be quarantined and there will be an international blockage of the Japanese island to keep the Japanese in the islands of Japan.

Australia said it is ‘unhelpful’

The Australians got the cheek to tell China that its Air Defence Identification Zone is unhelpful? An ADIZ is a nation’s defensive line to guard against an intrusion by air. Why didn’t the Australians tell the Japanese that their ADIZ is unhelpful?
 
And it is helpful to tap on the private phones of the President of a neighbouring country and his close associates? This is definitely not unhelpful ya. It is bad, it is offensive, and it is downright immoral act. The Indonesians should not let this pretender to continue acting high and mighty. They should punish the Australians nice and proper for such obnoxious act against their President and who else.
 
Is this tapping act helpful, Julie Bishop?

Are Sinkies lepers?

Gilbert Goh of Transitioning.org has written another letter copied to Tan Chuan Jin on job discrimination against Sinkies. This time the offending online advertisement is from a company called Cotton on Group. 

The offending advert states ‘To be considered for this position you are required to be a Malaysian Citizen or Permanent Resident.’
 
Why are these foreigners doing this so blatantly, not to recruit Sinkies? At one point some were complaining that the Sinkie men’s reservist training could be a liability. What about Sinkie women? They don’t do NS, no reservist liabilities. Are Sinkies lepers, to be voided at all cost. Employ anyone, anything, except a Sinkie. And do this in the home country of Sinkies to slap them in broad daylight. Sinkies would not fight back, would not do anything.
 
Would the Sinkie govt do anything to protect the Sinkies? You asking me?

A sad Sinkie tale

Below is part of a post by a Raja posted in Gilbert’s Transitioning.org.
 
‘I am a 36-year old BORN AND BRED Singaporean, with a Bachelors in IT from NUS, and Masters in IS from NTU; 12 years of IT experience in various MNCs such as IBM, Nokia (before they were sold to Microsoft) and Unilever in the IT Infrastructure and service delivery domain.
 
I relocated to Qatar in 2010, working for an Oil Company as project Manager, and I must admit I have opened up my eyes and expanded my horizons since my Overseas stint, but at the same time I feel very sorry for fellow Singaporeans who are caught in the daily Grind, constantly in fear of when their jobs will be snatched away from cheaper, better, faster 3rd-world foreign PMET in Singapore.
 
Over here in Qatar, I marvel at the way the Qatari government treats their locals versus the expats. Expats are a distinct 2nd class here, and we are talking about white collar expats, not even the blue collars.
 
Americans, British, Europeans, Asians, it doesn’t matter, we are all here in servitude to the Qatari economy, and the locals are king. We are never made to forget that this is not our country and that they are in charge. We can never become citizens, and once we reach retirement age, or when we are made redundant, that’s it we and our families can pack up and go. Non-negotiable.
 
Qatar has a program called Qatarization, which is basically catapulting young and able Qatari talents to fill in key PMET/managerial positions, and this is a national initiative pushed by the royals.
 
No, it’s a national priority.’
 
It is so sad that a Sinkie with this kind of qualifications and experience was unable to find a job here and got replaced by questionable foreigners under questionable processes. Indeed we have lost our country.
 
When other countries have nationalization policies to put their citizens first, we have pro foreigner’s policies to put foreigners first, or foreigners as equal to citizens. What kind of shit is this?

Hypocrisy of the American Empire

‘The United States is deeply concerned about China's announcement that they've established an "East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone." This unilateral action constitutes an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea. Escalatory action will only increase tensions in the region and create risks of an incident.’
 
This message is being reported in practically every English media as if China is doing something wrong. The setting up of an ADIZ is part and parcel of a country defending its air space. China did not do so earlier, and could not do so as it did not have the capability to do so then. Now that China has all the military resources to establish its ADIZ, what is wrong with that? The Japanese has established its ADIZ that extends to the coast of China and encroached into Chinese air space. They have been harassing Chinese aircraft that flew into the Japanese declared ADIZ. The acts were provocative and been conducted daily, several times a day. Why didn’t the Americans call the Japanese acts destabilizing? Why didn’t the Americans raise alarms when Japan provoked China by its farce sales of Diaoyu Islands and subsequently nationalized it against China’s protest?
 
And what status is the Americans talking about that must be maintained? A position that the Japanese and the Americans imposed on a China when China was weak and unable to protest, with the Japanese more or less delineated the whole area as Japanese air and sea space, including Diaoyu Islands?
 
China is now able to defend its own territorial air space and sea lanes and would stand up to demand its rights to her territorial space, like it or not. A new status quo that reflects a fair position with China claiming back what were China’s is only natural. The old status quo that violated China’s territorial integrity must be set right and the aggressors that took advantage of China’s weakness in the past would have to acknowledge and accept the new realities. China’s territories and territorial air space and sea would have to revert to China and Japan or the Americans would not be in the way.
 
The current messy situation was actually due to the irresponsible actions of the Americans that handled administrative control of the Chinese islands of Diaoyu to Japan in 1972. The problems would have been settled long ago, immediately after the defeat of Japan. But for its selfish interests and its cold war against the USSR and China, the Americans violated the Potsdam Agreement of the victorious allied powers to hand over the islands to the defeated Japanese. It is this act of treachery by the Americans that is causing the tension in the area today.
 
The Americans took the unilateral action against the interest of China to create this situation. China is only standing up to reclaim what it has lost. And the status quo will change to give China a fairer stake in the region with the changing balance of power.
The American hypocrisy must be traced back to its historical past, of a situation that resulted in a never ending feud between China and Japan. And this hypocrisy has led to raising tension if the Diaoyu Islands are not return to its rightful owners and the airspace and ADIZ of China and Japan are not rewritten in a fair and equitable manner.
 
While Japan can go on its reckless acts of scrambling fighters to intercept Chinese aircraft with the quiet connivance of the Americans, China will now have the right to do the same. The American hypocrisy can continue but China will not stand down when its core interests are at stake. China today is ready to reclaim all its territories lost during the era of Unequal Treaties and will go to war with Japan if the latter still thinks it can bully China and grab Chinese territories at will, with the help of the Americans.
 
There will be tension and possible acts of hostility if both sides do not tread carefully in the overlapping ADIZ. China would no longer step down to appease the Japanese or the Americans and allow these aggressive countries to violate its territories. History has come full circle and old scores would have to be settled, peacefully or otherwise. China will change the status quo that is demeaning and to its disadvantage, like it or not. China would not allow itself to be bullied or threatened by the Japanese and the Americans and let them dictate the rules of the game and a status quo in their favour.
 
An unfair status quo will be made fair again when the disadvantaged party is able to stand up to the unfairness. China must use the big stick and insect repellants against rogue and pesky nations. That is the only way to deal with them and bring them to their senses. That was how Japan dealt with China and its neighbours when it was wielding a big stick.Japan only understands the language of a big stick.

Frolicking with people with BO

When you party, frolic and flirt with people with BO, it is only a matter of time when you smell like them. Indonesia is bashing the Australians for spying on their President and leaders. Ong Keng Yong, our High Commission in KL has been summoned by the Malaysian govt to explain our part in sneaking around with the Americans. Singapore is accused of being the third party in the ‘5 eyes’ spy ring comprising the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand involved in tapping the undersea cables and spying against Malaysia and Indonesia.
 
Our warming relation with Malaysia is going to take a hit. Our relation with the Indonesians is hanging on a string. There are more things that Snowden would reveal in a matter of time. Now that we are smelling, let’s hope it is only the BO and nothing more. It would be ugly if we are caught in bed with the Americans and their allies in a compromising position. Then it would be more than just the BO that is offensive.
 
Frolicking and flirting with dirty and ugly companies are silly things to do. It is not only a matter of bad taste. It is stupidity. Never think that after the event one can walk away without the smell. The stench will stay for a long time.

A sordid affair in Sin

Over the first 30 years of this govt, it has developed Singapore into a country that ticks. Press the button and the toilet will flush. Press the switch and the light comes on. Send you mail and it will reach the addressee without failed. Send a letter to a govt agency and it will respond dutifully. Apply for a flat or school admission for a child, it will be carefully considered. This is the kind of perfection, a system that works. It is 100% reliable, dependable and expectable. If a bill is sent to you demanding payment, you can expect the amount charged to be the amount due. No monkey business, no nonsense.
 
When someone sent out his resume to apply for a job, and when the reply came, ‘We regret that your application is unsuccessful. Thank you for your interest in our company,’ he can expect that due diligence and consideration have been taken to vet and check his suitability for the job. This is how reliable and trustworthy the Singapore system is. And the Sinkie will accept the rejection and that he is not qualified for the job.
 
When all the PMEs applied and had their applications rejected, they must have accepted the decisions believing that they were given a chance and considered for the positions but found unsuitable in a fair and equitable manner. Case closed and they moved on. And after several rejections they have resigned to become taxi drivers. Even when thousands of our PMEs are rejected, at times no reply which is as good as a rejection, even when thousands of fresh graduates also faced the same rejection, no one in his right mind will think that something fishy is happening.
 
Our reliable and trustworthy system is made for honest people. Such a system can only work when everyone is honest and will do their fair part. When you have dishonest people distorting the system, gaming the system wholesale, cheating, discriminating, no one will have a clue that they have been had and made a fool of. The Sinkie applicants would know that the foreigners have taken control and are fixing them up, people that don’t play fair, and when cheating is in their DNA. They would not expect their applications to be intercepted and thrown away.
 
In a way we have raised a people that is so honest, do not game the system, to the extent of being robotic or simplistic, but upright in every sense. They don’t stand a chance in a new world of crooks and cheats.
 
Have all our PMEs been cheated? How many areas and industries in our system have been compromised to disadvantage an honest and no cheating citizenry? Such a citizenry is helpless and needs help. They do not know how to fight back. The law does not encourage them to fight back or too slow to take actions. They expect the law to be on their side, not on the side of foreigners that cheat on them. Bu the law can do nothing until they cry foul, have evidence that they are cheated. But they don’t even know that they were cheated all this while. They can’t complain if they are ignorant of being cheated.
 
This is how pathetic we have become. An honest system for honest people now managed and run by cheated and dishonest people for all over the world. We were cheated by no talent people who faked themselves as talented people and made our talented people think and believe that they are no talent people. What the….. is happening?
 
Who shall we say a big thank you for this kindness and generosity? What is going on?