The lies American leaders told the American people

This is reported in the Asian Review on 7 Feb 14. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel was reported to have told a congressional committee, ‘China's provocative actions, including the declaration of a sweeping offshore air defense identification zone, "have raised tensions in the region and concerns about China's objectives in both the South China and the East China Seas,".
 
And while the Americans have been waving the flag of peace and encouraging the ‘neighboring countries to seek diplomatic solutions to their maritime disputes, America is preparing for what-if scenarios’. The Americans are not only ignoring all the provocative steps taken by the Abe Administration, instead they are accusing the Chinese of provocations. And a defensive act like the declaration of an ADIZ which is the right of all countries to guard their airspace against foreign intrusions, the Americans have several of these, it was falsely claimed by the Americans as a provocation.
 
And added to this, the Americans are beefing up their military presence with more and better weapons of wars in the region. The ‘U.S. Navy will swap three ships stationed in Japan with newer, better-equipped ones to boost American deterrence in the face of China's continued military buildup’. The Americans don’t come for peace. The American pivot is not about peace.
 
With the continuous provocation by the Japanese govt and the build up of more American military hardware in Japan, Japan is likely to be the next stage for an all out war between China and the Japanese/Americans. Americans are not pulling back the leash on the Japanese but instead are stoking the fire of Japanese militarism.
 
The Americans have forgotten how the sneaky Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour and how American pilots bombing Japan could seek the protection of China when they crashed landed in Chinese territories after their bombing missions. The Chinese who were their friends, who had never attacked or invaded America, are now the new enemies while the Japanese that killed several thousand unprepared Americans in Pearl Harbour and in the Pacific Islands are now the American allies to fight China.
 
While the Americans have forgotten, the Japanese have not. They are still very bitter over the bombing of Tokyo and the two Atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Americans would one day live to regret their foolishness to encourage the remilitarisation of Japan that could avenge the American bombings of their country and the death of a few hundred thousand Japanese soldiers and civilians.
 
The glory of the sinking of the American Fleet at Pearl Harbour would one day be commemorated as the greatest triumph of the Japanese Empire against the Americans and this could only be topped by another bigger attack in American soil. Roosevelt was furious of the attack on Pearl Harbour and wanted revenge at all cost. Would the Americans be so dull to think that the martial spirit of the Japanese and their pride in Imperial Japan would forget the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? The extreme rights of the Abe Administration are reviving Japanese nationalism and militarism with the stories of American attacks and brutality against Japan as their central theme.
 
Good luck America, for sleeping with the devil. The Chinese have no blood debt to settle with the Americans. Not sure about the Japanese.

Singapore’s soaring land prices ‘suicidal’ for developers

This is the title of a Bloomberg report on 20 Feb 14. ‘Billionaire developer Kwek Leng Beng said last year that skyrocketing prices and restrictive rules make buying residential land in Singapore ‘suicidal’. That hasn’t stopped international developers from rushing in.’
 
Now we know what is the major factor that is causing unusually high property prices. But it is ok, no problem, international developers are still rushing in to buy. This means that there are still a lot of profits to be made.
 
While the developers have a billionaire to speak for them on high land prices, is there anyone speaking for the home buyers when the home prices are skyrocketing to the stratosphere? Anyone bothers and care? Or is that a good thing, higher and higher property prices for the buyers, and they can sit on their profits after every purchase?
 
What we know is that property prices have shot up 2 or 3 times, (not 2 or 3% or 20 or 30%) over the last ten years. Why no one cries wolf? And now that the prices are holding steady or slipping by 1% only in a certain sector while the rest are still going up, and developers are crying foul, that prices are not going up fast enough?
 
What do you think? Are high property prices suicidal for the genuine home buyers?

AHPETC – A battle for Transparency and Impropriety

Ng Eng Hen is furious with the poor verdict of Transparency International on how his ministry spent money on the purchase of weapons. TI ranked Singapore together with Afghanistan and Iraq, in another word, our integrity in procurement is at the same level at these 3rd World countries, or at least in the Defence Ministry. The implications of such a rating are very serious, and many times more serious than the audit report of AHPETC.

Khaw Boon Wan had written a letter to Tharman to instruct the Auditor General to conduct an audit on AHPETC’s account quoting a Disclaimer of Opinion from its auditor, implying serious issues in the town council’s financial and accounting system. The Auditor General will now have to comb through AHPETC’s books to verify on all the misgivings and non compliance of Town Council’s regulations.

What we are seeing is the PAP wanting to set a very high standard of accountability and transparency for all town councils. And all town councils will be judged using the same standard of accountability, nothing less. On the other hand many critics are crying foul, that this is another political scam of the PAP to run down its political enemies, probably getting them disqualified from the next GE or, if serious enough, could see some of them behind bars. If this is indeed a political ploy, one can expect the PAP to extract the full mileage possible with the timing of the findings, the penalties and punishment, to ensure the WP suffers untold damage that it would become a lame duck when the GE is called.

Putting this expected and understandable perception of PAP critics aside, the involvement of the Auditor General to audit a town council’s account would set a series of precedents that would then be applicable to all the other town councils. To be consistent and be seen as fair and impartial, and standing on moral high grounds, the Auditor General would also have to conduct the same investigations on all town councils with the same ratings from their auditors or worse, like Adverse Opinion in auditing terms. The opposition parties and netizen investigative journalists in social media must be busy scouring the auditor’s reports for the same gradings to be tabled to Boon Wan and the Auditor General. And should there be such findings, the PAP would now be compelled, or at least Boon Wan would be duty bound to make similar requests to Tharman for the Auditor General’s audit.

Would this high standard of transparency and accountability also be applicable to similar or comparable institutions like the People’s Association? In a Breaking News TRE editorial, it posted an article stating that the auditors had given the PA several years of Adverse Opinions that were technically worse than the Disclaimer of Opinion in the AHPETC’s audit. Why was there no calls for the Auditor General to investigate? All eyes will now be focussed on Boon Wan to do the necessary to PA. Would he or would he not request Tharman to do the same?

With the issue of transparency and accountability high in everyone’s agenda, how far would these issues be pushed to vindicate Singapore’s standing as one of the top nations in incorruptibility? Would there be any other town council fitting the bill for an Auditor General’s audit? Would PA be put under the microscope as well?

For Boon Wan to take such a drastic action, he must be very sure that his own house is in order, ie all the town councils’ audit were beyond reproach. Like the bible said, ‘Let the one who has not sinned be the first to cast the stone....’ We have several embarrassing episodes involving the WP and the PAP when the ball curved back to slam the attackers. Retribution came fast and swift at times. How would this incident turn out and who would have the last laugh?

Kopi level - Green

COI for Little India Riot – Respect

My admiration for the Chairman of the COI for the Little India Riot, Pannir Selvam. Senior State Counsel David Khoo pointed to his attention of an article in the ST on an interview with the bus driver involved in the accident that started the rioting. Pannir Selvam took the opportunity to caution the public and other civil society groups not to act too clever and interfere with the COI with their clever suggestions. He said, and I quote:
 
‘This is all highly improper and we don’t need their advice. If anybody thinks that you, your witness or anybody else can fool us, then you’ll be fooling yourselves because we have had enough experience and we know what we are doing. We don’t need your guidance or advice or anything like that.’
 
This is not only a statement of wisdom but of fact and conviction. Many of the boards of inquiry formed comprised of eminent and experienced people with the right expertise to do a proper job. Unless of course the people appointed to such boards are wishy washy type that do not know what they are doing or are incompetent. This is rarely the case. Then they would need the advice of any Tom Dick and Harry to help them with suggestions that they came up with after a few minutes in the kopitiams.
 
Calling for public contributions, suggestions, public consultation papers, presumes that the public knows better. How can this be when the best super talents that are paid millions are the professionals while the public are mostly ignoramus or at best with a little knowledge in the subject? The calling of suggestions from the public inadvertently can be an admission of incompetence or inadequacy, or even a farce.
 
There are things that the public can be invited to express their views, like whether we want 6.9m population as there is no right or wrong in such a position but a matter of preference. It is like a life style choice that is subjective in nature. In professional and technical areas when technical expertise is involved and needed, how much can the lay public contribute in things they don’t know much about? In this riot case, the public can at best offer eye witness evidence for the COI to make an educated assessment of what actually happened.
 
I must say respect to the Chairman of the COI for putting his foot down on the noises coming from the public. It is not wrong to claim they know best as they really are the best. Now who else is asking for the layman uncles and aunties for advice and suggestions on technical matters? Are they saying that the uncles and aunties know more and better than them?

Losers, go back to your own country

Below is a short extract from a post in My Real Singapore by a Joseph Tan.
 
‘Dear The Real Singapore,
 
Just wanted to share my experience on Saturday with a FT couple at Parkway Parade.
I brought my wife and 2 boys to Parkway Parade for dinner and after dinner we were heading to the carpark located on the 5th level.
 
As we walked pass giant towards the escalator, a lady (Indian national) abruptly turn and nearly bang into my and my boy without checking looking.
 
I turned to her and said:"excused me" and continue towards the escalator.
She turned and shouted at us "what excuse me?"
 
Before I could react, her partner came charging to towards me and my son and demanded why I shouted at her wife.
 
I told him, I only said " excuse me" as she nearly bang into me and my son.
He demanded that I should talk to a lady nicely and continue charging towards us with his chest pump up.
 
I replied: "Ok, how I shout at you and what you going to do about it?"
He replied:"Loser, go back your own country."’
 
I agree with the foreigners that Sinkie losers should go back to where they come from if they allowed foreigners to kick them in broad daylight. If you cannot defend your right in your own country and allowed foreigners to bully you, then you don’t deserve to be here. You are a real loser indeed.
 
Or maybe these foreigners have been briefed that Sinkies are losers and they have to come here to help the losers. So in their mind all Sinkies are losers and kicking them is ok. The best part is that the said foreigner could be a fake and he was telling the truth, that even as a fake the Sinkies don’t even know and can’t tell the difference.
 
Sad to say, Sinkies are mostly losers. They got scolded, insulted, beaten by foreigners and got replaced by fake and shit foreigners who claimed to be talents in good jobs, and lan lan become taxi drivers to be ‘praised’ by hypocrites that it is a good job as they can be their own boss, but quietly wallowing in self pity.
 
What are you going to do about it, losers? You have lost your jobs and your country to foreigners and you don’t even know it. And foreigners are so bold to call you losers and to go to where you came from? What can I say? How many of the losers were at Hong Lim Park when Gilbert Goh held his protest rallies?

A big moral battle in the making

Senior Pastor Lawrence Khong has emerged as the point man to take the fight against homosexuality with the LBGT group. From reports in the media, the Pastor Khong’s group has been quietly organizing themselves and has came out with a seven page guide on how to express support for Section 377A of the Penal Code. The LGBT has been mustering support to have this Section of the Penal Code rescind, so far without success. Their fight is in the open with the big show of support at Hong Lim Park on a couple of occasions. On the other hand, supporters of Section 377A have been rather quiet or afraid to voice out their stand. This is the first time, after many closed door sessions, that this group is coming in the open to challenge the views of the LBGT.
 
It was a solitary battle between the LGBT group and the govt with everyone staying clear from this thorny moral issue. The growing acceptance of the lifestyle of the LGBT both locally and internationally has encouraged the LGBT to come out openly about their lifestyle choice, some biological, some hereditary, as normal or natural and not an abnormality.
 
Now we have a religious group coming out openly to challenge this lifestyle choice as not normal and to protect the provisions in Section 377A that makes homosexuality a crime. There are now two big interest groups with equally big supporter bases and international organizations as their backers to pitch their voices for and against the other.
 
The Govt could breathe easier and could take the role of a neutral party other than upholding the law. The less vocal majority could now pitch in their supports for either groups and more fireworks can be expected with both sides quite evenly matched at the moment. Where would this lead to eventually would be interesting to watch as it would affect the moral fibres and values of our society. It is not just a battle of the conservatives against the liberals. It goes deep into the accepted morality of the day and could change quite dramatically on what is normal and acceptable and what is not.

Kopi level - Green

The most hilarious article posted in TRE to date

The editorial post in TRE titled ‘Dr Ng condemns TI’s defence spending rating for SG’ is drawing a lot of laughters and funny comments from readers. The latest count on the number of comments is 65 and growing. This is a great thread for laughter but some might have their eyes popped out or their throats choked for lost of words.
 
Great thread. Highly recommended for jest and entertainment reading.

Singapore needs to monitor the 500 mile long Straits of Malacca

‘U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. hopes to pitch its high-altitude military drones to Singapore to help the city-state better monitor air and sea traffic at the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest trade corridors….
 
“The need to be able to have very long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability to monitor all that traffic… suggests that [Singapore] needs a…system that could stay up in the air for a very long period of time and cover a very large ocean area,” said David Perry, Northrop’s chief global business-development officer, at the Singapore Airshow.’
 
The above paragraphs were posted in TRE. Northrop Grumman is going to sell us a very good drone eye in the sky. My immediate response was why not, the more we can see, the further we can see, the safer it is for our security. If we can monitor traffic in the Indian Ocean and the East and South China Seas would it not be better?
 
After much serious contemplation, all two seconds of it, I think this drone from Northrop is not good enough. What we really need is an eye in the sky, like a series of satellites floating in space to monitor the traffic across the globe. Then we can even double as the Deputy Sheriff for the Empire. We can wear a badge and carry a big clout too.
 
And to add to our defence and offence capability we need at least two aircraft carrier groups, one for the Indian Ocean and one for the South China Sea. We have the money and can afford it. All these military weapons manufacturers only need to convince us on how good their weapons are and how great would it be to have these toys. Surely we need them just like we need the F35s.
 
What do you think, boys?
 
PS. A blogger by the nick of Expensive Toys made this comment in the same thread in TRE. ‘Northrop is selling its drone here because it believes in the saying: “A fool and his money are soon parted.” It knows PAP will by anything as long as it is considered high-tech.’
 
I strongly disagree. We must have the best and the most expensive hardware to keep our potential enemies away. We must make sure they know we mean business and we can back up by our hardware and anything money can buy to deal with them. This kind of feeling and confidence really damn shiok.

The Sheriff invites himself here

John Kerry, the US Secretary of State is marching into town in the capitals of East Asia and South East Asia to tell the regional leaders what is expected of them and their behavior. The USA has an interest here and the Sheriff will call the shot. Ignore at your own risk. At the moment the Sheriff is waltzing around with a wide grin on his face. When this fails to work, when the regional leaders do not toe the line, the next move will be to expose the gun tuck in his belt.
 
The regional leaders do not know how to behave, do not know what is good for them. They need the Emperor to think for them, and to back them up with the firepower if needed, to do what is right, according to the plans of the Emperor.
 
Indonesia better remember how they twisted the arms of Suharto during the Asian financial crisis. If they don’t behave, even haze can become an arm twisting excuse. Be afraid. And for the smaller states, be more afraid. There is free choice, freedom of choice, to join the Empire.
 
The Sheriff is really a very nice man. See, no guns. He comes in peace, to bring peace to the region that needs peace badly. Without the Sheriff around they will go to war over very silly things.
 
The Sheriff has invited himself here. Let’s welcome him for more peace in the region, and no arms twisting. Did he also take the opportunity to warn the Indonesians not to bully American allies in the region while he was in Jakarta?
 
What is clear is that the Sheriff did make the Indonesia to come up with a statement that they would not accept China’s ADIZ in the South China Sea. Actually this matter did not really concern the Indonesians but with the Sheriff breathing down their neck, they just have no choice but to do the Sheriff’s bidding. What the Indonesian failed to understand is that they would not have the backing of China or anyone should it decide to have its own ADIZ over the airspace facing Australia.
 
Anyway, whether the Indonesians accept it or otherwise, it was an unnecessary statement that the Chinese would simply ignore but would cost Indonesia dearly one day. It also forces the Chinese to want to declare an ADIZ to show the Indonesians and the USA to mind their own business in their own backyard.
 
Indonesia has cowered under the pressure of the Sheriff and this would undermine its image as a regional power to be. If it has to take the cue from the Sheriff, it shows how weak it is, and how it could be made to toe the line by a superpower. It is weak and does not have a mind of its own.

SMRT – a pledge by then Transport Minister Yeo Ning Hong

Someone took the trouble to sieve through the old newspaper and came up with a copy of the ST dated 9 Jul 86 with Yeo Ning Hong announcing the opening of the MRT. He said that ‘One thing was certain…Because the Govt will be paying for the construction of the stations and lines, fares on our MRT will be lower than fares in other MRT countries where commuters will have to repay the capital cost and financing of the construction of their systems…He pledged that the private company which will be set up to operate the MRT will not be allowed to profit at the expense of the public. The principle for fare setting was clear. Fares will be kept as low as possible, consistent with collecting enough revenue to meet the running cost of the MRT, replace parts and equipment regularly and provide company shareholders with a reasonable return.’
 
How far have the govt and the SMRT deviated from this original pledge with their new formula for fare increases? The cost of building the MRT was borne by public fund, not from the shareholders. The principles of lower fares, enough to repay capital cost and financing of construction should be fairly clear. The part about replacement of cost for parts and equipment is also not difficult to understand. Only the last part, provide company shareholders with a reasonable return can be subject to different interpretations. What is reasonable? From whose perspective?
 
What is interesting to note is that the current formula to adjust fare hikes which is directly linked to returns to shareholders does not include parts and equipment replacement cost and financing cost. The formula has been changing over the years with no reference to the original position and pledge.
 
Is the pledge another nice to have aspiration not meant to mean anything? What were the factors in the latest formula? The 2012 formula which was also used for the 2014 fare hike includes the consumer price index, wage index and productivity gains. There was no direct reference to replacement cost of parts and equipment or profits for shareholders.
 
Obviously the 1986 pledge was not in the radar of the Fare Review Mechanism Committee. The 1986 pledge and the principle of lower fares were no longer factors for consideration. Forgotten, not important any more, dumped into the waste bin?
 
Does it matter if the pledge by the former Transport Minister and the original principle are disregarded and ignored or discarded? Or they are actually following closely to those principles pledged by a past minister?

Kopi level - Yellow

Iskandar Economic Zone – early signs of things to come

Iskandar Economic Zone could be a very compelling story for Sinkie companies to relocate with abundant cheaper land and labour cost. Both factors were right up in the list of potential investors. Sinkies also could buy up big landed properties that they cannot afford in Sin City. Many have made the move and are happy with their decisions.
 
When these comparative advantages are gone, or even close to the Sin level, there is no reason to risk life and investment in Johore.
 
Just as the attractive story of Iskandar is capturing the imagination of Sinkies, all the signs of greed and impatience are rising to undermine this great potential. New rules and regulations, higher taxes and cost, higher land prices etc etc are oozing out from all the orifices. The risk of these getting out of hand and becoming incompetitive when the funds are sunk in is so high that many new and potential investors and Sinkie home buyers are getting cold feet.
 
What assurance that things will not go against these investors when the comparative advantages are wiped away in due time and the investments become sunk negative assets that can only be gotten rid of at huge losses like what happened a few years back?
 
Would the Johore govt think long term and make Johore a desirable alternative to the outrageously expensive Sin City? Or would greed and impatience and a short sighted policy kill the golden goose? Would history repeat itself and prove that Sinkies are just willing suckers that never learnt?
 
A property seminar was conducted last Saturday byMyPaper with three Malaysiann property experts giving tips on buying properties in Malaysia. Malaysia by all counts is a very attractive place to buy properties for own use or for investments. The only thing missing in the formula is political risk. This is getting more treacherous by the day.
 
In Today paper on 17 Feb there is an article on Utusan Malaysia warning the non Malays about crossing their limits for ‘insulting Islam, Muslims and Malay rulers…. It is because we are…too afraid to take action against those who have insulted Malays and Islam…it appears as if non Malays are the landlords and Malays are the tenants, immigrants and the minority in our own country….It is just a matter of time before the hornets who are attempting to defend their nerst against intruders will retaliate…Malays will not be so tolerant anymore.’
 
Though there were contrarian views by other Malay leaders about this paranoid and the fact that Malays are the absolute majority, controlling all the powers in govt and the military, such paranoid views are very emotional and can be hysterical and mobilized to turn the country upside down, with threats of bloodshed like in May 13.
 
Property hunters must not ignore this political risk if buying properties or investing in Malaysia. This political risk and threat are very real and imminent.

More records being claimed in Sin City

Yesterday’s media reported two more records, one is bankruptcy has reached an all time high. The second record is that the issuing of taxi driving licence has also reached a new high of 100,000. Just wondering if this is a good thing.
 
From the comments made, it is. Singaporeans enjoyed the flexi hours of this occupation. And they can be their own boss too. What were not spoken is that many could not find a suitable job as their jobs were taken over by foreigners. Many of them were highly qualified ex professionals that could be gainfully employed and earning much more as a corporate employee. And many would love to go back to the corporate world, to be respectable PMEs and not be drivers of foreign workers and maids and to carry their luggages and hoping for a good tip from them is they are nice to their passengers. And if they are unlucky, could be beaten up by the foreigners or scolded by the maids.
 
Driving taxi is now being seen as another good occupation like crane drivers, hawkers and carpenters. The best part, there is no need to waste so much money and time acquiring a tertiary education to be a taxi driver.
 
Parents would now have another attractive option for their children, as taxi drivers and be their own boss when they cannot find employment with their degrees and diplomas. Next time when on boards a taxi, it is good to address the taxi driver as boss, just like calling a bus driver as captain. It will make their day.

Kopi level - Green

6.35% dividend for EPF!

Can you believe it? The Malaysian govt has announced a payout of 6.35% dividend for their national savings scheme. And this is flat rate for all. How could the Malaysian govt pay such a high dividend? There must be a mistake. Or they must be announcing high dividends but they come out with new regulations so that their EPF members can feel rich but money no touch, cannot witdraw. Or they may benefit for high oil and commodity prices so can afford to pay high dividends. This cannot be true right?
 
No, the Malaysians simply did very well in their investments, earning RM35 billion in the process. And their investments in equities brought in RM19.5 billion. Holy cow, how could they do it? They must have been employing world class fund managers to make such money to pay out such high dividends.
 
I can’t believe our world class fund managers paid world class salaries could not do better. Maybe we just need to wait a while longer for them to make the announcements. Our fund managers must be many times better than the Malaysians. If they cannot do better, maybe we should go over and employ the whole Malaysian team to replace what we have. And they are definitely cheaper and more productive.
 
I am very envious of their ability to make so much money and hoping and hoping that our world class fund managers with world class pay could do better. I have high hopes, very fat hopes.

SGX - There is no elephant in the room

Since the announcement of the consultation paper and some proposals by MAS and SGX, there were a few familiar quips by the stakeholders. We do not want the SGX to be turned into a casino. Now who is talking? Is there an elephant in the classroom? They could not see it, didn’t recognise that the big mass is an elephant and pretending that not to see the elephant?

How fake or how stupid can things be when no one seems to notice the elephant in the classroom? And an article in the ST on Saturday had this title, ‘Few quibbles over collateral proposal for contra trades’. The introduction of collateral for contra trades is perhaps the biggest thing in the consultation paper and is going to be done for the purpose of reducing exposure and risks of broking houses and remisiers and to strengthen the trading system.

One thing for sure is to hasten the demise of a dying stock market when this measure is implemented. The 5% collateral for all outstanding positions would be a callous sledgehammer smashing down on any tiny nail heads protruding. There would be many procedural problems that would make this recommendation impractical. But top most is that it is not dealing with the real problem but creating new problems. Some refinement is needed and remisier Alvin Yong came up with a logical and practical proposal, to apply the collateral only to trades above the value of $50k. It is the big contra positions that would hurt the remisiers and the brokerages, not the small positions of the small traders. And given the limited size of active traders, such an across the board ruling will simply keep the small traders from trading when their participation is badly needed in a stockmarket with no players except computers.

If MAS and SGX want to bring the stock market to a pre mature and early demise, this is the way to go. Impose the collateral indiscriminately and the last few remaining small traders will say goodbye to punting in the market. Yes they are gambling, but in a small way and with manageable and tolerable risk. It is the big churnings of computer tradings and big time speculators that are raising the risk level in the industry. They should be the targeted group for this 5% collateral. They pose huge credit risk, not the small investors and punters. They are the really gamblers, with the help of a system that is designed for them to gamble.

Is there an elephant in the room? Anyone wants to look at the elephant or choosing to look the other way and spray their little water pistols wildly at shadows? It does not need much intelligence to notice the elephant in the room.

PS. Goh Eng Yeow also wrote a piece in today’s ST explaining why forcing small traders to put up collaterals is skirting the real problem caused by big positions. Come on, who are MAS and SGX kidding, to want small traders to put up collaterals even for trades of $1000 or $10,000 exposure? Would it solve the gigantic loss problem or would it kill the market when small retail traders just stay away, like the removal of teletext on TV?

Chuan Jin’s credibility in question

The weekend walkabout and community dialogue by Chuan Jin at Pasir Ris was very badly received if the media reports and comments in social media are real. The issue of foreigners working here was the main point raised by the public and Chuan Jin’s reply fell flat in his face. If he is going to continue in this manner his credibility as a minister, and the govt he represents will not go far.
 
Chuan Jin’s points could be seen in three areas. He was harping on the need to limit the number of foreign workers and this infuriated the people. Everyone is calling him deaf or refusing to listen and understand the people. No one is complaining that much about foreign workers as the jobs they were doing were not wanted by the citizens. Going after the foreign workers is a seen as an intended diversion by the MOM, skirting away from the real issues of foreign PMEs.
 
The comments were furious, that PMEs were not even mentioned in the conversation when it was the major bugbear of the people, fake talents and non talents stealing our high paying jobs from our PMEs. The MOM or the govt can try not talk about this problem but the people are not daft and would not want to be daft anymore. They are dragging Chuan Jin by ear to look at the problem they are angry about. Don’t run away from the real problem in question.
 
And the uttering of the word ‘local’ kept coming out only to confirm that the govt is still steering the same course and nothing has changed. As long as PRs or locals are employed, the citizen’s plight is not something they want to talk about or to know. The govt only thinks locals, and the citizens would not take that as an answer.
 
We are citizens, not locals. The local/PRs are not citizens. Is this simple enough to understand? Of course the govt does know what locals and citizens meant. Of course Chuan Jin knew what he was talking but it was a case of not wanting to engage the people in the real issue. The MOM or the govt will continue talking about locals, about jobs affecting foreign workers. The citizens will be talking about citizens and about PME jobs.
 
How far and how long can this divide be maintained without affecting the credibility and trust of the govt in the eyes of the people? The people would not take this diversion and not wanting to engage them lying down.
 
My advice to Chuan Jin is to face the problem squarely and stop running away from it. It will not work anymore today. The govt must take the people seriously. Ignoring the people and their problems will cost dearly in votes. It will be reflected in the next GE and can be very costly for sure.

Usman Harun – What is the drumming all about?

Everyone is talking tough and acting tough. Even in the social media, many are thumping their chests and acting like fighting cocks. We are the strongest fighting force in the region with all the latest and most expensive American hardware that on paper make us look very good. We are able to take on anyone, big country as well. We fear not, fear no one. This is the kind of silly talks that has engulfed the empty vessels in social media. These empty heads think war is a computer game. We have the software and the hardware, so we can show off, like the Americans. We can start wars and thump anyone who doesn’t agree with us or who doesn’t respect our feelings.

The difference is that the Americans are an Empire and we are just a dot. A rat standing on the head of a tiger and bossing around with bigger animals must remember not to fall down from the tiger’s head. It will be trampled to minced meat and devoured. The Americans also have this capability of taking the war to other countries and fight wars out of American soil. They could hit others and not be hit. The only time when they wet their pants was during the Twin Tower incident. George Bush was running for cover inside America when the enemy took the fight into the American heartland.

Does anyone remember and notice what really happened during Confrontation? Indonesian paratroopers landed in Johore and Singapore, also in East Malaysia. Though everyone claimed that there was no declaration of war, these were acts of war. Why was it that Malaysia did not responded by attacking Indonesia? The British were still with us and still a superior military force. They too did not start a war with the Indonesians. They were only reacting and thinking of fighting the paratroopers and marines infiltrated into our soil. It was just defensive measures, no offensive operations. Singapore also did not send any military forces to attack the Indonesians after the MacDonald House bombing. Maybe we were militarily weak. But we have the British still obligated to protect us. Their forces were still in the island.

The thing is that no one would want a war. Do we want a war? We have the superior weapons of war. Do we want to play with war?

When China was unable to detonate its atom bomb, its top scientist who could detonate the bomb did not want to get involved in making a weapon of mass destruction. He finally was persuaded by the missile and rocketry expert Qian Xue Sen to work on the bomb. The reasoning, to have the atom bomb and not using it was not the same as not having the bomb. The moral of the story was to have the atom to avoid being attacked, not to attack another country or go to war with the bomb.

Singapore may be armed to the teeth, but it must not to be eager to go to war. The powerful weapons we possessed are there to avoid wars. All the cocky and arrogant talks were provocative, unnecessary and unhelpful. Our potential enemies know what we have and what we are capable of. That is good enough to keep them from adventurism, to want to have a war with us. Our capability and military strength must not be excuse for adventurism and foolish thoughts and talks.

Our superior strategy is to be in a position of strength to avoid war. We have been very successful in this and as long as war is prevented. Our strategy depends not only on our superior weapons but on a rational, thinking and wise enemy. When the enemy becomes irrational, emotional and agitated, we have lost. When war starts, we have failed. The death toll and destruction of a war would not be 3 dead and 33 wounded. It would be thousands of times more serious and destructive. Our first strike strategy is only a strategy and is not our special privilege. Do you ever think that our enemy can also have a first strike strategy and when they hit first we are as good as gone?

Don’t always think that we are a few steps ahead of our enemies, that only we can think and plan. Our enemies also can think and can plan and know our every move. Arrogance and unestimating the enemies are the first step to defeat.

Stop the drumming please. And stop walking around and crowing like a silly cock.

Kopi level - Green

The golden year era is history

In the 80s and 90s, the mood of the citizens was jubilant and full of optimism. Everyone was thinking of upgrading from smaller flats to bigger flats, to private properties. And you don’t need a degree or even a diploma to do that. The homes for the average workers were 4 rm and 5 rm flats and many could afford better.
 
Playing golf and buying golf and country club memberships were a happy past time. It was a time to play and to have fun, for very ordinary Sinkies. Today it is no longer the same. The courses are dirt cheap but not many takers. With the govt taking back some of the land and a new pegged to market price of the land, many would not be able to be golf club members anymore.
 
The flat owners are buying smaller and smaller public flats despite their tertiary qualifications. And now they are begging the govt to bring down the prices by shortening the lease from 99 years to 60 years, and to 30 years. Lowering of expectations. This is an island of rich millionaires begging for handouts and assistance from the govt.
 
The oldies that have bought landed properties are in the process to downgrade, to sell and cash out to have some cash for their retirement. Not bad for these oldies. Would this be the same for the young of today when they turned oldies?
 
During the golden years the young had no problem getting a good job. The PMEs were gainfully employed and with very good income. Now both groups are not so fortunate. The PMEs are badly hurt and many are unemployed, unemployable or jobless. So do the young.
 
Car ownership is now a fleeting dream to many average Sinkies when it was a norm to own a car that cost $10k or $20k and no ERP to pay. Now the new normal is to take public transport and some returning to leg power not out of choice but necessity when affordability is a real problem.
 
And there was a time when everyone wanted to be admitted to A class wards in govt hospitals. Today they wanted to go to C or B2 wards for fear of being bankrupt by the medical bills. And the hospitals have to come out with a mean thing to prevent the patients from downgrading to lower class wards. They would like patients to stay at more expensive wards. Strangely today hospitals are trying their best to discharge patients as early as they could to make way for new patients. Must be business so good that they cannot cope.
 
Bye bye golden years. When shall we meet again? Oh, don’t be mistaken, the golden years are still here, for the foreigners and the super rich. To many Sinkies it is all about down grading and lowering expectations. Some are having their last fling by selling their once proud homes. And many of the young who would be inheriting a little fortune or good property from their parents would not be able to repeat what their parents had done and would also be going through their last lap of luxury before downgrading like some of the oldies.

China should forgive Japan like it has forgiven the Manchus?

In an article in the ST on 14 Feb, ‘China can take a leaf out of Manchu issue by ST journalist Jason Ou, the writer implied that there is no difference between the Manchus and the Japanese in their atrocities committed against the Chinese people. And China is not letting it go and continuously berating against the Japanese and even went ballistic when Shinzo Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine to show respect to the war criminals that invaded China and murdering so many Chinese.

Jason Ou claimed that Chinese leaders needed the Japanese bogeyman for their legitimacy and to remain in power. Really, after 60 years of communist rule and a people rising from the ashes of extreme poverty to be the next superpower, economically and militarily to challenge the American’s position as the Number One super power, China needs a perennial threat like Japan to stay in power? Does he know that China could even risk the charges of betraying its communist root in adopting capitalist economic models of development with no threats to the party’s creditability? Does he know that apart from a small minority, it happens in all countries, the Chinese people have never been prouder and more confident of themselves as a people and nation? It is all about a nation and people become rich and prosperous than the quibbling over ideologies and petty and unproductive issues.

His second point that China could not relent in the face of repeated Japanese provocation and revisionism to erase their brutal past and claiming that Diaoyu Islands belong to Japan is valid. This is one of the major differences between forgiving the Manchus and not the Japanese.

The Manchus were brutal in the suppression of Han resistance after conquering China. The fact that they ruled China for more than 300 years gave them a chance to integrate their tribe into the Chinese civilisation. The Manchus were assimilated culturally into the main stream Chinese culture. Their land became a part of China and they became Chinese.

Perhaps if Japan had been successful in conquering China and ruled China for as long as the Manchus, and be assimilated as part of a bigger Chinese culture, things could be different. The fact that Japan remained a distinct culture, race and nation, it could not be seen as one of them by the Chinese. And the insistence of claiming a piece of Chinese territory as theirs only adds to the distrust and animosity between the two nations. Japan is not a part of China but a different state with hostile intent, historical aggression and still hanging on to a piece of Chinese territory.

Could China forgive the Japanese like they have forgiven the Manchus? The very least the Japanese must do is to return the islands of Diaoyu to China if a lasting relationship of peace and stability in the region is to evolve. The ball is in the Japanese court. The red herring of a powerful and confident China needing to create a Japanese enemy for the vested interest of its leaders is bull. Japan is a different animal altogether and a very unrepentant and obnoxious country.

Kopi level - Yellow

Affordable homes in Malaysia

Malaysia has the good fortune of a super efficient govt in Singapore to clear the path for growth and development. It can simply emulate our highly successful economic models in developing its country. In today’s ST, Malaysia is also introducing ‘affordable’ public housing for its low income citizens and using very familiar terms like housing subsidies, rising prices of properties, and even the formula for people who are qualified for such housing, first time home buyers.

Malaysia has set aside RM300 million to build at least 10,000 low cost housing and will subsidise RM30,000 to the home buyers. And the computation works this way. If the cost of building a flat is RM70,000 the govt will subsidise RM30,000. The buyer only needs to pay RM40,000. The subsidy quantum is fixed from the start. So if the construction cost is RM50,000, the buyer needs only pay RM20,000 or higher if it goes the other way. And to qualify, the buyer must have a monthly income of less than RM3,000.

The scheme is quire similar to what Singapore is doing but still not as good in several areas. Firstly, RM3,000 pm income is too high. In Singapore, a monthly income of $1,000 which is equivalent to RM2,600 is enough to buy a public housing flat. And the subsidy is not based on the actual cost of building the flat. Singapore’s formula is based on market subsidy which is greater in value. I think this has been modified and should be based on building cost or something like. It is a bit difficult to figure out as construction cost is a state secret and no one is supposed to talk about it. The only thing the people can do is to guess.

Malaysia is doing very well in taking care of its local’s housing needs. One point I am not sure but can only presume that their public housing is also based on a 99 year lease. Can anyone confirm on this?

And Malaysia will become better if it continues to copy more of our successful formula. They can also change their public medical subsidy scheme to be like Singapore’s, with the 3 Ms and now Medishield Life. Then it will be just perfect.

GE in the air

When the buffet train is here, you can expect something else will follow suit. We are having parties for anything conceiveable. 50 year Anniversary, celebrations with other countries for good inter state relations, and a lot of goodies being thrown at the people like it is Christmas in Spring. We even have minimum wage for cleaners, and now raising CPF for the oldies.

For those who thought the Medishield Life was a goodie, now we have Pioneering Package. Now what’s next? More national bonuses from a good GDP in the budget?

On the negative side pressure is mounting on the worker’s Party. Internet Brigades are getting more vocal, even sounding silly, but persistently appeared to be slammed. And some perceived that there is a drumming up of nationalism in the naming of the naval ship by Indonesia with the risk of being backfired if it gets out of control and causing a real crisis.

Would the effort lead to a change in the people voting for more of the same, for stability, for more govt, more obsessions in control by the state? Would the Pioneer Generation Package take away the sting from the feared Medishield Life? The oldies may get some reprieve with the PKP, but those missing it are getting uneasy and feeling the pressure of what would come when Medishield Life is implemented.

 
We are looking like a very rich country with plenty of money to make the people very happy, and can afford to party everyday. Life is good, time for more celebration. We have a good, effective and pro people govt that is doing a damn very good job and the people are elated. Let’s bring the GE forward for more good years.

When the Red Dot kpkb

There are several articles on Konfrontasi and the MacDonald House bombing in the ST today. Winston Choo also chipped in with a long article about ‘Hard won relations, so quickly forgotten’, and reminded Sinkies of the vulnerability of being militarily weak. He did not discuss the threat of a country with nearly 50% of foreigners invited to work and also living in the homes of our people. This is another issue that a strong military will be meaningless against a totally different kind of threat aka The Trojan Horse.
 
Let me quote Winston, ‘A small country like ours will face situations where others do not take us into account when they make decisions. If we do not have a strong and capable SAF, we leave ourselves open to being cowed, intimidated and vulnerable to pressures from larger states.’ This motherhood statement is valid in most cases but must be taken in right spirit, with the right perspective and the state of relations between states at a moment in time.
 
So we have kpkb about the naming of the Indonesian ship, then what? Have we changed anything? I think we have handled this very abrasively and in the most inappropriate way and if we don’t stop kpkb now, we are going to be hit by brickbats. Kpkb is only effective up to a point, and only necessary when other more amicable means failed.
 
For states to use the loud hailers against each other like the Koreans is not the best instrument for diplomacy when relations are good. If restraint is not imposed it can quickly degenerate into a mess with each side upping the ante. Unless there is a bigger agenda and kpkb is only a little introduction of more unpleasantness to follow, then we can just sit back and watch the story unfolds to its natural ending and finale.
 
Are we behaving like an arrogant spoilt brat?

The banks are crumbling one by one

Barclays was reported to be cutting 12,000 jobs world wide. HSBC is being sued by high net worth clients for giving wrong trading advices. And several of the top world banks are paying compensations in the billions for the frauds they had committed. The game of fraudulent banking practices is coming to an end. They cannot keep on going and cooking their books of the billions of profits they are making. Very likely many banks are broke, bankrupt and waiting for another opportunity to beg for bail out. I hope Singapore is not going to say the Americans/West are doing it so it must be ok even when it is fraudulent or criminal, just like their scam stock market system.
 
Since the last financial meltdown, the banks are back where they were and even trading more aggressively to pay themselves crazy. Traditional banking businesses will not be able to chalk up that kind of obscene profits to pay obscene salaries and bonuses. Now that most of their high net worth clients are either bankrupt or lost too much money and losing faith in the banks and their gambling chits, the banks would have lesser sucker clients to cheat and would have to scale down their scam operations.
 
The suckers have no more money to be sucked by the bankers. The cooking of books with big profits would be exposed in due course. Those that are in really bad shape like Barclay would have to own up fast and cut their losses. Many banks are still putting on a front of making big money to justify paying big money to their top executives.
 
Who is there to check their accounts and the frauds they are hiding? Auditors? Hahahaha. Have faith and all will be fine. How could banks be making billions as they are claiming from interest rates? Where is the big money coming from? Selling gambling chits to sophisticated (meaning stupid) high net worth clients or trading against clients or selling lemons?
 
Wait for more retrenchments and for more bank busts and banks begging to be rescued.

Singapore’s Painful Chapter

CNA aired a half hour documentary on Konfrontasi and the bombing of MacDonald House last night with the above title. Among those who were interviewed were Shanmugam, Barry Desker and Bilveer Singh and the family members of the victims of the bombing.

The main points that came out from all of them were that Indonesia must be sensitive to its neighbours, meaning us, and our feelings in whatever it does or did in this case, the naming of the frigate after Usman and Harun. It was all about us and our sensitivities and after a while one got quite embarrassed by the repetition of these few points in isolation, one incident perspective. It was all about us, and never about them, the Indonesians. The Indonesians must take note of how it would affect us as if we were angels.

When I mentioned the word angels, many of you would know what I mean without further elaboration. I would advise CNA not to repeat airing the episode if we don’t come out as arrogant, ignorant and insensitive to Indonesia and demanding sensitivity to be a one way traffic.

Good neighbourly relations must be based on mutual respect and reciprocity. We are standing on very weak grounds to harp about this single episode to rub in a point. It shows how naive we are in a complex and tricky relationship with Indonesia, how daft we are and how we failed to look at things from the Indonesian perspective. We are actually begging to be slapped real hard by the Indonesians and without knowing why. Can you believe it?

There are so many things that are best left unspoken and to let this chapter come to a quick closure, the faster the better. We must not come across as aloof, full of ourselves and thinking that we can do no wrong to our neighbours and this is a great opportunity to show how righteous and honourable we are, with a halo over our head.

Kopi level - Green

Terrorists in Spanish courts

A Spanish judge deemed that he was an authority to judge international affairs/citizens outside of Spain. When Spain was a colonial power, they could think that they owned the world or were masters of the world just like the Americans today. This piece of archaic law allowing Spanish courts to hear international affairs were abused by some dissidents and the Spanish judge arrogantly and mischievously thought it was within its powers to hear the charges. The Spanish govt is now trying to remove this piece of history from their laws after complaints by China.
 
What happened was that some Tibetans went to a Spanish court to sue China for quelling unrest in the state of Tibet, its autonomous region. And the judge got the audacity to find China guilty of its internal affairs and had issued a warrant of arrest for its former President Jiang Zemin.
 
China has protested to the Spanish govt for this silly scam. What China could do is to declare the judge and the prosecutor as terrorists intending to kidnap their former President and issue an arrest warrant on the terrorist judge and prosecutor, wanted dead or alive. China could also offer a bounty for their arrest and handover to China. This kind of terrorist activities must not be allowed to get away under the cover of a country’s judicial system.
 
Can’t imagine Indonesia or another country prosecute our ministers in their courts of law and then issue an arrest warrant. Only silly Spaniards could think it is ok in this 21st Century. It is a terrorist act against the leaders of another country.

CPF, a simple effective schemeinto a complicated failed scheme

When the CPF was first introduced it was a simple savings scheme for retirement. You put some money aside and when you retired you take everything out at 55. Simple and neat. Under that system and at one time at 25% + 25%, if I am not wrong, the savings grew rapidly, helped by 6% or 7% interest rate. Everything was fine, really. There were great trust and faith in that system.
 
When the savings got too big, people started to get clever ideas, just like the foreigners queuing outside our PM and DPM Finance’s offices asking for financial help. The foreigners know that we have a lot of money to give if they know how and what to say. We have been very generous when they rubbed us the right way.
 
Now where am I? Oh, the people have a lot of money in their CPF accounts. There is no need to sell HDB flats so cheaply right? The people were rich and could afford to pay more for their flats. Along the way some got carried away and HDB flats were priced to suit the savings of the people. Very affordable indeed! The more the people saved, the higher the HDB prices. The people could afford to pay until nothing left in this affordability game.
 
This should be a good thing if the people had paid all their savings for the flats, no need to pay them interest or return to them. And even better still, if they sell their flats, they have to pay back to CPF with interest some more, lagi shiok. Then some people had smarter ideas. So much money laid idle in the CPF. Should invest them wisely and get higher returns and profit the balance. Who can disagree with this kind of logic and game plan. Hire the best brains money can buy, sure make money one, if not in the short run, sure make in the long run. Historical data showed that over 20 or 30 years, the returned could be 20 or 30%. Bao chiat one. How to lose money, or how can lose money?
 
The CPF savers should feel very secure. At least they are reporting profits of 7% or more, like 14% or 17%? Then why suddenly a new legislation was passed to reduce the interest rate to 2.5% in Ordinary Account and 4% in Special or Retirement Account, and no guarantee some more? No one smelt a rat. And another legislation was passed to provide for a liquidation of the CPF if it does not have enough money to pay the savers. Correct me if I am wrong, but I remembered it was put up by Gan Kim Yong, I think. No one smelt a rat either. A sure win investment plan, every year registering high profit, then interest rates paid to CPF holders getting lower and lower and even made provision for the CPF to go bust, then no need to pay back. What is going on? No one asked the right question or no one wanted to ask the right questions.
 
Then more sub accounts were invented within the CPF. Special Account and Retirement Account. Wait a minute, isn’t the whole CPF savings a savings account for retirement? Why now got Retirement Account some more? Then Minimum Sum for Retirement Account or is it Ordinary Account, I am lost on this. Then minimum sum for Medisave. First they created Medisave Account, then Medisave Account also got Minimum Sum? What’s that? And the minimum sum gets bigger and bigger every year, for the good of the savers. Must be lah. Oh, all these accounts are to ensure that the money would always be there till the savers koyak.
 
When the withdrawal age was pushed back from 55 to 62, no one complained or no one objected. No one smelt any rat. Now it is to 65 or maybe older. Still no one complains. If there were any complaints, it seemed that no one heard or got the message.
 
The gradual incremental changes of the CPF Scheme were made without much resistance except the very first attempt by then Finance Minister Howe Yoon Choong. The Union objected strongly and it was dropped for a few years. The rest is history. We now have a CPF savings scheme that is unrecognizable from its original form.
 
With the impending Medishield Life, the money would be stuck in the CPF for good or would be spent without the savers touching it. Oh I forgot. How come when home owners sold their flats, the interests accrued over the years must be returned to the CPF for safe keeping when they should be returned to the owners who had retired or passed 55 years of age?
 
Today we have a very complicated CPF Scheme that would end up with very little money left after deducting for housing and medical and a few other approved schemes compares to the earlier simple scheme when the savers would have quite a big chunk of money to withdraw at 55. Now at 55, very likely you get $5K.
 
Isn’t the CPF meant for retirement? Why when a person retires, he can only get $5K and the rest transferred to another Retirement Account? Why must a person still pledge his home to a Minimum Sum when he has already retired? Or why can’t he use the money transferred to his Retirement Account to pay for his housing when he now needs the money more desperately?
If these terms were made known in the beginning, no one would want to join the scheme. Of course they can make it compulsory, just like the Medishield Life. Now it is looking so beautiful and glowing. Think what they can do to the CPF Scheme and what they can also do to the Medishield Life and the Medishield Minimum Sum in your CPF savings ten or twenty years down the road. You would not recognize them.
The CPF scheme that was once the envy of other countries is turning into another big screw up. Now it has become a scheme when one can only smile at the numbers printed on it. Those who spent their whole life working and savings and thinking that when they retired they could become a king for a moment had their dreams shattered facing a stone wall. Many would get $5k if they are lucky.

When people are too smart or think they are too smart

Singapore is blessed with so many smart people, they called them talents or super talents. And often these people become too smart for their own good and for the good of the masses. Oops, maybe I shall not call this a blessing. When people think they are too smart and can get away with anything they want, thinking that the masses are plain daft, you will have a very serious problem. The smarter they think they are the more serious will be the problem.
 
Now what am I getting at? Wrong. I am referring to the City Harvest case in court. I have not been following and I must confess that I only have a very skimpy idea of the truth and what the case is all about. The truth shall set you free. From the headlines in the media I could gather that some people are very smart and believing that they are very smart, and could get away with anything they desired, with the help of God. They said, when God is willing, everything goes. Who is there to challenge the Almighty?
 
For the believers of God, God is supreme and infallible. The moral of the story is that if it is fallible, then one is praying to the wrong God. Human beans, no matter how smart are fallible. A false God is also fallible. Putting the two together, it only double confirms the theory that what is fallible will fall doubly fast and doubly hard. Amen.
 
Verily verily I said unto you. Whoever believes in me shalt have everlasting life.

Big brother India is watching over us

According to liveMint.com, ‘New Delhi: India is in touch with authorities in Singapore to ensure that an Indian national found guilty of rioting in the city-state’s Little India district in December receives legal assistance and that the due process of law is followed, an Indian official said on Tuesday.
 
“We are in contact with the Singapore side to ensure that the facts of the case are fully investigated and due action is taken. A senior Indian diplomat (secretary, East) Anil Wadhwa will be travelling to Singapore shortly to discuss bilateral issues including matters relating to the riots,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said.’
 
What is India implying? We are a 3rd World country running a kangaroo court and would not give its citizen a fair trial? And it is sending a senior diplomat (already here) to watch over our court proceedings? Is he going to insist a retrial, that the bus driver must be found guilty? Hey, someone might have stupidly signed the CECA but that does not make us a colony of India ya. You don’t trust our world best legal system? A lot of international cases, including those from India are being heard in our version of an international arbitration court. If you don’t believe or don’t trust us, please ask Shanmugam.
 
KNN, a 3rd World country trying to tell us we are not good enough? Or is India hoping to get something out of the incident or wanting to twist our arms? And this is the country we want to celebrate 150 years of good relations and they don’t even trust our legal processes and insulting our system by sending someone to check on us.
I say, cancel the bilateral celebrations and save the money to give to the pioneer generation.
 
What do you think? This is definitely more unfriendly than the naming of Indonesian naval craft with no malice intended. India not happy when the court found the driver innocent from causing a drunk’s death? What is India expecting from us, want to go for a tit for tat like it did to the USA? We are more powderful than the USA if India does not know.

Kopi level - Green, nearly Blue

The Western myth of China threat

The West has assumed their supremacy over the rest of the world for the last 500 years. From Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, Germany and Britain to the US, they have taken turns to rule the world. Today, American supremacy, arrogance, assertiveness and war mongering are an accepted way of life in international politics. The Americans can bully any country it likes, attack or conduct wars, declared or undeclared, behave like gangsters trampling or violating the sovereignty of countries in international waters or in the targeted countries with impunity. No one would utter a word, or no western media would condemn the Americans and said it was wrong. That is the mindset of all western and westernized reporters, journalists, researchers, analysts or academics and politicians.
 
Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defence of the USA is in town and harping about the rise of China and growing assertiveness of China. Yes, this is new and news. China has been under the domination of the West for more than 150 years, it is unacceptable for China to be assertive. This assertiveness is a threat to the American Empire and its self arrogated role of exceptional assertiveness. It is okay for the Americans or any western powers to be assertive but not China. The rest of the world is warned and chided to get together to stop this Chinese assertiveness but not the assertiveness of the Americans.
 
In an article in the news.com.au, Australia’s biggest threat is China, it talked about the need for Australia to work with the Indians to counter the Chinese. No westerners in his right mind would ever talk about the rest of the world forming an alliance to counter the assertiveness and threat of aggression by the Americans. These are acceptable norms of American behavior that the world must abide by.
 
What kind of threat is China posing to the world? China going to start a war with the rest of the world, to conquer the world? Not that it is impossible, it is not necessary. China is prospering without having to conquer or go to war with any country. Look at the following statistics reported in the same news.com.au.
 
‘China is the leading trade partner for 124 countries, compared to 76 for the US and its stock of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) has risen to $US832 billion.
 
It has the largest foreign exchange reserve of $US3.7 trillion followed by Japan with $US1.3 trillion.
 
Growing threat ... members of the Chinese Navy, a division of the PLA. Source: News Limited
 
China had 122 billionaires in 2013 compared to 422 in the US, 110 in Russia, 39 in Hong Kong and 26 in Taiwan.
 
It is the world’s largest manufacturing nation and in 2012 China built 19.27 million vehicles up from just 2.1 million in the year 2000.
 
That year the US built 10.5 million vehicles, Japan 9.9 million, Germany 5.6 million Korea 4.6 million.
 
China also accounts for 28.8 per cent of global sales for Volkswagen, 28.9 for General Motors, 20.9 for Nissan, 19.5 for Hyundai, 17.7 for Kia, 17.1 for Honda, 14.8 for Peugeot, 13.8 for Mazda, 8.4 for Ford, 8.0 for BMW and 7.6 per cent for Toyota.
 
It also produces 75 per cent of global output of mobile phones, 87 per cent of personal computers and 52 per cent of colour televisions.’
 
Why would China want to risk all the above to go to war with any country or to give the Americans a reason to incite the world to go against China? This is a number game and China is a number game. It is winning in every hand it is holding. Any war would destroy everything the Chinese have today and going to win more at the rate they are doing.
 
What is all this western hype about a China threat when war is the last thing that China wants or needs? The longer there is peace in the world, the more prosperous and powerful will China be, economically and militarily. A war will end all of these.
 
What is your problem Frank Kendall? What is your problem America and Australia? Why is China a threat to you? Or is it you a threat to China and world peace?

Pioneer Generation Package (PGP) is not charity

The ST editorial today also wrote about the suggestion by some to mean test the seniors before giving them the PGP. The basis is that the rich should get less and the poorer seniors should get more, just like handouts in a charity. Come, show me how poor and pathetic you are and beg for a little mercy.
 
Please, the PGP is not just to acknowledge the contributions of the seniors but to pay back what they had lost for their contributions in the early years to build this nation to what it is today, to pay the young punks millions to live an extremely good life. Your good life is built on the backs of the pioneers, on their blood, sweat and tears. They planted the trees to give you shade and fruits and a lift to prosperity and for foreigners to come here and get paid by the millions and claiming credit for it, that they are so talented and so deserving, that they built the institutions that are paying them millions.
 
Do not treat the pioneers as beggars like you are doing them a big favour, throwing some crumbs to those who are hungry and needed financial help. You created this financial burden for them by allowing medical cost to escalate to this point when it is better to die than to be sick.
 
You are just a bunch of ingrates to ever think of mean testing the seniors. See my middle finger?

Kopi level - Yellow

Managed Meritocracy is the way to go

Just like the phrase Guided Democracy, what Singapore needs is Managed Meritocracy and not Meritocrazy as it is being practised. The whole basis of Managed Meritocracy is about country and citizens. The country and citizens must be the main priorities in the practice of meritocracy. It cannot be a blind meritocracy. It cannot be a colourless meritocracy, irrespective of nationalities. It must be a meritocracy with nationality, Singaporeans, sitting on top of the agenda.

An idiotic and mindless meritocrazy that sells out the citizens in favour of foreigners is unacceptable and a betrayal of the citizenry. This point must be foremost in the minds of the leaders. The citizens are the masters of this island and own this place. No one can give their birthrights and privileges to have a good life here to foreigners at their expense.

Any politician that threatens to replace the citizens with foreigners on the ground that the foreigner is ‘better’ than the citizens is standing on weak sand. It cannot be and must not be and must not be allowed to continue. If this kind of argument is the new truth, then it is a matter of time that the whole citizen population would be replaced by foreigners.

What we need is Managed Meritocracy. This is a Meritocracy that places the interest of Singaporeans ahead of foreigners. All things being equal, the Singaporeans must be considered first. Even when things are not equal, especially in top jobs or good jobs, the Singaporeans must still be considered first unless the having of a foreigner is a no choice option, unless the foreigner is going to bring the moon and the stars to put on the table. We know that many foreigners are not able to do so and what they are doing are nothing better than what a citizen can do in their places but still given the jobs. In many cases there is nothing spectacular that the foreigners can do that the Singaporeans cannot do except they looked like our colonial masters or some 3rd world novelties.

For the good of people and nation, Meritocracy must be managed or else it is at best just a dangerous kind of Meritocrazy.

Wisdom in a tricky situation

The blow up on the naming of the Indonesian naval ship was, like many commented, a storm in a tea cup. Was it a tricky situation? I don’t think so. It was unnecessary and a throwing of tantrum at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. We are in a time when relations with our neighbours are extremely good and things can be sorted out over a cup of tea. To raise all the ruckus over this issue is bad judgement. Things have to dealt with wisely, from the right perspective, the right context and the right timing. Beating the drums and thumping the chest are not always the right thing to do.
 
Indonesia is blessed with several wise leaders in Yudhoyono and in Marty Natalegawa. They spoke wisdom. They could behave like young punks and responded with more tantrums as well and the situation could have blown out of proportion with both sides unable to fall back to a conciliatory mood. We benefitted from wise leaders, and this particular incident shows how valuable wise leaders to their countries and how they could affect their neighbours as well.
 
Yudhoyono cautioned against the slippery step of destroying a relationship built over the years without hinting at any signs of retaliation. Marty spoke calmly, like a wise man many times his age on the issue, without ruffling any feathers. That was not his intention. He explained that the naming of the ship was done without malice or ill intent. He needed not have to explain and neither does any other Indonesian leaders. And it would be even more embarrassing for our leaders if they did not back up their aggressive response with another level of provocations. Now Marty has given them an excuse to back down with some dignity. Let’s hope no one is trying another one upmanship to raise the temperature.
 
Thank you Marty. Indonesia and the region are blessed to have wise leaders like you and Yudhoyono in charge. Let’s hope the next president and his team will be as equally wise as your team today. The three candidates of Wiranto, Subianto and Wibowo are technocrats and highly educated and looking in the same mould as Yudhoyono. Indonesia and Asean have benefitted from Yudhoyono’s wise leadership and hopefully this will continue when the baton is passed to another wise leader.

Small minded and mean people aplenty

The Medishield Life Scheme and the Pioneering Generation Package would be in everyone’s lips for a while. Some will be so happy that they have been included in the package, some a disappointed. Some are talking about introducing mean testing like they did in the hospitals. I must say only mean people can think of such a sickening thing. A friend of mine was trying to renew his CHAS card and was subject to a grueling regiment of questions that were as good as stripping him of all dignity as a person, to the extent of wanting to know how many pubic hair is left beneath his underwear. Only people who are wealthy beyond recognition will think it is fun to subject people to mean testing. They said such people have bad hearts.
 
I have a very simple solution to those shit heads. Just let the rich to voluntarily donate their package to charity if they do not need it. It is a very simple unobtrusive and generous gesture, showing a big heart instead of a small and narrow one. If the pioneering generation package is to recognize the contribution of the pioneers, why is this nonsensical objection against the rich? I know many of the rich pioneers are extremely rich and would not need the money. Let them decide what they want to do with the money. It is their prerogative.
 
By the way, do not be happy. The pioneering package is just there to keep the pioneers from being made to pay for the Medishield Life. The money will be credited and then debited, LPPL. They are just being spared from emptying their little savings if they have any. It is not a windfall, not striking lottery and can go to Batam for a fling. Just count yourself lucky for not being put in a very embarrassing financial fix, no money to pay for the hefty premiums when you don’t have an income.
 
Should they be grateful for the kindness and mercy shown? Even before they are on dry ground and some mean people are thinking of dragging a few into deep waters. God bless the mean and mighty. Mercy. These are very kind and good people with very good intention, to commit murders in the name of goodness.

Usman Harun – A call for wise leadership

Chan Chun Sing said that this issue required the presence of wise leadership, for more dialogue to prevent the fanning of a flame, to prevent creating an external issue to divert domestic problems. And Yudhoyono cautioned against over reacting and dragging a good relationship developed over the years back to the past.
 
Both statements are words of caution to warn the young turks from behaving like they are, hot behind the ears. The Indonesians had done something that we cannot agree on and we are reacting. As far as the Indonesians are concerned, this is their domestic matters and who are we to interfere and tell them what to do and what not to do. Now, who is fanning a flame, creating an external problem to divert from domestic issues or over reacting and dragging a good relationship into the past?
 
How significant is the naming of a naval ship after the two terrorists, yes they were terrorists to us but heroes to the Indonesians, compares to the hundreds of thousands killed by the Japanese during their invasion of the island?
 
The laying of the wreath at the two terrorists’ grave by LKY, their equivalent of a hero burial site, our Kranji War Memorial, must have closed the chapter and their act forgiven. Why the big outcry that would lead to nothing but hostility when quiet diplomacy would have been more appropriate in this case? If we can forgive the Japanese, allowed their PM to honour war criminals that they regarded as national heroes without a whimper of protest, what is so different with the naming of a naval craft?
 
Yes, we need wisdom. Where is the wisdom coming from? Are we still searching and waiting for wisdom to appear over the horizon?

Singapore welcomes Japan’s military role?

At the Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Fullerton Forum held on 13 Jan 14, Singapore’s Minister Ng Eng Hen told the Japanese to ‘assure her neighbours as it beefs up military’. Japan is rearming, the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a symbol of Japanese militarism, and sending out a message that Japan is proud of its militant past and aggression against East and Southeast Asian countries. The Japanese PM is paying homage and honouring the Japanese soldiers and war criminals who committed brutal and barbaric aggression against Japan’s neighbours in WW2, including colonizing Singapore and brutalizing its population with hundreds of thousands murdered in broad daylight.
 
Only China and the two Koreans were fuming at this act of defiance and treachery by the Japanese PM. The other Asian countries have not breathed a word. Many must have forgotten or forgiven the Japanese for their invasion, looting and bombing and atrocities against their countries.
 
Now Japan is rearming, just like it was before it invaded Asia and SE Asia. Japan’s military strength is second only to China and could easily do a repeat of WW2. No one is protesting except of course China and the Koreas. The rest of the Asian and SE Asian countries do not believe that they would be invaded by Japan again and in a way supported, or tacitly supported the rise of a new militant Japan.
 
Does Singapore also forget what the Japanese did to its people, ruling the island by force and coercion? Does Singapore also support a strong militant Japan that could do another Syonanto? The memories of the vicious Japanese hordes here and the pain they inflicted, the lives they murdered in broad daylight are still vivid to many who are still alive. Many may want to forgive the barbarity of the Japanese, but would we want to encourage another militant Japan?
 
Should the world stop the rearmament of Japan? With the new geopolitical forces in play, with the Americans needing the Japanese to fight a proxy war to contain China, no one, not even the Americans that suffered a Pearl Harbour would mind having a strong military Japan.
 
The forces and factors that could lead to a WW3 are in the making with the tacit approval of all the victims of past Japanese aggression. Japan has dropped its pledge on not going to war. The Pacifist Constitution is being annulled and revamped to allow Japan to conduct wars. Thanks to their American minders who are so happy to have Japan as their top fighting dog. If there is retribution, let’s hope Japan will nuke the USA one day.
 
PS. Why are we reacting so strongly to the Indonesians naming a naval ship after two terrorists who killed 3 people and wound 33 while condoning Japan’s remilitarization and the honouring of war criminals by their Prime Minister in Yasukuni?

Foreign talent and the suicide of nation states

‘Switzerland voted in favor of new immigration curbs, risking a backlash from the European Union and thwarting the ability of companies to hire top talent abroad.’
 
European nations are waking up to the hole they dug for themselves with an open border and freedom of immigration under the guise of foreign talents. And every asshole is talking about the goodness of hiring foreign talents at the expense of the well being of their own citizens. Smaller nation states like Switzerland would be the first to feel the pain and is now taking actions to stop this idiocy. More European states would do so in times to come.
 
When one is talking about talents, countries that have a big pool of trained talents would have the benefits of exporting their talents overseas when there are silly political leaders willing to sell their countries freely. China and India would eventually fill the whole world with their talents. In smaller states, the top jobs could easily be replaced by these talents when their pool is so huge, more than 2 billion people to choose from among them. It is a simple number game.
 
When would the idiots realize that this game cannot be played under laissez faire terms when it is as good as no rules? When this is the case, small states could be taken over by states with big populations. It is as good as selling out the whole country to foreigners.
 
Is this the new world order? Is this something that citizens desired at their own peril? No, it is not the new world order. It is small nations courting their own demise, willingly, voluntarily, and stupidly. The big powers would be there to grab these silly nations who are willing to lose their sovereignty in the name of ‘meritocrazy’ and thinking that they could get a free ride from foreign talents. They would get a lift for sure, from a stick shafted into their arse.

Kopi level - Green

Sonic Gear Ear Pump Studio Pro

I have never really promoted any products before. And I am going to promote this ear phone voluntarily, not being paid for it. I happened to be browsing around at Challenger and came across this beautiful headphone. I had seen many expensive ones but this one was really striking, if you like the awesome size of the ear piece which is in vogue. It looked so good, attractively designed and well made.
 
After looking at it for a while I returned it to the shelf. But I kept walking back to take a second and third look. I had no intention to buy anything. It was a very appealing piece of headphone. And the most appealing part was the price tag. It was likely to be the top model for Sonic Gear. I have used a pair of Sonic Gear table top for my computers and never regretted. It was great value for money.
 
Now this headphone was beckoning to me. Then I told myself, what the hell, it was only $39.90 before discount for members of Challenger. I must say I have several headphones and in ears and I absolutely do not need this piece of equipment.
 
I paid for it anyway, just to test out what it was going to be like compare to my Sony Studio Monitor which was a very good piece of headphone. And I don’t expect this less than $40 piece to be close to it in performance. Even if it is a few notches down, how to complain? It cost only a fraction of what I paid for my Sony.
 
I could not believe my ears when I plugged it into my system. It came very very close to my Sony. Unbelieveable! The sound quality is good enough for listening. The clarity, spatial and transparency. The bass was reasonable when the volume was pushed up. For $40, this is a great piece of headphone, and damn good looking too.
 
The headphone may not produce as good a sound on the mobile phone or a small pocket player. But once plug into a reasonably good system it comes to live.
 
It is worth many times the $40 I paid for. I thought I was just having fun throwing away $40 for a piece of toy. It was a pleasant surprise, and a headphone to keep and listen to. If you do not want to spend $300 or $400 for a branded phone, this is an excellent alternative.

I am a big time property developer

My unsold properties are seeing their values stagnated and not rising. My profits are not growing. This is bad. How can the govt do this to me? Nevermind if I have made millions and billions in the last decades and laughing to the banks, having an extremely good life from the profits that I have made. Now I am not happy as my properties are not making the kind of profits that they should be making. My gosh, the price actually came down by 1%! Horror, I am having nightmares, cannot sleep. Please don’t remind me that the prices have appreciated by 100% or 200% over the last decade. That is my good fortune. I am very clever and talented. I have foresight to go into property development and took the RISK. Yes I took the risk to make millions and billions. I am sooooo talented.
 
Hey govt, you must tweak your policies on curbing property speculations. I have invested so much money in building these properties, how can I make a loss? Didn’t you say that the value of properties can only go up, only in smaller percentages? You have to tweak your curbs so that I can make my profits.
 
Oh, I am only selling to foreigners and making profits from foreigners. This is good right? And if you give me the chance, I will buy up the whole island, develop them into good class properties and sell them to the foreigners. What, selling the whole island? That is not my problem. My only interest is to make money as a developer. Selling the whole island is not my problem.
 
Quick, quick, tweak your policies so that I can make more money then I will buy more land from you and sell the properties to foreigners. You happy, I happy.